Online revivals of ‘One Life to Live’ and ‘All My Children’ on the brink of collapsing

Fans of ABC’s soap operas One Life To Live and All My Children were excited when Rich Frank & Jeff Kwatinetz’s Prospect Park announced that they had signed a licensing deal with ABC to revive the shows for online distribution. However, it looks like those plans are on the brink of collapse, as the company realized that the transition is going to be much harder than they thought.

Deadline first reported the near-collapse, which comes after Prospect Park ran studies and meetings with potential investors who would help create their online network. However, because online advertising and television advertising are so different and that no television show has ever made the jump to online like this before, ways to find funding have been close to impossible. ABC also made extra money through syndication deals with cable networks like SoapNet, money that also would not be there to make the online shows.

Another issue is whether or not the writers and acting guilds should treat the show the same as a traditional television show. Writers should have begun working on the show earlier this month, but no deal was made with the WGA and the acting unions have yet to approve the deals signed with the shows’ actors.

The possibility that the whole idea was about to crumble first arose earlier this month, when Prospect Park announced that they had to put All My Children on indefinite hold, sources told ABC Soaps In Depth. Prospect Park was only able to secure two actors from the original show, while most of the One Life To Live cast had signed on.

TV By The Numbers notes that this probably should not be a surprise, since it would be almost impossible to produce a show on just online advertising. Prospect Park also failed to get an agreement with a cable network to try to get the shows on air somewhere.

According to Entertainment Weekly, ABC announced the cancellation of both shows back in April. All My Children ended back in September, while One Life To Live wrapped up production Friday.

Deadline reports that Prospect Park will still try to find a “last-minute solution,” but it looks like their online plans are on life support.