Here is my editorial on the recent announcement about One Life to Live and All My Children continuing online past their broadcast television finales:

Well, here's a train wreck waiting to happen! It was announced on Thursday that two of ABC's recently cancelled soap operas, All my Children and One Life to Live would continue past their broadcast television finales on the world-wide-web via a licensing deal between ABC and an unknown buyer, a company named Prospect Park. While AMC will end its ABC run on Friday, September 23rd, OLTL will continue on ABC through January of 2012, with an exact date still unknown. What's also unknown is when either show will debut online, and where exactly fans will be able to find their favorite soaps. Why is this venture a bad idea? I'll explain...

Full Editorial Here! (http://ryanschwartz.posterous.com/why-all-my-children-and-one-life-to-live-will)

I don't think they're going to have a long life as web-only soaps, either. Passions' move to DirecTV in 2007 was a bust, and that was still on TV. Budgets are STILL going to be slashed, and who knows if the highest-paid players like Lucci, Slezak, Budig, etc. will take even more paycuts. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens!!

I agree that it's terrible and doomed to fail. There is no way an internet company will be able to keep up any kind of standards at all for these shows as fans are used to them. I loved them back in the day but I believe in this day and age that it's time to move on from the daily soap opera habit-I think people should find better things to do with their time, plus some stories should naturally come to an end. If they could find a way to revisit them in tv movies every few months I think that would be much better-having an update on the characters would be fun and fine, and in fact that should probably happen with some other cancelled shows as well. But trying to carry on as webisodes is going to diminish everything simply because internet shows just don't make enough money-they will end up pleasing no one if they have to recast every single role including the major vets, not to mention hiring new writers and producers who will be much much cheaper and potentially even less quality than what is being gotten now.

I'm still hoping for the best for this. At least someone is trying to find a new, viable format for the dying genre of daytime dramas. I realize that the money will not be there to pay top writers as well as actors on an Internet series, and the top-paid of the actors will more than likely defect. If the genre is to be saved, drastic measures such as this are going to have to be implemented, whether they work or not. You can't save a drowning person without getting wet. I wish Guiding Light and As the World Turns had been offered a similar last minute stay of execution.

The news just broke, and we only know a tiny fraction of what we'll know as we get closer and closer to whenever this thing starts. I say wait and see before deeming it a failure or success.

Well, I'll definitely blog more about it as details emerge. I mean, it still is a revolutionary move and interesting for any tv fan!

The news just broke, and we only know a tiny fraction of what we'll know as we get closer and closer to whenever this thing starts. I say wait and see before deeming it a failure or success.

Agreed.

I agree this format will probably not work. Hey does anybody out there know if there ever has been an internet soap opera? I can't think of one.
In my opnion AMC,OLTL & GH all started having problens when they started getting rid of the chracters that made the show work to begin with. Brooke,Adam(although I believe he left of his own accord),The Martins, on OLTL Asa and on GH Alan. You can't cut out the core families & key players/actors. These families are what started the shows and if you look at the Soap opera central family trees many familes are very sparse in todays shows or non-existant. The story lines are not what I grew up watching. I think the powers-that-be forgot who there core audience really is. They were trying to entice the 20 somethings when really if they took a poll their audiences are comprised mainly of 40 & up individuals. Retired,work at homes(like myself) or stay at homes for various reasons. Wonder if they'vwe even bothered to ask what we want to see?

There is an internet-only soap called The Bay, and it stars noted daytime performers such as Sandra Robinson (nee Ferguson, Another World, Days of Our Lives, Sunset Beach, etc.), Nicolas Coster (Santa Barbara, Another World, The Secret Storm, Somerset, As the World Turns, etc.), Mary Beth Evans (Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, As the World Turns, etc.), Tristan Rogers (General Hospital, The Young & The Restless), John Callahan (All My Children, Days of Our Lives, Falcon Crest), among others.

There is an internet-only soap called The Bay, and it stars noted daytime performers such as Sandra Robinson (nee Ferguson, Another World, Days of Our Lives, Sunset Beach, etc.), Nicolas Coster (Santa Barbara, Another World, The Secret Storm, Somerset, As the World Turns, etc.), Mary Beth Evans (Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, As the World Turns, etc.), Tristan Rogers (General Hospital, The Young & The Restless), John Callahan (All My Children, Days of Our Lives, Falcon Crest), among others.
Matthew Ashford of Days is on this occasionally, I think. He was a big force in getting this soap started.
Having soaps on the Internet is an interesting concept, actually. I probably wouldn't follow it online but then again, if I were a huge fan, it might be worth it to me to watch online. The only downside to that is that you can't really sit on a comfortable chair or couch to watch unless you have a laptop. I've been trying to watch more Netflix movies online but I'm so used to watching them on a television set that it's been a hard transition.

This means that whatever actors they get for the online versions of "AMC" and "OLTL" won't be eligible for the Daytime Emmy's, right?

They won't be considered part of daytime television anymore so I was wondering about this.

My sister was telling me the other night, who's a bigger soap fan than me, that this relates to what happened when soaps made the transition from radio to tv.

She said that soaps were originally over-the-radio and that when tv came along as the new entertainment medium that the soaps then went to tv. Now it seems to be the internet (or anything computer-based) that's becoming the dominant form of communications today.

She also said that lots of soap fans are online anyway (message boards and what not) so having the shows based online might actually work out.

^^^ right. and since SoapNet is going off the air next year, people will be thankful to have Prospect Park. plus, you don't have to wait until the next day for an episode to show up on the show's offical website to watch (if you missed it). not everybody has DVRs.
i just hope PP doesn't make us pay to watch the soaps.

Okay I think this is a dumb idea that is not going to work. Soaps belong on TV.


Also if they are so anxious to put soaps on TV, why didnt they do this for GL or ATWT.



For me when AMC & OLTL leave the airwaves, its over as far as I am concerned.

This means that whatever actors they get for the online versions of "AMC" and "OLTL" won't be eligible for the Daytime Emmy's, right?

They won't be considered part of daytime television anymore so I was wondering about this.

That's true, but then again - Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and its host, Regis Philbin, won Daytime Emmys even though it was a primetime show. Go figure!!!

There is an internet-only soap called The Bay, and it stars noted daytime performers such as Sandra Robinson (nee Ferguson, Another World, Days of Our Lives, Sunset Beach, etc.), Nicolas Coster (Santa Barbara, Another World, The Secret Storm, Somerset, As the World Turns, etc.), Mary Beth Evans (Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, As the World Turns, etc.), Tristan Rogers (General Hospital, The Young & The Restless), John Callahan (All My Children, Days of Our Lives, Falcon Crest), among others.


Thanks Catlover79. I think I'll check it out. Everything started on radio before Tv was invented so many programms did transiotion to tv but some of their actors/actresses did not. Maybe this is the next transition in the entertainment world. We will see......

I dunno. I'd rather see my two favorite soaps go out in style with former cast members coming back to wrap up storylines rather than risking a chance of an internet fizzle.

Only time will tell, but I give this whole internet move thing 6 months, tops!!