Thursday, November 24, 2011

Los Angeles Times: Plan to continue ABC soap operas online falls through

Thursday's Los Angeles Times included a story about Prospect Park suspending efforts to move ALL MY CHILDREN and ONE LIFE TO LIVE online. Read an excerpt below.

"Prospect Park may have bitten off more than they could chew trying to produce the shows at the same length and frequency as they were on broadcast television," said Roger Newcomb, editor of the website We Love Soaps. "Perhaps a 30-minute version of the shows, or even 15, might have been easier to pull off in a short amount of time."

Newcomb lamented the timing of Prospect Park's decision.

"Not only is it the day before Thanksgiving, but 'One Life To Live' wrapped production last week," he said. "Prospect Park had asked the producers of both soaps to write cliffhanger endings so now "One Life" is wrapped with a cliffhanger versus possibly having a more satisfying ending."
You can read an online version of the story here.

5 comments:

  1. I feel absolutely sucker-punched by this news. The fans have been on a tortuous roller coaster of emotions since the initial April 14 announcement.

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  2. Roger, ITA. Even before the official cancellation in April. I thought going back to the basics of trimming the show back to a 30 min format would cut the budget by 50%. Be easier to distribute. Focus on a few characters (The Vets). As a Producer of web TV, the shorter the show this bigger the audience. How many of the Indie soaps are in the hour format. I hope they will change their minds.

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  3. It really stings to think that this was announced the day before Thanksgiving. I speak from personal experience. I remember when Mary Matthews was killed off on 'Another World' on Good Friday. I thought it was heinous to do that to the character around the Easter holidays. Little did I know that I would be walking the same path as the Matthews children, when my own mother died on Good Friday (1981) and was laid out on Easter. If that wasn't bad enough, I lost my father, suddenly, 2 1/2 years later on Dec. 21. He was buried on Christmas Eve. So, as you can imagine, the holidays are very difficult for me. My mom's birthday is Nov. 30 (She would have been 88).

    So many thoughts are running through my head. It seems doubly cruel for this announcement to come AFTER the studio had taped its final episode (Nov. 18). If there were problems, TPTB, somewhere, should have been more forthcoming at a much earlier date.

    As many of you may know, I am also keenly interested in History and Politics...the only analogy I can make is if something like this had happened in our nation's capital, there would be a call for the establishment of a special congressional investigatory committee. We, the people, deserve to know the Who, What, When and Where of this Prospect Park acquisition, and ultimate suspension, of AMC and OLTL.

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  4. I would never watch a 15 minute Soap and considering an hr soap is only 37 mins in actuality I'm not so keen on a thirty min soap either.

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  5. Brilliantly said, Roger. Business as usual doesn't cut it online. PP has the opportunity to try a new model of more concise and focused story telling. Dozens of Indie Soaps demonstrate the viability of online soaps on a very limited budget. PP need only watch a few to see the possibility of compelling dramatic serials for the Internet.

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