No Soaps for You! All My Children and One Life to Live Won't Live Online After All

After months of negotiations, internet company Prospect Park announces that financial issues and other problems doomed the project

By Brandi Fowler Nov 24, 2011 1:41 AMTags
Walt Willey, Susan Lucci, ALL MY CHILDRENABC/Ron Tom

Well, there goes that.

Just months after ABC sent shockwaves though soap fans with the cancellation of All My Children and One Life to Live, Prospect Park is canning the online version of the soaps before those even had a chance.

The internet company, which originally picked up both shows for the web, announced Wednesday that it was calling it quits on the project.

So, what went down? 

"After five months of negotiations with various guilds, hundreds of presentations to potential financial and technology partners, and a hope that we could pioneer a new network for the future, it is with great disappointment that we are suspending our aspirations to revive One Life to Live and All My Children via online distribution," Rich Frank and Jeff Kwatinetz of Prospect Park said in a statement to E! News.

"It is now becoming clear that mounting issues make our ability to meet our deadlines to get OLTL on the air in a reasonable time period following its January 13, 2012 ABC finale impossible."

The duo went on to say that while they thought the timing was right to launch an online network "anchored by these two iconic soap operas," they faced an uphill battle as they attempted to do so. 

"We believe we exhausted all reasonable options apparent to us, but despite enormous personal, as well as financial cost to ourselves, we failed to find a solution," Frank and Kwatinetz went on.

Although fans had already faced facts that All My Children star Susan Lucci had shied away from the online version, a few of One Life to Live's big names had signed on to the project, including Erika Slezak and Kassie DePaiva.