Fans of “All My children†and “One Life to Live†have discovered—unequivocally—that there is life after death… and that it happens online.
The two ABC soap opera, which had entertained millions of middle-of-the-afternoon drama fans for decades, met their untidy ends (neither of the shows had the time to wrap up the multiple plot lines running through the shows) nearly two years ago.
Much like the zombies on “Walking Dead,†they came back to life on Monday. Like the “Dead’s†undead, they aren’t quite the same as they were the first time around: They both have a shorted format (30 minutes versus the original 60), and, they’re on fewer days a week (four instead of five).
The soaps also returned with budgets that made them, well, potentially profitable.
The caveat? The shows are only available online via Hulu and iTunes.
When I last wrote about the two soaps in November 2011, it seemed more obituary than anything else as production firm Prospect Park, which earlier had announced plans to save the two cornerstones of daytime television, admitted it had been unable to craft a deal with the unions representing actors and writers, which balked at concessions the company said it had to have to make the shows profitable on the Internet.
“We always knew it would be an uphill battle to create something historical, and unfortunately we couldn’t ultimately secure the backing and clear all the hurdles in time,” Prospect Park’s partners Rich Frank and Jeffrey Kwatinetz said in a statement. “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.”
Turns out, they were just tenacious enough and have put together a business model they think will pay off. Ad-free episodes can be had for 99 cents each on iTunes, or $9.99 for a month. The episodes also can be streamed for free—with ads–on Hulu and Hulu Plus.
Both soaps may eventually be showing up on some cable operators, as Prospect Park has the licensing rights to sell episodes to pay-TV operators… a week after they’ve run online.
Touche.
