Three months after ABC canceled the soap operas “All My Children” and “One Life to Live,” the network said Thursday that the shows would be given a second life online by Prospect Park, a two-year-old media and production company.
Prospect Park will produce the two shows and distribute them “via online formats and additional emerging platforms including Internet-enabled television sets, according to The New York Times.
“All My Children” is set to end on ABC on Sept. 23; “One Life to Live” is set to end on the network in January.
Los Angeles Times notes that the economics of this move won’t be easy. Soap operas have large casts, writing staffs, producers and lots of sets. A soap can cost as much as $50 million a year to produce.
Both soaps average about 2.5 million viewers. But will they move follow the shows online? And will new viewers, with digital expectations about sharing and empowerment, join the audience?
Pretty sure my grandma wouldn’t be able to figure out how to watch online shows. Even if she did, she probably doesn’t have a sweet 17″ LCD screen to watch them on. Interested to see how this pans out.