The Prospect Park Fallout: Devastating On So Many Levels

There’s a saying in the world of PR that if you want to bury something, you release it on a weekend or during a holiday…

I think that Prospect Park probably took that into consideration when they announced Wednesday afternoon that it had scrapped its plan to continue “One Life to Live” and “All My Children” online. But the timing no doubt ruined the holiday for a lot of people…

According to “The Hollywood Reporter,” the decision was made after struggles during negotiations with SAG, DGA and the other Hollywood guilds.

Here is part of the statement by Prospect Park’s Rich Frank and Jeff Kwatinez from the “Reporter” story: “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…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…In the end, the constraints of the current marketplace, including the evolution and impact of new media on our industry simply proved too great a match for even our passion.”

The move online for “All My Children” had already been postponed as only two actors had signed on to continue.

Because of the lateness of the announcement and the holiday, “Soap Opera Digest,” the leading soap publication, was unable to cover the announcement. However, this week’s “Digest” does feature a story about the reluctance of some actors to sign on that cites many of the problems mentioned in the “Reporter” story.

As for the bottom line here, it’s devastating on a number of levels. First, it means that “Children” and “Life” are both truly dead. Second, it means that “Children” altered its original ending to create a cliffhanger for no reason. And third, it’s devastating for the number of “Life” actors that signed on for the online launch that will now have to find other jobs.

It makes me wish that Prospect Park and ABC had just kept their mouths shut until they were positively sure this could happen…

Photo Credit: Rick Rowell/ABC