NaBloPoMo Month - "RIP One & Children, RIP"

NaBloPoMo Month - "RIP One & Children, RIP"
Entry #12 - 11/12/2013

Port Charles died in 2003.

Passions first died in 2007 and then again in 2008.

Guiding Light (My Beloved, FYI) died in 2009.

As The World Turns (My Second Beloved, FYI) died in 2010.

 

2013 Casts of One Life to Live & All My Children

 

All My Children and One Life to Live were both murdered in 2011 - on the same day no less and saved the same year in 2011, 2012 and once more in 2013. However, they too have died - at least according to lead actress Debbi Morgan (Angie) and Cady McClain (Dixie).

 

It was the Cinderella story that merged with the little engine that could in 2011 when a production company called Prospect Park swooped in and bought from ABC the rights to Agnes Nixon's iconic soap operas. PP's plan was to take AMC live in September 2011 and OLTL live in January 2012, following the respective series finales on broadcast network. However, by year's end 2011, that plan had failed and PP was no closer to airing the soaps than ABC was in resurrecting them to life once more.

 

In the late winter/early spring of 2012, ABC's sole soap opera General Hospital integrating into the cast reformed rapist Todd Manning, his songbird daughter Starr Manning and the ultimate good guy John McBain - who helped save Port Charles (the town, not the soap) from deadly bomb with the help of his longtime OLTL lover Natalie's picture. It was a miracle that a part of OLTL's Llanview history got to live on and it was that same miracle that no doubt cause PP to setup and take notice. They ordered GH to cease using the characters of Todd, Starr and John - although the actors were still under contract with ABC.

 

Long story short...Prospect Park launched AMC and OLTL online via their website and Hulu - to much fanfare! It was heralded as the moment that could change how we view soap operas and television dramas forever. Let's all remember soap operas used to air on the radio...when they went to television everyone said they would fail.

 

Alas, it was not meant to be. Several months ago, Prospect Park announced it was shelving OLTL, due in part to a suit that was brought against ABC/GH for killing off OLTL characters that belonged to Prospect Park. AMC on the other hand had a hugely successful first season run on Hulu - compared in contrast to the disappointing run that OLTL had. The aforementioned, Debbi Morgan delivered some of her most powerful work as Angie Hubbard and was poised in season two to set our computer screens and iPads a blaze with her sizzling chemistry with Vincent Irizarry's dastardly Dr. David Hayward. But it too was not meant to be...as Morgan and McClain and OLTL characters confirmed AMC's demise.

 

As Jamey Giddens of Daytime Confidential recently suggested in a podcast (available on iTunes for all you soap lovers) perhaps it's time to retire these 40-year plus shows and be thankful that the experiment was tried and failed as opposed to not being tried at all. We should look to the future of soap operas and relish in the ones that are still on the air - The Young and the Restless (who just appointed new head-writers) and The Bold and the Beautiful (who has a stellar storyline with Brooke/Bill/Katie) and Days of our Lives (who takes it old school, but still keeps it fresh) and General Hospital (who is enjoying a five year ratings high) - and with the demise of AMC and OLTL it got me thinking of how some of the best and brightest could make their way back to daytime in new roles...

 

 

Erika Slezak (ex-Viki, One Life to Live)

Slezak is the baddest bitch in all of daytime and she has the Emmys to back it up - count them six in total. The matriarch of OLTL should move west to CBS's The Bold and the Beautiful - as who you might ask...Vivian Spencer aka Momma Spencer. Granted there has never been a Vivian Spencer on the canvas and we don't really know who or what Bill's momma's name is - but Slezak would fit the mold and provide a much needed boost to that age range! It's time we meet Bill's mother and let her go toe-to-toe with his preachy ex-wife Katie Logan and the slut/sister-in-law her baby boy took to bed!

 

Robert Scott Wilson (ex-Pete, All My Children)

Rumor has it and storylines suggest it that General Hospital is need of a Lucas Jones. Half-brother to Carly Jax, cousin to feuding best friends Lulu and Maxie and biological son of just revealed mobster Julian Jerome! The character who revealed his sexuality years ago was talked about by his mother Barbara Jean earlier this year, by saying he's working in a Seattle based hospital. Well it's time for Lucas to come home and mix it up with his kinfolks and add some spice to Felix and Brad's pairing...

 

Debbi Morgan (ex-Angie, All My Children)

When AMC first went off the air in 2011, CBS's The Young and the Restless snapped up the ferrous Ms. Morgan as a throwaway character dubbed by fans and critics as YoHarmony. Ms. Morgan also went on the record at the time and said she would not play the wildly popular Drucilla Winters, played formerly by her gal pal and fan favorite Victoria Rowell. However, that was over two years ago...Drucilla went over a cliff nearly seven years ago and fans are itching for her to claw her way back up from the valley of the river! If CBS/Sony won't work out their issues with Rowell...it's time for bygones to be bygones...invite Ms. Morgan back to Y&R and give her the role she was meant to play in 2011. As far as friendships go...Ms. Morgan needs to call up Victoria Rowell and tell her like it T-I-S...which is, bitch I got bills to pay!