Exclusive: Susan Lucci Has Been Contacted for “All My Children” Revival
Don’t get excited just yet. I have been told by a very good source that Prospect Park Productions has contacted Susan Lucci, aka Erica Kane, about a revival of “All My Children” online and maybe on cable. There have been reports in the last couple of days that Prospect Park, whose license with ABC on “All My Children” and “One Life to Live,” is trying to re-activate the much-missed soap operas. A friend of Lucci told me yesterday: “There have been some talks, but the word wasn’t supposed to get out yet.” Hmmmm….
Prospect Park — run by controversial manager Jeff Kwatinetz, late of the Firm, and Rich Frank, late of Disney–had gotten a license from ABC to put the canceled shows online. At the 11th hour, however, everything fell apart. If the deals had gone through, Prospect Park would have had the shows up and running last January 2012. “OLTL” went off the air then, and some of its characters, its executive producer and head writer, transferred to ABC’s “General Hospital.”
Lucci was at a loss by then. There had been talks with Prospect Park in 2011 prior to the September conclusion of “All My Children,” but they mysteriously stopped, she told me. Lucci more than any other actor from either show would have to be included or it simply wouldn’t be worth it. She and “OLTL” star Erika Slezak are linchpins of their respective shows.
Another key “OLTL” player, Robert S. Woods, told me yesterday that he’d heard rumblings about Prospect Park’s renewed interest, but that he had not been contacted yet. “They may not know how to find me,” said Woods, who’s been kicking back in upstate New York after 30 something years of service to “OLTL” as leading hero Bo Buchanan.
There have been reports, though, that Prospect Park has finally made deals with SAG-AFTRA and may be closing deals with the other guilds.
Reviving the shows could be done, but it’s tricky. Pieces of “OLTL” live in “General Hospital,” which is having a ratings surge. For “All My Children,” it’s harder. Lucci has made other deals since “AMC’ ended. Plus, that show was in tatters thanks to ABC’s mismanagement of it for years. In either case, creator-writer Agnes Nixon would have to be brought back as well, since she has the secret sauce recipe that made the shows a success.
And then again, it’s possible Prospect Park is just faking it to extend their license arrangement. ABC might like the shows back now considering their alternative programming has failed. “General Hospital” is booming. And really, the only thing network execs know is success. Soaps, which they trashed for years, are looking good again. If Procter and Gamble were smart, they’d look to a revival of their own shows, “As the World Turns” and “Guiding Light.”
We’ll wait and see if this is just another cliffhanger with no pay off…
i dont think all my children should have been taken off in the place i want to know when and where its coming back you dont know how many people watch that show me i watch from day one till you took it away
I would love to see all the cast of all my children back. & also the cast of one life to live. I miss those two soaps. I was very disapointed when it went off the air.
Will Agnes Nixon is on board but I just don’t understand how the funding is going to happen for this. And if they are hoping to recapture the past soap audiences can they do it without Erika Slezak and Susan Lucci. I do think Slezak will come back as the filming is on the EAst coast and not be catty she hasn’t been able to find work despite being an amazing actress. Lucci I think is very careful about her career decisions. She tries to back winners and she is loyal to her fans but one wonders contractually can she do AMC right now with Devious Maids still filming and she would have to allow for the filming of Deadly affairs as she is contractually bound. But I note the following. Susan Lucci is a pro and has worked a one hour soap which get far less rehearsal and prep time than a night time show. It is possible she could say be on 2 out 4 shows a week and film in blocks – careful scheduling and she could film 10 to 12 shows in a five day period. That could cover over a month of shows.AMC is suppose to be on for 42 weeks so if she filmed say filmed under 2 mos for a solid week each week she could have her 84 plus shows (1/2 of the shows produced in a year for internet). It wold take some juggling but who knows….
I hope they bring back All My Children and OLTL. After watching them for 30+ years it was very disappointing when ABC replaced them with shows that have been less than successful.
Why not put AMC and OLTL on cable? Most soap fans would be happy to pay a little extra to have the soaps back on the air. SOAPnet is a good place to show AMC and OLTL. I really miss both soaps and hope they are revived–soon! I have watched these shows for over 30 yrs. and miss them dearly. There is nothing on daytime TV to watch since AMC and OLTL have been cancelled. Please don’t replace GH with another cooking show!!!
[…] in. Who’s willing (or able to) nibble now? AMC frontwoman Susan Lucci has been contacted, Showbiz411.com reported, though she is currently committed to the 13-episode Lifetime drama Devious Maids. OLTL‘s […]
Lucci and Slezak are essential. No doubt. But Slezak is not willing to relocate to the west coast, so production would have to be east coast based. Atlanta is a viable, cost-effective production hub only 2 hours by plane from NYC. Both of these leading ladies could fly in a few days a month for their scenes. Several tv shows, including The Walking Dead, and many feature films are enjoying Georgia’s 30% tax credit. Atlanta is a major yet affordable city of 6 million people. Many film/tv professionals are calling it their home, or even their second home (Margaret Cho keeps an apartment there to film Drop Dead Diva). It can be done.
Only one way to save Katie; bring AMC and OLTL followed by GH… tv stays on Bingo Katie gets boost in ratings. One way to salvage that investment.
It would be wonderful if All My Children and One Life to Live were revived! However, Prospect Park was such a let down with their previous deals that it’s hard to get my hopes up for the shows returning with PP. If ABC revived the shows, they could just as easily cancel them a second time, since they had the nerve to cancel them the first time.
Please bring back oltl i miss that soap and bring the whole crew back too!!
We’ll have to wait to see how it all plays out. I do not watch ABC at all only GH.
I want all my children and oltl back I really miss these soaps so much please don’t take long
Thanks, Mr. Friedman, for your excellent reporting. I’m afraid PP will get the rights extended and drop the ball again. :(
Hey Tom. It Was NOT Near the end of 2011 that It was Rumored that Prospect Park was Going to Resurrect All My Children, but It was going to be Online. I think It was May of 2011 that Prospect Park Wanted to Resurrect All My Children Online, but They Hoped to be Able to Get A Cable Channel to Show All My Children After They had Shown It on Their Web Site. All My Children Went off the Air September 23 2011. Prospect Park was going to have All My Children Start on January 16 and One Life To Live would Also Start on Prospect Park on January 16. One Life To Live would go off ABC on January 13. I Can’t Remember when It was, but Prospect Park Announced that They would not have All My Children After All. It seems like They had Announced that maybe in August, but that might not be Right. Then, Prospect Park Announced on Thanksgiving that They would not be Having One Life To Live Either. Jody
I would be so happy if they brought back All My Children and One Life to Live on the air. I miss watching them everyday. I have watched them for over 30 years. I hope Prospect Park is able to bring them back.
Of course procter and gamble should bring back amc and oltl, they have a 30 yr built in audience!!!
I hope they bring back one life to live and all my children. My heart was broken I miss oltl very much I think about the soap all the time and look at the casting picture I ordered of abc. Please bring them back.
Thank you, Mr. Friedman, for recognizing the value of our soap operas. Yes, Disney/ABC did try an experiment when they cancelled our iconic shows for cheaper – both in quality and cost – programs. That experiment failed miserably and I hope they now are able to correct that mistake by returning All My Children and One Life To Life to our tv screens.
Prospect Park has disappointed us once and I truly hope they do not do that again. The “no comment” statements by them only make us doubt them once more. They need fan support and will receive it if they are making an honest attempt to relaunch our shows.
I never watched As The World Turns or Guiding Light, but I agree with you that it’s not too late to bring those soaps back also. I’m positive that the fans of those shows would absolutely love it. Soap viewers are a loyal group and will follow their stories anywhere.
[…] they were unable to do at the beginning of this year and thus had to pull out) comes word today via Showbiz411.com, that indeed Prospect Park has contacted All My Children star and soap icon, Susan Lucci to reprise […]
Roger,
I WANT to be excited about this, but there have ALWAYS been more questions than answers about the PP deal. If this is indeed legit, this would be HUGE, Soap fans WANT to support PP, but not at the expense of being in the dark again. Thank you for your continued coverage and support…
There can only be one REAL Erica Kane. Susan Lucci was born for this role and she made it her own for all of the “All My Children” history. From the moment when she claimed that Pine Valley wasn’t the corner of Hollywood Blvd., to when she yelled down a grizzly bear (not Brian Frons, no matter how much he deserved it), to when her tv baby, Bianca, was put into Erica’s arms, through all the trials and tribulations, and up to where her long time main squeeze, Jackson Montgomery, said ‘Frankly, Erica, I don’t give a damn what you want’, Susan Lucci has taken the soap opera genre to whole new horizons for over 40 years. But she didn’t do it alone. There isn’t a single episode, storyline, plot twist, or character in Pine Valley, PA that wasn’t the divine creation of Agnes Nixon.
Now, near the end of 2011, it was rumored that Prospect Park was going to try and resurrect All My Children, but there was a huge fork in the road; it was going to be online. As much as I may have knowledge of how to run a computer to play a video or music file, not everybody has the know how or the access that would’ve been necessary. These financial times have been a wreck and people have stretched their financial needs down to the barest essentials. And as much as we’d love to find out what happens next, or what didn’t happen, and I really am sorry for saying this, buying a computer and learning how to use it in order to watch a tv show seems to pale in comparison to adequate health care, finding and keeping a job, paying off your bills, and providing a somewhat stable livelihood for one’s own family especially when it seems all the more reasonable to put it back on the tv airwaves.
But let’s get back on point. Prospect Park, or PP, claimed that they were going to revive AMC. Then it turns out that PP is an ABC/Disney subsidiary; which begs the question ‘Why would ABC/Disney cancel one of their most prized soap operas and how could they sell it to their own company which was going to put it back on the air?’ PP backed out because of inadequate funding and after we had let our guards down. As a result, the entire Save Our Soaps Movement burned Brian Frons, Anne Sweeney, and Bob Iger at the perverbial stake for not taking us or our demands seriously. Now fast forward to right now. While I know that only Susan Lucci can do Erica Kane any real justice, I have absolutely no doubt that PP cannot, did not, has not, and will not do All My Children any given kind of justice. No. As far as I’m concerned, there is only one person who can give All My Children one more life to live: AGNES NIXON! And until I see, hear, or read that Agnes Nixon’s legal rights have been restored to her, for HER creations, so that she will continue to entertain and enlighten thousands if not millions of people, and as far as any news about PP’s plans, I won’t believe a single G.D. thing they have to say.
I believe and I cannot wait to get back to my shows !!!!
I am beyond thrilled at my shows getting life again, but agree that Susan Lucci and Erika Slezak would have to be part of each production to be successful. Fans want to believe in miracles!
SUSAN WE YOU AND ALL MY CHILDREN BACK!
I’m not getting my hopes up, because prospect has let us down once before. It is possible to bring AMC back, would take a while to get the actors back but not all of them are signed on permanently on other shows, Like Bobbie Eakes, Michael E. Knight, Jill Larson.. etc. I’m sure when the show first started it took awhile to build it up.. I don’t know how they expect it to get going in 2013 like I read..They need to rebuild the sets, new costumes etc.. Would be great if it came to Cable..
Not to mention Lucci is now on Devious Maids. Granted, that’s a 13 week show and she could probably work around that, but I think her availability will be limited.
I wish PGP would sell their rights to As The World Turns and Guiding Light. There’s enough interest to have them back, too.
I’m excited! Really hope OLTL & AMC make it back to TV, regardless of the entity who brings them back. YES TO CABLE!!!!!!
Every soap lover would love to see AMC on TV again. Cable, internet, somewhere!! PLEASE, PLEASE!