Lawsuits aside, the ABC soaps are back today on Hulu.com and other web outlets. “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” have returned in 30 minute form via Prospect Park Productions. For the most part they are the same. The biggest difference: the language. A couple of characters say “shit” and one said the word “asshole.” Nice. Did we need that? I don’t think so.
Of the two shows, “One Life to Live” is in better shape. But that’s no surprise. They weren’t decimated by ABC the way “AMC” was in its last couple of years. But Susan Lucci is still AWOL and you do feel it. Though it’s very rewarding to see David Canary, Julia Barr, and Jill Larson, Erica Kane is the white elephant in the room. It was a nice touch though to see the old All My Children scrapbook from the show’s original opening credits in the first scene. “AMC” may take some to build up steam.
“One Life” has a big reveal in its opening episode– the return of a character everyone thought was killed off before the original show ended. So there’s already a mystery and a sense of purpose. Â “One Life” also had a more even pace to it. And as soaps go, the pudgy little girl who was Destiny, a teen mom, is now a slinky model type. Life is good in soaps, although I miss that original girl. She had a lot of charm.
Snoop Dogg “wrote” the music that’s the new theme for “One Life.” It’s not very good, but the dancing was cute. And all the older actorrs look refreshed and ready to go. Now it’s just a matter of all the old fans finding them on Hulu and iTunes.
By the way, so far in the half hour format you get 25 minutes of show–that’s a lot. In the hour format, “General Hospital” is sometimes as short as 35 minutes. And you know what? That’s plenty.
