I think the whole thing was planned from way start. ABC cancelled the shows, saw the heat they were getting from the fans (which they probably never anticipated) when they saw how outraged the fans were they dreamed up the PP story. Think about it these guys buy the rights to 2 shows and they have no money, no backing but these 2 shows need $40,000,000.00 a year to produce! (and that’s low balling it from what I’ve read). So the fans are “somewhat” happy definately hopefull, but still pissed at abc. So abc then makes an announcement that Frons is leaving (if you think that wasn’t planned then you’re really ignorant) So they slowly leak these stories about who had signed on to go to the internet. Now the fans are thinking that everything just might work out. AMC wraps-a short time after that we find out that PP probably won’t be bringing AMC to the web. Going forward OLTL wraps on November 18 and 5 days later on the 23rd we find out the whole deal is dead! The timing was just too coincidental on all fronts. As far as GH is concerned I want GH to survive more than I can put into words BUT I can’t help but wonder if abc bought Frank Valentini and Ron Carlivati in to work the magic that they did with bringing OLTL to a close. I have watched the 3 soaps since 1970 I don’t trust ABC anymore, I just hope they have enough brains after all that has happened to leave GH alone…..But I’m not so sure they will.

Thanks for the article, Michael! It sounds even more as if PP was never really serious about showing either show, and that this was just posturing to deflect the fans wrath at ABC/Disney.

It’s shameful the way these actors and crew were treated. What did PP think, they would just give away their craft for free so they (PP) could make money on a new experiment? Just like ABC, they lied and lied, right up until the end. Instead of a formal notification the day before T-giving, which is what the actors and crew deserved, they got a “clean out your dressing room by the end of the day.” Nice.

Ok so PP lost their option on One Life to Live? ABC once again has the rights? Why don’t they sell the rights to AN or to others who were supp interested. I understand abc must know they made a huge mistake with OLTL and would not want someone to air it as competition. There must be a way before it is too late.

I wonder if Prospect was in on it with ABC? I feel sorry for the actors and the fans.. I wouldn’t be so bitter about it if they handled it better.. They made the actors move to LA and everything thinking the show was going to last a few years. Not once has ABC said thank you to the fans for the years of support.

BRING BACK OUR SOAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the article that is really terrible to treat such talented actors like that and crew. How does that old saying go what comes around goes around, now they deserve what they are getting and maybe someone will wake up and put our soaps back a do the right thing for everyone .

Well Jill & All
I take it like this; ABC and Disney and Prospect Park and whoever the powers that be
are have had it in their pipes all along to cancel out our soaps. We never had a snow balls chance in hell of ever reaching an aggreement to where our shows would be
continuing. All the emailing, calling and addressing these higher ups was a total lost
cause and a waste of time.. I for one am cancelling my ABC programming off of my sattillite programming package along with all Disney programing. I am not watching any shows on ABC ever again. I am positive I am not the only fan that thinks this way.
ABC doesn’t give 2 hoots about its fans and they are very sneaky and they lie thr their teeth. They say The Revolutions rating is increasing. LOL What a joke; its ratings are continuing to fall each week but they won’t say that; they won’t admit they were wrong in replacing our soaps. All I can say is, I’m done done done! Goodluck to all actors on our soaps. You were much loved for over 43 yrs.

I am so angry with ABC. They tried to blame everything on Prospect Park whenthey have the rights. We fans know ABC could put OLTL back on. They would be ashamed to admit they were wrong. That’s why they don’t. Well, suck it up and put OLTL back on and everything will go back to normal. If not we will continue to BOYCOTT ABC. Mr. Walt Disney would never have allowed them to hurt the fans like this. He is turning over in his grave. Grow up Mr. Iger & Ms. Sweeney. Act like adults & at least talk to the fans.

I negotiate contracts for a living and something smells really fishy here. I’ve never heard of an interested party agreeing to negotiate for one round and then suddenly just stop negotiating UNLESS #1 they received a better offer elsewhere or #2 had ulterior motives for even entering the contract negotiation to begin with. VERY obvious that PP never intended to negotiate. Pretty apparent that PP was used as a stall tactic to temporily pacify the public outcry against the cancellations of OLTL and AMC. ABC/PP dragged out the “negotiation” JUST long enough to get The Revolution and The Chew up and running with little fanfare and kept the public at bay. You can already see the same sneaky scenario playing out with Katie Couric’s recent press release about wanting GH to be her lead in, followed by the “Katie” show press release which conveniently announces her show but has NO mention of the fate of GH. It feels like ABC is incrementally bracing the public in bits and pieces and is waiting to the absolute last second to announce (quietly as possible, as an afterthought)….oh yeah, GH is cancelled but hey, you already knew that. If ABC intended to keep GH on board, they typically advertize the bejeebus out of a show. I mean, just watch yesterday’s GH episode and HOW MANY times did they rerun the same Ads for the shows “Missing” and “Scandal”. How many times do we see ads for Modern Family, Greys and GCB? Something is rotten in Denmark!

EPIC FAIL from the very beginning!

I hate ABC/D how can a network choose to fall in the nielson ratings they are at or close to the bottom almost every day they use to be a network leading the pack. The only show that I will watch on ABC is GH if they cancel GH than ABC will never be on my tv again. ABC needs to let the 2 soaps go so they may find another home.

I still say it was all a big fat plan on behalf of ABC to stall out the fans. Best words for it? “Dirty Play!” I never felt comfortable anymore about PP from the day I learned that these two guys (whatever their names are) were once employed by ABC. Once? Come on! They were probably ALWAYS employed by ABC! Sorry ~ no more ABC on my TV. Not ever again, and I don’t miss it one bit! On to bigger and better things. My new favorite will be Dallas beginning on Wednesday, June 13th at 9 p.m. Oh and by the way ~~ it’s on TNT!

Thank you so much for this interview, Michael! Jill is one class act! What I found very interesting about this interview was Prospect Park telling the actors they would lose their option to the shows on Jan 1st. Is this the truth or another Prospect Park blatant lie they told the casts? The bottom line is Prospect Park acted with zero respect for anybody or anything to do with these shows. Prospect Park’s business acumen looks like a page out of the Keystone Cops playbook. This company will go down in well-deserved flames and I for one will be sitting with popcorn and marshmallows enjoying the view.

I have read that Agnes Nixon gets the rights back in Sept if PP has not found a way to have
our soaps put back in production. Now I am wondering if then our shows will start up again.
All we can do at this point is hope and pray…

when disney bought abc their main goal was to get rid of all three of the daytime soaps – it was the agenda from the beginning and they have just about finished what they started……….

I wonder how much money abc/disney paid pp to keep the games going ,I was suspicious a few months into the con game,there werent that many soap stars signing on ,but most of all we heard nothing from pp if they were really into it why didnt they talk straight to the fans ?they didnt because it was all lies and abc/disney knew it and they broke our hearts not once but twice,and not once did abc/disney say anything ,thats because they are cowards and they are all RATS that work for a network that use to be grand but has slowly gone downhill,there greed took over anything decent about that network and I will never watch them again,There are many good networks out there to watch with good programming so Im not missing anything special on abc/disney.

J.R.EWING would b proud as PP is a dummy corporation 4 ABC.

When ABC/D gets rid of the whole soap genre and their ratings tank they will be begging actors to come back and do the shows. If they don’t have ratings, the sponsers will drop them. No sponsers, no money and that means they will have to come up with something else to provide revenue. We soap fans are banded together and if you think that ratings on ABC are bad now, just wait. PP was and is a joke, trying to bargain great actors and actresses with $50 an episode? That was a slap in the face and the biggest insult, for me, to date. News flash ABC, this is the year 2012 not 1980, there are more programs on the boob tube these days and we don’t have to watch whatever you think someone should watch. Get a clue and bring back One Life to Live and AMC, stop the Jekyl and Hyde experiments. They are unwatchable and toruture for anyone who has to hear that non sense while they are waiting in a doctors office.

Mr. Fairman, thank-you for making us aware of this interview with Jill Larson, in “Soap Opera Digest.” What she had to say about PPark from her perspective, certainly didn’t sound like they made the actors a fair offer, even if it was a “real” offer. And after reading many of the comments here one wonders if it was all “smoke & mirrors.” If so, that is very discouraging. But, I do not think all the hard work & time that many of the soapfans have put into the cause & CONTINUE to put into the cause is never a waste of time, as some in frustration have said. Standing up for what you want & believe is right is never a waste of your time. And the camaraderie we’ve all gained has been invaluable! Don’t give up yet!

It is beyond ridiculous that ABC is wanting to become an all talk show network during daytime. Prospect Park is a joke as well as ABC/D – we need to put more pressure for them to sell back to Agnes Nixon so another netwok can take over. There has to be a way to force ABC to give it up already!!! This is ridiculous.

We can get All My Children & One Life To Live back on the air. It’s going to take us as fans to do it! These actors came into our hearts and homes everyday. We have an idea for putting both shows back on the air but, we need supporters/fans help. If you are interested, contact us and become a friend on our facebook page, if you want to take part on getting both soaps back on the air. Add friends to our page and help support AMC & OLTL, and let start working together on airing our 2 favorite soaps at http://www.facebook.com/groups/soapopera1

Thank you for the article. I adore Jill, met her twice. She’s a straight shooter from my aquaintance I remember. I’m inclined to believe she is telling exactly what happened. No further comment. Tired of going through the same subjects over and again. Thank you for the article, Thanks Jill for further perspective.

Short and sweet I believe the Media & TPTB weren’t aware of how large a fan base the shows HAVE and how we rally!

I think originally, PP had honest intentions. ABC on the otherhand, Knew PP would run into issues thats y they leased to them instead a production company that was established and could profit. In the end (out the mouth of an actor) PP wanted actors to drop union & work for peanuts while they rake in the $ hand over fist airing shows on cable. In the end its all about greed and screw the people.

ABC was playing games with us from day one. I remember early on someone saying that ABC was going to feed us some malarky to keep our mouths shut. That is exactly what they pullled. They had no intention of saving the soaps in any capacity. I truly believe they duped us and have every intention of getting rid of General Hospital when the time comes.
The best thing the fans can do is continue their boycott of ABC and Disney. We have already hit them hard in the pocketbook with the tanking of “The Revolution”, and other programs coming back with low ratings. ABC is no longer the #1 television station. Do not buy products from their advertisers.
It bothers me that they thought the actors would work for dirt to continue the genre on line. What an insult to those hard working people.

I want ABC to bring All My Children back!

I am so sick of ABC shows. I have watched AMC,OLTL, AND GH ever since I was in jr high after school with my aunt. I grew up loving these actors! They are so much better, So much more talented than these awful, replacement shows. I cant even stand to see commercials for “the spew” or “revulsion” ugh!! Now you cant watch GH without seeing the nauseating commercials for gcb and the b in apt whatever!! What is up with the b word and disney?? I’m sick of these annoying, crappy shows. Soaps were like diamonds, this stuff–dirt. Oh yeah, happy endings?? Have you ever been able to watch 5 min of this horrid thing??DON’T!! CBS thank you!! Happily watching your shows now. See jacob young from amc at least, and NORA from oltl!! Yea

I think PP and ABC treated the cast and crew horribly. ABC tried to save face with PP; PP tried tos ay they were doing all they can and then blaming Susan Lucci for AMC’s failure – the actors were wondering why PP didn’t meet with Lucci personally and why they weren’t talking to Lucci seriously – they didn’t continue negotiating. Now it is rumoured or more than rumoured that ABC is thinking of picking up a night time soap called Devious maids and guess who they cast – Susan Lucci. I think she was to be just a co star as she is not one of the maids who appears to be the focus but I think ABC is realizing if this show gets picked up they probably at least to start with need to use Lucci’s name. She may be “only” daytime but I think many would argue though there are some nighttime stars Susan really is still a if not the marquee for the show.