All My Children
Jeff Kwatinetz Takes Prospect Park and Investors To Court With Chief Complaint Over The Continuation of All My Children and One Life to Live!
Courtesy/N.Y. Times
There is always more to the story, and that would be true for those in front of the camera and behind the scenes who work in, perform in, or produce in soap operas! News broke today that Jeff Kwatinetz, who spearheaded the online revivals of the canceled ABC soaps, All My Children and One Life to Live is now suing the company he works for Prospect Park and its Boston-based investment group ABRY Investment Partnership, L.P., and ABRY Senior Equity Co-Investment Fund IV.
According to Deadline.com, “The catalyst of the complaint was a difference of opinion that Kwatinetz has with ABRY over the direction of the company, sources tell me. Specially, that disagreement has to do with the future of AMC and OLTL and whether they will continue or not. Kwatinetz was advocating the continuation of the two series. Having said that, the producer had his lawyer Michael Taitelman file the complaint not because he intends to leave Prospect Park, I’m told, but because he wants to explore his options in what is a very complicated and multi-tiered agreement. Otherwise, all parties seem to be in sync right now at the busy Prospect Park and Kwatinetz continues to work there.”
“Kwatinetz is seeking a declaratory judgment over non-compete clauses in a December 31, 2012 employment agreement he signed with Prospect Park when the Boston-based investors came on board late last year. Jeff Kwatinetz wants a judge to decide if the “unenforceable non-competition and non-solicitation provision” would actually prevented him from working for another company for 5 years and if Prospect and ABRY could get an injunction to force him to work for them for 5 years if he attempted to leave. “In addition, the Guarantee contains what is essentially a $5,000,000 liquidated damages penalty for a ‘breach’ of the unenforceable non-competition provision and employment term requirements in the Agreement,” the 10-claim complaint filed on November 21 in LA Superior Court adds (read it here).”
So, do you think based on this, Kwatinetz was angling for AMC and OLTL to return (pending that soaps court case with ABC) but his own company and investors wouldn’t back him on the soap projects anymore? What do you think about Jeff taking Prospect Park and ARBY to court? Weigh-in!
We the fans should spearhead a serious boycott against all prospect park programs (royal pains, Wlfred and others ) until they stop holding our soap operas hostage .
Don’t be so bitter..
PP is still fighting..
They have the investments in the soaps, all we needed to was watch, for free..
why would you be so heated malicious………………………….
(((PP is the only hope for the soaps ABC will never again air them and nobody but PP wants them..
Why? They are the ones that tried to save them. It takes money and support to keep them on the air.
I agree. I have nothing but gratitude for PP’s attempt to keep our shows alive. The villains here are the dirty scum (the alphabet network and mouse company) who cancelled the television broadcasts.
Yes, I agree I liked both soaps and I miss them… I furrious with ABC/DISNEY and PROSPECT PARK.. for doing this ABC for the crap that is on now during the day.. and PROSPECT PARK for screwing the soaps
It seems to be all about the money…I’m annoyed, and disgusted. I want ALL MY CHILDREN to return, albeit Lord only knows what actors will be available when and if it finally does. Part of me wants the show to continue on-line but I am not crazy about what Prospect Park has done with the show, and certainly not happy with their severe lack of communication. If I had my choice, I’d vote for the show to return to ABC-TV but this time as a half hour program. Unfortunately, it seems doubtful that will happen, but one never knows. I watched every single show on-line (including OLTL as well) and was hoping they would improve, and to a certain extent they both did. They really weren’t given a chance to find their actual ‘footing’ on-line or even time to attract new viewers.
I don’t know what else to think other than to hope that ALL MY CHILDREN can return and One Life as well.
Well of course it’a about the money! It’s a business; nobody air shows for humanitarian reasons. I don’t blame Kwatinetz…he’s onboard for the shows revival…but wants to ensure his own employment should the deals permanently fall apart. Why shouldn’t he protect his own legal rights just as any of us would.
It is about money. Nobody is going to pay from their own pockets just to keep them on. It would be really stupid as a business to pay for things yourself with no money coming in. I want them back very badly, but it does have to be cost effective for it to be done.
Of course, I realize it’s about money, it’s about turning a profit. But I hate to see the aesthetic value of a project superceded by greed. Part of me wishes that Prospect Park had not gotten involved, even though it was an interesting experiment to try. Since ABC-Daytime is currently not attracting the viewers it once had, surely some of the business execs there must realize that it was a mistake to axe the shows without at least considering experimenting with shortened versions.
I didn’t like it either.
Who WERE all those sex crazed teenagers???
I really don’t care anymore. this is a big mess. amc and one life to live are not coming back. lets just enjoy our 4 soaps right now..
Sadly, it would take a miracle to bring them back. I’m especially sad that of the remaining soaps, one I have tried seems to be very poorly done. I cringe when I compare it to the richly- written stories we had on AMC and OLTL. yet, it survives. Go figure.
If they were any doubt that AMC and OLTL are done permanently, this article pretty much removed all doubts. This guy is hungry for money and it shows. Clearly his lawsuit against ABC is not going as planned and he is now looking for other ways to get money. This new lawsuit will be a flop just like the one against Disney. And as usual, it’s the fans and the actors that are paying for all this charade.
I’ve come to accept that AMC and OLTL won’t return. PP doesn’t have the money to keep them running and ABC is not interested at all in bringing them back. Anybody who wants to continue believing that the soaps will be back will only end up being hurt and frustrated. But I’m personally done with all this bs with ABC, PP and Kwatinetz. It’s not good for my mental health and I prefer to support the four soaps we still have on the air instead of being bothered with all this nonsense.
Well said…i agree…lets move on and support the remaining four we know are still with us…im done with PPs ‘Money Hungery Games’…
I wonder who Kwatinetz will sue next?
He’s not suing Prospect Park, he is going into court with them to determine what he can and cannot do as a partner with them. He wants the court to spell it out and rightly so. If your interests are not being served as a partner then you have to get legal rulings. He’s only asking for that to be done, not money.
He will sue, richard simmons. lol.
It’s over agreements and obligations.
They will figure it out, it will be judged, and the PP will bring the extremely popular soaps to a cable network..
PP is not giving up on the 2 soaps, there are legal agreement matters to attended to and then the 2 soaps will rise again from the ashes 🙂
PP continues the fight!!!
And Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are real too!
I have to agree with you on this. There is too much interest in this for it to just go away. I believe they will be back on cable tv in 2014.
Personally, I would be okay with them combining the two shows and make it an hour show. PV and Llanview are sister cities on opposite sides of the Llantano River. Why not?
Yes, they should combine the two shows since they are Agnes Nixon
characters and live in Pine Valley and Landview, PA – keep the strongest
characters from both. It would work.
I hope so that PP bring our soaps on cable network.. I was hoping they would have done that from the beginning. I am not getting my hopes up…
Unfortunately I don’t think AMC and OLTL will be back. They have brought it to the point of no return after all this crap. People (actors) will only take so much and I believe it was pushed to that point.
For me, it is over. I miss the ABC version of AMC. I would have liked the PP version if there had been more David and Billy Clyde. Well, actually, more of the vets. We got too much of the newbies and now it is over once again. There really is not much to miss about AMC2 for me. As far as the newbies go, I liked Colby and Cassandra. Aging Miranda and AJ was too unbelievable. Nothing against the actors personally, they just didn’t fit. In my mind AMC is over and I am already moving on. If it comes back, I will be happy and I will watch. If it doesn’t come back, then so be it. AMC will always be my favorite TV show. It brought me countless hours of fun and entertainment. I will still boycott ABC and all talk shows which is easy to do because they are stupid and boring. Good luck to PP, hope they win in court against ABC.
I can see it now…AMC 3.0- starring the actors who played AJ, Miranda, and the soon to be cast Gabby. No other AMC alums in their right mind would sign on for a 3ed go round with this. Why do you think Debbie Morgan withdrew her name from the Daytime Emmy contest? I knew the show was done when Thorsten signed with another soap and said he had no contract with PP.
Well IF it comes back, and brother that’s a big IF – fans would have to accept new faces and new characters. Some actors would return (but I don’t think Debbi Morgan would be one of them) and some wouldn’t be available. Actors have to work just like anyone else, but I don’t know how many would board this train again called Prospect Park. If that sounds like I am being harsh and not sensitive to some of the obstacles that PP had to face, I don’t mean it that way. I would love to see ALL MY CHILDREN return, even though right now the possibility of that may appear bleak.
Some of AMCs and OLTLs actors have moved on…im doing the same! Also im tired of the ABC boycott by fans…they complan about ABC putting 100s out of work and then turn around and try to do the same by boycotting abc primetime shows? I simply just wont watch the talk shows that replaced the soaps and thats all…besides why not boycott NBC and CBS too for cancelling soaps, especialy CBS who cancelled two:ATWTs,GL, before ABC even cancelled theirs!
When NBC cancelled Another World over ten years ago many said they were going to boycott NBC, I wonder out of all those people how many are still doing it? Networks are not threaten or concerned about boycotts and soap fans are not that large of group to effect their bottom line in the long term, even if everyone single one of them boycotted, which they all won’t. Networks are more concern about internet replacing television are the means of distributing content to the masses. I agree with what you said earlier, lets focus our support for the four soaps still on the air, so we can keep there for as long as possible.
I agree with what you said…networks are more concern about the internet than a boycott…by the way i hated how AW ended…ithought that was so corny about a gorilla in love with Cass…my favorite memories of AW in its early years was the Steve, Rachel, Alice love triangle, Iris who was the villian you love to hate and the Mathews family. In its later years i enjoyed Jake and Vicki, Frankie and Cass, and Mathew and Donna!
Forgot to say…i only got mad at NBC when they killed of Frankie(but was somewhat happy when the actress returned as her lookalike)…i recently seen the actress who played the part in a commericial…she still looks the same.
CBS and NBC did not cancel AMC. I boycott all talk shows because I am supporting the soaps. I boycott ABC because they canceled AMC!
I know abc cancelled amc i was just trying to say that a lot of people act as if abc was the only one to cancel a soap! Now i agree with you…boycott the talk shows in daytime that replace the soaps…but support the primetime shows that have nothing to do with it…
I know abc cancelled amc, i was just pointing out the other two networks did the same… i agree just boycott daytime talk shows but not primetime series that have nothing to do with it…
The prospect Park soap opera is becoming more and more repulsive. Investors do not want to put another dollar into the soaps, what more can die hard soap fans spin about these failed online shows? No wonder Debbie Morgan distanced herself. This guy also dissed Susan Lucci a couple years ago blaming her for the failure to launch the online version. No wonder Michael E Knight passed on the show. I just hope any remaining die hard fans stop the spin.
I hate to say it but it looks like AMC and OLTL are done. Even in a Version 3.0, the whole mess leaves me cold and happy enough to remember and embrace the 40+ years we had with these legacy programs. A real shame. Neithe rprogram was ready for pasture, evidenced by the amount of litigation. Wish ABC had just thought to pare back its programs to 30 ,mintues each again, or had them share a time slot — as Prospect Park did for most of the reboots’ runs — instead of cancelling them without much mercy. I know entertainment and contemporary culture evolves, but that can happen without “throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”
Let’s champion the four remainign programs and hope a renaissance of the daytime drama is in our future.
I too wish that ABC-TV had simply trimmed down ALL MY CHILDREN to a half hour, and trimmed down the budget. I feel they didn’t do anything to salvage either AMC or OLTL by experimenting with different models. As for Prospect Park, well, I don’t know what to say at this point. If they manage to bring back AMC, which seems doubtful, how many of the seasoned, more mature actors would be willing to come aboard?
Unfortunately I’d have to say that only one of the four remaining programs is currently worth championing. I realize that there is a lot of pressure, but I get tired of the same mistakes being made over and over–they never seem to learn from them. There will be no soap renaissance unless the surviving ones start telling stories worth watching.
i think this whole thing was a scam
All My Children
Billy Miller Memorial Scholarship Endowment Created at His Alma Mater to Help Others ‘Realize Their Dreams’
Two months since three-time Daytime Emmy-winning actor, Billy Miller passed away, the beloved All My Children (ex-Richie), General Hospital (ex-Jason/Drew) and The Young and the Restless (ex-Billy) star, will now have a permanent scholarship endowment in his honor at the University of Texas at Austin which was Miller’s alma mater.
Through the scholarship, it will be able to help radio/television and film undergraduate students with financial need. Billy’s family and friends have established this permanent scholarship in his memory, naming it the William Jon Miller II “Billy Miller” Memorial Scholarship. They hope the endowment will be a legacy to his life and love of acting.
Before becoming soap-famous, Billy graduated from the the university’s department of Radio-Television-Film (RTF) at the Moody College of Communication. On its official website, they shared the news of this special memorial scholarship and how Miller died at the age of 43 after surrendering his life to bipolar depression, which he struggled with his whole life.
Photo: JPI
Megan Hubbell, Billy’s sister, expressed, “We want something positive to be held in his name in perpetuity through the University he loved. He would be honored to know that even in death, he can help someone else realize their dreams.”
She added how she hoped her immensely talented brother will be remembered: “I hope BJ (as Billy was known by to his friends and family) is remembered for the kind-hearted, silly, funny, goofy, generous, beautiful soul that he was His megawatt smile, deep belly laugh and gorgeous mug were gifts on screen, but his true self was a bright light that will be carried with us forever.”
Photo: JPI
According to Miller’s family, Billy had his picks of schools and UT was his first choice. When he first came to the university, Billy started in the zoology program before switching to radio-television-film, where he felt he belonged. Miller was one of just 20 students at the time accepted into the department’s prestigious production-sequence program.
“BJ was extremely proud to be a Texas Longhorn and always remembered his time there fondly,” Hubbell said. “The time he spent at UT allowed him the space to explore who he wanted to be and what he wanted to accomplish.”
Photo: JPI
In honoring her brother’s work and strength to persevere in the often heartbreaking world of entertainment, Megan related: “I always admired the guts it took to go after a dream in Hollywood that so many people tried to discourage. He heard, ‘You’ll never make it’ more times than I care to count, but he used those comments as fuel and said, ‘Watch me.’”
Miller’s roles went far beyond those on daytime soap operas, as throughout his career he played major parts in primetime’s Suits, Ray Donovan and Castle to name but a few.
Photo: JPI
In his death, Billy’s family is encouraging people to take stock of their own mental health. “BJ would want anyone struggling with intrusive thoughts to seek professional help,” Hubbell said. “Do not suffer in silence or try to muscle through on your own. Mental health is vitally important and shouldn’t be spoken about in silos behind closed doors but rather in open forums with open arms. Shame has no place in the discussion to seek help.”
To donate to the William John Miller II “Billy Miller” Memorial Scholarship click here.
Share your thoughts on Billy’s family and friends, along with his alma mater, setting up this memorial scholarship endowment to help other talented young people in financial need get a shot at realizing their dreams via the comment section below.
All My Children
‘Live with Kelly and Mark’ Scores Touchdown in Ratings with Taylor Swift-Inspired ‘Halloween: The Eras Show’ Delivering Largest Audience In Over A Year
More great numbers for Live with Kelly and Mark. The talk shows Live’s Halloween: The Eras Show scored an impressive 2.9M total viewers on October 31, making it the most-watched Halloween episode in four years, according to the Nielsen ratings.
The episode also delivered some of the highest ratings in seven months for the morning show, particularly among women 18-49 and 25-54. Live’s Halloween: The Eras Show also pulled in a 1.92 household rating, as well as a 0.47 among women in the key 18 to 49 demo and a 0.69 among women 25 to 54. Those are up over the last two years of Halloween episodes and since Consuelos first started in the co-host chair back in April.
According to Deadline, Live’s Halloween: The Eras Show, also pulled in the largest audience numbers for a single episode in more than a year and half.
Photo: Disney/ABC
As is tradition with “Live’s Halloween” episodes, they are always filled with costume and pop culture moments and special guest surprises. Ripa and Consuelos were right in step with the biggest social media love story at the moment; that of Swift and her burgeoning romance with Kansas City Chiefs Tight End, Travis Kelce.
During Halloween week which started on Monday, October 30, Live was up up 11% versus the week prior in total viewers, and averaged 2.6 million viewers throughout the week. Year-over-year, the talk show was up that week by 15% in terms of total viewers. It looks like the former All My Children’s alum on-screen chemistry is just as palpable as it off-screen; as the two marrieds are making quite a successful run together on morning television.
Photo: Disney/ABC
So, what do you think of the impressive numbers for the Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos on ‘Live’? Did you enjoy their recent Halloween episode? Share your comments below.
All My Children
‘All My Children’ Star Peter White Dead at 86
Peter White, best known to soap fans as All My Children’s Linc Tyler, passed away this week at the age of 86. The cause of death was revealed to be melanoma.
The late actor’s former AMC co-star Kathleen Noone (ex-Ellen Shepherd Dalton) confirmed the news to multiple outlets sharing that White died in his home in Los Angeles of melanoma on Wednesday, November 1st. His death was first reported by Soap Hub.
White’s first soap opera role was actually on The Secret Storm in 1965-66. Then in 1971, he joined CBS’ Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, where he took on the role of Dr. Sanford Hiller. However, he became soap-famous for his role as Linc on All My Children which he began in 1976 and it would be a role he would play on and off till 2005.
Photo: ABC
In story, Linc was in love with Kitty Cole and later her sister Kelly (both played by Francesca James), despite his mother Phoebe’s constant interference and disapproval.
Peter later appeared in numerous primetime shows including: The Colbys, Knots Landing, Dallas, Sisters, Hill Street Blues, The Jeffersons, The Paper Chase, The West Wing, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Sisters, and more. His film roles included: Dave, Flubber, Armageddon, Thirteen Days and First Daughter.
Photo: BroadwayWorld
However, White jumpstarted his entire acting career in 1968 with the starring role as Alan McCarthy in Matt Crowley’s original Off-Broadway production of The Boys in the Band. Later, the drama was made into a landmark 1970 film, White and his original co-stars were all featured in it.
Share your condolences and remembrances of All My Children’s Peter White via the comment section below. But first, check out this clip when Linc was trying to help Kelly after the murder of Eddie Dorrance.
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