WTF!!!!!

EXCLUSIVE: Here is a great holiday gift for soap fans: I’ve learned that Prospect Park has revived its plan to continue cancelled ABC daytime dramas All My Children and One Life To Live online. I hear the company behind USA hit Royal Pains has inked deals with SAG-AFTRA and DGA for the soaps’ production, eyed to begin in the first quarter of 2013.

http://www.deadline....ine-web-series/

1. Writing matters.

2. Find someone who knows how to structure and pace a soap opera, and truly loves the genre, not an elitist, bitter hack like Sheffer or Guza.

3. Generations and history are vital to soap operas.

4. Don't show us how clever you are. Most people don't give a [!@#$%^&*] about how clever you are, or how you wink and wink at yourself all day long. Fawning from certain quarters does not equal success. Cheap history rewrites and pointless relations between long-gone characters are just that - cheap.

5. Cast based on charisma above all else. Charisma, then talent, then looks.

6. Keep people away from the plastic surgeon if they have no idea what they're doing.

7. Don't cast someone solely because of a fan campaign or because so and so was on the show for 20 years. See if there's anything that can actually be done with them.

LOL I laughed so hard when I read that one. The first person who instantly came to my mind was poor Leslie Charleson. I love Leslie and Monica but that lady has had so much surgery she dosen't look real anymore.

1. Writing - These shows will live or die based on this and this alone. There are no network heads holding you back so you have no excuse. It needs to be GOOD and modern. Suspenseful, full of romance, drama, comedy, family, etc.

2. Reboot - Don't focus so much on what happened when these shows ended. Use this year off as a little time jump. I would have at least one or two new families for each soap. The characters you DO bring back need to have a purpose. Pick two old families and add two new families. That way you avoid having to recast too many characters or bizarre gaps when actors don't agree to return. If everything is successful you can consider bringing on others later.

3. Produce these shows more like the UK shows. Take advantage of the city these shows are filmed in and have regular outdoor sets in addition to the indoor sets. And I don't mean Peapack...

That's really all I can think of. If the writing sucks then they're doomed. Viewers already don't believe these shows will be made, once we see them in production we'll talk about how much they're going to suck. If they actually suck people will leave. If they're good this could be huge for Prospect Park.

I thought at the time that Lindsey Hartley was Deidre Hall/Denise Alexander material for AMC. By that I mean she was an actress charismatic enough and Cara a character vital enough that you could spin a great deal of the show's future off her and her storylines despite her being non-core family, as DAYS and GH did Marlena Evans and Lesley Faulkner in the '70s. I thought she was the future of that show.

That said I still don't believe this [!@#$%^&*] is happening.

Edited December 28, 201212 yr by Vee

After leaving ATWT in 2005, Agnes wanted Hogan Sheffer for AMC.

If you could stress FIVE things to the folks at Prospect Park as they attempt to re-revive AMC and OLTL, what would they be?

Five? I need only three:

1. Hire good writers.

2. Hire good actors.

3. Get the hell out of their way.

One more.

Strong, complex female characters, please. Please.

Burton Armus, anyone?

I wish he had been hired at the time - his supposed bible would have been great.

Burton Armus? I always thought that story was just some Datalounge-generated nonsense?

I thought Burton was a little earlier than that - closer to 2003 when they were considering bringing back McTavish.

Burton Armus? I always thought that story was just some Datalounge-generated nonsense?

I don't think he was just DL contrived - there were a lot of leaks - the bible supposedly involved Enchantment and Tempo/Erica and Brooke as the centers of the show.

The bible apparently had Brooke doing a story for Tempo featuring the top supermodels of the last decade. Erica was not on the list and that became the crux of the feud.

Edited December 28, 201212 yr by Jonathan

I'm heartbroken that that never happened.

You guys are so wonderful and sharp with your responses. Truth? I asked because I'm hoping people who "matter" and who actually care will lay eyes on this thread. If you've ever Google'd yourself or your place of work, don't dismiss the idea that it could happen. Whether the reboots themselves happen, well...

Edited December 28, 201212 yr by SFK

I'm heartbroken that that never happened.

Never say never!

Never say never!

I like your attitude.