ABC Moves Its 'Canceled' Soaps Online

Three months after ABC announced it was cancelling its iconic soap operas, All My Children and One Life to Live, the network has announced that the shows aren’t really over. They will continue to broadcast new episodes after their TV finale dates, but over the web instead. While no date has been confirmed for the shows' online premieres, All My Children's finale airs September 23, and One Life to Live wraps in January 2012.

ABC has licensed the rights for the programs to Jeff Kwatinetz and Disney Studios veteran Rich Frank’s media production company Prospect Park. The company will produce and deliver the two programs to consumers via online formats and additional emerging platforms including internet-enabled television sets. “Each of the shows have made an indelible mark on our culture’s history and informed our consciousness in their own way. We are so glad Prospect Park has assumed the mantel for these shows and that they will continue for the fans,” said Brian Frons, President, Daytime, Disney/ABC Television Group said in a press conference on Thursday.

Agnes Nixon, creator of both All My Children and One Life to Live, was delighted that both shows had found a place to continue their “legacies.” “I’m looking forward to working alongside these wonderful people as we ensure that the shows will continue with all the love and excitement we’ve always had,” she told UsWeekly in a statement on Thursday. The two decades-old soaps will use the same cast, crew and talent in the transition to the web.

One Life to Live premiered in 1968 and All My Children in 1970. Stars like Ryan Phillippe, Nathan Fillion, Marcia Cross, Tommy Lee Jones, Judith Light and Yasmine Bleeth got their start on OLTL, while future A-listers like Sarah Michelle Gellar, Michelle Trachtenberg, Melissa Leo, Kelly Ripa, Josh Duhamel, Eva LaRue, Christian Slater, Rosie O'Donnell and Amanda Seyfried starred on AMC.

ABC announced in April it was replacing the two soaps with daytime shows. One is about all things food, and is called The Chew, while the other is about people trying to lose weight and stars fashion guru Tim Gunn, among others. It’s called The Revolution.