Sandy0401

One of the first times I had seen Roger as Todd

MaybeSomeday

He was so much lighter and less angsty his last stint on the show. The first couple stints Todd was mostly dark and full of rage. When he came back in the early 2000's he was less rage-y but kind of goofy in a way. It felt like he resented the show and playing a rapist in a lot of ways. His last stint he finally just seemed happy to be there.

canflam

How was he goofy?

MaybeSomeday

You just have to watch It kind of reminds me of some of his Franco stuff on GH if you watched that. Franco was basically a weirder, goofier Todd.

Sandy0401

I kind of get it. Like in his scenes with Sam and than doing nails with Dani.

canflam

Do any of you have a thread title in mind?

dh23

Oh yes, a new thread is needed. Hmmm that's hard. Maybe something about how there's nothing we'd like more than to for OLTL to get another chance at life and return to our screens?? I don't know lol

canflam

Yes. I should be able to start it tomorrow when I get more time.

canflam

I came across this story from 2 years ago: Remembering the Online Revival of ‘All My Children’ & ‘One Life to Live,’ 10 Years Later

Unlike its mortal characters, One Life to Live actually had two lives to live. Production company Prospect Park saved both OLTL and its fellow long-running soap All My Children, another ABC daytime drama, from cancellation 10 years ago this month.

ABC and Prospect Park announced the resurrections in a press release on July 7, 2011, touting that the production company would deliver both shows to consumers “via online formats and additional emerging platforms…with the same quality and in the same format and length.”

It was the kind of un-cancellation that TV fans dream about, especially those who gave April 4, 2011, the moniker “Black Thursday,” since that was the day ABC announced the end of OLTL and AMC on linear TV.

“We are privileged to continue the legacy of two of the greatest programs to air on daytime television, and are committed to delivering the storylines, characters and quality that audiences have come to love for over 40 years,” Prospect Park’s Rich Frank and Jeff Kwatinetz said in a joint statement upon the ABC deal. “All My Children and One Life to Live are television icons, and we are looking forward to providing anytime, anywhere viewing to their loyal community of millions.”

But the transition was not an easy one. While Prospect Park got almost every One Life to Live actor on board with that soap’s digital continuation, All My Children cast members revealed they hadn’t yet been invited to the party, and rumor had it Prospect Park was prioritizing OLTL over the lower-rated AMC, according to Soap Central.

Then, in November 2011, Prospect Park announced that the revivals were over before they even began. “In the end, the constraints of the current marketplace, including the evolution and impact of new media on our industry, simply proved too great a match for even our passion,” the company said in a statement.

It wasn’t until more than a year later that Prospect Park worked out the kinks and got both shows on the road, announcing that new 30-minute episodes would soon stream online four days a week via Hulu, iTunes, and the company’s streaming platform—unhelpfully titled The Online Network, or TOLN.

The new episodes finally hit the web with great fanfare in April 2013, but two weeks later, Prospect Park announced that it would start releasing only two new episodes per week, announcing the news a press release that suggested that the show’s viewers were having trouble keeping up with four 30-minute episodes per week.

And the hits kept coming, according to Soap Central’s recap of the behind-the-scenes drama—a labor dispute resulted in a two-week work stoppage on both shows, and shortly afterward, Prospect Park surprised fans by announcing that both shows’ first seasons were coming to abrupt ends.

Then, in September 2013, news broke that Prospect Park would be suspending One Life to Live amid a legal dispute with ABC over OLTL characters and actors who had been loaned to General Hospital. And two months later, All My Children stars told fans that their show, too, had died another death.

“I guess what really hurts my gut are all the positive proclamations I gave to all of you that we’d definitely be coming back,” Debbi Morgan (Angie Baxter Hubbard) tweeted at the time. “The show is not coming back. … It’s so sad and just a real bummer.”

Cady McClain (Dixie Cooney Martin) addressed All My Children’s end-with-a-whimper too. “If you aren’t hearing anything about the ending of AMC as we know it, it’s really out of shock,” she wrote on Facebook. “I am also trying to allow [Prospect Park] to have the moment to contact all the actors and explain what is and has been going on with AMC, and then gather themselves to try and explain it all to you, the fans.”

Now there’s little evidence those resurrections ever occurred. The episodes are gone from Hulu, Prospect Park filed for bankruptcy in 2014, and the TOLN website is void of any content.

And in years since, actors from the shows have looked back at the online revivals with bemusement. “That whole Prospect Park thing was difficult, and it was a lot to ask of any writer to make it work,” One Life to Live’s Michael Easton, who played one of the characters in the middle of ABC and Prospect Park’s dispute, told TV Insider in 2016. “Three actors were suddenly recast as new people and only Roger Howarth survived it.”

And in 2020, All My Children’s Chrishell Stause (Amanda Dillon) told Entertainment Weekly she preferred the AMC writers’ original, closed-ended conclusion to the show’s ABC run. “They wrote this beautiful ending for everyone,” the actress said. “Every single character really had a beautiful storyline … In my head, I like to think of it the way that it was written originally.”

Perhaps All My Children, at least, will get another shot at a happily-ever-after: Prospect Park’s lawsuit against ABC was dismissed in 2016, and the rights to both shows reverted to the broadcast network. And this January, we learned that a primetime AMC spinoff is in development at ABC, with married alums Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos on board as executive producers.

https://www.tvinsider.com/1004633/al...park-revivals/

Butterfly85

Yep, just as messy and pointless as I remember. PP didn't know what they were doing and I remember hearing about all the lies they got caught in in real time. I just wish that article said if they ever paid the actors to this day, cause I remember back then a lot of actors saying after everything went to crap they never got paid either. Like I said, they should of just let AMC and OLTL have their original endings so they could go out with some kind of dignity.

canflam

If those actors were not paid, I'd guess there would have been a lawsuit.

MaybeSomeday

I agree, I did like some things, like Tea and Victor reuniting, and Dani having broken up with Nate, but all in all the network ending should have been it, and I mean the OLTL ending not the stupid GH one for a few of the characters, I hated that too.

Butterfly85

It sounds like GH is still sinking by having all these characters from other soaps still showing up there (I heard Jack from AMC just came on there) so after all these years, they are still trying to shove AMC and OLTL on GH. I don't even get why GH is still on and it still sounds as crappy as ever, especially when they are still being leeched off of by two soaps that got cancelled a decade ago. Let it go.

canflam

How many characters about from other soaps are on there from it?

MaybeSomeday

None of the OLTL characters are on GH anymore, and I think Jack from AMC just visited. From One Life Todd, Starr and John were full time cast members for a year back in 2012-2013, with both Blair and Tea visiting a few times. I believe Nora came on for a trial awhile ago, but I think that may be it, unless did Roxy make an appearance? I don't really watch GH anymore. I'm less familiar with AMC but I believe Jack is the only person from Pine Valley who's been on GH.