May sweeps are a month away, but it looks like the upcoming onscreen drama won’t be able to hold a candle to the real-life drama brewing between Prospect Park‘s “One Life to Live” and ABC’s “General Hospital.”

ABC

After Prospect Park’s plans to reboot both “OLTL” and “All My Children” for the web fell through in November 2011, the company was approached by ABC who was interested in transplanting the characters of Todd Manning, Starr Manning and John McBain to Port Charles as portrayed by their originators Roger Howarth, Kristen Alderson and Michael Easton. The understanding at the time between ABC and Prospect Park was that the characters would be utilized on “GH” until plans to reboot “OLTL” came back into play as Prospect Park didn’t want to hold the Llanview 3 from working. Since their debuts in Port Charles in early 2012, the characters have tested very high with both viewers and focus groups and have played a large role in the overall audience growth for “GH” compared to its 2011 performance in the Nielsen ratings. Unfortunately, things behind the scenes weren’t looking as good.

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Marina Chavez/ABC

Nobody does shockers better than daytime dramas, and today’s episode of “General Hospital” is going to prove it! In light of the soap’s 50th Anniversary celebration, headwriter Ron Carlivati teases that fans better hold onto their seats, because four huge surprises are on the way!

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Debra Young

With Lynn Herring returning last month as the ever spectacular Lucy Coe, now head of CoeCoe Cosmetics, many were left wondering if her return would solely be for the purpose of resurrecting the Nurse’s Ball on ABC’s “General Hospital.” Thanks to the creative writing of head writer Ron Carlivati and his team, that doesn’t appear to be the case. In a welcome twist of fate it looks as though Lucy’s return has actually helped open up a string of storylines tied to ABC’s canceled “General Hospital” spin-off “Port Charles.”

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Donna Svennevik/ABC

Prospect Park first announced plans to move “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” to the web back in July 2011 after striking a license holding deal with Disney/ABC Domestic Television. Sadly, plans fell through by November 2011 after apparent financing and union discussions fell through. Since that dreadful time period, Prospect Park has resumed work on returning the soaps to your [computer] screens, only this time with financing said to be in place and union deals already signed with the DGA (directors), SAG-AFTRA (actors) and the WGA (writers). With more than a year gone by since “One Life to Live” last aired, we thought it would be a great opportunity to see which stars have (so far) signed on to return to “AMC” and “OLTL” compared to the list circling back in 2011.

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Prospect Park

The big news of December 2012 was word that Prospect Park was taking another stab at moving ABC’s “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” to the web in 2013. The news was first reported by Deadline.com‘s Nellie Andreeva. In her initial reporting, Andreeva revealed that Prospect Park had made agreements with the unions SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists)  and the DGA (Directors Guild of America). Previously, while the company had planned on debuting the shows on the web in early 2012, no deals had been signed with either union or the WGA (Writers Guild of America). This hindered the company’s plan to move forward with the shows and resulted in a postponement that was announced in November 2011. In a statement at the time, AFTRA (prior to its merger with SAG) said that they were ”deeply disappointed to read that the executives at Prospect Park have decided to suspend their efforts to produce the long-running and popular daytime serials.” Additionally, the union had said that they “remain hopeful that an opportunity to revive these two popular series will emerge in the future, and remain ready to resume discussions should that opportunity arise.” The future took more than a year, but it appears to have finally emerged. However, although a representative from SAG-AFTRA confirmed that an agreement with Prospect Park had been made when pressed for comment from Soap Opera Network early last week, it remains unclear if said agreement had actually been signed. “Not absolutely certain it had been signed but can check that for you,” said the rep. Due to the holidays, we don’t expect a response on that little detail until at least tomorrow, January 2.

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The Writers Guild of America have announced the nominations for the 2013 Writers Guild Awards.  In the Daytime Drama category, “Days Of Our Lives,” “One Life To Live,” and “The Young and The Restless” were nominated.  Winners will be determined on February 17, 2013.

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ABC

(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — “General Hospital” star John Ingle is dead at age 84.  Ingle is most known for playing patriarch Edward Quartermaine, taking over the role in 1993 from David Lewis.   Ingle also played Mickey Horton on “Days of our Lives” from 2004-2006.

‘GH” executive producer Frank Valentini tweeted:  With great sadness, I share the news of John Ingle’s passing. We love him and will miss him. John will always be a part of the #GH family.

Head writer Ron Carlivati tweeted: Very sad to share the news that John Ingle, known to most as Edward Quartemaine on #GH, has passed away. Rest in peace, Mr. Ingle.

Ingle’s family posted this message on Facebook:

“Father, Husband, Grandan, Great Grandan, Brother, Uncle, Friend, Teacher, Inspirer, Mentor: May You Soar with the Angels. You will forever hold a special place in the deepest corners of our hearts. You were joy, light and love. Goodness at its very best. For the rest of our days, we will all do our best to continue to make you proud. Rest in peace and continue to spread your generous spirit in the heavens above.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. With love forever, from:.

Your 5 – J. Ingle Belles and the family, friends and loved ones you leave behind.”

Photo Credit: James Dimitri

“General Hospital‘s” Nathin Butler (Ewen Keenan) will be chatting live with fans of the ABC Daytime drama series during the networks east coast broadcast (3:00 PM ET/12:00 PM PT) of the series. The actor will be taking questions via Twitter using the hashtag #AskGH for the full duration of the soap (one hour) using his twitter user name @nathinbutler.

via Press Release

After alluding to a tragic past and getting caught by Elizabeth (Rebecca Herbst) on a mysterious call, Ewen finds time for romance but the clock is ticking for him. Will he be able to continue to hide his dark secret and have a shot at a future with Elizabeth?

“General Hospital,” the most honored show of the 2012 Daytime Entertainment Emmy Awards, celebrates its golden anniversary on April 1, 2013. Approaching 50 historic years on ABC, “General Hospital” is the longest running American soap opera currently in production and the logest running scripted drama currently in production on television.

Beginning Monday, September 10, “General Hospital” moves to its new time period of 2:00 PM ET/1:00 PM PT/CT on the ABC Television Network. Fans will be able to watch all the intrigue and excitement of Port Charles one hour earlier.

“General Hospital” was created by Frank and Doris Hursley. Frank Valentini is the executive producer. Ron Carlivati is the head writer.

Legion College

“General Hospital” makes a few changes to the writing staff.

Head Writer Ron Carlivati brings in another writer from his former “One Life To Live” team.  Anna Theresa Cascio joins the “GH” team as a breakdown writer. Leaving the “GH” team is breakdown writer Garin Wolf, who has been with the show since 1997.  Also leaving is breakdown/script writer Tracey Thomson.

Over at “The Young and Restless,” changes were recently made as Josh Griffith takes over as Head Writer from Maria Arena Bell. Co-Head Writer Scott Hamner has also left the show.

For discussion on these topics and more, join us in the Writers/Directors thread at the SON Community.

Disney/ABC Television Group

As Soap Opera Network first reported on March 16, Deadline‘s Nellie Andreeva is reporting that ABC has officially canceled “The Revolution” and plans to slide “General Hospital” into the 2:00 PM ET/1:00 PM PT timeslot beginning Monday, September 10, the same day the network hands over the 3:00 PM ET/2:00 PM PT time period to affiliates. The news was later reported by The New York Times.

It was last week Wednesday (April 4, 2012) when Soap Opera Network Tweeted, via a very reliable source, that within ten days a decision on the future of “General Hospital” would be made by the network. Tomorrow, April 12 (or Saturday, April 14, depending on how you look at it), marks the one year anniversary of Black Thursday (April 14, 2011), which is best known to many as the day that ABC announced the cancellations of both “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” and the launches of “The Chew” and “The Revolution.” It was also the day Source Interlink announced a licensing deal with American Media over Soap Opera Digest and newly defunct Soap Opera Weekly.

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