Industry

The war between ABC and Prospect Park Networks over “One Life to Live” and “All My Children” continues to rage on, but today Prospect Park Networks took an expected step: filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Last night marked the 66th annual Directors Guild of America Awards Dinner at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles, but none of today’s daytime drama directors received a nomination. Why? Because the “Daytime Serials” category was integrated into the “Dramatic Series” category following a June 22, 2013 DGA National Board meeting that voted on rule changes, which forces daytime and primetime dramas to compete against internet distributed dramas such as “House of Cards,” which essentially leaves daytime itself shut out from ever receiving a nomination as the dynamics of daytime is no where near the likes of 2013 nominees “Breaking Bad” (AMC), “Game of Thrones” (HBO), “Homeland” (Showtime), or even the aforementioned “House of Cards” (Netflix). “Bad” won the award for those wondering.

While it doesn’t come as much of a surprise, Deadline Hollywood is reporting that ABC is renewing its commitment to “General Hospital” for the upcoming 2014-15 television season. The “GH” renewal follows the recent two-year “Days of our Lives” renewal by NBC, which was announced today, and last week’s renewal of “The Bold and the Beautiful” and “The Young and the Restless” by CBS. Historically, as the network owns “GH” outright, ABC won’t necessarily make an “official” announcement as CBS and NBC have for their daytime soaps.

After much anticipation, NBC announced today that it has renewed “Days of our Lives” through the 2015-16 television season. The renewal ensures the soap will celebrate its 50th year on television. The series debuted on November 8, 1965.

It seems like just yesterday that the world was ready to nail the lid on the coffin of daytime soap operas. Ratings were low across the board, and a slew of sudsers — “Guiding Light,” “As the World Turns,” “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” — were cancelled, leaving only “Days of our Lives,” “General Hospital,” “The Bold and the Beautiful” and “The Young and the Restless” on the air. But to the surprise of critics and many soap fans, 2013 saw a drastic turnaround: All four remaining soap operas saw a significant increase in ratings, and “The Young and the Restless” once again made a list of the top 10 most-searched television programs of the year, among popular series like “Breaking Bad” and “The Walking Dead.” So why the complete 180 in daytime soap popularity?

Anyone who’s been watching “General Hospital” as of late knows that the iconic sudser is seriously on fire — and from what we can tell, the flames don’t look as if they’ll die down any time soon! In fact, when Soap Opera Network caught up with executive producer Frank Valentini at this month’s Television Critics Association event at the Langham Hotel in Pasadena, California, he revealed that fans haven’t seen anything yet! Read on for the scoop on what’s to come in the weeks ahead, how interaction with the network heads has helped with the soap’s recent success and what to expect for the long haul when it comes to everything Port Charles!

ABC issues legal response to the $95 million lawsuit brought against the network by Prospect Park over “All My Children” and “One Life to Live.”

Fans love it when their show goes on location, but whatever happened to exterior shots – images of outdoor locations inserted before a scene takes place between characters – which were heavily utilized on “Passions,” the now defunct NBC and DirecTV daytime soap opera?

Had ABC not canceled “All My Children” back in 2011, and Prospect Park didn’t decide to cancel it again in 2013, Agnes Nixon’s “All My Children” would have celebrated its 44th anniversary today. Susan Lucci, who portrayed matriarch Erica Kane on the soap, was the only original cast member from the first season of “AMC” that had remained with the show without interruption since its debut on January 5, 1970 through its final ABC broadcast on September 23, 2011.

After nearly 14 years on the air, SOAPnet ended its broadcast run at the stroke of midnight with the final 2013 episode of ABC’s “General Hospital” (originally aired on Monday, December 30) taking it out in style.