Guiding Light

ABC has consistently brought soap-worthy programming to primetime (“Desperate Housewives” and “Revenge,” to name but two), and the schedule for this fall is no different: Intermixing with popular mainstay shows like “The Middle,” “Modern Family,” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” come thirteen brand new shows, a few of which may spur “General Hospital” and other daytime soaps to come to mind! And Wendy Moniz (ex-Mayor Finn, “One Life to Live,” ex-Dinah Marler, “Guiding Light”) strengthens the soap/primetime connection with a role in the new drama, “Betrayal.” Read on to get the exciting details!

“One Life to Live’s” Jonathan Groff (ex-Henry) has been one busy man: In addition to starring in a new HBO comedy alongside “Guiding Light’s” Murray Bartlett (ex-Cyrus Foley), the “Glee” star has also landed a job as a lead voice in Disney’s new animated feature, “Frozen!”

It’s raining soap stars over at HBO now that the premium cable network has picked up Michael Lannan’s untitled comedy pilot starring Jonathan Groff (ex-Henry, “One Life to Live;” Jesse St. James, “Glee”), Murray Bartlett (ex-Cyrus Foley, “Guiding Light;” James Brogan, “Headland”), as well as Frankie Alvarez (“Kitchen Confidential”).

“Another World” and “Sunset Beach” were canceled in 1999, “Port Charles” in 2003, and “Passions” in 2007 (NBC version) and again in 2008 (DirecTV version). In 2009, “Guiding Light” got turned off and in 2010 “As The World Turns” just stopped. 2011 then brought the double cancellations of “All My Children” and “One Life to Live.” As a result of 8 soap operas being cancelled within a 12 year span, one would have expected 2012 to end with another soap saying goodbye. Thankfully, the year came and went without a single soap cancellation for the first time in five years. Now with the 2013 resurrection of “AMC” and “OLTL,” soaps are no longer “dying” and the genre is finally thriving once more. But, if you’re like us, you never forget your soap opera history. Enter “Soap Life,” a documentary that follows the rise and fall of American soap operas before the genres recent re-birth.

When “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” debut with brand new episodes on Monday, April 29 on Hulu, Hulu Plus and iTunes, they will have the full support of CBS Daytime. Angelica McDaniel, Senior Vice President, CBS Daytime, wishes Rich Frank and Jeff Kwatinetz, whose Prospect Park licensed the two soaps from ABC in 2011, nothing but the best. She relays via Soap Opera Network, “Congratulations and best of luck on the success. Your success is our success and vice versa. And it’s just a thrilling new experience and I look forward to seeing where the journey takes you.”

The OnLine Network has announced that Paula Garces (ex-Pilar Santos, “Guiding Light”), best known for her portrayal of Maria in the “Harold & Kumar” film franchise has joined the cast of the networks “All My Children.”

Zach Conroy will make a crossover appearance on “The Young and the Restless” as his character, Oliver Jones, from “The Bold and the Beautiful.”

With the characters of Matthew Buchanan and Destiny Evans already recast with Robert Gorrie and Laura Harrier, it was only a matter of time before their on-screen love child Drew was recast as well. On Wednesday, Gorrie tweeted a picture of he and his reel-life baby momma holding twin infants Elijah and Isaiah Ford, who are taking over the role on “One Life to Live.”

In a new interview with Carolyn Hinsey’s “Tainted Dreams” blog, Kassie DePavia reveals other excitement on the return of “One Life to Live” and previews what fans can expect from the show now that it is being produced by Prospect Park.

On Wednesday, March 20, Alex Kruglov, Head of Content Acquisition, Hulu, visited the set of the internet hub’s recent acquisition of TOLN’s “One Life to Live.” In a posting on Twitter, Kruglov said, “Holy cow everything looks impressive. Excited to launch it and #AMC on 4/29.” The tweet was accompanied by a behind the scenes photo that shows actress Florencia Lozano in a scene as Tea Delgado in a beautiful new set presumed to be her characters newly re-designed digs. It was previously feared by many fans that both “OLTL” and “All My Children” would go the route of Peapack, NJ as “Guiding Light” did in its latter years in order to save on production costs.