According to published reports, Thom Racina and Susan Bedsow Horgan have been named Co-Head Writers of Prospect Park’s re-boot of “One Life to Live,” which is slated to hit the company’s The Online Network (TOLN) later this year. While Racina appears to be a newbie when it comes to the town of Llanview and its citizens, Bedsow Horgan is more familiar as she served as an Associate Head Writer and later Executive Producer of the series in the 1990’s.

With Prospect Park now signing agreements with key unions SAG-AFTRA (actors), the DGA (directors), and the WGA (writers), with an expectation to begin filming episodes of “All My Children” as soon as next month, we wondered who you wanted to see act on the soap when it moves to the web. Your choices can include past actors as well as wishful casting (recast and new characters are welcomed). We also wondered who you want to join the writing team now that thousands of writers are at Prospect Park’s disposal courtesy of their agreement with the WGA, as well as who you want to direct episodes of the series. Keep in mind that Agnes Nixon, who created both “AMC” and “One Life to Live,” is currently working as a consultant for Prospect Park, according to Foz McDermott, head of production for TOLN (Prospect Park’s The Online Network). Also note that actors Jordi Vilasuso (Dr. Griffin Castillo), Darnell Williams (Jesse Hubbard), Debbi Morgan (Dr. Angela Hubbard), Vincent Irizarry (Dr. David Hayward) and Lindsay Hartley (Dr. Cara Castillo) are all confirmed as signing on to return to “AMC” when it moves to the web. Alicia Minshew (ex-Kendall Hart) has reported that she’s been approached, while Cameron Mathison (ex-Ryan Lavery) hope’s he can be involved. There’s no word yet on the status of Susan Lucci (ex-Erica Kane), who was the only original cast member from the first season of “AMC” that had remained with the show without interruption from its debut on January 5, 1970 through its final ABC broadcast on September 23, 2011.

Daytime Confidential’s Jamey Giddens reported earlier today that an agreement between Prospect Park and the WGA (Writers Guild of America) had been made regarding online versions of “All My Children” and “One Life to Live.”

Nominees for the 65th Annual DGA Awards were announced earlier this week with “Days of our Lives,” “General Hospital” and “One Life to Live” representing the category of Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Daytime Serials for calendar year 2012. CBS soaps “The Bold and the Beautiful” and “The Young and the Restless” were the only daytime dramas without a nomination in the category. “General Hospital” dominated with nominations for directors Larry Carpenter, Scott McKinsey and William Ludel all getting recognition. Jill Mitwell received her ninth directing nomination for the “One Life to Live” episode entitled “Between Heaven and Hell,” which aired during the soaps final week on television. Coincidently, the title of the episode is based on the fact that prior to its 43-year run began in 1968, “One Life to Live” was initially titled “Between Heaven and Hell.” Albert Alarr was nominated for episode #11,895, which was the episode following the aftermath of explosions that found several of Salem’s citizens in life-threatening situations. It was also the episode that found the drama series returning from a 2-week break while NBC broadcast the Summer Olympic games from London.

As he did back in 2011 when news of Prospect Park’s plan to move “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” to the web first hit, actor Jerry verDorn has announced that he will be returning to Llanview once more as Clint Buchanan. The actor made the announcement yesterday evening on his Facebook page:

In a press release issued just a short time ago, Prospect Park has confirmed plans to move forward with “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” online. The company states that Agnes Nixon, who created both series, has been working as a consultant on the project. They confirm that they have signed deals with the DGA and SAG-AFTRA, but nothing in regards to the WGA. Jennifer Pepperman has been hired on as Executive Producer of “OLTL,” Ginger Smith is EP of “AMC.”

Although news of Prospect Park once again being interested in reviving “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” for the web seems to have been universally accepted, many soap fans have remained a little doubtful on the matter to a certain extent. Former “One Life to Live” and “Dirty Soap” star Farah Fath seems to share in that doubtfulness. The actress began a series of tweets just a short time ago that led into discussion of the company and its online plans. Note: The actress admits to have been tweeting while drinking Heineken, so if you find yourself easily offended. Please stop reading now.

Had “All My Children” remained on the air beyond its final September 23, 2011 episode, cast/crew and fans all around the world would have been celebrating the daytime soaps 43rd anniversary today, January 5, as the drama series debuted on this day in 1970.

“All My Children” and “One Life to Live” creator Agnes Nixon has released an official statement on the news of Prospect Park once again moving forward with plans to produce online episodes of the soaps this year. Her message was posted on her official website as well as her official Facebook page. The statement is as follows:

If you love your “Revenge,” you will most likely also enjoy a series of “Deception.” Debuting Monday, January 7 at 10:00 PM ET/9:00 PM CT on NBC, “Deception” tells the story of Vivian Bowers, a wealthy socialite and notorious party girl who appears to have died from a drug overdose. In actuality, it looks like Vivian may have been murdered. Portraying the role of the dead is former “One Life to Live” star Bree Williamson, who can be seen in the first act of the series pilot as an alive Vivian just before her death, while seen subsequently in various flashbacks and imagery.

Just about a month before announcing their decision to postpone plans to launch “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” on the web in early 2012, Prospect Park announced a partnership with Universal Music Group that would bring music, e-commerce and artist participation to new productions of “All My Children” and “One Life to Live.” So now that word broke that Prospect Park is re-rebooting both soaps for the web in 2013, we felt it was a great opportunity to check on the status of this endeavor.

From “Cold Spring” to “Prosecuting Casey Anthony,” former soap stars Marisa Ramirez (“General Hospital”), Sam Page (“All My Children”), Patrick Muldoon (“Days of our Lives,” “Melrose Place”), Aiden Turner (“All My Children”), Elizabeth Rohm (“One Life to Live”), Sean Patrick Flannery (“The Young and the Restless”) and Scott Evans (“One Life to Live”) will grace the Lifetime movie screens this month as the group of actors help tell the networks tradition of stories involving stalkings, affairs and murder.

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.

Kamar de los Reyes left ABC’s “One Life to Live” in 2009 after portraying the uber popular role of Antonio Vega off and on for nearly 14 years. When he joined the soap in 1995, the character was introduced as a former gang member recently released from prison after serving time for killing a man. As the eldest son of Carlotta Vega, Antonio was able to prove the crime was in fact an act of self defense with help from Nora Buchanan. In “Call of Duty: Black Ops II,” which was released in November 2012, de los Reyes portrays Raul Menendez the terrorist behind a new world at war that is set in the year 2025. The game, also starring some of Hollywood’s biggest stars including Sam Worthington, Michelle Rodriguez and Michael Keaton with appearances by former soap stars Eden Riegel (“All My Children”) and Brianna Brown (“General Hospital”), grossed over $500 million on its first day of release. The team at Treyarch Invention made the game so real-life like that de los Reyes is now immortalized as a very recognizable video game character, despite the evil things the character induces.

The Writers Guild of America have announced the nominations for the 2013 Writers Guild Awards.  In the Daytime Drama category,…

In the latest issue of Soap Opera Digest, which just happens to be the mags annual Best & Worst issue, columnist Carolyn Hinsey (“It’s Only My Opinion”) shared her views of the best and worst of 2012 in the world of daytime soaps. While you can read her input by picking up your own copy, it is her statement that “OLTL will be back” that peaked our curiosity.

In Hallmark Channel’s new film “Help for the Holidays,” actress Summer Glau (“Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”) stars as Christine, one of Santa’s elves who is assigned the task of helping a little boy in Los Angeles as his family is in dire need of a wake up call. Eva La Rue (“All My Children”) and Dan Gauthier (“One Life to Live”) portray Sara and Scott VanCamp, the boy’s mother and father, whose Christmas gift shop, Holly Daze, is booming. As a result, Will (Mason Cook, “Spy Kids: All the Time in the World”) and his sister Ally (Izabela Vidovic, “Christmas Angel”) are often left unsupervised, with the exception of when Sara’s brother Dave (John Brotherton, “One Life to Live”) is available. Enter Santa’s little helper, who interviews to be the kids’ new full-time nanny, while secretly hoping to bring happiness and joy back into the holiday.

Although CBS canceled “Made in Jersey” in early October due to low ratings, the network has since decided to air two unaired episodes of the series beginning with tomorrow’s episode entitled “Camelot,” which follows series stars Janet Montgomery and Kristoffer Polaha as they represent a wealthy woman acting as a surrogate to her comatose sister. After learning the facts of the case, Martina (Montgomery) begins to suspect the husband may be up to no good.

Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday, ratings for the week of November 12-16, 2012 will be delayed. Check back on Monday, November 26 to see how your favorite shows fared.

On Wednesday, November 14, 2012, the world of soaps lost a true legend in Barbara Esensten, who passed at age 75. Esensten co-created “The City” along with her more than 20 year long writing partner James Harmon Brown. The duo worked together on such shows as “Dynasty,” “All My Children,” “Days of our Lives,” “One Life to Live,” “Port Charles” and “Guiding Light.”