‘One Life to Live,’ ‘All My Children’ producer sues ABC over alleged soap sabotage

A week from Monday, TOLN is going to launch with new episodes of “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” on both iTunes and Hulu; but before we come to that, the producers behind the soap-opera revivals are making their voices heard in a completely different sort of venue: a courtroom.

Sources are confirming that Prospect Park has filed a $25 million lawsuit against ABC in the Los Angeles Superior Court, arguing that the soaps’ former network has tried to sabotage the programs to keep them from being successful in their return to television. Among their grievances include the following:

1. Allegedly not helping to consult on storylines, or transferring over domain names for some of the series.

2. The following quote, which is pretty shocking: “In the ultimate act of bad faith, ABC killed off two OLTL characters on loan to General Hospital by having their car forced off a cliff.”

The latter is certainly the strongest point of the group here, though you also at the same time have to wonder if there was anything else that played into the “General Hospital” decision. We just don’t have the sort of information readily available in order to figure this out.

We’re not particularly surprised by the lawsuit, but what is interesting about this soap revival right now is that we literally have no idea whatsoever whether or not this will work. It is completely new territory bringing a daytime drama online, and while it could catch fire with a new audience, there’s a much different feeling between sitting in front of your big screen to watch a series, and doing it while at your computer in an office. The median age of most soap-opera viewers does not necessarily equate to the same people who are regular internet users.

Are you shocked at all by this lawsuit news? If you want to check out the new official trailers for both “One Life to Live” and “All My Children,” you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: TOLN