Prospect Park wants actors from ‘General Hospital’ back
Prospect Park wants its soap opera stars back -- but the company said it is willing to share some of them with ABC.
The production company has requested the actors from “One Life to Live” make themselves available as the company gears up to produce Web versions of two canceled ABC daytime dramas -- “One Life to Live” and “All My Children.”
Two actors, Michael Easton and Kristen Alderson, have been appearing on ABC’s widely watched “General Hospital” since “One Life to Live” went off the air last year. But they recently were asked to leave “General Hospital” and participate in Prospect Park’s digital reboot of “One Life to Live.”
The soap has been off the air for more than a year.
The legal kerfuffle has angered some ABC soap opera fans who have grown accustomed to seeing the “One Life to Live” characters recur on “General Hospital.”
On his Facebook page this week, Easton told fans that he wouldn’t be allowed on the “General Hospital” set after Feb. 8. The posting was intended to discourage fans from sending cakes to commemorate his upcoming birthday.
Friday night, Prospect Park confirmed that the company has been wrangling to get the actors back. The production company said it has a legal right to the characters and has much riding on the online revival of the show.
The actors, the company said, were simply on loan to “General Hospital” in an effort to keep their characters and stories alive while Prospect Park worked to revive the canceled soap.
“Everyone at ABC and on the production staff of ‘General Hospital’ understood that this was a temporary arrangement until production started once again on ‘One Life to Live,’” Prospect Park said. The characters, the company said, were essential to its production efforts “and a large reason we licensed the program.”
But Prospect Park said it was willing to work out a compromise.
“So even though we are paying ABC millions of dollars to license the shows, we have been, and continue to be willing to equally share the characters with ‘General Hospital’ and ABC.”
ABC executives were not immediately available for comment.
ALSO:
Prospect Park to revive ‘All My Children’ and ‘One Life to Live’
Plan to continue ABC soap operas online falls through
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