Browsing: One Life to Live

Aired from 1968-2012 on ABC

Ron Palillo, best known for his star turning role as Arnold Horshack on “Welcome Back, Kotter​,” has died, reports TMZ. The actor appeared as Gary Warren in episodes of “One Life to Live” in 1994. He died this morning of an apparent heart attack.

CBS has released the first group cast photos of “Partners,” the networks new comedy series starring Brandon Routh (“One Life to Live”), Michael Urie (“Ugly Betty”), David Krumholtz (“Numb3rs”) and Sophia Bush (“One Tree Hill”).

Former “One Life to Live” star Brandon Routh (ex-Seth Anderson) and wife Courtney Ford (“True Blood”) have welcomed their first child, reports People Magazine on their website. Leo James Routh, born Friday, August 10, weighed in at 8lbs. and measured 20 1/2 inches.

On Saturday, July 23, 2011, “General Hospital” held its annual fan club weekend event at the Sportmen’s Lodge Event Center. Incidentally, in the year that followed many were left wondering if the 2012 event would ever come to be amidst all the drama and rumors surrounding the cancellation, reincarnation (through the Disney/ABC Television Group/Prospect Park Productions deal that wasn’t) and ultimate demise of “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” and the possible effect it would have on “GH” itself. On July 21, 2012, “GH” did indeed holds its annual fan event – again at the Sportsmen’s Lodge Event Center – with a renewed focus and much hope for the future.

As Soap Opera Network first reported on March 16, Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva is reporting that ABC has officially canceled “The Revolution” and plans to slide “General Hospital” into the 2:00 PM ET/1:00 PM PT timeslot beginning Monday, September 10, the same day the network hands over the 3:00 PM ET/2:00 PM PT time period to affiliates. The news was later reported by The New York Times.

With news of Gary Tomlin and Christopher Whitesell’s ascension to the top of the “Days of our Lives” writing team after the NBC daytime soap let go Marlene McPherson and Darrell Ray Thomas, Jr., less than a year after the two were hired to replace Dena Higley, Soap Opera Digest in its newest issue (issue dated April 16, 2012) is reporting that Tomlin and Whitesell has added the multiple Emmy award winning talents of veteran writer Lorraine Broderick to its new regime.

Before we post the daytime soap opera ratings for the week of March 26-30, 2012, our friend Marc Berman at TV Media Insights has posted the latest ratings for daytime talk shows and things are still looking very bad for ABC’s “The Revolution” while “The Chew” has sustained a similar total audience in comparison to former time-period occupant “All My Children.” “The View” was in repeats, while “The Talk” on CBS was up year-to-year in total viewers and Women 25-54, flat in Women 18-49 and down in Women 18-34.

Although the likelihood was expected thanks to the loss of long-time soaps “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” in 2011 and 2012, which were preceded by the departures of “Guiding Light” and “As The World Turns” in 2009 and 2010, news broke on Thursday, March 22 that after 22 years in publication Soap Opera Weekly would end its successful run as one of the premier soap opera magazines. The final decision to end the mag was just one of many blows the soap opera industry has felt in as many years. Soap Opera Network takes a by the numbers look at Weekly and how its readership levels helped lead to its ultimate demise.

Prior to our posting the press release from the Disney/ABC Television Stations Group which revealed the premiere date of “Katie,” Soap Opera Network learned via its sources that ABC had quietly been informing their affiliates of the pending cancellation of “The Revolution,” which has greatly underperformed in key demographics and viewership compared to the series it replaced (“One Life to Live”) back in January.