After 55 episodes (including the More OLTL recap/interview shows), Prospect Park and TOLN’s revival of One Life to Live comes to a close on its first season. There have been ups (the return of Victor, Todd and Blair) and downs (behind the scenes union troubles, schedule shifts), but the most important fact is that the classic show returned (and came back better than ever). This isn’t the end of the series, just a short hiatus, and I look forward to seeing where they go from here.

Official Description, Episode 54: Clint decides to make his presence felt at the Man of the Year Gala. Tea becomes enraged when she finds out who Dani is accompanying to the gala.

Official Description, Episode 55: Paramedics are called as the Man of the Year Gala goes awry. Natalie is horrified by what she finds at the hospital.

No spoilers, just watch the two part season finale of One Life to Live. The reboot of One Life to Live stars Erika Slezak, Kassie DePaiva, Melissa Archer, Robert Gorrie, Jerry Ver Dorn, Josh Kelly, Kelley Missal, Hillary B Smith, Laura Harrier, Corbin Bleu, Tuc Watkins, Robin Strasser, Florencia Lozano, Roger Howarth, and Robert S Woods.

With television coming back from its “winter break” lets take a look at some new television and webTV news.

Over at the Television Critics Association’s press tour this morning, FOX revealed that they renewed Bones for a ninth season. They implied but did not outright say that it would be the final season of the long running crime drama, I guess it depends on the rest of FOX’s future slate of shows. The series stars Emily Deschanel as doctor  Temperance “Bones” Brennan, a “socially inept” forensic anthropologist who uses her unique skill set to solve long cold cases along with her partner FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth, portrayed by Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s David Boreanaz.

Bones joins a bunch of other shows that the network has already renewed, including American Dad, Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy, The Simpsons, and The X Factor. The only show I actually care about on FOX at the moment is New Girl, which stars Emily’s sister Zooey. New Girl keeps getting better and funnier with every episode. Hopefully they announce a renewal soon.

Well it took longer than expected, but it looks like Prospect Park is pulling through with its revivals of canceled ABC Soaps One Life to Live and All My Children. News was leaked last month that the company had closed deals with the DGA and SAG/AFTRA. Now comes word that PP has hired Executive Producers on the shows,  Jennifer Pepperman on OLTL and Ginger Smith on AMC, both of whom worked on the shows in the past, and the two show’s creator Agnes Nixon has signed on as a consultant. A few AMC cast members have signed on to the show, including Lindsay Hartley, Vincent Irizarry and Debbi Morgan. Even more interesting is the new plan for airing the soaps. Both OLTL and AMC will be half an hour long and air four days a week on The Online Network, with recap shows every Friday. Production begins in Stanford, CT in February. Maybe we’ll start seeing episodes as soon as March? Keep your fingers crossed!

While on the subject of soaps, lets shift online where the third and forth episodes of Lenox Avenue have been released over on its official website. The series is described as a “sexy soap-opera-style drama” that follows three male friends, Owen (Al Thompson, “A Walk to Remember”), Sellars (Dorian Missick, “Southland”), and Vaughn (Ryan Vigilant, “Gossip Girl”), who are navigating the complex dating scene while dealing with the pressures and messiness of their careers and friendships. The series is set in and spotlights the beauty of Harlem. In the third episode, Owen encounters a mysterious new woman while Sellars learns some stuff about his wedding. Then in the forth episode Vaughn learns that the single life is not nearly as easy as expected.   Find out more over on the show’s Facebook page.

It looks like ABC is doing the Daytime shuffle come September as Katie Couric’s new syndicated talk show will take the east coast timeslot that General Hospital has held for as long as I can remember. That will move General to an hour earlier into the current spot of the cancelled talk show, The Revolution, and the spot that was long held by One Life to Live. The shift begins on September 10th. This past week ABC’s last soap took home five Daytime Emmys including Best Drama, Best Lead Actor Anthony Geary, Best Supporting Actor Jonathan Jackson, Best Supporting Actress Nancy Lee Grahn, and Outstanding Directing Team. This news comes off recent news that One Life to Live actress Kassie DePaiva will reprise her role of Blair Cramer on General for the second time since One Life went off the air. Another bit of casting news concerns the hiring of Richard Steinmetz, formerly on Loving, who has been cast as the son of an unknown former character who will have a big upcoming storyline with Sonny.

BJ Novak joins Mindy Kaling and James Spader and will not return as a series regular in a season that is shaping up for a lot of change on The Office. That doesn’t mean that we’ve seen the last of Novak’s Ryan as he is scheduled to make reoccurring appearances in the ninth season of the NBC comedy. Novak of course has been a producer and writer on the series, but it is unknown if he’ll continue writing episodes. He joined Mindy Kaling over on her new show, The Mindy Project, as an executive producer on the pilot, but it does not appear that he will be a regular producer on the project. Returning to The Office next season are co-stars Ed Helms, John Krasinski, and Jenna Fischer who are all in long contract talks that thankfully ended successfully for the show. Catherine Tate has been upgraded to a series regular (here is hoping they continue to make her character a bit more likeable as they started at the end of the eight season). Also interesting to note is that this season will try to launch a Rainn Wilson lead Dwight Schrute spinoff. Will any other Office regulars join him? Maybe Angela Kinsey’s Angela Martin, the mother of his child. We’ll have to wait and see.

Bunheads, the new show from Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino, premieres on ABC Family on June 11th, but the network has put a special sneakpeak of the whole pilot episode online! Head on over to this link and use the password “LyingGameFans” to access the episode. If Bunheads is anything like Gilmore Girls (and it sounds like it is), then you are in for a treat- I have high hopes for the new series. The series stars Bailey Buntain, Emma Dumont, Sutton Foster and Kelly Bishop.

One Life to Live will continue to live on through General Hospital as Kassie DePaiva’s Blair Cramer heads back to Port Charles to deliver some news to Todd Manning (OLTL‘s Roger Howarth). This will be DePaiva’s second trip to GH since OLTL went off the air. Howarth was put on contract with GH along with Kristen Alderson, his on screen daughter, and fan favorite Michael Easton, tough as nails police detective John McBain. In addition to those four cast members crossing over, Florencia Lozano reprised her OLTL role of Tea Delgado for a few episodes of GH last month.

Yesterday, Andy Samberg officially announced that he was leaving Saturday Night Live after six years with the show. He joins Kristen Wiig, who announced she was leaving on the season finale. Samberg will be missed for his Digital Shorts and memorial Mark Walhberg and Nicolas Cage impressions. Next year Samberg will be co-starring in Grown Ups 2, with Adam Sandler and Kevin James, and The To Do list with Clark Gregg, Rachel Bilson and fellow SNL castmember Bill Hader.

“From executive producer J.J. Abrams (FRINGE, “Lost,” “Star Trek,” and the recent blockbuster “Super 8”) comes ALCATRAZ, a thrilling new series that follows a unique trio investigating the mystifying reappearance of 302 of Alcatraz’s most notorious prisoners and guards, 50 years after they vanished.”

“…a chilling new drama revolving around America’s most infamous prison”. Watch Now at 141tv

“Iraq war veteran WALTER SHERMAN (Geoff Stults) gained a reputation in his army days as being the go-to guy for tracking down insurgents and deserters and finding improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Unfortunately one IED found Walter before he could find it, resulting in severe brain damage with a lasting and unexpected effect. Walter transformed from someone skilled at the standard recovery of people and things to someone much more extraordinary: a Finder.” Watch Now at 141tv

“Based on the blockbuster feature film and best-selling novel by world-renowned author John Grisham (“The Pelican Brief,” “The Client”), “The Firm” continues the story of attorney Mitchell McDeere and his family 10 years after the events of the film and novel. As a young associate, McDeere brought down the prestigious Memphis law firm of Bendini, Lambert & Locke, which operated as a front for the Chicago mob — and his life was never the same. After a difficult decade, which included a stay in the Federal Witness Protection program, Mitch and his family now emerge from isolation to reclaim their lives and their future — only to find that past dangers are still lurking and new threats are everywhere.” Watch Now at 141tv

“Charming, fast talking Marty Kaan and his crack team of MBA-toting management consultants are playing America’s 1 percent for everything they’ve got. They put the con in consulting as they charm smug, unsuspecting corporate fat cats into closing huge deals, and spending a fortune for their services. Twisting the facts, spinning the numbers, and spouting just enough business school jargon to dazzle the clients, there’s no end to what this crew won’t do to and for each other, while laughing all the way to the bank. Starring Academy Award® Nominee Don Cheadle and Kristen Bell, nothing is sacred in HOUSE OF LIES, a hilarious, irreverent send-up of corporate America today.” Watch Now at 141tv

“Remembering important moments in the lives of Llanview’s residents.” After 43 years, One Life to Live comes to a close. Watch Now at 141tv

Okay, so I’ll try to post something other than a “save this show” type of article tomorrow, but today I could not help it. Mondays are Chuck and it seems like the “We Give a Chuck” Twitter campaign has had some positive responses with retweets by Pepsi and Diet Pepsi. We will see if any other sponsors were impressed by the fans.

Due to my lack of Internet connection, I have not really been able to respond to the announcement by ABC that they would be canceling All My Children in September followed by One Life to Live in January. I think this is a huge mistake and would make one of the most unique forms of entertainment even closer to extinction. If you love them or hate them, there is no denying that Soap Operas are special. Most of the ones left have been on the air close to or longer than 40 years. Continuing stories that have never taken a break, new every weekend of the year with towns of characters that grow and evolve over time. Sure, the stories might be over the top, and sometimes downright bizarre, but soaps have also had groundbreaking stories dealing with everything from teenage pregnancy to rape, and even featured interracial couples well before anyone else had the guts to. They have been endlessly entertaining for countless fans.

These two classic shows are being replaced with talk shows. Cheap to produce cookie cutter garbage. This is obviously just the network’s desire to cut costs regardless of the product they put out. Well, it looks like it might slightly backfire, as one of ABC’s sponsors is also a big fan of AMC and OLTL. Hoover has pulled all of their advertising from ABC programs and has issued this statement:

To all the loyal ABC soap fans,

I want you to know from me personally that we hear you loud and clear. My wife and mother are both passionate viewers of All My Children and One Life to Live, as are many of my colleagues here at Hoover. We were and are as disappointed with this news as you are.

In fact, we will discontinue our advertising with ABC this Friday, 4/22. We’re making every attempt to pull our spots from these programs sooner.

Because we feel that’s not enough, we also want to help get your voice heard with ABC. So, we’ve set up a special email address, SaveTheSoaps@Hoover.com, to help pull together the mass emotional outpouring of support for our beloved ABC soaps and get it to our contacts at ABC. Please, send your emails to us at SaveTheSoaps@Hoover.com, and we’ll get every, single last one of them to ABC.

We’re 150% committed to doing what matters most to you – so if there’s anything else we can do to help or you have any ideas, please email this address, and we will respond to you personally.

Thank you for standing up for what matters to you! We need more of that in this world.

Brian Kirkendall
Vice President of Marketing
Hoover

With companies like Hoover getting behind fans, there might actually be a chance that we could save AMC and OLTL. We have some time before they’ll be over, but the question is, how do we go about saving them?

Guest post written by Rolf Tate.

My favorite daytime television show is One Life to Live. It is a soap opera that is shown on the ABC network. I love watching this show on direct TV.

I love the show because of its diverse characters. In Llanview, the matriarch of the show is Victoria Lord. She had DID and alters and is always a loving mother to everyone in the town. The local bad boy would be Todd Manning who was married to Blair Cramer and had two kids with her named Starr and Jack. Now, he is involved with Tea Delgado again who is dying of cancer and who had his secret love child named Dani many years ago. The main families in the show are the Lords, Cramers, and Buchanans. Some of the actors include: Kassie DePaiva, Trevor St. John, Michael Easton, Erika Slezak, Bree Williamson, and Robin Strasser.

Some of the best shows have involved major topics like breast cancer, gay relationships, rape, murder, and betrayal. Llanview is always a place where anything can happen from baby switches, who’s the daddy story lines, kidnappings, interrupted weddings, and spouses coming back from the dead. One Life to Live lets me escape once a day at 2 pm ET and concentrate on the happenings in Llanview instead of my own boring NJ life. I love this daytime show and will for many more years to come.