ONCE MORE INTO THE... PARK?

No sooner do I post yesterday about Prospect Park no longer being an option for All My Children and One Life to Live, then Variety.com reports:

(O)ne of the options Prospect Park is said to be considering is bringing in an overseas firm to turn the shows into a co-production. That may or may not allow the shows to circumvent the unions, which couldn't come to terms with Prospect Park on compensation for talent on both sides of the camera.

Here's the thing:

Let's say the shows could be filmed overseas, in Eastern Europe or Spain, or even just across the border in Canada (they'd hardly be the first ones to leave the USA in order to cut costs - a couple of years ago an actor friend of mine shot a Baskin-Robbins commercial in South Africa; yes, it was cheaper to put up an entire crew in a foreign country for a few days than it would have been to shoot locally).

You could presumably get non-American/non-Union production staff, non-Union writers (would Agnes Nixon participate?), non-union directors. You could truck out the sets and make them look exactly the same as they did when erected at ABC Studios. Maybe no one would even notice the difference.

But, what about the actors?

Would American actors work on a non-Unionized production?

Some might, some might not. I certainly don't know everyone's personal status or opinion.

But, it's doubtful that enough actors would sign on to such an endeavor to makes the shows feel the same. This could well end up being All My Children and One Life to Live in name only, with a flood of new faces in familiar roles, or simply a flood of new characters (it's hard to determine which options soap fans would hate less.)

In 1988, a TV movie entitled Bonanaza: The Next Generation served as a pilot for what would have become a series sequel to the mega 1959-1973 hit. It featured none of the original characters or actors, though Michael Landon Jr. did play Little Joe's son, and Lorne Greene's daughter was also cast.

Next Generation failed to go to series, though it did spawn two more TV movies. In 2001, viewers got The Ponderosa, a prequel series that lasted one year on PAX, again featuring none of the original cast and changing some cannon history, to boot. The show filmed in Australia to cut costs.

Though it failed for a variety of reasons, a similar project, Star Trek: The Next Generation, was a phenomenal success using basically the same formula: Familiar name, new characters.

Would you watch an All My Children that focused on a now-grown Miranda, Gabrielle, Emma, Jenny, Little A, Spike, Ian and Trevor, or a One Life to Live that showed you what life was really like for young Viki under the thumb of her dictatorial father - not to mention what in the world made Dorian, well... Dorian?

Is All My Children: The Next Generation or Llanview a viable option?