One Life to Live (abbreviated as OLTL) is an American television soap opera broadcast for more than 43 years on the ABC network, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature ethnically and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social issues. One Life to Live was expanded from 30 minutes to 45 minutes on July 26, 1976, and then to an hour on January 16, 1978.
One Life to Live heavily focuses on the members and relationships of the Lord family. Actress Erika Slezak began portraying original and central heroine Victoria "Viki" Lord on March 1971 and played the character continuously for the rest of the show's run, winning a record six Daytime Emmy Awards for the role. In 2002, the series won an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series. Taped in New York City, One Life to Live was the last American daytime soap opera based outside the Los Angeles area.
On April 14, 2011, ABC announced the cancellation of One Life to Live, citing low ratings, high production costs and viewers' changing tastes. On July 7, 2011, production company Prospect Park announced that it would continue the show as a web series after its run on ABC, but later suspended the project. The final scenes of One Life to Live were taped on November 18, 2011 and the last episode aired on January 13, 2012. Since then, several characters have been brought over to General Hospital.
The departure of One Life to Live ended 62 years of daytime television soap operas in New York.
Read more about One Life To Live: Creation, Series History, Abandoned Transition With Prospect Park, Transition To General Hospital, Crossovers, Awards, Broadcast History, International Broadcasting
Famous quotes containing the word life:
“It had been a moving, tranquil apotheosis, immersed in the transfiguring sunset glow of decline and decay and extinction. An old family, already grown too weary and too noble for life and action, had reached the end of its history, and its last utterances were sounds of music: a few violin notes, full of the sad insight which is ripeness for death.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)