July 15, 1968…’One Life To Live’ Debuts On ABC

On July 17, 2014 - TV History

July 15, 1968…’One Life To Live’ Debuts On ABC

In its 43 year history, ‘One LIfe To Live’ covered a lot of ground in it’s plot lines, but none were more extraordinary than the “heaven” scenes done in 1987, 2008 and 2012.

Above is our friend Howie Zeidman (left) and Rich Westlein on camera in ABC TV 1 shooting the first visit to “heaven” in 1989 with Ikegami HK 312s and their side mounted teleprompters. The other photo shows how “heaven” would have looked on the screen.

I think the show spent most of it’s life in ABC TV 17 but in 2009 it moved to TV 23 which was about 30% larger. After months of cancellation rumors, ABC announced on April 14, 2011 that ‘All My Children’ and ‘One Life To Live’ would end their runs.

While the cancellations of both soap operas were announced on the same day, ‘One Life To Live’ was to remain on the air 4 months longer because its replacement would not be ready in time. In response to the cancellations, Hoover Vacuums withdrew its advertising from all ABC programs out of protest.

The final episode aired on January 13, 2012, with an open-ended story because the serial was supposed to continue on a cable/internet network at the time the last scenes were taped.

The departure of ‘One Life to Live’ ended a 62-year history of daytime television soap operas broadcast from New York which started in 1950 with the CBS’s daytime drama ‘The First Hundred Years’. Enjoy and share!


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6 Comments

  1. Howie Zeidman July 20, 2014

    Hey Robert One Life to Live was started in TV 19 18 was all my children, moved to TV 1 when it went to 45 minutes while TV 17 was being built, and moved into TV 17 in 1978 I was there for all of it, worked the show in all 3 studios then of course to TV 23 where it ended

  2. Bob Sewvello July 18, 2014

    Must be tricky reading the teleprompter without looking into the camera but I’ve heard soap opera actors say they try to learn their lines (although there is a lot of dialogue to learn). The teleprompter may be there more as a tool of reference.

  3. Laurie Atlas July 17, 2014

    Remember fondly my days working there

  4. John Tumino July 17, 2014

    I remember when the water from eterna leaked down into the tape room

  5. Alan Maretsky July 17, 2014

    Side mounted prompters? Must have been interesting balancing the camera on the head.

  6. Robert Franklin July 17, 2014

    OLTL was originally in TV18. It moved into TV17 in 1978.