When Prospect Park made their deal to take over cancelled soaps All My Children and One Life to Live, the AMC producers were asked to change their original series ending. Now that Prospect Park has given up on their efforts to revive the soaps online, longtime AMC fans are left with a strange cliffhanger ending instead.
In an interview with TVLine, AMC actress Chrishell Stause says that a satisfying ending for the soap was actually filmed. She said, “I love the version we shot originally. But then the Prospect Park thing came about. We only had Kate Collins [who plays Amanda’s mother Janet] for a few days, so we had to shoot our ending with her really, really early. And then the Prospect Park thing happened and they changed the ending to what you saw.”
Stause continued, “What’s sad is that I know what the ending was supposed to be, so I feel like the fans were robbed. We all had these vignettes that were beautiful and really great, so that’s the biggest regret… But the film for the ending that was never used is out there, somewhere!”
The actress had doubts that the Prospect Park deal was going to work out, calling it “a disaster.” Stause says that people on the show were given initial offers and then, when it came to renegotiate, the company never came back to the table.
She notes that she was open to doing the online version, in part because of the devoted AMC fans. Stause wasn’t interested in an exclusive deal with Prospect Park and felt that she could juggle the online version of AMC with other projects, like her upcoming part on Body of Proof.
What do you think? Would you like to see the additional finale footage? How should it be released? Would you pay to see it on a special DVD set?
Image courtesy ABC.
Yes, I want to see the originally scheduled ending of All My Children, and yes I would pay for a DVD!
Yes, yes and yes !
I think ABC should air the original final episode of AMC and the original final episode of OLTL on OLTL’s last air date. I would not pay to see the ending, ABC owes us the real ending.
Jen
I say, if it exists and is viable, arrange to play it on SoapNet Channel alongwith the final episode of One Life to Live. Also, SoapNet should look into broadcasting same day episodes of The Bold & Beautiful as replacements until SoapNet exits.
Dale,
Are you sure that they shot to digital files rather than digital tape? I find it hard to believe that at least a digital tape backup wasn’t recorded. Tape is a much easier format to archive.
Let’s get your headline straight. It should have said “Original … ending WAS filmed!” That doesn’t necessarily mean it survived. Digital video production makes it much easier to dispose of unneeded material; there is no “cutting-room floor” anymore.
Dale Latimer » I suppose it’s possible that it no longer exists but I doubt that the footage was deleted. Digital production makes it easy to delete material but also very easy to hold onto it as well. It’s just bits. In an age when studios are always looking for cheap extras for DVD releases, it’s my understanding that a lot more stuff is getting saved these days.