{alltv} 'Days Of Our Lives' And 'The Young & The Restless' To Recruit Alums From Canceled ABC Soaps 'AMC' And 'OLTL'

Some of the cast members of ABC's recently canceled daytime dramas All My Children and One Life To Live may get new soap gigs courtesy of Sony TV. I hear the studio is planning to bring in a number of actors from AMC and OLTL to join its two daytime dramas, NBC's Days of Our Lives and CBS' The Young & the Restless. Names I've heard mentioned are Debbi Morgan and Jacob Young from All My Children and Gina Tognoni and Josh Kelly from One Life to Live.

I hear Sony Pictures TV president Steve Mosko is behind the plan. When the AMC and OLTL's cancellations were made official earlier this month, he sprung into action, starting consultations with his top daytime executive Steve Kent and Days co-creator/exec producer Ken Corday and Y&R co-creator/exec producer Bill Bell about which actors from the departing ABC shows would strengthen the talent roster on the two soaps. (Y&R recently recruited another former star of an ABC soap, General Hospital's Genie Francis, who starts as a new regular at the end of May.)

While daytime dramas' fortunes have been falling over the past several years as five soaps have bit the dust, Sony TV's Days and Y&R have been going strong, with Y&R ranking as the top-rated daytime drama for the past two decades. Last November, Days and Y&R landed multi-year renewals by NBC and CBS, respectively. Meanwhile, All My Children will end its 41-year run in September, and One Life to Live will bow out in January after 43 years. There had been speculation that another network might step in to rescue the shows, including rumors about interest by NBC in OLTL as a companion to Days. But, given the financial challenges the two shows faced on ABC amidst declining ratings, finding a buyer would be a daunting task. So fans of AMC and OLTL shows may have to settle for a consolation price -- getting to keep some of their favorite stars in daytime.

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