One Life to Live (often abbreviated as OLTL) is an American soap opera broadcast on the ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as a web series on Hulu and iTunes via Prospect Park from April 29 to August 19, 2013.

[2][3][4] Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature ethnically and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social issues.

On January 7, 2013, Prospect Park resumed its plan to continue One Life to Live as a daily 30-minute web series on Hulu and iTunes via The Online Network.

[13] The new series was plagued with several behind-the-scenes problems, most notably a litigation between Prospect Park and ABC regarding the misuse of One Life to Live characters on General Hospital.

[2] One Life to Live has been called "the most peculiarly American of soap operas: the first serial to present a vast array of ethnic types, broad comic situations, a constant emphasis on social issues, and strong male characters.

The 1980s brought great ratings success with the introduction of the Buchanan family and the rise to prominence of Viki's scheming sister, Tina Lord (notably played by Andrea Evans).

[18][19][20][21] Daytime Emmy Award-nominee Andrea Evans and others returned for a tribute to Tina Lord's famous 1987 plunge over the Iguazu Falls[18][19][20][21] and the 1990 royal wedding in fictional Mendorra.

[18][19][20][25] Soap Opera Digest subsequently named One Life to Live their "Best Show" of 2008, calling it "the year's most compelling" series and citing a myriad of story lines the magazine found "heartbreaking," "stunning," and "gripping," as well as complimenting its risk-taking and "diverse and talented" cast.

Rumors about a potential cancellation of One Life to Live arose from TV Guide Canada in late 2009, after ABC announced that it was moving All My Children from New York City to Los Angeles.

[31] One Life to Live's lone presence in New York among the ABC soap operas, along its non-transition to HD and its struggling ratings, made it a program at risk of cancellation.

The article from TV Guide Canada also pointed that once One Life to Live is cancelled, some of the actors could be offered to join the cast of All My Children in Los Angeles.

[31] In May 2010, rumors of possible cancellation of not only One Life to Live, but this time of also All My Children and General Hospital, resurfaced when Walt Disney Television officially announced that it was shutting down Soapnet, effective in 2012.

At this point, All My Children had the lowest ratings so rumors began heating up in March 2011 about the show's demise, with hints that One Life to Live was safe for a while longer.

Several actors performed on One Life to Live for 20 years or more, including Erika Slezak, Michael Storm, Robert S. Woods, Philip Carey, and Robin Strasser.

Actors who became famous for their work on the show and who went on to greater fame with their prime time, feature film or theatre work include Lillian Hayman, Ellen Holly, Tommy Lee Jones, Al Freeman Jr., Laurence Fishburne, Judith Light, Phylicia Rashad, Blair Underwood, Marcia Cross, Roma Downey, Mario Van Peebles, Jessica Tuck, Ryan Phillippe, Hayden Panettiere, Nathan Fillion, Renée Elise Goldsberry, and Tika Sumpter.

"[38] Shortly after receiving a March 2005 GLAAD Media Award for its coverage of LGBT issues,[41][42] One Life to Live was met with criticism when married district attorney Daniel Colson (Mark Dobies) was revealed to have murdered two people to cover up the fact that he was secretly gay.

[57] The 12 other actors were Melissa Archer (Nathalie Buchanan), Kassie DePaiva (Blair Cramer), Michael Easton (John McBain), Shenell Edmonds (Destiny Evans), Josh Kelly (Cutter Wentworth), Ted King (Tomás Delgado), Florencia Lozano (Tea Delgado), Kelley Missal (Danielle Manning), Sean Ringgold (Shaun Evans), Andrew Trischitta (Jack Manning), Jerry verDorn (Clint Buchanan) and Tuc Watkins (David Vickers).

[69] On May 24, 2013, in a press release Prospect Park announced through Agnes Nixon that Racina would be replaced as head writer of One Life to Live by the then-current screenwriters Jessica Klein and Marin Gazzaniga.

All My Children and One Life to Live were forced into an early hiatus with the writers, directors and editors still working; there were talks of production being moved out of state, but those plans were later shelved.

[79] On December 1, 2011, two weeks after One Life to Live finished taping its final scenes,[80] ABC confirmed that former executive producer Frank Valentini and head writer Ron Carlivati would assume the same roles on General Hospital effective January 9, 2012.

[81] Several former One Life to Live actors - Kassie DePaiva, Roger Howarth, Michael Easton, and Kristen Alderson - moved with Valentini and Carlivati and reprised their characters on General Hospital.

[85] Throughout the show's history, the plot lines of One Life to Live have been established as existing in the same fictional universe as other ABC-owned daytime series, in particular Agnes Nixon's All My Children, which premiered in 1970.

Two characters that also appeared on All My Children are Sadie Gray (Lillian Hayman), when she sang for the wedding of Dr. Frank and Caroline Grant, and Delilah Ralston (Shelly Burch), when she designed a special dress to be worn by Erica Kane (Susan Lucci).

A December 30, 2003, visit by One Life to Live's Paul Cramer to his estranged secret wife Babe Carey on All My Children[92] ultimately leads to an extensive 2004 "baby switch" storyline which features crossovers of over 20 characters between the two series.

With his sister Kelly Cramer desperate for a child to save her marriage after miscarrying her own, Paul finds himself delivering the babies of both Babe and her friend Bianca Montgomery during a rainstorm and subsequent flood in nearby Pine Valley on March 24, 2004.

Paul stages a crash with his medical evacuation helicopter; he takes AJ Chandler for Kelly,[86] gives Miranda Montgomery to Babe, and tells Bianca that her baby had died in the accident.

[41] One Life to Live won the same award again in 2010[105] for a well-publicized storyline in which police officer Oliver Fish comes out and reunites with his former college boyfriend and medical school student Kyle Lewis.

[106][46][107][108] ABC cemented its reputation as a youth-oriented network in daytime with the addition of One Life to Live to its schedule, with much of the rest of its lineup consisting of soap operas like Dark Shadows, sitcom reruns, and game shows packaged by Chuck Barris.

ABC bet its hopes on viewers staying tuned past the half hour, making them unlikely to switch channels to Another World and All in the Family reruns on CBS (or The Match Game in the case of General Hospital fans).

In order to save General Hospital (which was airing at 3:15 PM) from cancellation, ABC expanded both soaps to an hour beginning on January 16, 1978; The $20,000 Pyramid was moved to the noon Eastern timeslot, where it remained until its run ended in June 1980.