Soap Dish: 'One Life' to Go Live

By Louise A. Barile

Wednesday March 27, 2002 01:00 PM EST

Kelly Ripa, 31, juggles playing Hayley Santos on "All My Children" and co-hosting "Live with Regis and Kelly," but that wouldn't prevent her from coming out to support her fellow ABC soaps. She was among the stars of four ABC daytime dramas, "All My Children," "One Life to Live," "Port Charles" and "General Hospital," at a press reception where the net announced that "One Life to Live" will go live for one week this May. Angela Shapiro, president of ABC Daytime and Buena Vista Productions, says the live week was the brainchild of the soap's executive producer Gary Tomlin. "I challenged everyone to start thinking out of the box. I didn't think he was going to be quite so bold," Shapiro told PEOPLE. "People that watch the soaps believe that what they're seeing is real time anyway. It will be fun. I have a feeling we may make one or two mistakes along the way." Shapiro likes to think "out of the box" herself. It was she who first suggested that daytime star Ripa try out for the co-hosting duties opposite Regis Philbin. "Kelly is incredibly beautiful, and as a woman you want to hate her, but you don't," Shapiro told PEOPLE. "You have the most fun with her at parties. She's the girl you want to dish with. She shares stories. I don't think you can fake that when you do a live show." For her part, Ripa is self-deprecating about her career goals. "Actually, I want my own magazine, but I realize that's too much of an undertaking for me, so I'm going to have my own leaflet."