All My Children
Encyclopedia
All My Children is an American television
soap opera
that aired on ABC
from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon
, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania
, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci
as Erica Kane
, one of daytime's most popular characters. The title of the series. sometimes abbreviated as AMC, refers to the bonds of humanity. The first new network daytime drama to debut in the 1970s, All My Children was originally owned by Creative Horizons, Inc., the company created by Nixon and her husband, Bob. The show was sold to ABC in January 1975. Originally a half-hour in length, the show expanded to an hour on April 25, 1977. Earlier, the show had experimented with the hour format for one week starting on June 30, 1975, after which Ryan's Hope
premiered.
From 1970 to 1990, All My Children was recorded at ABC's TV18 at 101 West 67th St, now a 50-story apartment tower. From March 1990 to December 2009, it was taped at ABC's television studio TV23 at 320 West 66th Street in Manhattan
, New York City
. In December 2009, the locale for taping the series moved from the costly New York City to California
. The show was then produced in Stages 1 and 2 at the Andrita Studios in Los Angeles
. All My Children started filming in High Definition on January 4, 2010 and began airing in high definition on February 3, 2010. All My Children became the third soap opera to be produced and broadcast in high definition.
At one time, the program's popularity positioned it as the most widely-recorded television show in the United States
. Also, in a departure from societal norms at the time, All My Children, in the mid-1970s, had an audience that was estimated to be 30% male. The show ranked #1 in the daytime Nielsen ratings in the 1978–79 season. Throughout most of the 1980s and into the early 1990s, All My Children was the #2 daytime soap opera on the air. However, like the rest of the soap operas in the United States, All My Children experienced unprecedented declines in its daytime ratings during the 2000s. By the 2010s, it had became one of the least watched soap operas in daytime television.
On April 14, 2011, it was announced that All My Children would be canceled after 41 years on the air. On July 7, 2011, ABC sold the licensing rights of All My Children to third-party production company Prospect Park
with the show set to continue on the internet as a series of webisodes and possibly on cable television
. The show taped its final scenes for ABC on August 30, 2011, and its last episode on the network aired on September 23, 2011 with a cliffhanger
. On November 23, 2011, and exactly two months after the series ended on ABC, Prospect Park officially cancelled its plans to revive the series.
, then head writer for The Guiding Light
, first came up with the idea for All My Children in the 1960s. When writing the story bible, she designed the show so it would be a light-hearted soap opera that focused on social issues and young love. She unsuccessfully attempted to sell the series to NBC
, then to CBS
, and once again to NBC through Procter & Gamble
. When Procter & Gamble was unable to make room for the show in its lineup, Nixon put All My Children on hold.
Nixon became the head writer
for Another World
in 1965, and decided to use a few ideas from her All My Children bible. In one specific case, she used the model of the Erica Kane
character to create a brand new Another World character named Rachel Davis
. Nixon said Rachel was Erica's "precursor to the public" but Rachel was a lower-class version. "Erica and Rachel have in common is they thought if they could get their dream, they'd be satisfied", Nixon said. "But that dream has been elusive."
ABC later approached Nixon to create a show that would reflect a more "contemporary" tone. That program became One Life to Live
, and it debuted in 1968. After that show became a success, the network asked Nixon for another program, and she obliged by reviving her All My Children bible and the Erica Kane character.
The poem, written by Nixon, that appears in the title credits' photo album reads:
was signed on to be the "special guest star" for six months, playing the role of liberal Amy Tyler. Prinz was well-known for her role on As the World Turns in the 1950s and 1960s and she was added to the show to give it an initial boost due to her name value.
From 1970 and into the 1980s, the show was either written by Nixon herself or by her protégé, Wisner Washam
. He was groomed by Nixon to eventually take over the reins in the 1980s while she focused on other endeavors, which included creating and launching Loving
in 1983.
Nixon strove to create a soap opera that was topical, and could illustrate social issues for the audience. She wanted this and a combination of regular humor for the series. To keep the action more real, she allowed the audience to locate her fictional "Pine Valley" on a map: situated a mere hour-long train ride from New York City. Many believed Pine Valley was in New York State because of a town called Pine Valley
in western New York
. However, it was not until the 1980s that it was finally revealed that Pine Valley is actually in Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia and also near One Life To Live's Llanview.
The show's first action takes place around several families and characters. Phoebe Tyler (Ruth Warrick
), who fashions herself as "Queen of Pine Valley", is the definition of a rich snob when she is introduced. A single mother, Mona Kane (Frances Heflin
), and her prima donna
daughter, Erica
(Susan Lucci
) are also introduced. Contrasting this is the stable Martin Family, headed by patriarch Joe and later (after the death of her husband, Ted Brent) by matriarch Ruth, who becomes a symbolic foundation of All My Children.
With Phoebe as the "Queen of Pine Valley", Erica became the "Princess". Destined to break up the young romance of classmates Tara Martin (Karen Lynn Gorney
) and Phil Brent (Richard Hatch
), Erica finds out that Phil is not Ruth's son but the son of Ruth's sister, Amy (Rosemary Prinz
). In a selfish attempt to break up Phil and Tara, she tells everyone the truth.
All My Childrens first success was its telling of young love. ABC wanted a soap opera that would bring in young viewers, and slowly the program was accomplishing that. The show's ratings did not start out strong, however. In its first year on the air, it ranked #17 out of 19 soap operas. Despite this, its audience was building with each passing year.
The show was unique for its use of the Vietnam War
. Before All My Children debuted, no show had discussed the war in any depth. There was the character of Phoebe, a conservative, and Amy, a free-spirited liberal, both butting heads over the war, with Amy often leading protests around Pine Valley. When the character of Amy leaves, Ruth takes over as the anti-war voice. Her early 1970s protest speech wins Mary Fickett
the first ever Emmy Award
given to a soap opera performer back in 1972. Later in the show's run, Phoebe becomes more liberal.
In 1973, Erica Kane makes the decision to have an abortion, which becomes the first legal abortion aired on American television. What makes the abortion particularly controversial is Erica's reason for doing it; she does not have it because her health is in jeopardy, but rather because she does not want to gain weight and lose her modeling job. The abortion story received much media attention, especially since Roe v. Wade
had been decided just a few months before the story began airing. Within the story, Erica develops a potentially fatal infection, which was later determined to be toxoplasmosis
after having the abortion, and the switchboards at ABC lit up with calls from doctors and nurses, offering its medical opinions on how best to treat the character's case.
Phoebe's husband Charles (Hugh Franklin
) gets close to Mona (Erica's mother) and his secretary at the hospital. The two fall in love and Charles divorces Phoebe, even though she tries to blackmail Mona and even fakes paralysis
. In the end, Phoebe is left a drunken divorcée and Mona becomes the new Mrs. Tyler. This ordeal starts the long-time Phoebe/Mona rivalry.
When Eileen Letchworth, who portrayed Margo Flax Martin, contemplated a facelift, she talked it over with Nixon. Not only was Letchworth going to need time off, she was going to look significantly different when she returned to the show. Nixon approved and worked the facelift into a storyline. Margo wanted to impress the somewhat younger Paul Martin (William Mooney
). Margo’s facelift in 1974 became one of the first major storylines on television discussing surgery and its psychological effects.
In June 1976, the character of Brooke English
shows up on her Aunt Phoebe's doorstep and soon after clashes with Erica over Tom Cudahy
and Mark Dalton. Since then, Brooke ends up with several of Erica's leftover men. In 1976, the show introduces fan favorite Myrtle Lum Fargate (Eileen Herlie
).
By the late 1970s, the show had risen to the top of the ratings. One reason for the rise was the arrival of teenage prostitute Donna Beck (Candice Earley). Her relationship with the handsome Dr. Chuck Tyler breathed life into the show and captivated fans. Other new additions are the arrivals of aristocratic Palmer Cortlandt
(aka Peter Cooney) (James Mitchell
), his somewhat creepy housekeeper Myra Murdock (Elizabeth Lawrence), and his overprotected daughter Nina (Taylor Miller
), who, to Palmer's chagrin, entrances Dr. Cliff Warner (Peter Bergman
). Palmer does everything in his power to break up the couple, including telling Nina she is going blind due to her diabetes. Palmer teams up with Cliff's past flame, nurse Sybil Thorne (Linda Gibboney), who confronts Cliff about fathering her son, but this is temporary; Sybil is accidentally killed by Sean Cudahy (Alan Dysert). During the murder trial, Nina is astonished to learn that her mother, Daisy Cortlandt (Gillian Spencer
), whom she believes to be dead, is, in fact, alive and living in Pine Valley as Monique Jonville. To complete everyone's shock, Myra acknowledges that Daisy is her daughter. All My Children also found memorable villains in Billy Clyde Tuggle and Ray Gardner.
All My Children had always aired in color since its 1970 debut. The episodes were initially only saved for a short time on cartridge tapes and were eventually erased in order to tape other productions. Beginning in 1976, all the episodes were saved on cartridge tape and then digitally since the late 1990s. A few early episodes were saved on kinescope
in black and white, one of which aired on ABC in 1997 on a special "A Daytime To Remember". But there are no known pre-1976 episodes to be still in existence on tape.
s. Younger characters, such as Greg Nelson and Jenny Gardner
(Laurence Lau
and Kim Delaney
), Liza Colby
(Marcy Walker
), Liza's best friend Amanda (Amanda Bearse
), Jesse Hubbard and Angie Baxter (Darnell Williams
and Debbi Morgan
), and a now-grown-up Tad Martin
(Michael E. Knight
), who was now legally Ruth and Joe's son, enter the scene.
The storyline involving Liza plotting to win Greg back after he leaves her for Jenny became a fan favorite, as was the Greg and Jenny and Jesse and Angie pairings. Jesse and Jenny's summer in New York City became regarded as one of the greatest storylines in the history of the series. Meanwhile, the legend of "Tad the Cad" is born when Tad takes Liza's virginity
, then simultaneously begins having sex with her mother, socialite Marian Colby (Jennifer Bassey
), who eventually is sent to prison.
For older appeal, Jenny and Tad's natural mother Opal (Dorothy Lyman
) was also added to the canvas, where she opens the Glamorama salon and spa. Opal greatly showcased All My Children’s attempt at humor and satire. Also introduced in the 1980s were powerful businessman Adam Chandler
and his identical twin brother Stuart
(both played by David Canary
), the first arrival of members of the Chandler family
. Adam became cited as one of the "most powerful male figures in television", which was contrasted by Stuart's kind, generous, and honest personality.
The character of Erica begins to take on a larger-than-life role by the 1980s. This is evident with her writing an autobiography, "Raising Kane", and turning it into a motion picture. When her presumed half-sister Silver (Deborah Goodrich) accuses her of murdering Kent Bogard (Michael Woods, Lee Godart), her former lover and boss, she goes on the run, fleeing to the Hollywood Hills
. She does this all while posing as a nun
. Her forest encounter with a grizzly bear after she escapes a kidnapping attempt made by Adam is considered a memorable moment.
The show made its first attempt at tackling the taboo topic of homosexuality in 1983. Tricia Pursley
portrayed the divorced Devon McFadden, who believes she is falling in love with her psychiatrist, Lynn Carson (portrayed by Donna Pescow
). Lynn admits to being
a lesbian, and Devon admits her crush. No other American soap opera had done a story about homosexuality
.
The show also intelligently tackled the issue of drug use when Mark La Mura's character, Mark Dalton, becomes addicted to cocaine after years of casual use. His half-sister, Erica, stages an intervention with his friends to have him confront his problems. They practice a "tough love
" policy that has Mark admit to the addiction. The informative episode showed how to hold an intervention, and the stages to go through for a successful confrontation.
Controversy was prompted in 1987 with the arrival of Cindy Parker (Ellen Wheeler
), who would later fall in love with Stuart. The character was revealed to have AIDS
. Through visits by now-Dr. Angie Hubbard, the show educated the public on how the disease was spread and how to prevent it. Cindy had contracted HIV
from her husband, Fred, who contracted it from sharing needles for drug use. Cindy is attacked by a vigilante hate group led by her niece, Skye Chandler
. The tragedy of the attack shows the extremes of violence that occur everyday to victims of the disease. Cindy marries Stuart and he adopts her son, Scott. She dies early in 1989 in one of the show's most watched episodes.
ABC wanted changes at All My Children. The show was getting about 6.5 million viewers per episode, but there sentiment that the program had lost its unique sense of humor. Efforts were made to bring the show back to the glory days of the late '70s and early ‘80s. This would mean adding a mixture of both social issues and also the intelligent satire that the show had been known for.
Felicia Minei Behr
was hired as the new executive producer in early 1989. Having been a producer on Ryan's Hope
, Behr was familiar with All My Children, having been an associate producer from 1970 to 1975. Among the stories featured was a baby storyline involving the characters of Adam, Brooke, Tad, and Dixie (Cady McClain
). By this time, the show had also found a "hit couple" in Cecily and Nico (portrayed by Rosa Nevin and Maurice Benard
), but Behr was unable to convince either to remain with the show, and the duo left at the end of 1989.
ABC was pleased with Behr; Nixon was as well, and decided her creation was safe in the hands of the new producer. Behr, however, made the unpopular decision to fire Peter Bergman (Cliff Warner) during this time, as well as Ellen Wheeler (Karen) and Robert Gentry (Ross Chandler). Bergman's departure was particularly frustrating to Debbi Morgan (who thought it was a cop-out by ABC on the promising interracial Angie/Cliff pairing; Morgan later defected to the new NBC soap Generations in protest), Taylor Miller (who was misled when Behr approached her to bring back her character Nina; Miller was frustrated to find out she had only been brought back for two weeks to facilitate Bergman's departure: Cliff and Nina reunited, married yet again, and left Pine Valley, leaving Miller to lament to Soap Opera Digest
that she felt it was going backward for both characters, and difficult emotionally to play), and Bergman himself (who had just bought a house, and was left without a paycheck, unexpectedly). Behr then brought back fan favorite Opal Gardner, but instead of contacting Emmy winner Dorothy Lyman to reprise the role, Behr hired Jill Larson
. Lyman later noted her disappointment in never being contacted about reprising the role.
ABC chose Megan McTavish
, a former actress who had been on the writing team since 1987, to be its new head writer. She was officially promoted to that position in 1992, with Nixon serving as Executive Head Writer. Stories such as Molly's leukemia, Ceara Connor's (Genie Francis
) incest
, Mona’s lung cancer
, and Deconstruction (a story about racism), were all praised in soap opera magazines for their social conscience. Other storylines included the Who Killed Will Cortlandt? mystery, Willow Lake Acres (a both humorous and serious tale about the plight of the elderly in a fraudulent nursing home), and a tornado that rocked Pine Valley. Behr also helped craft a story re-exploring Erica's father, Eric Kane. It was revealed he had faked his own death. In a comical twist, Erica finds him working as a clown in a traveling circus.
McTavish was also instrumental in a major but still popular retcon storyline in 1993. Kendall Hart
(Sarah Michelle Gellar
) is introduced as Erica's new personal assistant, but the audience later soon learns that Kendall is actually Erica's long-lost daughter. Kendall was conceived after Erica was raped on her 14th birthday by her father's actor friend Richard Fields. After she became pregnant, Erica gave the baby up for adoption to the Harts, a couple from Florida. Kendall has made her way to Pine Valley after finding out her biological mother is the famous Erica Kane, and intends to wreak havoc on her and assume her glamorous lifestyle, which she feels is her birth right. Erica had thought she had put that whole nightmare behind her, only to have it come back years later with a vengeance and a name. Mother and daughter end up loathing one another during this time within the series. Despite being proclaimed by some "as the second coming of Erica", the popular Gellar only played Kendall for a little over two years, and then left the show to pursue other acting opportunities. Producers ended up waiting at least six years before even contemplating to recast the role (which eventually went to Alicia Minshew
).
The Santos, Dillon, Frye, and Keefer families were introduced during the 90s as well. Also, the Tad and Dixie pairing had become especially popular. The show also had other couples with great followings during this time: Dimitri and Erica (Michael Nader
), Trevor (James Kiberd
) and Natalie (Kate Collins), and Hayley (Kelly Ripa
) and Brian (Gregory Gordon, Matt Borlenghi
, Brian L. Greene).
By the early-mid-1990s, some of McTavish's storytelling received criticism for being gimmick-driven (i.e. multiple dual roles, bomb plots). Reports soon surfaced that Behr and McTavish were having conflicts about storylines and the direction of the series. After the O.J. Simpson trial preempted daytime television programs throughout late 1994 and into 1995, many soaps saw their ratings decline, and All My Children was no different. When Megan McTavish was fired from her head writing post in the spring, former head writer Lorraine Broderick
was tapped by Behr to lead the team once again.
Broderick's tenure under Behr was popular among critics and fans for returning All My Children to its socially relevant, character-driven roots. Her most significant successes were Erica's drug addiction story (with the character receiving treatment at the Betty Ford Center
), and also the story of homophobia
over a gay high school boy and a history teacher. However, with the ratings still stagnant, ABC fired longtime executive producer Felicia Minei Behr
, and brought in Francesca James
(who had previously won an Emmy award acting on the show as twins Kitty and Kelly). The storylines now included a voodoo arc with the popular Noah and Julia
(Keith Hamilton Cobb
and Sydney Penny
), a fantasy story for Myrtle featuring the "real" Santa Claus
, and finally a baby kidnapping story involving Erica.
Despite winning three consecutive Daytime Emmys for writing during her tenure on All My Children, Broderick was replaced in December 1997 by her predecessor, McTavish. The first major story McTavish tackled was, "ironically", one created by Broderick, Bianca Montgomery's
anorexia
. The character of Bianca, Erica's young daughter, is checked into a facility to treat the disease. Apart from the anorexia story, McTavish's tales were plot-driven and made implausible alterations to the show's history such as the resurrection of Erica's lifetime-love, Mike Roy (Nicholas Surovy). In 1998, the show again got a new executive producer, Jean Dadario Burke
, taking over from Francesca James
. She would become known to many speculating fans as a weak producer with little vision.
Cady McClain
, who had left the show as Dixie in 1996, returned to the delight of her fans, but other storylines—involving ghosts, poison tattoos, Nazi art, and a sperm switch—were all ill-received. By the start of 1999, with All My Children being voted as the "Worst of 1998" by Soap Opera Digest, McTavish was once again fired.
As ratings began to fall in the late 1990s, ABC convinced Nixon to make a brief return. Many long-running actors, such as Michael Nader
, James Kiberd
, and Robin Mattson
, left their roles.
. Within the series, Bianca admits the truth to her mother in December 2000. Though initially controversial, the storyline was praised by fans and critics. Bianca emerged as a breakout character and lesbian icon. The show found additional success in the pairing of newcomers Leo and Greenlee
(Josh Duhamel
and Rebecca Budig
).
Richard Culliton
wrote several of All My Children's early 2000s storylines. He created popular characters Frankie
and Maggie Stone
, and said Frankie was already intended to be killed in a murder storyline after only three months on the series. Culliton and ABC
executives were surprised when viewers became attached to the romance between Bianca and Frankie, developed by Culliton with Frankie's debut. These fans attributed Frankie's death to the show's fear to focus on a lesbian romance. Eventually, Culliton introduced the idea to bring back popular actress Elizabeth Hendrickson
, who had portrayed Frankie, as Frankie's twin sister Maggie. Culliton continued to write for the show until late 2002.
After more staff turnover, McTavish again returned as head writer. Her storylines began airing in July 2003, which included the controversial rape of Bianca. Gone upon McTavish's latest return was Jean Dadario Burke
as executive producer
, being replaced with Julie Hanan Carruthers
.
Under McTavish, ratings fluctuated back and forth. To lure back long-time viewers, McTavish created new characters and romances, as well as scripted the return of various characters who had been gone for long. She introduced star-crossed
couple JR Chandler and Babe Carey upon writing JR's return to the series, scripted most of popular pairing Bianca Montgomery and Maggie Stone
's love story, and created fellow popular couple Zach Slater and Kendall Hart
. Characters Julia Santos
(Sydney Penny
) and Janet Dillon (Kate Collins, who was originally slated to return for a brief stint) were eventually brought back.
On July 26, 2006, Tanika Ray
, pop star
Rihanna
, as well as other celebrities, appeared on the show. During the Rihanna appearance, a controversial storyline involving Erica's thought-to-be-aborted son having come to Pine Valley under the name Josh Madden
intensifies when Josh learns of how he truly came to exist. In August 2006, after months of speculation, it was confirmed that fan favorite Eden Riegel
would be reprising her Emmy
winning role as Bianca. She was a part of a controversial storyline centered on transgender
character Zarf/Zoe
.
The most notable return was Cady McClain
's return as show heroine Dixie Cooney Martin
. The news of her return spread just two weeks before she reappeared on the series. In an unpopular and controversial move by the series, the writers chose to kill off Dixie in January 2007 only a year after her return. The character's death was the result of the Satin Slayer storyline where she is unintentionally murdered in place of character Babe Carey
.
Another prominent return to the series occurred on February 9, 2007, when Susan Pratt
returned as Barbara Montgomery
. Pratt made her last appearance in July of that year. That same month, McTavish was fired as head writer, reportedly due to viewer criticism about her storylines. On May 21, 2007, James Harmon Brown and Barbara Esensten
were announced as the new head writers of All My Children. The duo wrote for Days of our Lives
, One Life to Live
, Dynasty
and Port Charles
, and created and wrote for The City.
On December 12, 2007, ABC revealed Rebecca Budig
would be returning to the series as Greenlee Smythe
; the return was one of the most widely reported in daytime television history, attracting mainstream media attention such as the Associated Press
and New York Daily News. Budig's return was overshadowed by controversy when news of Sabine Singh
's reportedly unfair treatment as a Greenlee recast in order to bring Budig back incited viewer outrage.
On December 25, 2007, Soap Opera Digest
reported the return of fan favorites Debbi Morgan
and Darnell Williams
as Jesse Hubbard and Angie Baxter. Morgan returned on January 18, 2008, and Williams on January 25, 2008. In April 2008, it was announced that Laurence Lau
would briefly reprise the role of Greg Nelson for Jesse and Angie's much anticipated wedding.
On May 21, 2008, Charles Pratt, Jr.
, former co-head writer for General Hospital
, was announced as a replacement for Brown and Esensten amid record low ratings.
On November 6, 2008, All My Children aired a special episode in which veterans share their stories unscripted.
On November 12, 2008, the show celebrated its 10,000th show with a special appearance by Nixon and a special tribute to Myrtle Fargate (as portrayed by Eileen Herlie
who had recently died). On December 19, 2008, a special episode ran for Herlie, showing clips from the past.
On February 16, 2009, All My Children made daytime history with the nuptials of Reese Williams and Bianca Montgomery
, the first legal same-sex marriage
in American daytime television. After departing the show in February 2005, Riegel continued to return to the series for limited guest appearances, but permanently left the role in 2010.
On November 20, 2009, Pratt was fired as head writer. Daytime Emmy-winning former head writer Lorraine Broderick
was brought back to lead the writing team on an interim basis. Reportedly, Broderick returned at the request of show creator Agnes Nixon, but was not interested in remaining permanently as the team's top scribe.
. It featured appearances by characters Palmer Cortlandt
, Nina Warner, Maria Santos Grey
, Brooke English
, Greg Nelson, Bianca Montgomery
, Mateo Santos
, and Lily Montgomery. It was also the final episode for characters Joe and Ruth Martin, who are moving to Florida for retirement, and the final appearance for Palmer, as his portrayer James Mitchell
, died just over two weeks after the episode's airing.
On January 13, 2010, ABC Daytime announced the appointment of David Kreizman
and Donna Swajeski
as the co-head writers of All My Children, replacing interim head writer Lorraine Broderick
, who in turn replaced the fan-reviled Charles Pratt, Jr.
. Brian Frons, head of ABC daytime, stated, "David and Donna are the perfect team to bring new ideas to All My Children while remaining true to its core by telling stories with a focus on the integrity of the show's history, its characters and families on the canvas." Prior to his appointment on All My Children, Kriezman was the head writer of Guiding Light
from 2004 to the final episode on September 18, 2009, and the co-head writer of As the World Turns
from 2009 to the final episode on September 17, 2010. Swajeski's prior experience includes a head writing stint on Another World
from 1988 to 1992.
With the death on January 22 of James Mitchell
(Palmer Cortlandt
1979–2010), the show aired a tribute episode to Palmer on Tuesday April 20, 2010. Gillian Spencer
(Daisy Murdoch Cortlandt), Taylor Miller
(Nina Cortlandt
), and Cady McClain
(Dixie Cooney Martin
) returned for the episode.
On February 8, Walt Willey
returned as a contract cast member in the role of Jackson Montgomery, following numerous months away and dispute about his future on the show. On February 23, Julia Barr
reprised the role of Brooke English
; Brooke's return was timed to the retirement of David Canary
(Adam Chandler
) after more than 26 years on the show. Their final episode aired April 23, 2010.
On July 18, 2010, All My Children lost one of its original cast members, Larry Keith
. Larry was on the show from 1970–2005. Larry portrayed Nick Davis who gave Erica Kane
the nickname "Princess". He was last seen on January 5, 2005 for All My Children's 35th anniversary episode.
In September 2010, Daytime Emmy winner Vincent Irizzary's character, the popular villain David Hayward, was murdered. On the November 22, 2010 episode, David Hayward waltzed into the courtroom during Greenlee's trial (for which she was just sentenced to life in prison for murdering him) at the tail end of it, confirming rumors that he was going to return all along. Soap Opera Digest
confirmed soon after that the show had planned this all along from the start.
On September 16, 2010, Adam Mayfield (Scott Chandler
) and Brittany Allen (Marissa Tasker
) were announced to be leaving the show. ABC reports that they wanted to take both the characters in a different direction. On September 22, 2010 it was announced that Daniel Cosgrove
(ex-Scott, All My Children; ex-Bill, Guiding Light; ex-Chris, As the World Turns) would return to All My Children and replace Adam Mayfield (Scott) as Scott Chandler. On October 28, 2010, it was announced that Sarah Glendening
(ex-Lucy, As the World Turns) would be taking over the role of Marissa Tasker. Glendening debuted on December 27 and Cosgrove debuted on December 29.
In December of 2009, the place for taping AMC was moved from ABC's television studio TV23 at 320 West 66th Street in Manhattan
, New York City
to Stages 1 and 2 at the Andrita Studios in Los Angeles
. All My Children also started taping in High Definition on January 4, 2010 and began airing in high definition on February 3, 2010. All My Children became the third soap opera to be produced and broadcast in high definition.
In January 2011, Debbi Morgan said that she would take a leave of absence from the show. She said it was for personal reasons and on January 14, 2011 she released to the public that she has been diagnosed with Lyme Disease
. She returned during the second week of February and her first episode aired on March 8, 2011. On February 10, 2011, as part of her 25th (and farewell) season, Oprah Winfrey
invited All My Children's Susan Lucci
, Debbi Morgan
, Darnell Williams
, and Michael E. Knight
, along with General Hospital
's Luke and Laura and The Young and the Restless
's Mrs. Chancellor
to The Oprah Winfrey Show
. As a surprise, Winfrey shocked Lucci and the rest of the crowd by bringing back all of Erica's husbands. During February 2011, the TV Land hit sitcom Hot in Cleveland
and All My Children did a crossover event. On the 16th, and 23 February, Lucci, Michael E. Knight, and Darnell Williams made a guest appearance on the show. On the 24th, Wendie Malick
guest starred.
On April 2, 2011, amid rumors of All My Children's possible cancellation, Soaps in Depth
broke the news via Twitter
that longtime AMC writer Lorraine Broderick
had once again been named the show's head writer, replacing David Kreizman
and Donna Swajeski
.
On April 14, 2011, ABC confirmed that after 41 years, All My Children would be canceled and would end its ABC run in September 23, 2011 and that One Life To Live would be canceled and end its run on January, 2012. Reasons for both shows' cancelations cited "extensive research into what today’s daytime viewers want and the changing viewing patterns of the audience". It will be replaced by a new lifestyle show, The Chew
, while its timeslot on SOAPnet
will be replaced by daily reruns of Days of Our Lives
. In response to the cancellation of this, vacuum cleaner manufacturer Hoover
withdrew its advertising from all ABC programs out of protest, going as far as running a campaign to get ABC to reverse its decision. On April 25, Cady McClain (ex-Dixie Cooney Martin) announced that she would be returning to AMC and that she couldn't report what her storyline would be, but fans would be happy. Other former cast members announced to be returning to the series are Ray MacDonnell
(Dr. Joe Martin), Lee Meriwether
(Ruth Martin), David Canary
(Adam Chandler), Julia Barr
(Brooke English), Thorsten Kaye
(Zach Slater), Eva La Rue (Maria Santos), Jennifer Bassey
(Marian Colby), Kate Collins (Janet Dillon), Melissa Claire Egan
(Annie Lavery), Josh Duhamel
(Leo du Pres), Leven Rambin
(Lily Montgomery) Carol Burnett
(Verla Grubbs), Jason Kincaid (Sam Brady), and Sarah Michelle Gellar
in an unknown role.
On July 7, 2011, the New York Post
reported that ABC had sold the licensing rights of All My Children and One Life To Live to a TV-focused online channel being developed by TV, film and music production company Prospect Park
. ABC confirmed this via press release; as a result of Prospect Park's acquisition of the two soaps, All My Children and One Life to Live will be the first soap operas to transition first-run broadcasts from traditional television to internet television
. Since the deal between ABC and Prospect Park is a licensing agreement, both soaps will continue to remain the property of ABC.
On September 8, 2011 the original Ruth Martin, Mary Fickett
, died at the age of 83. The episode on Wednesday September 21, 2011 was dedicated to her.
On September 23, 2011, the series finale aired on ABC. The final week featured Dr. Joe and Ruth Martin relocating to Pine Valley to cover recently arrested David Hayward's hospital duties. The return of Adam Chandler and Brooke English coincided with the remarkable revelation that David had somehow resurrected Stuart Chandler. Jackson Montgomery dissolved his relationship with Erica after she admitted that she prefers not to remarry. Unresolved is JR Chandler's plunge into insanity as he drunkenly aims a gun at a crowd of All My Children regulars during a welcome-home party for Stuart. The screen darkens before revealing the victim, leaving the story open for an eventual continuation with Prospect Park.
to air All My Children. On August 16, 2011 actor Walt Willey
announced on WGN
that the whole cast of All My Children had received their contract offer from Prospect Park, but came short on giving the details about it. Actors Debbi Morgan
and Jacob Young
had already signed to join the casts of The Young and the Restless
and The Bold and the Beautiful
, respectively, after All My Children finished its run on ABC. Prospect Park officially began negotiations with the actors of All My Children on September 15, 2011. During a September 18, 2011 appearance on CBS Sunday Morning, lead actress Susan Lucci
revealed that she had not decided yet about her future with the show after its conclusion on ABC.
Prospect Park initially intended for All My Children to begin its run on the internet on September 26, 2011, but has since revealed that the transition could be delayed until 2012 because it must negotiate a new contract
with the union
representing the actors of All My Children. On September 27, 2011, Prospect Park announced that All My Children along with its sister soap One Life to Live
would be relaunched in January 2012 on the company's new internet channel, The Online Network. But on November 10, 2011, several sources reported that Prospect Park has indefinitely suspended its plans to relaunch All My Children and that the company will concentrate solely on One Life to Live. Reasons given for this decision are lack of funding coupled with Prospect Park not being able to sign enough cast members from All My Children.
On November 23, 2011, Prospect Park confirmed that it officially cancelled its project, not only to continue All My Children, but also One Life to Live. Reasons given by Prospect Park for this decision include funding problems and poor negotiations with the unions representing the cast of both soaps. WGA
and AFTRA, which respectively represent the writer and the actors, have both expressed disappointment over Prospect Park's announcement.
of the show's title. Ever since the debut in 1970, AMC's opener had included a photo album
/scrapbook
in some kind of form.
1970–1971 season
1971–1972 season
1972–1973 season
1973–1974 season
1974–1975 season
1975–1976 season
1976–1977 season
1977–1978 season
1978–1979 Season (HH Ratings)
1980–1981 Season (HH Ratings) (Nielsen)
1981–1982 Season (HH Ratings)
Highest rated week in daytime history
(Week of November 16–November 20, 1981) (HH ratings)
1982–1983 Season
1983–1984 Season
1984–1985 Season
1985–1986 Season (HH Ratings)
1986–1987 Season
1987–1988 Season
1988–1989 Season (HH Ratings)
1990–1991 Season (HH Ratings)
1991–1992 Season (HH Ratings)
1992–1993 Season (HH Ratings)
1993–1994 Season (HH Ratings) (1 = 942,000 Homes)
1994–1995 Season (HH Ratings)
1995 Ratings (Millions of Viewers)
1995–1996 Season (HH Ratings)
1996–1997 Season
1997–1998 Season
1998–1999 Season (HH Ratings)
2000–2001 Season
2001–2002 Season
2002–2003 Season
2003–2004 Season
2004–2005 Season
2005–2006 Season (HH Ratings)
2006–2007 Season (HH Ratings)
2007–2008 Season (HH Ratings)
2008–2009 Season
)
Tuesday: 2,913,000
Wednesday: 2,772,000
Thursday: 3,031,000
Friday: 3,475,000
All My Children had an overall increase of 495,000 viewers from the previous week, making it the second most watched daytime soap after The Young and the Restless
. All My Childrens final episode beat the final episodes of the three previous cancelled soaps: As the World Turns
, Guiding Light
and Passions
.
From January 1970 to July 1975, the show aired for thirty minutes at 1 p.m. (12 p.m.), but when the new Ryan's Hope
premiered, All My Children was bumped up a half-hour to 12:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m.). It returned to its original timeslot in January 1977 and has been there since, expanding to sixty-minute episodes on April 25, 1977.
At the time of the show's cancellation, All My Children aired Monday through Friday at 1 p.m. eastern, with an option to air the show at noon (11 a.m. Central Time) for stations that air news in that time slot. Encores were aired on SOAPnet
in primetime at 8 p.m. (7 p.m.), late nights at 1 a.m. (midnight), and early mornings at 7 a.m. (6 a.m.). The week's episodes aired in a marathon on Sunday nights at midnight (11 p.m.).
SOAPnet is currently airing classic episodes from 2006 at 3 a.m. (2 a.m.).
, All My Children airs on free to air channel 7TWO
at 11 a.m. weekdays.
7TWO are currently airing episodes from 2007. It had previously aired on Network Ten
in the late 1980s.
In France
, All My Children, under the title La Force du Destin (Strength of Destiny) was aired on TF1
in March 2003, with episodes eight years behind the US during a week at 2:30 p.m. (after The Young and the Restless
). But, because of a fall of the audience, the show was cancelled.
In Italy
, All My Children, under the title La valle dei pini (Pine Valley), started to air on Canale 5
in September 1985 at 2:30 p.m., with episodes four years behind the US In January 1987, it was moved to another channel, Rete 4
, always at 2:30 p.m. At the end of the decade, La valle dei pini began airing in late afternoon (and from September 1990 with only half US episode each evening), after a bunch of Latin American telenovelas and before General Hospital. Then, in September 1991, the show was moved to 9:00 a.m. All My Children was cancelled in May 1992, with episodes at that time six years behind the US.
In 2011, New Zealand
, will start airing All My Children on TV3 1 p.m. weekdays. TV3 will be airing episodes from 2010. TV3 has reportedly cancelled their contract with ABC NETWORK after learning of the show's demise.
All My Children is broadcast in South Africa
every weekday from 09:30 to 10:30 a.m. CAT. Episodes are currently four years behind the USA.
All My Children aired on CTV Two 12 p.m. PT, 1 p.m. ET in Canada
until it's 2011 cancellation. AMC was also previously seen on Citytv
stations in Calgary
CKAL-TV
, Edmonton
CKEM-TV
, and Winnipeg
CHMI-TV
. Prior to 1998, All My Children aired on the CBC Television
network.
In Solomon Islands
, AMC aired on Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation
Mondays to Friday at 1:00 p.m.
In 2010, All My Children was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award
for "Outstanding Daily Drama" during the 21st GLAAD Media Awards
.
, Larry Auerbach
, James A. Baffico
, Jack Coffey, Jean Dadario Burke
, Christopher Goutman
, Sherrell Hoffman, Del Hughes, Henry Kaplan
, Andrew Lee, Robert Scinto
, Susan Simon, Diana B. Wenman
, Jean Dadario Burke
, Michael Laibson
, Heidi Adam, Terry Cacavio, Thomas DeVilliers, Lisa Connor
, Linda Laundra, Stephen Schenkel, Nancy Horwich
, Bettina F. Bradbury
, Craig Carlson
, Cathy Chicos, Hal Corley
, Christina Covino
, Carolyn Culliton
, William Delligan, Judith Donato, Caroline Franz
, Sharon Epstein, Charlotte Gibson
, David Hiltrand, Janet Iacobuzio
, Anita Jaffe, Frederick Johnson
, Susan Kirshenbaum
, Kathleen Klein
, N. Gail Lawrence
, Mimi Leahy, Kathleen Klein
, Karen Lewis
, Taylor Miller
, Victor Miller
, Jane Owen Murphy, Juliet Law Packer
, Michelle Patrick
, John PiRoman
, Pete T. Rich
, John Saffron, Courtney Simon
, Peggy Sloan, Elizabeth Smith, Gillian Spencer
, Millee Taggart
, Ralph Wakefield, Elizabeth Wallace
, Addie Walsh
, Mary K. Wells
, Jack Wood
, Rodney Christopher, Laura Siggia, Moses Thomas Greene, Wisner Washam
introduced the All My Children game in 1985, based on the daytime drama. The game sold more than 150,000 copies.
A DVD was released on January 24, 2004 titled Daytime's Greatest Weddings which contained All My Children and other daytime soaps' weddings.
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
that aired on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon
Agnes Nixon
Agnes Nixon is an American writer and producer. She attended Northwestern University where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority, and is best known as the creator of soap operas such as One Life to Live and All My Children...
, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania
Pine Valley, Pennsylvania
Pine Valley, Pennsylvania is the fictional setting for the long-running American soap opera All My Children. It is a small suburb of Philadelphia...
, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci
Susan Lucci
Susan Victoria Lucci is an American actress and entrepreneur, best known for portraying Erica Kane on the daytime drama All My Children. The character is considered an icon, and Lucci has been called "Daytime's Leading Lady" by TV Guide, with New York Times and Los Angeles Times citing her as the...
as Erica Kane
Erica Kane
Erica Kane is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children.The character has been portrayed by actress Susan Lucci since the show first aired in January 1970, until the last broadcast television episode aired in September 2011. Erica is considered to be the most popular...
, one of daytime's most popular characters. The title of the series. sometimes abbreviated as AMC, refers to the bonds of humanity. The first new network daytime drama to debut in the 1970s, All My Children was originally owned by Creative Horizons, Inc., the company created by Nixon and her husband, Bob. The show was sold to ABC in January 1975. Originally a half-hour in length, the show expanded to an hour on April 25, 1977. Earlier, the show had experimented with the hour format for one week starting on June 30, 1975, after which Ryan's Hope
Ryan's Hope
Ryan's Hope is an American soap opera, revolving around 13 years of trials and tribulations within a large Irish American family in the Riverside district of New York City. It aired from July 7, 1975 to January 13, 1989 on ABC...
premiered.
From 1970 to 1990, All My Children was recorded at ABC's TV18 at 101 West 67th St, now a 50-story apartment tower. From March 1990 to December 2009, it was taped at ABC's television studio TV23 at 320 West 66th Street in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. In December 2009, the locale for taping the series moved from the costly New York City to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. The show was then produced in Stages 1 and 2 at the Andrita Studios in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. All My Children started filming in High Definition on January 4, 2010 and began airing in high definition on February 3, 2010. All My Children became the third soap opera to be produced and broadcast in high definition.
At one time, the program's popularity positioned it as the most widely-recorded television show in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Also, in a departure from societal norms at the time, All My Children, in the mid-1970s, had an audience that was estimated to be 30% male. The show ranked #1 in the daytime Nielsen ratings in the 1978–79 season. Throughout most of the 1980s and into the early 1990s, All My Children was the #2 daytime soap opera on the air. However, like the rest of the soap operas in the United States, All My Children experienced unprecedented declines in its daytime ratings during the 2000s. By the 2010s, it had became one of the least watched soap operas in daytime television.
On April 14, 2011, it was announced that All My Children would be canceled after 41 years on the air. On July 7, 2011, ABC sold the licensing rights of All My Children to third-party production company Prospect Park
Prospect Park (production company)
Prospect Park is a Los Angeles entertainment production company, founded in 2008 by Richard H. Frank, a former Disney Studios executive, and Jeff Kwatinetz, former CEO of the talent agency The Firm, Inc...
with the show set to continue on the internet as a series of webisodes and possibly on cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
. The show taped its final scenes for ABC on August 30, 2011, and its last episode on the network aired on September 23, 2011 with a cliffhanger
Cliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction...
. On November 23, 2011, and exactly two months after the series ended on ABC, Prospect Park officially cancelled its plans to revive the series.
Origins
Agnes NixonAgnes Nixon
Agnes Nixon is an American writer and producer. She attended Northwestern University where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority, and is best known as the creator of soap operas such as One Life to Live and All My Children...
, then head writer for The Guiding Light
Guiding Light
Guiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
, first came up with the idea for All My Children in the 1960s. When writing the story bible, she designed the show so it would be a light-hearted soap opera that focused on social issues and young love. She unsuccessfully attempted to sell the series to NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, then to CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, and once again to NBC through Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....
. When Procter & Gamble was unable to make room for the show in its lineup, Nixon put All My Children on hold.
Nixon became the head writer
Head writer
A head writer is a person who oversees the team of writers on a television or radio series. The title is common in the soap opera genre, as well as with sketch comedies and talk shows that feature monologues and comedy skits, but in prime time series this function is generally performed by an...
for Another World
Another World (TV series)
Another World is an American television soap opera that ran on NBC from May 4, 1964 to June 25, 1999. It ran for a total of 35 years. It was created by Irna Phillips along with William J...
in 1965, and decided to use a few ideas from her All My Children bible. In one specific case, she used the model of the Erica Kane
Erica Kane
Erica Kane is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children.The character has been portrayed by actress Susan Lucci since the show first aired in January 1970, until the last broadcast television episode aired in September 2011. Erica is considered to be the most popular...
character to create a brand new Another World character named Rachel Davis
Rachel Cory Hutchins
Rachel Cory Hutchins is a fictional character on NBC daytime soap opera, Another World.-Casting:...
. Nixon said Rachel was Erica's "precursor to the public" but Rachel was a lower-class version. "Erica and Rachel have in common is they thought if they could get their dream, they'd be satisfied", Nixon said. "But that dream has been elusive."
ABC later approached Nixon to create a show that would reflect a more "contemporary" tone. That program became One Life to Live
One Life to Live
One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
, and it debuted in 1968. After that show became a success, the network asked Nixon for another program, and she obliged by reviving her All My Children bible and the Erica Kane character.
The poem, written by Nixon, that appears in the title credits' photo album reads:
1970s
All My Children debuted on January 5, 1970. Rosemary PrinzRosemary Prinz
Rosemary Prinz was a stage and television actress. She is most known for her work in the early era of the American soap opera.-Life and career:Prinz was born in New York City...
was signed on to be the "special guest star" for six months, playing the role of liberal Amy Tyler. Prinz was well-known for her role on As the World Turns in the 1950s and 1960s and she was added to the show to give it an initial boost due to her name value.
From 1970 and into the 1980s, the show was either written by Nixon herself or by her protégé, Wisner Washam
Wisner Washam
Wisner Washam is an American soap opera writer, best known as the Head Writer of All My Children, from 1981 to 1987.-Early Life and Career:A native of North Carolina, he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill...
. He was groomed by Nixon to eventually take over the reins in the 1980s while she focused on other endeavors, which included creating and launching Loving
Loving (TV series)
Caden Grant Carlton loves Mika Ayako Ryan more.Loving is an American television soap opera which aired on ABC's daytime lineup from June 26, 1983 to November 10, 1995 for 3,169 episodes...
in 1983.
Nixon strove to create a soap opera that was topical, and could illustrate social issues for the audience. She wanted this and a combination of regular humor for the series. To keep the action more real, she allowed the audience to locate her fictional "Pine Valley" on a map: situated a mere hour-long train ride from New York City. Many believed Pine Valley was in New York State because of a town called Pine Valley
Catlin, New York
Catlin is a town in Chemung County, New York, United States. The population was 2,649 at the 2000 census. The town is named after Phineas Catlin, a surveyor and public official....
in western New York
Western New York
Western New York is the westernmost region of the state of New York. It includes the cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Niagara Falls, the surrounding suburbs, as well as the outlying rural areas of the Great Lakes lowlands, the Genesee Valley, and the Southern Tier. Some historians, scholars and others...
. However, it was not until the 1980s that it was finally revealed that Pine Valley is actually in Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia and also near One Life To Live's Llanview.
The show's first action takes place around several families and characters. Phoebe Tyler (Ruth Warrick
Ruth Warrick
Ruth Elizabeth Warrick , DM, was an American singer, actress and political activist, best known for her role as Phoebe Tyler on All My Children, which she played regularly from 1970 until her death in 2005....
), who fashions herself as "Queen of Pine Valley", is the definition of a rich snob when she is introduced. A single mother, Mona Kane (Frances Heflin
Frances Heflin
Mary Frances Heflin was an American actress.-Life and career:Heflin was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the daughter of Fanny Bleecker and Dr. Emmett Evan Heflin, a dentist. She was the sister of Academy Award-winning actor Van Heflin...
), and her prima donna
Prima donna
Originally used in opera or Commedia dell'arte companies, "prima donna" is Italian for "first lady." The term was used to designate the leading female singer in the opera company, the person to whom the prime roles would be given. The prima donna was normally, but not necessarily, a soprano...
daughter, Erica
Erica Kane
Erica Kane is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children.The character has been portrayed by actress Susan Lucci since the show first aired in January 1970, until the last broadcast television episode aired in September 2011. Erica is considered to be the most popular...
(Susan Lucci
Susan Lucci
Susan Victoria Lucci is an American actress and entrepreneur, best known for portraying Erica Kane on the daytime drama All My Children. The character is considered an icon, and Lucci has been called "Daytime's Leading Lady" by TV Guide, with New York Times and Los Angeles Times citing her as the...
) are also introduced. Contrasting this is the stable Martin Family, headed by patriarch Joe and later (after the death of her husband, Ted Brent) by matriarch Ruth, who becomes a symbolic foundation of All My Children.
With Phoebe as the "Queen of Pine Valley", Erica became the "Princess". Destined to break up the young romance of classmates Tara Martin (Karen Lynn Gorney
Karen Lynn Gorney
Karen Lynn Gorney is an American actress, known for her roles on television and film.-Early life:Gorney was born in Beverly Hills, California. She is the daughter of 20th-century composer Jay Gorney, who wrote the music for what many consider the definitive song about America's Great Depression,...
) and Phil Brent (Richard Hatch
Richard Hatch
Richard Hatch is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Captain Apollo in the original Battlestar Galactica television series, and also as Tom Zarek in the remake of Battlestar Galactica....
), Erica finds out that Phil is not Ruth's son but the son of Ruth's sister, Amy (Rosemary Prinz
Rosemary Prinz
Rosemary Prinz was a stage and television actress. She is most known for her work in the early era of the American soap opera.-Life and career:Prinz was born in New York City...
). In a selfish attempt to break up Phil and Tara, she tells everyone the truth.
All My Childrens first success was its telling of young love. ABC wanted a soap opera that would bring in young viewers, and slowly the program was accomplishing that. The show's ratings did not start out strong, however. In its first year on the air, it ranked #17 out of 19 soap operas. Despite this, its audience was building with each passing year.
The show was unique for its use of the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. Before All My Children debuted, no show had discussed the war in any depth. There was the character of Phoebe, a conservative, and Amy, a free-spirited liberal, both butting heads over the war, with Amy often leading protests around Pine Valley. When the character of Amy leaves, Ruth takes over as the anti-war voice. Her early 1970s protest speech wins Mary Fickett
Mary Fickett
Mary Fickett was an American actress, best-known for her roles in the American television dramas, The Edge of Night — as Sally Smith , and as Dr...
the first ever Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
given to a soap opera performer back in 1972. Later in the show's run, Phoebe becomes more liberal.
In 1973, Erica Kane makes the decision to have an abortion, which becomes the first legal abortion aired on American television. What makes the abortion particularly controversial is Erica's reason for doing it; she does not have it because her health is in jeopardy, but rather because she does not want to gain weight and lose her modeling job. The abortion story received much media attention, especially since Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade, , was a controversial landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion,...
had been decided just a few months before the story began airing. Within the story, Erica develops a potentially fatal infection, which was later determined to be toxoplasmosis
Toxoplasmosis
Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii. The parasite infects most genera of warm-blooded animals, including humans, but the primary host is the felid family. Animals are infected by eating infected meat, by ingestion of feces of a cat that has itself...
after having the abortion, and the switchboards at ABC lit up with calls from doctors and nurses, offering its medical opinions on how best to treat the character's case.
Phoebe's husband Charles (Hugh Franklin
Hugh Franklin
Hugh Hale Franklin was an American theatre and soap opera actor. He was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma.Franklin was best known for his role as Dr. Charles Tyler on All My Children, a role he played from the show’s first episode in 1970 until 1983...
) gets close to Mona (Erica's mother) and his secretary at the hospital. The two fall in love and Charles divorces Phoebe, even though she tries to blackmail Mona and even fakes paralysis
Paralysis
Paralysis is loss of muscle function for one or more muscles. Paralysis can be accompanied by a loss of feeling in the affected area if there is sensory damage as well as motor. A study conducted by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, suggests that about 1 in 50 people have been diagnosed...
. In the end, Phoebe is left a drunken divorcée and Mona becomes the new Mrs. Tyler. This ordeal starts the long-time Phoebe/Mona rivalry.
When Eileen Letchworth, who portrayed Margo Flax Martin, contemplated a facelift, she talked it over with Nixon. Not only was Letchworth going to need time off, she was going to look significantly different when she returned to the show. Nixon approved and worked the facelift into a storyline. Margo wanted to impress the somewhat younger Paul Martin (William Mooney
William Mooney
William Mooney is an actor who played the character called Paul Martin #2 in the daytime soap opera All My Children. He was one of the nominees for Daytime Emmy Awards in 1980 for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.-Filmography :...
). Margo’s facelift in 1974 became one of the first major storylines on television discussing surgery and its psychological effects.
In June 1976, the character of Brooke English
Brooke English
Brooke Allison English is a fictional character on the television soap opera All My Children. After being originated by Elissa Leeds in 1976, she was portrayed by Julia Barr from 1976 to 1981 and from 1982 to 2006. Harriet Hall temporarily played the role in 1981...
shows up on her Aunt Phoebe's doorstep and soon after clashes with Erica over Tom Cudahy
Tom Cudahy
Thomas 'Tom' Cudahy is on-and-off again fictional character that is a resident of Pine Valley in the television soap opera All My Children. He was portrayed by Richard Shoberg from 1977 to 1995 on contract, then 1995 to 1996 on recurring, and also from 1996 to present appearing as intermittent...
and Mark Dalton. Since then, Brooke ends up with several of Erica's leftover men. In 1976, the show introduces fan favorite Myrtle Lum Fargate (Eileen Herlie
Eileen Herlie
Eileen Herlie was a Scottish-American actress.-Life and career:Eileen Herlie was born Eileen Isobel Herlihy to a Catholic father and a Protestant mother in Glasgow, Scotland, and was one of five children. Herlie was trained as a theatre actress. Among her West End London theatre successes were The...
).
By the late 1970s, the show had risen to the top of the ratings. One reason for the rise was the arrival of teenage prostitute Donna Beck (Candice Earley). Her relationship with the handsome Dr. Chuck Tyler breathed life into the show and captivated fans. Other new additions are the arrivals of aristocratic Palmer Cortlandt
Palmer Cortlandt
Palmer Cortlandt is a fictional character on the long-running ABC soap opera All My Children, played by James Mitchell from 1979 to 2010. A major character until 1982, when health issues forced him to reduce his work load, Mitchell continued to appear regularly on the show until May 2007 when he...
(aka Peter Cooney) (James Mitchell
James Mitchell (actor)
James Mitchell was an American actor and dancer. Although he is best known to television audiences as Palmer Cortlandt on the soap opera All My Children , theatre and dance historians remember him as one of Agnes de Mille's leading dancers...
), his somewhat creepy housekeeper Myra Murdock (Elizabeth Lawrence), and his overprotected daughter Nina (Taylor Miller
Taylor Miller
Taylor Miller is an American soap opera actress.-Acting:She is best known for her role as Nina Cortlandt on ABC Daytime's All My Children , which she played from 1979 to 1984 and from 1986 to 1989. Miller returned in cameos in 1994, 1995, 1996, and 2010...
), who, to Palmer's chagrin, entrances Dr. Cliff Warner (Peter Bergman
Peter Bergman
Peter Bergman is an American soap opera actor best known for his portrayals as Dr. Cliff Warner on All My Children, as well as Jack Abbott on The Young and the Restless.-Biography:...
). Palmer does everything in his power to break up the couple, including telling Nina she is going blind due to her diabetes. Palmer teams up with Cliff's past flame, nurse Sybil Thorne (Linda Gibboney), who confronts Cliff about fathering her son, but this is temporary; Sybil is accidentally killed by Sean Cudahy (Alan Dysert). During the murder trial, Nina is astonished to learn that her mother, Daisy Cortlandt (Gillian Spencer
Gillian Spencer
Gillian Spencer is an American soap opera actress and writer.She has had roles on soaps such as The Edge of Night, The Secret Storm, Guiding Light, As the World Turns and on One Life to Live as the original Victoria Lord/Niki Smith 1968-1970.Spencer appeared in the 1968 feature comedy What's So...
), whom she believes to be dead, is, in fact, alive and living in Pine Valley as Monique Jonville. To complete everyone's shock, Myra acknowledges that Daisy is her daughter. All My Children also found memorable villains in Billy Clyde Tuggle and Ray Gardner.
All My Children had always aired in color since its 1970 debut. The episodes were initially only saved for a short time on cartridge tapes and were eventually erased in order to tape other productions. Beginning in 1976, all the episodes were saved on cartridge tape and then digitally since the late 1990s. A few early episodes were saved on kinescope
Kinescope
Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor...
in black and white, one of which aired on ABC in 1997 on a special "A Daytime To Remember". But there are no known pre-1976 episodes to be still in existence on tape.
1980s
The early '80s is considered to have been a "golden period" for the show and the "Golden Age" for supercoupleSupercouple
A supercouple or super couple is a popular or financially wealthy pairing that intrigues and fascinates the public in an intense or even obsessive fashion...
s. Younger characters, such as Greg Nelson and Jenny Gardner
Greg Nelson and Jenny Gardner
Greg Nelson and Jenny Gardner are fictional characters and a supercouple from the American soap opera All My Children.Greg was portrayed by Laurence Lau, and Jenny was portrayed by actress Kim Delaney....
(Laurence Lau
Laurence Lau
Laurence Henry Lau is an American soap opera actor. He was born in Long Beach, California.One of his first roles was on the comedy/drama Eight Is Enough...
and Kim Delaney
Kim Delaney
Kim Delaney is an American actress best known for her starring role as Detective Diane Russell on the ABC drama television series, NYPD Blue. Early in her career, she played the role of Jenny Gardner in the hugely popular ABC daytime television drama, All My Children...
), Liza Colby
Liza Colby
Liza Colby is a fictional character on the American soap opera All My Children who has been played by actress Jamie Luner from April 2009 until September 2011. She was previously played by actress Marcy Walker from 1981-1984 and then again from 1995-2005, although the role was also briefly...
(Marcy Walker
Marcy Walker
Marcy Lynn Walker , also known as Marcy Smith, is an American actress known for her roles on daytime soap operas. Her most famous roles are those of Liza Colby on All My Children, which she played from 1981–1984 and again 1995–2005, and as Eden Capwell on Santa Barbara 1984–1991.- Personal life...
), Liza's best friend Amanda (Amanda Bearse
Amanda Bearse
Amanda Bearse is an American actress, director and comedienne best known for her role as wacky neighbor Marcy D'Arcy on Married.....
), Jesse Hubbard and Angie Baxter (Darnell Williams
Darnell Williams
Darnell Williams is a British-born soap opera actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Jesse Hubbard on the ABC soap opera All My Children, a role which has earned him two Daytime Emmy Awards.-Biography:...
and Debbi Morgan
Debbi Morgan
Deborah "Debbi" Morgan is an American film and television actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Dr. Angie Hubbard on the ABC soap opera All My Children, and for her role as The Seer in the fourth and fifth seasons of Charmed.Morgan joined the cast of The Young and the Restless as...
), and a now-grown-up Tad Martin
Tad Martin
Thaddeus James "Tad" Martin is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. Tad is portrayed by actor Michael E. Knight. Knight has portrayed the role on and off from 1982 until the series finale in 2011. Tad represents the good on the show All My Children, often butting...
(Michael E. Knight
Michael E. Knight
- Biography :Knight is best known for playing Tad Martin on the soap opera All My Children. His first stint on the show ran from 1982–1986. He returned from 1988–1990, and again from 1992 until the series finale in 2011...
), who was now legally Ruth and Joe's son, enter the scene.
The storyline involving Liza plotting to win Greg back after he leaves her for Jenny became a fan favorite, as was the Greg and Jenny and Jesse and Angie pairings. Jesse and Jenny's summer in New York City became regarded as one of the greatest storylines in the history of the series. Meanwhile, the legend of "Tad the Cad" is born when Tad takes Liza's virginity
Virginity
Virginity refers to the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. There are cultural and religious traditions which place special value and significance on this state, especially in the case of unmarried females, associated with notions of personal purity, honor and worth...
, then simultaneously begins having sex with her mother, socialite Marian Colby (Jennifer Bassey
Jennifer Bassey
Jennifer Bassey is an American actress.-Biography:After graduating from Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, Jennifer Bassey moved back to the United States and took roles in many Off-Broadway plays...
), who eventually is sent to prison.
For older appeal, Jenny and Tad's natural mother Opal (Dorothy Lyman
Dorothy Lyman
Dorothy Lyman is an American television actress, director and producer. She is most commonly known for her work as architect Gwen Parrish Frame in Another World and in All My Children as Opal Sue Gardner, and on the syndicated sitcom Mama's Family, as Naomi Harper.Lyman was born in Minneapolis,...
) was also added to the canvas, where she opens the Glamorama salon and spa. Opal greatly showcased All My Children’s attempt at humor and satire. Also introduced in the 1980s were powerful businessman Adam Chandler
Adam Chandler
Adam Chandler, Sr. is a fictional character from the daytime drama All My Children, portrayed by David Canary from December 1983 through his departure on April 23, 2010. Adam Chandler was one of the most devious and powerful individuals within the town of Pine Valley, Pennsylvania...
and his identical twin brother Stuart
Stuart Chandler
Stuart Chandler was a fictional character on ABC's daytime drama All My Children. He was a member of the powerful and wealthy Chandler family. He was portrayed by David Canary from October 1984 to May 28, 2009 & September, 2011.- Identical opposite :...
(both played by David Canary
David Canary
David Hoyt Canary is an American actor, who starred in both soap operas and prime time television. He is best known for his roles as the ranch foreman, Candy Canaday on Bonanza and identical twins Adam Chandler from 1983 to 2010 and Stuart Chandler from 1984 to 2009 on the daytime serial, All My...
), the first arrival of members of the Chandler family
Chandler family
The Chandler family is a fictional family from the ABC soap opera All My Children. The Chandler family is one of the most powerful and wealthiest families in daytime television history. Rising up from poverty in Pigeon Hollow, the Chandlers now stand as the prominent family in Pine Valley...
. Adam became cited as one of the "most powerful male figures in television", which was contrasted by Stuart's kind, generous, and honest personality.
The character of Erica begins to take on a larger-than-life role by the 1980s. This is evident with her writing an autobiography, "Raising Kane", and turning it into a motion picture. When her presumed half-sister Silver (Deborah Goodrich) accuses her of murdering Kent Bogard (Michael Woods, Lee Godart), her former lover and boss, she goes on the run, fleeing to the Hollywood Hills
Hollywood Hills
The Hollywood Hills is an affluent and exclusive neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in the southeastern Santa Monica Mountains. It is bound by Laurel Canyon Boulevard to the west, Vermont Avenue to the east, Mulholland Drive to the north, and Sunset Boulevard to the south.-Hollywood Hills...
. She does this all while posing as a nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
. Her forest encounter with a grizzly bear after she escapes a kidnapping attempt made by Adam is considered a memorable moment.
The show made its first attempt at tackling the taboo topic of homosexuality in 1983. Tricia Pursley
Tricia Pursley
Tricia Pursley is an American actress.She is best known for her role as Devon Shepherd McFadden, the daughter of Ellen Shepherd , on the soap opera All My Children...
portrayed the divorced Devon McFadden, who believes she is falling in love with her psychiatrist, Lynn Carson (portrayed by Donna Pescow
Donna Pescow
Donna Pescow is an American film and television actress and director.-Life and career:Pescow was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Jewish family. Her father owned and ran a news stand in downtown NYC at Battery Place. Pescow attended Sheepshead Bay High School in Brooklyn and she took drama classes...
). Lynn admits to being
Being
Being , is an English word used for conceptualizing subjective and objective aspects of reality, including those fundamental to the self —related to and somewhat interchangeable with terms like "existence" and "living".In its objective usage —as in "a being," or "[a] human being" —it...
a lesbian, and Devon admits her crush. No other American soap opera had done a story about homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
.
The show also intelligently tackled the issue of drug use when Mark La Mura's character, Mark Dalton, becomes addicted to cocaine after years of casual use. His half-sister, Erica, stages an intervention with his friends to have him confront his problems. They practice a "tough love
Tough love
Tough love is an expression used when someone treats another person harshly or sternly with the intent to help them in the long run. The phrase was evidently coined by Bill Milliken when he wrote the book Tough Love in 1968 and has been used by numerous authors since then.In most uses, there must...
" policy that has Mark admit to the addiction. The informative episode showed how to hold an intervention, and the stages to go through for a successful confrontation.
Controversy was prompted in 1987 with the arrival of Cindy Parker (Ellen Wheeler
Ellen Wheeler
Ellen Wheeler is an American actress, director and producer. She has appeared in several soap operas, including Another World and All My Children. In 1986, she won the Daytime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Ingenue in a Drama Series" for her work as twins Marley and Vicky Love Hudson on Another World...
), who would later fall in love with Stuart. The character was revealed to have AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
. Through visits by now-Dr. Angie Hubbard, the show educated the public on how the disease was spread and how to prevent it. Cindy had contracted HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
from her husband, Fred, who contracted it from sharing needles for drug use. Cindy is attacked by a vigilante hate group led by her niece, Skye Chandler
Skye Chandler
Skye Chandler Quartermaine is a fictional ABC soap opera character. Skye has been a regular character on ABC's three longest-running soap operas: All My Children , One Life to Live , and General Hospital...
. The tragedy of the attack shows the extremes of violence that occur everyday to victims of the disease. Cindy marries Stuart and he adopts her son, Scott. She dies early in 1989 in one of the show's most watched episodes.
ABC wanted changes at All My Children. The show was getting about 6.5 million viewers per episode, but there sentiment that the program had lost its unique sense of humor. Efforts were made to bring the show back to the glory days of the late '70s and early ‘80s. This would mean adding a mixture of both social issues and also the intelligent satire that the show had been known for.
Felicia Minei Behr
Felicia Minei Behr
Felicia Minei Behr is an American TV producer and network executive who has worked on three daytime serials. She was fired from All My Children in 1996 when ratings for the show began to decline.-Career: Executive Producer:...
was hired as the new executive producer in early 1989. Having been a producer on Ryan's Hope
Ryan's Hope
Ryan's Hope is an American soap opera, revolving around 13 years of trials and tribulations within a large Irish American family in the Riverside district of New York City. It aired from July 7, 1975 to January 13, 1989 on ABC...
, Behr was familiar with All My Children, having been an associate producer from 1970 to 1975. Among the stories featured was a baby storyline involving the characters of Adam, Brooke, Tad, and Dixie (Cady McClain
Cady McClain
Cady McClain is an American actress, singer, and author.-Early career:McClain's professional acting career began in 1979 at the age of 10, when she was featured in a commercial for Band-Aid bandages....
). By this time, the show had also found a "hit couple" in Cecily and Nico (portrayed by Rosa Nevin and Maurice Benard
Maurice Benard
Maurice Benard is an American actor. He is known primarily for his portrayal of romantic mobster Michael "Sonny" Corinthos, Jr. on the ABC soap opera, General Hospital, a role he has portrayed since 1993.-Career:...
), but Behr was unable to convince either to remain with the show, and the duo left at the end of 1989.
ABC was pleased with Behr; Nixon was as well, and decided her creation was safe in the hands of the new producer. Behr, however, made the unpopular decision to fire Peter Bergman (Cliff Warner) during this time, as well as Ellen Wheeler (Karen) and Robert Gentry (Ross Chandler). Bergman's departure was particularly frustrating to Debbi Morgan (who thought it was a cop-out by ABC on the promising interracial Angie/Cliff pairing; Morgan later defected to the new NBC soap Generations in protest), Taylor Miller (who was misled when Behr approached her to bring back her character Nina; Miller was frustrated to find out she had only been brought back for two weeks to facilitate Bergman's departure: Cliff and Nina reunited, married yet again, and left Pine Valley, leaving Miller to lament to Soap Opera Digest
Soap Opera Digest
Soap Opera Digest is a weekly magazine covering American daytime soap operas. It features onscreen and offscreen news about the series, interviews with and articles about performers, storyline summaries and analysis, and related promotional information...
that she felt it was going backward for both characters, and difficult emotionally to play), and Bergman himself (who had just bought a house, and was left without a paycheck, unexpectedly). Behr then brought back fan favorite Opal Gardner, but instead of contacting Emmy winner Dorothy Lyman to reprise the role, Behr hired Jill Larson
Jill Larson
Jill Larson is an American dramatic actress. She is most widely known for her portrayal of Opal Cortlandt on the popular daytime drama, All My Children, a role she has played for 22 years, garnering her 2 Emmy nominations...
. Lyman later noted her disappointment in never being contacted about reprising the role.
1990s
At the time of Behr's hiring in early 1989, the show usually ranked around #4 in the ratings. By 1990, the show had inched up to the #3 spot. Billy Clyde Tuggle returns to Pine Valley in 1990, after a ten-year absence (in prison). He proceeds to undo the lives of many in Pine Valley. He tells his daughter, Emily Ann Sago, that he is her natural father, devastating her with the truth that she was the product of rape. He dies tumbling over a bridge (with Tad Martin), ending the reign of one of Pine Valley's most evil and entertaining characters ever.ABC chose Megan McTavish
Megan McTavish
Megan McTavish is an American television actress and soap opera writer. McTavish is best known for several head writing stints on All My Children.-Early career:...
, a former actress who had been on the writing team since 1987, to be its new head writer. She was officially promoted to that position in 1992, with Nixon serving as Executive Head Writer. Stories such as Molly's leukemia, Ceara Connor's (Genie Francis
Genie Francis
Eugenie "Genie" Francis Frakes is an American actress known for her portrayal of Laura Spencer on the ABC daytime drama General Hospital. She is currently playing Genevieve Atkinson on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless...
) incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
, Mona’s lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
, and Deconstruction (a story about racism), were all praised in soap opera magazines for their social conscience. Other storylines included the Who Killed Will Cortlandt? mystery, Willow Lake Acres (a both humorous and serious tale about the plight of the elderly in a fraudulent nursing home), and a tornado that rocked Pine Valley. Behr also helped craft a story re-exploring Erica's father, Eric Kane. It was revealed he had faked his own death. In a comical twist, Erica finds him working as a clown in a traveling circus.
McTavish was also instrumental in a major but still popular retcon storyline in 1993. Kendall Hart
Kendall Hart
Kendall Hart Slater is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. The character was portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar from 1993 to 1995, and by Alicia Minshew from 2002 to 2011....
(Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Prinze , known professionally by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar , is an American actress, singer and executive producer...
) is introduced as Erica's new personal assistant, but the audience later soon learns that Kendall is actually Erica's long-lost daughter. Kendall was conceived after Erica was raped on her 14th birthday by her father's actor friend Richard Fields. After she became pregnant, Erica gave the baby up for adoption to the Harts, a couple from Florida. Kendall has made her way to Pine Valley after finding out her biological mother is the famous Erica Kane, and intends to wreak havoc on her and assume her glamorous lifestyle, which she feels is her birth right. Erica had thought she had put that whole nightmare behind her, only to have it come back years later with a vengeance and a name. Mother and daughter end up loathing one another during this time within the series. Despite being proclaimed by some "as the second coming of Erica", the popular Gellar only played Kendall for a little over two years, and then left the show to pursue other acting opportunities. Producers ended up waiting at least six years before even contemplating to recast the role (which eventually went to Alicia Minshew
Alicia Minshew
Alicia Herschenfeld best known as Alicia Minshew is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Kendall Hart on the daytime drama All My Children.-Early life and career:...
).
The Santos, Dillon, Frye, and Keefer families were introduced during the 90s as well. Also, the Tad and Dixie pairing had become especially popular. The show also had other couples with great followings during this time: Dimitri and Erica (Michael Nader
Michael Nader
Michael Nader is an American actor of Lebanese descent, known for his role on the ABC primetime soap opera Dynasty from 1983 to 1989 as Farnsworth "Dex" Dexter, the third husband of Alexis Colby .Nader's first soap opera role was opposite actress Marie Masters playing the character of Kevin...
), Trevor (James Kiberd
James Kiberd
James Kiberd is an American actor.He is perhaps most famous for his role as Trevor Dillon on the soap opera All My Children, which he played from 1989 to 2000...
) and Natalie (Kate Collins), and Hayley (Kelly Ripa
Kelly Ripa
Kelly Ripa is an American actress and television host. Since February 2001, she has served as the co-host of talk show Live with Regis and Kelly, along with Regis Philbin and now solo host of Live! With Kelly...
) and Brian (Gregory Gordon, Matt Borlenghi
Matt Borlenghi
Matt Borlenghi is an American actor, best known for his role as Brian Bodine on All My Children from 1991-1996.-Life:...
, Brian L. Greene).
By the early-mid-1990s, some of McTavish's storytelling received criticism for being gimmick-driven (i.e. multiple dual roles, bomb plots). Reports soon surfaced that Behr and McTavish were having conflicts about storylines and the direction of the series. After the O.J. Simpson trial preempted daytime television programs throughout late 1994 and into 1995, many soaps saw their ratings decline, and All My Children was no different. When Megan McTavish was fired from her head writing post in the spring, former head writer Lorraine Broderick
Lorraine Broderick
Lorraine Broderick is an American television soap opera writer who got her start on All My Children as a protégée of the show's creator, Agnes Nixon.-Bio:...
was tapped by Behr to lead the team once again.
Broderick's tenure under Behr was popular among critics and fans for returning All My Children to its socially relevant, character-driven roots. Her most significant successes were Erica's drug addiction story (with the character receiving treatment at the Betty Ford Center
Betty Ford Center
The Betty Ford Center , is a non-profit, separately licensed residential chemical dependency recovery hospital in Rancho Mirage, California, that offers inpatient, outpatient, and day treatment for alcohol and other drug addictions as well as prevention and education programs for family and children...
), and also the story of homophobia
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
over a gay high school boy and a history teacher. However, with the ratings still stagnant, ABC fired longtime executive producer Felicia Minei Behr
Felicia Minei Behr
Felicia Minei Behr is an American TV producer and network executive who has worked on three daytime serials. She was fired from All My Children in 1996 when ratings for the show began to decline.-Career: Executive Producer:...
, and brought in Francesca James
Francesca James
Francesca James is an American soap opera director, actress, producer, writer, singer, and composer. She began her career by playing a small role on the CBS Daytime serial The Secret Storm. In 1970 she joined the cast of One Life to Live playing Marcy Wade for a year...
(who had previously won an Emmy award acting on the show as twins Kitty and Kelly). The storylines now included a voodoo arc with the popular Noah and Julia
Julia Santos
Julia Keefer is a fictional character from the ABC daytime drama All My Children. She was portrayed by actress Sydney Penny from 1993 to 1996 as a series regular, with guest appearances in 1997 and 2002, and from 2005 to 2008...
(Keith Hamilton Cobb
Keith Hamilton Cobb
-Career:He is best known for his roles as the ruthless Nietzschean mercenaryTyr Anasazi in the science-fiction series Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda from 2000 to 2002, and as Noah Keefer on All My Children from 1994 to 1996...
and Sydney Penny
Sydney Penny
Sydney Penny is an American Daytime Emmy-nominated actress best known for the roles of Julia Santos Keefer on the soap opera All My Children and Samantha "Sam" Kelly on the CBS soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful.She is of part Cherokee descent and raised in Chatsworth, California, the daughter...
), a fantasy story for Myrtle featuring the "real" Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
, and finally a baby kidnapping story involving Erica.
Despite winning three consecutive Daytime Emmys for writing during her tenure on All My Children, Broderick was replaced in December 1997 by her predecessor, McTavish. The first major story McTavish tackled was, "ironically", one created by Broderick, Bianca Montgomery's
Bianca Montgomery
Bianca Christine Montgomery is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. In June 2010, Christina Bennett Lind replaced Eden Riegel, who portrayed the role from July 2000 to January 2010. Until Riegel assumed the role, the character was portrayed solely by child...
anorexia
Anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Although commonly called "anorexia", that term on its own denotes any symptomatic loss of appetite and is not strictly accurate...
. The character of Bianca, Erica's young daughter, is checked into a facility to treat the disease. Apart from the anorexia story, McTavish's tales were plot-driven and made implausible alterations to the show's history such as the resurrection of Erica's lifetime-love, Mike Roy (Nicholas Surovy). In 1998, the show again got a new executive producer, Jean Dadario Burke
Jean Dadario Burke
Jean Dadario Burke is an American television New York City-based soap opera producer and director.-Positions held:All My Children*Executive Producer *Senior Producer *Director...
, taking over from Francesca James
Francesca James
Francesca James is an American soap opera director, actress, producer, writer, singer, and composer. She began her career by playing a small role on the CBS Daytime serial The Secret Storm. In 1970 she joined the cast of One Life to Live playing Marcy Wade for a year...
. She would become known to many speculating fans as a weak producer with little vision.
Cady McClain
Cady McClain
Cady McClain is an American actress, singer, and author.-Early career:McClain's professional acting career began in 1979 at the age of 10, when she was featured in a commercial for Band-Aid bandages....
, who had left the show as Dixie in 1996, returned to the delight of her fans, but other storylines—involving ghosts, poison tattoos, Nazi art, and a sperm switch—were all ill-received. By the start of 1999, with All My Children being voted as the "Worst of 1998" by Soap Opera Digest, McTavish was once again fired.
As ratings began to fall in the late 1990s, ABC convinced Nixon to make a brief return. Many long-running actors, such as Michael Nader
Michael Nader
Michael Nader is an American actor of Lebanese descent, known for his role on the ABC primetime soap opera Dynasty from 1983 to 1989 as Farnsworth "Dex" Dexter, the third husband of Alexis Colby .Nader's first soap opera role was opposite actress Marie Masters playing the character of Kevin...
, James Kiberd
James Kiberd
James Kiberd is an American actor.He is perhaps most famous for his role as Trevor Dillon on the soap opera All My Children, which he played from 1989 to 2000...
, and Robin Mattson
Robin Mattson
Robin Mattson is an American soap opera actress.Mattson was typically cast in supporting, "villainess" type roles, as in her roles in Santa Barbara and General Hospital, where she played an immoral goldigger and a psychopath, in the respective shows...
, left their roles.
2000s
Nixon decided to write a story that would rejuvenate the show and be socially relevant at the same time. This resulted in the series revealing Erica's daughter Bianca as a lesbianLesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
. Within the series, Bianca admits the truth to her mother in December 2000. Though initially controversial, the storyline was praised by fans and critics. Bianca emerged as a breakout character and lesbian icon. The show found additional success in the pairing of newcomers Leo and Greenlee
Leo du Pres and Greenlee Smythe
Leo du Pres and Greenlee Smythe du Pres are fictional characters and a supercouple from the American daytime drama All My Children. Leo was portrayed by Josh Duhamel, and Greenlee was portrayed by Rebecca Budig...
(Josh Duhamel
Josh Duhamel
Joshua David "Josh" Duhamel is an American actor and former fashion model. He first achieved acting success in 1999 as Leo du Pres on ABC's All My Children and later as the chief of security, Danny McCoy, on NBC's Las Vegas...
and Rebecca Budig
Rebecca Budig
Rebecca Jo Budig is an American actress and television presenter, best known for her role as Greenlee Smythe Lavery on the ABC soap opera All My Children.-Early life:...
).
Richard Culliton
Richard Culliton
Richard Culliton is an American television writer known for his work on soap operas. He has won four Writers Guild of America Awards, including one as a Head Writer, and two Daytime Emmy Awards. He is an alumnus of Northwestern University...
wrote several of All My Children's early 2000s storylines. He created popular characters Frankie
Frankie Stone
Mary Frances "Frankie" Stone is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. She was portrayed by actress Elizabeth Hendrickson....
and Maggie Stone
Maggie Stone
Mary Margaret "Maggie" Stone is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. She was portrayed by actress Elizabeth Hendrickson, who also portrayed Maggie's identical twin sister, Mary Frances "Frankie" Stone. The character comes to Pine Valley in early 2002 after the...
, and said Frankie was already intended to be killed in a murder storyline after only three months on the series. Culliton and ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
executives were surprised when viewers became attached to the romance between Bianca and Frankie, developed by Culliton with Frankie's debut. These fans attributed Frankie's death to the show's fear to focus on a lesbian romance. Eventually, Culliton introduced the idea to bring back popular actress Elizabeth Hendrickson
Elizabeth Hendrickson
Elizabeth Hendrickson is an American actress. Her big break came when she was cast as character Frankie Stone on the daytime drama All My Children...
, who had portrayed Frankie, as Frankie's twin sister Maggie. Culliton continued to write for the show until late 2002.
After more staff turnover, McTavish again returned as head writer. Her storylines began airing in July 2003, which included the controversial rape of Bianca. Gone upon McTavish's latest return was Jean Dadario Burke
Jean Dadario Burke
Jean Dadario Burke is an American television New York City-based soap opera producer and director.-Positions held:All My Children*Executive Producer *Senior Producer *Director...
as executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
, being replaced with Julie Hanan Carruthers
Julie Hanan Carruthers
Julie Hanan Carruthers is an American soap opera producer.-Positions held:All My Children*Executive Producer General Hospital...
.
Under McTavish, ratings fluctuated back and forth. To lure back long-time viewers, McTavish created new characters and romances, as well as scripted the return of various characters who had been gone for long. She introduced star-crossed
Star-crossed
"Star-crossed" or "star-crossed lovers" is a phrase describing a pair of lovers whose relationship is often thwarted by outside forces. The term encompasses other meanings, but originally means the pairing is being "thwarted by a malign star" or that the stars are working against the relationship...
couple JR Chandler and Babe Carey upon writing JR's return to the series, scripted most of popular pairing Bianca Montgomery and Maggie Stone
Bianca Montgomery and Maggie Stone
Bianca Montgomery and Maggie Stone are fictional characters and a supercouple from the American daytime drama All My Children. Bianca was portrayed by Eden Riegel, and Maggie was portrayed by Elizabeth Hendrickson....
's love story, and created fellow popular couple Zach Slater and Kendall Hart
Zach Slater and Kendall Hart
Zach Slater and Kendall Hart Slater are fictional characters and a supercouple from the American daytime drama All My Children. Zach is portrayed by Thorsten Kaye, and Kendall is portrayed by Alicia Minshew. The couple is often referred to by the portmanteau "Zendall" on Internet message boards...
. Characters Julia Santos
Julia Santos
Julia Keefer is a fictional character from the ABC daytime drama All My Children. She was portrayed by actress Sydney Penny from 1993 to 1996 as a series regular, with guest appearances in 1997 and 2002, and from 2005 to 2008...
(Sydney Penny
Sydney Penny
Sydney Penny is an American Daytime Emmy-nominated actress best known for the roles of Julia Santos Keefer on the soap opera All My Children and Samantha "Sam" Kelly on the CBS soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful.She is of part Cherokee descent and raised in Chatsworth, California, the daughter...
) and Janet Dillon (Kate Collins, who was originally slated to return for a brief stint) were eventually brought back.
On July 26, 2006, Tanika Ray
Tanika Ray
Tanika Ray is an American television personality. She was born in Washington, D.C. and raised in Los Angeles. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater Arts from Spelman College in Atlanta and studied theater at New York University....
, pop star
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
Rihanna
Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty , better known as simply Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers...
, as well as other celebrities, appeared on the show. During the Rihanna appearance, a controversial storyline involving Erica's thought-to-be-aborted son having come to Pine Valley under the name Josh Madden
Josh Madden
Joshua "Josh" Madden is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. He first came to Pine Valley on June 17, 2005 and was originally portrayed by actor Scott Kinworthy until September 15, 2005...
intensifies when Josh learns of how he truly came to exist. In August 2006, after months of speculation, it was confirmed that fan favorite Eden Riegel
Eden Riegel
Eden Sonja Jane Riegel is an American actress. She portrayed Bianca Montgomery on the daytime drama All My Children, and propelled the character into a gay icon, as well as a popular figure within the medium...
would be reprising her Emmy
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
winning role as Bianca. She was a part of a controversial storyline centered on transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
character Zarf/Zoe
Zoe (All My Children)
Zoe is a fictional character from the ABC daytime drama All My Children, and is credited as the first transgender character to appear on a soap opera at the beginning of a male to female gender transition. She was portrayed by actor Jeffrey Carlson in August 2006 and then again from November 29,...
.
The most notable return was Cady McClain
Cady McClain
Cady McClain is an American actress, singer, and author.-Early career:McClain's professional acting career began in 1979 at the age of 10, when she was featured in a commercial for Band-Aid bandages....
's return as show heroine Dixie Cooney Martin
Dixie Cooney Martin
Dixie Cooney Martin is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. The character's run lasted from July 1988 to June 1996, again from July 3, 1998 to February 26, 2002, from December 23, 2005 to January 31, 2007 with appearances from May to June 2008 and April 2010 before...
. The news of her return spread just two weeks before she reappeared on the series. In an unpopular and controversial move by the series, the writers chose to kill off Dixie in January 2007 only a year after her return. The character's death was the result of the Satin Slayer storyline where she is unintentionally murdered in place of character Babe Carey
Babe Carey
Arabella "Babe" Carey Chandler is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. She was originally portrayed by actress Alexa Havins, from October 13, 2003 to October 8, 2007, and then by actress Amanda Baker from October 8, 2007 to October 31, 2008...
.
Another prominent return to the series occurred on February 9, 2007, when Susan Pratt
Susan Pratt
Susan Pratt is an American actress.Pratt is best known for her roles in daytime television as Anne Logan on General Hospital , Claire Ramsey on Guiding Light , and Barbara Montgomery Cudahy on All My Children...
returned as Barbara Montgomery
Barbara Montgomery
Barbara Montgomery is an American television and film actress. Montgomery is best known for her role as Cassietta Hetebrink on the sitcom, Amen, Montgomery played the role for four years, and left in 1990...
. Pratt made her last appearance in July of that year. That same month, McTavish was fired as head writer, reportedly due to viewer criticism about her storylines. On May 21, 2007, James Harmon Brown and Barbara Esensten
James Harmon Brown and Barbara Esensten
James Harmon Brown and Barbara Esensten are American television writers, primarily working on soap operas. The duo have worked together for over 20 years starting on the prime-time soap Dynasty...
were announced as the new head writers of All My Children. The duo wrote for Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...
, One Life to Live
One Life to Live
One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
, Dynasty
Dynasty (TV series)
Dynasty is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981 to May 11, 1989. It was created by Richard & Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, and revolved around the Carringtons, a wealthy oil family living in Denver, Colorado...
and Port Charles
Port Charles
Port Charles was a daytime soap opera which aired on ABC from June 2, 1997 to October 3, 2003. It is a spin-off of the serial General Hospital, which has been running since 1963 and takes place in the fictional city of Port Charles, New York...
, and created and wrote for The City.
On December 12, 2007, ABC revealed Rebecca Budig
Rebecca Budig
Rebecca Jo Budig is an American actress and television presenter, best known for her role as Greenlee Smythe Lavery on the ABC soap opera All My Children.-Early life:...
would be returning to the series as Greenlee Smythe
Greenlee Smythe
Greenlee Smythe is a fictional character from the daytime drama All My Children. She was originally portrayed by actress Rebecca Budig from August 11, 1999 to November 30, 2005, and was portrayed by actress Sabine Singh from April 20, 2007 to January 15, 2008...
; the return was one of the most widely reported in daytime television history, attracting mainstream media attention such as the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
and New York Daily News. Budig's return was overshadowed by controversy when news of Sabine Singh
Sabine Singh
Sabine Singh is an American actress.-Early life:Sabine Singh is a first generation American, born in Suffern, NY to immigrant parents. She is the daughter of Anand Singh, an Indian Maharaja and Gisa Singh an Austrian model...
's reportedly unfair treatment as a Greenlee recast in order to bring Budig back incited viewer outrage.
On December 25, 2007, Soap Opera Digest
Soap Opera Digest
Soap Opera Digest is a weekly magazine covering American daytime soap operas. It features onscreen and offscreen news about the series, interviews with and articles about performers, storyline summaries and analysis, and related promotional information...
reported the return of fan favorites Debbi Morgan
Debbi Morgan
Deborah "Debbi" Morgan is an American film and television actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Dr. Angie Hubbard on the ABC soap opera All My Children, and for her role as The Seer in the fourth and fifth seasons of Charmed.Morgan joined the cast of The Young and the Restless as...
and Darnell Williams
Darnell Williams
Darnell Williams is a British-born soap opera actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Jesse Hubbard on the ABC soap opera All My Children, a role which has earned him two Daytime Emmy Awards.-Biography:...
as Jesse Hubbard and Angie Baxter. Morgan returned on January 18, 2008, and Williams on January 25, 2008. In April 2008, it was announced that Laurence Lau
Laurence Lau
Laurence Henry Lau is an American soap opera actor. He was born in Long Beach, California.One of his first roles was on the comedy/drama Eight Is Enough...
would briefly reprise the role of Greg Nelson for Jesse and Angie's much anticipated wedding.
On May 21, 2008, Charles Pratt, Jr.
Charles Pratt, Jr.
Charles Pratt, Jr. is an American television writer, producer and director.-Daytime Soap Positions held:All My Children *Head Writer: August, 2008 - November, 2009...
, former co-head writer for General Hospital
General Hospital
General Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....
, was announced as a replacement for Brown and Esensten amid record low ratings.
On November 6, 2008, All My Children aired a special episode in which veterans share their stories unscripted.
On November 12, 2008, the show celebrated its 10,000th show with a special appearance by Nixon and a special tribute to Myrtle Fargate (as portrayed by Eileen Herlie
Eileen Herlie
Eileen Herlie was a Scottish-American actress.-Life and career:Eileen Herlie was born Eileen Isobel Herlihy to a Catholic father and a Protestant mother in Glasgow, Scotland, and was one of five children. Herlie was trained as a theatre actress. Among her West End London theatre successes were The...
who had recently died). On December 19, 2008, a special episode ran for Herlie, showing clips from the past.
On February 16, 2009, All My Children made daytime history with the nuptials of Reese Williams and Bianca Montgomery
Reese Williams and Bianca Montgomery
Reese Williams and Bianca Montgomery are fictional characters and a lesbian couple from the ABC daytime drama All My Children. Reese was portrayed by Tamara Braun, and Bianca was portrayed by Eden Riegel. On Internet message boards, the pairing is commonly referred to by the portmanteaus "Rianca" ...
, the first legal same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
in American daytime television. After departing the show in February 2005, Riegel continued to return to the series for limited guest appearances, but permanently left the role in 2010.
On November 20, 2009, Pratt was fired as head writer. Daytime Emmy-winning former head writer Lorraine Broderick
Lorraine Broderick
Lorraine Broderick is an American television soap opera writer who got her start on All My Children as a protégée of the show's creator, Agnes Nixon.-Bio:...
was brought back to lead the writing team on an interim basis. Reportedly, Broderick returned at the request of show creator Agnes Nixon, but was not interested in remaining permanently as the team's top scribe.
2010s
On January 5, 2010, All My Children celebrated its 40th anniversary with an episode structured like a documentary and hosted by character Hayley SantosHayley Vaughan
Hayley Santos is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children; in the series' narratives, she is a member of the powerful and wealthy Chandler family, specifically Adam Chandler's daughter. She was portrayed by actress Kelly Ripa from 1990 to 2002...
. It featured appearances by characters Palmer Cortlandt
Palmer Cortlandt
Palmer Cortlandt is a fictional character on the long-running ABC soap opera All My Children, played by James Mitchell from 1979 to 2010. A major character until 1982, when health issues forced him to reduce his work load, Mitchell continued to appear regularly on the show until May 2007 when he...
, Nina Warner, Maria Santos Grey
Maria Santos
Maria Carlos Martins dos Santos is a retired female backstroke and medley swimmer from Portugal, who competed for her native country at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia.-References:*...
, Brooke English
Brooke English
Brooke Allison English is a fictional character on the television soap opera All My Children. After being originated by Elissa Leeds in 1976, she was portrayed by Julia Barr from 1976 to 1981 and from 1982 to 2006. Harriet Hall temporarily played the role in 1981...
, Greg Nelson, Bianca Montgomery
Bianca Montgomery
Bianca Christine Montgomery is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. In June 2010, Christina Bennett Lind replaced Eden Riegel, who portrayed the role from July 2000 to January 2010. Until Riegel assumed the role, the character was portrayed solely by child...
, Mateo Santos
Mateo Santos
Mateo Santos Sr. is a fictional character from the soap opera All My Children. He was first portrayed by Tito Ortiz in a guest appearance in 1994 but is best known as being portrayed by Mark Consuelos from 1995-2002...
, and Lily Montgomery. It was also the final episode for characters Joe and Ruth Martin, who are moving to Florida for retirement, and the final appearance for Palmer, as his portrayer James Mitchell
James Mitchell (actor)
James Mitchell was an American actor and dancer. Although he is best known to television audiences as Palmer Cortlandt on the soap opera All My Children , theatre and dance historians remember him as one of Agnes de Mille's leading dancers...
, died just over two weeks after the episode's airing.
On January 13, 2010, ABC Daytime announced the appointment of David Kreizman
David Kreizman
David Kreizman is an American soap opera writer. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia.Kreizman was a part of the writing team for the long running CBS Daytime soap opera Guiding Light since the late 1990s. In 2004, he was promoted to the position of Head Writer by newly appointed...
and Donna Swajeski
Donna Swajeski
Donna Swajeski is an American television soap opera screenwriter with experience at all three major American networks. She has been a head writer, co-head writer and screenwriter on award winning daytime drama for NBC Daytime, ABC Daytime and CBS Daytime....
as the co-head writers of All My Children, replacing interim head writer Lorraine Broderick
Lorraine Broderick
Lorraine Broderick is an American television soap opera writer who got her start on All My Children as a protégée of the show's creator, Agnes Nixon.-Bio:...
, who in turn replaced the fan-reviled Charles Pratt, Jr.
Charles Pratt, Jr.
Charles Pratt, Jr. is an American television writer, producer and director.-Daytime Soap Positions held:All My Children *Head Writer: August, 2008 - November, 2009...
. Brian Frons, head of ABC daytime, stated, "David and Donna are the perfect team to bring new ideas to All My Children while remaining true to its core by telling stories with a focus on the integrity of the show's history, its characters and families on the canvas." Prior to his appointment on All My Children, Kriezman was the head writer of Guiding Light
Guiding Light
Guiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
from 2004 to the final episode on September 18, 2009, and the co-head writer of As the World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
from 2009 to the final episode on September 17, 2010. Swajeski's prior experience includes a head writing stint on Another World
Another World (TV series)
Another World is an American television soap opera that ran on NBC from May 4, 1964 to June 25, 1999. It ran for a total of 35 years. It was created by Irna Phillips along with William J...
from 1988 to 1992.
With the death on January 22 of James Mitchell
James Mitchell (actor)
James Mitchell was an American actor and dancer. Although he is best known to television audiences as Palmer Cortlandt on the soap opera All My Children , theatre and dance historians remember him as one of Agnes de Mille's leading dancers...
(Palmer Cortlandt
Palmer Cortlandt
Palmer Cortlandt is a fictional character on the long-running ABC soap opera All My Children, played by James Mitchell from 1979 to 2010. A major character until 1982, when health issues forced him to reduce his work load, Mitchell continued to appear regularly on the show until May 2007 when he...
1979–2010), the show aired a tribute episode to Palmer on Tuesday April 20, 2010. Gillian Spencer
Gillian Spencer
Gillian Spencer is an American soap opera actress and writer.She has had roles on soaps such as The Edge of Night, The Secret Storm, Guiding Light, As the World Turns and on One Life to Live as the original Victoria Lord/Niki Smith 1968-1970.Spencer appeared in the 1968 feature comedy What's So...
(Daisy Murdoch Cortlandt), Taylor Miller
Taylor Miller
Taylor Miller is an American soap opera actress.-Acting:She is best known for her role as Nina Cortlandt on ABC Daytime's All My Children , which she played from 1979 to 1984 and from 1986 to 1989. Miller returned in cameos in 1994, 1995, 1996, and 2010...
(Nina Cortlandt
Nina Cortlandt
Nina Warner is a fictional character and on half of the Cliff and Nina supercouple on the long running ABC soap opera All My Children. She has been most notably by Taylor Miller who existed the role in 1996...
), and Cady McClain
Cady McClain
Cady McClain is an American actress, singer, and author.-Early career:McClain's professional acting career began in 1979 at the age of 10, when she was featured in a commercial for Band-Aid bandages....
(Dixie Cooney Martin
Dixie Cooney Martin
Dixie Cooney Martin is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. The character's run lasted from July 1988 to June 1996, again from July 3, 1998 to February 26, 2002, from December 23, 2005 to January 31, 2007 with appearances from May to June 2008 and April 2010 before...
) returned for the episode.
On February 8, Walt Willey
Walt Willey
Walt Willey is an American actor. He is best known for playing Jackson Montgomery on the soap opera All My Children from 1987 to 2011....
returned as a contract cast member in the role of Jackson Montgomery, following numerous months away and dispute about his future on the show. On February 23, Julia Barr
Julia Barr
Julia Barr is an American actress. Barr is most famous for her role on the soap opera All My Children, playing the character of Brooke English...
reprised the role of Brooke English
Brooke English
Brooke Allison English is a fictional character on the television soap opera All My Children. After being originated by Elissa Leeds in 1976, she was portrayed by Julia Barr from 1976 to 1981 and from 1982 to 2006. Harriet Hall temporarily played the role in 1981...
; Brooke's return was timed to the retirement of David Canary
David Canary
David Hoyt Canary is an American actor, who starred in both soap operas and prime time television. He is best known for his roles as the ranch foreman, Candy Canaday on Bonanza and identical twins Adam Chandler from 1983 to 2010 and Stuart Chandler from 1984 to 2009 on the daytime serial, All My...
(Adam Chandler
Adam Chandler
Adam Chandler, Sr. is a fictional character from the daytime drama All My Children, portrayed by David Canary from December 1983 through his departure on April 23, 2010. Adam Chandler was one of the most devious and powerful individuals within the town of Pine Valley, Pennsylvania...
) after more than 26 years on the show. Their final episode aired April 23, 2010.
On July 18, 2010, All My Children lost one of its original cast members, Larry Keith
Larry Keith
Larry Keith was an American actor who was a longtime cast member on the ABC soap opera All My Children and was the first American to play the role of Henry Higgins in the Broadway production of My Fair Lady....
. Larry was on the show from 1970–2005. Larry portrayed Nick Davis who gave Erica Kane
Erica Kane
Erica Kane is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children.The character has been portrayed by actress Susan Lucci since the show first aired in January 1970, until the last broadcast television episode aired in September 2011. Erica is considered to be the most popular...
the nickname "Princess". He was last seen on January 5, 2005 for All My Children's 35th anniversary episode.
In September 2010, Daytime Emmy winner Vincent Irizzary's character, the popular villain David Hayward, was murdered. On the November 22, 2010 episode, David Hayward waltzed into the courtroom during Greenlee's trial (for which she was just sentenced to life in prison for murdering him) at the tail end of it, confirming rumors that he was going to return all along. Soap Opera Digest
Soap Opera Digest
Soap Opera Digest is a weekly magazine covering American daytime soap operas. It features onscreen and offscreen news about the series, interviews with and articles about performers, storyline summaries and analysis, and related promotional information...
confirmed soon after that the show had planned this all along from the start.
On September 16, 2010, Adam Mayfield (Scott Chandler
Scott Chandler (All My Children)
Scott Chandler is a fictional character from ABC's daytime drama All My Children. He has recently been portrayed by Adam Mayfield from April 9, 2009 to October 13, 2010. Previously, Scott has been portrayed, most notably, by Daniel Cosgrove from November 27, 1996 to July 28, 1998 and Forbes March...
) and Brittany Allen (Marissa Tasker
Marissa Tasker
Marissa Tasker is a fictional character on the soap opera All My Children She has been portrayed by actress Brittany Allen from April 21, 2009 to December 21, 2010...
) were announced to be leaving the show. ABC reports that they wanted to take both the characters in a different direction. On September 22, 2010 it was announced that Daniel Cosgrove
Daniel Cosgrove
Daniel Cosgrove is an American actor. He is known for his role as Scott Chandler # 3 on All My Children, Bill Lewis on Guiding Light and for his role as Christopher Hughes II on As the World Turns.Cosgrove has been a cast member during the series finale of three consecutive cancelled soap operas:...
(ex-Scott, All My Children; ex-Bill, Guiding Light; ex-Chris, As the World Turns) would return to All My Children and replace Adam Mayfield (Scott) as Scott Chandler. On October 28, 2010, it was announced that Sarah Glendening
Sarah Glendening
Sarah Glendening is an American actress. In 2009, she joined the cast as the fifth actress to portray Lucy Montgomery on the CBS soap As the World Turns. She played the role until the show's cancellation in September 2010...
(ex-Lucy, As the World Turns) would be taking over the role of Marissa Tasker. Glendening debuted on December 27 and Cosgrove debuted on December 29.
In December of 2009, the place for taping AMC was moved from ABC's television studio TV23 at 320 West 66th Street in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to Stages 1 and 2 at the Andrita Studios in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. All My Children also started taping in High Definition on January 4, 2010 and began airing in high definition on February 3, 2010. All My Children became the third soap opera to be produced and broadcast in high definition.
In January 2011, Debbi Morgan said that she would take a leave of absence from the show. She said it was for personal reasons and on January 14, 2011 she released to the public that she has been diagnosed with Lyme Disease
Lyme disease
Lyme disease, or Lyme borreliosis, is an emerging infectious disease caused by at least three species of bacteria belonging to the genus Borrelia. Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto is the main cause of Lyme disease in the United States, whereas Borrelia afzelii and Borrelia garinii cause most...
. She returned during the second week of February and her first episode aired on March 8, 2011. On February 10, 2011, as part of her 25th (and farewell) season, Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
invited All My Children's Susan Lucci
Susan Lucci
Susan Victoria Lucci is an American actress and entrepreneur, best known for portraying Erica Kane on the daytime drama All My Children. The character is considered an icon, and Lucci has been called "Daytime's Leading Lady" by TV Guide, with New York Times and Los Angeles Times citing her as the...
, Debbi Morgan
Debbi Morgan
Deborah "Debbi" Morgan is an American film and television actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Dr. Angie Hubbard on the ABC soap opera All My Children, and for her role as The Seer in the fourth and fifth seasons of Charmed.Morgan joined the cast of The Young and the Restless as...
, Darnell Williams
Darnell Williams
Darnell Williams is a British-born soap opera actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Jesse Hubbard on the ABC soap opera All My Children, a role which has earned him two Daytime Emmy Awards.-Biography:...
, and Michael E. Knight
Michael E. Knight
- Biography :Knight is best known for playing Tad Martin on the soap opera All My Children. His first stint on the show ran from 1982–1986. He returned from 1988–1990, and again from 1992 until the series finale in 2011...
, along with General Hospital
General Hospital
General Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....
's Luke and Laura and The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
's Mrs. Chancellor
Katherine Chancellor
Katherine Chancellor Murphy is a fictional character on the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless...
to The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
. As a surprise, Winfrey shocked Lucci and the rest of the crowd by bringing back all of Erica's husbands. During February 2011, the TV Land hit sitcom Hot in Cleveland
Hot in Cleveland
Hot in Cleveland is an American sitcom on TV Land starring Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick and Betty White. The series, which is TV Land's first original scripted series, premiered on June 16, 2010, and was TV Land's highest rated telecast in the cable network's 14-year history. The...
and All My Children did a crossover event. On the 16th, and 23 February, Lucci, Michael E. Knight, and Darnell Williams made a guest appearance on the show. On the 24th, Wendie Malick
Wendie Malick
Wendie Malick is an American actress and former fashion model, known for her roles as Judith Tupper Stone on the HBO series Dream On , Nina Van Horn on the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me! , Ronee Lawrence on the NBC sitcom Frasier and Victoria Chase on the TV Land sitcom Hot in Cleveland .-Early...
guest starred.
On April 2, 2011, amid rumors of All My Children's possible cancellation, Soaps in Depth
Soaps In Depth
Soaps In Depth is a series of magazines created in 1997 by Bauer Publications to give American soap opera viewers more variety in their soap-related magazine purchases...
broke the news via Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
that longtime AMC writer Lorraine Broderick
Lorraine Broderick
Lorraine Broderick is an American television soap opera writer who got her start on All My Children as a protégée of the show's creator, Agnes Nixon.-Bio:...
had once again been named the show's head writer, replacing David Kreizman
David Kreizman
David Kreizman is an American soap opera writer. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia.Kreizman was a part of the writing team for the long running CBS Daytime soap opera Guiding Light since the late 1990s. In 2004, he was promoted to the position of Head Writer by newly appointed...
and Donna Swajeski
Donna Swajeski
Donna Swajeski is an American television soap opera screenwriter with experience at all three major American networks. She has been a head writer, co-head writer and screenwriter on award winning daytime drama for NBC Daytime, ABC Daytime and CBS Daytime....
.
On April 14, 2011, ABC confirmed that after 41 years, All My Children would be canceled and would end its ABC run in September 23, 2011 and that One Life To Live would be canceled and end its run on January, 2012. Reasons for both shows' cancelations cited "extensive research into what today’s daytime viewers want and the changing viewing patterns of the audience". It will be replaced by a new lifestyle show, The Chew
The Chew
The Chew is an American talk show/cooking show that airs in the United States on ABC as part of the network's weekday daytime lineup, centering on food-related and lifestyle topics. The program also airs in Canada on the stations of the Citytv television system.It premiered on September 26, 2011 ...
, while its timeslot on SOAPnet
SOAPnet
SOAPnet is an American cable television channel that broadcasts current and past soap operas and primetime dramas, along with some original programming. The channel launched on January 20, 2000, and is owned by Disney-ABC Television Group, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
will be replaced by daily reruns of Days of Our Lives
Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...
. In response to the cancellation of this, vacuum cleaner manufacturer Hoover
The Hoover Company
The Hoover Company started out as an American floor care manufacturer based in North Canton, Ohio. It also established a major base in the United Kingdom and for most of the early-and-mid-20th century, it dominated the electric vacuum cleaner industry, to the point where the "hoover" brand name...
withdrew its advertising from all ABC programs out of protest, going as far as running a campaign to get ABC to reverse its decision. On April 25, Cady McClain (ex-Dixie Cooney Martin) announced that she would be returning to AMC and that she couldn't report what her storyline would be, but fans would be happy. Other former cast members announced to be returning to the series are Ray MacDonnell
Ray MacDonnell
Raymond Arthur "Ray" MacDonnell is an American actor, best known for his role as Dr. Joe Martin on the daytime soap opera All My Children, a role he played for 40 years...
(Dr. Joe Martin), Lee Meriwether
Lee Meriwether
Lee Ann Meriwether is an American actress, former model, and the winner of the 1955 Miss America pageant. She is perhaps best known for her role as Betty Jones, the crime-solving partner in the long-running 1970s crime drama, Barnaby Jones. The role earned her two Golden Globe Award nominations in...
(Ruth Martin), David Canary
David Canary
David Hoyt Canary is an American actor, who starred in both soap operas and prime time television. He is best known for his roles as the ranch foreman, Candy Canaday on Bonanza and identical twins Adam Chandler from 1983 to 2010 and Stuart Chandler from 1984 to 2009 on the daytime serial, All My...
(Adam Chandler), Julia Barr
Julia Barr
Julia Barr is an American actress. Barr is most famous for her role on the soap opera All My Children, playing the character of Brooke English...
(Brooke English), Thorsten Kaye
Thorsten Kaye
Thorsten Kaye is a German-British actor.-Early life:...
(Zach Slater), Eva La Rue (Maria Santos), Jennifer Bassey
Jennifer Bassey
Jennifer Bassey is an American actress.-Biography:After graduating from Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, Jennifer Bassey moved back to the United States and took roles in many Off-Broadway plays...
(Marian Colby), Kate Collins (Janet Dillon), Melissa Claire Egan
Melissa Claire Egan
Melissa Claire Egan is an American actress. Egan graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a BA in Dramatic Art. She has guest-starred on such television series as Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill. Her debut film role was as Ali Court in the 2005 movie, Wrestling...
(Annie Lavery), Josh Duhamel
Josh Duhamel
Joshua David "Josh" Duhamel is an American actor and former fashion model. He first achieved acting success in 1999 as Leo du Pres on ABC's All My Children and later as the chief of security, Danny McCoy, on NBC's Las Vegas...
(Leo du Pres), Leven Rambin
Leven Rambin
Leven Alice Rambin is an American actress. She is best known for playing look-alike half-sisters Lily Montgomery and Ava Benton on All My Children and her recurring roles in; Grey's Anatomy, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, One Tree Hill and CSI: Miami.-Biography:Rambin was born in...
(Lily Montgomery) Carol Burnett
Carol Burnett
Carol Creighton Burnett is an American actress, comedian, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut...
(Verla Grubbs), Jason Kincaid (Sam Brady), and Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Prinze , known professionally by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar , is an American actress, singer and executive producer...
in an unknown role.
On July 7, 2011, the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
reported that ABC had sold the licensing rights of All My Children and One Life To Live to a TV-focused online channel being developed by TV, film and music production company Prospect Park
Prospect Park (production company)
Prospect Park is a Los Angeles entertainment production company, founded in 2008 by Richard H. Frank, a former Disney Studios executive, and Jeff Kwatinetz, former CEO of the talent agency The Firm, Inc...
. ABC confirmed this via press release; as a result of Prospect Park's acquisition of the two soaps, All My Children and One Life to Live will be the first soap operas to transition first-run broadcasts from traditional television to internet television
Internet television
Internet television is the digital distribution of television content via the Internet...
. Since the deal between ABC and Prospect Park is a licensing agreement, both soaps will continue to remain the property of ABC.
On September 8, 2011 the original Ruth Martin, Mary Fickett
Mary Fickett
Mary Fickett was an American actress, best-known for her roles in the American television dramas, The Edge of Night — as Sally Smith , and as Dr...
, died at the age of 83. The episode on Wednesday September 21, 2011 was dedicated to her.
On September 23, 2011, the series finale aired on ABC. The final week featured Dr. Joe and Ruth Martin relocating to Pine Valley to cover recently arrested David Hayward's hospital duties. The return of Adam Chandler and Brooke English coincided with the remarkable revelation that David had somehow resurrected Stuart Chandler. Jackson Montgomery dissolved his relationship with Erica after she admitted that she prefers not to remarry. Unresolved is JR Chandler's plunge into insanity as he drunkenly aims a gun at a crowd of All My Children regulars during a welcome-home party for Stuart. The screen darkens before revealing the victim, leaving the story open for an eventual continuation with Prospect Park.
Transition with Prospect Park
On August 2011, Prospect Park announced that it was shopping for a cable networkCable network
A cable channel is a television channel available via cable television. Such channels are usually also available via satellite television, including direct broadcast satellite providers such as DirecTV, Dish Network and BSkyB...
to air All My Children. On August 16, 2011 actor Walt Willey
Walt Willey
Walt Willey is an American actor. He is best known for playing Jackson Montgomery on the soap opera All My Children from 1987 to 2011....
announced on WGN
WGN-TV
WGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
that the whole cast of All My Children had received their contract offer from Prospect Park, but came short on giving the details about it. Actors Debbi Morgan
Debbi Morgan
Deborah "Debbi" Morgan is an American film and television actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Dr. Angie Hubbard on the ABC soap opera All My Children, and for her role as The Seer in the fourth and fifth seasons of Charmed.Morgan joined the cast of The Young and the Restless as...
and Jacob Young
Jacob Young
Jacob Wayne Young is an American actor and singer. He is perhaps best known for his role as JR Chandler on the ABC daytime soap opera All My Children...
had already signed to join the casts of The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
and The Bold and the Beautiful
The Bold and the Beautiful
The Bold and the Beautiful is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS Daytime. It premiered on March 23, 1987....
, respectively, after All My Children finished its run on ABC. Prospect Park officially began negotiations with the actors of All My Children on September 15, 2011. During a September 18, 2011 appearance on CBS Sunday Morning, lead actress Susan Lucci
Susan Lucci
Susan Victoria Lucci is an American actress and entrepreneur, best known for portraying Erica Kane on the daytime drama All My Children. The character is considered an icon, and Lucci has been called "Daytime's Leading Lady" by TV Guide, with New York Times and Los Angeles Times citing her as the...
revealed that she had not decided yet about her future with the show after its conclusion on ABC.
Prospect Park initially intended for All My Children to begin its run on the internet on September 26, 2011, but has since revealed that the transition could be delayed until 2012 because it must negotiate a new contract
Collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions...
with the union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
representing the actors of All My Children. On September 27, 2011, Prospect Park announced that All My Children along with its sister soap One Life to Live
One Life to Live
One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
would be relaunched in January 2012 on the company's new internet channel, The Online Network. But on November 10, 2011, several sources reported that Prospect Park has indefinitely suspended its plans to relaunch All My Children and that the company will concentrate solely on One Life to Live. Reasons given for this decision are lack of funding coupled with Prospect Park not being able to sign enough cast members from All My Children.
On November 23, 2011, Prospect Park confirmed that it officially cancelled its project, not only to continue All My Children, but also One Life to Live. Reasons given by Prospect Park for this decision include funding problems and poor negotiations with the unions representing the cast of both soaps. WGA
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
and AFTRA, which respectively represent the writer and the actors, have both expressed disappointment over Prospect Park's announcement.
Title sequences
All title sequences used a bookBook
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
of the show's title. Ever since the debut in 1970, AMC's opener had included a photo album
Photo album
A photographic album, or photo album, is a collection of photographs, generally in a book. Some albums have compartments which the photos may be slipped into; other albums have heavy paper with an abrasive surface covered with clear plastic sheets, in which photos can be put...
/scrapbook
Scrapbooking
Scrapbooking is a method for preserving personal and family history in the form of a scrapbook. Typical memorabilia include photographs, printed media, and artwork. Scrapbook albums are often decorated and frequently contain extensive journaling...
in some kind of form.
January 5, 1970–December 29, 1989 All My Children |
The First Two Decades This sequence has three distincts openings: 1970–1971, 1971–1976 and 1976–1989 With the premiere, the sequence was simple: a camera slowly zooms in on a leather-bound photo album as a female hand enters the image to open the album. On the first page of the album, the title is shown in calligraphic type. Until at least June 1970, the hand turned to a second page, crediting Rosemary Prinz Rosemary Prinz Rosemary Prinz was a stage and television actress. She is most known for her work in the early era of the American soap opera.-Life and career:Prinz was born in New York City... as a "Special Guest Star". Prinz, at the time, was the cast member with the most experience in soaps, and crediting her in the sequence was used as a way to coax her fans to tune in. She left after six months on the show, and the second page was eliminated from the sequence. In June 1970, the sequence was updated, featuring the same hand-turning the book format, only now based on a larger table/credenza, and the book was more centered. The title appeared in the same calligraphic font, but the inside title page now revealed a painted spring of flowers to accompany it. The hand would begin to turn to the next page just as the sequence faded out, to give the effect of someone displaying a full family photo album. However, additional pages would never be seen again during the run of this sequence. The theme music used with this sequence was written by Dina Dore and her daughter Carlina Paul. It went through two principal arrangements. In the beginning and continuing through the mid '70s, the first arrangement was a lush, sweeping tune with overtones of flutes and brass. A soft lullaby-type slow-tempo version of the tune was also used in subsequent weeks during the 1970 mid-season. Retained from the original 1970 thematic underscore suite, this arrangement ran through at least the summer of 1970. A new version of the theme, more sweeping and cheery than the two previous versions, and featuring full orchestration by Jack Urbont, was used from 1976 to 1989, making it the longest unmodified opening in the show's history. |
January 2, 1990–January 2, 1995 All My Children |
The Falling Pictures In 1989 executive producer Felicia Minei Behr Felicia Minei Behr Felicia Minei Behr is an American TV producer and network executive who has worked on three daytime serials. She was fired from All My Children in 1996 when ratings for the show began to decline.-Career: Executive Producer:... decided to create a new sequence to bring AMC into the 1990s for the 20th Anniversary. Billy Barber Billy Barber (musician) Billy Barber is a keyboardist and composer. He is the son of pianist and William C. Barber, also known as Bill Barber Sr.He is most noted for the theme song for All My Children in the 1990s as well as keyboardist for the jazz group Flim & the BB's with Jimmy Johnson and Bill Berg... (of Flim & the BB's Flim & the BB's "Flim & The BB's" was a contemporary jazz band that became popular not only to jazz fans but also "tech-heads" because of the methods and type of equipment and technology that went into their recordings... ) and Bob Israel were hired to record the new theme. By the middle of December 1989 the recording of the theme music was completed. Then, all contract cast members of the show were all called to do a photoshoot and once the filming was completed, animation began. The animation was completed early in the last week of December and by December 29 the sequence was complete. The new sequence debuted during the 20th Anniversary week in January 1990. This new sequence kept the photo album theme, but expanded upon it. It began with the camera panning across a desk featuring framed pictures of longtime cast members. This dissolved into a series of animations in which still pictures of each cast member hovered into piles on the desk. It ended with a portrait of lead actress Susan Lucci slowly sliding onto a page in the photo album, as it closed to reveal the title in an Old English type on the cover. Occasionally, the title would disappear from the cover and a sponsor's logo would be in its place, with the announcer doing an ad for the sponsor. As popular as the sequence was, the theme music was even more popular. Written by Billy Barber, it began with a perky melody. A slightly remixed / remastered version (new drum beat pattern, w/more chimes) of this theme debuted on December 30, 1992 with a quieter, slower arrangement at the beginning. The last episode of AMC with the falling pictures sequence aired on January 2, 1995. |
January 3, 1995–October 4, 2002 All My Children |
The Locket & Pearls In 1994, Behr decided to come up with another new sequence for the 25th Anniversary. She hired saxophonist David Benoit to record the theme and then decided she wanted heirlooms such as necklaces, chess pieces, and different exteriors. By Christmas Eve 1994, she decided that they would include motion backgrounds, not in color however, to make the opening a tour of Pine Valley and finalized most of the components such as cast pictures. On December 29, 1994, the sequence was completed with motion images. However, they became stills due to budgets. For the 25th Anniversary week, the new sequence made its debut. The first episode of AMC with the locket sequence aired on January 4, 1995. It featured stills of each cast member fading in and out of a white background while various images, including galloping horses, house exteriors, pearl necklaces, and pink roses, crossfaded throughout the cast images. Susan Lucci was again given a nod as her picture was always first, and was the only one in the sequence to be framed with a silver frame. Finally, Agnes Nixon's hand-written epigram for the show crossfaded in the background just as the photo album did. On March 8, 1995, a new arrangement of this theme debuted to replace the January 1995 version; it was shortened at the beginning and lengthened towards the end with a few new instruments. Also, a new quiet piano arrangement debuted on April 4, 1995. In October 1995, the sequence was updated to include posed images of most cast members, but the images were still motionless. In July 1996 the opening was updated and debuted live video images of the former stills. In August 1997, the aforementioned piano arrangement became the main title theme. A major cast overhaul was made in September 1997 following the last update in December 1996. In late 1997 a new variant was recorded and was mixed differently from 1995 format (including a harp). It debuted in 1998 with an updated cast montage which lasted to October 1998 when a new upbeat version that included the ending version would debut. A faster-paced version of the new upbeat cut debuted sometime in 1999. In 2000 it was remixed with a few additional instrument tracks included, and used Digital Surround Sound. All of the music that accompanied these sequences were composed by David Benoit. AMC retired this sequence on October 4, 2002. |
October 7, 2002–May 28, 2004 All My Children |
The Scrapbook On October 7, 2002, after nearly eight years of the previous sequence, a new one made its debut. The first AMC episode with the Scrapbook opening aired on October 7, 2002. It featured the photo album, but unlike the other sequences, the photo album was constantly seen throughout. It began with a closeup of the album (with the title on the cover) as it opened. The Agnes Nixon epigram is seen on the front page, but the screen fades into the montage of cast member images, all done in live action. The photos were already on their pages in the album and as each face was shown, the name of the character was scrawled on their page in the book, similar to what many people do with their own family scrapbooks. Yet again, Susan Lucci Susan Lucci Susan Victoria Lucci is an American actress and entrepreneur, best known for portraying Erica Kane on the daytime drama All My Children. The character is considered an icon, and Lucci has been called "Daytime's Leading Lady" by TV Guide, with New York Times and Los Angeles Times citing her as the... is paid homage by being at the end of both formats of this sequence. This time, however, she shared that honor with David Canary, as he was in both sequences as well, as Adam Chandler in one and Stuart in the other. The theme that accompanied this sequence was a much-loved update of the 1990–1995 theme originally composed by Billy Barber, this time with contributions by Robert Israel. There were two music versions of this sequence, the first of which was a quiet, fast tempo that lasted for two weeks when it was replaced by a more dramatic orchestral theme. An alternate video change of the opening theme debuted in 2003 and was occasionally used through May 28, 2004. |
May 31, 2004–December 21, 2010 All My Children |
The Family Album After a year and a half of the previous opening, the show debuted another on May 31, 2004. This opening was styled after the commercial break bumpers that were present on all of ABC's serials at the time. One Life to Live One Life to Live One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social... and General Hospital's General Hospital General Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns.... openings were done in similar ways to the All My Children opening. The theme music was a remix of the previous version, with a revised intro, a percussion track, and electric guitar track added. It included pictures from the show's past, including montages of classic Susan Lucci and Ruth Warrick Ruth Warrick Ruth Elizabeth Warrick , DM, was an American singer, actress and political activist, best known for her role as Phoebe Tyler on All My Children, which she played regularly from 1970 until her death in 2005.... headshots and a wedding portrait from Edmund and Maria's 1994 wedding. The All My Children book letter font was in Monotype Corsiva rather than the traditional Old English Text and the book was in a different red hue. This was also the first time that the show's name was written on a single line, as opposed to the usual three lines. A slight modified video change of the opening title debuted on December 2006 and was occasionally used through December 21, 2010. |
December 22, 2010– September 23, 2011 |
The Memories of Pine Valley On December 14, 2010, All My Children announced they were debuting new opening credits. On December 22, 2010, Executive Producer Julie Hanan Carruthers unveiled a new show opening coinciding with the show's new High-Definition format, which began 11 months earlier. The opening is accompanied with the same music from the previous opening with a slight edit at the music start point (which is the start point from the 2002–2004 opening music). The visual features episodic clips of the show and the contract cast members contained behind and inside big size letters of the show's title scrolling left to right in each take. Each cast member has two clips on the side of one another while through the sequence we see variations of the shows former title book and majority of the clips features on location images of the cast. After the last cast member we see a clip of Erica and her daughters Bianca and Kendall as the title forms with the words zooming into place at the top of the screen against an opened photo album with the pages flapping on a table and a bigger size version of the ABC network logo under the title. This new sequence marked the first time the show has changed its opening credits since AMC relocated its production to California in early 2010. On March 21, 2011, the opening credits was updated with a few minor clip changes. Amanda Martin (Chrishell Stause) was added to the opening...which is right after the clip of Jake Martin (Ricky Paull Goldin), Annie Chandler (Melissa Claire Egan) got removed from the opening because the actress herself left the show, new clips for Madison North (Stephanie Gatschet) and Scott Chandler (Daniel Cosgrove) was updated into a new version, and a small shot of Erica Kane (Susan Lucci) and Jackson Montgomery (Walt Willey) was added to Jackson's clip. |
| |
Closing CreditsAll My Children For the first 12 years of All My Children, the closing credits used the format of a single mimed scene of one or more characters engaging in an activity or interacting with each other, usually only on a single set. Credits would always scroll over the scene, and would feature the full cast list after production principals on some days, while a full crew list would appear on others. Occasionally, as is still the case to this very day, full cast and crew would run if enough time allotted. As with most soaps, this entire credit list was known for running especially on holiday episodes. During the entire time All My Children used mimed scenes for the closings, thin, regular Craw Clarendon font, in white, was used. In the era in which the show debuted, this font was commonly used on two other ABC soaps, General Hospital General Hospital General Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns.... and One Life to Live One Life to Live One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social... . OLTL was also an Agnes Nixon production, under her Creative Horizons company, which explains the similar cosmetic look between that soap and All My Children. GH, however, had been completely purchased by ABC come the early 1970s, but had always used Craw Clarendon Condensed font as opposed to the regular variant of the type utilized on OLTL and AMC. Both programs saw their closing sequence formats go unchanged even after Ms. Nixon sold them to ABC American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948... entirely, in 1975. By 1978, the Craw Clarendon used on AMC became smaller and finely embossed, but by that same year the program was the only one still using the font, as OLTLs credit setup changed at that time. It should also be noted that beginning in the late 1970s, the scrolling cast list went from being completely centered to displaying character names on the left side of the screen, while actors' names were positioned on the right. Copyright notice first appeared on AMC in 1980; it appeared in small Arial font under the "Videotaped at ABC Television Center in New York" credit until 1982. In mid-1982, AMC experienced its first major credits overhaul. The credits went from running on an image frame to being computer generated, and for a few months, remained in Craw Clarendon font. The Arial-set copyright continued, but was now under a closing display of the show's title. That fall, following Jacqueline Babbin Jacqueline Babbin Jacqueline Babbin was an American television/theatre writer, producer, and executive. She died of cancer on October 6, 2001 in Kent, Connecticut.-Early life:... 's arrival as executive producer, the font setup entirely changed to Britannic Bold for actors and crew members, and small Helvetica Helvetica Helvetica is a widely used sans-serif typeface developed in 1957 by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann.-Visual distinctive characteristics:Characteristics of this typeface are:lower case:square dot over the letter i.... for character names and production titles. Subsequently, the cast list now scrolled completely on the left hand side. All My Children became the first ABC daytime program to then implement a network-mandated copyright, set in a variation of italicized Century Gothic Century Gothic Century Gothic is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed for Monotype Imaging in 1991. It is a digital typeface that has never been made into actual foundry type... font. This copyright had been introduced on all ABC News ABC News ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company... programs, daytime and nighttime, a couple of years earlier. With the introduction of this notice format, "All Rights Reserved" was added to the copyright for the first time, and it originally contained the word "Copyright" before the symbol; it would be removed by early 1984. This mandate subsequently made its way to all other ABC daytime programs in the next year and a half (with the exception of General Hospital, which has traditionally been allowed different credit and branding practices by ABC). Thereafter, AMCs credits continued to see periodic alterations, especially with the changing of the guard in executive producers. By 1985, the credit portions in Britannic Bold became smaller and super-embossed with black shadowing. The "Videotaped At" credit went from being entirely in Helvetica to having the first line be in the latter font, with the next two lines appearing in Britannic Bold. In early 1988, the cast list reverted to running centered on the screen, for the first time since the late 1970s. Not long after Felicia Minei Behr Felicia Minei Behr Felicia Minei Behr is an American TV producer and network executive who has worked on three daytime serials. She was fired from All My Children in 1996 when ratings for the show began to decline.-Career: Executive Producer:... became the new executive producer in early 1989, black shadowing on the credits was toned down. For the first time in AMCs 19-year history, the closing visuals changed; they now featured stills of scenes from that day's episode (a practice Ms. Behr kept during the final months of Ryan's Hope Ryan's Hope Ryan's Hope is an American soap opera, revolving around 13 years of trials and tribulations within a large Irish American family in the Riverside district of New York City. It aired from July 7, 1975 to January 13, 1989 on ABC... , as well as what was currently seen on Loving Loving (TV series) Caden Grant Carlton loves Mika Ayako Ryan more.Loving is an American television soap opera which aired on ABC's daytime lineup from June 26, 1983 to November 10, 1995 for 3,169 episodes... ). These latest changes lasted into the second-generation visuals package that premiered in January 1990. In 1991, the still-shots were replaced by live-action repeats of select scenes aired in the given episode. In late 1995, most closing credit sequences became carded in groups over the live-action shots. On the final week of January 1996, a new network-mandated sequence took over, as they did on all other ABC soaps. The font was switched from the long-running Brittanic/Helvetica combo to Windsor type, and ran just as they did in the last few months prior to the change. The early-1980s style ABC copyright notice was also retired in favor of a new, three-line formatted notice, in a more new-age variation of Helvetica. "Copyright (year)" was on the top line, "American Broadcasting Companies, Inc." was on the middle, and "All Rights Reserved" was below. Later in 1996, the ABC Go Network web logo was added above the closing title display, and in 1997, episode stills returned to the credits. During the 1980s, the All My Children episodes that officially commemorated Christmas Christmas Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days... ran the entire credit setup (cast and crew) entirely in Britannic Bold, sans the use of the accompanying Helvetica. All credits would be centered, including the cast, even during the years in which the cast appeared to the left of the screen, usually. Once the Felicia Minei Behr era began, long Christmas credits utilized the year-round Britannic/Helvetica combo. |
Cast and characters
1970s ratings
1969–1970 season- 1. As the World TurnsAs the World TurnsAs the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
13.6 - 17. All My Children 4.4 (Debut)
1970–1971 season
- 1. As the World TurnsAs the World TurnsAs the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
12.4 - 17. All My Children 4.8
1971–1972 season
- 1. As the World TurnsAs the World TurnsAs the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
11.1 - 17. All My Children 5.7
1972–1973 season
- 1. As the World TurnsAs the World TurnsAs the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
10.6 - 8. All My Children 8.2 (Tied with The Guiding LightGuiding LightGuiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
)
1973–1974 season
- 1. As the World TurnsAs the World TurnsAs the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
10.6 (Tied with Days of our LivesDays of our LivesDays of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...
and Another WorldAnother World (TV series)Another World is an American television soap opera that ran on NBC from May 4, 1964 to June 25, 1999. It ran for a total of 35 years. It was created by Irna Phillips along with William J...
) - 6. All My Children 9.1
1974–1975 season
- 1. As the World TurnsAs the World TurnsAs the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
10.8 - 5. All My Children 9.3
1975–1976 season
- 1. As the World TurnsAs the World TurnsAs the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
9.4 - 6. All My Children 8.1 (Tied with Guiding LightGuiding LightGuiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
)
1976–1977 season
- 1. As the World TurnsAs the World TurnsAs the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
9.9 - 6. All My Children 8.2
1977–1978 season
- 1. As the World TurnsAs the World TurnsAs the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
8.6 (Tied with Another WorldAnother World (TV series)Another World is an American television soap opera that ran on NBC from May 4, 1964 to June 25, 1999. It ran for a total of 35 years. It was created by Irna Phillips along with William J...
) - 3. All My Children 8.4
1978–1979 Season (HH Ratings)
- 1. All My Children 9.0
- 6. One Life to LiveOne Life to LiveOne Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
8.0
1980s ratings
1979–1980 Season (HH Ratings) (Nielsen)- 1. General HospitalGeneral HospitalGeneral Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....
9.9 - 2. All My Children 9.2
1980–1981 Season (HH Ratings) (Nielsen)
- 1. General HospitalGeneral HospitalGeneral Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....
11.4 - 2. All My Children 9.1 (Tied with One Life to LiveOne Life to LiveOne Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
)
1981–1982 Season (HH Ratings)
- 1. General HospitalGeneral HospitalGeneral Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....
11.2 - 2. All My Children 9.4
Highest rated week in daytime history
(Week of November 16–November 20, 1981) (HH ratings)
- 1. General HospitalGeneral HospitalGeneral Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....
16.0 (3–4pm) - 2. All My Children 10.2 (1–2pm) (#2 in viewers)
- 2. One Life to LiveOne Life to LiveOne Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
10.2 (2–3pm) (#3 in viewers) - 4. Guiding LightGuiding LightGuiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
7.4 (3–4pm) - 5. The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
7.0 (12:30–1:30pm)
1982–1983 Season
- 1. General HospitalGeneral HospitalGeneral Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....
9.8 - 2. All My Children 9.4
1983–1984 Season
- 1. General HospitalGeneral HospitalGeneral Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....
10.0 - 2. All My Children 9.1
1984–1985 Season
- 1. General HospitalGeneral HospitalGeneral Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....
9.1 - 2. All My Children 8.2
1985–1986 Season (HH Ratings)
- 1. General HospitalGeneral HospitalGeneral Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....
9.2 - 3. All My Children 8.0
1986–1987 Season
- 1. General HospitalGeneral HospitalGeneral Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....
8.3 - 4. All My Children 7.0 (Tied with Days of our LivesDays of our LivesDays of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...
and As the World TurnsAs the World TurnsAs the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
)
1987–1988 Season
- 1. The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
8.1 (Tied with General HospitalGeneral HospitalGeneral Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....
) - 3. All My Children 7.7 (Tied with One Life to LiveOne Life to LiveOne Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
)
1988–1989 Season (HH Ratings)
- 1. The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
8.1 - 4. All My Children 6.7
1990s ratings
1989–1990 Season (HH Ratings) (1 = 921,000 Homes)- 1. The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
8.0 - 3. All My Children 6.5
1990–1991 Season (HH Ratings)
- 1. The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
8.1 - 3. All My Children 6.2
1991–1992 Season (HH Ratings)
- 1. The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
8.2 - 2. All My Children 6.8
1992–1993 Season (HH Ratings)
- 1. The Young and the Restless 8.4
- 2. All My Children 7.3
1993–1994 Season (HH Ratings) (1 = 942,000 Homes)
- 1. The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
8.6 - 2. All My Children 6.6
1994–1995 Season (HH Ratings)
- 1. The Young and the Restless 7.5
- 2. All My Children 6.1
1995 Ratings (Millions of Viewers)
- 1. The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
7.155 - 2. All My Children 5.891
- 3. General HospitalGeneral HospitalGeneral Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....
5.343 - 4. The Bold and the BeautifulThe Bold and the BeautifulThe Bold and the Beautiful is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS Daytime. It premiered on March 23, 1987....
5.247 - 5. One Life to LiveOne Life to LiveOne Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
5.152
1995–1996 Season (HH Ratings)
- 1. The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
7.7 - 4. All My Children 5.3
1996–1997 Season
- 1. The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
7.1 - 5. All My Children 4.7
1997–1998 Season
- 1. The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
7.0 - 5. All My Children 4.2
1998–1999 Season (HH Ratings)
- 1. The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
6.9 - 5. All My Children 3.9
2000s ratings
1999–2000 Season (HH Ratings) (Nielsen)- 1. The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
6.8 - 5. All My Children 3.9
2000–2001 Season
- 1. The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
5.8 - 6. All My Children 3.4
2001–2002 Season
- 1. The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
5.0 - 6. All My Children 3.3
2002–2003 Season
- 1. The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
4.7 - 5. All My Children 3.0
2003–2004 Season
- 1. The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
4.4 - 4. All My Children 2.9
2004–2005 Season
- 1. The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
4.2 - 4. All My Children 2.9
2005–2006 Season (HH Ratings)
- 1. The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
4.2 - 4. All My Children 2.6
2006–2007 Season (HH Ratings)
- 1. The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
4.2 - 5. All My Children 2.3
2007–2008 Season (HH Ratings)
- 1."The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
" 4.0 - 5. All My Children 2.2
2008–2009 Season
- 1. "The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
" 3.7 - 5. All My Children 2.0
2010s ratings
2009–2010 Season- 1. "The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
" 3.7 - 5. All My Children 2.0
Record lows
The show reached a record low of 1,931,000 viewers on August 22, 2008. Its former low was 2,144,000 viewers on November 2, 2007. (Nielsen Media ResearchNielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
)
Ratings for final week
Monday: 2,758,000Tuesday: 2,913,000
Wednesday: 2,772,000
Thursday: 3,031,000
Friday: 3,475,000
All My Children had an overall increase of 495,000 viewers from the previous week, making it the second most watched daytime soap after The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
. All My Childrens final episode beat the final episodes of the three previous cancelled soaps: As the World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
, Guiding Light
Guiding Light
Guiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
and Passions
Passions
Passions is an American television soap opera which aired on NBC from July 5, 1999 to September 7, 2007 and on The 101 Network from September 17, 2007 to August 7, 2008....
.
Schedule
- January 5, 1970 – July 4, 1975: 1:00–1:30 PM (12:00–12:30 PM, CT/PT)
- July 7, 1975 – January 14, 1977: 12:30–1:00 PM (11:30 AM–12:00 PM, CT/PT)
- January 17, 1977 – April 22, 1977: 1:00–1:30 PM (12:00–12:30 PM, CT/PT)
- April 25, 1977 – September 23, 2011: 1:00–2:00 PM (12:00–1:00 PM, CT/PT)
From January 1970 to July 1975, the show aired for thirty minutes at 1 p.m. (12 p.m.), but when the new Ryan's Hope
Ryan's Hope
Ryan's Hope is an American soap opera, revolving around 13 years of trials and tribulations within a large Irish American family in the Riverside district of New York City. It aired from July 7, 1975 to January 13, 1989 on ABC...
premiered, All My Children was bumped up a half-hour to 12:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m.). It returned to its original timeslot in January 1977 and has been there since, expanding to sixty-minute episodes on April 25, 1977.
At the time of the show's cancellation, All My Children aired Monday through Friday at 1 p.m. eastern, with an option to air the show at noon (11 a.m. Central Time) for stations that air news in that time slot. Encores were aired on SOAPnet
SOAPnet
SOAPnet is an American cable television channel that broadcasts current and past soap operas and primetime dramas, along with some original programming. The channel launched on January 20, 2000, and is owned by Disney-ABC Television Group, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
in primetime at 8 p.m. (7 p.m.), late nights at 1 a.m. (midnight), and early mornings at 7 a.m. (6 a.m.). The week's episodes aired in a marathon on Sunday nights at midnight (11 p.m.).
SOAPnet is currently airing classic episodes from 2006 at 3 a.m. (2 a.m.).
International broadcasting
In AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, All My Children airs on free to air channel 7TWO
7Two
7TWO is an Australian free-to-air standard definition digital television channel which was launched by the Seven Network on Sunday 1 November 2009 at 12pm....
at 11 a.m. weekdays.
7TWO are currently airing episodes from 2007. It had previously aired on Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
in the late 1980s.
In France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, All My Children, under the title La Force du Destin (Strength of Destiny) was aired on TF1
TF1
TF1 is a national French TV channel, controlled by TF1 Group, whose major share-holder is Bouygues. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network...
in March 2003, with episodes eight years behind the US during a week at 2:30 p.m. (after The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
). But, because of a fall of the audience, the show was cancelled.
In Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, All My Children, under the title La valle dei pini (Pine Valley), started to air on Canale 5
Canale 5
Canale 5 is an Italian private television network of Mediaset, the media branch of Fininvest. Canale 5 was the first private television network to have a national coverage in Italy in 1980, based on a local channel, TeleMilano 58, founded in 1978....
in September 1985 at 2:30 p.m., with episodes four years behind the US In January 1987, it was moved to another channel, Rete 4
Rete 4
Rete 4 is an Italian television station belonging to the Mediaset network. It is an Italian private commercial TV channel. Rete 4's main news programme is TG4, whose editor-in-chief is Emilio Fede since 1992.-TV Series:...
, always at 2:30 p.m. At the end of the decade, La valle dei pini began airing in late afternoon (and from September 1990 with only half US episode each evening), after a bunch of Latin American telenovelas and before General Hospital. Then, in September 1991, the show was moved to 9:00 a.m. All My Children was cancelled in May 1992, with episodes at that time six years behind the US.
In 2011, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, will start airing All My Children on TV3 1 p.m. weekdays. TV3 will be airing episodes from 2010. TV3 has reportedly cancelled their contract with ABC NETWORK after learning of the show's demise.
All My Children is broadcast in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
every weekday from 09:30 to 10:30 a.m. CAT. Episodes are currently four years behind the USA.
All My Children aired on CTV Two 12 p.m. PT, 1 p.m. ET in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
until it's 2011 cancellation. AMC was also previously seen on Citytv
Citytv
Citytv is a Canadian English language television system owned and operated by Rogers Communications under its Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. division...
stations in Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
CKAL-TV
CKAL-TV
CKAL-DT is a television station based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is part of the Citytv system as of August 2, 2005, and was previously branded as A-Channel. The station is owned by Rogers Media through its Rogers Broadcasting, Ltd. division...
, Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
CKEM-TV
CKEM-TV
CKEM-DT is a television station based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Owned and operated by Rogers Media, it is part of the Citytv system and was formerly the flagship station of Craig Media's A-Channel system between 1997-2005...
, and Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
CHMI-TV
CHMI-TV
CHMI-DT is a television station licensed to Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada, with most of its operations in Winnipeg. It is part of the Citytv system, and the only Rogers TV station not part of any duopoly ever since CIIT-TV was sold to S-VOX in 2008.-History:The station was licensed by the...
. Prior to 1998, All My Children aired on the CBC Television
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
network.
In Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
, AMC aired on Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation
Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation
Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation is the official radio broadcaster of the Solomon Islands. SIBC is self-defined as a public service broadcaster....
Mondays to Friday at 1:00 p.m.
Awards and nominations
Here is the list of the winners at the Daytime Emmy Awards; the show and its performers have been nominated in excess of 250 times.Show
- 1981 "Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team"
- 1988 "Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team"
- 1992 "Outstanding Drama Series"
- 1994 "Outstanding Drama Series"
- 1995 "Outstanding Drama Series Directing Team"
- 1995 "Outstanding Technical Direction/Electronic Camera/Video Control"
- 1995 "Outstanding Live and Tape Sound Mixing and Sound Effects"
- 1996 "Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team"
- 1997 "Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team"
- 1998 "Outstanding Drama Series"
- 1998 "Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team"
- 1998 "Outstanding Makeup"
- 1998 "Outstanding Multiple Camera Editing"
- 1998 "Outstanding Live and Direct To Tape Sound Mixing"
- 1999 "Outstanding Music Direction And Composition"
- 2001 "Outstanding Achievement in Multiple Camera Editing"
- 2001 "Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling"
- 2002 "Outstanding Achievement in Casting"
- 2002 "Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design"
- 2002 "Outstanding Achievement in Technical Direction/Electronic Camera/Video Control"
- 2002 "Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition"
- 2003 "Outstanding Drama Series Directing Team"
- 2005 "Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series" (tied with One Life to LiveOne Life to LiveOne Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
) - 2007 "Outstanding Achievement In Technical Direction/Electronic Camera/Video Control"
- 2008 "Outstanding Achievement in Technical Direction/ Electronic Camera/Video Control"
- 2009 "Outstanding Art Direction/Set Decoration/Scenic Design"
- 2009 "Outstanding Lighting Direction"
- 2009 "Outstanding Live & Direct To Tape Sound Mixing"
- 2009 "Outstanding Technical Direction/Electronic Camera/Video Control" (tied with The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
) - 2010 "Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design"
- 2010 "Outstanding Lighting Direction"
- 2010 "Outstanding Makeup"
- 2011 "Outstanding Hairstyling"
Individuals
- 1973 "Outstanding Achievement by an Individual in Daytime Drama" Mary FickettMary FickettMary Fickett was an American actress, best-known for her roles in the American television dramas, The Edge of Night — as Sally Smith , and as Dr...
(Ruth Brent) (The first daytime performer to win an Emmy) - 1980 "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" Warren BurtonWarren BurtonWarren Burton is an American actor. During the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, he was seen on several daytime soap operas. He played the role of Eddie Dorrance #3 on All My Children from 1978 to 1979 and won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor at the 1980 awards broadcast...
(Eddie Dorrance) - 1980 "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series" Francesca JamesFrancesca JamesFrancesca James is an American soap opera director, actress, producer, writer, singer, and composer. She began her career by playing a small role on the CBS Daytime serial The Secret Storm. In 1970 she joined the cast of One Life to Live playing Marcy Wade for a year...
(Kitty Shea Davis/Kelly Cole Tyler) - 1982 "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series" Dorothy LymanDorothy LymanDorothy Lyman is an American television actress, director and producer. She is most commonly known for her work as architect Gwen Parrish Frame in Another World and in All My Children as Opal Sue Gardner, and on the syndicated sitcom Mama's Family, as Naomi Harper.Lyman was born in Minneapolis,...
(Opal CortlandtOpal CortlandtOpal Sue Cortlandt is a fictional character on ABC's daytime drama All My Children. She was portrayed by Dorothy Lyman from 1981 to 1983, but is most notable for being portrayed by Jill Larson since December 13, 1989...
) - 1983 "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series" Dorothy LymanDorothy LymanDorothy Lyman is an American television actress, director and producer. She is most commonly known for her work as architect Gwen Parrish Frame in Another World and in All My Children as Opal Sue Gardner, and on the syndicated sitcom Mama's Family, as Naomi Harper.Lyman was born in Minneapolis,...
(Opal Cortlandt) - 1983 "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" Darnell WilliamsDarnell WilliamsDarnell Williams is a British-born soap opera actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Jesse Hubbard on the ABC soap opera All My Children, a role which has earned him two Daytime Emmy Awards.-Biography:...
(Jesse HubbardJesse Hubbard (All My Children)Jesse Hubbard is a fictional character on the long running ABC soap opera All My Children and half of the Jesse and Angie supercouple. He has been portrayed by Darnell Williams since the characters inception in 1981 and continued until the characters "death" in 1988. He returned for special guest...
) - 1985 "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" Darnell WilliamsDarnell WilliamsDarnell Williams is a British-born soap opera actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Jesse Hubbard on the ABC soap opera All My Children, a role which has earned him two Daytime Emmy Awards.-Biography:...
(Jesse Hubbard) - 1986 "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" David CanaryDavid CanaryDavid Hoyt Canary is an American actor, who starred in both soap operas and prime time television. He is best known for his roles as the ranch foreman, Candy Canaday on Bonanza and identical twins Adam Chandler from 1983 to 2010 and Stuart Chandler from 1984 to 2009 on the daytime serial, All My...
(Adam ChandlerAdam ChandlerAdam Chandler, Sr. is a fictional character from the daytime drama All My Children, portrayed by David Canary from December 1983 through his departure on April 23, 2010. Adam Chandler was one of the most devious and powerful individuals within the town of Pine Valley, Pennsylvania...
/Stuart ChandlerStuart ChandlerStuart Chandler was a fictional character on ABC's daytime drama All My Children. He was a member of the powerful and wealthy Chandler family. He was portrayed by David Canary from October 1984 to May 28, 2009 & September, 2011.- Identical opposite :...
) - 1986 "Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series" Michael E. KnightMichael E. Knight- Biography :Knight is best known for playing Tad Martin on the soap opera All My Children. His first stint on the show ran from 1982–1986. He returned from 1988–1990, and again from 1992 until the series finale in 2011...
(Tad MartinTad MartinThaddeus James "Tad" Martin is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. Tad is portrayed by actor Michael E. Knight. Knight has portrayed the role on and off from 1982 until the series finale in 2011. Tad represents the good on the show All My Children, often butting...
) - 1987 "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series" Kathleen NooneKathleen NooneKathleen Noone is an Emmy Award winning American film, stage and television actress , best known roles for Ellen Shepherd Dalton on the daytime drama All My Children , Claudia Whittaker on the primetime drama Knots Landing and Bette Katzenkazrahi on the daytime drama Sunset Beach .-Life and...
(Ellen Shepherd) - 1987 "Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series" Michael E. KnightMichael E. Knight- Biography :Knight is best known for playing Tad Martin on the soap opera All My Children. His first stint on the show ran from 1982–1986. He returned from 1988–1990, and again from 1992 until the series finale in 2011...
(Tad Martin) - 1988 "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" David CanaryDavid CanaryDavid Hoyt Canary is an American actor, who starred in both soap operas and prime time television. He is best known for his roles as the ranch foreman, Candy Canaday on Bonanza and identical twins Adam Chandler from 1983 to 2010 and Stuart Chandler from 1984 to 2009 on the daytime serial, All My...
(Adam Chandler/Stuart Chandler) - 1988 "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series" Ellen WheelerEllen WheelerEllen Wheeler is an American actress, director and producer. She has appeared in several soap operas, including Another World and All My Children. In 1986, she won the Daytime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Ingenue in a Drama Series" for her work as twins Marley and Vicky Love Hudson on Another World...
(Cindy Parker Chandler) - 1989 "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" David CanaryDavid CanaryDavid Hoyt Canary is an American actor, who starred in both soap operas and prime time television. He is best known for his roles as the ranch foreman, Candy Canaday on Bonanza and identical twins Adam Chandler from 1983 to 2010 and Stuart Chandler from 1984 to 2009 on the daytime serial, All My...
(Adam Chandler/Stuart Chandler) - 1989 "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series" Debbi MorganDebbi MorganDeborah "Debbi" Morgan is an American film and television actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Dr. Angie Hubbard on the ABC soap opera All My Children, and for her role as The Seer in the fourth and fifth seasons of Charmed.Morgan joined the cast of The Young and the Restless as...
(Angie Baxter) (Tied with Nancy Lee GrahnNancy Lee GrahnNancy Lee Grahn is an American actress who has starred in such soap operas as Santa Barbara as Julia Wainwright Capwell from 1985 to 1993 and General Hospital as Alexis Davis since 1996.- Early life and career :...
for Santa BarbaraSanta Barbara (TV series)Santa Barbara is an American television soap opera, first broadcast in the United States on NBC on July 30, 1984, and last aired on January 15, 1993. The show revolved around the eventful lives of the wealthy Capwell family of Santa Barbara, California...
) - 1990 "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series" Julia BarrJulia BarrJulia Barr is an American actress. Barr is most famous for her role on the soap opera All My Children, playing the character of Brooke English...
(Brooke EnglishBrooke EnglishBrooke Allison English is a fictional character on the television soap opera All My Children. After being originated by Elissa Leeds in 1976, she was portrayed by Julia Barr from 1976 to 1981 and from 1982 to 2006. Harriet Hall temporarily played the role in 1981...
) - 1990 "Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series" Cady McClainCady McClainCady McClain is an American actress, singer, and author.-Early career:McClain's professional acting career began in 1979 at the age of 10, when she was featured in a commercial for Band-Aid bandages....
(Dixie Cooney MartinDixie Cooney MartinDixie Cooney Martin is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. The character's run lasted from July 1988 to June 1996, again from July 3, 1998 to February 26, 2002, from December 23, 2005 to January 31, 2007 with appearances from May to June 2008 and April 2010 before...
) - 1993 "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" David CanaryDavid CanaryDavid Hoyt Canary is an American actor, who starred in both soap operas and prime time television. He is best known for his roles as the ranch foreman, Candy Canaday on Bonanza and identical twins Adam Chandler from 1983 to 2010 and Stuart Chandler from 1984 to 2009 on the daytime serial, All My...
(Adam Chandler/Stuart Chandler) - 1995 "Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series" Sarah Michelle GellarSarah Michelle GellarSarah Michelle Prinze , known professionally by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar , is an American actress, singer and executive producer...
(Kendall HartKendall HartKendall Hart Slater is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. The character was portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar from 1993 to 1995, and by Alicia Minshew from 2002 to 2011....
) - 1998 "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series" Julia BarrJulia BarrJulia Barr is an American actress. Barr is most famous for her role on the soap opera All My Children, playing the character of Brooke English...
(Brooke English) - 1999 "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series" Susan LucciSusan LucciSusan Victoria Lucci is an American actress and entrepreneur, best known for portraying Erica Kane on the daytime drama All My Children. The character is considered an icon, and Lucci has been called "Daytime's Leading Lady" by TV Guide, with New York Times and Los Angeles Times citing her as the...
(Erica KaneErica KaneErica Kane is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children.The character has been portrayed by actress Susan Lucci since the show first aired in January 1970, until the last broadcast television episode aired in September 2011. Erica is considered to be the most popular...
) - 2001 "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" David CanaryDavid CanaryDavid Hoyt Canary is an American actor, who starred in both soap operas and prime time television. He is best known for his roles as the ranch foreman, Candy Canaday on Bonanza and identical twins Adam Chandler from 1983 to 2010 and Stuart Chandler from 1984 to 2009 on the daytime serial, All My...
(Adam Chandler/Stuart Chandler) - 2001 "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" Michael E. KnightMichael E. Knight- Biography :Knight is best known for playing Tad Martin on the soap opera All My Children. His first stint on the show ran from 1982–1986. He returned from 1988–1990, and again from 1992 until the series finale in 2011...
(Tad Martin) - 2002 "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" Josh DuhamelJosh DuhamelJoshua David "Josh" Duhamel is an American actor and former fashion model. He first achieved acting success in 1999 as Leo du Pres on ABC's All My Children and later as the chief of security, Danny McCoy, on NBC's Las Vegas...
(Leo du PresLeo du PresLeonardo "Leo" du Pres is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. The role was portrayed and originated by actor Josh Duhamel, from 1999 to 2002 and for two episodes in August 2011...
) - 2004 "Lifetime Achievement Award" Ray MacDonnellRay MacDonnellRaymond Arthur "Ray" MacDonnell is an American actor, best known for his role as Dr. Joe Martin on the daytime soap opera All My Children, a role he played for 40 years...
(Joe MartinJoe Martin (All My Children)Dr. Joseph Henry "Joe" Martin Sr. is a fictional character on the American soap opera All My Children. Ray MacDonnell played the character from the show's inception on January 5, 1970 until his retirement on January 5, 2010. He reprised his role for three episodes in March 2011, and again for two...
) - 2004 "Lifetime Achievement Award" Ruth WarrickRuth WarrickRuth Elizabeth Warrick , DM, was an American singer, actress and political activist, best known for her role as Phoebe Tyler on All My Children, which she played regularly from 1970 until her death in 2005....
(Phoebe Tyler Wallingford) - 2005 "Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series" Eden RiegelEden RiegelEden Sonja Jane Riegel is an American actress. She portrayed Bianca Montgomery on the daytime drama All My Children, and propelled the character into a gay icon, as well as a popular figure within the medium...
(Bianca MontgomeryBianca MontgomeryBianca Christine Montgomery is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. In June 2010, Christina Bennett Lind replaced Eden Riegel, who portrayed the role from July 2000 to January 2010. Until Riegel assumed the role, the character was portrayed solely by child...
) - 2009 "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" Vincent IrizarryVincent IrizarryVincent Michael Irizarry is an American actor of Puerto Rican and Italian descent. He was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in 1985 and 2002, and won in 2009.-Early life:...
(David HaywardDavid HaywardDr. David Hayward is a fictional character from the ABC daytime drama All My Children, as portrayed by Vincent Irizarry from: November 27, 1997 - March 2, 1998, July 8, 1998 - November 28, 2006, October 23, 2008 - September 13, 2010, and returned on November 22, 2010.The character has been a top...
) (Tied with Jeff BransonJeff BransonJeffrey Dale "Jeff" Branson is an American actor.-Life and career:Branson was born in St.Louis and originated the role of Jonathan Lavery on the ABC soap opera All My Children on June 15, 2004. Although he was off the air from mid-April until August 2005 while his character was believed dead in an...
for Guiding LightGuiding LightGuiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
.) - 2010 "Lifetime Achievement Award" Agnes NixonAgnes NixonAgnes Nixon is an American writer and producer. She attended Northwestern University where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority, and is best known as the creator of soap operas such as One Life to Live and All My Children...
(Creator) - 2011 "Outstanding Younger Actress" Brittany AllenBrittany AllenBrittany Allen is a Canadian actress best known for her role as Marissa Chandler on All My Children for which she received an Emmy Award.-Personal life:She attended Etobicoke School of the Arts in Toronto, Canada....
(Marissa Chandler)
In 2010, All My Children was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award
GLAAD Media Awards
The GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives...
for "Outstanding Daily Drama" during the 21st GLAAD Media Awards
21st GLAAD Media Awards
The 21st GLAAD Media Awards was the 2010 annual presentation of the media awards presented by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. The awards seek to honor films, television shows, musicians and works of journalism that fairly and accurately represent the LGBT community and issues...
.
Executive producers
| Duration | Name |
|---|---|
| 1970 to 1978 | Agnes Nixon Agnes Nixon Agnes Nixon is an American writer and producer. She attended Northwestern University where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority, and is best known as the creator of soap operas such as One Life to Live and All My Children... and Bud Kloss |
| 1978 to 1982 | Agnes Nixon Agnes Nixon Agnes Nixon is an American writer and producer. She attended Northwestern University where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority, and is best known as the creator of soap operas such as One Life to Live and All My Children... and Jorn Winther |
| 1982 to January 1986 | Jacqueline Babbin Jacqueline Babbin Jacqueline Babbin was an American television/theatre writer, producer, and executive. She died of cancer on October 6, 2001 in Kent, Connecticut.-Early life:... Jacqueline Babbin, 80, Producer In Theater, Films and Television - Obituary; Biography - NYTimes.com |
| January 1986 to 1987 | Jorn Winther |
| 1987 to January 1989 | Stephen Schenkel |
| January 1989 to April 1996 | Felicia Minei Behr Felicia Minei Behr Felicia Minei Behr is an American TV producer and network executive who has worked on three daytime serials. She was fired from All My Children in 1996 when ratings for the show began to decline.-Career: Executive Producer:... |
| April 1996 to April 1998 | Francesca James Francesca James Francesca James is an American soap opera director, actress, producer, writer, singer, and composer. She began her career by playing a small role on the CBS Daytime serial The Secret Storm. In 1970 she joined the cast of One Life to Live playing Marcy Wade for a year... |
| April 1998 to September 2003 | Jean Dadario Burke Jean Dadario Burke Jean Dadario Burke is an American television New York City-based soap opera producer and director.-Positions held:All My Children*Executive Producer *Senior Producer *Director... |
| October 2003 to September 2011 | Julie Hanan Carruthers Julie Hanan Carruthers Julie Hanan Carruthers is an American soap opera producer.-Positions held:All My Children*Executive Producer General Hospital... |
Head writers
| Duration | Name |
|---|---|
| 1970 to 1981 | Agnes Nixon Agnes Nixon Agnes Nixon is an American writer and producer. She attended Northwestern University where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority, and is best known as the creator of soap operas such as One Life to Live and All My Children... |
| 1981 to 1982 | Agnes Nixon Agnes Nixon Agnes Nixon is an American writer and producer. She attended Northwestern University where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority, and is best known as the creator of soap operas such as One Life to Live and All My Children... & Wisner Washam Wisner Washam Wisner Washam is an American soap opera writer, best known as the Head Writer of All My Children, from 1981 to 1987.-Early Life and Career:A native of North Carolina, he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill... |
| 1982 to 1986 | Wisner Washam Wisner Washam Wisner Washam is an American soap opera writer, best known as the Head Writer of All My Children, from 1981 to 1987.-Early Life and Career:A native of North Carolina, he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill... |
| 1986 to 1987 | Wisner Washam Wisner Washam Wisner Washam is an American soap opera writer, best known as the Head Writer of All My Children, from 1981 to 1987.-Early Life and Career:A native of North Carolina, he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill... & Lorraine Broderick Lorraine Broderick Lorraine Broderick is an American television soap opera writer who got her start on All My Children as a protégée of the show's creator, Agnes Nixon.-Bio:... |
| 1987 to 1988 | Lorraine Broderick Lorraine Broderick Lorraine Broderick is an American television soap opera writer who got her start on All My Children as a protégée of the show's creator, Agnes Nixon.-Bio:... |
| March 1988 to August 1988 | 1988 Writers Guild of America strike 1988 Writers Guild of America strike The 1988 Writers Guild of America strike was a strike action taken by members of both the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West against major United States television and film studios represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers... |
| August 1988 to January 1989 | Lorraine Broderick Lorraine Broderick Lorraine Broderick is an American television soap opera writer who got her start on All My Children as a protégée of the show's creator, Agnes Nixon.-Bio:... |
| January 1989 to March 1989 | Lorraine Broderick Lorraine Broderick Lorraine Broderick is an American television soap opera writer who got her start on All My Children as a protégée of the show's creator, Agnes Nixon.-Bio:... & Victor Miller Victor Miller (writer) Victor Miller or Victor B. Miller is an American writer for film and television. Perhaps his best known and most acknowledged work is his script for the first Friday the 13th film, the popularity of which spawned a long series of sequels, none of which has his involvement, though he remains... |
| March 1989 to November 1989 | Margaret DePriest Margaret DePriest Margaret DePriest is an American daytime serial writer.She began her career as an actress both onstage and on television. Her acting credits include a contract role as the first Abby Cameron on The Edge of Night from 1965-1966.... |
| November 1989 to May 1992 | Agnes Nixon Agnes Nixon Agnes Nixon is an American writer and producer. She attended Northwestern University where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority, and is best known as the creator of soap operas such as One Life to Live and All My Children... |
| May 1992 to April 1995 | Megan McTavish Megan McTavish Megan McTavish is an American television actress and soap opera writer. McTavish is best known for several head writing stints on All My Children.-Early career:... |
| April 1995 to June 1995 | Agnes Nixon Agnes Nixon Agnes Nixon is an American writer and producer. She attended Northwestern University where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority, and is best known as the creator of soap operas such as One Life to Live and All My Children... (interim) |
| June 1995 to December 1997 | Lorraine Broderick Lorraine Broderick Lorraine Broderick is an American television soap opera writer who got her start on All My Children as a protégée of the show's creator, Agnes Nixon.-Bio:... |
| December 1997 to May 1999 | Megan McTavish Megan McTavish Megan McTavish is an American television actress and soap opera writer. McTavish is best known for several head writing stints on All My Children.-Early career:... |
| May 1999 to June 1999 | Agnes Nixon Agnes Nixon Agnes Nixon is an American writer and producer. She attended Northwestern University where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority, and is best known as the creator of soap operas such as One Life to Live and All My Children... & Elizabeth Page Elizabeth Page Elizabeth Page is an American television soap opera writer. She has written for soaps for nearly 15 years.-Positions held:All My Children* Co- Head Writer: Elizabeth Page is an American television soap opera writer. She has written for soaps for nearly 15 years.-Positions held:All My Children* Co-... |
| June 1999 to November 1999 | Agnes Nixon Agnes Nixon Agnes Nixon is an American writer and producer. She attended Northwestern University where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority, and is best known as the creator of soap operas such as One Life to Live and All My Children... , Elizabeth Page Elizabeth Page Elizabeth Page is an American television soap opera writer. She has written for soaps for nearly 15 years.-Positions held:All My Children* Co- Head Writer: Elizabeth Page is an American television soap opera writer. She has written for soaps for nearly 15 years.-Positions held:All My Children* Co-... , and Jean Passanante Jean Passanante Jean Passanante is an American television screenwriter best known for her work in daytime soap operas.Passanante got her start as an actress doing bit parts in the 1980s, including John Sayles's Return of the Secaucus 7. In 1985 she married writer Jack Shannon... |
| November 1999 to January 2001 | Agnes Nixon Agnes Nixon Agnes Nixon is an American writer and producer. She attended Northwestern University where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority, and is best known as the creator of soap operas such as One Life to Live and All My Children... and Jean Passanante Jean Passanante Jean Passanante is an American television screenwriter best known for her work in daytime soap operas.Passanante got her start as an actress doing bit parts in the 1980s, including John Sayles's Return of the Secaucus 7. In 1985 she married writer Jack Shannon... |
| January 2001 to August 2001 | Jean Passanante Jean Passanante Jean Passanante is an American television screenwriter best known for her work in daytime soap operas.Passanante got her start as an actress doing bit parts in the 1980s, including John Sayles's Return of the Secaucus 7. In 1985 she married writer Jack Shannon... (with Michael Conforti Michael Conforti Michael Conforti is an American television writer on the ABC Daytime soap opera General Hospital. He played Jeremy Rhodes on Edge of Night, and Wally Bacon on Guiding Light. Conforti later became a writer for the soap opera Guiding Light. He became a Co-Head Writer for All My Children and Guiding... in May 2001) |
| August 2001 to September 2001 | no head writer credited |
| September 2001 to December 2002 | Richard Culliton Richard Culliton Richard Culliton is an American television writer known for his work on soap operas. He has won four Writers Guild of America Awards, including one as a Head Writer, and two Daytime Emmy Awards. He is an alumnus of Northwestern University... |
| December 2002 to March 2003 | Gordon Rayfield Gordon Rayfield -Career:*All My Children**Head writer: ; **Breakdown writer: June 2002 - December 2002*Another World**Breakdown writer: 1998 - 1999*As the World Turns... |
| March 2003 to June 2003 | Gordon Rayfield Gordon Rayfield -Career:*All My Children**Head writer: ; **Breakdown writer: June 2002 - December 2002*Another World**Breakdown writer: 1998 - 1999*As the World Turns... and Anna Cascio |
| July 2003 to February 2007 | Megan McTavish Megan McTavish Megan McTavish is an American television actress and soap opera writer. McTavish is best known for several head writing stints on All My Children.-Early career:... |
| May 2007 to July 25, 2007 | no head writer credited |
| July 26, 2007 to January 14, 2008 | James Harmon Brown and Barbara Esensten |
| January 15, 2008 to January 30, 2008 | Julie Hanan Carruthers Julie Hanan Carruthers Julie Hanan Carruthers is an American soap opera producer.-Positions held:All My Children*Executive Producer General Hospital... and Brian Frons Brian Frons Brian Frons is an American television executive, and president of ABC Daytime.- Educational background :Frons holds a Master of Science degree in Communications from Syracuse University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the State University of New York at Fredonia.-Television... (WGA strike 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, more commonly referred to as simply the Writers' Strike, was a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West .... ) |
| January 31, 2008 to August 26, 2008 | James Harmon Brown and Barbara Esensten |
| August 27, 2008 to November 20, 2009 | Charles Pratt, Jr. Charles Pratt, Jr. Charles Pratt, Jr. is an American television writer, producer and director.-Daytime Soap Positions held:All My Children *Head Writer: August, 2008 - November, 2009... |
| November 22, 2009 to March 12, 2010 | Lorraine Broderick Lorraine Broderick Lorraine Broderick is an American television soap opera writer who got her start on All My Children as a protégée of the show's creator, Agnes Nixon.-Bio:... (interim) |
| March 15, 2010 to April 1, 2011 | David Kreizman David Kreizman David Kreizman is an American soap opera writer. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia.Kreizman was a part of the writing team for the long running CBS Daytime soap opera Guiding Light since the late 1990s. In 2004, he was promoted to the position of Head Writer by newly appointed... and Donna Swajeski Donna Swajeski Donna Swajeski is an American television soap opera screenwriter with experience at all three major American networks. She has been a head writer, co-head writer and screenwriter on award winning daytime drama for NBC Daytime, ABC Daytime and CBS Daytime.... |
| April 4, 2011 to September 23, 2011 | Lorraine Broderick Lorraine Broderick Lorraine Broderick is an American television soap opera writer who got her start on All My Children as a protégée of the show's creator, Agnes Nixon.-Bio:... |
Directors
Jill AcklesJill Ackles
Jill Ackles is an American television soap opera director.-Directing Credits:All My Children* Occasional Director * Director Days of our Lives* Occasional Director One Life to Live...
, Larry Auerbach
Larry Auerbach
Larry Auerbach is an American television director.Auerbach's career as a director coincided with the early years of television and the organization of the fledgling medium's directors during the first years after the Second World War.A director for half a century, he was a member of the Directors...
, James A. Baffico
James A. Baffico
James Angelo Baffico is an American television soap opera director, producer and occasional script writer. Born in San Francisco, California, has a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, an M.A. and B.A. from the University of Nebraska. He also played the character Wooley in George A. Romero's...
, Jack Coffey, Jean Dadario Burke
Jean Dadario Burke
Jean Dadario Burke is an American television New York City-based soap opera producer and director.-Positions held:All My Children*Executive Producer *Senior Producer *Director...
, Christopher Goutman
Christopher Goutman
Christopher Goutman is an American soap opera producer, writer, actor, and director. He has played minor roles on Search for Tomorrow, Texas and The Edge of Night. After leaving acting, he began to direct on All My Children, As the World Turns, Guiding Light, and Another World...
, Sherrell Hoffman, Del Hughes, Henry Kaplan
Henry Kaplan
Henry Kaplan was a television director known for his works on Dark Shadows, Ryan's Hope, The Doctors and All My Children. He also directed seven episodes of the sitcom The Adventures of Aggie.- External links :...
, Andrew Lee, Robert Scinto
Robert Scinto
Robert Scinto is an American television soap opera director. He has been working on daytime for nearly 30 years.-Directing credits:All My Children* Director * Occasional Director The City...
, Susan Simon, Diana B. Wenman
Producers
Felicia Minei BehrFelicia Minei Behr
Felicia Minei Behr is an American TV producer and network executive who has worked on three daytime serials. She was fired from All My Children in 1996 when ratings for the show began to decline.-Career: Executive Producer:...
, Jean Dadario Burke
Jean Dadario Burke
Jean Dadario Burke is an American television New York City-based soap opera producer and director.-Positions held:All My Children*Executive Producer *Senior Producer *Director...
, Michael Laibson
Michael Laibson
Michael D. Laibson is an American television producer and theatre director who is notable for producing soap operas such as As the World Turns , Another World , All My Children and Guiding Light .He earned a B.A...
, Heidi Adam, Terry Cacavio, Thomas DeVilliers, Lisa Connor
Lisa Connor
Lisa Connor is an American soap opera writer, producer, and director. She is currently a writer on the ABC Daytime drama, All My Children.-Positions held:All My Children*Script Writer: March 2010 – present...
, Linda Laundra, Stephen Schenkel, Nancy Horwich
Writers
Neal Bell, Clarice BlackburnClarice Blackburn
Clarice Blackburn was an American actress who appeared as Mrs. Sarah Johnson, Abigail Collins, and Minerva Trask on Dark Shadows...
, Bettina F. Bradbury
Bettina F. Bradbury
Bettina F. Bradbury is an award-winning American television soap opera screenwriter. She is the daughter of American science fiction writer Ray Bradbury.-Positions held:*Days of our Lives...
, Craig Carlson
Craig Carlson
-Positions held:All My Children*Breakdown Writer Another World*Co-Head Writer *Breakdown Writer Capitol...
, Cathy Chicos, Hal Corley
Hal Corley
-Career:Two of Hal's plays, "An Ounce of Prevention" and "Finding Donis Anne," have been widely performed...
, Christina Covino
Christina Covino
-Positions held:All My Children* Script Writer *Breakdown Writer As the World Turns* Script Writer *Breakdown Writer -Awards and nominations:Daytime Emmy Award...
, Carolyn Culliton
Carolyn Culliton
Carolyn Culliton is an American daytime serial writer and an alumnus of Northwestern University. Her husband is acclaimed daytime serial writer Richard Culliton...
, William Delligan, Judith Donato, Caroline Franz
Caroline Franz
-Career:After graduating with a Masters' degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1976, Ms. Franz began her daytime career as a writer for 'All My Children'...
, Sharon Epstein, Charlotte Gibson
Charlotte Gibson
Charlotte Gibson is an American television soap opera writer. Gibson was hired as a Breakdown Writer on Days of our Lives by Hogan Sheffer. She attended New York University's Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School of the Arts, graduating in 1990...
, David Hiltrand, Janet Iacobuzio
Janet Iacobuzio
Janet Iacobuzio is an American television soap opera writer. She has written for soaps for nearly 18 years.-Positions held:All My Children* Associate Head Writer: 1993-1994 , 2001 - 2003...
, Anita Jaffe, Frederick Johnson
Frederick Johnson (writer)
-Positions held:All My Children*Associate Head Writer As the World Turns *Associate Head Writer...
, Susan Kirshenbaum
Susan Kirshenbaum
-Positions held:* Writer on All My Children; , As the World Turns , and Days of our Lives -Awards and nominations:...
, Kathleen Klein
Kathleen Klein
-Staff writer:*All My Children *Another World *Guiding Light -Awards and nominations:*Writers Guild of America Award...
, N. Gail Lawrence
N. Gail Lawrence
N. Gail Lawrence is an American television soap opera writer. She has written for soaps for nearly 24 years.-Positions held:All My Children * Associate Head Writer: 1994 - 1996, 1998–2001...
, Mimi Leahy, Kathleen Klein
Kathleen Klein
-Staff writer:*All My Children *Another World *Guiding Light -Awards and nominations:*Writers Guild of America Award...
, Karen Lewis
Karen Lewis
Karen Lewis is an American television soap opera writer.-Positions held:All My Children*Screenwriter: 1985 - 1997, October 2001 - October 17, 2007*Script Editor: 1997 - 1999As the World Turns* Script Editor: 1999 - 2000...
, Taylor Miller
Taylor Miller
Taylor Miller is an American soap opera actress.-Acting:She is best known for her role as Nina Cortlandt on ABC Daytime's All My Children , which she played from 1979 to 1984 and from 1986 to 1989. Miller returned in cameos in 1994, 1995, 1996, and 2010...
, Victor Miller
Victor Miller (writer)
Victor Miller or Victor B. Miller is an American writer for film and television. Perhaps his best known and most acknowledged work is his script for the first Friday the 13th film, the popularity of which spawned a long series of sequels, none of which has his involvement, though he remains...
, Jane Owen Murphy, Juliet Law Packer
Juliet Law Packer
Juliet Law Packer is an American television writer. She graduated from Princeton University - 1974 and received a master's degree in film and television from Northwestern University - 1977...
, Michelle Patrick
Michelle Patrick
Michelle Patrick is an African American television soap opera writer. She has written for soaps for nearly 17 years.-Positions held:All My Children* Associate Head Writer...
, John PiRoman
John PiRoman
John PiRoman is an American television writer. Besides working on the daytime series, All My Children, PiRoman also wrote one episode of St. Elsewhere and several episodes of HBO's Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child...
, Pete T. Rich
Pete T. Rich
Pete T. Rich is an American television soap opera script writer. He has been writing on daytime for over 23 years. During the WGA strike, he chose financial core status with the WGA and continued working.-Positions held:All My Children...
, John Saffron, Courtney Simon
Courtney Simon
Courtney Simon is an American writer and actress. Simon is sometimes credited as "Courtney Sherman" or "Courtney Sherman Simon".- Acting roles :...
, Peggy Sloan, Elizabeth Smith, Gillian Spencer
Gillian Spencer
Gillian Spencer is an American soap opera actress and writer.She has had roles on soaps such as The Edge of Night, The Secret Storm, Guiding Light, As the World Turns and on One Life to Live as the original Victoria Lord/Niki Smith 1968-1970.Spencer appeared in the 1968 feature comedy What's So...
, Millee Taggart
Millee Taggart
Millee Taggart is an American actress, best known for her long-running role as Janet Bergman Collins on Search for Tomorrow. She portrayed the character from 1971 to 1982...
, Ralph Wakefield, Elizabeth Wallace
Elizabeth Wallace
Elizabeth Wallace is an American television writer. She was married to Art Wallace.-Awards and nominations:Wallace has been nominated for five Daytime Emmy awards for her work on All My Children. She was nominated from 1982 to 1988, and won twice in 1985 and 1988. Her first nomination was shared...
, Addie Walsh
Addie Walsh
-Positions held:All My Children*Associate Head Writer: April 2000 - April 2002; July 2003 - January 14, 2008 ; March 19, 2008 – PresentAs the World Turns*Co-Head Writer: 1997*Associate Head Writer: 1995 - 1999...
, Mary K. Wells
Mary K. Wells
Mary K. Wells was an American television writer and actress. She acted on Return to Peyton Place, The Secret Storm, The Brighter Day, As the World Turns, Here Come The Waves, The Searching Wind, George Abbott's Three Men On A Horse, Any Wednesday , Edward Albee's Everything In The Garden, The Edge...
, Jack Wood
Jack Wood
Jack Wood was an American television director and writer. Born in Longview, Texas, he died of heart failure in Long Beach, California, on February 18, 2007.-Positions held:* Writer on All My Children...
, Rodney Christopher, Laura Siggia, Moses Thomas Greene, Wisner Washam
Current crew
| Writers | Producers/Consultants Television producer The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking... |
Directors Television director A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the... |
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| Lorraine Broderick Lorraine Broderick Lorraine Broderick is an American television soap opera writer who got her start on All My Children as a protégée of the show's creator, Agnes Nixon.-Bio:... , Addie Walsh Addie Walsh -Positions held:All My Children*Associate Head Writer: April 2000 - April 2002; July 2003 - January 14, 2008 ; March 19, 2008 – PresentAs the World Turns*Co-Head Writer: 1997*Associate Head Writer: 1995 - 1999... , Lisa Connor Lisa Connor Lisa Connor is an American soap opera writer, producer, and director. She is currently a writer on the ABC Daytime drama, All My Children.-Positions held:All My Children*Script Writer: March 2010 – present... , Lloyd Gold Lloyd Gold Lloyd 'Lucky' Gold is an American screen writer and playwright.Gold’s plays have been produced at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, the Seattle Repertory Theatre, the McCarter Theater and others. He wrote numerous film scripts for Miramax and was script doctor on Marvin's Room and Shakespeare in Love... , Chip Hayes Chip Hayes Chip Hayes is an American soap opera writer, producer and director. He is married to actress Deborah Adair, with whom he has two adopted children... , Kate Hall Kate Hall Kate Hall is an American television soap opera writer. She started working in 2007. She is the daughter of veteran soap opera writer Courtney Simon.-Positions held:All My Children* Script Writer: August 16, 2007–present... , Joanna Cohen, Rebecca Taylor, Dave Ryan, James Harmon Brown, Barbara Esensten, Jeff Beldner Jeff Beldner -Positions held:All My Children *Script Editor: May 14, 2004 - January 14, 2008, March 19, 2008–present*Associate Head Writer: 1994 - 1998, September 17, 2001 - May 2004*Script Writer: 1991 - 1994*Writer's Assistant: 1989 - 1991... . |
Julie Hanan Carruthers Julie Hanan Carruthers Julie Hanan Carruthers is an American soap opera producer.-Positions held:All My Children*Executive Producer General Hospital... (Executive Producer Executive producer An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production... ), Karen Johnson Karen Johnson (producer) Karen Johnson is an American television soap opera director, producer, writer and editor.-Positions held:All My Children*Writer * Producer * Associate Director * Editor Loving... , Jack Houghton, Nadine Aronson, Barry Gingold, Joann Busiglio, Enza Dolce, Brian Frons Brian Frons Brian Frons is an American television executive, and president of ABC Daytime.- Educational background :Frons holds a Master of Science degree in Communications from Syracuse University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the State University of New York at Fredonia.-Television... |
Casey Childs Casey Childs Casey Childs is the Founder and Executive Producer of Primary Stages Company, a New York State non-profit, off-Broadway theatre company in New York City... , Steven Williford, Angela Tessinari Angela Tessinari -Positions held:* Director on The City , As the World Turns , and All My Children * Associate Director on The Guiding Light , and Loving-Awards and nominations:... , Anthony Pascarelli, Jill Ackles Jill Ackles Jill Ackles is an American television soap opera director.-Directing Credits:All My Children* Occasional Director * Director Days of our Lives* Occasional Director One Life to Live... , Michael V. Pomarico Michael V. Pomarico Michael V. Pomarico is an American television soap opera director. He has been working on daytime for nearly 22 years. He has a wife Mary and 2 children Joseph and Jennifer-Positions held:All My Children... , Shelley Curtis Shelley Curtis Shelley Curtis is an American television soap opera director and producer. She has been working in daytime since 1979. She's sometimes credited as Shelly Curtis.-Positions held:All My Children* Occasional Director... , Judy Blye Wilson Judy Blye Wilson Judy Blye Wilson is an American television soap opera Casting Director. She has been casting for soaps operas for over 25 years. She had a role in a film titled Nine Deaths of the Ninja as Woo Pee/Woo Wee back in 1985.... |
Merchandising
The game company TSR, Inc.TSR, Inc.
Blume and Gygax, the remaining owners, incorporated a new company called TSR Hobbies, Inc., with Blume and his father, Melvin Blume, owning the larger share. The former assets of the partnership were transferred to TSR Hobbies, Inc....
introduced the All My Children game in 1985, based on the daytime drama. The game sold more than 150,000 copies.
A DVD was released on January 24, 2004 titled Daytime's Greatest Weddings which contained All My Children and other daytime soaps' weddings.