All My Children

All My Children is the first soap opera that I watched so I will always have a soft spot for it in my heart. That is why it pains me to see what the show has now become. In the past, we had character driven storylines and where villains paid for what they did. Now we have plot-driven storylines leaving viewers wondering what happened to their favorite characters and characters that deserve to be punished for their misdeeds are still roaming around town acting self-righteous. And I cannot get over how Tad and Dixie fans have been screwed over and over again because after 13 years, they still do not have a child. They are the only supercouple in daytime that I can think of that does not have a child together. How incredibly unfair is that David and Anna (a couple that has been together for barely a year) get to have a child while Tad and Dixie have been trying forever yet prove unsuccessful. When talking about AMC, I guess the name that will be most associated with it is Susan Lucci. She is an original cast member and have been in front burner storylines. Anyone who is an AMC watcher knows Erica's long line of men whom she has married and/or dated. I will always prefer Erica with Jackson, who I think is the love of her life. It's funny that a lot of fans think that Erica and Jack have been married. They haven't. They've been engaged though. So everytime the powers that be throw a new love interest into Erica's storyline, they are ignoring what could be a great storyline for Erica and Jack. I still have hopes that they will rekindle their love though! The Martins have been a prominent family of Pine Valley since the show started so it's sad that they are barely on now. Ruth and Joe only come out during the holidays. Tad has been acting like a moron ever since Dixie died. Why he defends Liza for every misdeed she does yet criticize Adam for everything he does I never know. That just really irks me. The way Tad was acting all self-rigteous towards Brooke for sleeping with Adam. Hey Tad you shouldn't be the one talking; you slept with Liza remember? And why everyone in the town blames Adam for every single thing is just plain wrong. Liza is the one who embezzled money from Chandler Enterprises yet it's Adam's fault? I don't understand the logic. I think I should just stop ranting about what has become of AMC and reminsence about the good times. The first storyline that Tad and Dixie had together will always be my favorite storyline. The way that Tad Martin, formerly known as Tad the cad, helped Dixie when she was being manipulated by Adam. Their courtship was so sweet. Michael E. Knight and Cady McClain have one of the most natural and electrifying chemistry in daytime. They play off each other well and their scenes can be humorous or a total tear-jerker. Who was not laughing their butt off at the Tad love test yet who was able to have a dry eye after watching the scene where Dixie is being hauled off to the looney bin? They also had good friends, Nico and Cecily, to help them with their wacky adventures. *sigh* The good old days.

I have watched All My Children for over five years and the late 70's and early 80's. It is one show if i miss i get really upset. It has some the best actors, writers, and etc. It also has something a few soaps have long running characters they don't stick them in the backburner because some of the best characters are the one's that has been around the longest. My favorite has to Myrtle, Phoebe, Brooke, Adam and Stuart, Palmer Dixie and Tad and of course ERICA KANE she is the one reason i am a faithfull watcher and I never care what critics think because to me it is one of the few soaps that i am faithful to I do watch One Life to Live, Guiding Light. But you can't go wrong with a show that has been around for 30 years and has one more Emmy's than any other soap. Who can't forget the wonderful storylines Nina and Cliff, Angie and Jessie, Erica and Tom, Mike Roy, Adam, Travis, Jackson, and Dimitri, Palmer and Daisy and my favorite off all time Greg and my sweet sweet JENNY. For this is why ALL MY CHILDREN is my #1 soap and keep up the good work

... that beginning being 1970. Susan Lucci often said that she was lucky in that she did not have a long slow rise to the top. She started out of college as the star of "All My Children" and was never really toppled from that position. At age 23 she played the high school brat, the kid that liked to take boys away from other girls just to hurt both of them in the end, trying to compensate for a famous movie making father who deserted her and her long suffering mother. When the show ended in 2011, I was somewhat sad, given that the disappearance of most soap operas was due to the arrival of cheaply produced reality shows, not so much a lack of ratings. Why pay Susan Lucci to act like a spoiled brat when people will behave like rutting pigs for free if they feel people are watching them, the network suits figured? However, perhaps in retrospect it was a good time to end the show. Lucci was within months of being eligible for Medicare by that time, and although she was remarkably well preserved, all good things must come to an end.

One of the big changes in soap operas to come around was in the mid 1970s when soaps began to introduce wealthy dynastic families and business power struggles as the center of the story lines versus ordinary people dealing with infidelity, divorce, sex and pregnancy before marriage - things that in general were discussed among the actresses playing housewives at the kitchen table over a cup of coffee. All My Children introduced first the Cortlandts to fill that spot in the late 1970's and then Adam Chandler as a rival businessman to the Cortlandts, with bad blood going back to the West Virginia hills from which both families came and the feud having very personal roots.

Finally there is Phoebe, who was the matriarchal version of Erica, who thought that her blue blood and full bank accounts made her better than anybody else and that she knew best for all concerned, and had no more problem meddling in other people's lives than Erica did. Played by Ruth Warrick, she did a splendid job at the role from the show's inception until then end of her life when her illness made her unable to continue regular appearances.

Several acting careers started here - Sara Michele Gellar, for example, later became the star of the long running TV series "Buffy The Vampire Slayer". Several acting careers ended here with good long running parts such as Ruth Warrick as Phoebe Tyler, David Canary as Adam Chandler, and James Mitchell as Palmer Cortlandt.

Here is where I usually say "catch it if you can", but you can't since the only soap opera ever put on DVD was "Dark Shadows", and there isn't even a Soap Net channel anymore because so few soap operas still exist. Look for the remains of this show on youtube. Some enterprising individuals have put some portions even from the early 1970's out on youtube. I don't know what they were using in the early 70s to record. Was there such a thing as a squirrel powered Betamax in 1970?

I have watched All My Children since the fall of 94 and I must say it is a great show. With characters like Haley Tad Janet Trevor Edmund and of course Erica Kane. Best actress in her field. Though it is not as good as it was when I started watching it it is still a good show. I never thought in my wildest dreams I would ever watch it. I grew up with it I was born in 1973 and my mom had watched it since the beginning. It is a great show. My favourite storyline was when Janet had a bomb at Trevor's wedding to Laurel and then she disappeared and struck by lightning then found the cabin then got kiddnapped by Kinder oh that storyline went on for ever.

The summer I was 17, before I went away to college, I tuned into a black and white episode of AMC(half an hour)and since then I have always tuned in to see what was happening. Through various jobs and the birth of my son and times when I couldn't watch for over a year,AMC was always there. And, let's face it AMC means Erica Kane.

But as I am middle aged,I would like to suggest that the show deal MORE with reality. Erica is on trial right now for yet another murder - after 30 years of watching, I can hardly recall all the people she has been accused of killing -- and the prosecutor is her former lover. Could the writers please get a clue??? Prosecutors are not allowed to even KNOW the people they are trying. Please deal with the rules of 2002.

Also, The Greenly and Leo story is a total BORE. Unless you are 17,,,,, interesting...But I suspect Leo is gay, myself.

Nice twist on Proteus, however, I like it.