About All my Children

Created by former Guiding Light and Another World scribe and Irna Phillips protégée Agnes Nixon, “All My Children” debuted on ABC on January 5, 1970 as a half hour program and has been on the air for thirty-seven years, becoming beloved by millions of fans, including housewives, college students, famous athletes and actresses like Carole Burnett and Elizabeth Taylor alike.

“All My Children” earned its distinction as a popular soap by creating memorable characters and tackling social issues. Though AMC was Nixon’s first soap creation, the show almost did not make it to the air when Nixon shopped it around to disinterested network heads. It wasn’t until she created “One Life to Live” for ABC, that ABC network executives showed interest in AMC. OLTL had done so well for ABC that Nixon was practically given carte blanche to do whatever she wanted. Nixon developed her baby, AMC, for daytime.

Set in the fictional Pine Valley of Pennsylvania, the show’s location is as much a character as the many denizens who reside in the sleepy hamburg. But one character who sparked interest among AMC fans was the sexy vixen Erica Kane, as played by actress Susan Lucci. Unlike most soap heroines, Erica was a bad girl who took delight in going after what she wanted, and what she wanted most was whatever man who could warm her bed, make her famous or both. Yet it was the character’s vulnerability, her insecurity after having been abandoned by her father, Eric Kane, that made audiences take this character to their hearts. Erica Kane had a predecessor in Another World’s bad girl Rachel Davis, also created by Nixon, though Nixon created Rachel after she created Erica.

During the 1970s, Erica was at the center of the show’s most controversial storyline in which the character aborted her child with husband Jeff Martin. This would be the first dramatic storyline featuring an abortion after the historic Roe v. Wade case legalized the procedure. The abortion led to the bitter dissolution of the Martin marriage, but catapulted Erica Kane and her portrayer into soap opera history. Last year, then headwriter Megan McTavish reversed this controversial story, much to the dismay and horror of fans and critics alike, when it turned out that Kane’s fetus wasn’t aborted after all and is now a grown man living in Pine Valley.

Also during the 70s, AMC became the first soap to feature a Black supercouple with Frank and Nancy Grant. Unlike most soaps, AMC went out on a limb and told social issues storylines to great effect. During the late seventies, they featured stories about rape and Infant Death Syndrome, one of the first of its nature. In the early eighties, it created the first lesbian character on daytime, played by actress Donna Pescow. Popular with gays and lesbians, AMC also told stories that affected and appealed to that demographic, telling stories of characters coping with AIDS and coming out of the closet, such as Erica’s daughter Bianca Montgomery. Last year, the show featured a rock star transsexual named Zarf.

The show’s willingness to create interesting and thought-provoking stories and characters proved to be a boon to its ratings. During the late seventies, AMC was number #1 in the Nielsens and was number #3 up to the early nineties. In 1977, AMC expanded to an hour, introducing new characters and more stories. AMC also had a penchant for campy storylines that was very appealing to fans, one including the famous story of Erica Kane telling a bear off by stating, “I am Erica Kane and you are nothing but a filthy beast.”

During the eighties, they hit a popular formula with teen love stories, including the foursome Greg and Jenny and Jesse and Angie, the latter proving to be another popular Black supercouple among fans. New characters, such as villains Palmer Courtlandt and Adam Chandler, whose rivalry supported many more stories during the eighties and nineties, thrilled fans, old and new alike. Famed actress Ruth Warrick (Citizen Kane), one of the soap’s original castmembers, stayed with the show until her death in 2005. Currently, only Susan Lucci and Ray McDonnell are the only two remaining actors left from the original cast.

Kelly Ripa of Regis and Kelly fame joined the soap during the early ninetines as the character Hayley, where she would go on to meet and marry fellow castmate Mark Consuelos (Mateo). One of the show’s well-known alumni, Sarah Michelle Gellar (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), who originated the role of Kendall, Erica’s illegitimate daughter, reportedly did not get along with her on-screen mom.

“All My Children” is shot in New York City at a studio on West 66th Street. On July 31, 2006, “All My Children” switched to FilmLook, a digital processing technique which effects the usually tape-recorded program to look like it was shot on film. Over the years, AMC was recognized for its work at the Emmy Awards, winning Best Drama nods in 1992, 1994, and 1998, as well as numerous awards for its cast and crew.