All My Children (AMC) is a popular American soap opera that has been broadcast Monday through Friday on the ABC TV network since January 5, 1970. All My Children was created by Agnes Nixon. Nixon had created One Life to Live for ABC following her success as head writer for Another World and The Guiding Light. She set the show in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a small fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. Since its inception, the show has featured Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of the most popular characters in soap opera history.

All My Children's 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 just that.

The show's ratings did not start out strong, however. In its first year on the air, it ranked #17 out of 19 soaps. Despite this, its audience was building with each passing year, which kept both Nixon and ABC happy.

The show was unique for its use of the Vietnam War. Before All My Children debuted no show, let alone daytime soap, 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 left, Ruth took over as the anti-war voice. Her early 1970s protest speech won Mary Fickett the first ever Emmy Award given to a soap performer back in 1972. Later in the show's run, Phoebe became more liberal.

The early '80s is considered by many to have been a golden period for the show. Younger characters, such as Jenny and Greg (Kim Delaney and Laurence Lau), Liza (Marcy Walker), Liza's best friend Amanda Cousins (Amanda Bearse), Jesse Hubbard and Angie (Darnell Williams and Debbi Morgan) and a now-grown-up Tad Martin (Michael E. Knight), who was now legally Ruth and Joe's son, entered the scene and drew large followings.

The storyline involving Liza plotting to win Greg back after he left her for Jenny was a huge fan favorite, as was the Jenny/Greg pairing. The legend of "Tad the Cad" was born when Tad Martin took Liza Colby's virginity, then simultaneously began having sex with her mother, socialite Marian Colby (Jennifer Bassey), who eventually was sent to prison and returned to marry Stuart Chandler (David Canary).

Jenny and Jesse's summer in New York City was so well received that it allowed the program to reach #1 in the ratings for 10 weeks in mid-1982.

On the not-so-younger side, Jenny and Tad's natural mother Opal (Dorothy Lyman) was also added to the canvas, where she opened the Glamorama salon and spa. Opal greatly showcased All My Children’s attempt at humor and satire. Powerful businessman Adam Chandler and his twin brother Stuart arrived in town and became significant characters.

The character of Erica began to take on a larger-than-life role by the 1980s. This was evident with her writing an autobiography, "Raising Kane", and turning it into a motion picture. When her presumed half-sister Silver (Deborah Goodrich) accused her of murdering Kent Bogard (Michael Woods, Lee Goodart), her former lover and boss, she went on the run fleeing to the Hollywood Hills. She did this all while posing as a nun. Many remember her forest encounter with a grizzly bear after she escaped a kidnapping attempt made by Adam. The character would go on to marry over 10 times (with her most recent wedding taking place in June 2005).

The show made their first attempt at tackling the taboo topic of homosexuality in 1983. Tricia Pursley played the divorced Devon McFadden who believed she was falling in love with her psychiatrist, Lynn Carson (played by Donna Pescow). Lynn admitted to being a lesbian, and Devon admitted her crush. Other soaps and television shows had done stories hinting at bisexuality, but never homosexuality, much less with women.

Except for a period between July 7, 1975 and December 31, 1976, when AMC ran at 12:30 p.m. Eastern/11:30 a.m. Central time in order to make way for the new Ryan's Hope, the show has aired since its inception at 1 p.m./12 Noon. It replaced the original version of the game show Dream House, which had been plagued by several prize-related scandals.

The timeslot caused some ratings (and thus audience development) problems in the show's early years, as it faced local newscasts or tape-delayed games or soaps on NBC and CBS affiliates, but AMC persevered despite the handicap and fought very strongly against NBC's Days of Our Lives from 1979 onward.

Other links:
All My Children website
All My Children on the Soap Opera Network
History Project

Outrageous moment

Latest update: Vincent Irrizary is returning to AMC in the role of Dr. David Hayward. This should be good. I love Vincent and absolutely love to hate David. It just makes me very sad that we have to lose characters we love such as Josh, who was hardly ever utilized properly, yet we can still constantly add new charaters to the canvas. I know he is recurring and I guess there is still hope he will be back.