All My Children: 40 Years and Counting

"The Great and the Least, The Rich and the Poor, The Weak and the Strong, In Sickness and in Health, In Joy and Sorrow, In Tragedy and Triumph,You are All My Children."

These words, penned by the legendary Agnes Nixon were written in reference to her creation, the daytime soap opera All My Children. The words, also featured in the book All My Children: The Complete Family Scrapbook, were written in the very beginning and set the stage for what would be a forty year journey that shows no signs of stopping or slowing down.

All My Children debuted on January 5, 1970. The show just celebrated it's 40^th anniversary with a special episode that celebrated the historical, although fictional, town of Pine Valley. In the episode, fan favorite Hayley Vaughn, played by Kelly Ripa, returned to Pine Valley with her husband Mateo (played by Ripa's real-life husband Mark Consuelos). The couple has been living in California producing Hayley's television show The Wave. They return home to do a documentary on Pine Valley, which has been voted "The Best Town in America." For the special, Hayley attempts to capture the heart and soul of Pine Valley by interviewing the town's greatest asset-it's people.

As a long-time fan of the show, I was excited to see how the All My Children writers were going to celebrate this milestone. And I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. Past and present Pine Valley residents shared their memories of Pine Valley: the good, the bad, the ugly, but most of all the entertaining. Memorable characters such as Maria Santos Grey (played Eva La Rue of CSI: Miami), Brooke English (played by Julia Barr), Greg Nelson (played by Laurence Lau), Nina Warner (played by Taylor Miller), Lily Montgomery (played by Leven Rambin), Bianca Montgomery (played by Eden Riegel), and the iconic Palmer Cortlandt (played by the legend James Mitchell) recounted their memories of the time they spent in Pine Valley and why they will always regard it as home.

As a fan, I was filled with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia while watching the episode. All My Children has been a part of my life for over 25 years. One of my first television memories is the death of Pine Valley's beloved Jenny Gardner Nelson, played by Kim Delaney. Over the years, as the show has changed and grown, I have too. I grew up with Bianca Montgomery and applauded as she became one of the first lead lesbian characters in daytime television history.

In my opinion, no show has created such memorable pairings as All My Children. I have fond memories of Jesse and Angie, the first black daytime super couple. I was glued to screen during Noah and Julia's Cinderella-themed wedding. And the legendary catfights between Susan Lucci's Erica Kane and Brooke English and later Erica and Maria set the stage and the bar for true "daytime divaness."

And I remember all the trailblazing and sometimes controversial plots that were played out on All My Children: Cindy's AIDS battle, Erica's drug addiction and recovery at The Betty Ford Center, Bianca and Reese's same-sex wedding, and currently Brot and Taylor dealing with the aftermath of serving in the war in Iraq. I can mark the iconic moments of my life by who Erica was married to at the time. And when Susan Lucci won the Daytime Emmy in 1999 after 18 previous loses, I cried just as much as she did. In a sense, Pine Valley has been my home too.

In late 2009, the ABC network announced that All My children would be moving the show from New York to California after nearly 40 years. On December 11, 2009, the final New York show was taped and on January 4, 2010, taping resumed in their new studio in California.

The shocking move to will hopefully provide an opportunity for growth and rejuvenation for All My Children. In recent years, daytime television and soap operas in particular have taken a hit in the ratings. Just this year, CBS cancelled The Guiding Light and recently announced that As The World Turns will end in 2010. It is my hope, that the move to California will provide All My Children with an opportunity expand. I see it as a vote of confidence on the part of ABC and a sign of their dedication to the future of the show. It is my desire to continue watching All My Children well into this new decade and the next.