ameilius I've been watching All My Children since Day One, and the show has a very different feel today than it did back in 1970. Originally it was a multi-generational, multi-layered story set in the mythical town of Pine Valley, Pennsylvania. Created by Agnes Nixon,it dealt with real-life social issues--- drug abuse, racism, rape,domestic violence,prostitution, even homelessness. The characters came from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities. There were the rich, upper-class Tyler and English families as well as the middle-class Martins, and also the working-class Benny Sago and Mrs. Valentine. It also had social outcast Donna Beck, a runaway teen prostitute, and her outrageous pimp Billy Clyde Tuggle. But the most popular character, a break-out character really, was Susan Lucci's Erica Kane.From the start Erica stole the show. She debuted in 1970 as a teenager from a broken home. She started out with Daddy issues and a great big chip on her shoulder. Good writing soon transformed her into something more human,and as the decades passed we learned more about her troubled history. As we eventually discovered, she'd been raped at age 14 by a pedophile friend of her father's, apparently with Dad's full consent! Ever since that event Erica has had emotional problems. Despite her worldly success she's still struggling, 40 years later, to like herself. No amount of male attention is ever enough, which would explain her long string of discarded husbands and lovers. She's a fascinating, complex character and according to Lucci herself, great fun to play. Lucci portrays Erica with a light comedic touch, and her long-time fans continue to love her.Looking back, I remember the 1980's and 1990's as AMC's Glory Years. Inspired writing, along with a superb cast of actors, guaranteed that. During this period the show introduced two new families: the Cortlandts and the Chandlers. These were rich, powerful clans with bigger-than-life patriarchs---Palmer Cortlandt and Adam Chandler, respectively--- continually at each other's throats.Palmer was a cold-blooded s.o.b. who lived in a Gothic mansion with his captive daughter, Nina. Similarly, Adam wielded power from the Chandler Mansion and soon emerged as the villain we loved to hate.Over the years Adam's manipulations have driven away all of his wives--- he has had several, including Erica and the redoubtable Brooke English-- -and he also has alienated his children. Today's son and heir, JR, is a recovering alcoholic with deep-seated problems that he's likely to "hand down" to the next generation. Stay tuned.Another memorable character was, and still is, Tad Martin. An abandoned child, he was adopted by the Martin family nearly 40 years ago. Later he grew up to be the adult Tad that we all adore. Young Tad was a womanizer and a cad yet likable because of his wit and charm. After numerous escapades he found true love with sweet Dixie Cooney, and the fans applauded. Other popular pairings kept us riveted: Cliff and Nina...Greg and Jenny...Angie and Jessie...Natalie and Trevor. Angie and Jesse achieved special distinction in being the first official black Super Couple ever seen on daytime. Jesse's now a p.i. and Angie's a doctor. Watching them interact with their old pal Tad, from adolescence to middle age, has been a joy. But all good things must come to an end. Once Disney bought AMC, in the early 2000's, this iconic show went into a downward tailspin. New people were running it now, people who apparently knew nothing about soaps. The writing regime changed every year or so, with character history violated or simply ignored. The scribes gave us short-term "shock and awe" story lines that made no sense. One of the worst was Erica's hitherto unknown son, an aborted fetus kept alive by a mad scientist...Yeah, right. And then the horrendous tale of Tad, our beloved Tad, burying a man alive! Not to mention the travesty of Dixie's death by poisoned pancakes. After Head Writer Megan McTavish killed off Dixie, for no apparent reason, there was a general outcry from the viewers. AMC was in deep trouble, and sinking fast...Yet even in recent years the show has had its redeeming features. The Kane family, for one. Erica's two daughters have been skillfully woven into the Pine Valley tapestry. Kendall (the child of rape) appeared on Mom's doorstep with an initially bad attitude but has since evolved into a charming if somewhat wacky heroine. Bianca, the younger child, "came out" as a lesbian back in 2000 in one of the best scenes I've ever seen on daytime. The hard-won but close sisterly bond between "Binks" and Kendall, and their coming to terms with their celebrity Mom, has been masterly storytelling.Notwithstanding All My Children is currently on life support, like so many other soaps. Why? The main problem, I suspect, lies in its dearth of good old-fashioned romance. The only Super Couple left seems to be "Zendall"---Kendall and Zach---and with Zach's portrayer, Thorsten Kaye, about to leave the show, even that will soon be gone. But please, no more "Rylee" (Greenlee and Ryan)! "Rylee" is an uninspired pairing that the fans in overwhelming numbers hate, yet the Disney suits have been kicking that dead horse for years. When the chemistry ain't there, folks, it just ain't there. Greenlee, a delightful bitch, had a great romance years ago with con artist Leo Dupres, played by actor Josh Duhamel, but with Ryan she fizzles. I'd rather see her reunited with her dastardly hubby, David Hayward, who we all know isn't really dead. In fact, even as we speak, Dr. Hayward may be resurrecting corpses in his secret lab...SPOILER ALERT! ADDENDUM: A few years after my writing this review the Head of ABC Daytime, Brian Frons, cancelled AMC, causing an angry backlash from the fans. And so now, alas, Pine Valley is just a bittersweet memory. Erica will never break another heart, Adam will never negotiate another dirty deal, and Tad's sparkling wit is heard no more. Finis.

larbrook I never understood why Adam didn't call his security people, his attorney, or Jack, since he couldn't get a positive response from the police, to have the Martins thrown out of his house. Even to put Krystal out after she refused to leave. To watch these people in Adam's house and no one could do anything to get them out was too unrealistic. I had a great deal of trouble following this part of the storyline. They could have been made to leave. Plus, I never understood why he didn't have them arrested for kidnapping him and placing him illegally in the mental institution. This was a perfect revenge tool Adam could have used to get back at Tad Martin for sleeping with Krystal. Why was this left hanging because he could have had them arrested for kidnapping him and the institution could have been sued? It doesn't make sense for Colby to turn her back on her father after the way he has been treated by the Martins and her brother, in his own house thank you? She has never taken offense with Tad and Krystal for sleeping together, instead she acts like she is perfectly happy about it. She doesn't get angry with them for kidnapping her father, for forcefully taking over his house and for some of the other things they have done to him. I don't understand where she is coming from. No daughter in her right mind would side with someone who has hurt her father. She doesn't even inquire about her father or his whereabouts. It's as if she doesn't care!!! This too was totally unrealistic and very hard to swallow.Adam must have his day and soon. He is entitled to it. Please devise something very soon, if you haven't already, that puts the Martins, Colby, and JR in their places.

mhcheesman Puh-lease. OK, so you don't like soaps, that's fine. Everyone has a right to their own opinions, but to say that Kelly Ripa is the only redeeming quality of this show? I love Kelly now on both Live and Hope and Faith but when she acted on AMC she royally sucked. She has even even admitted that she sucked in every interview she has ever had. If you like soaps, you will like this one, if you don't then you won't be happy with any of them. The show is just like all the rest, with different players and a different setting. The only thing I have seen different is that they like to do cross-over episodes with it's sister show One Life To Live.

Michele Martelossi (dejavu73) One day,in the afternoon,I saw a pretty blond guy who was delivering a Christmas present to a middle-class family. Shortly after, the old lady started moving towards the basement, with the parcel in her hands and while she was going down the stairs I could hear the sound of a ticket bomb cluttering between the other gifts, ready to explode. It was 1989 and since then I couldn't stop watching AMC a.k.a. " LA VALLE DEI PINI ", here in Italy. The blond guy was Gregory Nelson and the family with the bomb in the basement were the Martins. At once, I was captivated by Agnes Nixon's little P.V. and I found some similarities between Erica Kane (working for SENSUELLE) and Lorna Forbes (working for AMOURELLE in the other Nixon's TV show LOVING). I started recording episodes from Greg's fall down from a catwalk and hospitalization 'till his wedding with sweet sweet Jenny (one of the most intense and deep love story I've never seen). Glamorous Erica was living with her phony half-sister Silver,who was trying hard to set up a trap in order to steal Erica's man and modeling job. She did it so cunningly that the beauty - queen was forced to go to the psychiatrist for suffering nervous breakdown and amnesia. I loved the storyline concerning Nina and Steve: I remember the tail of a cyclone battering their helicopter and killing Steve. And I remember Nina's sister-in-law , auburn Linda Warner , burgling safes in P.V. And the Cortlands and the Chandlers' twins saga... Still now, when I enter this little lively place , I can breathe the spirit of American province ( and get short trips in NYC ) and I love staying with all these past and present characters, making myself at home. I'd like Susan Lucci to keep on surprising us and eventually to win another deserved Emmy Award!