The Great and the Least, The Rich and the Poor...

"The Great and the Least, The Rich and the Poor..."

These are the first two lines of the All My Children poem that originally appeared in the credits. This week's posts are going to be about All My Children. If you don't watch soap operas you can't understand the fascination and addictive abilities they have. All My Children premiered on January 5th, 1970 and will end it's 41 year run this Friday on September 23rd, 2011. In it's 41 year run it has aired 10,712 episodes. Now I haven't been around to see all of these episodes, but I have been watching pretty religiously since December of 2004. I think the exact date was Wednesday December 8th, 2004(courtesy of soapcentral.com's recap archive).

Here is how I came to became an All My Children fanatic. 2004 was the first year I started homeschooling and usually I was done with school by noon and we had to be to Ethan's school by 2:30, leaving me free to watch TV for a few hours. I would usually watch an hour of Unsolved Mysteries on Lifetime and then watch PBS sometimes. Well one day Mom laid down to take a nap and I was sitting there writing in my name book(all I did in my freetime was work on my name book, but that's another story) so she asked me to watch the TV and let her know what happened. I watched and I was hooked. All I remember is Bianca falling from the balcony after JR pushed her. This was all because of the baby switch up involving Bianca's baby and Babe's baby.

I was hooked at that point. My favorite characters were Babe, Kendall and Zach. I was there to watch Zach and Kendall's marriage of convenience, which later turned into actual love. There for Greenlee's need to get pregnant and when she couldn't Kendall became her surrogate. Ohh, and the Greg Madden being buried alive and tortured, that was a real great story! Then came the Mardi Gras Ball blow up! Literally, Janet from Another Planet blew it up!

Let's not forget the Satin Slayer who killed many women in Pine Valley, and was later revealed to be Alexander Cambias. All the times Dixie has come back from the dead(at least 3 times since I've been watching), all the deaths, marriages, and births. So much happens everyday! At least a hundred different storylines are gone through in a year. At least that's how it seems because there is so much happening and stories build and crossover.

Soap Operas are addictive and writing them must be an enjoyable task! Though probably hard at the same time. Not only do you have to keep up with multiple storylines you have at least 20 different characters, all with their own personalities and history, going head to head at the same time. People can't hate or love each other one day and then the next be best friends or enemies. You have to show why their relationships changes.

One of my favorite relationship on All My Children would have to be Greenlee and Kendall. Sister, business partners, best friends and enemies. For years they have gone back and forth and some of their fights are the best ones. There was the locking people in towers, pushing people into pools, and ripping their clothes off in court! But the best one was Kendall and Greenlee fighting and Fusion. Lotion and Palmer. Classic. Enjoy the clip of it.  http://youtu.be/tFiwfm3imJw

So I will end by going back to the quote I started with. All My Children really does showcase many characters. The Great, who are Erica Kane, Adam Chandler, Dixie Martin, Tad Martin and so many others! The least like Maya, Dre, Dani and many other characters who are seen, but only serve to advance the main character's stories. Without the least, there would be no great! Every character is important, even secondary.

Then there is the rich and the poor, and All My Children showcases them well! Erica goes from humble beginnings to being a rich and powerful woman. Palmer and Adam were powerful business men. Ryan went from con-man to CEO. Zach was born into power and money and left it all, and he still came to gain both back on his own. Babe and Krystal weren't rich, neither was Tad and Dixie, yet they all still manged to make their way. That's what I love, not everyone is rich and powerful, and those who are did actually work for it(except maybe Greenlee, lol). All My Children is a wonderful soap that crosses social barriers and does it well, which is why I love it.