The Weak and the Strong, In Sickness and in Health...

"The Weak and the Strong, In Sickness and in Health..."

All My Children is full of many weak characters(physically, mentally, financially, etc) and yet just as many strong characters. Many of those weak characters also can grow to become strong. Angie has struggled with the loss of her sight(hopefully she'll regain it), Cara and Amanda with cancer, JR with his anger, loss of his wife and mother, and his alcoholism(JR is always a work in progress type of character), Bianca's rape and then losing Miranda(she did get her back eventually), these are just many of a few examples. They have weaknesses, but they work to get through them.
 
Erica Kane is the best example of weakness and strength. She's battled a rape, alcoholism, good and bad media attention, multiple kidnappings, children in comas, and many many marriages. Plus a bear! Here's that clip http://youtu.be/h17XM_KoXcM. Erica has many struggles and her life goes up and down, but she always comes back out on top! She's Erica Kane and nothing can stop her. She'll forever be remembered for her power.
 
Another character whose life is a constant struggle is JR Chandler. Born into a crazy situation with a father who only cared about power and a family name and a mother who loved him but had a hard time showing him that love due to his father, JR had a messed up childhood, which resulted in many bad decisions as an adult. Every time JR seems to improve he faces a setback, which he's never seemed to adjust to, major character flaw. But that's the point! Characters are flawed! True, soap operas due tend to intensify these flaws, but that's purely for entertainment purposes.
 
Another big part of All My Children is the marriages. Marriages for love, power, and convenience. Erica and Adam are infamous for their many marriages and also the number of children they have. Erica has been 12 times, 7 of which were valid and 4 which weren't, and then her one vow renewal(which was to Adam). Adam has been married 13 times, 2 which were invalid and the rest ended in divorce (Adam fails at the whole idea of marriage. Ironically most of his marriages have been to the same women like Erica or Liza). Erica has 3 children and Adam has six. For both of them family is the most important and though both of them do go to some extremes sometimes, it is in the name of family.

Health and sickness is also a big part of Pine Valley and many scenes take places at Pine Valley Hospital. Cancer, comas, pregnancies, heart attacks, STDs and other ailments. Many main characters have had cancer, such as Amanda, JR and Cara. Adam had heart issues. Kendall, Bianca and many others have been in comas. Many of the show's main characters are doctors from Joe Martin and his sons Jeff and Jake Martin, and his grandson Jamie Martin. Angie Hubbard and her son Frankie are also doctors. Julia, Maria and Anita Santos also all entered the medical profession. In Pine Valley everyone either works at PVH or spends a great deal of time there. It is probably one of the old scenes in All My Children(though I'm sure it has had many face lifts over the years).

Many characters struggle to overcome their sicknesses and become healthy again and many due. There are a few rare occasions where the don't though. Like Gillian Andrassy Lavery who died and her heart was given to Laura Kirk English. Or Leora Hayward who was David's Hayward's young daughter that died after a heart surgery. There have also been many miscarriages in Pine Valley, all with different effects on the women who experienced them. There are also a few mental health case, like Janet Green or Annie Lavery(In Annie's case I think it was just a way to get rid of her for Ryan and Greenlee to be together. The story was always too far fetched and dumb for my taste).

Pine Valley has always been a place of birth, life and death, that's what all soap operas are. They show us life and how people struggle to overcome any fate, and many do, but it also shows the few ones who don't overcome that fate. And that's just life, not everyone gets a happy ending(especially not on soap operas, drama sells). Children, marriages and family are all a major part of All My Children. That's why it has charmed so many of us for 4 decades now, and it will forever be in out hearts.

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.

The End...Two Of The Most Dreaded Words

“All good things must come to an end.”

Stories use to begin with "Once upon a time..." or "Long ago, in a faraway land...". Now although the beginnings have changed, one thing remains the same, the stories end with "The End...". Maybe you don't see those words written on the page anymore or at the end of the movie before the credits start to roll, but you don't need to. You know without a doubt that it is the end. You can hope that the story will continue in a series and you can continue to enjoy the tales about characters you love so dearly. But then even that must come to an end.

I am one of those people who absolutely dread endings. Most people can't wait to get to the end and find out how things turned out, but for me it's different. Yes, I want to know how things turn out, but still I have this feeling of dread inside of me as I draw nearer the ending. It's like when my favorite TV shows get to the finale. I'm not talking about those season finales that leave cliffhangers that make you yell at the TV, "What happened?", I'm talking about those series finales, the ones that make you sad as you turn the TV off after it's over, but you still sit there and stare off into space wondering what new show will fill that space you had devoted for so long to the other show.

I have experienced this feeling many times. In August I finally finished M*A*S*H. Since July, I had been watching M*A*S*H pretty much every day, hours upon hours of episodes. From Season 1 through Season 11. As I watched the Season 11 episodes I started to get that feeling of dread inside, because I knew that the final episode was drawing nearer. When I finally got to it I cried during pretty much the whole two hours. I love M*A*S*H, and it felt like a part of me was ending.

I get this same feeling with many of my favorite shows and my favorite books. I remember when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out. I stood in line to get my book at 12am, and I read until 4am, and I was up to chapter 12. I spent the next day reading at a friend’s birthday party. My book still has a grease stain from the pizza on the front cover. I even read at the bowling alley. Every time it was my turn I'd save my spot, take my turn and hurry back to keep reading. I remember lying in bed that night struggling through the last chapters. I had to know how it would end, but at the same time I was sad to see it end. I literally started crying in the last couple chapters and said if Harry died I would never read another book, thankfully I still read today.

Even though I know things must end, I still don't like it. Last night was the final episode of Hannah Montana. I managed not to cry until the last five minutes, but when I finally did I realized something. The end of Hannah Montana was the end of part of my childhood. I remember when Hannah Montana came out four years ago. It was an instant hit, and I loved it. My best friend Haley gave me the Hannah Montana cd for my 13th birthday, and that cd was played constantly for months. We had the words memorized within a few hours.

One of my favorite memories is of Haley, Lauren and me at a sleepover. We played the Hannah Montana music videos and danced around singing the lyrics. It was great. I remember going to see the Hannah Montana Best of Both Worlds Concert movie with my friend Lauren. I just about died because it was just like being at the hottest concert of the year! Then my parents took me to see the Hannah Montana Movie when it came out and I loved the music and fell in love with the leading man (he was cute!). Hannah Montana was a big thing in my life.

So last night when it hit me that Hannah Montana was over I went back to my room and stared at my walls. I have 58 posters on my walls, and most of them are Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus posters. If you look you can see how I have slowly gotten older. As you turn around the room the walls slowly goes from Disney starlets to Disney TV shows and movies, to boy bands and cute guys and grows into the teenage hit Twilight. It shows the slow progression over the last four years. I wanted so badly to grow up, but now at almost 17, I am not ready to grow up and give up my childish ways.

I want to sit on the couch on Sunday night and watch Disney Channel and laugh my head off at silly jokes. I want to watch the reruns that never get old even though I've seen it so many times I can quote it. I want to dance around my room all night to Hannah Montana, High School Musical and the Jonas Brothers.

But eventually I'm gonna have to say goodbye to all of that. Every once in awhile I can listen to my old Disney playlist, or flip the Disney Channel on and catch a show or two. But in the end, it just isn't the same. So tonight I'll slowly take down my old Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus posters, and replace them with Taylor Swift posters and lyrics from my favorite songs. Maybe I'll leave one or two posters up because I don't really want to grow up. But that's just holding off the inevitable. One day I will grow up.

That'll be the day I look around my room again and wonder where all the time went. I'll remember all those memories, but then they will still just be memories. And I'll be all grown up. Maybe I'll think Hannah Montana and the Disney Channel are just stupid. But deep down those little things will still mean the most to me.

But now it is time to write "The End" and slowly close the book. I can feel that longing for the story to continue, for it to never end. Winnie the Pooh said at the end of the movie "Oh, no, can't we go back to page one and do it all over again?". I'm with him. Let's do it all over again. But life doesn't work that way. It might be nice if it did or then again, it might not be. Now that I think about it, maybe this isn't the end of the book. Just the end of the chapter. I'll turn the page and start a whole new chapter, with more adventures and fun. So in a way while on chapter ends, another is beginning, so the story isn't completely over. But sometimes in life it doesn't feel that way.

"Every ending is a new beginning"