Soap Opera Titles

[King of Pine Valley]

"All My Children" has been on the air for 38 years now and the show will continue to thrive with stories of love, passion, betrayal, loss, and triumph that surround the daily lives of many residents of Pine Valley, Pennsylvania.

We want to thank the woman who was responsible for making AMC an enduring legacy on daytime television for over the past 3 decades: the legendary creator of this show, Agnes Nixon.

And that brings me to ask you a very interesting question.

How did Nixon really come up with the title?

[sonyab1974]

The title of the show refers to the brotherhood of man. Nixon believed that it doesn't matter who one was, what one looked like, or where one was from — for every human being was a child of God. The poem at the start of the All My Children photo album reads:

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

[King of Pine Valley]

"The Young and the Restless" has been on the air for 35 years now and the show will continue to thrive with stories of love, passion, betrayal, loss, and triumph that surround the daily lives of many residents of Genoa City, Wisconsin.

We want to thank the man who was responsible for making Y&R an enduring legacy on daytime television for over the past 3 decades: the legendary creator of this show, Bill Bell.

And that brings me to ask you a very interesting question.

How did Bell really come up with the title?

[MarkH]

According to soaps.com,

.

[DaytimeFan]

Yeah, it was basically Lee and Bill working with 'The Innocent Years' and after all the social upheaval in the late 60s and early 70s they realized that nobody was Innocent anymore...rather, everyone was young, Young and Restless.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I'd like to know what Lee's contributions were to Y&R and B&B. To me, it seemed like Bill just gave her a co-creator credit, she was never actively involved in either show.

[DaytimeFan]

Allegedly, she gave Bill input about socially relevant storytelling...

That said, I have this feeling it was a way to do income splitting and gave Lee right of survivorship in terms of ownership of the shows. Also, why only have Bill get an Emmy when Lee could have one too?!

[MarkH]

I don't know. In the recent Maria Arena bit I posted, she describes approaching Lee Phillip Bell at a Northwestern alumni event. And over the course of the conversation, Lee told her about the new soap they were creating. I wonder if Lee is not a lot like Stephanie Forrester...an integral part of the business who gave sage advice, startup capital...but who let all the credit go to her male "genius".

[EricMontreal22]

Well Lee did have history with broadcasting thanks to her, apparnatly very successful, Chicago chat show. I've always seen her as very much playign a role similar to Alfred Hitchcock's omnipresent wife.

[cct]

And here is Bianca reading this poem for AMC's 35th anniversary episode. It is, perhaps, one of the most heartfelt moments on this show, certainly in the last ten years. Just beautifully done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhGZj2XnnV4

[Jonathan]

Oh yes, beautiful.

[Jonathan]

So I've brought this up before a couple years back, but it struck me again after watching this clip. Why is it that Erica, Mona, Bianca, and Kendall refer to themselves as the Kane women? Kane is the last name of Erica's father and Mona ended up despising him. So shouldn't these women be referred to as whatever Mona's maiden name is like, the Smith women or the Jones women?

I understand that the last name Kane has become so synonymous with Erica that referring to her as something other than a Kane woman would be weird but for Mona to refer to her daughter and granddaughters as Kane women is even more odd.

I don't think they've ever revealed Mona's maiden name, have they? EricMontreal do you know?

[SteveFrame]

I have always felt the same way Jonathan. I could buy "The Kane Women" better if they did use the maiden name like the Cramer women do on OLTL.

[King of Pine Valley]

"As the World Turns" has been on the air for 52 years now and the show will continue to thrive with stories of love, family, happiness, passion, betrayal, heartbreak, and triumph that surround the daily lives of many residents of Oakdale, Illinois.

We want to thank the woman who was responsible for making ATWT an enduring legacy on daytime television for over the past 5 decades: the legendary creator of this show, Irna Phillips.

And that brings me to ask you a very interesting question.

How did Phillips really come up with the title?

[SFK]

I may very well be reading into things here, but I figure that Mona's maiden or middle initial is "S". In the old white linen/family heirloom AMC opening, a silver locket with the initials "MKS" appears by Erica's picture. In a woman's monogram, the last name initial appears in the middle (usually larger). So, Mona Smith Kane, even Mona Susan/Stephanie Kane? Who knows. But I always thought that the locket was a subtle, lovely nod to the late Frances Heflin/Mona.

P.S. There is a chance that the "S" is in fact a super curvy "T" for Tyler if the locket is engraved in the first, middle, last initials monogram style. But I doubt that "S" is a "T".