All My Children Tribute Thread

[Liberty City]

Loved when ABC updated to this era-style of opening... but it's clear it became a pain in the backside to update, most especially for All My Children.

[Khan]

That's why I've always felt this opening worked best:

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You never needed to update it whenever there was a major cast turnover.  You just needed to "refresh" it every 10 years or so.  Plus, it totally evoked the theme and mood of the show; and in an era where it's all about keeping everything short and sweet, it's easy to shorten the length of it, too.

I'll say this much for DAYS: they have been wise to keep their original opening sequence intact, with only minor changes throughout the decades to keep it from looking too stale.

Another classic opening that would work just as well today as it did back then (again, just refresh it every few years with new footage of an ambulance driving past the hospital):

 

Edited June 1, 2023 by Khan

[Darn]

Man, I LOVED this opening. It looked so high quality. It was obviously made with a lot loving care by someone who respected the show's history, all the classic shots and mostly appropriate groupings (Joe to Liv, Simone and Mia was just "Here ya go!"). We'll ignore Ryan, Kendall and Greenlee's prominent placement. But Bianca into Erica's final shot? Chef's kiss.

Unfortunately like @Liberty City said it was clearly a pain to update.

Not sure if this was posted but it's fascinating.

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Edited June 1, 2023 by Darn

[Vee]

The Family Album was one of the last ABC openings - maybe the last - done with real care. The high-octane OTT GH Guza/Pratt opening debuted around this time too but was just a hypermasculine caricature.

I did always laugh when this opening would reach the "and the rest" portion with Mia, Simone and other C-listers streaming by though. I liked when (IIRC) they subbed in Angie and Jesse for the absent Bianca at one point.

Edited June 1, 2023 by Vee

[Jonathan]

Oh gosh, that was my least favorite opening. That was during the Brian Frons era and he had all the ABC soaps shoot their openings using one agency and it was a generic mess. The whole ABC lineup lost its uniqueness when they converted to these openings with the same lighting and backdrops. All My Children had the best of the worst openings because they incorporated the photo album but OLTL and GH was ringarde!

[Vee]

Frons did use the same backdrop for all three, which I hated. But I thought it only worked out well for AMC, which had a family album opening carefully tailored to them where the backdrop wasn't really noticeable. OLTL's was an afterthought and despicable.

The worst AMC opening was the LA budget one which basically was a riff on late-stage GL openings IMO.

Meanwhile: Jill Larson is also talking to Digest.

Me being me, I haven't listened to it all yet - she's had such a vast career - but I did hone in on the AMC 2.0 stuff around 50 mins in. She mentions the last time she heard from Rob Wilson he was auditioning for 50 Shades of Grey but loved his company, lol. Jill was so good in the harrowing horror flick The Taking of Deborah Logan, BTW.

I forgot Jill was the 'toothless old hairless hag' featured in the trailer for Scorsese's Shutter Island, lol.

Edited June 6, 2023 by Vee

[Khan]

I agree with all these points, @Vee.

[DemetriKane]

Not shades of Grey lol

[All My Shadows]

I remember being excited to see all of the old photos in that opening sequence, especially since the previous one had *some* old photos but not nearly as many. That guitar strum over Erica the Younger is very very low-key iconic, then young Ruth Warrick. They made sure Phoebe was present in every single episode, even after her death. I wasn’t crazy about the straight-across title after it had been stacked vertically forever, but all these years later, it really doesn’t matter.

I always wondered how it would have flowed had they done A and B versions instead of cramming everyone into one. OLTL was the only one to do two versions, correct?

[Pine Charles]

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[AmandainNC28655]

Hey all, sorry if this has been asked before.  But I am home for summer break (I'm a high school assistant principal) and am having some surgery coming up that will put out with a 4- 6 week recovery time.  Is there anywhere online that I can watch full episodes of All My Children ( preferably from the beginning or from the early 80's moving forward)?? You are welcome to Private message me those links.  I appreciate it all and thank you in advance.

[Pine Charles]

Did any of you see that Spring 1980 episode posted to YouTube featuring the scene of Daisy/'Monique' as a "ghost" appearing to Nina?

I cannot find it anymore. I believe the "ghost" scenes were shown in flashback in the Spring 1980 episode, so they must've originally aired after the February Masquerade Ball (Nina's birthday) and before the episode I'm referring to (I'm pretty sure it - the episode with the flashbacks - was a May, or Early June,  episode). 'Monique' has lunch with Cliff and Nina in the gazebo at Cortlandt Manor; I also remember Myra staring at a portrait of Daisy above the fireplace and commenting something like: "Daisy... this is a dangerous game you're playing... it will bring misery to all of us."

Anyway, I bring this all up because I was going to post the episode here (months ago), but got locked out of logging in for the longest time - something to do with verifying the original email I used to register at SON (YEARS AGO), which I no longer have access to. I also tried registering a new account (using my current email), but the confirmation email never came, and I got no responses from emailing SON regarding the issue.

So I thought I would FOREVER be prevented from ever posting here again (and viewing content you can only see after logging in).

Then, out of the blue, I tried logging in with my original username and password - and it (FORTUNATELY) worked.

So it's a shame if that episode was taken off YouTube; it was really good - and I remember a few posters specifically mentioning the portrait of Daisy (perhaps in here, or a thread about Soap Portraits?), so I was a bit excited to post the episode...but couldn't at the time.

Edited July 1, 2023 by Pine Charles

[SFK]

How do Josh Duhamel and Kelly Ripa do an interview on Live! without a single mention of All My Children!?

Unbreak my heart. 

[Pine Charles]

Odd.

I also though it odd - and irritating - when that queen Andy Cohen was on, and they played an AMC version of JEOPARDY!.

Mark Consuelos didn't remember the name of Eva LaRue''s character ('Maria'). 

I could understand not knowing obscure trivia or the names of characters he didn't interact with much....but his on-screen sister???

Others said it was understandable, as most actors only care about learning their lines and "dumping" the rest, but, come on.

And maybe this is just my perception, but he gave off a snobby, "above-it-all" attitude, like his time on AMC is SOOO  forgettable.

He's hardly an A-lister (and no one would care about him if it weren't for his wife), so it was extra annoying to me.

Makes me think even MORE that that "Pine Valley" series will NEVER happen.

 

Edited July 1, 2023 by Pine Charles

[DRW50]

Everything he did on AMC was forgettable, so he's not wrong.

He and his wife can keep their show. Like anything else they're involved in, I wouldn't be watching it anyway.