All My Children

All My Children is an US soap opera which has been broadcast Monday through Friday on the ABC TV network since January 5, 1970. Originally a half-hour in length, the show moved to an hour in 1977. The show has taped over nine thousand episodes, with the 9,000th episode having aired on December 16, 2004. It is videotaped at one of ABC's television studios in New York City (sometimes mistakenly labeled as the "ABC Television Center," of which there is no confined nucleus in New York City).

Related Topics:
US - Soap opera - ABC - TV - January 5 - 1970 - 1977 - December 16 - 2004 - New York City

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All My Children was created by Agnes Nixon. Although Nixon had previously created One Life to Live for ABC following her success with Another World and The Guiding Light, All My Children was her first love and first major creation. She set the show in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a small suburb of Philadelphia.

Related Topics:
Agnes Nixon - One Life to Live - Another World - The Guiding Light - Pennsylvania - Philadelphia

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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 legendary 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. The poem, which epitomizes the goal of All My Childrens storytelling, was penned by Nixon herself.

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With the death of core cast member Ruth Warrick in January 2005, two original cast members, Ray MacDonnell and Susan Lucci, remain.

Related Topics:
Ruth Warrick - January - 2005 - Ray MacDonnell - Susan Lucci

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At one time, the program was so popular that it was the most widely-recorded television show in the United States. The show ranked #1 in the daytime Nielsen ratings from 1978-1979. In the early 1980s, as well as the early to mid-1990s, All My Children was the #2 rated daytime soap on the air. The show still enjoys a sizable fan following, usually ranking around the middle of the pack in the daytime ratings, with over three million people watching each day. In late 2004 the show's ratings picked up again, and it tied other soaps for second place for the first time since 1995. Since then, it has seen a significant drop in ratings, seeing the lowest ratings in show history and falling to number seventh in daytime ratings (just ahead of the low-rated Guiding Light and Passions).

Related Topics:
United States - Nielsen ratings - 1978 - 1979 - 1980s - 1990s - 2004 - 1995 - Guiding Light - Passions

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