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).

Title sequences

Something that All My Children is known for throughout the soap world is its opening title sequences. Ever since the debut in 1970, the show's opener has included a photo album/scrapbook in some kind of form.

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With the premiere, the opening was simple: a camera slowly zooms in on a leather-bound photo album as a female hand (it is Agnes Nixon's) enters the shot to open the album. On the first page of the album, the title is shown in calligraphic type. Until at least June 1970, the hand turned to a second page, crediting Rosemary Prinz as a 'Special Guest Star'. Prinz, at the time, was the cast member with the most soap opera experience, and crediting her in the beginning was used a way to coax her fans to tune in. She left after six months on the show, and the second page was eliminated from the sequence.

Related Topics:
June - Rosemary Prinz

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This set ran until December 1989, making it one of the longest-running packages in soap history. The theme music used with this version was written by Dina Dore and her daughter Carlina Paul. It went through several arrangements, as in the beginning it was a soft lullaby-type tune, but as time progressed, it was more harsh and cheery.

Related Topics:
December - 1989 - Dina Dore - Carlina Paul

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The show's most popular sequence debuted during the week of the 20th anniversary in January 1990. The new opening kept the photo album theme, of course, but expanded on it. It began with the camera panning across a desk featuring framed pictures of longtime cast members. This dissolved into a series of animations in which still pictures of each cast member hovered into piles on the desk. It ended with a portrait of lead actress Susan Lucci slowly sliding onto a page in the photo album, as it closed to reveal the title in an Old English type on the cover. Ocassionally, the title would disappear from the cover and a sponsor's logo would be in its place, with the announcer doing an ad for the sponsor. Felicia Minei Behr (who was All My Children?s executive producer from 1989-1996) was responsible for this opening, and thought a change was desperatly needed to bring the show into the '90s.

Related Topics:
January - 1990 - Susan Lucci - Felicia Minei Behr - 1989 - 1996

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As popular as the opening was (it was a genius idea in that the set-up allowed everyone from contract cast members to recurring cast members to be included), the theme music was even more popular. Written by legendary television composers Robert Israel and Billy Barber, it began with a perky melody led by piano, which gave way to a stylish saxophone leading the tune. The theme song was identified with the show's glory years of the early '90s.

Related Topics:
Robert Israel - Billy Barber

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For the 25th anniversary, a new opening made its debut. It featured stills (later live action video) of each cast member fading in and out of a white background while various images, including galloping horses, house exteriors, pearl necklaces, and pink roses, crossfaded throughout the headshots. Susan Lucci was again given a nod as her picture was always first and was the only one in the sequence to be framed (with a silver picture frame). At the end, Agnes Nixon's hand-written epigram for the show crossfaded in the background just as the photo album did. The music that accompanied this opening was composed by David Benoit and went through several versions, including a memorable version led prominantly by piano.

Related Topics:
Susan Lucci - Agnes Nixon - David Benoit

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In 2002, after seven and a half years of the "white opening," a new opening made its debut. Of course, it featured the photo album, but unlike the other openings, the photo album was constantly seen throughout. It began with a closeup of the album (with the title on the cover) as it opened. The Agnes Nixon epigram is seen on the front page, but the screen fades into the montage of cast member headshots, all done in live action. The photos were already on their pages in the album and as each face was shown, the name of the character was scrawled on their page in the book, similar to what many people do with their own family scrapbooks. Yet again, Susan Lucci is paid homage by being at the end of both versions of this opening. This time, however, she shared that honor with David Canary, as he was in both openings as well, as Adam Chandler in one and Stuart in the other. The music for this opening was a much-loved update of the 1990-1994 theme by Robert Israel and Billy Barber.

Related Topics:
2002 - Agnes Nixon - Susan Lucci - David Canary - 1990 - 1994 - Robert Israel - Billy Barber

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After barely a year and a half of the previous opening, the show debut another on May 31, 2004. This opening was styled after the commercial break bumpers that were present on all of ABC's soaps at the time. One Life to Live and General Hospital's openings were done in similar ways to the AMC opening.

Related Topics:
May 31 - 2004 - ABC - One Life to Live - General Hospital

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The new opening generated mixed opinions from fans. The pros of it were that many pictures from the show's past, including montages of classic Susan Lucci and Ruth Warrick headshots and a wedding portrait from Edmund and Maria (John Callahan and Eva LaRue)'s 1994 wedding. Also in favor was the updated update of the classic early '90s theme song. Cons, however, were that Cameron Mathison's Ryan Lavery was pictured directly after Susan Lucci's Erica Kane, a spot that many fans believed belonged to Alicia Minshew's Kendall Hart. Another thing against the opening was that all cast members (which is usually more than 25 people) were included in one sequence, making it seem that many characters were only flashes in the pan. A thing that grew on many fans was the new style of the title on the front of the photo album. For the first 34 years, the title was written vertically, with each word on a line, but the new logo had the entire title written horizontally. Nevertheless, fans became used to the new and current opening.

Related Topics:
Susan Lucci - Ruth Warrick - John Callahan - Eva LaRue - 1994 - Cameron Mathison - Erica Kane - Alicia Minshew

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