All My Children

All My Children is an American television soap opera. The show debuted on the ABC television network on January 5, 1970.

Agnes Nixon, a protegee of television pioneer Irna Phillips, created the show as a fusion of soap opera conventions with cutting-edge social criticism. Early storylines focused on issues such as the Vietnam War and abortion, topics that had not previously shown up in daytime drama. Other soap operas have since caught up with Nixon's social conscience, while All My Children itself has shifted more conventional storylines to the frontburner. Today, All My Children varies little in tone or content from its ABC sister soaps, One Life to Live and General Hospital.

The show follows the day-to-day lives of the residents of fictional Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, most notably narcissistic model cum cosmetics tycoon Erica Kane, played by Susan Lucci. Lucci, easily the most famous performer in soaps, has been nominated for a Best Leading Actress Daytime Emmy Award twenty times, and has won just once. She has been on All My Children since its debut.

Other well-known actors to appear on All My Children include:

• Obba Babatundé
• Kathy Bates
• Amanda Bearse
• Gina Belafonte
• Carol Burnett
• Maxwell Caulfield
• Samantha Eggar
• Sarah Michelle Gellar
• Sam Groom
• Donna Hanover
• Season Hubley
• Tina Louise
• Terrence Mann
• Lee Meriwether
• Robert Morse
• Rosie O'Donnell
• Regis Philbin
• Kelly Ripa
• Barbara Rush
• Elizabeth Taylor
• Lynne Thigpen
• Leslie Uggams
• Gwen Verdon
• Ralph Waite
• Ruth Warrick
• Montel Williams
• Tom Wopat