How to Watch All My Children and Relive Life in Pine Valley
Revisit the revamped Pine Valley.
Now that only Days of Our Lives is airing new episodes, nostalgia for soap opera history is at its peak, helped in part by ABC’s recent Story of Soaps. In addition to being able to catch the final season of that network’s One Life to Live online, you can also watch the final episodes of its sister soap, All My Children.
All My Children premiered on ABC in January 1970. The soap was created by Agnes Nixon in 1965 but didn’t find its way to TV screens until after the success of her One Life to Live. Set in fictional Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, All My Children originally focused on the Tyler and Martin families before considerably expanding its cast of characters. By the end of the 1970s, it was the number one soap in the ratings, but it lost its grip on the top spot through the 1980s. In addition to the sort of socially conscious drama common to its sister ABC soap such as rape, drug addiction, bullying, and marital breakdown, AMC also took the dive into more outlandish stories involving voodoo and the search for Santa Claus. Get even more about the history of the soap by reading recaps, columns, and news stories covering All My Children‘s final years.
After airing on ABC for 41 years, in 2011 All My Children was not renewed by the network. In a bid to keep the show alive, its production company Prospect Park transformed it into an online serial. All My Children completed its run on ABC in September 2011. Although a smooth and immediate transition to the online platform was planned, it was anything but, and contract negotiations stymied the shows revamp for months. Eventually, the series premiered at the end of April 2013, leaping ahead five years in storytime, available online through Hulu and iTunes via The Online Network as well as airing in a limited engagement through The Oprah Winfrey Network. The series was canceled again several months later. However, viewers can still watch the reboot episodes streaming on any device.
The revived All My Children cast featured veteran cast members and some newcomers, including Julia Barr (Brooke English), Ryan Bittle (JR Chandler), David Canary (Adam and Stuart Chandler), Lindsay Hartley (Cara Castillo), Vincent Irizarry (David Hayward), Francesca James (Kitty Shea/Kelly Cole), Thorsten Kaye (Zach Slater), Jill Larson (Opal Cortlandt), Ray MacDonnell (Joe Martin), Cady McClain (Cooney Martin), Debbi Morgan (Angela Hubbard), Eric Nelsen (AJ Chandler), Jordan Lane Price (Celia Fitzgerald), Eden Riegel (Bianca Montgomery), Heather Roop (Jane McIntyre), Denyse Tontz (Miranda Montgomery), Sal Stowers (Cassandra Foster), Jordi Vilasuso (Griffin Castillo), Darnell Williams (Jesse Hubbard), and Robert Scott Wilson (Peter Cortlandt).
