It was the summer of 1970, I was 12. Flipping channels on the old Zenith, I stumbled across a show that caught my adolescent attention. It was juicy with gossip, pretty characters, and mystery. Suddenly, Dark Shadows, my all time favorite drama, had competition.
The show in question was All My Children–a soap opera.
I couldn’t watch the show regularly when I was in school, but vacation days or summer breaks, I caught right back up with the characters–it seemed like not a lot had really happened anyway. Then the invention of VHS came and I began to tape the show, sche
dule my lunch around it when I worked. I got married, had babies. Ask my daughters and they’ll remember eating in the high chair watching All My Children. They never got into it like I did.
When I moved to Idaho, I noticed one of the FM channels in my car picked up ABC, so if I wasn’t home in time to watch the show, I could listen to it in the car. When the Soap station was added to cable, happy days. I could watch it in the evenings if I’d missed the show during the day. Up until last year, I even taped the show when I was on vacation.
All My Children captured my attention for 38 years. Then last year . . . I stopped watching. It didn’t happen suddenly. I’d miss a day or two. Then a few days. And I found I just didn’t care and if I watched, I did, if not, no big deal. How had this happened? I think I just grew out of the show or the show grew stupid. All my favorite characters have been long gone. I know Erica is still around and I have total respect for Susan Lucci. But I’m tired of watching and wondering how many face lifts she’s had. She does look fabulous, but I wish I could have watched Erica age.
All My Children launched the careers of some actors/actresses popular today: Misha Barton, Mark Consuelos, Kim Delaney, John Duhamel, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Lauren Holly, Eva LaRue, Kathleen Noone, Sydney Penny, Kelly Ripa, Christian Slater, Laura San Giacomo.
I kind of mourn the loss of a show that I stuck with for so long, but on the other hand, it was time to say good-bye. I’m older and don’t want to be reminded I’m older because it’s only me and Erica left that have been around since the beginning.