All My Children Are Inbred
What happened to soap operas? The creators have utterly ruined All My Children. I got started watching these shows with my mom, back in the Golden Age of soaps, the 80s–when Luke and Laura were on the run. I never cared about them. I was in love with Robert Scorpio and the spy games.
We would watch all of the ABC soaps. When I was little, I watched Faith go over the falls on Ryan’s Hope. The story about the lady in the boat. Every day she’d get a little closer to the edge of the falls. As a kid, that totally hooked me. Then we’d watch All My Children, One Life to Live and General Hospital. We’d play games or play with our toys while the tv played alongside us.
The stories were sometimes repetitive, but they were made with care and always interesting. Stories would play out over the summer, building in excitement to a dramatic finish and great weekly cliffhangers. I continued to watch off and on over the years, never for very long, but most of the quality was still present. GH lost me first, then OLTL.
For some reason a few months ago (probably having to do with the complete lack of programming at 1pm daily), I turned on AMC. They were in the middle of a serious issue with a stalker/killer. I was intrigued. For about five minutes. Because that was about how long it took them to introduce the story, have a few things happen and then wrap the whole thing up and move on. Huh?! The next day, they killed off Dixie, one of the few original characters bridging those 80s shows with today. I’d had it. I turned them off.
Then a few months later, back on again. I found the quality completely lacking. Characters were acting contrary to the people they’ve been forever. Stories were afterthoughts. Again, they didn’t build a plot. On one show, they kidnapped Annie and locked her in a secret room. The next show, not only did we know who had her, she knew. Then she was free. Why bother??
Fully half of the dialogue is parents on the show telling small children how much they love them and will never leave them in a way that is truly creepy and really annoying. If anyone acts like that with their kids, Child Protective Services should come and remove them.
Where is the passion, the drama? I’ll tell you. It’s left to Erica Kane, who has slept her way through the entire cast until she’s now with HER DAUGHTER’S EX. The daughter and the ex? They have a child. So grandma is dating daddy. Kendall’s mom is sleeping with the guy she was just leaving her husband for five seconds ago. Ew. EWWWW!!!
