Celebrating soaps: 'All My Children's' greatest couples

This week's celebrating soaps dicusses the top ten greatest "All My Children" couples. I'm sure there will be great debate among soap fans on how the list shapes up, but keep in mind these are only the opinion of someone whose been watching daytime since the womb.

1. Tad and Dixie-The mark of a great supercouple, is that no matter who they're with, it will never live up to that one true love. Throughout the years Tad and Dixie had other loves. As a matter of fact, Tad had a couple of great pairings pre-Dixie, but none of that matters, because Tad and Dixie were meant to be.

There's is a love that transcends time, space and magic. Like all good soap couples, they have dealt with obstacles like evil ex-husbands, amnesia and even death, as both have been "dead" a few times. However, none of that could keep them apart, because they are one another's true loves. Since Dixie was last killed, Tad has seemed like a piece of him is missing and the character has never been the same.

As the show prepares to wrap up its run, the writers need to give fans a nice Tad and Dixie send off, even if it involves Dixie as a ghost visiting Tad to help him move on.

2. Angie and Jesse-A couple so fated to be together, 25 years and a real soap death couldn't keep them apart. Angie was the privileged nice girl, while Jesse was the thug from the wrong side of the tracks, it's a story as old as time, how could they not end up together?

They ran away and got married, starting one of the greatest love stories in all of soaps. The summer Jesse went on the run with Jenny, my grandmother never missed an episode. Angie's love transformed Jesse into an upstanding citizen who even became a cop. When he was shot in the line of duty and died in the hospital while Angie looked on, I cried like crazy.

However, when he came back and they reunited at that train station, I cried even more. The convoluted circumstances of his return didn't matter, all that mattered was that my favorite couple was back where they belonged, together.




3. Zach and Kendall-I know putting them this high on the list is going to draw criticism, but what makes them great, is that not only did they love each other, they didn't try to change each other.
Both of these characters are complicated people, so finding a partner who could understand and accept them was difficult. Ryan and Aidan always wanted to change Kendall and Zach needed a woman who could challenge him. In yet another classic soap storyline, their marriage of convenience turned into a real union when they fell in love.

Though they were put through the soap ringer, they never stopped loving one another until the day Zach died in a plane crash. Of course, the body was never recovered and in the soap world that means he's not dead. If there's one thing "All My Children" does before it ends, it needs to reunite Zach and Kendall.



4. Jenny and Greg-You know a couple is great when fans still talk about them long after both stars have left the show. Jenny and Greg were part of the greatest summer ever with Angie, Jesse, Tad and Liza. They were the very definition of young love. They went through everything, scheming exes, sudden paralysis and an untimely death. Jenny's death is still one of the most talked about in soap history and will probably be mentioned when we get to the most heartbreaking deaths.

Laurence Lau and Kim Delaney have stated in several interviews that not a day goes by that someone doesn't come up to them to talk about Jenny and Greg. Now that's a supercouple.

5. Stuart and Cindy-Adam's twin brother Stuart was never as smart as Adam, but he had a sweetness to him that everyone loved. When he fell in love with Cindy Parker, an AIDS patient, it was truly groundbreaking television.

There beautiful love story served to showcase David Canary's brilliant acting and educated viewers about AIDS at a time when the disease was becoming a household name. Cindy's death is an episode that is still remembered as one of the best in the show's history.

6. Cliff and Nina

7. Hayley and Mateo

8. Leo and Greenlee

9. Cecily and Nico

10. Adam and Brooke

New feature: Celebrating soaps

To celebrate and honor "One Life to Live" and "All My Children" as they prepare to end after over 40 years on televison I will discuss the greatest moments, characters and couples of each show.

Every Thursday I will countdown a new top ten topic from each show. This week I'm starting things off with the greatest couples.

When I say greatest couples, I mean supercouples, pairings whose love story was epic and is still talked about to this day.

Let me know who should be included in the list on Twitter or in the comments.

The fight to save soap operas

While long time fans are still struggling to process the cancellation of "One Life to Live" and "All My Children," stories are coming out about behind the scenes dealings at ABC Daytime and whether the shows ever really had a chance.

Deadline Hollywood has a fascinating story up about power plays at Disney when Soapnet's future was in question.

Several strategies were suggested including making the channel a hip, destination network for women with the codename Carrie, based on Sarah Jessica Parker's "Sex and the City" character.

Another suggestion was Disney Moms, a channel that moms could watch with their families.

At the same time the Disney Channel staff was working on Disney Juniors and pitched that. Ultimately, Disney Juniors was chosen and it was announced Soapnet wouls cease operations in January 2012. However, now Disney Juniors isn't quite ready to go and Soapnet will stay on the air longer, but what will it show, there are only four soaps left and it only has the rights to three of them.

Why can't "One Life to Live" and "All My Children" continue on Soapnet and online? It would mean massive changes and cuts but at least the shows would still live and Disney would have them in case the new reality, talk shows don't work out.

Of course what do I know I've only been watching daytime dramas my entire life.

Soaps most suprising twist ending

Soap operas are known for shocking twists like evil twins and sudden amnesia, however, the most surprising twist came when ABC announced today that it was cancelling "All My Children" and "One Life to Live."

While rumors have been brewing for awhile, it was just recently that "All My Children's" producers assured cast members that the show wasn't being canceled.

Unfortunately, ABC had other ideas and said that it would be ending the long running daytime dramas in favor of new lifestyle programming.

I understand that soaps have been struggling for awhile, dealing with diminishing ratings and massive budget cuts. However, soaps are a different kind of TV, their longevity breeds loyalty and creates generational viewing, where the show is passed down through the family.

This announcement truly breaks my heart, as I have been watching soaps my whole life, because my grandmother loved them and it became our daily routine to watch her stories. To this day when I watch, I think of her.

"All My Children" ends in September and "One Life to Live" airs its finale in January 2012. I will of course talk about this more as the finales approach, but now I'm going to watch a marathon of Erica Kane's weddings and cry.

'One Life to Live' takes on bullying, delivers great story

Soap operas get a bad rap for being melodramatic and fantastical, and that's absolutely true, however, they also often feature real groundbreaking stories that will do more for a cause than any celebrity endorsement will ever do.

As a matter of fact, they are usually the first TV shows to tackle sensitive social issues. This has been the case on "One Life to Live" this month with the bullying storyline featuring Jack Manning and Shane Morasco.

Jack is the privileged son of longtime favorites Todd and Blair, while Shane is the son of not rich, but very popular Gigi and Rex. Jack has been making Shane's life miserable with an increasingly diabolical campaign of harassment. So far, he has cyber bullied him, framed him for theft, and stolen his asthma inhaler causing Shane to have a dangerous attack.

Most recently Jack posted a naked video of Shane online, sending Shane to the breaking point. He became suicidal and headed to the school roof. The performance in this scene by Austin Williams (pictured below), who plays Shane, was heartbreaking. Williams made Shane's pain, loneliness and despair palpable and gave an Emmy worthy performance.


Bullying has become a hot topic lately and for "One Life to Live" to take the subject matter and unflinchingly show the consequences does more than 100 PSAs and Internet videos.

Soap opera parents are notoriously absent from their children's lives and that will also be explored in the storyline, as will Jack's reaction to what his actions did to Shane. He is unapologetically unremorseful at the moment, however that will change when he finds out about Shane's suicide attempt.

Young actors on daytime are often asked to portray stories well beyond their years. The outcome is hit or miss, depending on the skills of the actor, however Williams and Andrew Trischitta, who plays Jack, have been delivering honest depictions of an important story.

No more Adam Chandler

For soap fans yesterday was a sad day as David Canary of "All My Children" announced he was retiring from the show.

Canary has played Adam and Stuart Chandler for 27 years, winning five Daytime Emmys and 11 nominations.

It is believed that his retirement coincides with the show moving its production from New York to Los Angeles.

The tragedy in this is that Adam is such an integral part of the show that his absence will create a massive hole in the canvas. Adam is Pine Valley's ruthless businessman who has been responsible for some of the show's most heinous acts over the years.

Despite Adam's villainy, Canary was always able to bring a level of vulnerability and caring to the role. A lot of this came from his portrayal of Adam's sweet and compassionate twin Stuart.

Apparently he will be leaving town with one of his many exes (rumors say it will be Brooke who returns next week) and handing over Chandler Enterprises to his son JR.

As a longtime viewer of the show this news is devastating because coupled with the recent passing of daytime legends James Mitchell and Frances Reid, it is another blow to the already struggling soap opera industry.

Check out James Franco on 'General Hospital'

The brand new promo for James Franco's two month appearance on "General Hospital" has been released. His character begins airing on Nov. 20 and has a weird obsession with Jason Morgan (Steve Burton).

This story is a big deal for daytime, which has been hurting lately. It will be interesting to see if this inspires other big stars to make guest appearances.

Click on the link for the amazing video of Franco joining the best show on daytime.

It's "Light's" out

Today is a sad day for anyone fascinated by television history. "Guiding Light," the longest running show in broadcast history, taped its final episodes today.

The CBS soap opera began airing as a 15 minute radio program in 1937 and moved to TV in 1952. For 72 years it has entertained fans with weddings, pregnancies, deaths, people coming back to life, kidnappings, royal intrigue and even clones.

Unfortunately, it couldn't find a clever soap opera plot to deal with the economy and was canceled by CBS.

"Guiding Light" is not the first soap canceled and it probably won't be the last, with many saying that sister show "As the World Turns" is on the bubble. However, the shock and sadness for soap fans is the cavalier attitude CBS has displayed in making this decision.

The network doesn't seem to be giving the show the sendoff it deserves. When a show has brought viewers to your network for 57 years, the least you can do is give it a little fanfare on the way out.

And by the way CBS, I don't think your "Let's Make a Deal" remake is going to inspire the same level of loyalty as a program that enthralled, educated and entertained consistently for 72 years.

So even if CBS won't say it, I will, thank you to the cast and crew of "Guiding Light" for all the fantastic years of storytelling.