R.I.P. All My Children — I’ll Remember You Always

Though I’m not a soap opera fan, I have a special place in my heart for All My Children, because my mother watched it religiously while I was growing up. She’d tape it on VHS (remember those?) and sometimes sit for hours in front of the television to catch up on the episodes she missed. At one point, I became addicted too, and it was right around the time Tad returned from his death and went to find Dixie. It took weeks for them to finally reconnect, and I was dying for Dixie to find out that the love her life never really died after all. Can you believe Tad had amnesia and couldn’t remember her? I’ll never forget the great moments with Erika Kane, played by the unforgettable Susan Lucci. I also vividly remember a much curvier Kelly Ripa, who fell in love with her husband, Mark Consuelos on the show. I loved that show — and I’m sad to see it go. But television has changed, and soap operas were targeted to stay-at-home mothers. With the change in both tradition and the economy, those moms aren’t at home anymore — so the ratings suffered. Goodbye All My Children. I’ll love you forever.