All My Children opinion columns from 2011

Love a storyline? Want to throw the remote at the screen during others? Our Two Scoops columnists feel the same way. Each week, they provide their own commentary on the action in the Two Scoops column.

Every week, our Two Scoops columnists share their thoughts and opinions in the Two Scoops commentary columns. Those columns are archived to allow fans a chance to make sure that they've read every opinion for every week. This archive features columns written about All My Children in the calendar year.

To access columns from other years or to review columns for other soaps, please see the Related Information links at the bottom of this page to access a specific year. Or to view a listing of all years for which columns are available, simply click here.

January 3, 2011

There are probably a dozen different pearls of wisdom that ask how something so good can be so bad. In a strange way, that's how I feel about All My Children's performance over the past twelve months. There were things that were bad -- that were good for story purposes.

January 10, 2011

One of my biggest pet peeves has to do with people griping and complaining about something, yet offering nothing in the way of a solution. You know, it's like people who complain about the government, but don't vote.

January 17, 2011

Your responses to the "fix" column were overwhelming. I am humbled that so many of you feel that I should be writing -- or at least consulting -- for All My Children. I do want to reiterate that I have no illusions that my ideas are 100% foolproof. My goal was to start a conversation, and maybe to show what a little thoughtful research can do.

January 24, 2011

There are elements of soap operas that are typically and inextricably soapy. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Some of these plot devices, however, are much easier for viewers to accept and digest. The other, less palatable ones, though, always seem to be the ones that soap fans remember.

January 31, 2011

Did you just call me CRAZY? What a classic line when JR asks Annie not to get all crazy on him, and he responds to her, "No, not crazy crazy." Wow, however you define crazy, Annie Chandler is definitely heading for OTT (Over The Top). She is hanging on the edge and we can all mirror what Ryan says to David by week's end, "It's a long way down."

February 7, 2011

I'm puzzled by why Greenlee would ever suggest that she and Ryan should get married at Fusion. Sure, I know that in the era of cost-cutting, it's not economically feasible for soaps to construct new sets for a once-and-done event. But Greenlee's explanation was a jaw-dropper. "This place always makes me happy," Greenlee beamed.

February 14, 2011

This week, I'd like to talk about cast changes and newbies. I know recasts are part and parcel of the genre, but what's with the gratuitous shuffle of perfectly good actors out, and actors with a completely different take on their character in?

February 21, 2011

Apparently, you're not in good hands with all saints. Give us 15 minutes and we could have run a background check on that guy in your hospital room that's claiming to be a minister. Okay, so maybe I am being silly and having a little fun at Eddie Matos' expense -- but you get the idea.

February 28, 2011

I'm sure over the years of writing this opinion column and reporting on the various ins and outs of the world of soaps, I've ticked off a few people. It certainly wasn't by design. However, I pray that there never comes a time when I need to leave a letter in an envelope marked "Open in the event of my untimely demise."

March 7, 2011

Hi everyone, Liz Masters here. I'm stepping in for Dan this week while he takes some time off to celebrate his birthday. Happy birthday, big guy, I hope you have a fantastic day!

March 14, 2011

Every now and again, something happens on All My Children that catches me a little by surprise. Since I posted my last column, there's been one of those surprises playing out on our television screens. So what is it? It's the scope of the fallout from Tad and Cara's wedding.

March 21, 2011

I'm not sure if this will surprise you or not, but it isn't just the juicy, daytime drama that keeps me glued to the soaps. At the risk of sounding like Mary Poppins, I love to laugh -- loud and long and clear. When All My Children gets too dark and there are no jokes or witty remarks, it sort of makes me sad.

March 28, 2011

I've struggled to get this week's column off the ground. With the whispers... and the intimations... and the lack of denials, it's been a really rough week. I feel as though this week, more than ever, this column needs to be something monumental.

April 4, 2011

I love going to the amusement park. There aren't a whole lot of rides that I won't go on - except for maybe the ones that repeatedly turn upside-down... over and over... The first few turns are okay, but after that it starts to make me and my belly very unhappy.

April 11, 2011

I've never been very fond of puzzles. That's a line muttered by Jake at the close of last week's shows. I'm not sure why someone wouldn't like puzzles. I personally love everything about them. Jigsaw, crossword, whodunits -- you name it, I'll try to solve them. I'd have to think that the only time someone wouldn't like a puzzle is if they knew that the solution was going to be something that they didn't want to see or know.

April 18, 2011

Be careful what you wish for. A few weeks back, I revealed that I wanted to take a break from writing this Two Scoops column every week. Come September, I won't have to worry about writing a column every week. This is not how things were supposed to be.

April 25, 2011

I don't want to sound like the coach in one of those inspirational sports movies that pop up in movie theaters every year, but dammit if I have to then so be it. At the time of my writing this column, it was just over a week since ABC announced that it was killing off All My Children and One Life to Live. The network will be replacing both shows with evil, twin talk shows.

May 2, 2011

It's hard to believe, but this is scheduled to be All My Children's very last May Sweeps. Gee, Dan, what a rousing introduction to your Two Scoops column. I'm not trying to be a downer -- trust me. It just seems unfathomable that our show is coming to an end. If there is any good news to be found in all of this, it's that the show is definitely rolling out some interesting, exciting, and emotional storylines.

May 9, 2011

Pine Valley has seen its fair share of mothers over the past 41 years. It's also seen quite a few moms. It is totally unfair to try to address all of the moms in All My Children history in this, a weekly commentary, but that doesn't mean that I can't take a look at the moms who are in Pine Valley right now.

May 16, 2011

Oh my goodness, AMC fans, there is an awful lot to talk about this week -- and I am not quite sure where to begin.

May 23, 2011

I never know where I'll draw inspiration from for a Two Scoops column. Sometimes the column writes itself. Other times there's a storyline that has to be discussed. This week, there was a line that stuck out to me -- and I knew that it would be the kickoff point for my weekly chatterboxing about All My Children.

May 30, 2011

Marissa has mastered the understatement. While on the phone with Bianca -- you know, after Marissa and Bianca were tied up in a closet, and after Bianca revealed that she had been raped -- Marissa decided to sum up the events with the underwhelming, "Crazy day, huh?"

June 6, 2011

I was really quite touched by the scenes between Angie and Madison. First, it's horribly ironic to me considering all the grief that Madison caused the Hubbards a few years back. Angie often talks about her faith and how important God is in her life -- and she's one of the few characters to regularly mention God or anything having to do with religion.

June 13, 2011

Ordinarily, I would be over the moon that Josh Duhamel is returning to All My Children. Josh is now a big name in Hollywood, and the thought of the Transformers star -- a movie series that has already grossed over one billion dollars worldwide -- returning to daytime is something to celebrate.

June 20, 2011

I realized this week, to my utter surprise, that I actually like Caleb. I have no idea when it happened or how, but there it was. Mind you, I never disliked him, but the mountain man thing just wasn't my cup of tea. For months he stomped around Pine Valley, barking at people and referring to Erica as Dorothy, which frankly annoyed me.

June 27, 2011

As you're reading this column, Lorraine Broderick's original storyline material is preparing to hit the airwaves. The episodes with Broderick as the official head writer begin airing the week, and you can already feel the difference. I don't mean to endlessly sing the praises of one particular person, but I will offer kudos when deserved.

July 4, 2011

It's been nearly a month since viewers got their first glimpse of Dixie -- and she hasn't budged from her bed. I know that a lot of you have written in to grumble that Dixie's return hasn't been moving fast enough for your liking. There's a reason why.

July 11, 2011

Who said that All My Children is dead? It may not be exactly the news soap fans wanted to hear, but All My Children will continue on after its September "final episode" on ABC. If you missed the news, ABC has inked a deal with a company called Prospect Park that will allow both AMC and One Life to Live to continue being produced.

July 18, 2011

It's been a week since the announcement that All My Children would live on past its September 23 finale on ABC -- and still fans don't have much in the way of answers. There is some talk that the new production company wants the show to start its web run on September 26, the Monday following AMC's last episode on television. Which stars will be a part of the show? No idea. Where will the episodes air? I haven't a www-dot-clue.

July 25, 2011

I cannot tell you the last time that I was so excited about watching All My Children. Over the past week, I've been anxiously awaiting 1pm so that I could flip on the television and find out what was going to happen next. It is, however, more than just a little bittersweet to know that we needed to wait until just two months before the show's scheduled end to have things become so enrapturing.

August 1, 2011

What happens when there's nothing left to lose? Success. I'm sure there's an Aesop fable buried somewhere in this week's column -- or at the very least a somewhat insightful fortune cookie message. You'll have to let me know when you get done reading the column.

August 8, 2011

Psst! Yeah, you. Slide a little closer to your monitor. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Ready? I see dead people! Please don't tell anyone because they will think that I've lost my mind.

August 15, 2011

From the mid-1970s until the mid-1980s, ABC had a slogan that it used to describe its daytime lineup -- "Love in the Afternoon." It was the era of supercouples, romance, and, I suppose, fantasy. For the longest while, it seemed as though ABC's daytime lineup had become something more like "Gloom and Doom in the Afternoon."

August 22, 2011

The scenes between Jack and Erica were really rather poignant. While Erica has had memorable pairings with many men -- and I mean that in a nice way, not in a finger-wagging judgmental way -- at the end of the day (or the end of the series), it's going to be Erica and Jack... together forever.

August 29, 2011

I've been watching soaps now for more than half of my years here on the planet. Couple that with the fact that I cover all of the various news and casting changes for the Soap Central site, and I guess it's pretty easy to see why very little surprises me. Fainting woman? She's pregnant... or has a brain tumor.

September 5, 2011

In the interest of full disclosure, I did plan to call this week's Two Scoops column "Erica Kane: Trash Picker." Then I got my hands on an advance copy of Susan Lucci's updated memoir, All My Life, and I decided that I needed to go another route. You can get more on the juicy memoir update by clicking here after you're done reading this week's column.

September 12, 2011

Every fairytale has a happy ending. The fair maiden and the prince ride off into the sunset on a beautiful steed. The billionaire businessman climbs a fire escape to whisk the hooker away into a life of privilege. The evil doctor and the beautiful doctor lie on their backs in the park and watch clouds float by.

September 19, 2011

It's hard to believe that we're down to the final week of All My Children episodes -- at least on broadcast television. There's good news and there's bad news as we begin the week of September 19... you'll only have to put up with my column two more times. I'm not sure if that's the good news or the bad news.

September 26, 2011

You can't please all of the people all of the time. In the past 16 years of running the soapcentral.com web site, I've definitely learned that. And, whoo... have I tried. I have to think that the writers of All My Children were left hopelessly in that predicament. How do you wrap up 41 years of history in about 41 minutes of airtime? Do you even bother to tie things up in a pretty little bow when the show isn't really coming to an end?

October 3, 2011

All My Children may have aired its final episode on ABC, but this is not the end. Take a look back at AMC's final week -- and the much-talked about finale -- in a special Two Scoops.

October 10, 2011

It's time to take a trip in the soapcentral.com Wayback Machine to visit memorable stories from this week in All My Children history. Do you remember St. Maria in the push-up bra? Or what about Di Henry trying to pass herself off as JR's mom?

October 17, 2011

The remaining soaps have ramped up their efforts to attract the attention of wayward All My Children viewers. They've signed big name stars and revamped storytelling. Try as they might, though, they'll never be able to replicate AMC's successful history.

October 24, 2011

Not every storyline can be a winner, and in its 41 year history, All My Children had its fair share of storyline clunkers. So what better way to get ready for Halloween than to reflect on some of the scariest, spookiest, worst storylines in AMC history.

October 31, 2011

This marks the first time in 41 years that All My Children hasn't had a November Sweeps, but there are plenty of memory stories to harvest for this week's column. Where were you when these stories played out -- and what did you think at the time?

November 7, 2011

If money were no object, we might be talking about current All My Children storylines instead of having to relive ones from the past. Will AMC return or is it still just a pipedream? Plus, a look back at AMC Sweeps stories when budgets were bigger."

November 14, 2011

November 28, 2011

Prospect Park's failure to transition All My Children to the Internet marks the third time that AMC fans have had to deal with news of the show's demise. Follow one fan's denial, anger, bargaining, and depression as he grieves and tries to accept that AMC might never again return.

December 5, 2011

The most hated man in daytime is gone, but even with Brian Frons exiting his role at the now-defunct ABC Daytime, there are questions that need to be answered. Will Frons ever tell the whole truth? That remains to be seen, but our Dan J Kroll has a list of questions that he wants answered.

December 19, 2011

The holidays may seem empty without a Pine Valley Christmas and a visit from Father Clarence. But this year, maybe more than any other year, there's no reason that we can't all hold out hope for a miracle.

December 26, 2011

2011 may go down as the year in which the grinch stole soap operas, but there were many reasons to hold our heads high as All My Children lovers. This week it's one last look back at the Best of 2011 on AMC.