Hold onto your scrapbooks, All My Children fans! ABC is in the early stages of creating a primetime version of the long-running soap opera. The series, currently being referred to as Pine Valley, will see AMC alums Kelly Ripa (Hayley Santos) and Mark Consuelos (Mateo Santos) serving as executive producers. Pine Valley is, of course, a nod to the fictional town where All My Children took place. Ripa and Consuelos will be joined at the helm by filmmaker Andrew Stearn and Robert Nixon, the son of late AMC creator Agnes Nixon.
There are scarce details at the moment other than a few general story breakdowns. Reports Deadline, the AMC reboot starts when "a young journalist with a secret agenda comes to expose the dark and murderous history of a town named Pine Valley only to become entangled in a feud between the Kane and Santos families."
To date, none of All My Children's daytime stars are signed to the project, though it is reported that "some old favorites" will be a part of the series in some way. Ripa and Consuelos are also reportedly among the former stars that will make appearances.
Stearn is said to be the driving force behind the AMC revival. As a lifelong fan of all things Pine Valley, Stearn is said to have signed a development deal with ABC Signature because it would allow him his dream of bringing All My Children back to life. The revival has the support of ABC Signature's Tracy Underwood, and was given the blessing of ABC's former head of daytime William Burton, and then-President of ABC Entertainment Karey Burke.
All My Children ran from January 5, 1970, until September 23, 2011, when the long-running soap was canceled by ABC. You can read all about the cancellation announcement here. Made on April 14, 2011, the day is referred to by many soap fans as "Black Thursday," because it also announced the end of Nixon's other classic soap, One Life to Live.
All My Children and One Life to Live were revived briefly by Prospect Park in 2013 as a streaming series. At the time, however, streaming wasn't a mainstream concept. Prospect Park struggled with the reboots, and both shows ended later that year. The reboots were mired in lawsuits for years, as Prospect Park alleged that ABC tried to torpedo its project. In December 2016, Soap Central broke the news that the licenses for both soaps had reverted back to ABC. For the past several years, ABC execs have hinted that there have been talks about an All My Children reboot.
As is the case with most planned shows, it isn't a done deal that Pine Valley will make it to our screens, but it certainly seems very likely!
What do you think about a primetime AMC revival? Are you at all upset that it won't be in daytime? Which stars are you hoping to see as part of the series? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
