Editing All My Children (section)

=== 1970s ===
[[File:Ruth Warwick Phoebe Tyler 1973.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Ruth Warrick as Phoebe Tyler]]
''All My Children'' debuted on January 5, 1970, replacing the canceled game show ''[[Dream House (game show)|Dream House]]''. [[Rosemary Prinz]] was signed on to be the "special guest star" for six months, playing the role of political activist Amy Tyler. Prinz was well known for her role of Penny Hughes on ''As the World Turns'' in the 1950s and 1960s, and she was added to the show to give it an initial boost due to her name value. From 1970 and into the 1980s, the show was either written by Nixon herself or by her protégé, [[Wisner Washam]]. He was groomed by Nixon to eventually take over the reins in the 1980s while she focused on other endeavors, which included creating and launching ''[[Loving (TV series)|Loving]]'' in 1983. {{citation needed|date=March 2014}}

Nixon strove to create a soap opera that was topical and could illustrate social issues for the audience.<ref name="NIXON">{{cite web|title=NIXON, AGNES. U.S. Writer-Producer|work=museum.tv|url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/N/htmlN/nixonagnes/nixonagnes.htm|access-date=2007-07-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713081129/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/N/htmlN/nixonagnes/nixonagnes.htm|archive-date=July 13, 2007|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> She wanted this and a combination of regular humor for the series. To keep the action more real, she allowed the audience to locate her fictional "Pine Valley" on a map: situated a mere hour-long train ride from New York City. Many believed Pine Valley was in New York because of a town called [[Catlin, New York|Pine Valley]] in [[western New York]]. However, it was not until the 1980s that it was finally revealed that Pine Valley is actually in Pennsylvania, near [[Philadelphia]] and also near ''One Life to Live''{{'}}s [[Llanview]]. (Nixon reportedly modeled the town on Rosemont, an actual suburb of Philadelphia.)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.phillymag.com/articles/2007/06/08/legends-the-original-desperate-housewife/|title=Legends: The Original Desperate Housewife|last=Callahan|first=Michael|date=8 Jun 2007|website=Philadelphia Magazine|access-date=February 12, 2018|archive-date=February 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180213024121/http://www.phillymag.com/articles/2007/06/08/legends-the-original-desperate-housewife/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The show's first action takes place around several families and characters. [[Phoebe Tyler Wallingford|Phoebe Tyler]] ([[Ruth Warrick]]), who fashions herself as "Queen of Pine Valley", was the paradigm of a rich snob when she is introduced. A divorced mother, [[Mona Kane]] ([[Frances Heflin]]), and her spoiled daughter, [[Erica Kane|Erica]] ([[Susan Lucci]]) were also introduced. Contrasting this was the stable [[Joe Martin (All My Children character)|Martin family]], headed by patriarch Joe and later (after the death of her husband, Ted Brent) by matriarch Ruth, who became a symbolic foundation of ''All My Children''. Destined to break up the young romance of classmates [[Tara Martin]] ([[Karen Lynn Gorney]]) and Phil Brent ([[Richard Hatch (actor)|Richard Hatch]]), Erica learned that Phil was not the son of Ruth and Ted, but instead, the son of Ruth's sister, Amy Tyler (Rosemary Prinz) and her mother's friend, Nick Davis. In a selfish attempt to break up Phil and Tara, she told everyone the truth.

''All My Children''{{'}}s first success was its focus on young love. ABC wanted a soap opera that would bring in young viewers, and slowly the program was accomplishing that.<ref name="NIXON" /> The show's ratings did not start out strong, however. In its first year on the air, it ranked No. 17 out of 19 soap operas. Despite this, its audience grew with each passing year.

The show was unique for its use of the [[Vietnam War]]. Before ''All My Children'' debuted, no show had discussed the war in any depth. There were traditional Phoebe and free-spirited Amy both butting heads over the war, with Amy often leading protests around Pine Valley. When Amy left, Ruth takes over as the anti-war voice and protests against the war in the early 1970s. The character's protest speech in 1972 won [[Mary Fickett]] the first [[Emmy Award]] given to a soap opera performer. Later in the show's run, Phoebe softened.

Nurse Caroline Murray, played by Patricia Dixon, was a Vietnam veteran who overcame her chilling flashbacks to the war with the help of Dr. Frank Grant (John Danelle) in 1976. Dr. [[List of All My Children characters (1970s)#Franklin "Frank" Grant|Frank Grant]], first seen in Pine Valley in 1972, his wife [[Nancy Grant (All My Children)|Nancy]] (played by Lisa Wilkinson and first seen in 1973), and [[List of All My Children characters (1970s)#Caroline Murray|Caroline]] (debuting in 1976) were the first Black leading characters on ''All My Children''.

In May 1972, the character of Erica Kane Martin became the first television character to undergo a legal abortion.<ref>{{cite news|title=Life Can Be Beautiful/Relevant|last=Astrachan|first=Anthony|date=March 23, 1975|work=The New York Times Times}}</ref>
Making the abortion particularly controversial is Erica's reason for doing it, not because of her jeopardized health, but rather because she did not want to gain weight and lose her modeling job. The abortion story received much media attention, especially since it preceded the Roe vs. Wade decision by nearly a year. Within the story, Erica developed a potentially fatal infection after having the abortion, and the switchboards at ABC lit up with calls from doctors and nurses, offering their medical opinions on how best to treat the character's case. The storyline has been credited for boosting the show's ratings, as well as helping establish Erica Kane as a central character who would dominate the show for its entire run.

Phoebe's husband Charles ([[Hugh Franklin (actor)|Hugh Franklin]]) became close to Mona (Erica's mother and his secretary at the hospital). The two fell in love and Charles divorced Phoebe, even though she tried to blackmail Mona and even faked [[paralysis]]. In the end, Phoebe was left a drunken divorcée and Mona becomes the new Mrs. Tyler. This ordeal starts the long-time Phoebe/Mona rivalry.

When [[Eileen Letchworth]], who portrayed Margo Flax Martin, contemplated a facelift, she talked it over with Nixon. Not only was Letchworth going to need time off, she was going to look significantly different when she returned to the show. Nixon approved and worked the facelift into a storyline. Margo wanted to impress the somewhat younger Paul Martin ([[William Mooney (actor)|William Mooney]]). Margo's facelift in 1974 became one of the first major storylines on television discussing [[plastic surgery]] and its psychological effects.

In June 1976, character [[Brooke English]] showed up on her Aunt Phoebe's doorstep and soon clashed with Erica over [[Tom Cudahy]] and Mark Dalton. In 1976, when Kitty Shea Tyler was searching for her natural mother, the show introduced [[Myrtle Fargate|Myrtle Lum Fargate]] ([[Eileen Herlie]]).

By the late 1970s, the show had risen to the top of the ratings. One reason for the rise was the arrival of teenage prostitute Donna Beck (Candice Earley). Her relationship with the handsome Dr. Chuck Tyler breathed life into the show and captivated fans. Other new additions are the arrivals of aristocratic [[Palmer Cortlandt]] (aka Peter Cooney) ([[James Mitchell (actor)|James Mitchell]]), his somewhat creepy housekeeper Myra Murdock ([[Elizabeth Lawrence (actress)|Elizabeth Lawrence]]), and his overprotected daughter Nina ([[Taylor Miller]]), who, to Palmer's chagrin, entrances [[Cliff Warner|Dr. Cliff Warner]] ([[Peter Bergman]]). Palmer does everything in his power to break up the couple, including telling Nina she is going blind due to her diabetes. Palmer teams up with Cliff's past flame, nurse Sybil Thorne ([[Linda Gibboney]]), who confronts Cliff about fathering her son, but this is temporary; Sybil is murdered and Cliff is arrested for the crime, which actually was committed by Sean Cudahy (Alan Dysert). During the murder trial, Nina is astonished to learn that her mother, Daisy Cortlandt ([[Gillian Spencer]]), whom she believes to be dead, is, in fact, alive and living in Pine Valley as Monique Jonvil. To everyone's complete shock, Myra acknowledges that Daisy is her daughter. ''All My Children'' also found memorable villains in Billy Clyde Tuggle ([[Matthew Cowles]]) and Ray Gardner ([[Gil Rogers]]).

''All My Children'' had always aired in color since its 1970 debut. The episodes were initially only saved for a short time on cartridge tapes and were eventually erased in order to tape other productions. Beginning in 1976, all the episodes were saved on cartridge tape and then digitally since the late 1990s. A few early episodes were saved on [[kinescope]] in black and white, one of which aired on ABC in 1997 on a special "A Daytime To Remember", which showcased all TV shows that aired on ABC Daytime. But there are no known pre-1976 episodes to be still in existence on tape.

Nixon personally owned all the early episodes on monochromatic kinescopes. When ABC purchased the rights to ''All My Children'' in 1975, it also received the kinescopes from Nixon with a promise that the network would archive them. However, that promise was broken, because different sources point out that most of them were either lost in a warehouse fire or were erased. As mentioned above, a few early episodes survive.