Trivia / All My Children

• Acting for Two: There are an unusually high population of twins in Pine Valley — Alex/Anna, Adam/Stuart, Cindy/Karen, Frankie/Maggie, Kitty/Kelly, etc.
  • Kate Collins as Natalie and her sister Janet, although they weren't twins—Janet was pudgy, bespectacled, and dark-haired, the polar opposite of Natalie.
  • Michael E. Knight as Tad Martin and Ted Orsini, although again, they weren't twins, just each other's Identical Stranger.
  • Susan Lucci, in of the series last big storylines, played both Erica and her Loony Fan Jane, who had cosmetic surgery to look exactly like her, and tried to assume her life.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Eva LaRue auditioned for the roles of Kendall Hart and Laurel Banning before being cast as Maria Santos.
• The Character Died with Him: Mona, Phoebe, Myrtle, and Palmer all died along with the performers who portrayed them. In Mona's case, the writers inserted Frances Heflin's cancer diagnosis into the storyline.
• Defictionalization: Enchantment products, jewelry tie-ins, books "written" by Erica and Kendall.
• Distanced from Current Events:
  • Janet's plan to bomb Trevor's wedding was aborted due to the Oklahoma City bombing, though it was eventually revived in 2006 in which she bombed Erica's Mardi Gras Ball.
  • Another episode, this time involving a school shooting, was nixed in wake of the then-recent Virginia Tech shootings.
• Fake Mixed Race: Inverted. Half-Korean, half-Caucasian (Irish/German) Lindsay Price as the Chinese An Li Chen, making this a case of Fake Nationality as well.
• Gay Panic: In the early '80s, the show attempted a gay storyline when a character seeking counseling after her divorce became attracted to her therapist. Negative fan reaction forced writers to abort the storyline and have the woman's counselor help her realize that she wasn't really gay, just lonely and displaying something known as transference (a phenomenon in which one develops feelings for their doctor). Later in 1996, teacher Michael Delaney experienced this in- and out-of-universe when he had to fight for his job due to his sexual orientation. After he won his case and the furor settled, while he gained a boyfriend, no intimacy between them was ever witnessed.
• Hide Your Pregnancy: Both with actresses and In-Universe. In the latter case, Bianca concealed her pregnancy with Miranda.
• Hostility on the Set: Rumours from unconfirmed sources claimed that Susan Lucci and Sarah Michelle Gellar couldn't stand each other — Lucci supposedly resented the fact that Gellar won an Emmy within two years on the show while she had yet to win after almost 25. However, in multiple interviews, Lucci outright denies these rumours and Gellar states these rumours blew everything way out of proportion.
  • James Kiberd (Trevor Dillon) and Kate Collins (Natalie Marlowe) hated each other so much that both threatened to quit if the other wasn't fired. Quite the problem considering that their characters were supposed to be madly in love. Natalie was promptly recast and then killed off.
• The Other Darrin: A good chunk of the cast, often more than once: Ruth, Benny, Jake, Greenlee, Dixie, Nina, Colby, Will, Skye, Janet, Bianca^note Yes, Eden Riegel left for good after a debacle of a storyline penned by a writer who wanted Bianca, an out and proud lesbian, to sleep with Ryan as a result of her wife kissing Zach (long story). Eden protested, he publicly blamed her for the problems, she said Screw This, I'm Outta Here, with her final appearance being the 40th Anniversary show. She did return as Bianca for the short lived revival series...
• Real-Life Relative: Husband-and-wife Mark Consuelos and Kelly Ripa as husband-and-wife Mateo and Hayley.
  • David Canary's brother, John Canary, cropped up as the evil Dr. Voigt.
  • Real-life lovers Eva LaRue and John Callahan married shortly after their characters Maria and Edmund did... and their real-life marriage fell apart shortly after their onscreen one did.
• Star-Making Role: While she'd had acting roles before, Sarah Michelle Gellar's work as Kendall is what put her on the map.
• Trans Character, Cis Actor: Zoe Luper, a transgender woman (albeit a pre-op one still in the "living/dressing as a woman" stage of her transition) was played by cisgender male Jeffrey Carlson.
• Underage Casting: Dixie had a relationship with "much younger man" Brian, even though Dixie was only in her early twenties and the actress playing her was younger than the actor who played Brian.
• Wag the Director: The surprising revelation that Palmer was an outspoken proponent of gay rights came courtesy of James Mitchell refusing to play the storyline as originally written, in which Palmer would have been an equally outspoken homophobe.
• What Could Have Been: Julie Benz auditioned for Kendall Hart. She lost out to none other than her future nemesis Sarah Michelle Gellar.
• Written-In Infirmity: Several times, most famously with Frances Heflin's lung cancer.
  • When Jill Larson injured her hand during a fight scene, the writers turned it into an automobile accident. Coincidentally...
  • James Mitchell suffered a hairline pelvic fracture at the same time, so the writers explained away the wheelchair by the same automobile accident.
• You Look Familiar: Jesse McCartney's appearance as himself after leaving the show.
  • Walt Willey (Jackson Montgomery) had multiple guest spots before landing his contract role.

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