All My Children
Josh Duhamel Sells Primetime Soap Pilot Set Behind-The-Scenes Of A Soap During The Faltering Times Of The Genre!
Photo Credit: Kathy Hutchins
We were wondering who would be the person to be able to get a juicy drama of what goes on behind-the-scenes at a daytime soap during the trying times the genre faces on primetime television. And today, that person turns out to be motion picture star and former Daytime Emmy winner, Josh Duhamel (Ex-Leo, AMC)!
Deadline.com is reporting that yet another primetime soap pilot project has been bought by ABC, who has associated with it none other than Revenge writers-producers Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts from an original idea by actor Josh Duhamel.
The untitled ABC project takes place behind the scenes of a daytime soap and explores the loves, lives, and lunacy at an on-the-bubble series, where the antics of the cast and crew are crazier than any of the plot lines they broadcast. Set during a time when the daytime drama genre is faltering, this larger-than-life “workplace family” fights a never-ending, desperate battle to keep their show on the air, their egos secure, and their relationships intact. Duhamel can certainly draw on personal experience, having started off on the ABC soap All My Children. He co-created the show with Berg and Harberts, who will write the script. Mark Gordon, Nicholas Pepper, Berg, Harberts, Duhamel and his friend, fellow actor Oliver Hudson will executive produce.
So what do you think of this one soapers? Excited? Sound like a drama-filled, “Soap Dish”? Let us know your thoughts!
Well have mixed feelings about it sounds like a good show but think being it is on abc a lot of soapfans will be very upset if they can make this show how come they can not bring our soaps back een if they have to hire new actors at least give it a try
I totally agree. Next, maybe ABC will make a comedy about the death of a well-liked famous person. ABC is known for poor taste and bad decisions…we learned that when they dropped our soaps.
Erika Slezak !!!!
She’d be wonderful in this show. In fact, get all the cast from AMC and OLTL !!!
It would be the highest rated ABC show.
That show sounds great to me , I can’t wait to see it especially with Josh . I hope he casts alot of the soap opera actors from AMC and OLTL. and then it will be a hit for sure.
I find it painfully ironic that ABC has bought this series. Oh gee, ABC-NOW you’re making fun of the genre you wanted to destroy? Which is it, do we matter, or don’t we? If this project gets off the ground, we’ll know our answer…
Agreed. The only show I will watch on ABC is GH, so I may never see this show. I do love the concept. I’ve thought over the last few years that the drama behind the scenes of our favorite daytime shows was more dramatic than the soaps themselves. Maybe I’ll sneak a peek.
Agree with the above two comments. ABC you disgusted me I can’t believe you would cancel two shows with such history and you keep making prime time soaps. Why didn’t you just move daytime to primetime and maybe your rating would be in the trash right now. Wake up
Totally agree. Although I love Josh, I will not be watching this show on ABC. A boycott is a boycott.
Soapdish was one of my fave movies..i love the concept! Can’t wait to see who they cast!!
I know…my first thought was “Soapdish Ripoff”. lol. Look forward to casting news as well. Lots of great unemployed talent out there.
I just find it incredibly interesting that ABC keeps green lighting these primetime soaps….yet they were so quick to throw the axe down on their daytime lineup. To me, there’s no difference between a daytime soap and a primetime soap….except that daytime soaps air every day, and they’re a lot juicier… For a network that claims the genre is dead, they sure love pumping out soaps.
Oh, the painful irony! Jerkfaces:(
ABC bought, eh? Doubt it will ever see the light of day, er, make that, night. If it were to be real, it certainly would have sooo much to draw upon considering how ABC treated its stellar soaps: AMC and OLTL. Of course, P&G soaps are fuel for fodder, for sure. I would be VERY interested in watching this type of show. Hope it makes it on air.
Sounds great!!
If this project is greenlighted, I want to see Josh ensure his AMC co-star Vincent Irizarry is one of the first actors hired! 🙂
Sounds great………..but I won’t be watching it. Sorry, nothing but GH for me!
Sounds great!
this behind the scenes soap better address why daytime soaps have such a problem w/ racial diversity. hispanics make up 10% of the demographics yet they are heavily under represented on soaps. more annoying is that soaps even have the temerity to hire white actors to portray hispanic roles! asian americans are growing as a demographic and are even expanding more than hispanics. yet have there ever been long term core asian american families and asian male romantic leading men on soaps? the stereotype of primetime and especially daytime soaps are that they are backwards. soaps are like the gop. they have branding problems and they have not reached racial minority demographics and have alienated racial minorities. soaps are too white centric and the exclusion of racial minorities is perceived as racist.
I disagree. All My Children wasn’t known as “the teaching soap” for nothing. Both AMC and One Life To Live had very progressive storylines. AMC first dealt with abortion, HIV/AIDS, and Bianca’s coming out was epic. The Angie & Jesse reunion was very moving (not to mention beautifully shot, great photography). OLTL had the first gay love scene between two men, and the writers mastered the DID mental health issue the second (and subsequent) time(s) around, educating audiences. The Vega and Ganon families were always awesome and Nora’s Judaism was never ignored. I don’t think the diversity viewers were exposed to on both shows should be underestimated.
I think it’s great..I really miss AMC & OLTL….Josh has had great experience with soaps & will have great insistence with the show…
Finally someone has come to our rescue and none other then one of our own favorites .I for one am very excited if anyone can pull it off it will be our Leo!!
This is wonderful news! I love Josh Duhamel so much!!!
Mixed feelings… not sure I like a show that is about a genre that is dying… does that help push it over the edge into the grave or does it somehow show why it shouldn’t die and find away to deal with the standard network ratings issues and the fact that most people watch them on demand or on the internet… like they do with night-time soaps!
Sounds interesting. Hopefully soap actors will star or cameo.
Love Josh, but sounds like another ABC scheme to weasel ratings out of the boycotting soap fans. No thanks.
So what!?! If you want a soap bring back OLTL, I dare them to cancel a fabulous show just to add one that hasn’t been tested. OLTL would be great once a week, believe that was even an idea on here, but ABC shot it down and said they’d never bring it back. Well, I’ll never watch it, still boycotting!
I love Josh and think this would be much better news if he was dealing with a cable network and not ABC. I no longer watch ABC and it would more then likely be canceled without giving it much of a chance to succeed, thats what they do.
I agree-I’m not against the concept of the show as much as I am ABC doing it. It just seems like ABC wants to put pressure to our necks while rubbing our noses in it over AMC/OLTL
ditto.
Why are they providing prime time soaps and ignoring the need for the daytime soaps that many (if not most) viewers want? ABC/D remains stupid and short-sighted.
I am afraid this will make a mockery of the soap genre and those who work in the industry. I hope I am wrong.
It’s a cute idea that could work, but it’s also a concept that could help PROMOTE ABC’s daytime soaps, if only the executives had the courage to admit cancelling two out of three of them was a huge mistake. Bring back All My Children and One Life To Live by producing them in cost-effective Atlanta and broadcasting them on sister cable network ABC Family. It can be done if they’re willing to do some real work. The reality replacement shows showed very little effort on their part and faltered because of it. Roll up those white sleeves and make something again! We want those iconic characters back. We want scripted, well written content. Three to five million loyal viewers are waiting…
Completely agree. The Walking Dead is a ratings MONSTER hit, filmed in & around Atlanta. Started on a shoestring budget and now fans can’t get enough.
BRING BACK OUR SOAPS!
Thanks, MB Mom of 3! I should also add that Atlanta is just a 2-hour plane trip from New York City for talent like Erika Slezak (OLTL) who don’t wish to relocate and that many boutique hotels in The ATL would be thrilled to make monthly arrangements for their shooting schedules. For talent who would make the move, there’s so much additional work they could pick up from the numerous shows and films (Flight, starring Denzel Washington, for example) shooting in and around town. Atlanta is a real, affordable solution.
Sorry but have not watched one ABC program since All My Children last aired. I made a vow and I’m stickin to it.
Unless it has AMC actors, I won’t watch. I want everything that ABC does to fail. Still boycotting. I won’t even watch General Hospital.
Sounds like American Girl Trapped on a Telenovela, which stars Robin Strasser and Guy Ecker to air on New Network Matriarch Television. they have a facebook page. It’s a comedy though. Airs next sept, 2013.
this is an ABC project??!!! and how much is this going to cost them to produce??? bring back LLanview, you jerks!
All My Children
‘All My Children’ Movie Writers for Lifetime Revealed: Ron Carlivati, Jamey Giddens and Leo Richardson
This week began and as reported with a spotlight article on Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos and how their production entity, Milojo, has been teeing up the All My Children reboot with Lifetime.
The L.A. Times featured the married couple, co-hosts of Live with Kelly and Mark, and former All My Children cast members (where they met and fell in love) about their plans to bring two All My Children movies to Lifetime and how they are working with the Agnes Nixon estate to make it come to fruition,
On Wednesday, it was revealed by Daytime Confidential, that All My Children reboot producer, Andrew Stearn handpicked none other than Ron Carlivati (ex-head writer, One Life to Live, General Hospital and Days of our Lives) and Jamey Giddens (who is the new co-head writer of The Young and the Restless, following his tenures on the writing teams of Beyond the Gates and Days of Our Lives), as the two scribes who will bring the first of two of Kelly and Mark’s All My Children movies to the page.
Photo: IMDb
RON CARLIVATI AND JAMEY GIDDENS CONFIRM THEIR BOARDING THE ALL MY CHILDREN MOVIE PROJECT
The second installment is said to be written by primetime writer Leo Richardson whose credits include: Star, Katy Keene and more recently the Penn Badgley (ex-Phillip Chancellor IV, The Young and the Restless) starring series, You.
Richardson also wrote for three years on the U.K.’s long-running soap, EastEnders. All My Children revival fans will recall Richardson’s name was attached as the writer for the first incarnation of the All My Children movies, entitled, Pine Valley.
Ron Carlivati took to X and confirmed he is indeed boarding the All My Children movie project. Carlivati shared, “So excited to share this news! Thanks to Andrew Stearn, Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos, Albert Bianchini and the Agnes Nixon estate for entrusting Jamey Giddens and me with the first of two planned All My Children movies for Lifetime! Stay tuned!”
Photo: Jeremy Smith/imageSPACE
Jamey Giddens confirmed DC’s announcement by taking to his account on X and expressing, “I’ve been booked and busy in 2026. Thanks to Andrew Stearn, the Agnes Nixon estate, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos for entrusting Ron Carlivati, and me with the first of two planned All My Children movies for Lifetime!”
Some fans seemed to question how Giddens could be writing for the first All My Children movie at Lifetime, when he is the new co-head writer at The Young and the Restless with Dan O’Connor. Jamey answered that head on via X and explained, “We turned in our All My Children script months ago. My sole focus as of this past Monday, is Genoa City, Wisconsin! #YR”
ERICA KANE, MARIA SANTOS AND HAYLEY AND MATEO SANTOS TO APPEAR IN THE ALL MY CHILDREN MOVIE REVIVAL?
In the planned stories, Susan Lucci’s Erica Kane and Eva LaRue’s Maria Santos will be two characters whose lives we will get to see for the first time since the series was canceled by ABC back in 2011 after 41 years on the air. As well, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos confirmed they will make brief appearances on-screen; one could assume as Hayley and Mateo Santos.
“It’d be wonderful to give the fans something that they’ve been yearning for so many years,” shared Mark Consuelos to the LA Times. “All My Children gave me my family. I met my wife there. It gave me my start in the business. It gave us so much. It would be a dream to be able to give back.”
So, what do you think of Ron Carlivati and Jamey Giddens getting nod to write the All My Children movie #1 script and Leo Richardson #2? Weigh-in via the comment section below.
All My Children
‘All My Children’ Revival Updates: Lifetime EVP Speaks on Why Proposed Movies are Great Fit, Mark Consuelos Wants To ‘Give Back’ to Fans
The All My Children revival via movies at Lifetime is still in the works from former series stars and marrieds, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, through their production company, Milojo.
The co-hosts of Live with Kelly and Mark were featured this week in a Los Angeles Times article which detailed their efforts to bring some of the citizens of Pine Valley back to your screens.
As previously reported, and reaffirmed by the L.A. Times, the All My Children movies will be set in the present day and focus on what beloved characters such as Erica Kane (Susan Lucci) and Maria Santos Gray (Eva LaRue) are doing now. In addition, Kelly Ripa confirmed that she and Mark Consuelos will also appear on screen briefly most likely appearing in their signature soap roles as Hayley and Mateo Santos.
Photo: ABC
ALL MY CHILDREN MOVIES BRING NOSTALGIA THAT CAN BE MADE TO FEEL NEW AGAIN
Elaine Frontain Bryant, executive vice president and head of programming for A&E, Lifetime, and Lifetime Movie Network said of the All My Children reboot, “Lifetime is always interested in shows that kind of tap into a powerful nostalgia that can be made fresh for today’s audience. There’s a whole generation of women that have missed these stories and these characters.”
As for working with Kelly and Mark on the Lifetime movie versions of the soap, “They’re exactly the kind of partners you want at a brand,” expressed Bryant. “They’re trusted voices because every day they’re talking to their audience, which, a lot of times, is our audience. They bring a real credibility and have an authentic point of view. You meet Kelly and Mark and kind of what you see is what you get, and I think they bring that same authenticity to their development standards.”
Albert Bianchini, executive producer for Milojo, says he knows All My Children is so wildly popular with the fans of daytime. That was punctuated when seeing it in person, and how the energy was off the charts back in January of 2025 when Kelly participated along with Susan Lucci, former head writer, Lorraine Broderick and casting director, Judy Blye Wilson in a conversation with Andy Cohen at the 92nd Street Y in New York City.
© Steven Bergman/AFF-USA.COM Credit: AFF/Alamy Live News
“I’ve never seen a crowd like that in my life. People were lined up around the block, recalled the Bianchini. “Everyone wanted to know, ‘When is (All My Children) coming back? We want more.’ We got to see that in real life and Kelly got to feel it in real life, and it made so much sense. I just know that the minute it gets out in the world, people will want more and more and more. There’s just a love there.”
Kelly Ripa added that they are, “working closely with Bob and Sarah Nixon, who are also serving as producers.” She recalled, “She (Agnes Nixon) was so far ahead of her time. She covered topics that weren’t being covered. It was extraordinary the audiences that the show drew, and she served them real stories that were affecting Americans across the country but weren’t necessarily being represented anywhere.”
“It’d be wonderful to give the fans something that they’ve been yearning for so many years,” shared Mark Consuelos. “All My Children gave me my family. I met my wife there. It gave me my start in the business. It gave us so much. It would be a dream to be able to give back.”
THE CANCELLATION AND STOPS AND STARTS OF ALL MY CHILDREN REBOOTS
All My Children aired on ABC from 1970 to 2011. It got a second chance at life when Prospect Park resurrected the show and brought it to The OnLine Network and Hulu for one season in 2013.
Recently, the series made a return through the estate of Agnes Nixon and is streaming internationally on BEONDTV and through their partnership with PlutoTV Canada with episodes starting in 1995. Fans hope original episodes will some day soon be available in the U.S. as well, but that could prove more difficult since ABC owns the rights to the episodes stateside.
Now 13 years later, while there is no word yet on a definitive production start date to the two movies at Lifetime, all the people involved seemed determined to make it come to life.
So, what do you think of the executive vice-president of Lifetime and LMN being enthusiastic about Kelly and Mark’s All My Children movie revivals? Are you wanting to see this come to fruition? Kelly and Mark seem to have made this a very high priority. Do you hope that by 2027 we might be able to get this to the finish the line and into production? Weigh-in via the comment section.
Starting on May 1, All My Children fans in Canada will be able to see classic episodes of the beloved former ABC soap opera when they stream on Pluto TV Canada.
Pluto TV picked-up the All My Children Channel that the Nixon family has created in partnership with BEONDTV +. The show which aired for 41 years on ABC and ended on the network in 2011, had so many memorable storylines and characters; the least of which is the enduring run of Erica Kane played by soap icon, Susan Lucci.
As previously reported, starting with episodes from the year 1995, which was the 25th anniversary of the soap. Pluto TV Canada viewers will be able to catch 8 episodes on repeat per day. With the success of the venture, the Nixons are hopeful that they will bring viewers many more years of the show to come.
Photo: ABC
Sarah Nixon, producer, shared with Michael Fairman TV exclusively, “We are thrilled that Pluto TV has launched All My Children in Canada! Let’s hope the engagement from our incredibly loyal fans across the border will encourage ABC to bring it to the U.S.! We share what Aggie (Agnes Nixon) always felt, that it is the enthusiasm and love from the fans that has kept this legacy beloved and relevant – to this day!”
In addition, 0ne week ago, during Susan Lucci’s visit to Los Angeles promoting her book La Lucci, she was joined by her former Pine Valley castmates, Rebecca Budig (ex-Greenlee, AMC, now Taylor, B&B) and Eva LaRue (ex-Maria, AMC) and the trio posed for a pic. At that time, LaRue shared via Instagram, “NEW All My Children channel streaming classic episodes 24/7 now on Pluto TV Canada! Fingers crossed to watch soon on Pluto US.”
That was also confirmed this week by TV Watercooler’s Jeevan Brar who took to X and expressed, “The All My Children channel begins streaming this Friday, May 1 on Pluto TV Canada.
So, Canadian viewers, excited about Pluto TV’s All My Children channel? United States fans, hopeful from Sarah’s message that perhaps soon, we can see the beloved soap once again as well? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
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