The primetime reboot of “All My Children” is still very much alive despite no new updates on the development front since co-creator and co-executive producer Leo Richardson announced that he had turned in the producer’s draft of “Pine Valley” back in February, and Susan Lucci teased interest in reprising her iconic role as Erica Kane during a chat with Dr. Mehmet Oz on “The Dr. Oz Show” in April. Things could change if fans make their voices heard by the bosses at ABC and ABC Signature, the production company behind the potential series.
Taking to Twitter and Instagram to respond to direct messages he’d been receiving, Richardson noted that there are no updates yet. However, “I wrote the script, true to what I pitched and sold to ABC, and we are waiting now.” He added, “I am incredibly proud of what we have cooked up and we will keep you posted. Fingers crossed for us please.”
While the ABC incarnation of “AMC” has been off the air for nearly 10 years, and the online reboot failed to last on Hulu beyond the 45 episodes filmed back in 2013, fan support in returning to Pine Valley has grown ever stronger. In fact, a bunch of actors from the show’s 41-year run have been vocal about their interest in reprising their roles should the show get a pick up by the network, including Kim Delaney (ex-Jenny Gardner Nelson) and Alicia Minshew (ex-Kendall Hart).
The potential series is based on the town in which the daytime soap opera took place and will follow a young journalist with a secret agenda looking to expose the dark and murderous history of the town only to become entangled in a feud between the Kane and Santos families. The series plans to explore all the secrets that come with the Kane and Santos family names.
“Pine Valley” is being spearheaded by former “AMC” co-stars and real-life power couple Kelly Ripa (ex-Hayley Vaughan Santos; “Live with Kelly and Ryan”) and Mark Consuelos (ex-Mateo Santos; “Riverdale”), who will serve as executive producers alongside Richardson, Andrew Stearn and Robert Nixon, son of the late Agnes Nixon, creator of both “AMC” and “One Life to Live.”
In a recent interview with the Dutch newspaper HLN, former “AMC” star Thorsten Kaye (ex-Zach Slater; Ridge Forrester, “The Bold and the Beautiful”) reiterated what many had questioned about “AMC’s” cancellation decision back in 2011. “I still don’t understand why, by the way,” Kaye said. “We still had a lot of fans. The stories were still captivating.”
Let’s just hope that fan interest is in fact still there as that will definitely give credence to ABC in greenlighting the primetime iteration, or at the very least, possibly returning the series back to daytime which could be more lucrative to the network in the long-term.
We shall see what the network ends up doing with “Pine Valley” or the “All My Children” property as the network made a big to-do about getting back ownership rights to the show and its characters in 2016, following the dismissal of Prospect Park’s lawsuit against the network. We shall see.
