Why introducing All My Children history into General Hospital is a good idea -- and why some fans hate it

All My Children ended production more than a decade ago, but some AMC fans are hoping the show will find new life through General Hospital. Not everyone agrees.

The reemergence of Pine Valley via General Hospital has soap fans dealing with a range of emotions. After all, it's been a decade since All My Children streamed its final episodes via the short-lived The Online Network reboot, and even longer than that since the beloved soap aired its final episode on ABC.

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Let's get the Negative Nancies out of the way first. There are some vocal GH diehards that aren't happy with another soap creeping into storytelling. That's understandable. General Hospital has a canvas of characters that aren't all used equally and a plethora of characters no longer on the canvas that could also probably use some screen time.

But why not introduce a character (or two) that gets fans interested about a soap opera that they might not already watch. After all, these are fans who no longer have their favorite soap to tune in to every day. Is it the worst thing in the world to want to try to snag some extra eyeballs?

One Life to Live viewers have had a bunch of characters cross over to General Hospital. In fact, when All My Children and One Life to Live went off the air, it was One Life to Live that had a handful of its characters cross over to GH as regular characters. That ended terribly due to the aforementioned streaming reboot and accompanying lawsuits. But after the legal brouhaha ended, Emmy winner Hillary B. Smith's Nora Buchanan was able to make the trek from Llanview to Port Charles for -- ironically! -- a few legal spats.

So why shouldn't All My Children fans get their own moment to reconnect with a fan favorite? Heck, even Loving's Corinth got a mention during the Nixon Falls saga. Ryan's Hope has also gotten some nods over the years.

First, let's acknowledge that All My Children already exists on the General Hospital canvas. Anna Devane appeared on AMC from 2001 to 2003. AMC was also where Anna's now-evil twin Alex was introduced. And Skye Chandler Quartermaine also resided in Port Charles for more than a decade.

To be fair, most AMC viewers expected that the AMC character most likely to cross over would be David Hayward. He was married to Anna, and he's a doctor. The show is called General Hospital, after all.

But when Michael E Knight joined the show as "Martin," it seemed like a clear nod to Tad Martin, the character he played on All My Children. Fans waited and waited... but there were no All My Children winks or nods until Felicia found some shredded paper in Martin's trash that led her to Pine Valley, Pennsylvania.

Now the speculation has begun over whether or not Martin has some sort of connection to Pine Valley. In the most recent Two Scoops commentary for GH, a Soap Central columnist made the case for several Pine Valley ladies who might be ex-Martin Grays.

For me, there are countless opportunities. Krystal (with a "K") Carey was a bit of a scammer when she first hit Pine Valley. Perhaps she and Tad, er, Martin teamed up? Or what if Martin was married to Opal? Yes, that is potentially sickening, since Martin looks just like Tad, Opal's son. But if super spy Anna Devane doesn't realize that Martin looks like Tad, maybe Opal doesn't, either. Speaking of lookalikes, what if Martin was linked to Greenlee Smythe, someone who bears an uncanny resemblance to Hayden Barnes. Both roles have been played by Rebecca Budig. Some fans want to reconnect Tad and Skye, if only because they want to see Skye back on the GH canvas. And let's not discount the swell of fan support for Martin having been one of the many ex-Mr. Erica Kanes.

But, with all due respect to the cult classic movie Clue, what if Pine Valley is just a red herring? What if Jackson Montgomery doesn't have any sort of significant ties to Martin? What if he... helped him with a parking ticket? Or filing a trademark application?

Maybe General Hospital doesn't fully want to embrace All My Children history. I'd understand that -- especially during the writers' strike. But the show could even do a fun fake-out that would make everyone happy. It's one I suggested on Twitter and soap fans seemed to rally behind it.

What if Martin's ex-wife is found? In my head, whoever tracks the woman down confronts Martin in some sort of public setting. The accuser then says, "And there she is!" and points across the room. The camera slowly pans to the right, and we see Emmy winner Cady McClain seated at a table or standing in a crowd. McClain played Michael E. Knight's on-screen wife and supercouple partner Dixie Cooney for many years on All My Children.

Fans would go nuts! Then the camera would continue to pan to the right, and we'd see the real ex-wife. Or hell, go for the gusto and have all of Tad's ex-wives in the crowd.

There are ways to give everyone what they want... it just might take a little finagling and finessing to make it happen. Any story should bolster story for existing General Hospital characters -- characters that GH fans care about. I think using an existing story and people from a character's past can make for a more palatable story than simply inventing a new character and retrofitting (retconning) history and forcing it to work. If that past happened to be on another soap, why shouldn't it be explored? In recent years, Tracy Quartermaine even referenced things that happened to her character on the short-lived The City.

There are millions of soap fans out there that no longer have their favorite show in production. Admittedly, All My Children was the soap that got me hooked on all the other soaps -- including GH. Acknowledging those fans isn't a bad thing, especially if there is the potential to help keep other fans' show on the air for many, many years to come.

For those of you wondering about that All My Children primetime reboot... there's been no official word on the series. News of the series' existence was reportedly not supposed to come out, so there was a bit of a cart-before-the-horse situation. Then, the COVID pandemic happened. Now, there's a strike affecting the Writers Guild of America, and it's looking like there will be an actors' strike.

How do you feel about an All My Children character or storyline finding a way to General Hospital? 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.

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