‘All My Children” ends after 41 years

The soap opera that many took as a fact of life (after all, it ran 41 years) and has launched the careers of so many familiar faces ends today on a cliffhanger.

According to People, ABC had announced earlier this year that All My Children and its sister soap One Life to Live would come to an end, though the shows may be reincarnated as webisodes.

All My Children and its soaps have defined a generation of over-the-top daytime drama, with storylines that twisted and turned with developments that would drive a normal person up the wall—evil twins, car crashes, returns from the dead, baby-switchings, and healthy servings of weddings and divorces.

Though the much lampooned genre has been falling slowly out of popular grace over the years, many faces we know today from the big screen got their start on these soap operas, including Josh Duhamel, Sarah Michelle Geller, Mischa Barton, and Kelly Ripa. Elizabeth Taylor even made a guest appearance on the show.

Reuters reports that All My Children debuted on January 5, 1970. Actress Susan Lucci was 22, and her character Erica Kane was 15 years old then. By today, Erica has gone through nearly 12 marriages—and the cliffhanger [SPOILER!] hints that another may be on the way.