All My Children: Difference between revisions

 

 

 

 

{{tropelist}}

* [[AB Negative]]: Greenlee/Jack, among others.

* [[Accidental Murder]]: Adam accidentally murders Stuart.

* [[Antagonist in Mourning]]: Adam's shocked response to Palmer's death. Brooke gets him to concede that Palmer was a [[Worthy Opponent]].

* [[Anti-Villain]]: David ruined a lot of lives, but he did show occasional moments of kindness.

* [[Arch Enemy]]: Adam and Palmer; later, Adam and Tad.

* [[Ascended Fanboy|Ascended Fangirl]]: Five words: [[The Carol Burnett Show|Carol Burnett]] as Verla Grubbs.

* [[Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny]]: Averted with Damon.

* [[Ax Crazy]]: Alexander Cambias, Janet Green.

* [[Back From the Dead]]: Greenlee, Dixie (only to be killed off yet again), Maria, Tad, etc.

* [[Brother-Sister Incest]]: Narrowly avoided when Erica was engaged to Mark, who turned out to be her half-brother; her mother intervened before they could go through with it, and told them the truth.

* [[The Cameo]]: Warren Buffett, of all people, who ''asked'' to appear on his favorite show.

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSJGBYvm_Es Elizabeth Taylor]. [[Actor Allusion|As a janitor]]. Surprising ''[[The Carol Burnett Show|Verla Grubbs]]''.

** Rosie O'Donnell, who had a hilarious turn not as herself, but as a maid.

* [[The Casanova]]: Tad "The Cad" Martin, especially [[Ladykiller in Love|before he met Dixie]].

* [[Coming Out Story]]: Michael Delaney, Kevin Sheffield, Bianca.

* [[Cool Old Lady]]: Myrtle.

* [[Daddy's Girl]]: Nina Cortlandt.

* [[Dead Person Impersonation]]: Di Cooney standing in for Dixie.

* [[Dr. Jerk]]: David Hayward.

* [[Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas]]: Subverted. David hated his mother, mainly because [[Driven to Suicide|she drove his father to suicide]]. But he did love his brother, daughters, and grandson.

* [[Genre Savvy]]: Opal, of all people.

* [[Heel Face Revolving Door]]: Adam, Palmer, and David.

* [[Hollywood Healing]]: Inevitably. Characters who should be sporting large, visible scars don't, even when they've shot themselves in the temple (Palmer, multiple times), had their chests cracked open for surgery (Kendall), or suffered facial injuries (Erica). [[Magic Plastic Surgery]] is probably to blame.

** Surprisingly averted when Brooke's adopted daughter Laura had a heart transplant--she was subsequently very uncomfortable being intimate with her new husband because of the scar that had been left.

** Also averted (and justified) with Brot. Both he and his actor served in the Iraq War and suffered sever burns that left their faces scarred.

* [[Identical Stranger]]: Erica is kidnapped by a woman who was jealous of her, so got [[Magic Plastic Surgery]] in order to take over her life.

* [[Idiot Ball]]: Palmer usually wound up carrying one of these when his wives were involved (Cynthia and Vanessa being the most spectacular flame-outs). Not for nothing did ''Soap Opera Digest'' twice name him one of the dumbest characters on any soap. His niece Dixie usually held it too.

* [[Inspirationally Disadvantaged]]: Once [[Retcon|retconned]], Stuart turned into this: moral paragon, terrific lover, brilliant artist, and so on, and so on, and so on.

* [[It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY"]]: Opal calls Warren Buffet "Warren Buf-FAY".

* [[Large Ham]]: Phoebe, Langley, Billy Clyde, Palmer (in the 1980s) and, of course, Erica.

** Adam Chandler lived this trope.

* [[Lipstick Lesbian]]: Bianca and Maggie.

* [[Long Bus Trip]]: Jackson, who departed to Europe for no apparent reason.

* [[Long Runners]]: 41 years, 10,712 episodes, 1/5/70-9/23/11.

* [[Love Hurts]]: Let me count the ways. Zach's and Kendall's relationship is the most obvious recent example, but Tad's and Dixie's marriage-go-round also embodied this trope.

* [[Magic Plastic Surgery]]: Janet. Also a woman who was jealous of Erica, and planned on taking over her life.

** Phoebe and Wade Matthews.

* [[Meaningful Rename]]: Pete Cooney from Pigeon Hollow, VA turns himself into the upper-crust Palmer Cortlandt.

** Caleb Cooney changed his name to Cortlandt to honor his uncle.

* [[Mega Corp]]: Chandler Corporations, Cortlandt Electronics, Fusion Cosmetics. Recently Chandler bought Cortland, making it even more mega.

** Subverted with Greenlee, as they did find the body, but it was a fake put in place by David.

* [[Never Speak Ill of the Dead]]: Played straight and averted with David's death. Greenlee, Krystal,and Marissa go to his funeral, while everyone else has a <s> party</s> wake.

* [[Only Sane Man]]: Zach and Caleb.

* [[Pity Sex]]: Subverted. This is Krystal's excuse for sleeping with Tad on: emphasis on excuse, since she does have feelings for him.

* [[The Plot Reaper]]: Julia dies to make it easier for Tad to get Kathy back.

* [[Psychic Link]]: Used by Ryan to find Greenlee, who had fallen into an abandoned mineshaft.

** Adam's telepathic link to Stuart cropped up when Stuart "died".

* [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]]: Vanessa tells off all of Pine Valley while she's holding Greenlee hostage.

** Janet did the same thing in 1995 when she got fed up with the way the townspeople were treating her after her release from prison. Starting by outright calling them a "sanctimonious, self-righteous bunch of HYPOCRITES!", she proceeded to quite truthfully point out that nearly ''everyone'' present had done despicable things, yet they were all piously condemning her for ''her'' crimes and refusing to give her a second chance, despite the fact that ''they'' had all either given or received forgiveness for ''their'' sins and in many cases, were now viewed as pillars of the community.

* [[Sadistic Choice]]: Angela has been taking medical drugs to treat her oncoming blindness, and they're working. But now that she's pregnant the drugs could harm the baby, and she has to choose: her sight or her unborn child. She chose the baby.

* [[Secret Other Family]]: Seabone Hunkle's two families.

* [[Smug Snake]]: J.R, oh so much. Reverend Ricky Torres, too.

* [[Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome]]: Too many to list, but J.R. Chandler and Charlie Brent stand out for having grown to adulthood entirely onscreen in a short period of time.

** Inverted with Kendall Hart who showed up in Pine Valley 8 years ''younger'' than she should be. When viewers complained (because this meant that they were being asked to believe that her mother Erica was only in her early thirties, at least 10 years younger than was possible), suddenly, Kendall became approximately the age she was supposed to be and numerous references were made to her being [[Older Than She Looks]].

* [[Those Two Guys]]: According to a snarky David, Palmer and Adam.

* [[The Un-Reveal]]: David refuses to reveal the last patient brought back by Project Orpheus.

* [[Who's Your Daddy?]]: roughly every other pregnancy depicted, Krystal Carey's being the most recent.

* [[You Look Familiar]]: Jesse McCartney's appearance as himself after leaving the show.

** Walt Willey (Jackson) had multiple guest spots before landing his contract role.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Soap Opera]]