Asked about the current status of the planned reboot, Ripa revealed that while the show, tentatively titled Pine Valley, is still "in the queue," though it currently doesn't seem to be at the top of her and husband Mark Consuelos' production company's list. Ripa told the outlet, "I don't even know where that is in the queue. Hopefully, it comes back and hopefully sooner rather than later because, for me, that's really, you know, that, to me, is the thing that I care about the most because All My Children is responsible for every good thing that happened to me in my life."
Ripa starred on the hit soap as Hayley Vaughan from 1990 until 2010. The soap notably holds a special place in Ripa's heart, as it was while she was working on All My Children that she met her husband, Mark Conseulos. The pair met after Conseulos joined the series in 1995 as Mateo Santos Sr. and they immediately sparked romance, eventually eloping on May 1, 1996, at the Chapel of the Bells in Las Vegas. The happy couple is parents to sons Michael, 25, and Joaquin, 19, and daughter Lola, 21.
While both Ripa and Consuelos have since moved on to other projects, All My Children has always remained in mind. After the series ended in 2013 following a 43-season run on ABC and a multi-season run on The Online Network, Deadline reported in December 2020 that a sequel series titled Pine Valley was "in early development" at ABC. Described as "a primetime version of the network's beloved daytime drama All My Children," Ripa and her husband were confirmed to be executive producing alongside Andrew Stearn and filmmaker Robert Nixon. Per the synopsis for the sequel, "a young journalist with a secret agenda comes to expose the dark and murderous history of a town named Pine Valley only to become entangled in a feud between the Kane and Santos families. The series explores all the secrets that come with the Kane and Santos family names."
Further news about Pine Valley mostly fell to the wayside until January 2022 when Leo Richardson confirmed that the initial script for the show had been submitted to executives. At the same time, Eva LaRue confirmed to Soaps.com that the reboot was "very real." Currently, there is no tentative premiere date for Pine Valley or any further announcements.
Opening ABC’s night, Press Your Luck‘s Season 3 premiere (3.4 mil/0.4) was nearly on par with its sophomore averages (3.2 mil/0.5).
Closing out ABC’s night, the debut of 20/20‘s sleep-inducing The Fatal Flaw true crime-meets-dollhouses series frittered away its family-friendly lead-in, retaining just 2 mil and a 0.2.
“To Infinity Stones and Beyond!” – Host Kelly Ripa hosts the new comedy quiz game show where teams of seniors and juniors are challenged to answer questions about pop culture from each other’s generations in the series premiere of “Generation Gap,” airing THURSDAY, JULY 7 (9:00-10:00 p.m. EDT), on ABC. Ryan Seacrest makes a special surprise appearance during the “Who Am I” challenge, and the winning team’s chance at a bonus prize is left up to their youngest family member in the “Toddler’s Choice.” (TV-PG) Watch episodes on demand and on Hulu the day following their premieres.
“Generation Gap” is produced by MGM Television, Kimmelot and Milojo. Mark Burnett, Jimmy Kimmel, Barry Poznick, Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos, Albert Bianchini, Alycia Rossiter and Jonathan Kimmel serve as executive producers.
As she spoke of the Daytime Emmys “celebrating those whom we loved and have lost this year,” Lucci payed tribute to her husband and manager, Helmut Huber, who died March 28 at the age of 84.
“My husband was larger than life force of nature,” Lucci said, he voice cracking. “Helmut was the love of my life. They say that the grief is the price we pay for live. Well, grief is an excruciating price but I would not give up even one second of the love.”
With members of the audience also tearing up, Lucci kicked off the video montage. You can watch below her speech and the In Memoriam segment, which ends with a classic quip by TV legend Betty White whom we also lost this year. (Video)
Tu 5/10: Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos
A sharp, funny, and honest collection of real-life stories from Kelly Ripa, showing the many dimensions and crackling wit of the beloved daytime talk show host.
In Live Wire, her first book, Kelly shows what really makes her tick. As a professional, as a wife, as a daughter and as a mother, she brings a hard-earned wisdom and an eye for the absurdity of life to every minute of every day. It is her relatability in all of these roles that has earned her fans worldwide and millions of followers on social media. Whether recounting how she and Mark really met, the level of chauvinism she experienced on set, how Jersey Pride follows her wherever she goes, and many, many moments of utter mortification (whence she proves that you cannot, in fact, die of embarrassment) Kelly always tells it like it is. Ms. Ripa takes no prisoners.
Surprising, at times savage, a little shameless and always with humor… Live Wire shows Kelly as she really is offscreen—a very wise woman who has something to say.
The TV producer, who wed Lucci in 1969, died peacefully on Monday on Long Island, New York, PEOPLE exclusively confirms.
"A family man, he was a loyal friend, and loved them deeply," according to a representative for the family. "With a roaring sense of humor, larger-than-life personality, and a practical problem-solver, he lived his life to the fullest. Mr. Huber who formerly raced motorcycles in Austria was a first-rate skier, and avid golfer, belonging to the Garden City Golf Club and Westhampton Country Club."
Huber is survived by the All My Children star, 75, and his two sons and two daughters as well as his brother, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions are made to the American Stroke Association in support of stroke awareness and research.
"Helmut's passing is a tremendous loss for all who knew and loved him. He was an extraordinary husband, father, grandfather, and friend," a statement from Lucci's publicist, Jessica Sciacchitano, said. "The family kindly asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult time."
Born in October 1937, Huber became a citizen of the U.S. in January 1994. He leaves behind a long and impressive career, which included being Lucci's manager and the CEO of Pine Valley Productions.
Huber was was also an esteemed chef.
Previously, he had been asked to join the Austrian Ski Team but instead chose to complete his apprenticeship at the Hotel Maria Theresia. He eventually studied at L'Ecole Hoteliere in Lausanne, Switzerland as well, graduating at the top of his class.
Upon coming to North America at 21, Huber kick-started his career in Canada before making his way to New York at 23.
Though he spoke several languages fluently, he improved his English by watching John Wayne and Humphrey Bogart movies.
A spokesperson for Lucci said that Huber died peacefully, noting: “Helmut’s passing is a tremendous loss for all who knew and loved him. He was an extraordinary husband, father, grandfather, and friend. The family kindly asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult time.”
Huber was born on October 10, 1937, in Innsbruck, Austria, and becoming a United States citizen in 1994, Huber met Lucci in 1969 while they were working at Long Island’s Garden City Hotel. Huber was the hotel’s executive chef, and Lucci had worked there during a summer vacation from college. After just three weeks of dating, the couple married on Sept. 13, 1969.
Following Lucci’s success as Erica Kane on ABC’s All My Children, Huber transitioned professionally to become her manager and CEO of Lucci’s Pine Valley Productions and SL Enterprises. The couple would become a longtime and familiar presence on the New York social and philanthropic scenes.
Huber began his career at age 18 with an apprenticeship at the Hotel Maria Theresia and study at L’Ecole Hoteliere in Lausanne, Switzerland. He moved to Canada at age 21, two years later relocating to New York. By his late 20s he was the head of Food and Beverage for the entire Knott Hotel Corporation, which included the United Nations and Pentagon. In the early 1960s he moved to Garden City, Long Island, as the executive chef at the Garden City Hotel.
He met and married Lucci after his first marriage ended in divorce.
Huber is survived by his wife of 52 years, two sons, two daughters (including former Passions cast member Liza Huber), a brother, eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren. The family requests that In lieu of flowers contributions be made to the American Stroke Association in support of stroke awareness and research.
While chatting with PEOPLE about her ongoing collaboration with the American Heart Association and its Go Red for Women initiative, the 75-year-old actress also opened up about the planned revival series to the Emmy-winning show, which was previously announced in December 2020.
Noting that word about the forthcoming project comes "sporadically," Lucci told PEOPLE, "There has been movement. I wish it was a quicker movement, but yes, everything in terms of being in the right hands, as far as I know, would be in place."
"It's really interesting, and the concept is so good," she continued. "[It's] in the right hands ... [with] Kelly Ripa and her husband, Mark Consuelos, who are both so terrific. They would be executive producers, so I'm really hoping that this is going to actually go forward."
Lucci — who starred as character Erica Kane on the daytime soap opera from 1970 until its final episode in 2013 — did note, however, "COVID is in play again, and things are slowed down."
Back in 2020, Ripa, 51, and Conseulous, 50, announced their involvement in the project, marking their return to their soap opera roots years after they first met on the set of All My Children. The duo is executive producing the spinoff series, which will be titled Pine Valley, according to a prior report from Variety.
Named after the fictional Philadelphia town where the ABC series originally took place, Pine Valley will follow the story of "a young journalist with a secret agenda" who plans to bring the dark history of the town to light, "only to become entangled in a feud between the Kane and Santos families," per the outlet.
Leo Richardson is writing and executive producing the project with Robert Nixon — the son of All My Children creator Agnes Nixon — who is also on board as an executive producer. Ripa and Consuelos are attached to the series under their Milojo Productions banner, Variety noted.
On Twitter, EP Richardson shared his excitement over the news of the planned revival, writing at the time, "Beyond excited to be writing/exec producing this classic and giving it the full modern prime time treatment. Let's go! #PineValley @KellyRipa @MarkConsuelos." In response, Consuelos quote-retweeted the post from Richardson, and said, "So excited Leo!!!"
All My Children aired for 41 years on ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011. It was later revived briefly as a web series in 2013. (The show began in a half-hour format before changing to hourlong episodes in 1977.)
In the series, Ripa starred as Hayley Vaughan from 1990 to 2002, while Consuelos portrayed Mateo Santos Sr. from 1995 to 2002. Both also appeared on the show in multiple episodes in 2010 for the series' 40th anniversary.
The pair played an onscreen couple, which led to them dating and eventually marrying in real life. Ripa and Consuelos now share three children together: sons Michael and Joaquin, plus daughter Lola.
In 2020, Entertainment Weekly reunited the All My Children cast for their #UnitedAtHome series amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, many of the former stars said they would be open to a potential reboot, including Lucci, though she remained cautious and said she would only be on board if the reboot was "in the right hands."
Continuing to speak with PEOPLE, Lucci explained that her character Erica would currently "be up to something really exciting" in the present day. "She would definitely be involved [in the drama], she would never be just lying down somewhere," she said with a laugh.
"With Erica, you never knew what she was going to say or do, and that made her really fun to watch," Lucci added. "She was full of spirit, and people identified with that spirit of her very much."
"So certainly, I think, the same thing that women and men could identify with would still be there," she continued. "She was a woman you loved to hate, but, on the other hand, you also loved to love her and root for her."
And though she remained mum on exactly whether or not she will make any form of an appearance on the planned spinoff series, Lucci did offer some insight into characters she would love to see return either way. "Well, certainly I would hope my two daughters would come back," she said of Alicia Minshew, who played Kendall, and Eden Riegel, who played Bianca. "We had wonderful, wonderful relationships, and they were [a part of] important storylines."
Lucci also said that she'd similarly love to see other characters appear as well, such as Walt Willey's Jackson, Jill Larson's Opal and Julia Barr's Brooke, among others.
"But I know the concept would also introduce some compelling new characters and that would be very exciting too," she noted.
Appearing at the Television Critics Association virtual winter press tour on Tuesday, Craig Erwich, president of ABC Entertainment and Hulu Originals, affirmed that filmdom’s biggest night will have a host this year, though he had no details to share at this time — including whether ABC’s late-night star, Jimmy Kimmel, might make a return as emcee.
Other topics addressed, even if vaguely, by Erwich during the TCA press conference:
* Declaring Grey’s Anatomy to be “still at the top of its game creatively” (as well as broadcast-TV’s No. 2-rated entertainment program), Erwich said that beyond this week’s Season 19 renewal, “any decisions around that franchise are going to be made by the stewards of the franchise — [series creator] Shonda [Rhimes] and [showrunner] Krista [Vernoff] and [star] Ellen [Pompeo].” He then added, “We will have as much Grey’s as as we can have. It’s one of the things we’re most proud of at ABC.”
* Erwich had no updates at this time on the primetime All My Children follow-up, titled Pine Valley, which was sent into development over a year ago. But he did say that a la NBC rival Days of Our Lives‘ recent streaming miniseries and standalone holiday movie, he is “always open to additional iterations or explorations” of ABC’s General Hospital franchise.
*Erwich affirmed that there will be more installments of Jimmy Kimmel and Norman Lear’s Live in Front of a Studio Audience franchise, but again had no details to share.
*Asked for an update on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire‘s fate (the primetime quizzer’s Season 2 finale aired back in late March), Erwich again had nothing to share.
SUSAN LUCCI - A WHOLE LOTTA CHILDREN
Nick's starring in the newest Daytime TV sensation with ICON Susan Lucci: Video.
This week, the daytime star appears on the “Behind the Velvet Rope” podcast with David Yontef, who talks to her about everything from an “AMC” reboot to the “Housewives” franchise.
Asked if she would ever star in a “Housewives” show, Lucci says, “Well, I would work for Andy any time, any place, I would. I never thought about being a housewife of anywhere, but I would give it a whirl for Andy. Of course, I would give it a whirl.”
On the subject of a potential “All My Children” reboot, the actress is still waiting to see if it can come together.
“I’m somebody who doesn’t like to talk about something until I’m on the set actually doing it. But it was leaked that there is a show in the works called ‘Pine Valley’ that Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos will be producing,” she says. “And that sounds really interesting because it’s very, very cleverly done and it takes into account the characters who the audience loves and it put some new characters in there that keeps it very fresh. So I’m excited to see if that really goes. They tell me yes. And I told them, yes, I’m interested.”
Meanwhile, asked about whom she would want to play her in a movie about her life, Lucci says, “Well, you know, when I saw it, when I watch Ariana Grande on ‘The Voice’, it does occur to me. I think she would be very good. The other one who has struck me, who would be good to play me would be Camila Cabello. Both of them would have a lot of juice, I think.”
Alicia Minshew took over the role of Kendall Hart Slater in January of 2002 after the character's seven year absence, Eden Riegel joined the cast as Bianca Montgomery in July of 2000, and Susan Lucci began playing the role of Erica Kane when the show made its debut in January of 1970 and played the iconic role for the entire run of the series.
Don't miss the chance to catch up with these three talented women who reminisce about their time together in Pine Valley, their friendship and so much more.
Davis’ memoir Finding Me will be published by HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, in partnership with Ebony Magazine Publishing. The book will go on sale April 19, 2022.
HarperOne describes Finding Me as “Viola Davis’s story in her own words, and spans her incredible, inspiring life from her coming-of-age in Rhode Island to her present-day career. Hers is a story of overcoming; it is a true hero’s journey. Deeply personal, brutally honest, and riveting, Finding Me is a timeless and spellbinding memoir that will capture the hearts and minds of Ms. Davis’s legions of fans around the world.”
Davis, whose recent Best Actress Oscar nomination for her work in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom makes her the most-nominated Black actress in the history of the Academy Awards, also produces, alongside her husband and producing partner Julius Tennon, through their JuVee Productions banner.
Judith Curr, president and publisher HarperOne Group, acquired North American rights, including audio, from Creative Artists Agency. Gideon Weil, HarperOne, VP/editorial director, and Sydney Rogers, senior editor, will edit Finding Me.
Ripa’s Live Wire will be the Live with Kelly and Ryan co-host’s first book, a collection of personal essays on childhood, motherhood, marriage and her career. The book, as described, will put “her thoughtfulness, assertiveness and deep understanding of the dynamics of gender and power on full display.”
The book, to be published sometime in 2022, was acquired at auction by Carrie Thornton, VP and Editorial Director of Dey Street Books, and the deal was brokered by Creative Artists Agency.
Alicia Minshew took over the role of Kendall Hart Slater in January of 2002 after the character's seven year absence, Eden Riegel joined the cast as Bianca Montgomery in July of 2000, and Susan Lucci began playing the role of Erica Kane when the show made its debut in January of 1970 and played the iconic role for the entire run of the series.
Don't miss the chance to catch up with these three talented women who will join me to reminisce about their time together in Pine Valley, their friendship and so much more.
Development on the ABC primetime series appears to be continuing, although details are still scarce. “This is the anniversary of the 50th year that the show would have been airing,” LaRue said. “This is the perfect year to launch the very first ever soap opera transitioning into a nighttime drama.” Her enthusiasm is commendable, even if AMC’s 50th anniversary was actually in January of last year and daytime soap DARK SHADOWS was rebooted in primetime back in 1991.
While it appears that some stars from the original AMC will be making the move to the primetime PINE VALLEY, sadly, the late John Callahan (Edmund) won’t be among them. IN her interview, LaRue explained how they were able to remain so close even after their split. “Once I think we were able to really take responsibility for the things that helped dissolve the marriage, we were able to be best friends,” she revealed. “So it was really hard to lose him.”
LaRue doesn’t have any details on PINE VALLEY. “That’s all I know so far,” she confessed. “We’re kind of in the dark until we’re up and shooting!”
You can check out LaRue’s full interview segment on DAILY BLAST LIVE below. In it, she also discusses her craziest story as Dr. Maria Santos on AMC, her Daytime Emmy win last year for playing Celeste on THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS, and the movie she shot during the pandemic, Finding Love in Quarantine, available now on PureFlix.com. (Video)
“I am the ab-so-lute worst,” Kelly Ripa says. Not just says it, promises it. Dares me to prove her wrong. We’re on the phone, reliving our greatest disasters from a year spent on Zoom, a mode of communication that surely favors an Emmy-winning talk show host.
I accidentally video-called a potential ghostwriting client — a prominent American rabbi — wearing only Crest Whitestrips and a bath towel, I tell her.
“Oh, that’s nothing,” the Live with Kelly and Ryan host says. “That's child's play.” Then, in a move familiar to anyone who’s been watching Live for the past 20 years, her volume dips. If you were at home on the sofa, you might notice yourself leaning a little closer to the TV.
“Amanda, I was on a Harness call,” she tells me, referencing America Ferrera’s social justice nonprofit. They were talking about climate change with — and this is important — the video disabled. Or so Ripa thought. “It was all women. And then in walks my husband wearing nothing but a towel, and thank God he had the towel on. But it was a moment where everybody was finally like, ‘Your camera's on! Your camera's on!’ And then other people were saying, ‘Shh, don't tell her that the camera's on. Maybe he'll totally get undressed!’”
The story is Kelly Ripa in a nutshell: her punchline is zippy, her laugh is fast, and her husband is hunky. Her Zoom gaffes are definitely not worse than yours, but she tells them better. Daytime TV has honed Ripa’s knack for exactly this kind of confessional humor; she’s spent years passing family peccadillos off as scandals, becoming more relatable in the telling rather than less.
But before she became America’s Kelly, she was a soap star from Berlin, New Jersey — a nowhere town halfway between Philadelphia and Atlantic City. By 28, Ripa was newly wed to her co-star Mark Consuelos and living in New York City. Even more recently, she’d had a baby boy named Michael.
Below, Ripa, now 50, talks about becoming the first person in her friendship circle to navigate working motherhood, how the movie Heartburn cured her baby blues, and what she’d do differently on the set of All My Children if she could.
What did you like about being 28?
My life changed dramatically, only it's taken me until now to realize how isolating it was. I was working full-time on a soap opera. I don't think people understand the hours that it takes to shoot a one-hour drama each day. We used to routinely work 12 to 14 hour days. That wasn't a long day. That was just your basic day.
Mark and I got married two years prior in May of '96 and we had our first child in June of '97. By the time I was 28, I had a 1-year-old son and I was working long hours. I would bring him to work with me. I was the only one of my friends that was married, and I was the only one of my friends with a kid.
Is that what was isolating?
Here's what I noticed the most: Mark's life stayed exactly the same, and my life changed. And it was just something I don't think I really appreciated until right now, just in thinking about it. When you can't make it to brunch or you're not going out to dinner at 10 p.m. anymore, your friends lose interest in asking. Not that they lost interest in me, because I still have the same friends now that I had then, but I stopped getting invited to things because it was like, "Well, Kelly can't come because she's got a kid." And Mark was still going, he was still traveling. He would still go to Italy on the weekend to go watch Formula 1, to give you an example. And it never occurred to me that that would be strange. Nowadays I would say, "Are you out of your mind?"
But back then... I hate to say it, but your perception of how things are changes. As a society, we are certainly in a different space now. I definitely worked a lot, but I was also very present in my child's life. I was very hands on. And part of that is because I had the help of my in-laws and my parents. It does benefit the person in the family to have the first grandchild because we didn't need a nanny. And of course Mark was an incredible father. I am not in any way diminishing his role. I'm just saying that socially his life didn't really change that much.
I remember that year I started crying. I started crying, and I thought, "Oh, I read something about this." There were truly two parenting books then. There was What to Expect When You're Expecting. And then there was this book that my mom gave me that somebody had given her. It was Dr. Spock's parenting handbook.
Neither one of them really told you much about parenting. It was more about what's normal in a baby or in a pregnancy. But somewhere, I read that you may start crying and that may be postpartum depression. This is going to sound like I gave birth in the 1500s, but a lot has changed from 23 years ago to now. I remember thinking, "This is that hormone shift where a person can suffer from postpartum depression." Not to be confused with the very serious postpartum psychosis.
So I put on the movie Heartburn, which is basically Nora Ephron's love story starring Meryl Streep. And I watched the movie and then I listened to the soundtrack over and over again. I cried for about 15 hours and then I felt fine.
Was it important to you to be a young wife and a young mom?
At the time I didn’t think of myself as young, even though it's incredibly young. But I'd been on my own for 10 years at that point. I graduated high school, I moved to New York City, and I started working on a soap right away. By the time I met Mark, he seemed very much like a grownup. He had grown up all over the world, and he was also very mature for his age. It's funny when I look back at pictures of us, we look like our children. And to me, I think of them as glorified newborns.
You met Mark at work, right?
New York is a giant city that somehow seems like a very small town. And then we met in this very small industry, where we had no connections. That in and of itself is very strange, especially when you consider all of our children are somehow going into some facet of show business now. And they go, "Well, it's the family business." And I go, "It didn't used to be." The family business was being a government worker and a bus driver. That used to be the family business, if we're going by what our parents did.
At 28, you'd been on All My Children for eight years. Did you have an inkling that acting wasn't going to be the job that defined the next part of your life?
The reason I got into acting was because it was the job that would pay me. I never really fancied being on camera. I still don't. But that's the way I've found has been the easiest way for me to earn a living, which facilitates other things that I like doing. I like creating projects in entertainment, but I don't necessarily want to star in them, if that makes sense.
Now that you've done Live, do you still feel that way about being on a camera?
A hundred percent. I always feel like I'm slipping into a costume when I go out in front of the camera.
Is there an obvious way to you that you've changed since you were 28?
Yeah, I think that I am less tolerant of people's bullshit. And when people lie to me I can suss it out immediately. Whereas I used to give people the benefit of the doubt. I would twist myself into a pretzel to try to justify somebody lying to me, and now I don't tolerate it.
I guess it's bad and it's good. I'm less tolerant, but in a really productive way. I've certainly, as my children got older, I grew to have more patience for them. And then you grow completely impatient with other things, like misogyny, with being underpaid in your workspace.
What do you mean?
I watched my husband who had no acting experience when he got his job at All My Children, much the same way I had no acting experience. But I got my job in 1990 and I think he got his job in '95. And he was paid more than me immediately. It was immediate. I just couldn't believe how quickly they were willing to pay the man more than the woman.
That's infuriating.
It's bothered me ever since. I've earned everything I've had over the course of 30 years of working for the same company, whereas I think that men still don't have an understanding of how hard women have to work to have the opportunity to say this statement that I'm saying right now. And that will no doubt get blowback. People will say, "Oh, but she earns such a good living." Yeah, I do, because I really worked hard for it.
If you could go back and give 28-year-old Kelly advice, what would it be? What do you know now that she needed to know?
Oh my gosh. Your instinct that you're born with, they call it women's intuition, but I think it's human intuition. Listen to it, because it's not lying to you. If something doesn't feel right, it's because it's not right. And if you think you're about to get screwed in a work deal, you are. I think the things that I listened to as a parent and as a wife, I didn't listen to in the workspace. And that's the big difference. I turned off the intuition, and I shouldn't have.
On E!'s new event series Reunion Road Trip, the casts of four beloved shows reconnect and reflect on their trailblazing series that helped shape the television landscape — and EW has the exclusive first look at the trailer.
The clip, which you can check out below, teases a snippet of the series, which will feature candid conversations with the stars of Scrubs, A Different World, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and All My Children as viewers have never seen them before. Each episode will delve into their earliest days from auditions to first impressions, their continuing legacy, and everything in between.
Reunion Road Trip kicks off on June 10 with All My Children fan favorites Rebecca Budig, Eva LaRue, Cameron Mathison, and Jacob Young, who come together at an exclusive Hollywood mansion to celebrate the show's 50th anniversary with surprise visits from former cast members Alicia Minshew, Debbi Morgan, Kelly Ripa, and Darnell Williams.
The second episode, on June 17, features the Original Fab Five from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy — Ted Allen, Kyan Douglas, Thom Filicia, Carson Kressley, and Jai Rodriguez — as they reassemble in Los Angeles to give Rodriguez a makeover for his 40th birthday.
On June 24, A Different World stars Sinbad and Kadeem Hardison invite Darryl M. Bell, Jasmine Guy, Dawnn Lewis, and Cree Summer for an intimate, sit-down discussion to look back on the sitcom's overall success and long-lasting cultural impact on generations by tackling a range of substantive issues and giving a voice to the Black community. They are joined by the show's director and executive producer Debbie Allen and executive producer Susan Fales-Hill. (The episode was filmed before Sinbad suffered a stroke late last year.)
The fourth and final episode on July 1, is about Scrubs. Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke, and Donald Faison reconvene to go on a quest to track down Rowdy, the show's treasured taxidermied dog, and encounter co-stars Robert Maschio and Judy Reyes along the way.
Reunion Road Trip airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on E! beginning June 10.
"The show had really reached an iconic level of pop culture where everyone knew Regis and Kathie Lee. ... Everyone was really questioning, could we go on?" executive producer Michael Gelman, who's often seen behind the cameras, interacting with the hosts, recalls. "Kelly immediately lit up the room, and we knew there was something special. There was a certain charisma and humor and quickness that was really innate — because she wasn't an experienced broadcaster at the time. She just had that It Factor."
She still does. But on that first official day (above) — Feb. 5, 2001 — Ripa admits to thinking "I have no idea what I'm doing" and receiving little direction along the way. Perhaps for the better. "It was just sort of, 'This is your job now. Good luck, and godspeed," she explains. "It really is one of those places where they give you autonomy. There's guidance, of course — they'll tell you, 'Please don't bring up so-and-so's arrest.' Sure. Or, 'Please don't mention...' whatever. But it really was an autonomous situation where I learned on the fly how to do that job because I didn't really have a lot of time. I guest-hosted that first time, [and] I think I guest-hosted two other times, and then I started working there."
Unlike the anticipation surrounding the announcement of Philbin's replacement, Michael Strahan in 2012 ("It was just, build, build, build, build, build, build, build, build, build... it was just an epic build," she says of the former NFL star landing the job), there wasn't nearly as much fanfare on her first day. "I don't think anybody was even expecting me to be the replacement host. It was really not a big announcement, it was just sort of, 'She is my new cohost," and it was business as usual," Ripa — who Philbin nicknamed Pippa — remembers.
But one person in particular made it special. "The one person who wasn't there, which was Kathie Lee," sent Ripa flowers and a note, she recalls, telling the then 30-year-old — who was pregnant with her second child, Lola — "'it's going to be the ride of your life... you're so cut out for this, and have a wonderful time.'"
Philbin and Gifford had been cohosts since 1985, when the show was still a local morning program on New York's ABC station. (The two and their families were close off-camera as well; Gifford visited with Philbin two weeks before he died last July.) So while there may have been pressure on Ripa to replicate the magic of Philbin and Gifford's dynamic, she didn't allow herself to feel it.
"I never think anything is that important, but I did not want to be the person that ruined a show with such a storied history. I would hate for it to be a show that's been on the air for 15 years and suddenly goes off the air the day I get there. That would be a bad legacy," she says. "I think I didn't let myself ponder the notion of the significance of it because if I did, I probably wouldn't have gotten out of bed every morning — it would have been too scary for me to think about."
Ten years later, though, Ripa found herself in Philbin's shoes, facing an uncertain future on the show that had made her a household name as she — and America — prepared to say goodby to him. It's Philbin's last episode (above) that she remembers perhaps more than any other. "His final show was significant," she says. "We were terrified, all of us."
After Strahan's four-year stint, moving on to GMA where he's now co-anchor, Ripa welcomed a rotation of guest-cohosts for more than a year before Ryan Seacrest — who has known Ripa since the two of them and Philbin cohosted ABC's Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade some 15 years ago — officially accepted the position. The American Idol host left Los Angeles, where he hosted (and still does) the city's top-rated morning radio show on KIIS-FM, for the NYC-based gig, a decision made easier by Ripa.
"She really made it very clear to me how the show worked, how the schedule worked, what the team was like," Seacrest, 46, explains. "It gave me a sense of comfort knowing that she and I could speak directly and candidly about the role, and how it works and what she is looking for in that person. The chemistry with us wasn't the difficult part, the relationship wasn't the difficult part — the trickiest part was just figuring out and working into the puzzle having to move to New York City, which we did. And thankfully, it's been a great decision."
When he started in July 2017, Ripa says Seacrest brought with him "all of his tricks" as a broadcaster. "He is very, very precise, in a way that is extraordinary," she says of his hosting abilities, explaining how he's made her more aware of the timing of the show. Not to mention how he took their "little local New York show" and turned into it "big time, Hollywood, on the marquee."
But at the essence of Live is the show's first 15-20 minutes known as the "host chat," made famous by Philbin, who "was such a character" — always the "foil" and "person that screwed up" in his anecdotes, Ripa says. "He really gave me the gift of learning how to tell a story in a way that is so funny and so free of ego."
And that tradition lives on today, thanks to Ripa.
"She always comes ready to play," Seacrest says, describing how she has made him a better host. "She always has a story to tell, she's always got a joke, she's always got a reaction. And she brings incredible energy and honesty and candor to the show. She's probably made me more comfortable, just talking about myself — which I don't do on American Idol, I do a little bit more on the radio — being more vulnerable and more comfortable sitting back in the chair and having a conversation, versus performing. It's less hosting and more companionship conversation."
But these three-and-a-half years with Seacrest by her side may not have happened were it not for him filling the empty seat next to her. In the midst of her 4,000-plus Live episodes and the same number of famous "host chats," after countless celebrity interviews and Halloween costumes, after learning how to ride a bike and facing her fear of roller coasters on air, after the departure of Philbin and then Strahan, she "was very much considering retirement," says Seacrest, adding he hopes "she wants to stay there for many years." For her part, Ripa credits her current cohost's "enthusiasm and his excitement" for changing her mind. "The two of us are partners," she says. "There's this energy between us because we both appreciate the amount of work that goes into making a show look effortless."
Their off-screen friendship largely contributes. Ripa says it's more than that. "It's gone beyond just the work relationship where we're actually like family," she points out, telling a story about how she was buying T-shirts for her sons in a big Mr. Porter end-of-year sale and Ryan also needed new T-shirts, so she bought some for him too. While Ripa says Seacrest joining the show was like her "brother [was] coming to work," they've also adopted that common workplace phrase for each other: work spouses. "We share everything with each other, on the show and off the show," her work husband says. "It's an interesting dynamic. I'm very close to her husband as well. Mark [Consuelos] and I speak often in text, often talk to each other, about life and things that we're working on or things that we want to do."
If one were to look for the secret to her success and longevity at ABC, family may be the key. Her actual family — husband Mark and children Michael, Lola, and Joaquin. Her work family. Her TV audience family. Her relationship with the latter is one she's been cultivating for 30 years at the network (she celebrated that milestone on Live in November), dating back to her debut as Hayley Vaughn on All My Children in 1990. And that may be coming full circle with a possible prime-time reboot of the iconic daytime soap, which was announced in December.
"We would be the parents, and this show is really more about the children of Pine Valley," Ripa explains of how the original cast would figure into the new series. "It's a darker look at things, and I'm very excited about it. It was pitched to us and we were like, 'We will absolutely produce this. And we want to be a part of it.' Immediately we called [former All My Children costar Eva LaRue], all of our friends, and we started saying, 'Just be at the ready. Get ready.' "
While fans undoubtedly are also ready to return to the fictional Philadelphia suburb, Ripa sounds just as anxious, for one major reason. "[All My Children] is responsible for every singular good thing that has happened in my life. I met my husband there, I had my children there – not in the studio but pretty close; they kept you there until your contractions were five minutes apart, as we like to say," she jokes. "It's from there that I got the talk show. It's from there that I got [Hope & Faith].... and our first production deal [at TLC]. So it's truly responsible for every good thing in my life that's happened to me."
And that is something to talk about.
Daytime Emmy Award winner Susan Lucci, 74, is set to star in "Wholly Broken," a faith-based musical series created by fellow Garden City-based performer Tom Humbert. In the series, Lucci will play a congresswoman whose husband was killed by a drunken driver. Further drama will revolve around her strained relationship with her neglected son, who has several addictions and is possibly bipolar.
"Broken" is based on Humbert's 2016 movie of the same name, which began streaming on Amazon in September. The story follows Pastor Tom (Humbert), a recovering alcoholic minister, who is trying to rebuild his life after losing his job and his wife. The movie took the best feature film USA award at the 2017 International Film Festival Manhattan.
The series, which will shoot in the Hamptons between August and October, will be something of a TV mother-and-child reunion: Alicia Minshew, who played Lucci's daughter for eight years on "All My Children," co-stars as Pastor Tom's estranged wife. Also in the cast is Baldwin's Martha Wash of The Weather Girls.
Viewers will even get the chance to hear Lucci sing on the show, although she's no stranger to musicals. In December 1999, she played sharpshooter Annie Oakley opposite Tom Wopat in "Annie Get Your Gun" for three weeks on Broadway.
Humbert said the series is slated to premiere sometime next year, though a trailer is already out. He also can't wait to work with his famous co-star.
"I'm so excited to get Susan Lucci for this show," Humbert said. "This has been a dream."
Wednesday, February 3: Guests include Kelly Ripa
Written by the Jacquemettons, based on Elin Hilderbrand’s Paradise trilogy, the series tells the story of a husband’s secret life and a wife’s new beginning. Irene Steele shares her idyllic life in a beautiful Iowa City Victorian house with a husband who loves her to an extreme. But when her husband dies in a perplexing manner, Irene soon learns that her husband has been living a secret life with an entirely separate family on the distant Caribbean island of St. John. As Irene untangles a web of intrigue and deceit, and as she and her sons find themselves drawn into the vibrant island culture, they have to face the truth about their family and their future.
André and Maria Jacquemetton executive produce with Pompeo and Laura Holstein for Calamity Jane, Andrew Stearn for Andrew Stearn Productions and Hilderbrand.
Hilderbrand’s Paradise trilogy is comprised of the novels Winter In Paradise, released in 2018, followed by What Happens In Paradise and Troubles in Paradise in 2020, published by Little, Brown and Company. Another book by Hilderbrand, 28 Summers, is being adapted by MRC Film.
André and Maria Jacquemetton served as key writers-producers on all six seasons of Matt Weiner’s Mad Men, rising to executive producers for the final two seasons and sharing in the show’s three Drama Series Emmy Awards. They also served as consulting producers on Weiner’s The Romanoffs.
Pompeo stars in and produces ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, which is currently in its 17th season. She also serves as co-executive producer on Grey’s spinoff Station 19.
Through his overall deal at ABC Signature, Stearn also is shepherding an All My Children primetime sequel, Pine Valley, which is in the works at ABC.
Hilderbrand is repped by UTA, Michael Carlisle & David Forrer at Inkwell Management, and attorney Christine Cuddy at Kleinberg Lange Cuddy & Carlo. Pompeo is repped by CAA, John Carrabino Management, and Hansen Jacobson Teller. Maria and André Jacquemetton are repped by Dan Halsted at Manage-ment and attorney Wayne Alexander. Stearn is repped by attorney Abel Lezcano at Del Shaw Moonves.
ABC Daytime: Back on Broadway will gather musical performances by soap stars including Susan Lucci, Anthony Geary and Eva La Rue during the seven annual benefit concerts staged in New York from 2005-11. The daytime actors will revisit the performances in new interviews as part of the special.
The special will stream free of charge on February 11. See viewing options below. The lineup of performers includes Bobbie Eakes, Melissa Claire Egan, Vincent Irizarry, Eva La Rue, Susan Lucci, Cameron Mathison, Eden Riegel, Chrishell Stause and Walt Willey (from All My Children); Kristen Alderson, BethAnn Fuenmayor, Kathy Brier, Kassie DePaiva, David Gregory, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Catherine Hickland, Mark Lawson, Hillary B. Smith, Jason Tam and Brittany Underwood (One Life To Live); and Bradford Anderson, Brandon Barash and Anthony Geary (General Hospital).
“There are no fans like ABC Daytime fans,” said Lucci in a statement. “Their love and support continue to astonish us. We can’t wait to share these special performances with them and help raise money for so many in need during this difficult time.”
The concerts were staged at New York City’s Town Hall, and included production numbers, Broadway show tunes, ballads and comedy skits. The concert series began in 2005 as a one-night-only benefit to mark the 35th anniversary of All My Children, but fan support prompted ABC to stage the annual event for another six years. Over its seven-year run, ABC Daytime Salutes Broadway Cares raised $1.85 million.
Tom Viola, Broadway Cares Executive Director, said, “We are so thankful to the stars from ABC Daytime for joining us again as we relive moments from this delightful tradition, while helping to provide lifesaving medication, healthy meals and emergency support to those struggling during this ongoing pandemic.”
This free streamed event can be viewed beginning Feb. 11, 8 pm ET, here, as well as on Broadway Cares’ YouTube channel, across ABC Owned Television Stations’ 32 connected TV apps on Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, Roku and each of the eight station’s websites around the country, including abc7ny.com in New York; and on Good Morning America’s Facebook page.
While the stream is free, donations will be accepted for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, with all proceeds to provide people affected by HIV/AIDS, COVID-19 and other critical illnesses with healthy meals, lifesaving medication, emergency financial assistance, housing, counseling and more. The donations also support and champion organizations focused on social justice and anti-racism.
The married alumni of daytime’s All My Children are among the team working on a primetime continuation of the long-running soap opera, our sister site Deadline reports.
The new project is titled Pine Valley, aka the Pennsylvania community in which AMC was set. It will center on a young reporter with a secret agenda who arrives in town to bring Pine Valley’s deadly history to light. But, naturally, the young journalist gets tied up in a feud between the Santos and Kane families.
Per Deadline, the prospective show will have a heightened tone, and a relationship to soaps similar to Jane the Virgin‘s relationship to telenovelas. The bulk of the cast would be new characters, with some familiar faces —including Consuelos and Ripa — possibly sprinkled in.
Ripa and Consuelos played Hayley and Mateo Santos on the original daytime drama, which ran for more than four decades on ABC before a brief stint of new episodes that premiered online via The Online Network. Its biggest star, Susan Lucci, portrayed Erica Kane for the entire ABC run.
Along with Consuelos and Ripa, the project’s executive producers include Andrew Stearn (Shameless); Leo Richardson (EastEnders, Star), who also will write the script; and Robert Nixon, son of late AMC creator Agnes Nixon. ABC Signature will produce.
In the All My Children followup, written/executive produced by Leo Richardson (Katy Keene, Star), a young journalist with a secret agenda comes to expose the dark and murderous history of a town named Pine Valley only to become entangled in a feud between the Kane and Santos families. The seres explores all the secrets that come with the Kane and Santos family names.
Kane was one of AMC’s founding families, with Erica Kane (Susan Lucci) becoming one of television’s most popular characters. Ripa and Consuelos, who played Hayley & Mateo Santos on the original series, executive produce via their Milojo Productions alongside the company’s Albert Bianchini. Stearn executive produces through his Andrew Stearn Productions. The company is based at ABC Signature, which is the studio on the project.
Pine Valley will feature a new generation of characters and some old favorites. There are currently no deals in place with original cast members but the plan is to invite a number of them to make an appearance, with Ripa and Consuelos also possible making a cameo.
Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children aired for 41 years on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011, originally in a half-hour format before expanding to hourlong episodes in 1977. The series was set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictional suburb of Philadelphia, which is modeled on the actual Philadelphia suburb of Rosemont.
Pine Valley plans to continue the original series’ legacy of tackling difficult issues and being inclusive. AMC was the first series to comprehensively address the Vietnam War and to have a character undergo a legal abortion. The soap also featured a transgender storyline a decade and a half ago.
As it will be in primetime, Pine Valley will have a heightened tone and will wink to the daytime soap genre similar to how the CW’s Jane the Virgin paid homage to telenovelas.
Stearn has been the driving force behind Pine Valley. A lifelong fan, he watched All My Children growing up. Last year, when he was deciding between ABC Signature and one other studio for an overall deal, he chose ABC Signature because it was going to allow him to pursue his dream of rebooting All My Children. He started working toward that goal on Day 1 of his deal, beginning with tracking down the rights.
Originally owned by Creative Horizons, the company created by Agnes Nixon and her husband, Bob, the show was sold to ABC in January 1975. Shortly after All My Children‘s cancellation by ABC to make room for talk show The Chew, the rights to it and fellow departed ABC daytime soap One Life To Live were acquired by Prospect Park with the idea to continue the shows as web series. After some major hurdles, new episodes of All My Children started taping in Feb. 2013. By November the show had been canceled again. The rights subsequently reverted to ABC after a legal battle.
With the support of ABC Signature’s Tracy Underwood and the network’s then-head of daytime William Burton, Stearn pitched his idea for a primetime incarnation of the classic daytime drama to then-President of ABC Entertainment Karey Burke, who recently transitioned to a new role as President of 20th Television. She gave the concept thumbs-up, and Stearn proceeded to build a creative team. He brought in as executive producers All My Children alumni Ripa, who has a long history at Disney-ABC, and Consuelos.
After meeting with a number of writers, Stearn went with Leo Richardson, who had worked on long-running primetime soap EastEnders in his native Britain. Stearn also got on board the estate of Agnes Nixon, with son Robert Nixon joining the project as an executive producer.
Under his deal, Stearn executive produces the newly picked up ABC drama series Rebel, starring Katey Sagal, which is currently in production.
Milojo has Mexican Gothic in the works at Hulu and ABC comedy pilot Work Wife starring and executive produced by Kelly Ripa, which is based on her and Live co-host, Ryan Seacrest’s relationship. Michael Halpern, Milojo Productions’ Director of Development, oversees Pine Valley for the company.