From its January 5, 1970, debut, soap opera All My Children, with its emphasis on young love and such topical issues as abortion, the Vietnam War, and the environment, attracted college students in unusually high numbers, suddenly expanding the traditional market and changing the focus of the genre forever. The structure of the program has been the traditional battling families concept with the wealthy, dysfunctional Tyler family of Pine Valley pitted against the morally upright but decidedly middle-class Martins. While the stories are mainly romantic and triangular, what makes the show unique is its outright celebration of young lovers and their loves.

Chuck Tyler and Phil Brent were teenagers when their rivalry for the affections of Tara Martin split apart their friendship and pitted the Martins against the Tylers. This conflict drove the series for many years until it was supplanted in 1980 by a romance between...