The mother, whose career pulls her away, laments not spending more time with her daughter and bickers with her ex-husband. Nearby in a coffee shop, a mysterious woman talks to a young girl, and gets directions to an old cabin the girl once played in with her brother. After her departure, the young girl's brother follows the mysterious woman to the cabin where he learns that she is actually their long-lost mother. At last we turn to a true staple of daytime television, the soap opera. Since television was first broadcast, these ongoing sagas have kept millions watching every day, and All My Children has been one of the longest running soaps in history.
Every encounter is dramatic, every eternal love meddled with by an evil outsider.
In light music, once the trained ear has heard the first notes of the hit song, it can guess what is coming and feel flattered when it does come. The viewer can easily translate the images they see on the screen to their own lives, making their own reality a little more bearable. The pace of the narrative moves at a snail's pace compared to the quick-flash movements of talk shows. The plot-lines are laid and crisscrossing throughout the episode, keeping the viewer watching even if they have little interest in the particular plot they are watching because just a few minutes away is another glimpse of their favorite character. Their own personal lives may never match those of the characters they watch, but the viewer can live that life vicariously through the soap, and for many viewers, missing a day of their favorite soap is like having slept through a day of their own lives.