All My Children’s Finale Aired, Zuleyka Silver Debuted on Y&R and More Big Moments from September 23

In 1986, One Life To Live's Viki Lord Buchanan (Erika Slezak) and Clint Buchanan (Clint Ritchie) welcomed daughter Jessica Buchanan. This was their first biological child together, though Viki was already mother to two sons, Kevin and Joey (and, per a later rewrite, another daughter, Megan), while Clint was the father of Cord Roberts, and, per a later rewrite, Rex Balsom. In 2002, OLTL introduced the character of Natalie Balsom, who proved to be the surprise twin sister of Jessica, who had been stolen at birth.

In 1992, Michael Easton and Shannon Sturges exited Days of Our Lives as lovebirds Tanner Scofield and Molly Brinker. Easton had joined the show in 1990, with Sturges debuting in 1991. In the storyline, Tanner and Molly moved to Chicago, but the actors' exit occurred during a sweep of cast changes as the show underwent a creative reboot. Easton joked to Digest in 2006, “I think that rebelling got me fired, actually. They wanted me to be rebellious on-screen, not off." Molly remains Sturges's most prominent soap credit, but Easton went on to lengthy runs on Port Charles (Stephen/Caleb), One Life To Live (John McBain) and General Hospital (John McBain, Silas Clay, Hamilton Finn).

In 2011, All My Children aired its final episode on ABC after a run that kicked off on January 5, 1970. On the series finale of the beloved show, created by Agnes Nixon, the Kane/Montgomery clan enjoyed moments of family togetherness; Marian reunited with her miraculously back-from-the-dead hubby, Stuart; Adam and Brooke hosted a party at which Brot and Natalia announced their engagement, Randi and Frankie hinted that she might be pregnant, Tad gave a heartfelt toast and Adam and Brooke got engaged. Less happily, Jack dumped Erica, seemingly for good, while an inebriated JR fired his gun, resulting in the cliffhanger, "Who did JR shoot?" When AMC got its short-lived Internet reboot in 2014, JR's ex-wife, Marissa, was revealed to have been the victim, and she didn't survive.

In 2023 on Young and Restless, Zuleyka Silver made her debut as Audra Charles, sharing her first scenes with future love interest Sean Dominic (Nate). The actress told Soap Opera Digest in her first interview about landing the gig, "I like playing strong women and Audra’s definitely a strong woman. I’m so grateful to the writers for not putting a Latina actress in a box because we can play lawyers, doctors, CEOs and other professionals." She recalled how she got the good news, reporting, "I got a call from both my manager and my agent on the same call, which usually means it’s about something good, and they told me I got the part. I was jumping up and down, and I did cry, because I just couldn’t believe it. Then my boyfriend brought over champagne. Three weeks later, I was on the set.”  Teasing what fans could expect from Audra, Silver said, "She has two very distinct sides to her and she knows how to separate them. She can be all about her work because she’s confident in what she’s doing; however, she can easily be set off. You won’t see that right away but I know it’s coming!"

In 2024 on General Hospital, viewers got confirmation that Portia Robinson (Brook Kerr) had altered the blood results of Heather Webber in an effort to keep the woman who had caused so much misery for Portia's daughter, Trina Robinson, behind bars. Portia's high-risk move not only put her medical career on the line, but her marriage as well, given husband Curtis Ashford's disdain for secrets. Plus, the proof of her misdeeds eventually fell into the hands of scuzzy congressman Drew Cain, who used it to blackmail her. Of learning about the lengths her character went to in an effort to protect her daughter, Kerr told Soap Opera Digest, "Well, I was a little bit shocked ... it seemed like such a preemptive strike, you know? Like, 'Just in case!' I was thinking that Portia is doing it … not necessarily unconsciously, but she’s doing it more like, 'Let’s just dot our I’s and cross our T’s. Let’s just make sure there’s no room for this not to go the way we want it to [when Heather is in court]. Let’s leave no room for chance.' "