All My Children fallout: who's in and who's out

Ever since the announcement that All My Children was leaving New York, moving from the studios where it's been shot since the premiere in 1970, the big question among fans has been who will be staying with All My Children when it moves west... and who won't.

The good news is that Susan Lucci has decided to stay with the show, even if she's not giving up her New York home. Susan, as well as costar Vincert Irizarry, have decided to commute to Los Angeles, with AMC arranging the schedule to make it more convenient for the veterans.

There's bad news, however, and it involves three big AMC stars. Thorsten Kaye, who plays Zach, has decided not to relocate. In addition, Beth Ehlers (Taylor) and Aiden Turner (Aidan) have been let go. In other words, they have not been invited to go west.

For Turner, the dismissal came as a shock. He was called into the executive producer's office and given his pink slip. It was story line dictated, the show claimed, but more likely it was a cost-cutting move. The same is probably true for Ehlers, however in her case it's more disheartening.

The five-time Emmy nominee joined AMC in 2008 after 21 years on Guiding Light with high expectations that her character, Taylor, would be a major player in Pine Valley. After over a year on the canvas, however, Taylor remains virtually unattached to any other characters and her story lines have never truly been integrated. In point of fact, she is an expendable character.

Ehlers could easily find another job -- she's that good -- but probably not for the kind of money she received before the recession hit. Here's a look at one of her better moments on AMC:



Finally, there's Thorsten Kaye. He's chosen not to move for personal reasons: his long-time partner, Susan Haskell, has a full-time gig on One Life to Live playing Marty. The couple are raising two children and he has expressed his desire to stay with his family. "I am not the kind of dad who wants to be 3,000 miles away from my kids," Kaye told the New York Daily News.

Rumor has it that Kaye's character, Zach, will be killed off. As for Aidan and Taylor, no word yet on how they'll be written out.

If it were up to you, what would you do about the Zach Slater issue since Kaye is definitely not the answer. Also, which character would you like to see return to All My Children?