Susan Lucci had second heart scare

I ❤️ Susan but she is milking this for all it is worth. Stay well and start jockeying for a guest spot on GH.

She told heart disease to get lost, just like she told that bear.

Years of anorexia will do that to a heart.

This is ridiculous, if there is anyone in the world who has no heart it’s Susan Lucci, I don’t believe this for a minute!

R4= Sarah Michelle Gellar

It’s oh susan we love you get up

Is her old hubby still alive? He must be 90 by now.

Is Susan getting her heart lifted again?

years of simply living will also do that to the heart, anorexic or not.

how fucking old is she?

She’s 75 years young r9.

Weird that Mitchell Ryan died the same day that Kate Collins and the kid who played Ryan’s character’s son were on with Alan Locher.

Has Kate Collins commented yet?

Any time I see Susan I am reminded of a story Kelly Ripa told years ago when Regis was still there.

Kelly said a group of AMC actors and their spouses went to some small upstate New York town for the wedding of someone behind the scenes at AMC.

They had some time to kill in between the church service and the reception that started a few hours later. Being unfamiliar with the area and early on a Sunday, someone in the AMC group said "I saw an Applebee's down the road, let's go there." Susan says: "What is Applebee's?".

It was her Dowager Countess of Downton Abbey "What is a weekend?" moment.

Also, I think it's nice the "star" of the show went to a crew member's wedding.

Just read her Wikipedia entry. She's a registered Republican who has hosted fundraising events for Rudy Giuliani.

Moderately successful trash, then.

Oh she "opened up" all right.

Miss Viki Sleestack is a Republican as well.

I was thinking the same thing....how weird it was that Mitch Ryan died the same day Kate and Tommy did Miss Locher's show. Kate said that she was intimidated to work with Susan, but that Susan was so welcoming and very nice to her. Kate said she still maintains contact with Jean LeClerc. She and Jean were former lovers, and it's nice to see that there were no hard feelings and that they're still close.

Maybe if she'd eat more than 200 calories a day she might be healthier.

Yes she has been underweight now for many many years.

Jean LeClerc is such a pussy hound!

She and Celine could fit in a size 0 together.

Jean and Kate were a hot item for a while. I remember their romance being profiled in a SOD story at the time. They referred to each other as soul mates and traveled together. It's a shame their love affair didn't last. They had so much chemistry.

I thought DL said Jean LeClerc was gay?

Who wants to explain things to R23?

Jean and Kate broke up because he couldn’t eat just one pussy.

R25

Jean and Kate were an item for a while. It's nice that they've remained friends. I believe he also briefly dated Claire Beckman (Sliver Kane). I recall a SOD profile of Jean. The interviewer asked him who his secret crush was, and he replied that it was Mary Fickett. He said that she was a warm, lovely human being. Doesn't sound gay to me.

Most overrated actress ever. Of any medium. However, she looks fucking awesome and is an example of nearly perfect plastic surgery. I had read a few times it was some Aston dude from NYC. (The surgeon) I think his wife is a socialite. And yeah, she and Slezak (her and Slezak?) oh dear.. are both republicans. I really feel that they are more the old school fiscal republicans.

And Slezak (thankfully) mentioned very obliquely that she thought that Trump was a disgrace. That made me think better of her.

Why was she a mega cooze to Sarah Michelle?

I highly doubt that Lucci and Slezak are Trump loving republicans. They're old school, fiscally conservative Berry Goldwater repubs.

Agreed. And Slezak acknowledged that Trump was garbage.

Mild anorexia damages the heart

R29- I believe every word Sarah Michelle said.

Susan exudes that extremely fake uber graciousness that I look out for in real life.

Total cunt side on that one (and I suspect she is an absolute doll in most situations) where she isn't insecure.

I'm sure Susan is a sweetheart now that she's old, but an aging woman in her 40's? You can tell that she would cut a bitch and watch her bleed back then.

Is La Lucci the only soap star to have been made a Disney Legend?

R33, pathetic to be that insecure where you are threatened by a teenager.

I think Susan is a genuinely nice person who doesn't take herself too seriously. No one except maybe SMG has ever had a bad word to say about her. She always talks so reverentially about Agnes and all the old guard AMC players, and it comes off as very authentic. I think there is probably some justified anger and jealousy from better and more highly regarded actresses on other shows who were eclipsed by her when the Emmy narrative was all about Susan, but that's not on her. At the end of the day, Susan has had the last laugh, since she was one of the very few soap actors to be well-known outside of the daytime ghetto.

R36- I absolutely agree with every word and still stand by that she was the most overrated actress of any genre ever, that every word SMG was TRUE-

However- Susan is extremely, overly gracious. She oozes goodness and charisma. Just overall a good woman. And kind 99% of the time. When the world was kissing her ass.

Her plastic surgery was absolutely awesome. And she is the most well known actress of daytime ever- a true STAR. Maybe daytime's only star.

But she was threatened by a teenager. If anything, that makes Susan more human. She comes across so, so, so, fake.

And its nice to know that she is human too. A good reminder for folks to look a little deeper.

I will never understand why aging stars pay so much money on plastic surgeries, but neglect the look of their saggy earlobes.

Look at the size of those lobules! They can be easily corrected with plastic surgery or more flattering earrings.

I always wondered about the relationship between Susan and Julia Barr. It had to have killed Susan to see the press fawn all over Julia's acting and then to watch her grab 2 Emmys.

I think Susan genuinely respected Barr. I'll give that!!!!

Is it true that Susan and her daughter Liza had a falling out and no longer speak?

Think of all the ingenues on AMC like Taylor Miller, Paige Turco and Kim Delaney. Lucci outlasted them all.

I can't believe anyone is taking the side of known mega-cunt SMG over Lucci. Everyone knows Gellar was a raging cooze at AMC. She has a terrible reputation.

I for one for not believe SMG. SL has never has never had an issue with any of her coworkers in all of her decades of constant employment. SMG on the other hand, has . She reportedly was a bitch to several of her Buffy costars. SL has praised the ladies who played her daughters on AMC and they all adore her.

Sorry, Lucci Lovers- there is NO FUCKING WAY this shit would be out there from Gellar unless there was some truth to it.

Be logical- Think about this.

Cannot stand Gellar- and I believe her 100%

And never watched one episode of "Buffy".

Sorry, I respectfully disagree, lol.

R46- Go research and at least know that the truth lays somewhere in the middle- Always.

Or lies?

I am too drunk to use proper grammar

[quote]Susan Lucci had second heart scare

Still trying to find it, are they, honey?

Debbie is giving me life, TONIGHT.

Ain't no e in Debbi, bitch.

Lucci = Biggest daytime star, ever. Huge name recognition outside of daytime. Even the biggest movie stars like Meryl have used the Susan Lucci joke of oft nominated, rarely win. People who have never watched a soap know her name and situation. Lucci did well.

Even though different situations on soaps were more famous, like Luke and Laura from GH, Lucci is still in the public consciousness. Good for her and I began watching when it was in black and white and never expected this type of longevity.

Overrated actress? Lol.

Honey, Susan Lucci is a soap opera star. Despite multiple attempts, she was unable to cross over into mainstream acting. She famously couldn’t even win her industry’s awards for decades.

NO ONE actually thinks she can act

Of course Lucci can't really act, and she is in on the joke. But who cares? She's had a fabulous life, certainly better than actressy actresses from the soap world that no one's ever heard of like Lisa Brown or Ellen Parker.

Believe it or not, she was one of the best hosts on SNL that I remember.

Daytime Emmys mean nothing. They've always been an industry joke. I mean, look at people like Slezak and Zimmer with all their awards. They're nothing but two big hams. "LOOK AT ME EMOTE!!!!"

R18 etc Yes. What is that all about? Back in the day Susan Lucci had a very curvy figure, not zaftig, just beautiful feminine womanly curves. Then, about the time she hit 40 she became stick thin and boney. Even her face changed. She looked much better before.

All My Luggage is still one of my favorite sketches. She had a pretty big decent part in most of the sketches that night. I am guessing her soap experience helped her learn a lot during the rehearsal week. It also helps that she truly does have good comedic timing.

[quote] Despite multiple attempts, she was unable to cross over into mainstream acting.

I would say this is largely true, since her movies were largely a variation of Erica and very soapy, but they were usually in the top ten for ratings of the week (when network ratings mattered) and they kept having her make one a year. She never had a hit prime time show, but people knew who she was for most of the 80's and 90's. That is a lot longer than someone who was on a hit sitcom for a few years and then disappears. She probably made the right decision to stay on AMC then leave to play someone's girlfriend in a TV show from 1988 to 1992.

I think she looks pretty good now, but agree she would look better if she occasionally had a sandwich and skipped Pilates for a day.

Coke?

R12, I also thought she was very good at using the teleprompter without looking at it from her soap experience. However, her look of anguish in All My Luggage was hilarious and that's talent.

She wasn't horrible on Dallas, but sadly Dallas was pretty horrible by the time she was on. I think if she could've done Dallas or one of the others around four years earlier she would've had a better chance.

R62, she would have been better suited on Falcon Crest as an Italian-American wine manufacturer.

On Alan’s show Kate was also very moving talking about James Mitchell-it was obvious she loved him very much.

R53- You are quite mistaken the dl people including me LOVE her in EBBIE (1995)

Oh for g-d’s sake Susan, eat a cookie.

exactly how does one get plaque and blockage around one's arteries when one never eats?

She’s a great comedic actress. Loved her on Devious Maids.

I was watching Judith Light’s infamous OLTL trial scene earlier and noticed how much her speaking voice sounds similar to Lucci.

The Susan-Sarah story could be partially true. But Susan has never commented on it. There are two sides to every story. I doubt young at the time Sarah was a sweetheart.

Erika Slezak is very theatrical but her crying scenes were always a bit much. Most of daytime’s best ladies tended to be scenery chewers. Hubbard. Zimmer. Slezak. Wyndham. Flannery. Conley.

Beverlee was more mechanical. And stone cold.

That dried-up little raisin actually died years ago...

They just implanted some kind of battery in heart so she can keep making appearances and earning money...

Bev McKinsey was one of the laziest actresses ever on daytime! All she did was complain about her schedule and it made everyone miserable. Poor Bev couldn’t handle working every weekday. Lazy!

Zimmer has more DUIs than Lucci has Emmys.

I was shocked that Locher asked Kate about James Kiberd, given they hated each other. There was some "knowing" laughter from both her and Tommy, but she answered very graciously that he was a big talent and even reminisced about his ties, unlike Kiberd who pretty much refused to talk about her when he did Locher's show a few months back. Kate is just so classy.

Zenk-Pinter has a couple dui’s.

Serial nutjob scholar is mentally ill.

It's probably hereditary in her case. Her father died suddenly of heart problems.

The whole feud between Lucci and Geller was made a bigger deal than it actually was. They didn't like each other and didn't get along and both were not faultless, but Geller's mother leaked it to the press, so of course it made Geller look better. Geller never really spoke in detail about the whole thing, only cryptically. And as mentioned earlier, Lucci has never discussed it publicly. I doubt it has any space in their brains for some time now.

Lucci does have a better rep in the industry. Gracious, kind and welcoming was how she was frequently described. Geller is often described as "professional" without much more elaboration.

That hatred worked wonders for their chemistry. Collins is one of the actresses who probably would have chemistry with a doorknob.

Did James mention how his wife Susan is doing? Loved her as Shana on Loving.

I think it says a lot about Lucci that she's able to maintain a nice friendship with Eva LaRue, even though Eva and SMG are bffs.

Sarah is probably like Brandy. Obnoxious. Brandy and Thea Vidale didn’t get along. And Kelly Rowland said that Brandy was obnoxious when she first met her.

Who has more DUIs among them: the ABC actresses or the P&G actresses?

I wonder if Susan was jealous that she was not youthful enough to be part of the AMC chick clique in the early/mid 90s...SMG, Ripa, Eva, Teresa Blake, and Sydney Penny were evidently inseparable. Blake's Gloria seems to have a footnote in AMC history, but she was extremely popular there for a while, sometimes in the top 5 of favorite daytime actress in those silly magazine polls.

[quote]Miss Viki Sleestack is a Republican as well.

Figures.

In her memoir she cultivates an image of being socially liberal. Talks about her pride in Bianca's coming-out story, mentions childhood memories of JFK, and gives a nod to the wisdom of Hillary Clinton's "it takes a village."

She also befriends prominent Democratic fundraisers after a liberal politician invites her to the Kentucky Derby. (She doesn't mention their political affiliations but it's easy enough to look them up.) There's a feeling of her trying to tow a line, though, so as not to offend anyone, which made me think she probably votes her pocketbook.

It's also funny when she praises Alicia Minshew and raves about Eden Riegel but never mentions SMG.

Ellen Holly hates Slee. She won't even refer to her by name in her archive interviews, calling her "the third Viki." LOL. Ellen is so bitter.

I'll "oh dear" myself for "tow the line," which should read "toe the line."

Slee is to E. Holly as Melody Thomas Scott is to V. Rowell. Did Slee make fun of Ellen’s hair like MTS did?

How Minshew lasted all those years in such a pivotal role is a huge mystery. She was mostly godawful. Like Lucci, she had little depth, but lacked Lucci's on-screen charisma. Riegel was great in the beginning, but it was sad that she came and went a million times, merely using the show as an ATM. I actually liked the recast, Christina Lind. She was quite good.

How many DUIs does Slee have?!?

I was surprised Locher brought up Kiberd's name to Collins. She laughed and took the high road and called him talented. Since he isn't that familiar with AMC, he probably didn't know about their immense dislike of each other. Now that was much worse than the Lucci/Geller fued. Really, really ugly at the time.

When Locher asked Kiberd about Kate a few months ago, he refused to talk about her, and Locher seemed to get it. He's usually so anti-conflict, I'm surprised he brought him up with Kate, unless he totally forgot about their feud. Agreed, from what I read, Kiberd/Collins make Lucci/SMG look like BFFs.

What was the issue? Trevor wasn’t really Natalie’s type but seemed to be her true love. Melody Anderson (very pretty) seemed to be playing a whole different character than Collins.

Alicia’s chemistry with Thorsten Kaye is what kept her with a job.

Collins and Kiberd hated each other and didn't want to work together, especially later on. But their coupling was so popular with viewers, the producers wouldn't break them up. Some soap newspaper columns claimed Collins went to ABC with sexual harassment allegations against Kiberd shortly before she left. I could see him being someone who could hurl off color remarks. Collins had enough and quit to join her soon-to be husband in Chicago. She didn't tell any of her co-stars that she was leaving until her last day of taping. They knew she was unhappy, but were surprised by her sudden departure.

Kiberd loved Melody Anderson, but a few viewers like her, so Natalie was killed off. During Collins returns, she never worked with Kiberd. She even did a scene with Harold the dog, though. Too funny.

Kate was very gracious, saying she thought Melanie Anderson brought a warmth to the character, and she also praised Mattson.

SMG and Lucci may have hated each other, but damn that was a dynamite story. You could see the fire in Lucci's eyes everytime Erica lit into Kendall.

Tommy seemed to have genuine good memories of Kiberd -but he was pretty young when Natalie died and might not have been aware of everything that was going on between them. He really spent just as much time on the show post-Natalie as when she was alive.

[quote].SMG, Ripa, Eva, Teresa Blake, and Sydney Penny were evidently inseparable.

I remember an interview of either Evan or Syndey saying that it was almost like they were some college kids in the dorm, and that in retrospect they were probably obnoxious. I think a Ripa - Larue and SMG are still somewhat close.

Kate actually called Robin Mattson’s Janet an “icon” of the show. So classy. I highly recommend watching the interview because she’s quite wonderful talking about her Apollo 11 astronaut dad Michael Collins. And she was a huge fan of the show for many years before she was cast on it so that was an unexpected surprise, too.

An unintentionally funny bit was when they talked about Harold the dog and Tommy said the ones who played him died soon after the show ended (I think) and Kate said “Didn’t Harold go to heaven?” which was an actual fucking storyline but Alan obviously didn’t know that and he changed the topic. I guess we can add religion to the topics he really doesn’t want discussed on his shows, heh heh.

R96 I had forgotten about that but I remember crying my eyes out watching Natale angel take her dog to heaven.

Collins is an uptight bitch. No humor. Kiberd was a cut up who didn’t take things too seriously.

If I remember correctly, AMC was in the start of its long, slow decline with Harold sickness and death story ,and this was made apparent when the storyline about the dog was the best one they had at the time.

AMC got better after the Harold storyline, which was McTavish. Lorraine Broderick did a great job taking the reins back from her in 1995. Her writing of the gay storyline, and pulling in teens from the key families, as well as the reintroduction of Liza, were brilliant. But things started to go downhill in 1996/97 when Disney took over and Felicia Minei Behr was canned in favor of Francesa James. Early 2000s were decent with Agnes HW, but once the Fusion crap started, that's when it really irretrievably jumped the shark. There was no turning back.

Fusion led to the Pine Valley skyline which was patently ridiculous.

I think the skyline first appeared with the silly Noah/Julia/Taylor triangle, which was evidently forced upon the show to make it more competitive with its time slot competitor, Days, which was on fire at the time with all the possession shit.

Good summary R100. Harold's death was in 1998 , so it was in that down period before the early 2000's when the show almost got back on track when they brought in some good actors/characters, Bianca, David, Leo, pre-psychotic Vaness, pre-Ryan Greenlee etc. I think Harold being drugged and traveling across country might be the over-the-top McTavish storyline that you are remembering before the show clicked again under Broderick.

Yes - all the voodoo Julia/Noah stuff was in clear response to Days - think Mateo was also having coma visions. The Days style did not mesh well with the show and think that helped its decline. That might have been around the time of Erica's kidnapping Maria's baby, which in retrospect was not that bad, since it was a relatively short for a baby switch story, you really weren't sure how it was going to play out, and Lucci was interesting when she was going quietly dark when she was plotting her Maria confrontation which triggered the early delivery.

AMC was just so mishandled in its final years. Frons didn't "get" the show, so he decided to turn it in a SATC clone. And that unabortion story? That was just a total WTF moment. Like, who actually greenlit that embarrassment of a storyline? I remember when the show was getting really bad press over that story, they trotted out Agnes to half-heartedly defend it. One of the mags asked her what she thought of it and the poor dear said she thought "the idea was interesting." Sad.

Kate was right in praising Robin Mattson's take on Janet. She really fleshed out that character, despite the writing not always being supportive of the character. After Janet was totally redeemed and married to Trevor, she was given little to do. And after Kiberd left abruptly at the end of 1999, the writing on the wall for Janet getting written off less than 6 months later.

Melody Anderson didn't deserve the praise though. But she did an ok job when Carter Jones (played by John Wesley Shipp) abducted a blind Natalie.

A lot of the Janet stuff was McTavish vs. Broderick. Evidently, McT wasn't happy that Broderick had rehabilitated Janet when she was gone from 1995-98, so when McT returned in 1998, she basically gave Mattson nothing to do and kept Janet inactive. There was talk of bringing on a new character called Rain, who was supposed to be Janet's long-lost daughter, but those plans were nixed. Then I guess the network wouldn't meet Kiberd's salary demands, so when he was written off, Janet followed a few months later. I hated the Janet/Skye/Erica vs. Kinder storyline, which many others seemed to have loved.

I think AMC lost its identity over time more than any of the other shows with the possible exception of GL due to its horrendous new production model toward the end.

Sooooooozin, shhhhhhh, Suuuuuuuuzin

BOO!🤪 Just kid’s ‘round gal. Get better soon. Ya hear? BOO!!!!!

Her appearances on Hot In Cleveland suggest to me she has a sense of humor about herself.

Her appearances on Hot In Cleveland suggest to me she has a sense of humor about herself.

The Noah/Julia stuff really attracted me, but then again, I was 14 at the time. That followed through from the tornado episodes, which I remember being really really well done. OLTL was the better show at that point, wasn't it?

I never cared about Erica, but I loved Lucci in Devious Maids.

[quote]That followed through from the tornado episodes, which I remember being really really well done. OLTL was the better show at that point, wasn't it?

AMC was still pretty good during the tornado and its aftermath. Early Noah and Julia was classic soap but I thought there storylines after they got married - Jamacia - the mob exit story were not as good.

[quote]I never cared about Erica, but I loved Lucci in Devious Maids.

That show really could have gone a couple of more years. It still seemed like it had a fair amount of steam. I liked how Lucci's character had some Erica's traits, but really was a different character - sheltered, perhaps a bit naive, maybe a little vain and self-centered but actually very nice, had a good rapport wit Judy Reyes. She and the Powells were probably the best part of the show - which might have been a problem since none of them were the maids.

I loved when FMB, as head of daytime, called OLTL unwatchable when JFP was producing. Meow. I don't think these two women got along very well. FMB seemed much more old school soap, while JFP tried to revolutionize the genre, for good and for very bad.

I don't remember Jamaica at all, r111. I was watching in Canada on CBC (we didn't have cable), and at some point, CBC dropped All My Children (which it had been airing for years and years) and One Life to Live. It must have been after that happened. I picked OLTL back up when I moved to the US in 2008.

....

Is Victoria Fuckton, the crazy loon from SON here? Of so…….fuck off!

One nice, unexpected twist in the Erica-Ceara story is that Erica was smart enough to realize if she gained Ceara as an ally she could hold off Adam, backed off her hostilities, negotiated with her, and they ended up having a good working relationship. It was nice she turned Adam's plot around and used it against him.

I barely remember Jamaica except that it was the start of a storyline that did not really fit AMC which I also barely remember. I am thinking Julia and Noah might have gone there for their honeymoon, but I seem to remember Hayley and Mateo there as well (Hayley was everywhere at that time). It was largely so they could do pretty location shots (when soaps still had money to do that) and show off the younger stars frolicking in their swim suits. They met a young female Jamaican who temporarily became a contract player and voodoo was somehow involved that continued when they returned to Pine Valley. It might have also been when Taylor went crazy and was recast and started stalking Noah.

The Jamaica shoot was the culmination of Taylor being obsessed with Noah. That was one of Lorraine Broderick's bigger mis-steps during her generally well-regarded second go-around as HW. You also have to wonder how much of that was network interference. I think the mandate was to make the show more Days-like after the show started slipping in the ratings in 1996 after its 5-6 year perch as solid #2 behind Y&R.

Genie Francis was fired off AMC because ABC Daytime wanted to force her back to General Hospital.

Genie Francis said she enjoyed working on Loving..

Yeah but who could watch Francis on Loving and AMC without seeing her as Laura? Francis wasn’t a good enough actress to keep us from doing that.

Vee has Genie fired from every soap. Vee is in the biz, you know. He is the expert of everything soaps and politics. He scrubs toilets and scares off creepos like PervSudz and Khunt from SON for 24 hours every few weeks. Vee is in the biz! The biz! You know!

Ceara was raped by her own father. Even Laura Webber didn't have it that bad in her childhood.

I think Genie was decent on AMC. I didn't see her as trying to be Laura. She and Jean LeClerc's Jeremy were pretty popular. Now, when I think she went to Y&R, she was hoping to recreate her image as a villainess, but she was a miserable failure there. She is not that strong of an actress to pull off that type of character, and she had zero chemistry with anyone on that show. For all the bashing Tony gets about vacation time and preference over Genie, in hindsight, he made her look so much better than she actually was, not the other way around.

She should eat something.

I thought she had chemistry with Peter Bergman.

Was she any good on Days? That's the one role I never saw her in, but I think she and Drake were fairly popular as a couple. He's not much of an actor.

I can see all the gristle holding her together in OP's pic.

Rag on Sue all you like, but have you bitches seen Slee lately? She did a couple of Miss Locher's shows and she looks ancient and dottering. If she looked eternally 65 since the day she joined OLTL, she now looks 90-ish. Fuck her and her worthless Emmys. Sue still has her looks and global recognition.

Have I told you about MY emmysh and number one bewwwwteeee shecretsh?

Vee, who’s in the biz, cancelled OLTL and AMC on the same day. “It had to happen” -Vee

Do you think Slee was pissed that she learned of OLTL's cancellation along with the rest of the cast, while Sue was extended the courtesy of being told of AMC's cancellation beforehand? At the end of the day, all those Emmys meant absolutely nothing.

Frons let Ellen Holly call Slee and say get your white face off my screen.

Ryan Murphy so needs to so FEUD: SLEZAK VS. HOLLY. Sarah Paulson as Slezak, Precious as Holly. Emma Roberts as Miss Katherine Glass, who walks around the studio in her trendy bowl cut informing anyone who will listen about her Q score and teen fan mail.

Frau Heflin

I remember reading an interview with Genie (or perhaps saw it paraphrased here) where her experience with Days was not great. The character was not developed well, and there was a lot backlash from Marlena fans that she was taking her place with John (or Roman at that time). She said when she met with AMC it was completely different. I do think they changed Ceara a bit from more of a vixen brought on to tangle with Erica over Jack/and or to cause trouble for Jeremy and his son. Natalie was no longer a bad girl at that point. Before long she evolved into more of a heroine, and not sure they needed that with Brooke and Natalie at full strength at the time. I am not sure if that was the plan, have with the evolution of the incest story line, or they felt that fitted her strengths better.

Has any show hired a veteran/star from another soap only to completely waste the opportunity with bad writing. Genie Francis, Debbie Mogan, Darnell Williams, Vincent I, Cady McCain, Maura West, Eden Riegel. Granted, some of that is just that the actor was not a good fit for the character, but it is still a bad track record.

Jennifer Landon was wasted on The Young and the Restless.

Guiding Light brought Marcy Walker in to play Tangie Hill in 1993 and then did nothing with the character for two years.

Bold and Beautiful routinely brings in big names and does nothing with them.

Bump- Have they found her heart yet?

That's Debbi, no e, you bitch!

[quote] Has any show hired a veteran/star from another soap only to completely waste the opportunity with bad writing. Genie Francis, Debbie Mogan, Darnell Williams, Vincent I, Cady McCain, Maura West, Eden Riegel. Granted, some of that is just that the actor was not a good fit for the character, but it is still a bad track record.

Which shows are you saying messed up having those stars?

I'd add Michelle Stafford on as GH's Nina. It just never worked for me. However, Cynthia Watros as Nina is great.

Doesh Shushan know about my emmysh and DUIsh?

She’s in the running for the title of The World’s Oldest Living Anorexic.

[quote]Has any show hired a veteran/star from another soap only to completely waste the opportunity with bad writing. Genie Francis, Debbie Mogan, Darnell Williams, Vincent I, Cady McCain, Maura West, Eden Riegel. Granted, some of that is just that the actor was not a good fit for the character, but it is still a bad track record.

The only thing all those actors have in common is bad runs on Y&R in the mid to late 2000s. Show did not have any idea what to do wtih them. I'd add Stephen Nichols to that list as well.

R145 I wasn't watching Y&R much at that time and I honestly forgot half of them were ever on Y&R.

Susan didn't know how to pump gas.

Crazy ass Tonya Pinkins was just on The Locher Room.

Good interview with Pinkins. She had lovely things to say about Richard Shoberg (Tom Cudahy), which surprised me, because at the time, she said in an interview that she thought Tom was boring and she really wanted to be paired romantically with Walt Willey/Jack.

Here’s Julia Barr as Molly Adams in The Adams Chronicles on PBS-this must have been shot a year or so before she started playing Brooke. She really was adorable.

I did a lot of freelance production work for ABC Daytime. Susan was always gracious & warm. Never heard anyone complain about her. She was Queen for sure, but always benevolent.

Ask Liza Huber what she thinks of her mother Susan.

Poor Susan. Now her husband Helmut has died.

Sorry to hear of Helmut's death. Deadline's timeline of their relationship is incorrect; they met through their hotel jobs years prior to marrying. She goes into detail about it in her book. Due to the age difference, she didn't consider him in a romantic light initially. Once she finally let him chase her, she was still ambivalent about a serious relationship. He pulled out all the stops to win her over.

So many rumors that Susan and Liza were not speaking.

Miss Sleestack’s hubby wasn’t doing well recently, either. It comes in threes.

AC Weary? You in danger, girl.

Liza Huber has been posting non-stop on her instagram the last week...but NO posts about her father.

Liza had a falling out with her parents.

What happened between Liza and Helmut and Susan?

Is Mr. Sleestak of the homosex variety?

R161, he played Rolf in The Sound of Music on Broadway. What do YOU think?

Has Miss Viki commented yet?

Has Jean LeClerc issued a statement?

It really does look like Liza had a falling out with her parents.

Last time you hear of anything together seems like 2017. There is NOTHING on her Instagram with her mom (or dad)

It appears Liza had a successful business and lives in Massachusetts!

(Not a word in her biographies on her site about her famous mother, which I respect)

She seems very normal-

Oprah Winfrey did a show with Lucci and several of the actors who played her onscreen husbands/lovers. Her husband Helmut was also on the show. Winfrey asked him about how he felt about all the love scenes she had to do with all the handsome actors and he said that Erica really fooled around but Susan always came home to him. She asked "Don't you get jealous?" and he said "No, she loves me." It said it very matter of factly, like it was obvious. I thought it was great that he felt so secure of her love.

Yes- and when she won her Emmy- someone posted a clip somewhere on Youtube- she was absolutely moved when she got to the part about her husband. Her voice when she said it. That he was with her every step of the way (and she meant good times and bad- and 18 Emmy losses and Sarah Michelle Gellar and normal life shit) He had tears in his eyes as well.

Sue said that she considers Sarah Michelle Geller her daughter now, not Liza.

But Liza and Susan were both born in 1946

Wow. They had been married almost since the time I was born. I hope that doesn't mean that SL will soon follow, but in long marriages such as theirs it is quite common, unfortunately. RIP

[quote]Yes- and when she won her Emmy- someone posted a clip somewhere on Youtube- she was absolutely moved when she got to the part about her husband. Her voice when she said it.

Obviously, she had some time to hone and perfect her acceptance speech, but it is really a well-done speech.

Has Kelly Ripa commented yet?

Any word from Miss Dey? She worked closely with Harry Hamlin on LA Law. Hamlin is married to Lisa Rinna, whose father on Days was played by Nick Benedict, who played Erica's second husband Phil Brent on AMC, so there is a direct connection. Will she comment, or won't she?

I'm not at all surprised by the discord between Susan and Liza, look at how long it took her to patch things up with Kendall, and even at that, things would get rocky. She was always very devoted to Bianca, but she did not handle her coming out well at all. So it's not a big shocker, I'm sure that sooner or later her and Liza will patch things up.

R174 are you suggesting that Liza set Susan up so she stabbed Helmut with a letter opener?

I wonder what she will do now -- she is in a large empty house. Easier said than done, with her age and her career choice, but would be nice for her to get some sort of job in the next few months to be able to focus on something else and she does seem to love working. Not that it would make it easier, but it would be better than staring at the walls of her house and wishing Helmut was there.

I always like Liza on Passions (she made the most out of a thankless role). I always found it ironic that she was playing against a character in the model of Erica (Theresa).

If you go through the Instagram comments, everybody is making reference to her dad and Liza is thanking them for their well wishes, but yeah, her posting is weird.

Four days after Liza's traumatic delivery of a preemie, Lucci was on a plane to do Dancing with the Stars. They were obviously close, and Susan was there for the birth, but she continued on the show even as things got dicey for her grandson in the NICU.

If there's a mother-daughter estrangement, who knows what it's about. But I'd not be surprised if there's a history of Liza thinking her mom's career came first.

Liza commented on her father's death in this Instagram post comments.

"lizahuber@krisnyc717 We have been estranged from my parents for many years and were not invited to the funeral."

I wonder what caused that?

So all is not perfect in the SuLu world, as she always wants us to believe.

Golly, I could have sworn Jean LeClerc was gay when he cruised me in the 1980s.

Jean was too busy eating out Kate Collins and Claire Beckman to have time to cruise the likes of you.

Doing some research, Susan was on DWTS in 2008. Her son, Andreas, got married in 2017. Liza and her husband were in the wedding party (picture 8 in the linked website). Susan and Helmut also attended. I’m assuming the estrangement happened after Andreas’ wedding, but that’s only a guess.

^perhaps the cause of the estrangement occurred AT the wedding, when Liza told Suze to stop trying to upstage the bride?

Wow. It has to be money related- maybe even politics?

Something with the grandchildren?

“To my daughter Liza I leave nothing…for reasons that are well known to her.”

I am of course completely speculating, but Liza and Susan seem to be very different in a number of ways, but I could see them having similar personality traits. Sometime when you are really different on the surface, but in some ways hardwired the same underneath, when you clash it is not pretty. As much as Liza seems to want to present living this normal life, I think in some ways she works as hard at presenting that image as her mom did and in a much more visible way (granted there was no Instagram when Lucci was raising her kids).

It's too bad, they did seem like they were close at one point, and Helmut was such a big part of Susan's life it would have helped her to have a good mother daughter relationship to help get through her losing a partner of over 50 years.

So she's a Time Lord like Dr. Who with two hearts?

Had Deidre Hall commented yet on Helmut’s passing?

Must have been some tremendous rift that came between Susan and Liza if even t he death of a husband/father couldn't get mother and daughter to put bygones behind them. Very sad.

Many times, it is the mutual grief that gets feuding family members to come back together and put their grievances behind them.

I’m sorry to learn that R178. Lucci was supportive when Liza’s son was diagnosed with cerebral palsy back eleven or twelve years ago.

It was probably money-related. That's usually the nature of lifelong family feuds.

I don’t think Liza follows her sister-in-law on Instagram either. Maybe the brother took mom’s side?

The brother's really good looking.

Of course its money related.

Liza often posts memes about dealing with narcissistic parents.

Liza, brother Andreas and Susie.

I had no idea Susan and Liza were estranged. I follow Lucci on Instagram and hadn’t thought about the fact that there was never a mention of Liza. Sad.

Doing a little dig into Susan’s Insta, they were still close in 2017, photos together…then nada.

Was 2017 when Susan had her first heart scare? Maybe it was related to that?

Wow. That's really knocks down Susan a few pegs in my estimation.

Brendad Ickson is preparing her statement on this unfortunate event even as we speak. She is currently looking for some spare change under her couch to fax her statement from a local Kinkos.

There could have been a million things that led to the estrangement and it's actually no business of ours.

Maybe Lucci loaned Liza money that was never paid back? That's the cause of a lot of estrangements.

Liza is now a member of the Slezak family joining her new siblings Michael and Amanda, and enjoying Mom's prune breakfasts!!!

It’s definitely our business! If you put yourself out there in the public eye, expect us to be curious. Otherwise, stay a private citizen. You can’t have it both ways.

Its weird, I think it has something to with Liza's little baby food company (which seems to be successful) I wonder if it was started during that timeframe and she asked her parents for help? There are 2 things- something to do with children or money. Most likely money or trusts or inheritance

Is this still an AMC thread?

Watched Locher Rooms with Taylor Miller (Nina) and Esta Terblanche (Gillian). Miller was OK but Terblanche was quite odd. She might have been on something. She spoke extreeeeeeemmmmeeellllyyyyy ssssllllllooowwwwllllyyyy. She was sort of interesting, though. She made it sound like she didn’t get along very well with Cameron Mathison at first, probably because she was a snob and looked down on his simple, sweet Canadian charm.

R28 right on both accounts...she finally got her token Emmy but deep inside she knows she never deserved it...a terrible actress

I remember when she looked very well “rested" on AMC, you knew she had work done but it was so subtle, you couldn’t tell what was done. I think that was sometime in the late 90s

R207, I watched the Miller interview and was dissapointed, if only because Locher doesn't know anything about AMC at that time so he couldn't ask any good followup questions. With that said, Miller wasn't letting on either. While I don't doubt she had a great experience working on AMC, I doubt it was the heaven on earth she made it out to be. She seems incredibly kind though, and looks terrific for 68. I had no idea she was that old, I always assumed she was younger, since Nina was about 8 years younger than Miller. I waited on her in the 1990s when I worked at a cafe in the Gold Coast in Chicago where she has lived since she got married. Her kids were really small and she just seemed like a harried mom, it took me a while to realize it was NINA CORTLAND!

r28 Damn straight she never deserved it. I was robbed!

Taylor mentioned that she had screen tested with an actor other than Peter Bergman, but she couldn't recall his name. I have a hunch it was either Alan Dysart (Sean Cudahy) or Richard Van Vleet (Chuck Tyler). I think she generally loved her time at AMC, though that probably doesn't include her 1989 stint as part of Bergman's exit story. Apparently, when she agreed to return at Felicia Minei Behr's request, she was led to believe it was long term and not to usher Cliff off the show. I know she was pissed about that, but I guess not THAT pissed, because she returned for the show's 25th anniversary in 1995 and then stayed on a bit when they introduced teen Bobby, which was all under Behr.

[quote]he couldn't ask any good followup questions.

I've enjoyed the Locher Room sessions and am grateful to Alan for arranging them all. I admire him for going to all the trouble of arranging them.

That said, he is a mediocre interviewer. He is especially poor on asking follow-up questions even for the shows he knows. And if he didn't ever watch the shows, well, then you can forget about any follows ups at all.

Susan is no great dramatic actress but she has great comic timing and doesn't take herself too seriously. She is very aware of her limitations. She played Erica very tongue in cheek on a show that was sometimes tongue in cheek. I certainly would rather watch her than overrated hacks likes Zimmer, Hubbard, Slezak, etc., chew up and spit out the scenery.

Wow, that's amazing!

R188 funny you ask because Dedrie Hall did comment on an unofficial Days of Our Lives fanpage of all places

Someone posted his passing in the DAYS unofficial Facebook page and under the tons of comments from people was Mrs. Hall , who said something tohhe effect of "You're a strong woman, you'll get through this Susan"

Frons wanted Dee to come on AMC as Tara Martin when the show moved production to LA. Sue was not having that ATALL.

I wonder if Liza and Susan fell out because Mommie was a Trumper and Liza is not?

Susan posted about his death to her Instagram last week.

When is the Jean LeClerc interview happening? I want to hear him discuss his romantic dalliances with Kate Collins and Claire Beckman.

Didn’t Miller mention how the actor she tested with was wearing glasses and at one point removed them and a handkerchief got stuck on them or something? That doesn’t sound like Dysert or Van Vleet but maybe it was.

^Oh yeah she did mention that. Maybe she tested with sexy Hugh Franklin.

Yes, Lucci may not be a “great” actress but she was immensely watchable. I never FF through any Erica scenes..even when AMC was at its worst and they were giving her terrible story after terrible story,

Susan delivered the goods when she had to. She was terrific and heartbreaking in her breakdown at that woman of the year thing. It helped that the writing for that sequence was really top-notch.

What I wouldn’t give to see one last new scene between Lucci and Julia Barr.

Lucci wasn't the best actress, especially with heavy drama, and crying especially, but otherwise was fine. She did deserve the nomination she got during Erica's pill addiction and where she broke down and called half of the room out at the "Woman of the Year" award show and when she won for the Bianca anorexia storyline. She was also good with comedic material most of the time. And many actors struggle with that.

LaLooch is easily the most recognizable name in soap history. Even Meryl Streep has commented that she is the Susan Lucci of movies. Tons of nominations, few wins. I doubt that someone like Meryl even knows who a Maeve Kinkead is. Wink wink.

Sue has another awesome scene where she had to relinquish custody of young Bianca to Travis and it was a heart-breaker.

She had her moments. And she improved over the years. I don't subscribe to the chestnut that she was a bad actress. The problem with the Erica character was that she was rarely allowed to grow, and to have Sue playing her a pushing-70 sex kitten in the show's final years was cringeworthy.

Lucci was such an overwrought and annoying actress. The only reason she became such a soap icon because she was the only one which the mainstream entertainment industry could seemingly identify, wheras actual soap fans knew she was far from the greatest asset to the medium, aside from her visibility factor. Even AMC fans will say Julia Barr and Kate Collins were the draws for them.

I'm not a huge Lucci fan. There were many better and more watchable actresses over years. They islanded her in her own stories through much of the '80s, which made it eady to fast forward her scenes so that I could get to the interesting stuff.

Oh for fuck’s sake Serial Nutjob. Kate Collins ain’t all that. She sucked!

The Kate Collins years were the best.

Vee, who is in the biz, allowed Looch to keep her job and blocked her from getting the Emmy until 1999. Vee is in the biz, you know.

Vee, who’s in the biz, blocked the reboot of AMC. Why? Vee has some splaining to do!

Is the reboot not happening? It sounded awful, with some Santos/Kane feud. Probably two of my least favorite families. If it involved the Martins/Tyler/Cortlandts/Chandlers, I'd be there in a heartbeat. I mean, does anyone really want to see a show full of Santos characters? Let this show RIP. It barely went out with any dignity intact. Leave it a sliver of dignity.

r234 the reboot pilot episode was written was by a British writer who never saw an episode of All My Children because it didn't air in England. I knew something stunk as soon as this was revealed.

I would make a terrible celebrity. I could never run to the media with my health or relationship problems.

Was it Daran Little, R235? He was on the writing staff when the show was still in New York before having visa problems which forced him to go back to England.

Vee=Verla Grubbs

Unpopular opinion, but I thought Lucci deserved the Emmy for the intervention work. There is a scene where she had to look happy and relieved that Bianca was opening up to her - but also devastated at what Bianca was saying.

She was not the greatest crier, but could do a dramatic scene if it called for a more quiet devastation. I thought she was good when Bianca came out to her, when she got Bianca to admit that she had been raped. Maybe because they were not completely acing, but she was always top notch with SMG. She also was effective in recounting her rape on the witness stand in her stabbing of Dimitri trial. Very little scenery chewing. Like the woman of the year speech, it also helped that it was very well written.

While it was not a popular storyline, she also had some good scenes when she miscarried and had figured out Maria and Dimitri had slept together and she started playing them leading up to the confrontation/birth scene. Her return of the baby was also well done. If they ever did the reboot with the Santos and Kanes, she ad LaRue did work well together as adversaries.

Any scene she had with Canary or Barr was gold. It would have been interesting to see the three of them in a longer-term story where they had to work together (something other than a love triangle).

I loved when Erica had scenes with the older people of Pine Valley—Phoebe, Palmer, Myrtle, etc. And of course, Mona. You could tell Lucci really respected those actors.

This was soooooo good….

r237, no it was Leo Richardson.

Good acting or bad acting?

I always thought this was a good scene. Very fitting for the character. I always preferred Julia Barr and Marcy Walker though.

R243 clip shows Lucci's weakness at crying, and yes, her behavior at the funeral was true to Erica. While they had their differences, Erica and Mona were very close and Mona was the one constant in her life. Lucci and Heflin had great chemistry together. Totally believable as a mother and daughter.

That is not an example of some of the more restrained dramatic work that she did from time to time post-1990. She did some restrained work prior to that scene. There was a great scene with her and SMG at the wake. I do love that she called the minister a ghoul and remember her cringing later when she asked -- did I call the minister a ghoul?

When I saw the scene when it first aired, remember thinking it was a bit too much, but it really was fitting for Erica. And while she is not exactly doing Julia Barr tears, because they have her being argumentative and going off the deep end, you do not get too much of her just trying to summon up tears.

Whether you thought the scene was good or bad, that was when they still had supporting cast show up at wedding and funerals, and the characters in the background who you knew had known Erica for years added to the scene.

The ABC shows had awful actors because Betty Rea did not cast them. Only Betty had an eye for talented actors.

Come on, OLTL had a very talented cast, and generally the strongest females.

Frances Heflin was rubbish compared to Constance Ford.

I love Frances Heflin, but Constance Ford rules.

Nearly everyone was rubbish next to Big Connie!

I loved how Connie and Ruth Warrick were always looking at cue cards!

"You are selfish, and inconsiderate, and stupid; and these are your better qualities."

Betty Rea would never have cast an ABC actor. The legendary Betty Rea.

Oh, please, R252.

Were you cast by Betty Rea? What a legend. Do you remember your first day?

Oh my god, that's AMAZING!

When there was a rumour that AMC was trying to woo Deirdre Hall, Lucci told a reporter that she was excited about the possibility as Hall would be playing Mona, who had not in fact died.

I think Dee was offered the role of Bianca after Eden left.

R256, i needed that laugh.

Hysterical, R256.

Betty Rea had plenty of casting clunkers over the years.

r260, how dare you? Those are fighting words.

Her head is GIGANTIC. How does that tiny body support it? I think her head is longer than her shoulders are wide.

The legendary Betty Rea would never have cast Lucci on a P&G show. She only cast symmetrical looking people from the NYC theatre scene.

Lucci held her own with the top dawgs. Canary, Collins and Barr. She was not a good crier but neither was Slezak. Erica throwing herself on Mona’s coffin was cringe. The director should’ve changed that scene up.

Julia Barr was a great crier—she invented the snot cry way before Viola Davis.

I would have loved seeing Deidre Hall as Tara when AMC moved to Los Angeles. That would have been so darned funny.

I could actually see Dee working as Tara. She has the same look as Nancy Frangione, whom I best remember as Tara. I know Karen Lynn Gorney was very popular, but I'm not sure she is remembered as the definitive Tara. Gorney used to live near me in NY and I'd see her regularly in the market. Even 10-15 years ago, she looked like a little old lady, with her hair in a bun and wearing white sports socks with orthopedic shoes.

Dee would have been bad casting as Tara. Anne Tyler, yes, not Tara.

Well, Anne was long dead by the time AMC moved to LA and there were no Tylers left on the show. Dee Hall as Tara would've been a blast. I wonder what kind of chemistry she might've had with Michael Knight as her little brother Tad. That would've been an interesting relationship to play.

She looks great for 75.

Anne Tyler Martin should have never been killed off. That was one of Agnes' biggest mistakes.

Killing off Anne was the beginning of the dminishment of the Tyler family's importance to the show. Plus Anne's marriage to Paul Martin provided a connection between the show's original two core families.

Phoebe Tyler looked at cue cards all the time.

I started watching around 87 and the Tyler family as a unit was pretty non-existent. Individual members perhaps, but Phoebe's days as a force and main player were coming to an end. Within a year or two of when I started watching, she was mainly just a talk-to for Brooke and considered more of a blunt but lovable character rather than the interfering bitch of a mother. I ended up watching all of the Mona's funeral episode, and there is an early scene with her, Mona, and Charles where she showed an icy, stern bitchiness that you did not see as much later. While flustered busy body or drunk Phobe could be fun, they should have maybe kept more of her 70's persona.

Brooke while a Tyler/English was more and more tied to the Chandlers and later the Martins, I don't think I realized Charlie considered the Tylers family for quite a while (Chuck was gone by then), Hilary was soon gone. Phobe's interference with her relationship with Mitch might have been her last hurrah as a major force in a story line and was the drive of the story more so than pretty but bland Mitch and Hilary. Her interference with Cecily and Nico was more supporting and comic relief, and once Cecily was gone, she never really had anything to do besides aggravate Brooke from time to time.

Funny how I can remember a lot of details from the stories from about 1987 to 1997, but much less after that time except for certain stories. I guess not a huge coincidence, that is when the quality of the show started to decline.

I think Agnes just decided to cut her losses and eliminate the Tylers, after the characters were played out and not always successfully recast, much in the way Bill Bell got rid of most of the Fosters and Brookses after Y&R's first decade. She of course preserved Phoebe and Brooke. Gwynn Gillis wasn't working out as nuAnn. Wisner Washam said that he tried to get his wife Judith Barcroft to reprise the role, but she didn't want the grind. Agnes killed almost all the children who could've carried the Tylers into the next generation: Paul/Ann's daughter Beth, Chuck/Donna's son Johnny, and Brooke/Tom's daughter Laura.

Betty Rea could have recast the Tylers!!!

The legend that was Betty Rea. The genius that was Betty Rea.

omg Betty Rea! Do you remember your first day?

Yes, I screen tested Stefan Schnabel and he offered me his schwatztücker.

Can you say, "Skeleton with skin"? YIKES

I ONLY watched shows that Betty Rea cast.

Thanks, R251. Because of you I've fallen into an All My Children k-hole and have been watching clips all morning. I haven't watched this show since 1995, yet, I'm firmly involved in the shenanigans of Pine Valley residents as if this show is still on.

*Adding this show to my ever-growing Watch List

- Guiding Light (1992) - One Life to Live (1993) - Another World (1991) - All My Children (1993)

IMO the Wisner Washam and/or Lorraine Broderick years (circa 1977-1991) were the show's best, with some really excellent and imaginative writing. Sure there were lots of clunkers too (Damon Lazarre/Silver Kane), but the great far outweigh the bad.

Wisner Washam gave us the gift of Natalie Hunter Cortlandt Hunter Chandler Dillon.

Go to 1:21:39: Wisner Washam wins best writing Emmy, announced my Tad and Mindy. Clarice Blackburn (Mrs. Johnson from Dark Shadows) was part of the winning team. She's standing near front with the red hair.