Soap Opera
ABC Offered to Build a Primetime Series Around This Soap Icon—Here’s Why She Turn It Down
Susan Lucci reveals ABC offered her a primetime series but she chose All My Children for work-life balance. She also discusses the potential All My Children revival on Lifetime.
Susan Lucci is known for her Daytime Emmy Award-winning role as Erica Kane on the ABC soap opera All My Children. But did you know that ABC was trying to lure her away from the daytime drama to a primetime series of her own?
The actress revealed the information in an interview with Yahoo! News, sharing, “At one point, ABC had offered to create a nighttime series for me.”
Lucci then explained that despite the allure of a primetime series, the realities of filming one, especially at the time, were not something she was interested in. “They shot in the summertime, well, in the summertime, that’s when my children were most available.”
Despite the realities of a soap opera airing five days a week for 52 weeks of the year, the actress explained that the work-life balance was better with a soap opera than with a primetime series. “And so that wasn’t going to be for me,” she added.
Over the years, Lucci has made appearances on primetime television. First appearing on The Love Boat in 1982. She would have a six-episode guest stint on the primetime hit series Dallas between 1990 and 1991.
Following the cancellation of All My Children in 2011, Lucci would famously lead the Lifetime primetime series Devious Maids.
A revival of All My Children is currently in the developmental stages for Lifetime, under the creative guidance of former AMC stars Kelly Ripa and her husband Mark Consuelos. Lucci has expressed her interest in reprising her role as Erica Kane should the opportunity arise. However, Lucci shared that the reboots are still in the very early stages and no scripts have been written, but she has spoken to the writer and is excited about the prospect of returning to the world of Pine Valley.
The actress made history in 1999, following 18 prior nominations, when she took home the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Daytime Emmy.
Fans interested in learning more about Lucci’s life can check out her new memoir La Lucci which is available now.
