All My Children
Susan Lucci speaks out on Agnes Nixon being thrown to the wolves & Chuck Pratt sinking AMC!
Courtesy/ABC
Brava to Susan Lucci! In her new interview with TV Guide Canada’s, Nelson Branco, she candidly reveals her inner-most thoughts on some of the behind the scenes maneuvering at AMC, (especially the show’s head writer position), that played a major part in the downfall of the series! Lucci also addresses that she feels that Brian Frons and ABC disrespected the creator of AMC and OLTL, Agnes Nixon, and that if anyone hand a major hand in destroying Pine Valley, it was none other than former head writer, Chuck Pratt. Here are a few riveting excerpts!
Lucci on Agnes Nixon being thrown to the wolves by ABC Daytime, not her: “When you asked earlier if I felt I was thrown to the wolves, I’d like to add: I don’t understand why both of Agnes’ shows were cancelled. So if anyone was thrown to the wolves, it was Agnes. I find it disrespectful to this genius, iconic woman. Despite her longevity in the business, she is quite a modern woman. Her contributions to the art form should be respected. Certainly if I were the head of ABC Daytime, I would not want to make this decision on my watch. I would never throw Agnes out the window on my watch.”
Lucci on Brian Frons decision to make Chuck Pratt head writer and the consequences of that action: “My feelings are that Brian Frons was handed a very healthy daytime line-up when he arrived and then he hired Chuck Pratt to be head writer. Chuck said to all of us in a big team meeting that he didn’t care about characters. He said, ‘I will not be writing character-driven storylines. I don’t care.’ In individual meetings with him, people would come out weeping and distressed because he would [dismiss their characters and histories]. Almost immediately, our ratings dropped. As actors, we did everything we could to save and respect our characters and their histories; although on paper nothing was there for us to work with. The producers listened to the fans in the focus groups, and fans are sophisticated because of columns like yours and talk shows and so on, and they knew the writing was the problem. Chuck Pratt taking AMC down didn’t happen over night. And he was allowed to stay for two years. And unless it was Agnes or Lorraine, no one could dig us out of this hole.”
What do you think of Lucci’s sentiments? We agree 110%!
All My Children
Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos to Kick Off Season 36 of ‘Live’ with New Show Opening
The new season of morning talk shows begins this week, and one of them, Live with Kelly and Mark, is starting things off with a new show open starring the hosts and married couple, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, formerly of All My Children fame.
Make sure to circle Tuesday September 5th, when Kelly and Mark begin their first official season together as co-hosts of the long-running show now in its 36th season. As many know, Consuelos joined the show back in April of this year, after Ryan Seacrest made the decision to depart the series and move back to Los Angeles full-time, since the talker is shot in New York City.
In the concept of the new opening, the husband and wife duo are seen brushing their teeth in their apartment, then going through a couple of outfit changes/looks, before they settle on what they wearing as they are driven to their New York City studio where ‘Live’ emanates from, and arrive in its corridors.
Photo: Disney/ABC
In addition, this season will have a new trivia game segment called Stump Mark. In it, Mark will try his darnedest to keep the coveted Live mug away from trivia callers trying to stump him with their two statements — one true, one false.
Scheduled guests for the week: Derek Hough, Jake Gyllenhaal, Melissa Etheridge, Josh Gad, Shinedown, Phillip Phillips, Nikki and Brie Bella and more.
Take a look at the opening title sequence for Live with Kelly and Mark below, and then let us know what you thought of it in the comment section, and let us know if you are looking forward to the new season of the talk show.
All My Children
Kelly Ripa Teases New Season of ‘Live’ with Husband Mark Consuelos: “Our Show Is Best When It’s Going Off the Rails”
Since Mark Consuelos joined his real-life wife, Kelly Ripa on the morning talk show Live with Kelly and Mark, the ratings have never been better. In fact, according to the Nielsen ratings, the former All My Children stars came in second behind The View for the 2022-2023 television season in total viewers averaging 2.293 million.
Now with the new season upon us come September, Ripa spoke with the Purist about what fans can expect now that Mark is coming into his own as her co-host.
Kelly shared, “We’re going to provide the same sort of humor and irreverence that people have come to know and love. Mark has taken the trivia game, where Ryan (Seacrest) and I would just give away coffee mugs to the audience, and decided that he’s not going to do that any more. There are no participation trophies in life, he says. If they want to win a mug, they’re going to have to stump me. I don’t really follow the ratings, but from what I’ve been told that since Mark has taken over, people stay with the show all the way through because they want to see whether or not Mark gets stumped.”
Photo: JPI
When asked what favorite segment on Live is her current favorite, Ripa expressed, “I love talking to the trivia callers. Our show is best when it’s going off the rails, when our audience gets to see the slip-ups. It is not this highly polished, Hollywood thing. It is two people meeting, having coffee, having just read the paper. We never cover actual news, we cover absurd news. When you factor in a person calling from their cellphone in the parking lot of a grocery store, what have you, it is rife with the ability to derail very quickly, and I think that’s what I love the best. I also love our viewer feedback at the very end of the show, where we take our viewers.”
So, are you looking forward to more Live with Kelly and Mark? Enjoying the duo on-screen together on the morning talker? What are your favorite staple segments from the show? Comment below.
All My Children
Pamela Blair, ‘A Chorus Line’, ‘Loving’ and Daytime Emmy Nominee, Dead at 73
The Broadway community is mourning the passing of one of their most beloved members, who also appeared on several daytime soap operas throughout her career. Pamela Blair, the original Val in A Chorus Line, died at her home in Phoenix, Arizona on Sunday following a lengthy illness. Blair was 73-years-old.
Throughout her career, the singer/dancer/actress continued to showcase her exceptional talents in shows such as: Promises, Promises, Wild and Wonderful, Sugar and Seesaw. She also gained major kudos from the musical theatre community for her portrayal of Amber in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
Pamela also had notable roles on soap operas taped in New York City. First, Blair played Elizabeth Shank Ryan on Ryan’s Hope in 1980. She followed that with her most-known daytime role as Loving’s Rita Mae Bristow, a part she played from 1983-1985.
Photo: ABC
Later in 1985, 1986 and in 1992, Blair made brief appearances in two roles on All My Children, Maida Andrews and Mrs. Goodman. It was the role of Maida Andrews that landed Blair a Daytime Emmy nomination in the newly named Outstanding Guest Performer in a Drama Series back in 1987, only losing that year to John Wesley Shipp for his role of Martin Ellis on Santa Barbara. Blair’s last soap role was in 1994 as Another World’s Bonnie Broderick.
Throughout her enduring career, she appeared in numerous television and motion pictures including: Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, Law & Order and the motion pictures version of Annie.
Let us know if you ever had the opportunity to see Blair as Val in ‘A Chorus Line’, or if you remember her daytime roles on Ryan’s Hope, Loving, All My Children or Another World via the comment section.
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i want some serious house cleaning.. I want Pratt ,Guza , Frons and Sweeney Gone.. who are they sleeping with that they keep their jobs.
Honest and very revealing. All Susan is doing is telling the truth. My fear is GH is already headed down the same dark path as AMC and OLTL. Disney and ABC must think the viewers are stupid. Most of us have college degrees.
I appreciate Susan’s honesty, as we have seen very little of that from the powers that be at ABC, as of late. She is a well respected icon of soap operas, and I am sure she is telling the truth, not to mention the fact that sadly, she has nothing (else) to lose by doing so, now that the writing is on the wall for AMC (& OLTL). I still find this extremely sad, but honestly, I do not know why I am shocked by these revelations, as sadly this is how many major businesses are run, giving little or no thought to those in the position to lose the most (ie in this case, the actors of the show, directors, makeup people, security, and all those behind the scenes that give their all to make our ABC soaps as great as they are). I am sure Frons was brought in to do a job, and Pratt was called in to put it in motion. Too bad we could not stop this train wreck before it happened. I have been a devoted ABC Soap Fan for 30+ years and will tune in every day until the end of AMC and OLTL, and after that, I will watch ABC for one hour a day tivoing GH. Much good luck in the future Susan!
Good for Susan for finally speaking out. I guess she feels she does not have to be the loyal company girl since the bosses decided to throw her show in the garbage.
Glad she trashed Chuck Pratt. Fronz left him at AMC for 2 years while his stories gutted the show. Sickening.
I agree the actors did the best they could, but if its not on the page, it’s like asking soldiers to fight a battle with a pen knife instead of a automatic weapon.
The shock and sadness of cancellation is wearing off and Susan is starting to get angry thinking about what went down and the way it went down. So are we.
we the fans have been saying this for how long??
i am glad susan came forward with her statement – i knew she couldn’t say anything before but i am glad this is out in the open!!
110% also definitely threw the babies ouy with the bath water! Totaly disregarde what us fans want
Rich history of stories & actors we grew & do love. We will get even!
I love that Susan spoke out. Charles Pratt caused irreparable damage to amc and that is Brian frons fault. So honchosat abc why does someone so incompetent still have a job. Frons should be fired. I am boycotting abc. Thank god I live in Canada so I can watch oltl on a local channel. Who else hates Brian frons.
All I can say is that I miss those 2 shows now as much as ever. I watched them all my life; I would even pay to get them back again!!