It’s been over a decade since ABC made the terrible decision to cancel two popular daytime soaps and replace them with talk shows. The talk shows have since both been canceled and replaced by an extra hour of Good Morning America. The network’s remaining soap opera, General Hospital, has named-dropped the iconic Erica Kane (Susan Lucci) but the character has yet to appear in Port Charles. Keep reading for more.
Susan Lucci Turned Down ABC Dating Show
A senior version of The Bachelor debuted on ABC in September 2023 to major fanfare. The spinoff dominated the ratings and successfully led to the marriage of Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist, though they quickly divorced.
The success of the spinoff caused fans to demand a female-led version. Rumors immediately went mainstream that soap star Susan Lucci was a possible choice for The Golden Bachelorette.
While she has a lengthy resume, Susan Lucci is forever and always tied to her All My Children character, Erica Kane. She played the iconic role from 1970 until the show was abruptly canceled in 2011.
Susan Lucci was reportedly approached to be the first Golden Bachelorette but turned it down. Her husband of over 50 years, Helmut Huber, died in 2022 at the age of 84. Click here to read more about why she turned down the dating show gig.
GH Fans Robbed Of Epic Erica Kane Cameo
Several actors from One Life To Live were hired at General Hospital as their Llanview characters after OLTL was canceled. Fan faves Michael Easton and Roger Howarth had multiple characters on GH after a lawsuit against ABC forbade the soap from using the OLTL characters.
The restriction has since been lifted and GH brought two popular characters from OLTL and AMC for a short storyline. Walt Willey popped up as his lawyer AMC character, Jackson Montgomery. Kassie DePaiva reprised her OLTL vixen, Blair Cramer. It was revealed that Blair was the mysterious ex-wife Martin Grey had been talking about.
All My Children star Michael E. Knight joined General Hospital as Martin Grey in 2019. Many fans hoped that the ex-wife he was alluding to would be Erica Kane, but alas, it was not meant to be.
But GH has made several references to Erica Kane lately, sparking hope that Susan Lucci would appear. But an episode airing last week robbed fans of that dream, at least for now.
For 40+ years, viewers watched Erica Kane mature into a savvy businesswoman as the CEO of the cosmetics company Enchantment. Several GH storylines involve the cosmetics industry with cosmetics company Deception and fashion magazine Crimson.
Nina (Cynthia Watros) was supposed to have a meeting with Erica Kane on behalf of Crimson magazine. But according to soap.com, when she arrived for the meeting, she found out it was canceled by Michael (Chad Duell.)
Viewers were unfortunately robbed of the epic Erica Kane crossover, but there’s always hope that the meeting will be rescheduled.
