The Erica Kane of the daytime series said that Brian Frons has slowly killed the show with a series of bad decisions including hiring a 'subpar' head writer.
- Sep 4, 2011
AceShowbiz - Susan Lucci's wrath of "All My Children" cancellation is poured out in an epilogue of her autobiography "All My Life: A Memoir" which excerpt was published on New York Post Saturday, September 3. In her writing, the soap star blasted ABC daytime chief Brian Frons for his "very bad decisions" that led to the death of the 41-year-old show.
Lucci specifically pointed out that Frons hired a new head writer in August 2002, Charles Pratt, Jr., whose writing was "subpar". She also criticized his decision to move the production from Los Angeles to New York which resulted in the exit of some staff as well as the stars. Frons also pushed out the show's creator Agnes Nixon out of the frame, Lucci said.
The actress claimed that Frons told her in April that he would replace the show with a daily food show called "The Chew" which is cheaper to make. "An iconic show was losing out to greed," she wrote. "If Brian Frons could show his bosses that he could save the network 40 percent, he could keep his job even if the rest of us lost ours."
In more revelation, Lucci said Frons appeared to be "self-congratulatory" when announcing the cancellation with a combination of "ignorance and arrogance". She said, "I cannot fathom any network executive choosing to alienate millions of loyal viewers in these economic times." She was tempted to call the network and leave a voicemail, saying "F.U., and your little dog too," but decided not to.
ABC has responded to her rant, saying "We have all the respect in the world for Susan, and are sorry she felt the need to write this epilogue to an otherwise incredible career."
"All My Children" will air its final episode on Friday, September 23. Lucci has been with the show since it debuted in 1970, playing Erica Kane.
