VIDEO: Susan Lucci On "All My Children's" Cancellation: "I Was Completely Blindsided"
Apr 30, 2011
by Rich Juzwiak


For the first time since the soap's controversial cancellation, "All My Children" star Susan Lucci discussed getting the bad news on Friday's "Tonight Show with Jay Leno".





I heard about "All My Children" being canceled. I was stunned by this, were you as stunned?

I was completely blindsided, I had no idea. I had just started the book tour and had been to cities all over the country and met thousands of enthusiastic people who were enthusiastic about the show.

I had no idea.









Like how someone gets injured they don't tell nobody until the family is notified, why can't that work for television too?

I mean 'cause I saw you on TMZ or something with people asking about the rumors and you're like 'oh nooo' and then the very next day...

How did you find out?

I found out just like the rest of the company of actors. I received a call from Brian Froz, the president of ABC Daytime, asking me to come upstairs to our producer's office. He told me there that our show was canceled and that we would be going off of the air in September.

I kind of knew something was going on because as I was walking up the stairs there were a lot of very seriously dressed executives coming down. So I knew they were going to tell me something up there.

I found out about 5 minutes before the news was made public.











I mean why, though? The show is doing so well, it has a HUGE fanfase, so why is the show being canceled?

I asked at the time that I was called up to the office on what they were replacing us with. Brian Fronz said that they were replacing us with a reality show that is going to cost 40% less to produce.











Can the fans do anything? A lot of shows have been saved by letter-writing campaigns, so is there any chance at all?

You know, I really have no idea. Our fans were on fire, they were online about this instantly, we are feeling all of this over at "All My Children".

We still continue to go to work everyday and try to do the best we can to give our fans a gift. Agnes Nixon has been brought back to write for the show so we are going out with the hands that we came in on.











You started at the very beginning of the show and this was back in 1970...

1970






It was black-and-white as I remember, right?

I came in on show #10. A lot of people think that but we were not black-and-white. They used to store the shows on black-and-white because it was cheaper. We had to finish by 2:15pm because the news would have to use our equipment.

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Susan-Lucci-Interview-Cancelation-1032563.aspx

Those idiots at ABC dont give a damn about her contribution to daytime TV. :mad:

Those idiots at ABC dont give a damn about her contribution to daytime TV. :mad:
They don't care about anything except making money. It seems that they hated spending the extra money to put quality shows like AMC and OLTL on the air, so they're replacing it with some reality show. Makes me love great shows like Frasier even more because I know they're becoming harder and harder to find.

I don't blame her for being blind-sided. The show has been on the air for what, forty years? And it's cancelled because... uh... it's the thing now, apparently, to cancel classic soaps. That's just a crime.

I don't blame her for being blind-sided. The show has been on the air for what, forty years? And it's cancelled because... uh... it's the thing now, apparently, to cancel classic soaps. That's just a crime.
Alot of people on the show were blind-sided.