Susan Lucci and Tony Dovolani, Dancing with the Stars
Susan Lucci swears she didn't mind flying back and forth from New York to Los Angeles every week to compete on Dancing with the Stars. It was a grueling schedule that lasted seven long weeks — and often made her cry. "The airplanes were not the problem," she said on Wednesday night, moments after getting her walking papers. "We could lie down on the plane and sleep."
The real fly in the ointment, she says, was her day job. If Lucci could have changed anything about her Dancing experience, "I probably would have asked for a leave of absence ...
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Susan Lucci by Heidi Gutman/ABC
All My Children fans won't miss Susan Lucci while she's on Dancing With the Stars, even though the ABC shows shoot on opposite coasts. She'll fly back and forth each week, just as costar Cameron Mathison (aka Ryan Lavery) did.
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You've got to know when to fold 'em. Jean-Robert Bellande by Monty Brinton/CBS
Episode Recap: "High School Friend Contest"Good evening, Survivorites. Nina Hämmerling Smith here; I'll be your blogger tonight while Rhoda's away.It was quite an episode, wasn't it? I lost track of the number of times the strategy shifted and lies were told and uncovered. It all began with James, a good provider and obviously a tremendous physical threat, and his insight that the Fei Long'ers may all be opposites, but they have the strength of numbers, whereas the Zhan Hu'ers were trying to win a "high school friend contest." His comment proved prophetic when the reward challenge involved a school-yard pick of teams, and poor Denise was left out and became ineligible to enjoy the reward, a feast at an ancient village. The challenge involved sinking the opponent's boat, and Peih-Gee's red team picked Courtney as a captain because she weighs next to nothing — but, hello, she's also got the strength of a weak kitten (mew!). Jean-Robert, Todd, James and Amanda won easily, wit...
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Susan Lucci by Kent Phillips/Disney
Let us all find some peace in the fact that there is at least one event Ryan Seacrest can't get his mitts on. All My Children star and daytime icon Susan Lucci will headline the 12th-annual ABC Super Soap Weekend, to be held Nov. 10 and 11 at the Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Also already booked for the fan-tastic event are AMC's Cameron Mathison (Ryan), One Life to Live's John-Paul Lavoisier (Rex) and General Hospital's Jason Thompson (Patrick).
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In TVGuide.com's weekly Soaps Poll, we asked suds fans to weigh in on All My Children's tale of Erica Kane's "unaborted" son, Dr. Josh Madden. A whopping 70 percent rejected the rewriting of such a vital piece of AMC history. (Susan Lucci's Erica had TV's first legal abortion back in 1973. Only now it turns out the fetus was somehow stolen, not aborted!) The remaining 30 percent of voters said they love to hate Erica's long-lost demon spawn, who's played by sexy model Colin Egglesfield.
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Is there room for two queen bees on All My Children? Martha Stewart appears in the March 28 episode as a guest on "New Beginnings," the fictional talk-show-within-a-soap hosted by Erica Kane. Of course, it won't be the first time Stewart and Susan Lucci have done daytime TV together. La Lucci was among the domestic goddess' inaugural guests when Martha debuted last fall. To refresh your memory, here's a lovely photo.
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Passions heartthrob Galen Gering returns as Sheridan's not-so-dead lover, Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald, on March 8. Come back and read Wednesday's Soaps News for the exclusive scoop from Galen himself on Luis' return.... Beth Maitland (Traci Abbott) comes back to The Young and the Restless on March 1. Traci will be in Genoa City to support her troubled papa, John, and share scenes with the new actress playing her daughter, Colleen.... Susan Lucci and many other suds stars from All My Children, General Hospital and One Life to Live will perform on stage in ABC Daytime Salutes Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS on Feb. 6 in New York City. Plenty of tickets are still available at broadwaycares.org for this worthy event.... Matthe
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Another World alum Stephen Schnetzer (Cass Winthrop) returns to As the World Turns this Thursday, Feb. 2. He'll give Jennifer bad news about her not-so-dead brother, Paul.... Beth Maitland (Traci Abbott) comes back to The Young and the Restless on March 1. Traci will be in Genoa City to support her troubled papa, John, and share scenes with the new actress playing her daughter, Colleen.... Susan Lucci and many other suds stars from All My Children, General Hospital and One Life to Live will perform on stage in ABC Daytime Salutes Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS on Feb. 6 in New York City. Plenty of tickets are still available at broadwaycares.org for this worthy event.
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Sarah Michelle Gellar in The Grudge
Sarah Michelle Gellar has signed on to reprise the role of Karen in The Grudge 2, a sequel to last year's surprise box-office hit. Buffy will appear in the follow-up only briefly — just long enough to pass along the supernatural curse to the franchise's next, as-yet-uncast, victim. [Insert your own Susan Lucci joke here.]
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Meeting Mac, my fave soap goddess
On Saturday, Oct. 1, I had the honor of serving as moderator of the cast Q&A session at Passions' sixth annual fan-club event . What better place to score prime soap scoop for TVGuide.com? For those of you who couldn't make it, here's a few choice highlights from the campiest morning of my life...
8:45 am/PT Universal Studios Hollywood is a maze. Where in Hades is the Frankenstein parking lot?8:50 After valeting my car, I'm relieved to find myself in good company. James Hyde (Sam) and Liza Huber (Gwen) got lost, too.8:52 Oh, muh gawww... I'm sharing an elevator with Susan Lucci's daughter! Remain calm. Maintain inner poise.9:01 After the cast takes the stage, this TVGuide.com reporter is introduced to 200 crazed soap fans, most of whom appear to be wondering who the heck I am. Guess they don't use the Internet much?9:02 As an icebreaker, I stroll over to Eric Martsolf
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