Thank you @Franko and @EricMontreal22 for answering my question about Erica's fame. I've been on a tear watching 80s Susan Lucci interviews and clips of a young Erica and I'm fully grasping how she became so incredibly popular. My whole life she just...was, so it's been a lot of fun seeing how refreshing she must have been to the daytime audience.
You knew that no matter the story that if Erica was on she'd say something so biting or hilariously narcissistic that you couldn't help but laugh. There was a short clip in a compliation I watched where Erica is talks about growing up in Pine Valley, describing herself as "a rose amongst the weeds" while doing a faux humble little headshake and it's got to be one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Susan Lucci is truly a singular talent. Daytime has plenty of heroines and vixens and funny characters but Erica managed to be all three and you bought all of them. I think that's likely why she didn't win the Emmy for so long. I mean, yes okay maybe she's not the best dramatic actress but I'm more of the mind that they struggled to categorize her, she didn't fit snuggly into the "dramatic" lane even when the material was melodrama, then the losing streak started to eclipse whatever was onscreen until she finally delivered a solidly dramatic performance through and through in a year where her competition was schlock like Kim Zimmer crying over her clone dying.
I'm glad you saw the light @Vee , and as usual admitted that I'm right! I kid but really, I could see Kelsey doing that. She was very immature and stupid. I wouldn't have enjoyed watching it or the damage it would've done to a legacy character but I'd totally buy her pulling some BS like that once she got a hint at the attention it might garner.
Walt Willey is a scholar and a gentleman (and hotter now at 75 than he was 30 years ago) but I absolutely hated Jack. He was not only terribly boring but a judgmental prick. I hate the trope of the bad girl falling over themselves to get the approval of some holier than thou full man. I don't like that he was Erica's endgame. She needed someone who challenged her, someone who appreciated the challenge she brought, not someone who liked her best when she dulled her edges. Jack's relationship with her makes me think of Marilyn Monroe and the men in her life (without all the abuse), how what attracted them to her is exactly what they couldn't wait to cage once they got her.
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