Jump to content

Agnes Nixon's Erica Kane


Joseph

Recommended Posts

  • Members

What about it, a fabulous Writer and a Character who she planned for so long she couldn't help trying to make her Perfect and it was Erica Kane played by Susan Lucci for an outstanding 41 year tenure, and wrote by the Brilliant Agnes Nixon, so Calling out all fans let's discuss her I'm myself too young to have caught most of the years of AMC but YouTube is a blessing for such matters, Let's discuss her, Her Clones by Nixon and of Course her rivals

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 50
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Members

I think I've said this before, and I am aware that this is an unpopular opinion and that Erica can do no wrong in some viewers eyes but I remember watching her and a sort of transition happening from the late 90's to the early 00's, where it felt like Erica became sort of untouchable and wish fulfillment for the audiences, and a sort of plastic-y sense of writing appeared around her that insolated and bubbled her from anything truly bad happening to her. As such it felt trying to watch scenes with her in it, because well you knew she was always going to win, and everyone else was just poor, ugly and too stupid to deal with the great Erica Kane. She became unrealistic and stories suffered for having her in them because no one could really go against her meaningfully, and have that have consequences and meaning. I get the sense that's why the show started transitioning focus to others like Kendell, Bianca and Greenlee because they had real stakes associated with them. 

The last real storyline it felt like Erica had was the Betty Ford clinic one, and maybe the original Babyswitch in 1997, with Maria and Dimitri. But even in those storylines it felt like they needed to end them prematurely because they didn't want to risk Erica 'looking bad' by the audience, so that's when they ended up with Bianca's anorexia storyline, which was largely structured to get Erica out of prison on sympathetic release. 

This would go on for years with her love triangles, her marriages, and her affairs being written but they were sort of useless because nothing ever happened. They just sort of parked her with Jackson, and even if the broke up, it was clear they were going to get back together with each other eventually. She just regressed as a character, and didn't have much meaning.

No disrespect to those that love her though, I am sure at the height of her powers in the 70's and 80's she was a powerhouse figure. But to me the 2000's greatly damaged her legacy, and I tend to think of the two Agnes Nixon shows from 2000 - 2011 OLTL did a better job by Viki than AMC did by Erica.   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I get your point but that bubble popped a few times like in the early 2000's when Bianca Was Raped and got pregnant by this that affected Erica deeply as she herself experienced a similar situation as well as when she developed a drinking problem and needed an intervention 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

The funny thing though, I think Erica’s best writing was under Wisner Washam and not Agnes Nixon. 

Also, Robin Strasser may take issue with this thread, lol. Since her Rachel Davis (created by Nixon on AW) was the prototype for Erica (though Erica had existed before in the Nixon’s initial AMC bible that wasn’t picked up).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

You are sort of making my point, that awful thing happened to Bianca, not Erica and that was because they couldn't have anything horrible happen to Erica, so they had to make her daughters suffer to move the show forward. Nothing bad could really happen to Erica after a certain point. 

Erica's Vegas show girl storyline was a disaster but it was done because they couldn't really show her spiraling out in a real way because Erica was for many members in the audience severe wish fulfillment. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

1994 was an interesting year for Erica - after she had been found ‘Not Guilty’ for the “attempted murder” of Dimitri (due to temporary insanity), she has to “start over” and pick up the pieces of her life.

Erica decides to return to modeling, since she had subsequently lost Enchantment,  but the aging Erica is met with a lukewarm response - with the young models saying, “Erica, WHO??.”

The whole thing had a Sunset Blvd. vibe - and was quite interesting to see Erica in this position.

There’s a funny scene where Erica locks an Eastern European model in a broom closet in New York, a la I Love Lucy, so the model who dissed her won’t get the gig.

What’s even funnier, though, is when her gal pal, Opal, feels sorry for her, so she offers Erica the opportunity to be spokesperson for her and Palmer’s chain of fried chicken fast food restaurants.

Erica, of course, respectively declines.

I believe this is around the time Jackson and Erica sleep together in NYC, while he was married to Laurel.

Edited by Pine Charles
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Yeah I guess you're right I mean Erica was almost raped by the guy who raped Bianca, and later discovers that it was her low life of a father who offered her for sex with the guy who raped her but yes directly nothing REALLY BAD happened to her after the late 1990's not that it means she was less of a great anti heroine but while they character well written her storylines got more and more boring or foolish 

By the way I hated when they reversed her abortion was such a stupid idea 

 

Sounds nice but I never got to see this storyline eve if it sounded very interesting, by the way was around that time too that Tara Martin came back to town did she and Erica get any confrontations?

Now let's see the Rivals, the original was Tara the goodye girl, Brooke was probably the most Famous, I know she catfighted with Ceara and Maria Santos too, who else?

Edited by Joseph
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Barbara Montgomery was a worthy opponent to Erica because unlike pious Brooke...Barbara verbally delivered against Erica.

I did like how Erica ended up at OAK Haven..with Annie pointing out how holier than thou Erica was..considering she committed the same crime.  And even remarked 'and I'm the crazy one' after finding out about Janet and Erica burying Kinder.

I think the Phantom of the Opera mask story in 1999 was the start of the Erica not having any depth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Remember when Erica went to jail for insider trading, and all the inmates LOVED her??

”This is America - Freedom for Erica!!”

Please register in order to view this content

And then that hip-hop boyband serenaded her from the yard or whatever, with their “Erica Kane” track??

I have to admit - I sort of enjoyed the “train wreck” aspect of it all.... but it was such a stark contrast to when Erica went to prison in 1983 for shooting Kent Bogard - and the inmates LOATHED her, with her cellmate, Kathy Bates (‘Belle’), tormenting her daily.

Much more realistic.

Edited by Pine Charles
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I think you hit on another aspect of the show and it's relationship with Erica here too. Erica always had to have the last word and ultimately win in all of her arguments, or 'takedown' scenes, which smacked of everyone else who ever opposed her just being 'jealous of her', after awhile that just became grating. You would literally have Erica going up against people like Brooke and Maria who were sort of expected to maintain the high road, and turn the other cheek due to them being virtuous and supposedly morally better but not getting much for it. This made the associated rivalries meek and uninteresting, because Erica was able to act like a child and always ended up getting exactly what she wanted by the end of it any way. Then as the showed progressed they refused to have Erica age up, so you would wind up eventually having scenes with Erica tangling with Greenlee and Kendell and it was embarrassing because they shouldn't have been seen as adversaries or in the same league as one another, all of it was very much below her pay grade, and you just knew in all of these "rivalries" none of them were ever going to win, so what's the point? It was all just useless. 

A lot of people give Sonny (GH), Jason (GH), Luke (GH), Victor (Y&R), Todd (OLTL) and Dollar Bill (B&B) grief for their plot armor, but I feel you could ultimately say the same thing about Erica at some point too.  

This sounds like a parody, but it wouldn't surprise me as I think it further exemplifies what I mean by the wish fulfillment of it all. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I remember a verbal spat between Liza (Jamie Lunar's version) and Erica...where Erica said that very thing to her.  And Liza rolled her eyes and laughed at that statement.  I'm not sure if it was an acting choice..or in the script...but in that scene, it showed how delusional Erica was..based on how Liza reacted to that statement.  And another scene where Liza was told Erica was getting married...and she said 'oh is that time of the year again'.

It was one of the rare times where a character laughed at Erica.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I would have to agree, the window of opportunity did open for Erica to have many more meaningful stories. The writing has always let her down. Erica isn't the type of character i want to see battle health scares. Family drama, business, romantic, and glamorous are her thing.

One storyline that needed to happen with Erica was her coming to terms that everyone around was living more glamorous lives than her. I believe the show missed out on some fascinating storylines by always making her competition such losers, because without Brooke, Barbara, and Natalie. Erica Kane to me was nothing. 

2008 should've been the year of Erica.

When Erica got out of jail. She needed to come home to Brooke and Liza running "New Beginnings" and improving her ratings.  Liza back Mentoring Greenlee, leading the way for Erica to come between and ask Kendall to takeover Enchantment. Just in time for Trey to come back!

Not opposed to her feuds with Greenpea and Kendall. At the end of the day they're family and were in the same business. so in a sense Fusion had replaced Enchantment. When Adam was plotting his takeover i felt Erica needed to be apart of it too!

After the 2008 Tornado, i wanted Erica to get into property development and rebuild her hometown. With her gaining a newfound appreciation for Pine Valley.

 

 

 

Edited by DemetriKane
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • There was a huge outcry when we learned that JFP intended to off Donna.
    • Especially children who much more likable characters and are played by better actors 

      Please register in order to view this content

      It’s a worse idea than her wanting to become a doctor Well, some of us Italians do prefer trumpets and saxophones over strings  
    • As requested by @P.J. the 1976 summary from Daytime Serial Newsletter. This was the Dobsons. I will be posting it in parts, as it quite lengthy. The Guiding Light premiered forty years ago on radio and now, after successfully having moved to television in the mid-fifties, it continues to chronicle the lives of the Bauer family of Springfield. Bertha (Bert) Bauer, the matriarch and guiding. force behind the family,has proved to be a source of strength and good counsel to all her friends and acquaintances as well as her own sons.  Michael, her older son, an attorney, recently married Leslie, who was formerly married to his brother,Ed, with whom she has a son, Freddie. Michael’s daughter Hope has always felt close to Leslie, but a recent conflict with Mike over her relationship with an older college professor has strained Hope’s relations with her father. Ed married Holly Norris last year but has just learned from her that their infant —daughter, Christina, is not his child but Roger Thorpe’s. Roger, who is deeply in love with nurse Peggy Fletcher, hopes the truth about Christina can be concealed, as he fears he could lose Peggy for good. Holly’s mother, Barbara, has recently married Roger’s father Adam and has no idea of the truth about Christina. Drs. Sara McIntyre and Joe Werner find their marriage is better than ever since orphaned T.J. became their foster child, and they are relieved that he is not the missing son of Cedars patient Ann Jeffers, who is searching for the child her estranged husband took out of town when she ran off with another man. Nurse Rita Stapleton, newly arrived in Springfield, aware of Ed’s personal upheaval, is solicitously offering him friendship and a shoulder to lean on. Dr. Ed Bauer has stunned the Bauer family by separating from his wife, Holly, soon after the recovery of their infant daughter, Christina, from pneumonia. Holly, exhausted by the baby’s illness and her own growing guilt feelings, has confessed to Ed that Christina is Roger Thorpe’s child, not his. Ed, learning that Peggy Fletcher has accepted Roger’s proposal,tells Roger to tell Peggy the truth before he does. Rita Stapleton, R.N., is taken aback when she meets Peggy’s fiancé, as she knew Roger when he worked in the oil fields in Texas. At the time, Rita was private nurse to wealthy oilman Mr. Granger. Roger, under pressure from Ed, realizes he can’t marry Peggy without telling her the whole truth. Somehow finding the courage, he tells her everything and begs for her forgiveness. As he feared, Peggy, stunned, breaks their engagement. Despite Ed’s later assurances that his own marriage was shaky before Roger, Peggy can’t forgive him; there’s no trust left. Holly, who has filed for divorce, goes to Peggy, explaining that she cared for Roger more than he ever cared for her, that she knew Roger loved Peggy from the moment he met her and became a better person for just knowing her. She assures Peggy that there has been nothing between them for a long time now. Leslie Bauer has returned to college to add personal fulfillment to her life as a housewife and mother. Her husband, attorney Mike Bauer, has undertaken a search for Ann Jeffers’s son Jimmy, whom she abandoned when she ran off with another man years ago. Jimmy’s father, Spence Jeffers, was a quick tempered drunk who cheated on Ann repeatedly. Mike offers Ann a job in his office, to help her meet the costs of the investigation. Spence and Jimmy’s trail seems to end in Alaska. Mike seems to resent Leslie’s involvement with school, and she is upset by his long hours and absences on the Jeffers case. Ann, realizing Leslie’s feelings, apologizes to her for causing Mike’s absences and tells Leslie how lucky she is to be married to a man like Mike.  Ed, unable to do neurosurgery after being wounded in the arm last year, decides to go ahead with highrisk nerve-root-resection surgery, despite the fifty-percent chance of total paralysis. In the operating room, Dr. Steve Jackson finds an excessive amount of scar tissue and refuses to continue the surgery, fearing that healthy nerve roots could be severed accidentally. Dr. Jackson closes, over young Dr. Tim Ryan’s objections, and later tells Tim his arrogance is becoming a detriment to his medical career at Cedars Hospital. Ed’s friends and family are upset at his reaction to this disappointment. His assignment as Chief of Staff wasn’t as fulfilling as surgery, and he now realizes that will no longer be part of his life. Rita Stapleton tries to cheer Ed by bringing groceries and consolation, but Ed’s depression isn’t lifting. His mother, Bert. Bauer,fears that Ed, a former alcoholic, may start drinking again. |  When Roger tells Peggy he’s leaving Springfield —for the sake of everyone he has hurt, Peggy, realizing also the suffering of her son Billy, who had grown to love Roger, tells Roger that even though it hurts to know about Christina, it hurts more to be without him. They agree to try again and plan to marry immediately. Barbara Thorpe, Holly’s mother, stumbles upon a manuscript written by her son Andy and, putting the pieces together, realizes that the story of a young woman whose child is not her husband’s is about Holly. Holly makes her mother promise not to tell anyone, which puts a tremendous strain upon her, as Barbara is married to Roger’s father, Adam Thorpe. Barbara is unable to tell Adam why she’s suddenly suffering migraine headaches and constant depression. | Despite Rita’s increasing attempts to reach him, Ed continues to sink further into his depression, until finally she tells him he isn’t half the man she thought —he was. Stunned into taking a good look at what he’s become, Ed admits he’s destroying himself and shows up the next morning at his office ready for work. Dr. Tim Ryan has become annoyed at the number of dates Rita has broken to be with Ed, and upon learning he’s up for chief resident, he rushes to share the news with her, only to find she’s entertaining Ed for dinner. Tim leaves angrily but later returns to apologize and propose marriage to Rita. She politely turns him down and suggests they no longer see each other, for his sake. Tim bitterly accuses her of using him. Under pressure from Adam to explain her strange depression, Barbara finally tells Adam the whole story.She informs him that Roger and Peggy are not welcome in her home. Home from his honeymoon, Roger learns from his father that Barbara knows the truth and has told him. Roger can tell his father only that he regrets what happened and he is a changed man now. He hopes his father can one day forgive him. Adam later tells Barbara she’s put the entire blame on Roger and hasn’t considered Holly’s guilt in the matter, adding, “I can accept the truth, why can’t you?” Feeling that it’s best for everyone involved, Roger prepares to resign as manager at the Metro Restaurant and take Billy and Peggy out of town. Peggy bolsters his confidence by telling him they’ll stay and fight this out together. Tim, upset by Rita’s attitude and rejection, is letting his emotions affect his work. When Ed, unaware that Rita is the reason, warns Tim that his recent lack of efficiency may lose him the senior resident appointment, Tim smarts at his rival’s being his superior. Tim takes stock of the situation and resolves to put personal problems aside and concentrate on his career. More to come...
    • @Tisy-Lish Seems like the bulk of 76 was the Schneiders who I don't believe ever headwrote another soap. I think the Labine/Mayer structured the show well in the time they were there and succeding headwriters used that to their advantage but then began chipping away with their own characters/story. @Franko glad you're enjoying delving into unfamiliar territory And now Part 2.... When a missing person’s report on Ben goes out, the Connecticut state police respond with their unconscious John Doe. When Ben awakens after brain surgery he calls for Betsy, angering Arlene, who gets drunk and goes to tell Meg the truth. Meg’s housekeeper, Carrie Lovett, who is Arlene’s mother (she had no idea of ‘Arlene’s involvement with Ben when she took this job), manages to prevent Arlene from seeing Meg. Ben, still hazy from anesthesia, tells Betsy how sorry he is for the way he’s treated her. Betsy, misunderstanding, assumes he means the gambling. Diana is still feeling sorry for herself, despite Jamie’s efforts to convince her that they can have a full life with children by adoption. When he informs her that his divorce is almost final and they can plan their wedding, Diana refuses to acknowledge that she has any future at all. Arlene, drunk and despondent, starts a letter to Ben in which she refers to herself as his “real wife.” Ray finds it and takes it to Jamie, threatening to give it to Betsy unless Jamie gets his client, Meg, off Ray’s back. Jamie has already warned Meg that Slater is no small-time hood; he has big money and power behind him. Arlene, confronted by Jamie, insists she meant “first wife,” but Jamie gives her seven days to produce a divorce decree or he’ll prove her and Ben guilty of attempting to defraud Meg. Ben, learning this, orders her to get a quickie Haiti decree, but she refuses, reminding Ben that he has told her sometimes he feels happy being married to Betsy and expecting a child. Arlene refuses to be dumped. Ray comes to Ben’s aid with a phony divorce decree. Ben takes it to Jamie for verification while Ray tells Meg that Ben needed false divorce papers from Arlene. Meg confronts her son and agrees to help him out of this mess. She plans to expedite his divorce from Arlene and convince Betsy to renew her marriage vows on their anniversary. Learning that Rick has known about Arlene and Ben’s marriage since the beginning, Meg withdraws her support from their planned ski resort. Rick realizes his dreams have just gone down the drain but can’t fault Meg’s motive. Arlene decides she needs money now to get Ben out of town and sets out to blackmail Meg. Ben, realizing that the only thing left to do is to run away with Arlene, leaves a letter for Betsy explaining why he married her but that he later fell in love with her. At the edge of town, however, he realizes he can’t go through with it. He tells Arlene he loves Betsy and wants to be there with her when their child is born, and he gets out of the car and calls a cab. Arlene, furious, races back to Meg’s house, where she tells Betsy the whole story. Betsy, disbelieving her, rushes to her bedroom, where she finds Ben’s letter confirming everything Arlene just told her. In shock, Betsy calls her brother, Dr. Tom Crawford, to come right away. Ben arrives and is truthful with Betsy, who no longer wants anything to do with him. Realizing that Meg stands in the way of his being a man, Ben moves out. Betsy is unmoved when Ben and Arlene’s divorce comes through; she won’t expose herself to that kind of hurt again. When Meg cajoles her to live with her until her grandchild is born, Betsy tells Meg that in the eyes of the court this isn’t her grandchild and she’ll never allow her child to be corrupted by Meg’s money, as Ben was. Meg, full of self-pity gets drunk and manages to get Rick drunk when she tells him Skyler Mountain is out. She then reminds him of how their relationship used to be and renews his passions, now affected by liquor. After they spend the night together, Meg decides to go ahead with the Skyler Mountain project after all. Rick makes it clear, however, that he still loves Cal and his relationship with Meg will be strictly business. Betsy continues to refuse to see Ben and is determined to be self-supporting. When she inadvertently mentions Ben’s letter to Bruce Sterling, the mayor of Rosehill, he has to turn it over to the district attorney. Meg is furious upon discovering that her own brother in law is the one who found the evidence against Ben. Dr. Joe Cusack is quite concerned about a teenaged alcoholic patient at the clinic, Lynn Henderson, who is determined not to be helped. She tries a sob story on Vanessa Sterling, but Cal, Van’s niece, overhears and warns Lynn not to put the bite on her friends and relatives. So Lynn, who refuses to heed Joe’s warning that alcohol has so destroyed her stomach lining that she could die from another binge, steals money from Van’s fund-raising folder and takes off. She later turns up at Van’s to apologize for stealing charity money and explains she was the ugly daughter of a beautiful mother and grew up feeling unloved. Van persuades Joe to let Lynn stay with her instead of returning to the halfway house she hates. Bruce, Van’s husband, sees Lynn as another of Van’s strays and asks Lynn not to take advantage of Van. Cal. is concerned to learn Rick will again be involve in business with Meg. He assures her it will be okay and that Meg is his last chance to fulfill his dream of making it big. When Meg overhears Cal telling Ben that she and Rick are engaged, Meg tries to tell Cal that Rick’s not the marrying kind and she’s wrong for him. Seeing that Cal is serious and Rick apparently is too, Meg threatens to tell Cal everything, including their most recent intimacy, if Rick doesn’t call it off immediately; she gives him twenty-four hours. Rick, for Cal’s own good, he feels, tells her he’s not the monogamous kind and she’d be better off without him. Cal, knowing she really loves him, refuses to let  go easily. So. he uses Cal’s knowledge of the fact that his son Hank dearly wants his parents to reconcile and tells Cal he and Barbara are planning to try again, for the boy’s sake. But Cal later runs into Hank and mentions that he must be glad his mother’s coming home. Hank has no knowledge of this and is confused. Rick, therefore, has to tell the child he used this as an excuse to get out of marrying Cal. But Hank, miserable at having his hopes raised and dashed, spills this to Cal when she tries to cheer him up. He tells her it was all a lie. Jamie warns Rick that his Skylar Mountain contract with Meg has so many contingencies that if anything happens, he’ll be holding the financial bag. But Rick, wanting this success badly, signs the papers, and Meg releases the money.
    • I genuinely in my 20 year history of watching Days can’t recall a single Bo and Phillip scene though I’m assuming there had to be one or two? Phillip was always much more presented as Lucas’ brother due to Kate’s involvement in their love lives and closer age post SORAS. I will say my favorite thing about PR though is he made Bo the only Kiriakis to actually pronounce it like Victor/John Aniston despite Papa Brady obviously being the dad he was associated with.
    • OK 1976 GL coming up   As none of those shows aired in 1976...
    • Thank you, @Paul Raven! I chose Love of Life because it's a show I don't have a lot of familiarity with, so I thought it would be interesting to look at this period with a more or less unspoiled view.
    • 40 years ago this summer.  To me this is the GOAT CBS daytime promo and the yardstick to which all CBS daytime promos are measured.

      Please register in order to view this content

       
    • That would be a good plot point to add more tension to the situation.
    • Some hot sports guys from tennis and football.

      Please register in order to view this content

       

      Please register in order to view this content

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy