Agnes Nixon's Erica Kane

[Joseph]

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

[Jonathan]

Love her! Erica is fire and her portrayer, Susan Lucci is QUEEN!

[Skin]

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.   

[Joseph]

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 

[BetterForgotten]

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).

[Skin]

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. 

[Pine Charles]

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 September 5, 2021 by Pine Charles

[Joseph]

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 September 6, 2021 by Joseph

[Pine Charles]

Natalie

[Soaplovers]

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.

[Pine Charles]

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

”This is America - Freedom for Erica!!”

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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 September 7, 2021 by Pine Charles

[Skin]

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. 

[Soaplovers]

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.

[Pine Charles]

 

[DemetriKane]

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 September 11, 2021 by DemetriKane