Soap Dish: AMC cast and Crew Face moving Dilemma


As the dust settles from ABC's surprise announcement that "All My Children" will be moving to L.A., more information is coming out.

In last week's column, Thorsten Kaye (Zach) said the cast had one week to decide if they will make the move in December. Actually, they had one week off to think about moving. ("AMC" was dark this week.)

"The actors have until Tuesday, Sept. 8, to select their move option," says an ABC representative. "Many of the actors have committed to moving, but we are not sharing names until after the Sept. 8 deadline."

One person who has not committed to moving is Susan Lucci, who has starred as Erica Kane since the show's inception in 1970.

"We're all walking around in shock," Lucci said on "Live With Regis and Kelly" last week. "I love the show and I love playing Erica. ... But it's a lot to think about."

"We sincerely hope that Susan will come, but we will not share any confirmations until after the deadline," says the rep.

Lucci's kids are grown, so it would be easier for her to make the move than it would be for co-stars like Kaye, who has small children with partner Susan Haskell, who toils on the New York-based "One Life to Live" as Marty.

Would ABC consider letting Kaye return to "OLTL" as his former character, Patrick Thornhart?

"Our primary focus right now is 'AMC,' " says the rep. "We hope Thorsten comes to L.A. to continue as Zach. We can't think of other options until we know Thorsten's decision." While fans wait to find out who will stay with the show, rumor has it that former stars Eden Riegel (Bianca) and Rebecca Budig (Greenlee), who are already living in L.A., will return. ("No comment.")

As for the other tall tales making the rounds, "The rumor that 'OLTL' and 'AMC' will become two half-hour shows is incorrect," says the rep. "Additionally, the rumor that [executive producer] Julie Carruthers is not coming to L.A. is also incorrect. She is coming."

Both Lucci and Kaye have said that the move is "a huge vote of confidence" from ABC.

"It's a new state-of-the-art production facility that is already HD," says the rep. "It's twice the size of 'AMC's' current home - and the new facility will enable production to keep many more standing sets, reducing storage and trucking costs."

So it's win/win - as long as "AMC's" stars make the move.

Stay tuned.

September 8th is a lot better then one week. And it's good that they had a full week of to digest the news without the distraction of work. So, I guess we'll just keep our finger crossed until the 8th.

Interesting that there was no mention of AM, though. Wonder if that was because she didn't make a public statement. Our investment is in them both and anything less than Zach and Kendall in LA is unthinkable.

I agree. I think they only mentioned the ones that had made a public statement of sorts. I hope we get good news on Sept 8th that would be a great anniversary gift for me from AMC.

I am also hoping we get some really good news for Sept. 8th. Not only would good news be nice no matter what day its released but its probably also good to have good news on this move 5 days before the Fan Luncheon. It would be nice to have it more of a party than a somber gathering because of who is going and who isnt.

I've been away and not around much . . . but I wanted to put my thoughts on the move here.

I was literally SICK when I heard the news. It makes no sense whatsoever. NON!! :boom

I honestly don't think that TK and AM will make the move. I mean, it really is a HUGE move for TK with SH and their children and AM and RH expecting their first child and RH having such strong businesses in NY.

Now, I did ADORE Patrick Thornhart and if TK went to OLTL as Patrick it would ease my pain. However, I just LOVE Zach Slater more!!

Here is my dream . . . Team Slater moves to Landview and we have Zach and Kendall on OLTL. People might wonder how TK can play Zach there when he already played Patrick. Just look at SB from GH. Her version of Carly was wildly popular and now she is Claudia. It can be done and I am saying novena (JK LOL) that this is what happens.

ABCD would be shooting themselves in the foot if they lose these two!!