ABC could be kicking “All My Children” out the door.
ABC officials aren’t denying reports that the veteran soap, which premiered in 1970, could be canceled due to low ratings — in a genre that’s been dying a slow death.
“AMC,” which made Susan Lucci a daytime star, could be replaced by a daytime talk show this fall, according to deadline.com.
(Word broke last spring that ABC was developing a talk show for Tori Spelling.)
“The deadline.com report is just another story in a long line of stories about this same topic,” an ABC spokeswoman told The Post yesterday.
“[The cancellation of ‘All My Children’] is talked about in the press every so often.”
Maybe, but that’s also not a de nial that “AMC” could be a goner.
“This changes the game because the network is not stepping for ward more forcefully than it is [to deny the rumor],” says Michael Logan, the Daytime TV columnist for TV Guide.
“This isn’t the first time this has been reported . . . but it’s taken on some legitimate gravitas with this latest report.”
The deadline.com report comes on the heels of “AMC’s” historically bad showing among its core audience of women 18-49.
For the week of March 7, it dropped 34 percent in that demo compared to the same week in 2010.
It was also last in total viewers the week of March 7.
Several veteran soaps — including “The Guiding Light” and “As the World Turns” — have been axed the last few years as the genre’s ratings have dwindled among a crowded daytime field.
ABC, hoping to cut costs, even moved the “All My Children” cast and crew from New York to LA in January 2010 (moving “One Life to Live” into “AMC’s” old studios here).
Lucci, who plays the show’s much-married siren, Erica Kane, agreed to make the move — but only after working out a commuting schedule that could accommodate her lifestyle (she and her husband live in Manhattan).
“I think the surprise here is that ABC owns ‘All My Children’ and would theoretically be in a greater position of strength,” says Logan.
“CBS didn’t own ‘The Guiding Light’ and ‘As the World Turns’ and had many reasons for cutting them loose.
“This is a different dynamic; this show doesn’t need renewals.
“Another part of the equation is what would they replace it with?” Logan says.
“That’s prime real estate . . . but I don’t know the answer to that question.”