NEW YORK – “All My Children” veteran Susan Lucci is returning to the world of soap operas. But this time, the stories will be real.

Lucci will host and narrate “Deadly Affairs,” a new prime-time series airing on Investigation Discovery. The show will explore true stories of romance gone wrong and the crimes of passion that resulted, the network announced Thursday.

“They are deceptive love relationships, love triangles and betrayal that have deadly consequences,” Lucci said. “And they end in tragedy.

“Every day you hear these stories and you think, ‘Oh, my goodness!’ Then they disappear. You don’t know what happened next, and you don’t know why they happened. I’m hoping that, in exploring them, we’ll shed some light on human nature.”

Lucci won lasting fame as devious, often-wed Erica Kane throughout the run of daytime drama “All My Children,” which aired from 1970 until ABC canceled it last September.

“As Erica, I got punished for my wrong deeds,” Lucci noted. “I wound up in jail several times, even in a blood-stained ball gown. But with ‘Deadly Affairs,’ these are not characters on a soap opera. This is real life.”

Describing her new show as a “real-life soap,” she called her hosting role “a perfect match,” adding, “I couldn’t help but smile” after getting the series offer.

Filming of the 10-episode season is expected to begin in March, with its premiere slated for this fall, Investigation Discovery said.

Lucci also has guest shots on the Lifetime drama “Army Wives” and TV Land’s sitcom “Hot in Cleveland.” But she has closed the book on Erica Kane after 41 years.

“I miss Erica tremendously,” she said. “That’s the same thing I hear from people I meet.”

Another long-running ABC soap, “One Life to Live,” comes to an end Friday, but Lucci expressed confidence that the soap opera genre will endure.

“If it has good writing and good production values,” she said, “it has a future.”

Showtime planning Cheney movie

PASADENA, Calif. – The Showtime television network says it is preparing a new documentary on former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Showtime said Thursday that filmmaker R.J. Cutler will make the film. No date was set for airing.

Cutler called Cheney, who was George W. Bush’s vice president, “perhaps the single most influential non-president in the nation’s political history.” He promised a balanced and multi-dimensional look at Cheney.

Last weekend, Cutler placed ads in the Casper Star-Tribune newspaper asking residents if they had any footage or still pictures of Cheney. The former vice president lived in Wyoming as a teen and attended the University of Wyoming.

He represented Wyoming in Congress from 1979 to 1989.

“Maybe somebody has a home video somewhere that we haven’t heard about that we’d just like to see,” said Ryan Gallagher, as associate producer at Actual Reality Pictures, Cutler’s production company.

Showtime said it has begun an effort to produce high-end profiles. Its other project is about rap mogul Suge Knight.

Locklear sent to hospital in California

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Authorities say Heather Locklear was taken to a Southern California hospital for precautionary reasons after receiving an emergency call from her home.

Paramedics and sheriff’s deputies responded Thursday afternoon to Locklear’s home in Westlake Village, which is northwest of Los Angeles.

Ventura County Sheriff’s Capt. Mike Aranda says he did not know Locklear’s condition but deputies are not investigating the incident. Locklear has been hospitalized several times over the years and in 2009 pleaded no contest to reckless driving after being arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of prescription medication.

The 50-year-old actress’ publicists did not return messages seeking comment.

Locklear and “Melrose Place” co-star Jack Wagner recently ended their engagement.