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It's Erika Slezak Day! OLTL honors her with 40th Anniversary Surprise Party!

By Michael Fairman

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Courtesy/ABC

Courtesy/ABC

Yes, it is St. Patrick’s Day throughout the land, but in the soap world, there was, and is,  an even bigger celebration going on.  One Life to Live’s six-time Daytime Emmy winner, Erika Slezak (Viki) celebrated today her 40th anniversary milestone with the east coast sudser.

Think about it. What would One Life be without Viki and Erika’s brilliant performances over the last four decades?  Erika, who embodies such grace and class, and is one hell of a phenomenal performer has brought us to tears time and time again, as we have gone through Viki’s  joys and sorrows.

So the cast and crew in Llanview this afternoon brought Erika to a secret gathering!   She thought they were having a St. Patrick’s Day luncheon on set… needless to say she was completely surprised.  Later, a highlight reel and video tribute featuring some of her OLTL cast members including Castle’s Nathan Fillion (Ex-Joey) and the series creator, Agnes Nixon was shown to all in attendance.

According to Soap Opera Digest. Slezak was said to be overwhelmed with emotion at the party, saying, “I’ve been here for 40 years because I love it.  I’m so grateful for the job and to you, my family.  It’s been just magical.”

View our photo gallery from the celebration below.  There are eleven shots, so for the last one, make sure to hit the NEXT GROUP icon next to the + symbol or just simply wait for the slideshow to play through. Then, check out the emotional video clip of the moment Erika joined her surprise celebration!

One Life will continue Erika’s celebration with a special episode devoted to Viki next month! So we ask, what is your favorite Erika Slezak performance over the last 40 years? There are so many it’s hard to choose, right?  But, let us know.

Exclusive Photos

[slidepress gallery=’erika-slezak’]

Photo credits: Courtesy/ABC

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HAPPY 40th ANNIVERSARY TO YOUR YEARS ON OLTL, ERIKA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Erika,

We love you madly here in Evanston, Illinois! 🙂 Happy Anniversary! 🙂

Ms. Slezak: You are one of the 3 remaining actresses with class left on the Soaps today!!!!!!! You are simply the best dramatic actress of your generation……I love watching you everyday…as I have when I started watching OLTL 40 years ago……..Congrats……………

I love any scene with Erika in it. My favorite moments were when Viki was in a wheelchair after the stroke and managed to get up the stairs as one of her alters to kill Johnny D. Also loved when she locked Dorian up in the secret room. Also loved her as a waitress in Paris, Texas. Too many to choose from. I look forward to her kicking Charlie to the curb. That will undoubtedly be her Emmy reel for next year.

happy anniversary erika!!! you go girl!!

I’ve been able to view the photo slideshows on this site in the past, but this one doesn’t work for me at all. It says “Error: Slideshow data cannot load due to security issue”.

Please fix this since I’m anxious to see the photos from the celebration. Congrats to Erika!!

Happy Anniversay Erika, May God Bless You with many more years.

Erika deserves this tribute more than any actress because of her consistency and unwavering performances for so many years. The fact that she can embody her character of Viki after so many marriages and personalities proves that she is the grande dame of soaps.. I really liked her multiple personas,especially Niki the floozie. She can do no wrong by me. Congratulations Erika. Onward and Upward….

Congratulations on 40 years to a WONDERFUL actress! Your portrayal of Viki is simply amazing!

Congratulations Erica! One Life to Live was my first soap. I started watching because of Gillian Spencer’s Vicky/Nicky performance. Split personalities was a new thing then. I remember when Erica took over the role of Vicky. It was a seemless transition.

Tip of the hat to a performer that spent her career in daytime.

To a consummate performer, we love your work and are wishing for many more years of the same!!!

Thanks Michael for another great piece of Soap history your have shared! I love Erika and so glad that she is being appreciated! I have watched since Viki had to choose between Joe and Steve!!! I am glad she and Dorian are going against Echo! Great Stuff!

She looked shocked. So glad they did this for her. TY for the pics.

The class act of Daytime TV and it’s best actress

I have been watching you on OLTL for 40 years and you get better and better. I just think you are the best.

Erika has been the reason I have stuck with OLTL thru thick and thin. She is classy and an amazing performer and after all these years feels like family.

I recognize amazingly few faces in that group photo. Where was the majority of the cast? Perhaps the younger members of the cast don’t realize how lucky they are to be working with such a talent.

just want to be amoung the many fans of yours that we r grateful to have such a fine actress grace our television screens for so many fine years here is to 40 and many more to come. i have watched u since i was a young girl of 10 and i have always enjoyed the show and u so good luck and happy 40th anniversary

Happy 40 years on O.L.T.L. Erika. I have been enjoying watching you perform since 1978, and I have to say you have kept me mesmerized and entertained and you are the only reason that I have been watching for so long. so here’s to many more great years to come.
God Bless.

I also have to congratulate Erika on this accomplishment. She is truly an icon and matriarch of One Life to Live, as well as all daytime TV. I remember back when I first started watching ONTL. It was in the late 70’s, and Vicki’s husband at the time, Joe Riley was missing, if I remember right. Then he was in the hospital. Vicki was right there by his bedside, in anguish over his condition. I also remember that she was wearing a very lovely navy blue dress with white lace trim in that scene. It is so very sad that OLTL and AMC have been canceled.

i will miss you and all the cast its all about money

what?

This wonderful woman has NO IDEA how many lives she has touched. God Bless You ALWAYS Erika. My only regret is that I never met you face to face to tell you this myself. -Your Fan of over 35 years Brian in New York.

I have had you in my life since I was 12. I will not have the same kind of a day with out you in it. I love you and OLTL.,

News

Susan Flannery and Ian Buchanan Visit the Set of ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’; Daytime Emmy Winners Reflect on Show Then and Now

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Susan Flannery and Ian Buchanan

The one and only Susan Flannery (ex-Stephanie Forrester) dropped in to see her former co-stars on The Bold and the Beautiful at their Sunset Las Palmas Studio in Hollywood, along with her good friend and another B&B co-star Ian Buchanan (ex-James Warwick) on Tuesday October 20.

It was the first time in a very long time that The four-time Daytime Emmy winning actress was reunited with Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke), Jacqueline MacInnes Wood (Steffy), executive producer and head writer, Brad Bell, Jennifer Gareis and even her TV sister, Alley Mills (Pam, B&B now Heather, GH) showed up for the day too!

Flannery played the Forrester matriarch from 1987 until 2012. It was then that after playing the part of Stephanie for 25 years that Susan made the decision to retire from acting and in one of the most heartbreaking sendoffs, passes away from lung cancer in Brooke’s arms in November of 2012. During her B&B tenure, Flannery won 3 of her 4 Daytime Emmys, the other being for her first soap role as Laura Horton on Days of our Lives back in 1975.

Susan and Kelly

Photo: Bell-Phillip TV

As for Ian Buchanan, he played Dr. Warwick, psychiatrist, from 1993 to 1999.  He returned for other runs in 2014 and 2017.  Buchanan took home his Daytime Emmy in 1997 for his work as James. Soap fans also remember, Ian as mobster Duke Lavery on General Hospital, and Dr. Greg Madden on All My Children,

Both Susan and Ian shared their thoughts on coming back to The Bold and the Beautiful, for Susan 14 years later since he exited and for Ian close to 9 years since his last appearance below.

Susan said, “It’s definitely like coming home in a way, even though it’s not the same studio. It’s really lovely to see old faces and old faces with new faces. It takes you back mentally. You start remembering what it was like back then, even things like how much your feet would ache at the end of the day from wearing six-inch heels. It was just lovely to be back and see everybody.”

Susan Flannery and cast

Photo: Bell-Phillip TV

Ian expressed, “It’s a mind trip, you know. When I was sitting looking at the big Forrester set, it was like stepping back in time, almost. It takes you back mentally, and you start remembering what it was like when you were here before.”

“It’s lovely to see all these people again, even if you don’t know everybody,” explained soap vet Buchanan. “There’s something really special about coming back and seeing the show and the people who have been part of it for so long.”

So, happy to see Susan and Ian with some of their former castmates? Do you think Stephanie and Brooke is one of the greatest frenemy stories in daytime history? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

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Beyond the Gates

Tabitha Brown and Kandi Burruss Guest Star on ‘Beyond the Gates’ for Dani’s ‘Welcome to Your Life’ TV Special; What Could Go Wrong?

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Kandi Burress, Tabitha Brown, Karla Mosley

As previously announced, Beyond the Gates is bringing chef, author and actress Tabitha Brown and Grammy Award-winning songwriter, singer and actress Kandi Burruss to Fairmont Crest in a special episode of the CBS daytime drama airing Thursday, October 22.

In the episode, Dani’s (Karla Mosley) best friend Pamela Curtis (Cady McClain), arranges a “Welcome to Your Life” television special for her. As it turns out, Brown will play the show’s host, Tia Allen, while Burruss takes on the role of Dani’s first modeling agent, Kalista Kilroy, who turns the celebration of her life into a bad trip down memory lane.

Dani’s parents Anita and Vernon (Tamara Tunie, Clifton Davis), sister Nicole (Daphnee Duplaix), and daughters Chelsea (RhonniRose Mantilla) and Naomi (Arielle Prepetit) all join the show to celebrate and support her but also witness how things so south. Also appearing in the episode are Molly Figueroa as Tatum Stewart and fan-favorite Anita Williams (Tunie) impersonator Jackie Tyree!

Beyond the Gates

PhotoL JPI

THE 411 ON TIA AND KALISTA

Speaking with TV Insider, about their soapy experience in Fairmont Crest, Tabitha Brown previewed about her host with the most, “Tia is very professional, but she’s a girl’s girl. She is a protector of women and wants to tell their stories in a beautiful way, but she also wants to make sure they’re seen in a very good light.”

However, Burruss previews that Kalista arrives with a score to settle. “She’s spicy,” shared the recording artist. “I always love playing somebody that has come to start trouble. It’s always fun to play a villain of sorts, but Kalista feels like she’s been done wrong and she’s hurt by what she feels has been done to her. So Kalista is stirring up trouble, but she feels justified putting Dani on blast. Kalista is ready for some payback.”

Beyond the Gates is produced by CBS Studios, as part of the CBS Studios/NAACP Venture, in partnership with P&G Studios, a division of Procter & Gamble. Created by head writer Michele Val Jean, executive producers include Val Jean, Sheila Ducksworth, Julie Carruthers, Tracey Thomson, Leon W. Russell, Derrick Johnson, Anna Saalfeld and Lela Coffey.

Beyond the Gates is broadcast weekdays on CBS (2:00-3:00 PM, ET/1:00-2:00 PM, PT) and is available to stream on Paramount+**.

So, looking forward to this special episode of Beyond the Gates when Dani is put on a blast during a blast from her past and Welcome to Your Life TV special? Share your thoughts via the comment section.

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Days Of Our Lives

‘Days of our Lives’ Reveals Kyle Pryor Cast as Dominic Marino

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Kyle Pryor

For months now, Days of our Lives has teased the character of Dominic Marino. In recent weeks, viewers learned that Marino is on the down low working with Sami Brady’s (Alison Sweeney) apparent fiancé ‘Dante Vitali (Franco LoPresti), and that he is the never-before-heard-of child of Stefano DiMera (the late Joseph Mascolo) and Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall)!

Up until now, the Peacock streaming soap opera has never revealed his face, but that all seemed to change on the Tuesday, October 2o episode of DAYS. In story, Dante met Sami’s parents for the first time, Roman (Josh Taylor) and Marlena.

He shows them a photo of Dominic, which he happened to have on his own phone and even commented he kind of looked like he could be Marlena’s son. The photo, which has quickly made it around Soap Twitter/X, revealed that British-born actor Kyle Pryor is the man in the photo and eagle-eyed viewers actually located said photo on Pryor’s Instagram.

Dominix

Photo: Peacock

Deadline revealed Pryor started taping at the end of 2025 and will first be seen in the role, on air Monday, November 2.  In addition, Days will celebrate its 61st Anniversary with two special episodes featuring Dominic’s arrival, as well the returns of Tony and Anna DiMera, played respectively by Thaao Penghlis and Leann Hunley, on Friday, November 6 and Monday, November 9.

Those in the know, are are that Pryor previously held series regular roles on Australia’s Home and Away, and the UK’s Hollyoaks and guest starred on Emmerdale. In an ironic twist, Pryor appeared in the series Spartacus: Blood and Sand which is the same action series his apparent TV brother, Dan Feuerriegel (EJ DiMera), once appeared in before coming to DAYS.

So excited to see Kyle Pryor take on the role of Dominic Marino as Days of our Lives sets its anniversary story to kick-off with is arrival in Salem? Share your thoughts in the comment section. And in case you missed our latest conversation with Conner Floyd (Chad DiMera) he weighs-in on how Dominic’s appearance will shake things up in Salem. You can check that out below.

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