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OLTL's Erika Slezak on taping Robin Strasser's Goodbye Scenes, "I sobbed like a baby!"

By Michael Fairman

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Courtesy/ABC

Courtesy/ABC

The incredible Erika Slezak (Viki) of One Life to Live chatted with Liz Smith in an interview for WowoWow.com (The Women on the Web) where the six-time Daytime Emmy winner discussed the ending of  One Life, what she would like to do next in her career, and taping Viki’s final scenes with Robin Strasser (Dorian).  As many already know, Strasser is having to exit OLTL earlier than had been anticipated due to impending back surgery.

So, just how did Erika and Robin make it through the taping of the final scenes of rivals and some times friends, Viki and Dorian? Well according to Slezak it was not an easy task.  Erika  revealed, “We just did our goodbye scenes and I sobbed like a baby.  I can’t believe I won’t have the joy of that magnificent talent to play against every day.” And neither can the fans of daytime or One Life to Live, for that matter!

When Liz Smith also inquired to Slezak, what is it like to have been playing the same character for 40 years, Erika answered, “You know, nobody has ever asked me that before! I know Viki very well.  She is so familiar to me. The minute I get to the soundstage, I go into Viki mode.  She’s not like me at all, but I love her.  She’s a wonderful, flawed woman, who always makes a huge effort to do and be better, sometimes to the pain of friends and family. To do this sort of work — soap work — requires extreme focus and concentration.”

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erika slezak is my all time favorite daytime actress – she is such a classy lady!
i think viki & dorian are the infamous dynamic duo of daytime!!

I’m not looking forward to saying goodbye to OLTL at all….I’m sure I will be sobbing like a baby, myself. I have watched for so many years, and these characters are an extension of my family. I can’t believe what these tv executives are doing to their networks and their fans. I will be glued to the television, in support of OLTL, until the very end.

Torrey, i could not agree with you more. You have summed up how I feel and I sure that there are many, many, many more views out there who feel the same way. I have watched since 1979.

This gives me hope that Erika will end up somewhere great and I will still be able to enjoy her work. I’d love for them to create a roll for her on United States of Tara. Seems obvious. Or something completely different…..True Blood.

Sorry, but US of Tara was cancelled.

What a wonderful acting team Erika & Robin make together! 🙂

The great Erika Slezak has played Viki since 1971 . Erika has given the viewers many many great storylines . I wish Erika Slezak the very best in Her Career Move after January 2012 . A very heartfelt thank you from all the ‘One Life To Live’ Viewers .

Robin and Erika are both class acts. I will miss seeing them on my television screen everyday.

Robin and Erika are such beautiful and talented ladies. They will be missed so much by their fans.

A classy lady and we could not give her a tribute at the Emmys! Folks these are the people that made Daytime TV they deserved better.

OLTL was my first soap. I remember when Erika took over the role of Vicky and watched for many years with my mother.

Let us know when Dorian says goodby to Lanview- I’ll tune in.

Can’t understand how I will miss Viki and Dorian who are characters that don’t exist played by women I have never met, but I will–and it really hurts to think about it. Thank you Erika and Robin–love you both.

I am so sad : o ( too see ALL My Children and One Life To Live go off air!! The Drama of daytime Soaps makes me forget all my problems (drama) in my own life. Vicki and Dorian act more like sisters lol Clash and Clan like most sisters do. I will miss the the sisterly love. LOL. PLEASE DONT TAKE AWAY OUR SOAPS. Did you know even the prisoners watch soaps. I have heard that of course….anyways if you can make hardened criminals cry then you have even calmed down the prison for a couple hours. I bet the guards love that.

I have watched vicki since the beginning-I didn’t have a good role model mom-I actually looked up to vicki and how she handled family which I loved. I don’t know I’m losing a best friend I loved everything about the house, vicki, and of course the life-as I agree this is truely one life to live- I love you vicki – thank you with tears in my eyes, thank you everyone on the set glori

I never watch this show before 2011. when my soaps GL and ATWT ended, i stat to watch OLTL. Erica and Dorian became my favor personage in this soap, i will miss them . I wish to see them in the other soaps and together.

Seeing the two greatest actresses in daytime, Robin and Erika, saying their “farewells” was really difficult for many reasons. First, they are to me two very good friends of MINE. I have always appreciated their outstanding acting skills over the years when I would have the opportunity to see OLTL. Second, the wrong show was cancelled. It should have ben GH. When I watched the these two women last week, it hit me how greatly they and the show will be missed. Their history has been dramatic, funnier than hell, touching, vehement — all emotions/all levels. I do wish that the “farewell” could have included much more of the history. The years and years of these two women interacting deserved more than the few minutes given them.

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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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Jonathan Bennett joins the cast of GH as Joe Fitzpatrick. Catch the latest promo! Leave a comment.Leave A Comment

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