Courtesy/ABC

The November newsletter is out from One Life to Live’s six-time Daytime Emmy winner, Erika Slezak (Viki Banks) on her website www.erikalslezak.com In it, there is a brand new Q&A with the legendary actresses which addresses many of the changes in front of the camera and behind-the-scenes in recent months at OLTL!    Here are just a few excerpts!

Erika on former ATWT head scribe, Jean Passanante on the OLTL writing team : “Jean has been working since June (I think), which is when “As the World Turns’” production shut down. They had that much in the can when they went off the air in September, because they had finished shooting somewhere at the end of June or early July. So she came to us then, and yes, she has just been wonderful. She is a breakdown writer but she sits in on all of the meetings, and apparently has had some very good ideas. The whole Echo story, which I love, was Ron’s idea. Jean is very, very intelligent and very savvy as to this business. And so she knows how to direct things and where to go. I think she is going to be a great addition, and already has been one to the writing team.”

Erika on working with Kim Zimmer in the reigniting of the Echo/Viki feud: “It is delightful – absolutely delightful. You know, I said to her, “I can’t wait to hear that big ol’ laugh of yours!” She’s just a joy and she is so professional. She knew exactly how to do it and what to do. It was a little different for her because she has spent the last couple of years practically on location. She said, “Oh, it is so nice to have a studio.” And she’s just been wonderful. We have had a lot of scenes together – very fun scenes. She’s been working with Robin a bit and they’re having a great time. The whole thing has just turned out well. She and Brian Kerwin get along brilliantly. Yes, the whole thing is just working out really well. I like the story – I like where it is going. It gets much more complicated, of course, as time goes by, but I like it.”

Erika on the bandage Viki was wearing in recent scenes above her temple: “That was real life. I had a little pre-cancerous thing, and I’m not sure what it is called – a lesion or something. It was a little bump on my right temple that wasn’t going away. I spoke to the dermatologist and he cryogenically tried to remove it – they freeze it with this stuff, and anyone who has gone to a dermatologist knows what it is. If it didn’t go away after freezing, they would have to biopsy it. So, a couple of weeks later, it hadn’t gone away, so they biopsied it and said it was a basil-cell skin cancer, which is a pre-cancerous condition. In order for it not to advance and become cancer, they removed it in what was a very simple procedure.”

Make sure to read the rest of the newsletter with Erika on her thoughts on Terri Colombino coming to Llanview, (Erika screen-tested all of the Aubrey’s) and how she feels that the show is not in danger of cancellation anytime soon, with all the upgrades the show has made in production quality while pairing down the budgets at the same time to ensure its future.