News
One Life to Live Star Erika Slezak Talks Prospect Park and Clint Richie On ‘IN with Linda Dano’ Podcast
One Life to Live icon, Erika Slezak (ex-Viki) chatted with another OLTL and soap favorite, Linda Dano (ex-Gretl, ex-Felicia, AW, et al) on the latest episode of Dano’s podcast, IN with Linda Dano.
During the conversation, the dear friends and former castmates touched on myriad of subjects including One Life’s move to the internet (then streaming) with Prospect Park following ABC cancellation of the series.
Erika related the issues she and others had getting paid from the company. This included one encounter when trying to pick-up her paycheck as she did on Fridays. Slezak shared: “I waited an hour. I waited two hours. He had know intention (to pay me) until I literally stood over him in his office and said, “Write my check, because I am not leaving until you do.” And it was the last check I ever got. They still owe me a lot of money. I am not going to say how much.”
Photo: Prospect Park
She went on to say, “They still owe Tuc Watkins (ex-David) and they still owe a lot of people a lot of money. They declared bankruptcy. Even though they produced other shows, this was a separate production and such a screw up. It was such a shame.”
The discussion turned to Phil Carey, Bob Woods and Clint Ritchie who played the Buchanan men during Erika’s time on One Life, as well at times for Linda Dano. Slezak admitted she would have loved to have seen Viki involved romantically with Asa: “My one regret is that I (as Viki) was never married to him.”
Photo: ABC
Clint Ritchie has had a controversial past with One Life to Live. Both Dano and Slezak sort of dished on some behind the scenes intel. Linda shared: “I went on a date with him and my dad, who is like nine feet tall, said to him, “You are a few minutes late and that means you’re not welcome here again.” He (Clint) was a bit of a troubled person.”
Photo: JPI
Erika responded, “Clint, most of the time was incredibly decent. He did like to drink at lunch, which was not such a good idea. But Clint was very respectful and always very nice to me. He was a lovely man and he had issues. The bizarre thing is he and Phil Carey died in the same week.”
What do you think about how the attempt to bring One Life to Live online and to Hulu ultimately failed? What do you think about Linda and Erika’s past and thoughts with Clint Richie? Enjoying Linda’s podcast? Comment below.
What a wonderful conversation.
They are both so lovely.
Could have listened to them for another hour.
The higher power need to bring back not only one life to live but all my children too.
It’s sad when people can’t let things go. The shows had their shot; nobody was watching. The shows were awful. No popular show gets canceled. At some point you have to move on.
To say “nobody was watching” is a gross overstatement. At time of cancellation, OLTL was actually higher rated than GH (and way above DAYS). The show that replaced OLTL was cancelled after 6 months and the time returned to affiliates.
Well said OG Steve.
ABC got rid of OLTL mainly about money, ratings did not override the tedious amount of money to produce a soap, especially for daytime, tv,
talk shows are quite inexpensive to produce…ABC does not do business
by emotions… ABC’s daytime shows is money in the pocket…
As for OLTL- nothing lasts forever…
OOPPSS!
- inexpensive to be expensive –
I love that show I wish it would come back on TV . It was a awesome show.
Not true it did have a fan base I watched it regularly and followed it to the net. What is sad is that they did not respect the actors.
Streaming was too new at the time and the quick transition was doomed. The cancellation of multiple soaps in quick order was just the beginning of the chainsaw the networks started to maximize profits. Now it’s endless repeating news from talking heads and blab shows. I miss the old days of entertaining drama. Would it kill them to stream the old ABC or p&g shows. Or are they tapes wiped away?
Supposedly every episode of OLTL from the time they went to 1-hour are still in existence. The tapes for the first ten years (30 and 45 minute episodes) would’ve been reused as was the practice in much of daytime.
I could’ve listened to them all day such a treat! I hope Linda has Victoria Wyndham and more Another World people.
Such a shame streaming was in its early days when online was attempted. I think an online version might succeed in today’s streaming world.
Thank you Michael for letting us know about the podcast. It’s always a thrill to hear from the fabulous Erika Slezak. I loved her stories. I can’t imagine Viki being married to Asa. That would have been WW3 with Viki trying to get him in line.
I am sorry Prospect Park failed. The concept was wonderful. The execution, not so much. I watched and enjoyed the online series on Hulu. Unfortunately, Prospect Park didn’t know how to produce a serialized drama for the long haul. I think it’s awful that several of the actors were not paid.
I will always miss our beloved One Life to Live..
Hope she does join general hospital
Erika lives happily in Connecticut while GH is filmed in California.
I miss OLTL so much ❤️! The stars , the storylines. Yeah, they definitely need to bring them back ASAP
Erika Slezak is simply class and the cast of OLTL was not treated right by Prospect Park and certainly not by ABC and Froms. Get the facts: OLTL was averaging 3.1M viewers during the week of its cancellation and 3.8M viewers for the final episode. The move backfired as ratings never recovered with the stupid talk shows to include additional cancellations. ABC may have made some extra $ for a time but NO one was watching or cared. OLTL and AMC should have never left the daytime lineup. I also still miss GL and ATWT but their ratings were not as good but over 2M+.
Hi my name is Shelly Tuttle I. Use to watch one life to live with my family all of them please bring back all my children soapra and one life to life. On hulu. Again. I love watching them.
One Life to Live online was awful.
I remember when the reboot happened. I had taken my mom to the doctor. I sat in the waiting room crying because our show was back. I didn’t care that it was on line.
Just to have another scene with Erica and Roger…..
Have you noticed ES never attacks and never says an evil word about co workers if only everyone could be like that. I always wanted her to come to Y&R as Katherine’s long lost sister to keep the history alive but I don’t blame her for probably not wanting to commute to California.
Days Of Our Lives
Deidre Hall to Guest Star on Season 3 of Comedy Series ‘Hacks’
Days of our Lives star Deidre Hall (Marlena) is set to play a version of herself on third season of Hacks. Look for Hall this month in an episode titled “The Deborah Vance Christmas Spectacular,” to air on May 23 on Max.
Not only will Hall appear in the episode, but so too, will Back to the Future and Taxi star, Christopher Lloyd.
According to EW.com, Deidre will play “a fictional version of herself, who just so happens to be the mom of Paul W. Downs’ Jimmy.”
Photo: JPI
Hacks co-creator and Downs’ wife, Lucia Aniello shared on Hall’s casting, “It made sense to us that Jimmy’s late father, a big-time manager, would have been married to an actress. When the idea for Deidre Hall came up, it just felt right.”
As for Lloyd, he will portray, reclusive writer Larry Arbuckle, who is to have had a rather famous grandfather. In the episode, Hall and Lloyd’s character intersect, which leads to onscreen sparks.
Photo: AP
“We had written some things that were flirty, but the chemistry was palpable,” says co-creator and series star, Downs shared. Hacks stars Jean Smart as comedy legend Deborah Vance.
Photo: Max
Season 3 of Hacks debuts on Thursday night May 2nd on Max 9 pm ET/6 pm PT.
So, will you be watching Deidre Hall guest starring on Hacks? Comment below.
General Hospital
Lane Davies Joins the Cast of General Hospital Setting up a ‘Santa Barbara’ Reunion with Nancy Lee Grahn
Some very intriguing casting news out of General Hospital. The ABC daytime drama has cast former Santa Barbara favorite, Lane Davies (ex-Mason Capwell), in the role of Fergus Byrne, an attorney who crosses paths with Alexis Davis (Nancy Lee Grahn).
According to TV Insider, Davies will make debut the week of May 22nd. As soap fans know, together with the aforementioned Grahn, they created the Santa Barbara supercouple of Mason and Julia Wainwright. Davies portrayed Mason Capwell family from 1984 through 1989.
Interestingly enough, this isn’t the first time in Port Charles for Lane. From 2002-2004 he played Dr. Cameron Lewis and also shared on-screen story with Grahn. At that time Davies, played Xander Smith’s father.
Photo: NBC
GH fans are wondering about the last name of Davies new character, “Bryne”. If you recall, Alexis got herself involved with therapist Dr. Neil Bryne, who died when Harmony broke into Alexis‘ house and killed Neil by injecting him with opioids.
Photo:
Taking to her Instagram, Grahn shared her excitement at the upcoming on-screen reunion with Davies, “It never gets old. We do 😂…. but it doesn’t 😍. Lookin’ forward to another romp.”
So, what do you think about Lane Davies returning to GH to play an attorney in Alexis’ orbit? Share your thoughts via the comment section below.
News
One Life to Live Alum Jonathan Groff Receives 2024 Tony Award Nomination for Leading Actor in a Musical
Nominations were announced on Tuesday for the 77th annual Tony Awards by previous winners, Renée Elise Goldsberry (ex-Evangeline Williamson, One Life to Live) and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
When the dust settled it was Stereophonic (which is loosely based on the story of Fleetwood Mac) and Hell’s Kitchen (Alicia Keys musical) that both scored 13 Tony nominations to lead the pack.
However, Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along made quite the comeback and is nominated for several awards including Best Revival of a Musical and for one of its stars, Jonathan Groff (ex-Henry Mackler, One Life to Live).
Courtesy/Playbill
Groff is nominated for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical and will go up against Brody Grant — The Outsiders, Dorian Harewood —The Notebook, Brian d’Arcy James — Days of Wine and Roses and Eddie Redmayne — Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club.
In addition to his previous Tony nod for his role in Hamilton, Jonathan was nominated for a Lead Actor in a Musical for his role as Melchior Gabor in the original production of Spring Awakening.
Jonathan co-stars in the revival of Merrily We Roll Along “Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe and previous Tony winner Lindsay Mendez.
Back in 2019, Groff visited Live with Kelly and Ryan and discussed his debut on One Life while working at night on Broadway in Spring Awakening.
He shared on his experience on the soap, “I do remember my first day because I was doing Spring Awakening on Broadway at the time, and One Life to Live was my first time ever being on TV. So I got this offer, and I was like, ‘Yes, I would love to be in a soap opera,’ and we finished Spring Awakening at 11:00 p.m. and I woke up the next morning at 4:0 a.m. to walk uptown to go to do One Life to Live, and I called my agent and left a message, and I said ‘You have to get me out of this, I can’t wake up at 4 o’clock in the morning!'” You can watch the clip below.
The 77th annual Tony Awards will air live on CBS and stream on Paramount+ on Sunday, June 16, with Tony and Oscar winner Ariana DeBose returning to host for the third time.
So, rooting for Jonathan to take home his long-awaited Tony Award after several decades in the theater? Do you remember him as part of teen scene on OLTL? Comment below.
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