OLTL: New interview with Erika Slezak

[SlezaksOLTL]

There is a new interview with Erika Slezak from Soap Central. I found her comments about focus groups and sticking to the history of the show and characters very telling. She is right, IMO, which is one big problem with daytime, they don't care about the history or staying in character and use focus groups from a very small sampling that decides what millions get to see, that is just wrong and pathetic, IMO.

Here it is:

http://www.soapcentral.com/oltl/news/2008/...ak_iview_01.php

One-on-One with One Life to Live's Erika Slezak

Posted Wednesday, October 29, 2008 1:19:58 PM

by Allison J. Waldman

In a very special two-part interview, Emmy-winning actress Erika Slezak sits down with soapcentral.com's Allison J. Waldman to discuss topics ranging from her family to her hobbies and, of course, One Life to Live. From the difficulties involved in putting together an episode of a soap to clarifications of controversial comments made last year, Slezak sets the record straight in this exclusive interview.

In 1971, Erika Slezak auditioned for the role of Nurse Mary Kennicott on All My Children. She didn't get the role. However, ABC liked the elegant young actress with the Royal Academy of Drama pedigree and Hollywood lineage. Instead of letting Ms. Slezak move on, she was offered the role of Victoria Lord on One Life to Live. Little did she -- or ABC -- know that it was a match made in heaven. It was the perfect marriage of actor and role, and it's a love affair that continues -- no, thrives -- to this day.

Plainly put, Erika Slezak is the preeminent actress of daytime, the Meryl Streep of soapdom. She is a consummate professional and a performer with the ability to reach out to viewers and bring them into her world. It's a gift that few have been able to match in this genre, and she owns a record-setting six Daytime Emmys in the category of Outstanding Lead Actress in A Drama Series for her enduring excellence.

Knowing all this, and having been watching her year in and year out since I was a teenager, interviewing Erika Slezak was something special. I was excited to speak with her, energized by her thoughtful responses, and impressed because she lived up to every one of my expectations.

Here in Part One of the soapcentral.com exclusive interview with Erika Slezak, we talk about her upcoming appearance at the ABC-SOAPnet Super Soap Weekend. It's the last time fans will have a chance to experience the Super Soap Weekend. After this year, a new innovation called Soap Nation will be launched. So, if you have always wanted to get close to the ABC soap stars -- and have some fun at Disney World -- make your plans to come to the Super Soap Weekend, November 15th and 16th at Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. In Part Two, next week, Erika shares stories about her father, her feelings about acting, and what she does for fun.

soapcentral.com: What made you decide to attend this year's Super Soap Weekend?

Erika Slezak: I have gone a few times. I was there for the 10th Super Soap Weekend. This will be my fourth time. I have never really been comfortable in large crowd situations, but I have found it such a warm and friendly atmosphere there. Everybody is so kind and happy and it's in warm weather, it's a really nice experience. So I agreed to go, and this will be the last one, which I'm surprised at, but I'm going again and I must say, I have enjoyed them enormously. The people that you meet are so remarkably kind and warm and they say such nice things. I'm just stunned that people would line up for hours just to shake my hand. I found that very humbling, and they're all delightful and the variety of people-you know, from kids to seniors in wheelchairs. I just think it's wonderful.

soapcentral.com: Do you agree that it's events like Super Soap that illustrate how generational soap viewing is, that it really goes through families?

Erika Slezak: Yes, it does. So many of them say they started watching with their grandmothers or their aunt or their mother or the housekeeper, but they stick with it then.

soapcentral.com: It seems that TV executives don't get that about soap fans, how loyal they are. They can say they haven't watched a show for two years, but they'll come back to it.

Erika Slezak: I think you're absolutely right, and I don't want to criticize the executives because I know where they're coming from. They're worried about money. But at the same time, they do not understand the value of keeping the characters, keeping the loyalty of the viewers. When they get rid of certain older characters, and I'm not talking about myself, I'm talking about on other shows where they have gotten rid of certain older characters…I'm shocked because these are the people audiences have watched for 30 or 40 years. They're going to be upset. But the executives have to make their decisions and they don't make them from an artistic point of view. They make them from a practical point of view.

soapcentral.com: It's all about ratings and demographics and all these media buzz words these days.

Erika Slezak: Yes, and they live and die on these focus groups. And, yes, you can get 25 people in a room to say, 'Yes, I hate this person and that person,' but I don't think that represents the entire viewing audience. It's very skewed because those are people, number one, who want to come and talk. They are willing to come and talk. And they are paid to come and talk. This is not an audience that is completely impartial.

soapcentral.com: Do you ever wish you could do something over or do something different as an actress, or are you pleased?

Erika Slezak: Oh no, every day I wish I could re-shoot all of that because I have a better idea. The biggest problem with daytime, and anybody who's ever been in daytime will tell you this, is the speed with which we work, especially now. There is no time for rehearsal so you really are flying by the seat of your pants all the time, and when they give you really good, gutsy material, wonderful stuff to play, that's when you say, "Gosh, I wish I had four weeks of rehearsal to work with the director." If you were on a film, they would work with you like that. If you were in a play, you'd be working on it forever. In daytime, we have no time. That's the shame of it. A couple of weeks ago, I had some fabulous material and I talked to the director at length about it, and I said, "I wish we had four weeks of rehearsal to do it justice because this is really good stuff," but this is what we do. That's why a lot of people simply can't do daytime. They can't believe how quickly we work and they can't do it.

soapcentral.com: Is that a reason why actors like you and Bob Woods know your characters and are self-directing better than someone who's coming in from the outside?

Erika Slezak: Oh, totally. We've been doing it for a very long time. We know these characters very well. When we say, "My character wouldn't do that," that's kind of extreme because they are fictional characters and they can do anything, but it does have to be within reason. The responses and the emotional responses, yes, that's totally within our control. They have to be because we know these people.

soapcentral.com: In 2007, you spoke out about then-headwriter Dena Hegley…

Erika Slezak: I'm sorry about that. I said it in a confidential situation for my fan club. They have been there for me since my second year on the show, run by my fan club president, Walter Miller. We had always done a newsletter and it was printed and sent out. I don't go on the Internet. I pay my bill on a computer and that's about it. He told me that he was putting the newsletter on the Internet and I said, "Okay, fine." I think Dena is a very nice woman, and I admire her enormously for what she does. She's adopted two wonderful children, and she has two of her own. She's trying to do everything, and I just felt she was not doing the show a good service.

soapcentral.com: In what ways?

Erika Slezak: She had changed so much of it. She was bringing in characters that came out of nowhere and telling stories that had nothing to do with the history of the show. She was doing these kinds of disaster shows. We went from a train wreck to a fire to a plane crash, things that had nothing to do with what daytime is all about. It's about relationships. It's not about a crash. If you have a crash, there has to be long-reaching effects. You know, what happens because of the crash? You just don't move on to the next disaster.

soapcentral.com: Yes, I agree.

Erika Slezak: Well, I gave this interview to Walter and he printed it on the Internet. Well, I had no idea what was going to happen. Instead of 300 newsletters going out to 300 people, or however many people there are, now the whole world had access to it. I had no idea it was going to blow up like that. I am sorry because I would never have said some of those things in public had I known it was going to go out that far. In a sense, I'm not sorry. I'm sorry that I did it that way because I didn't want to hurt her, but I did say what I felt. It's not that I dislike her, but she was not telling stories the way she should about our show. I understand that when head writers come in they want to change things around, they want to make it their show, but you can't do that drastically. You can't dismiss 30-40 years of history. Dena tried to do that and it didn't work.

soapcentral.com: The fans embrace the history of the show…

Erika Slezak: That's why people watch. That's another thing. New head writers don't usually know the history of the show and they write things that make you go, "Hello?" I saw something in a script the other day that said Viki, Nora, and Clint are all drinking alcohol and Charlie is there and he can't. I thought, 'Don't you people watch this show?' Viki had a heart transplant and she cannot drink alcohol. It's not always their fault. They can't know everything. But that's why Ron Carlivati is so good. He's watched the show for something like 25 years and he is totally devoted to the history of the show, so he has tried to continue the history, and yet incorporate it and bring it up to date by using the characters that are existing and bring in slowly new characters.

soapcentral.com: What do the fans not know about Erika Slezak that they should know?

Erika Slezak: That I'm an incredibly normal person. I'm about as normal as anyone out there. I get up in the morning and I do the same things that everybody else does. I just have a job that's a little more high profile. That's all. And thank God for it. My husband keeps me very grounded. We're normal people.

Be sure to check out Part Two of our interview with Erika Slezak next week.

[DaytimeFan]

Oh Erika...

I like the woman...but she's about as far from 'normal' as you get. She's immaculate in her speech, everything is 'just so' and she's had quality plastic surgery. I remember Peter Bergman (who likes Slezak) telling a story of just being canned from AMC and landing the role of Jack on Y&R, he ran into Erika on the street and she told him that he was just not right for the role of Jack Abbott. When he won his first Emmy, he sent her a letter stating "Guess you were wrong? Love Peter"

She's always an interesting interview. She says a lot of dish without saying too much.

[Darn]

Damn. I was kind of hopeful this would be like that Dena Higley interview but no, instead she praises Ron. Baffling. The stuff we're seeing right now is ALL garbage, just...all of it. I just don't understand how things got SO bad SO quickly.

[rangethatrover]

Darn- Slezak was not going to bash Higley a second time-

Even though she loathes her writing, (as do I) her whole point was that she didn't expect her fan club letter to become a soap sensation, so of course she would not bash her a second time on the internet. Even though it would have been GREAT.

Well Carlivati's strength is is love of the show and its history. His weakness is developing excellent current stories. And I am one of the few marty/Todd storyline fans here. I think it is compelling to watch and classic soap opera.

Life is full of offensive, dramatic, and compelling events and developments- I don't get the continuous bashing of this this storyline. I find it to be the only good storyline on OLTL right now.

Daytimefan- you are my FAVORITE poster here. I love your profession and knowledge of the stars obvious (and not so obvious) surgeries!!

If memory serves, both Robert S Woods and Erika has their surgeries around the same times. It was during the JFP era when both were paired with younger actors- It was Bo and the godawful "Lanie" and Erika and Mark Derwin . Erika came back with a full facelift. It was noticeable but excellently done. RSW's was JARRING. It seemed like a forehead lift- possibly an eyelift.. I only wish Erika would do something about her nose. It is very puggy, and as she ages it has gotten only puggier and uneven.

To me, the BEST AGING actress on daytime, and who has had SO MUCH done (and I am surprised that no one sees the dramatic difference between 1986 and now, is Tracey Bregman from Y&R. She is an absolute knockout who has had major dental and mouthwork. She used to always sound like she had a cold! I have a great horror film she was in from 1980 called "Happy Birthday To Me"... She has had expert work. And whoever did her dental work is an artist.

[leevo64]

I am not surprised that she continues to praise Carlivati. The stories may not be popular right now, but his style is still there. You still get great family interaction, multi-generational stories, events with consequences (you can't tell me that the BE takeover didn't have consequences) and lots of romance. I don't think when she spoke about Dena she was necessarily talking about the stories themselves, but the flavor in which the show was written.

[Darn]

And that's when I stopped reading the rest of your post. Tarty fans are a sick and depraved lot. He lead a GANG RAPE on her. He tied her up and stuck a sweatband in her mouth while him and his buddies forcibly had sex with her. What the hell is wrong with you?!

Warn me, ban me, I'm just disgusted that anyone would be a FAN of theirs.

[rangethatrover]

I am NOT a fan of rape. I am not even a fan of TODD. I am NOT a fan of Marty and Todd as a couple!

As a storyline- a fictional storyline- it is compelling to me.

This is a soap opera, not real life.

I cannot wait to see what Marty does to Todd when the truth comes out.

Todd is a villian. Todd is a rapist.

It is a soap opera.

Your calling me sick and depraved is kind of sad.

It is a fictional television show.

I also love horror movies.

That doesn't mean I believe people should go around murdering people.

I loved The Sopranos-

That doesn't mean I am a fan of the mob.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Whaever to Erika, we can praise her for speaking out against Higley, but what was she doing when JFP (who I admit, I'm a bit fond of) was single-handedly destroying the show from 98-01? She was praising the hell out of it. It seems to me, as long as Viki has a love interest and gets decent air time, something Higley didn't do, Slezak is content.

I don't full out expect her to bash Carlivati either, since he's only been HW for a little over a year.

She is a very professional and lovely woman, I'm sure of it. However, Higley's OLTL surely wasn't the only bad era for the show over the past 10 years...

[rangethatrover]

Exactly. Erika LOVED that whole Ben/Viki thing... I believe she also liked JFP as well...

Let us not forget that RSW, Clint Ritchie, James Depaiva, Phil Carey all HATED the Linda Gottlieb era... They were very vocal...

No one is ever going to be happy no matter what state the show is in..

[Darn]

Well, my apologies, I thought you were saying you were a fan of them as a couple. I've read a lot of that lately. If this story results in Marty cutting off Todd's balls then I'll be a fan of it too. But somehow I doubt this will end the way it should, with Todd shunned by the town and killed off. Permanently.

[miajere]

Like ES's acting and I've always thought of Vikki as a great character...but never been into her interviews. She does appear to say exactly what she means, and yet nothing at all....

I'm not surprised she likes RC, she likes his version of the show, and it's true to how she thinks the show should be carried out...She also didn't have very nice things to say about Tomlin when he took over during the writer's strike...

The part where she like,"I'm a normal person like you...." made me laugh...If you have to say it.

[rhinohide]

We praised her for speaking out against Higley, not so much because we agreed with her opinion but we thought she was brave to take a stand. Turns out she never intended to take that risk, she thought she was delivering her message to a much narrower audience.

I praise her for speaking up about her thinking on Carlivati. Many of us don't agree but it's just her opinion. I like when she shares her opinion whether I agree or not.

[Jess]

Ron C appears to be guilty of the same stunt writing that she criticized DH for. I guess he does respect the history of the show since he constantly repeats it. As far as respecting character history, the show is awash with his newbies. I guess ES is guilty of spouting the company line this time.

[SFK]

I have a feeling that she is normal, just a normal that some of us might find a little annoying. I believe that she gets up, has breakfast, goes over her lines on her drive in from Long Island, tapes, does some shopping, heads home, yadda yadda... Sure, she went to RADA and not a scene of hers goes by where I'm not tickled by her impeccable, conservatory-trained, Mid-Atlantic speech ("Chah-li, Chah-li is that you?"). It was drilled into her brain, and this is besides the point, but I wish to G-d that these young soap stars had even an ounce of Erika's training.

But like Daytime Fan, there is a "too too" vibe that I get here and there. *Sometimes* in her interviews I get this slightly pretentious/arrogant/condescending thing from her, like the type of "intellectual snob" who furtively rolls her eyes at, and says mean things about people who aren't "smart". It's not hard to imagine her and her family sitting around the parlor (er, pah-luh) having tea, and letting out peels of contained laughter while playing word games. And when I saw her and her husband walking the pair of Bearded Collies, I was like, "Of COURSE they have a pair of Bearded Collies..."

[rhinohide]

I could be wrong, but I recall hearing her on the view and she really doesn't talk that way. She does seem very normal to me. Not pretentious at all. Great sense of humor. I've heard some fans say they've even heard her swear in a quite unladylike fashion. I don't know if it's true, but then I think we know far less about these celebs than we think we do in general.