I know there is already an Erika Slezak appreciation thread but considering Erika's celebrating 40 years as Viki on St. Patricks day, I thought this would be a good thread to put memories of Viki or old photo's or whatever. I still can't beleive it. think of the last 40 years just in hairstyles and clothes alone. Remember it's a soap so they always try to make the actresses look up to date.

I started watching OLTL on a regular basis about 18 years ago. I actually started in 1993 but i didn't watch day to day until 1994 when Viki and Sloan were going after Dorian for the murder of Victor Lord. I'm so addicted to Viki as a TV mother. I won't watch the show when she's not on. I guess i dabbled in One Life to live before 1993 because i remember breif scenes of when Llanfair burned down in 1991 and Viki had flashbacks of her stroke and everything.I also brefly remember when Marty was raped and i know that was 1993.I also have flashbacks of when Asa proposed to the original Blair but she was sleeping with hot Max. but i wasn't watching full time then.

I started watching General Hospital around 1992. I used to go into another room when OLTL was on and then come out when GH started. eventually i started watching OLTL and then i got hooked on Viki and now it's been my hometown for 18 years. especially when Viki was going through her DID with all the alters i used to rush home from school to watch it. I still dabble in all the other soaps that are on the air though. I know everything that's going on so the Soap Opera awards is like a big family reunion and my superbowl.

Hi. I have some old articles of Erika, mostly from the 70s. I posted one in the OLTL thread several months ago (thinking man's Marilyn Monroe). If you're interested I can post a few others.

I tend to go back and forth on Viki and sometimes Erika but when she's at her best there are few who can touch her. Her work in the 1995 DID story was phenomenal and I also loved a lot of her work during the Rauch era. It was sometimes hammy but Rauch really seemed to get her character.

yes sure. I think this is perfect for more Viki stuff. it is her 40th after all. I don't know if the magazines will do anything big (because OLTL isn't as popular as GH or Y&R) but we can! despite her soap opera related issues, i still beleive Viki is the best more logical soap character around and should be honored. She doesn't go around in the latest teen fashion and marry a million times like another character i won't mention. If you think about it, Viki's kept her husband's names for at least five years to a decade. She was Mrs. Riley for the last five years of the 1970's. During the bulk of the 1980's she was Mrs. Buchanan. the 1990's are more tricky but she was Mrs. Buchanan half way through until she remarried in 1995 then she was Mrs. Carpenter until the end of 2000. She was Mrs. Davidson for almost 10 years until Augst 2009. if history is any indication she will be Mrs. Banks for a long time even if she and Charlie don't make it. Although i think by the end of this decade, she'll be Banks Banks. If they do break up, i have a feeling they'll remarry eventually.

I think either she will stay with Charlie or be single. I'm not sure they will give her any other love interests.

The soap magazines have so little to report on now (which is why they have to import a lot of crap from outside daytime) they should do a little something on Erika's anniversary, as that might bring in some readers who gave up on the magazines long ago, but I guess that may not be likely.

Who was the man you most liked Viki with?

It's hard to pick because they were all vital to her at the time they came on. Joe was her first love, Clint was someone dependable now that she was a young widow with two young children (not the clint we know today!) Sloan came into her life when her marriage had gotten a little dull and they shared the same proper background. Ben brought excitement to her life at a time when she was older and had been a widow for many years. and for Charlie, she was in a sort of mid life crises (as ES put it) and found him in a very un Viki like situation.

I have two favorites i guess. I loved the whole Paris Texas storyline so in that respect i do like Charlie. Brian Kerwin isn't bad to look at either. and i like Sloan because he let her show her uppty properness that she was born with, something Clint always hated about her. The very glossy proper Lord Venere. The relationship just sadly didn't last that long. I'm hoping for many more storylines for Viki and Charlie (together) and i think he might be the one i like the best eventually. Give them that long relationship she had with clint. They had problems every year but they usually worked it out and stayed together. That's what i'm hoping for in the future.

Insomnia led me to these clips the other night, and I damn near woke up the house busting out laughing at Viki's, "I told you Dorian, I haven't read the damn book!" It really tickles me when Viki gets so irritated with Dorian, she is so hilarious when she starts carrying (early '90s slang ) her. I like to think that those are glimpses of the real-life Erika Slezak when she gets salty. At any rate, in honor of her 40th anniversary, here are some clips from the show's 25th anniversary... some of my favorite Viki clips shared with my favorite Viki scene partner, Dorian, in my favorite Viki/Dorian storyline. This is the Viki and Dorian I fell in love with, and I'm forever missing this type of writing and dynamic in their scenes.

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Edited March 2, 201114 yr by SFK

Thanks for posting those clips. I sure miss the Buchanan family and the more complex Dorian/Viki relationship (although it's better now than it has been in the last few years).

From the January 1977 Digest.

Thanks Carl for the artlce. I could never see Viki winning a "silly goose prize" but Erika sure. I just love that she really hasn't changed the character of Viki that much. I know she's been through life changing events and i'm sure it has changed both Erika and Viki but she's still the "lady of the manor" and she's still the one everyone wants to go to for advice.

and she still looks great in her proper Viki clothes. I know Erika dresses completely different (jeans, sneakers and all) that's why i almost don't want to meet her because it would be like meeting someone else. it woulnd't be Viki because they are so different. but we all also owe her so much for sticking to OLTL for all these years and i guess for years to come because she just signed a new contract last year i think (or in late 2009). She could have left to do theater or whatever but she's stuck to the role, outlasting everyone else on OLTL. There is nobody on the show who was there when she started. And there isn't many people in daytime still who was there when Erika started either. Susan Lucci is the only one i can think of. and robin Strasser because she was the original Rachel on Another World back in the 1960's. but Erika's played the same character for all these decades.

Edited March 3, 201114 yr by BKuzak

You almost forget how long she's been there because she's always been a natural part of the show and of daytime. Viki does command attention but I have never felt like even when she was at her peak of story that she was hogging the spotlight. She also tends to do such a great job with co-stars when she gets the chance and when the material is not too hammy.

Yeah, I really enjoyed the article Carl, thanks! Man I wish that clip of her making a face when the doorbell went all wonky was available to see. I can imagine.

It's crazy when you think of her career in the scope of your own life, especially for those of us who weren't even born when she started. She was fast approaching her first decade on the show when I was born. She's forgotten more lines than we've ever read. When you just think of the BULK of the work she's done, it's truly amazing... the many things that have happened in this world over the last 40 years, both big and small, and all the while she had the through line of Viki in her life.

I have a few others I will post when I find them again.

I would love to see what the set was like at that time. OLTL has changed so much over the years - honestly I don't think any soap has ever gone through as many changes - yet she has been at the center of it all. And yet she still seems similar to what she probably was at the start, aside from Viki being less lady of the manor. It helps that Erika has not had any mutilating types of plastic surgery.

It is actually quite remarkable--and a testament to Erika Slezak more than the character or even writing IMHO--that she has stuck around, and been relatively central for ALL this time. As you say, Carl, OLTL has gone through such distinct, and *different* phases, under a lesser actress she could have easily been phased out. I know some argue that AMC feels less like AMC than OLTL feels like OLTL (something I don't agree with, unless they mean post 1992 OLTL, but it's a relaitve argument anyway), but it doesn't seem nearly as remarkable that Susan Lucci has remained central on AMC for as long, for example--and that's not to discredit Susan as an actress by any means, the show just didn't do as many sudden full on morphs as OLTL.

I hope this episode contains clips--but that doesn't seem to be RC or FV's way so we'll see...

I hope this episode contains clips--but that doesn't seem to be RC or FV's way so we'll see...

I don't think the episode will contain clips, Erika said it would probably just be a day in the life, very similar to what they did to Susan Lucci in January during AMC's 41st anniversary. But she does have a very nice article in ABC soaps in depth that just came out today. and i'm looking forward to hopefully seeing a tribute to her next week (it comes out on thursdays for the following week where i am)in Soap Digest and maybe Soap Weekly. I am also keeping my fingers crossed that perhaps she'll be on The View or Regis and kelly around St. Patricks day. It's possible, they've done it before. I'm so looking forward to this anniversary.

Eric, you said you've been a fan for 20 years so it's right around the time i was (about 18). Was there a storyline or something that got you hooked? For me i think it was that she and Clint were getting divorced around the time my parents were and i was about Jessica's age and of course Viki and Clint eventually handled it so much better than my parents so i sort of looked to Viki for strength. and i could relate to jessica not liking the guy her mother was with (in my case they will be celebrating 16 years of marriage in August! LOL) and i loved the whole putting Dorian in prison story with Sloan because it brought back a part of history for the show that i never knew of. from then on, i have always watched when Viki was on and then just not watched when she's been on vacation. it's not worth itwhen Viki's away. I know i'll catch right up when she returns just like Viki does.

Edited March 4, 201114 yr by BKuzak

It's a shame they won't have any clips, as there are some wonderful moments with just Viki alone, or Viki and alters, that could be used without any real need to worry about paying which actor for what. Of course that might show up Bree...

I wish that a day in Viki's life would involve a steel-toed boot to everyone in her family.

What I have wanted for a long time would be an episode with Viki and Megan where Megan tries to help her get today's very feeble version of the Buchanans together again.

Edited March 4, 201114 yr by CarlD2

I don't think the episode will contain clips, Erika said it would probably just be a day in the life, very similar to what they did to Susan Lucci in January during AMC's 41st anniversary. But she does have a very nice article in ABC soaps in depth that just came out today. and i'm looking forward to hopefully seeing a tribute to her next week (it comes out on thursdays for the following week where i am)in Soap Digest and maybe Soap Weekly. I am also keeping my fingers crossed that perhaps she'll be on The View or Regis and kelly around St. Patricks day. It's possible, they've done it before. I'm so looking forward to this anniversary.

Doh, I didn't even realize that Erica episode--which I liked--was timed with the anniversary! I guess that's fine. It does seem that lately we haven't really gotten enough in terms of seeing what makes Vicki tick.

Eric, you said you've been a fan for 20 years so it's right around the time i was (about 18). Was there a storyline or something that got you hooked? For me i think it was that she and Clint were getting divorced around the time my parents were and i was about Jessica's age and of course Viki and Clint eventually handled it so much better than my parents so i sort of looked to Viki for strength. and i could relate to jessica not liking the guy her mother was with (in my case they will be celebrating 16 years of marriage in August! LOL) and i loved the whole putting Dorian in prison story with Sloan because it brought back a part of history for the show that i never knew of. from then on, i have always watched when Viki was on and then just not watched when she's been on vacation. it's not worth itwhen Viki's away. I know i'll catch right up when she returns just like Viki does.

Ha well it was actually the Billy Douglas gay teen storyline that hooked me--and then the Marty stuff, but definitely when they started to get into Vicki's past first with Todd (even if I never really liked Todd), then the '95 DIDs, etc, that firmly hooked me on the show and the character (pity that around then the show started to go through an off period again--don't get me started on the barely remembered by me story where Vicki was hypnotised to kill one of her kids or something...)