ESPRIT LIBRE // Press Archive

Is Tess a Chip off The Ol' Block? (Soaps in Depth 4/12/05)

On One Life to Live, now that more light has been shed on Jessica's "out-of-character" behavior -- when hitting the clubs in the wee hours of the night, she calls herself Tess, yet has no memory of what she does during her outings -- the question raises itself: Is Viki's daughter channeling, in some way, Viki's own wild-child alternate personality, Niki Smith? (Minus the red wig, of course!) "Tess is not a Niki clone, and the writers have not written her that way," observes Erika Slezak, who would know better than anyone, having played Viki and Niki et al on numerous occasions.

Instead, the multiple Emmy winner says that TV daughter Bree Williamson (Jessica), in creating Tess, "came up with this very cold, sophisticated and laid-back kind of creature." Slezak then points out with a knowing laugh, "And none of Viki's alters are like that!"