Victor Newman and Nicole "Nikki" Reed are fictional characters and a supercouple from the CBS daytime drama The Young and the Restless. Victor is portrayed by veteran daytime actor Eric Braeden, and Nikki is portrayed by Melody Thomas Scott. The couple is often referred to by the portmanteau "Niktor" (for Nikki and Victor) by fans on internet message boards and in magazines.
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The writers of The Young and the Restless detailed characters Victor Newman and Nikki Reed to marry and divorce or depart from each other in some form or fashion in a continuous cycle. This has taken place for as long as the couple has been together, a take on the original supercouple formula.[1] Soap Opera Digest relayed the beginning of the pairing's creation and their impact. "Y&R Creator/Senior Executive Producer/Executive Story Consultant William J. Bell was so impressed by Braeden’s powerful performance on Y&R that he repositioned the character of Victor, and in 1981, teamed him with Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki)," stated the magazine. The "inspired decision" led to Victor and Nikki becoming the show's most successful supercouple.[2]
Victor Newman meets Nikki Reed, who (barely out of her teens) is working as a stripper at the Bayou. Victor is intrigued by her, and takes her home, where under his influence, she is transformed into a classy young lady. Victor is adamant at first that he has no romantic feelings for Nikki, but he soon succumbs to her charms and they have a night of passionate love-making. Victor casts off his night of passion with Nikki as a mistake, and instead takes up with a woman named Lori Brooks, who unbeknownst to him, is writing an exposé on him. Prior to their wedding, Lori convinces Victor into giving her Prentiss Industries (the company Victor bought away from her former husband Lance) as a wedding gift. Victor does, and she tears up the manuscript in return. Lori then leaves Victor at the altar with a note and her ring. Never having been duped before, Lori is the first person to ever pull a fast one on Victor Newman and get away with it. Victor later admits that he truly is in love with Nikki. Nikki eventually gives birth to Victor's daughter Victoria, and the couple weds in a lavish ceremony unlike any held before in Genoa City.
One of the greatest threats to Victor and Nikki's union is arguably Ashley Abbott, as some time later, Victor falls in love with the beautiful Ashley, who happens to be the sister of his archenemy Jack Abbott. Victor is heartbroken in discovering that Ashley has aborted his baby so that he will stay with a dying Nikki. Nikki later recovers, but intentionally hasn't informed Victor to stay clear of the threat Ashley poses. Victor and Nikki divorce after he lashes out that Nikki purposely provided information about Ashley's abortion to an unauthorized biographer — Leanna Randolph. Leanna Randolph is also known as Randall. Victor weds her, all while being unaware of her true intentions. The marriage is quickly annulled and Victor pays Leanna a settlement, but she remains a bothersome component in Victor's life on occasion. Victor even marries Ashley, but the marriage doesn't last when Ashley divorces Victor after difficulties.
While estranged, Nikki and Victor share a night of passion, which results in Nikki becoming pregnant with their son Nicholas. Later down the road, Ashley would be the only other woman besides Hope Adams, to have Victor's child, a daughter Abby Newman.
After Victor is blasted by Nikki, Ashley, and teenaged Victoria, all resenting the control he tries to exert in their lives, he leaves town. During Victor's trip, he is robbed of his wallet, jewelry, and car. After his car is found with a body inside burned beyond recognition, word reaches Genoa City that Victor is dead. However, Victor turns up at the Kansas farm of the blind Hope Adams just in time to rescue her from a rapist. Months with Hope, Victor grows close to her.
Victor's return to Genoa City naturally sends a shock throughout the lives of his family, friends, and enemies. Nikki especially takes Victor's return hard when Victor weds Hope. Though, in time, Hope divorces Victor and returns to Kansas with her and Victor's son — Victor, Jr. Victor later weds architect Diane Jenkins, Jack's ex-fiancée, but when it is revealed that Nikki is close to death once more, Victor dumps Diane to wed Nikki, and in what seems like an attribute of Victor having rushed to her bedside, Nikki survives, much to the dismay of Diane. Victor and Diane divorce, though with his speedy marriage to Nikki, the divorce is not legal. Finally, Diane reluctantly agrees to a legal divorce after she acquires millions in the divorce settlement.
Victor and Nikki re-wed; this time it is legal. The wedding takes place at the Colonnade room, the site of their first wedding. Nikki and Victor again start up the rocky aspect of their romance when Victor's unethical and illegal business practices harm Jabot, as Nikki has made a notable investment there. Nikki starts to have horrible flashbacks to accidentally shooting Joshua Cassen when she was a five-year-old. Nikki is stunned to discover that Joshua was the older brother of her new business associate Bobby Marsino. Victor comes to the rescue of Nikki after Bobby's mob associates kidnapped her. Afterwards, Nikki is further devastated to learn that Bobby was killed after he left town to testify against the mob.
Nikki later moves on, and she and Phyllis Summers partner with Victor to create a chain of Wellness Spas across the country. However, when Victor learns, following after the death of Nick's daughter Cassie, that Nick had an affair with Phyllis, as well as Victoria planning to marry Brad Carlton, another one of Victor's enemies, Victor doesn't just let it slide, he fires Phyllis and returns to holding the reins of his company.
Nikki disapproves of Phyllis' firing, because Victor did not consult her first, but their love for each other ends the disagreement. When Victor suffers a head injury while rescuing Nikki from a carjacking, Victor becomes epileptic. His loved ones are well off at the seemingly new laid-back personality Victor now encompasses, but they soon become worried for his health when he begins experiencing seizures. Making things even more complicated, as well as bizarre, he suddenly develops a friendly relationship with his main enemy Jack. Nikki later becomes concerned that Jack is manipulating a vulnerable Victor for his own personal financial gain. After a while, Victor finally appears in good health.
Victor and Nikki have their ups and downs, but typically manage to find their way back to each other romantically through various situations. In 2009, Nikki and Victor reunite after Victor is shot by Patty Williams and given a heart transplant; they leave the show by moving to a rehabilitation center in Europe. Victor and Ashley divorce.
By January 2010, Victor returns from Belgium with Nikki on his arm, and catches Adam and Nick in a fist fight in his office. Victor declares himself as head of Newman Enterprises. Victor and Nikki move back into their Ranch house, and helps discover and return their kidnapped infant granddaughter Faith Newman back to her parents Nick and Sharon.
Adam ends up being found "dead" and Victoria and Nick were arrested. In order to protect his children, Victor takes the blame saying he did it for everything Adam did to his family. Victor is later released and Nick is the main suspect. However, there was a growing amount of proof to suggest that Adam killed Richard Hightower to fake his own death. In order to protect Nick, Victor went to Canada trying to find Adam. There he befriends Meggie McClaine and he ends up nearly being killed. Victor returns later without Adam. He and Sharon Newman go to Brazil and find Adam there. When Adam is brought back, he wasn't convicted in Hightower's death, but Nick was able to clear his name.
Back at the Newman Ranch, Victor tries to rebuild his relationship with Nikki, but she feels that Meggie McClaine is in the way. Victor claims that he is trying to protect her and she becomes Nikki's personal assistant. In reality, she puts together a scheme to get Nikki drinking again, therefore opening up the way for her to marry Victor. Once she marries him, she would kill him and get his money. Meggie eventually recruits Deacon Sharpe to help spike Nikki's drinks. Eventually, Deacon and Meggie set up Victor and Nikki to look like Nikki and Deacon were having an affair. Once Victor catches them, he sends Nikki to rehab, where Deacon soon ends up to continue scheming with Meggie. Once in rehab, he tries to actually help Nikki, and their relationship does turn romantic especially when Meggie is able to elope with Victor. Meggie posts their wedding photo on a social networking site which Nikki observes on her phone, and gives into romance with Deacon. Meggie fully reveals herself as a manipulative gold-digger targeting the Newman fortune as a widow after she mortally eliminates him. After apparently many spiked drinks, Victor appears to suffer a heart attack, but stunningly unveils his sobriety and catches her in a sting operation set up by him, Patrick Murphy, and the cops though Nikki does not know. Meggie is arrested and Victor goes to fill in Nikki, and before he does, finds her in bed with Deacon blemishing the chances of another marriage. Victor explains that Meggie caused her alcoholic craving by spiking all her drinks to rid her from the ranch and get to him and his money. Victor, however, resents Nikki’s actions which was to spite his marriage with Meggie she thought was genuine.
Nikki ends up continuing her romance with Deacon Sharpe at least until she learns his role in Meggie's scheme. As for Victor, he begins a romance with his ex-wife Diane Jenkins. He and Diane end up getting married, but shortly before, Victor and Nikki reunited. The next day, however, both Victor and Nikki say their relationship is in the past and they must move on. Since then, Nikki continues to comfort Victor on issues in the family and ends up having an affair with Victor in May 2011.
Victor and Nikki are recognized as one of daytime's most prominent couples. The News & Advance cited Victor and Nikki with other romances considered "epic" of the early supercouple era. "1980s: During this time, soaps also began putting together supercouples such as Luke and Laura, Bo and Hope (Days of our Lives) and Victor and Nikki (The Young and the Restless)," stated the paper.[3] The pairing's weddings have been reported by mainstream media. Entertainment Weekly stated, "Y&R keeps it real with Victor and Nikki's third wedding" in their 2002 article about the soap opera genre's declining ratings and what the genre was doing to combat this.[4] The couple is noted by actors and actresses of other soap opera supercouples. Reported by The Michael Bruno Group (MBGLA), Martha Byrne (Lily) of As the World Turns supercouple Lily and Holden stated, "Young and Restless' Victor and Nikki are the perfect example of a couple who they can tear apart and put back together how many times? And [the writers] do it really well because they're so stable as characters that you can basically do anything with them now, and the audience will go on the journey with them."[5]
In 2006, Victor and Nikki were briefly seen on UPN's show Everybody Hates Chris, in the episode "Everybody Hates the Gout", which featured a Y&R episode from 1982.
After the death of William J. Bell, creator of The Young and the Restless, the magazine Variety noted executive producer-head writer of the show John F. Smith. "William J. Bell was a legend and a pioneer in daytime television," stated Smith. "Bell created or wrote for the shows that became the backdrop of American living rooms in the golden years of the 1950s, the '60s and beyond." Further in the tribute was the mention of the impact of Bell's most notable characters:
| “ | To all of us, The Young and the Restless was never a soap opera. It was the mantra that the present moment is all that's available, and in our case the present moment most often belonged to Victor or Nikki or Kay Chancellor — through whom we spoke, cried and laughed.[6] | ” |