Soap Love Notes Part 1: Soap Alums on Summer TV (The Protector, True Blood, Single Ladies, White Collar) 

Summer TV is in full force and so are appearances from some daytime alums, especially in the world of cable TV.

Ally Walker — Gloria Sheppard, The Protector

Before she was The Protector and before she was even The Profiler, Ally Walker starred on one of my favorite soap operas of all time: Santa Barbara. She played Andrea Bedford and was involved with Cain. She wasn’t on the Emmy-winning series all that long but she was memorable. These days she’s the lead on Lifetime’s The Protector and she’s doing a good job playing a dogged detective who’s trying to balance her professional life with her personal one; Gloria Sheppard currently lives with her brother and her kids, having recently been through a divorce.Terrell Tilford — Ramon “Romeo” Rush, The Protector

I tuned into The Protector for both Ally Walker and Tisha Campbell-Martin but imagine my surprise when Terrell Tilford showed up as a cop on Lifetime’s new TV series. Tilford is a soap vet; he first showed up on my radar when he played David Grant on Guiding Light. He’s also had stints on Days of our Lives and, most recently, on One Life to Live. It’s so great to see him back in primetime and hopefully we’ll get to see more of him on The Protector in the future. There’s a bit of a flirtation going on between Romeo and Tisha’s character, Michelle Dulcett. Wonder if they’ll develop this connection in the future.

Krista Allen — Miss Monroe, The Protector (guest star)

On a recent episode of The Protector (it was the pilot), Krista Allen popped up as one of the mistresses of the murder victim. Krista’s best known to me as Billie Reed, sister of Austin and lover of Bo Brady. But since her days on DAYS, she’s appeared in countless TV roles and movies like What about Brian and Anger Management.

Jessica Tuck — Nan Flanagan, True Blood

On One Life to Live, Jessica Tuck was wonderful as Megan Gordon Harrison. Tuck was part of a popular supercouple, Megan & Jake (Joe Lando), a relationship that ended when Megan died from complications from lupus. Megan’s death was one of One Life to Live’s most heartbreaking moments; she was a significant character on the OLTL landscape, having been Viki Lord‘s daughter. After OLTL, Tuck was on Judging Amy and did a brief stint on Days of our Lives among so many other credits. She’s been part of HBO’s True Blood since Season 1 playing Nan Flanagan, the spokesperson for the American Vampire League, a group of fangers who want to be a viable part of society; they want to contribute and not be shunned or persecuted. It’s only in Season 4 that Tuck has been upped to a series regular and that’s a good thing in my book. So far this season, we’ve seen how integral Nan was in Bill Compton’s story. There’s already been a flashback and I’m just ready to see more and more of this awesome actress. I wonder if there’s anyway she’ll make an appearance on One Life to Live before its final episode airs in January 2012?

Single Ladies

Has anyone been watching VH1’s Single Ladies starring Stacey Dash and Lisa Raye? I have and I’m loving it, especially since there’s been a revolving door of hot actors appearing on that show and a few of them have roots in daytime television. Too bad most of the guys who are enlisted as dates for either Val or Keisha usually end up acting like total tools sooner or later.

Victor Webster

Victor Webster had this real steamy scene with Lisa Raye’s Keisha — he was her Italian personal trainer who makes house calls. Unfortunately, he disappeared after possibly ransacking her (and Val’s) apartment and making off with money and jewelry. Victor wasn’t on Days of our Lives for all that long but his stint as Nicholas Alamain still made an impact — at least with me. Ever since leaving for greener pastures, he’s starred in the syndicated series Mutant X and has had guest spots on a boatload of TV series including Castle (as Josh aka Dr. Motorcycle Boy, Beckett’s latest love interest), Harper’s Island and Lincoln Heights.

Aiden Turner

Aiden Turner played Aidan Devane on the soon-to-be-canceled All My Children. I always liked him on All My Kids but shortly before being written out, the show sort of butchered his character and turned him from good guy to a bad guy. That was so not cool. However, Turner did show up on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars where he partnered with Edyta Sliwinska during Season 10. He was eliminated in Week 4. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing more of Turner on primetime soon. On Single Ladies, he went out with Val who sent him packing after he expected too much after their third date.

Lamman Rucker

Lamman Rucker‘s one of those soap actors who had a small role and turned it into something memorable. He first showed up on my radar when he played attorney T. Marshall Travers on the now defunct daytime drama As the World Turns. He was also on All My Children but has really hit his stride on primetime and on the big screen in the Tyler Perry films Meet the Browns, Why Did I Get Married? and the sequel, Why Did I Get Married Too?. He currently stars on the small screen version of Meet the Browns that airs on TBS. On Single Ladies, he was Teddy, one of Val’s many suitors, but she got more serious with him over Aiden Turner’s Sebastian and football star Terrell Owens. Unfortunately, he expected her to help take care of his high maintenance family and they had barely been dating that long. That was a recipe for disaster.

Yvonna Kopacz Wright — White Collar (guest star)

Yvonna Kopacz Wright guest-starred on White Collar “Veiled Threat.” She was one of the women “speed dating” to find the right guy to buy at the auction; her character really hit it off with Jones. It was great to see her especially since I had lost track of her since her time on Guiding Light as Mel Boudreau Bauer, although she did do an episode of Damages and several episodes of CBS’ Blue Bloods. I think Kopacz Wright was awesome on GL and hope she’ll continue to pop up on many different TV shows in the near future. She looked gorgeous while she was busy talking to the White Collar boys (Neal, Peter and Jones). Oh and by the way, WC star Matthew Bomer is a fellow Guiding Light alum.