Soap Love Notes Part 2: Soap Alums on Summer TV (ABC Family edition) 

Summer TV is in full force and so are appearances from some daytime alums, especially in the ABC Family universe.

Roark Critchlow— Tom Marin, Pretty Little Liars

Roark Critchlow currently has a nice little recurring role on ABC Family’s Pretty Little Liars. As Hanna’s dad, Tom Marin, he’s been part of the action this season. Tom’s been busy trying to be there for his daughter, flirting with his ex-wife Ashley (played by Melrose Place vet Laura Leighton) and trying to get Hanna to trust him again. I hope he continues to be seen and heard on this teen drama. Roark will forever be known as one of Days of our Lives‘ resident hottie doctors Mike Horton; his big love story was with Carrie Brady. I loved those two together. Other soaps he’s starred on: Passions and The Bold and the Beautiful. Other than Days, Roark made a couple guest appearances as Starbuck‘s father on Battlestar Galactica and he had a recurring role on ABC’s sci fi drama, V.

Switched at Birth, ABC Family

One of my favorite new shows this summer is ABC Family’s Switched at Birth (SAB). A couple of Days of our Lives alums have made their way onto the show that’s about two families and what happens when it’s found out their children, thanks to a hospital error, were switched at birth. The drama has been heartbreaking, uplifting and uncomfortable at times, which means the show is really digging in and exploring all facets of this difficult situation.

Tammy Townsend, Denise

Recently, Tammy Townsend has popped up as one of Kathryn’s (Lea Thompson) more judgy judgerson society friends. On Days, she played Wendy Reardon. I always thought she was woefully underused so I’m happy that she’s had such a busy post-soap career having been in everything from Family Matters to the late ABC Family series Lincoln Heights. Her character on Switched at Birth got a little more play when Regina (Constance Marie) went on a date with her ex-husband. Speaking of which…

Jason Brooks, Bruce

Jason Brooks played Denise’s ex-hubby Bruce on a recent episode of SAB. On Days of our Lives, he was the mesmerizing bad boy Peter Blake who was obsessed in love with Jennifer Horton. He was so much fun on that show so it was no surprise that ever since he left the soap, he’s gotten a lot of work, most notably on The Pretender as Miss Parker‘s love interest, Baywatch: Hawaii and guest star spots in everything from NCIS to the upcoming Torchwood: Miracle Day.

Blair Redford, Ty 

Fresh from the CW’s 90210 where he played roguish bad boy Oscar (who slept with both Ivy and her mom), Blair Redford had a role on the first four episodes of SAB. In this week’s installment, his character enlisted in the army so there’s no telling if or when we’ll be seeing Ty again. That leaves poor Bay without a boyfriend, for the moment anyway. Redford’s soap credits include playing Lauren Fenmore‘s son Scotty Grainger on The Young and the Restless, who was stolen at birth by crazy Sheila Carter; and was one of the Miguel Lopez-Fitzgeralds on Passions.

Kiko Ellsworth — The Rogue, The Nine Lives of Chloe King

Kiko Ellsworth is a favorite of mine so I was a bit upset to see that his scar-faced character was killed off The Nine Lives of Chloe King already (or so we think). I was hoping he’d last a little longer even though he was playing such a bad guy. Oh well, I’m sure he’ll pop up somewhere else sometime soon. Even though Kiko played Stan Johnson on both General Hospital and it’s primetime spin-off General Hospital: Night Shift, he’ll always be Jamal Woods from Port Charles (PC) to me. I was a super huge Jamal and Alison fan; those two were the cutest couple ever and PC is in my top 5 favorite soap operas of all time. To this day I feel like it was before its time, having moved into the supernatural genre and featured storylines centering around vampires, angels and werewolves long before The Vampire Diaries, True Blood and Supernatural did it. Along the way Ellsworth has starred in movies and other TV shows like Strong Medicine, CSI: Miami and Dexter. On the big screen he played a Haitian gangster in Bad Boys II starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.

Alicia Coppola — Valentina, The Nine Lives of Chloe King

Who killed Kiko’s Nine Lives character? None other than Alicia Coppola‘s Valentina, who had just been introduced to us as Jasmine‘s mom and the leader of the Mai. Coppola made her mark on daytime as Lorna Devon on the late great soap Another World (AW). Coppola was just so fierce and badass on AW, there was no way she’d be one of those actors we’d forget about once she left the show. Since starring on daytime she’s guest-starred on tons of primetime dramas like American Dreams, CSI and Castle; she played the same character on both JAG and its spin-off NCIS (Lt. Cmdr. Faith Coleman); meanwhile, she played a whole different character on the spin-off of the spin-off, NCIS: Los Angeles. Plus, she’s starred on several TV series including Bull and Jericho. Love her.