Soap Opera Moms

[DramatistDreamer]

 

I loved how cool and businesslike yet warm and maternal Vanessa could be.  Credit due to Maeve Kinkaid for layering her performances just right.  

Rachel Miner had such great chemistry with a number of actresses.  Her Michelle brought out the maternal instincts in a number of women characters in the wake of Maureen's death.  Maeve, Maureen Garrett and Fiona Hutchison had some wonderful scenes with Miner.  Even before Maureen's demise, Miner and Hutchison had a wonderful easy chemistry.  Sad that within a few years, that would all go away.

[Mitch]

 

And in a year or two they had RB's Michelle call Vanessa, her Mom's best friend..."Mrs. Lewis" and Nola, her Aunt as "Mrs. Chambelin"  with no interaction with Holly or Jenna. 

 

I thought Vanessa was cold as a cucumber but could still make a good matriarch..just more in Nancy Hughes territory then Bert Bauer. Since they wanted to obscure the Bauers I could have liked to see Vanessa and Billy as SF tentpoles..they had relationships with everyone in town and Billy warmed Van up which I never found with Matt.

[BetterForgotten]

Michelle's best scenes were with Holly during the aftermath of Mo's death, IMO. 

[Broderick]

 

I agree.   In fact, there's a lot of Joan Bennett imbued in Maeve's performance.  Joan Bennett always seemed regal, cool, sophisticated and almost aloof.  But when she had a "maternal" scene with a child or teenager, Joan would let her guard down and display a certain sweet warmth, without losing her sophisticated edge.  I see a lot of that in Maeve's Vanessa.   

[MichaelGL]

Wrote a fanfic a few years ago which was basically a continuation of Doctors after it was cancelled. It would've been beneficial for the show to say Billy had faked his death with the help of the FBI because Billy had been involved with some shady people back then that needed taking down. Perhaps utilize some history and bring back his bio mom Barbara to usher in his return to Madison, who was the only other person who would've known about Billy.  With a SORAS Michael-Paul wanting to know more about his mom's family, the ingredients were there for a intriguing story involving the shows past. 

[Antoyne]

You just summed it up for me perfectly. Kate is my absolute favorite Soap Mom and Lauren Koslow has been and is still one of the only reasons I still occasionally watch Days.

[SamandWillowFan]

GH: Alexis Davis

[Wendy]

 

I'll add NLG's other soap character, Julia Wainwright on Santa Barbara. She loved Mason, no doubt. But when his drinking became out of control and Julia could not help him, she divorced him. As a child of an alcoholic, Julia probably didn't want Samantha growing up as she had. She always seemed to have Samantha's best interests at heart (as much as can be done for a soap mom!).