Guy Wilson

[geminisignborn]

In a way I can see why the hostility towards Guy Wilson's Will, he didn't show how aggressive he can be, he showed
how weak he is when had the defeatist attitude when he saw that Sonny brought the gun into the house. That he showed
venerability when Chandler's Will was never like that, that was shown when he was coming out. But, the reason as to why
Guy Wilson was in a way a great Will, is because would they have played out the wedding, would they have had him leave
with Sami for when he got the screenwriting job & would Ben have said that Will is alive if they hadn't Guy's Will bumped off
supposedly by Ben ? The next question is would they have brought back Chandler to play the role to play out the brain tumor 
story & the Leo debacle if they had allowed Guy Wilson's Will to stay alive ?

[mad4tv]

I think Guy was seriously underrated (and Chandler is/was overrated, but that's not really relevant here!), and I wish he'd been given more of a chance.

He had so much to deal with when he first took over the role (the pressure of playing a legacy character, following in Chandler's footsteps, building chemistry with co-stars - including two toddlers - getting to grips with how the show worked, the family trees, and some major episodes like the proposal happening straight away), and he handled it all so well. Not to mention that he's always been extremely passionate and enthusiastic about his time on the show.
In fact - bearing in mind that his first 6 months of episodes would have been written with Chandler in mind - I think he performed them better than Chandler would have. He managed to maintain the character's innocence, but also matured him; something that was crucial given the direction that he was heading in. It was only once the writing had caught up with the fact that Chandler had left that things went downhill. I think he was written out with Sami/Alison to give the writers the chance to figure out a new direction for Will. Unfortunately, they chose an unpopular one, and changed his personality with it. So just as Guy had built a solid interpretation of the character, he had to essentially scrap it and play something completely different. No wonder that Guy's acting apparently suffered (though I don't remember it being as bad as some people claim); he probably had no idea what was going on! Combined with the personality change, the viewers turned against him. Guy had already been put in a tough situation when he first joined, but this was even worse. 

It wasn't Guy's fault that Will was killed off. He was happy to stick around on the show despite the departures of his mother and husband (and his character assassination); he had longevity. Unfortunately, TPTB didn't agree. Perhaps they felt as though he had been written into a corner, and with his declining popularity, they believed that killing him off was the right decision. 

Although bringing Will back was the right decision, I wish they had hired someone new instead of bringing back Chandler. By doing that, they've essentially erased Guy's 'era' from the character's history. All of the flashbacks were with Chandler (including re-filming the wedding), and now that Will and Sonny have remarried, Guy's version might as well have never existed. Two years of hard work wasted because of some poor decisions; you can't help but feel sorry for Guy. 

[geminisignborn]

My question to the above is why they totally denigrated the elocution of the emotion of Guy's Will. Look at the emotion
in Guy's Will when he called Sonny the night that Ben had supposedly done him in & the elocution of the emotion in Guy's
narration when FS' Sonny read the letter that he had read that Will had written the day that Will & Sonny married.

You would think that they would have hired Guy Wilson to dub his lines for when they reshot the wedding. Because Chandler's
delivery didn't emote the emotion that Guy's Will had brought to it at the time of the wedding.

With how Chandler had left to focus on his education, why didn't they denigrate Chandler's Will when
he came back from the dead. i.e. his memory loss, being with Paul, the Leo debacle, the brain tumor ?

[mad4tv]

Sorry, I'm not entirely sure what you're asking. And, to be honest, it's been 4 years since Guy played Will (and I only dip in and out of the show anyway), so my memory of that time isn't great!
I think it's unfair to expect two different actors to perform in exactly the same way. Yes, Chandler and Guy had the same dialogue for the wedding, but they're also two different people, so of course their delivery would be different. And I guess the context was different as well, which would affect their performances (Guy was 'in the moment' whereas Chandler was playing it 'retrospectively'). Regarding having the dialogue redubbed by Guy: it might have been confusing for the audience to hear a different voice come out of Chandler's mouth, and it's difficult to dub voices well anyway! 
Also, bear in mind that there were different showrunners at the time. The bosses who killed Will off weren't the same ones who brought him back. So, they had completely different intentions regarding the character, which is why Guy's Will was villainised and Chandler's wasn't. 
I hope that answers some of your queries!

[geminisignborn]

I know that Chandler Massey & Guy Wilson are two totally different people, I get that, but what I'm getting
at is that the you didn't feel the emotion out of Chandler Massey's Will when they reshot the wedding when
there was when Guy Wilson taped the wedding. When Guy Wilson's voice over when it came to the letter that
Sonny was reading, & yet, the emotion wasn't in Chandler's interpretation. Remember when Tiger
Woods apologized live on television, he was like an automaton & that's all we are getting out of Chandler
Massey now, my question is why is there a need for it ?

[blake]

I personally liked Guy Wilson I really did I thought he did a fantastic job as Will, but the problem that Guy faced in my opinion is that the core Wilson fan base did not give him a chance. They wanted Chandler to stay in the role cause him and Freddie made Wilson so popular and they couldn't stand the fact that another actor was gonna play him. So, Guy faced a lot of black flash (I think) from the die hard Wilson fan base. But like I said I think Guy is a great actor and I wish him all the best.

[sunshine0786]

Aug 15, 2019 17:57:19 GMT -5 blake said:

I personally liked Guy Wilson I really did I thought he did a fantastic job as Will, but the problem that Guy faced in my opinion is that the core Wilson fan base did not give him a chance. They wanted Chandler to stay in the role cause him and Freddie made Wilson so popular and they couldn't stand the fact that another actor was gonna play him. So, Guy faced a lot of black flash (I think) from the die hard Wilson fan base. But like I said I think Guy is a great actor and I wish him all the best.

I also think that Guy got unlucky with the storylines he was given from the start. First, we got the wedding with an actor we weren't used to yet. It takes me a while to get used to a recast and I still didn't see him as Will and it felt like Sonny was marrying a stranger, and we were robbed of the Wilson wedding that we were hoping for. Then, in less than a year the cheating storyline began. At the same time we were getting used to the actor they had Will cheat. Not only did they recast the actor but they destroyed the relationship at the same time without giving this "new" relationship a chance. Now I associate that recast with a storyline that I hated and felt like was very out of character for Will. The cheating was more plot driven than character driven. which is true about most soap storylines, but this in particular was harder to stomach due to the recast.

None of this is Guy's fault, and I feel bad for the crap he got.

[mad4tv]

Well, the situation regarding the wedding and proposal couldn't be helped. They would have both been written/planned before Chandler left. In fact, even Paul's arrival probably would have been in the planning stages by that time. That's why the recast happened in the first place: they couldn't write Will out/bring him back later, they had to do it immediately so as not to interfere with the whole schedule of the show. And having the recast happen immediately meant that there was still some consistency with the character's dialogue and behaviour (since it was written for Chandler), rather than writing him out and bringing him back later with a new personality. 

They were also lucky to have found an actor who had such strong chemistry with Freddie. I remember being blown away by the rapport between them during the proposal episode(s); it was so easy to believe that they had been together for years - not just working together for a week! I know chemistry is subjective, but they won me over straight away, moreso than Chandler and Freddie ever did. 

And I understand that the fans of the couple would have struggled with seeing a different actor playing one of the characters; their interpretation is going to be different. But that doesn't justify the response that Guy received from the 'fans'. If they really were 'fans' of the couple, they wouldn't have switched off just because one of the characters was recast. If anything, it should be reassuring: it would be easier to just write the character/couple out of the show, but by recasting, it shows how invested TPTB are in them. Heck, I'd love it if they recast an actor from my favourite relationship(s) if they were to leave, because it would mean that the writers care enough about them to want to continue writing for them. Which I guess this recast proved to some extent, though it didn't last long! 

[geminisignborn]

But it doesn't explain the need for Chandler Massey's Will acting like an automaton. He doesn't show any emotion
that Guy had brought to it. Hasn't any one heard the emotion in Guy's Will when he called Sonny the night that
Ben supposedly had done away with him. Hasn't any one heard the emotion in Guy Wilson's voice over when it came
to the letter that Sonny had read on the day of the wedding. My question is why we are seeing Massey's Will acting
like one of London's beefeaters, as well as Buster Keaton & why is there a need for it now ?

[mad4tv]

Aug 16, 2019 11:27:13 GMT -5 geminisignborn said:

But it doesn't explain the need for Chandler Massey's Will acting like an automaton. He doesn't show any emotion
that Guy had brought to it. Hasn't any one heard the emotion in Guy's Will when he called Sonny the night that
Ben supposedly had done away with him. Hasn't any one heard the emotion in Guy Wilson's voice over when it came
to the letter that Sonny had read on the day of the wedding. My question is why we are seeing Massey's Will acting
like one of London's beefeaters, as well as Buster Keaton & why is there a need for it now ?

I'll be honest here, I don't think I have as strong an opinion about Chandler as you do. Although I think he's overrated, there are several reasons why he was (and still is) so popular, and I respect that.
As I said before, I only dip in and out of the show, so I haven't seen enough over the past couple of years to make judgements on any of it, let alone individual performances! Their treatment of Guy left a bitter taste in my mouth, and I still resent the fact they brought back Chandler instead of him; or didn't hire someone new to start a clean slate. Saying that, I liked the concept behind his return (and the amnesia was a deliciously soapy element, very well done), but I'm not keen on where they've taken the character since.
And it's a shame that Chandler's performance is letting it down for you; I have no explanation for that. 

[justinate]

I felt really bad for Guy because he got a raw deal from certain elements of the fandom, and from the new writers who decided to kill off Will. Guy was 100% committed to the role, day in and day out, and whatever shortcomings he had in acting, he more than made up for with sheer enthusiasm. He did not turn up only a couple of times each year to film his Emmy submission reel. Guy truly inhabited the role, not only at the climax of dramatic storylines but even in the small moments. I thought his passion in romantic/sex scenes was especially top-notch. I don't think any English-language soap has done a gay love scene as passionate as Guy's with Christopher Sean (and sadly I think none of them ever will again).

While the timing of the first WilSon wedding was unavoidable, some of the writing by Tomlin & Whitesell for Guy did leave something to be desired. I don't fault them for the affair storyline because it gave us some solid drama and I think Guy did his best work in that story - not only the aforementioned love scenes but the feelings of inadequacy which led Will to cheat and his subsequent desperation to cover it up. Where the wheels fell off was how Will reacted - placing the blame for the affair exclusively on Paul and the way he behaved towards his loved ones in his pursuit of a journalistic career. Once the horror duo of Griffith & Higley took over head-writing duties, they completed decimated any goodwill towards Will, tanked the brewing relationship between Paul and Will (for which the actors had oodles of chemistry and a proven track record for sizzling love scenes) and abruptly killed Will off in one of many ill-judged, dark and depressing plots intended, ironically, to celebrate the show's golden anniversary.

Griffith & Higley have a lot to answer for.

[geminisignborn]

I know that Will Horton was played by two different people, I get that. What I'm talking about is that one Will was highly
emotional, hence, the phone call to Sonny the night he was supposedly done in & that it was in the Guy Wilson's voice over
for the letter that Sonny had read on the day of his wedding. & Chandler Massey's Will, the one that we are seeing now is
like watching the gay version of Data, the one from Star Trek's The Next Generation. I understand that Chandler Massey was
highly popular & still is popular, it's kind of juvenile for soap writers to play that card, don't you think ?

[dalphine]

Guy is a very good actor and I liked him as Will. I'm not taking anything from Chandler Massey but like someone said Guy gave you feeling and really played the part better. This is just my opinion, even through I don't watch the show anymore.

[geminisignborn]

So there are people who see that Guy Wilson brought the feeling into it & played it better. Because he showed
warmth, compassion more freely. My question is why aren't we seeing any of that out of Chandler Massey just
because he's a totally different actor than the other ?

[blake]

Aug 17, 2019 9:57:31 GMT -5 geminisignborn said:

So there are people who see that Guy Wilson brought the feeling into it & played it better. Because he showed
warmth, compassion more freely. My question is why aren't we seeing any of that out of Chandler Massey just
because he's a totally different actor than the other ?

I get what your saying, I think both actors play on their strengths. I will say that I thought that Dylan Patton he played Will from 2009-2010 than Chandler took over the role. Dylan I'm sorry and I don't mean to be rude toward him he could not act it was like watching a robot in action. Now, Chandler I think brought a lot of feeling into the Will coming out storyline and his confusion over his sexuality I believed in his struggle as Will was accepting himself. Also, with Chandlers portrayal of Will I think the writers want Chandlers Will to be wholesome squeaky clean. For Guy's portrayal of Will due to the new writers at the time Guy's Will was seen has more villains what I mean by that is by the affair with Paul and the way he treated his family and Sonny with his pursuit of his writing career. He put the people that he loved on the back burner and let's not forget that while Will was out in LA with Sami he also cheated on Sonny with I think another writer. But with that being said Guy did bring emotion to the scenes when Sonny found out about the affair between Will and Paul and the scenes when Will called Sonny right before Ben supposedly killed him. But like I said in my post from a couple of days ago the reason why Chandler (in my opinion) is so popular is because Chandler played Will when he was coming out and falling in love with Sonny. Yes, Guy played Will when Will and Sonny got married, and I loved the Wilson wedding but it was hard to watch I admit cause I wanted Chandler to be playing Will. I will say this if Guy had took over the role of Will after Dylan was fired, and then Guy quite and Chandler took over would the hardcore Wilson fan base treated Chandler the same way they did Guy? Cause some Tweets I saw that were directed toward Guy after it was announced that he was taking over the role were very vicious and uncalled for, and this was before he even started to air. But, I am fan of both Chandler and Guy's version of Will, so it's hard for me to say which one I like best when I like them both.

[geminisignborn]

But the point I'm trying to make is that when Guy played Will, he was more emotional. Meaning, how he
came off as that when he admitted defeat in asking FS's Sonny, but what can you do & then playing up
how emotional he was with the letter he had written that Sonny had read on his wedding day, how he
looked at Sonny when he was being escorted down the aisle on the arm of Adrienne. Why didn't that
outweigh the villainous side to him before they went there to play that side of him ? I get that
Chandler was highly popular & that he brought all of the feeling into the coming out story & his
confusion over his sexuality, but wouldn't you think that with all the time that passed, that it
should override the emotional side that Guy had played out ? Remember, if they hadn't had Chandler's
Will playing up the coming out & the confusion to his sexuality, we would never had seen the
emotion out of Guy when he had played up the monologue, meaning, getting Gabi pregnant, blaming
mommy, daddy going to jail for me, Mia dumping me for Chad etc. etc. now would we. The main
problem I have with whole thing is that it's running the show into ground with the direction
that they take it to. Meaning, they just can't vilify Will to death just because one actor
was more loved than the other, it's highly juvenile, don't you think ?

[blake]

Aug 17, 2019 16:36:44 GMT -5 geminisignborn said:

But the point I'm trying to make is that when Guy played Will, he was more emotional. Meaning, how he
came off as that when he admitted bdefeat in asking FS's Sonny, but what can you do & then playing up
how emotional he was with the letter he had written that Sonny had read on his wedding day, how he
looked at Sonny when he was being escorted down the aisle on the arm of Adrienne. Why didn't that
outweigh the villainous side to him before they went there to play that side of him ? I get that
Chandler was highly popular & that he brought all of the feeling into the coming out story & his
confusion over his sexuality, but wouldn't you think that with all the time that passed, that it
should override the emotional side that Guy had played out ? Remember, if they hadn't had Chandler's
Will playing up the coming out & the confusion to his sexuality, we would never had seen the
emotion out of Guy when he had played up the monologue, meaning, getting Gabi pregnant, blaming
mommy, daddy going to jail for me, Mia dumping me for Chad etc. etc. now would we. The main
problem I have with whole thing is that it's running the show into ground with the direction
that they take it to. Meaning, they just can't vilify Will to death just because one actor
was more loved than the other, it's highly juvenile, don't you think ?

It may be juvenile but that is how Soaps work now days if one and I'm sorry to say this, but yes Chandler's version of Will is more popular with fans than Guy's version of Will. When it was announced that Will was being killed off it made a lot of fans furious that they would do that and from my understanding Days suffered in the ratings. That's why they decided to bring Will back from the dead and they asked Chandler to play him cause Chandler is more popular with the fans I'm sorry to say that but it's the truth. Like I've said before Guy never could get the hardcore Wilson fan base on his side which was unfair on him, plus the direction the new writers at the time decided to take Will. Soaps, now days it's all about the ratings and advertisers (sponsorship) that help support Days are not gonna fork out major bucks if the ratings are not there anymore. That's why I believe they brought back Will specifically Chandler to get those ratings back up. It's sad cause Guy got the raw end of the deal but that is the way it works now days.

[geminisignborn]

I get that they brought Will back specifically Chandler to get the ratings back up, but I kind of doubt that the
writing him as an automaton would raise the ratings, now would it ?

Then there's this, with how Days suffered in the ratings because of the killing of Will, but it was Guy Wilson
who played Will then, wasn't it ? So what I'm getting at is that with how the ratings suffered because of the
killing of Will, especially with who played him then, why was there backlash over the killing of Will given
as to the animosity of the actor & all because of who's more popular over the other ?

The next question is this: Once they had allowed Will Horton to stay alive, would it have caused the backlash
to the point in bring Will back alive with Massey in the role again ? To me, the writers needed to be a little
psychic & think should we write this or shouldn't we ? And be reminded of what the ABC Network wanted out of
Esther Shapiro to do when it came to Dynasty's wedding massacre, before penning the story of Will's murder.

The other way to look at it, is they saw where the ratings went to involving the stories after Will's murder
& be reminded that some one had said NO MORE FAKE MASKS, so what's the point of Kristen passing herself off as
Nicole ?

[blake]

Aug 18, 2019 15:55:19 GMT -5 geminisignborn said:

I get that they brought Will back specifically Chandler to get the ratings back up, but I kind of doubt that the
writing him as an automaton would raise the ratings, now would it ?

Then there's this, with how Days suffered in the ratings because of the killing of Will, but it was Guy Wilson
who played Will then, wasn't it ? So what I'm getting at is that with how the ratings suffered because of the
killing of Will, especially with who played him then, why was there backlash over the killing of Will given
as to the animosity of the actor & all because of who's more popular over the other ?

The next question is this: Once they had allowed Will Horton to stay alive, would it have caused the backlash
to the point in bring Will back alive with Massey in the role again ? To me, the writers needed to be a little
psychic & think should we write this or shouldn't we ? And be reminded of what the ABC Network wanted out of
Esther Shapiro to do when it came to Dynasty's wedding massacre, before penning the story of Will's murder.

The other way to look at it, is they saw where the ratings went to involving the stories after Will's murder
& be reminded that some one had said NO MORE FAKE MASKS, so what's the point of Kristen passing herself off as
Nicole ?

I'm gonna answer your question's the best possible way I know how, and I hope they make sense.

You can be an iconic character like Will, which in my opinion he has become, and again that is due to Chandler. Because Chandler was given the coming out storyline and falling in love with Sonny storyline. Now, with that being said Guy, was giving the Wilson wedding the affair storyline which were both great storylines. I think with the affair storyline Will was questing whether or not he got married too soon, cause Sonny was his only boyfriend where Sonny on the other hand had a little more life experience. And, like I said Guy was great in that storyline very emotional and well played scenes on his part, but the die hard Wilson fan base were like well if Chandler was still playing Will he never would've cheated on Will. There was major back flash when Will was killed off cause I remember Alison Sweeney even voiced her disapproval of them killing off Will. So, yes you can be a icon character like Will but Guy fell victim cause the core Wilson fan base wanted Chandler in the role instead of Guy.

Another, reason why I believe they also brought back Will was again fans weren't really into the Sonny and Paul paring I personally liked it, but yet again the Wilson fan base started up a fuss Days decided to bring back Will, but to make that core fan base happy they persuaded Chandler to come back, I don't think though the show banked on fans liking the paring though of Paul and Will. Which had a nice fan base, but in the end I think everybody knew that Wilson would get back together.

I hope I answered your questions.

[geminisignborn]

It still doesn't explain as to why Chandler Massey is acting like an automaton, does it ?

How did Paul & Will have a nice fan base, especially with how Chandler Massey had won 3
consecutive emmys for the coming out story & how they depicted the wedding of both Will
& Sonny & that they are also on the list of the show's DOOL's legendary couples over the
show's 56 years of its existence ?