GL: Preview Clip for The Kiss!!!

[Cheap21]

That kiss looked horrible. I dont know what they were going for but I saw absolutely no chemistry and it was too forced. Plus is it just me or did Olivia look and come across a bit butch. She's known for being this sexy feminine vixen, but thats not what I saw here

BTW, why are they even together? I thought they hated each other. Now they are living together and raising Emma?

Reese and Bianca kiss alot. In fact I think too much. It seems as if they try too hard to sell each other as a loving couple through their physical interactions

[bleedingroseca]

I don't think Liv came across as butch at all. For me their chemistry bursts off the screen every moment they are on it together and somethings even when they are talking about eachother in scenes with different characters. They were going for awkward and frustrated and they captured it well.

How long has it been since you have watched? They became good friends while Natalia helped Liv recover from her heart transplant, with many lovely and heartwarming scenes along the way that showed how much they were growing to deeply care about one another. They moved into the farmhouse together before Christmas after Liv helped Nat get all her money back. She is helping with Nat's mortgage and Nat is helping her continue her recovery. Emma loves them both deeply.

[AllAboutAngst]

It's interesting how 99% of the comments in this thread (particularly the negative ones) are from people who don't watch GL and have no idea what the Olivia and Natalia story is. I think it's hard to watch a scene and judge it if you don't know the context of it, nor the history of the characters, particularly these two who have been building this friendship and "closeness" for well over a year now.

I also find it pretty funny that the Perez thread is now filled with comments from people going "No fair, AMC had a lesbian couple first and you never put them on your blog"

[bellcurve]

And what if they don't? Will baller be right in that GL screwed around with the show's fanbase?

And why is it not out of the realm of possibility? Prior to Reese, AMC's Bianca and her loyal fanbase were screwed over multiple times with promises of romance and happiness and a real story. Let's not even get started on Nuke, who can't even be seen in bed together or kiss often like a regular couple.

Otalia is GL's idea of dangling a carrot for the gay community and those who are interested in homosexuality as the liberal agenda du jour.

Barely anything about them is organic.

[bleedingroseca]

The difference is that GL isn't promising anyone anything. They are simply telling a story and the fanbase grew around that. GL is not pimping this at all and are barely promoting it. They are treating it like any other love story on the show and hoping the audience comes along for the ride.

Baller is wrong. You can't jerk around fanbases that didn't exist until you were already well into telling the story. You can't jerk around fanbases if you don't promise anyone a story and just continue to tell the one you have. And I don't know why people keep bringing up Nuke and Breese, as if there can be only one lesbian couple or one way to tell a same-sex love story. I actually prefer GL not calling it or promoting it as a gay romance. Just tell the love story, I'll decide what I want to label it. Better yet, let's not label it at all; love is love. And I have to say how much I love the way Olivia and Natalia parent Emma. It's a beautiful thing to watch.

You lost me when you said barely anything about them is organic because that is when it became clear you don't watch nor are you a fan of GL/Otalia. I do not want to get into a comparison game between fanbases of other couples. There is room for everyone at the table. Isn't that was it's supposed to be about?

[DRW50]

Bianca and her loyal fanbase have been screwed over again with Reese, possibly in the most insulting way yet, since almost all of the Rinks relationship was offcamera and now Reese has more feelings for her brother in law than for her girlfriend.

Strangely enough I think this story is one of the most organic Olivia has had. Olivia has never had happy relationships with men, her relationships with women have always been deeper, from Reva to Cassie, now to Natalia.

I don't know where this story is going, but I'd hardly call Procter & Gamble slaves to the liberal agenda. I also don't think telling a story about a lesbian couple equals liberalism.

When I realize how low all the soaps have sunk in the ratings by sticking to an extremely conservative point of view, far more conservative than what they were ten or even twenty years ago, maybe they should try to be more liberal.

[Cheap21]

Not necesarily butch, but she isnt coming across feminine there. She looks and acted too hard

I havent watched since Gus was killed which was when all of this happened. Thats why Im finding it hard to believe

[bellcurve]

But according to TPTB, it's just a friendship, not a lesbian love story. You can't have it both ways. Either it's friendship or they're "Top of the Muffin To Ya."

If the story is indeed a "love story" with two women in love with each other...what else are you gonna label it? Kittens playing in the Meow Mix? Cinnamon and Vanilla Bean Muffins Staring each other down in the coffeeshop counter? Wild pussywillows banding together in a field?

There is room for other gay/lesbian couples in daytime TV. What there's not room for is the trite, sterile portrayal of the community that we've seen in the past decade. Bianca's past relationships and Nuke are downright boring and in the case of Bianca/Zarf and Vincent/Chad, downright offensive. There is room for Olivia/Natalia, but only if that portrayal of them falling in love with each other is real and true and not tiptoed around the way TPTB are doing right now. But hey, I shouldn't expect anything from GL.

Excuse me, how did it become clear? I've watched enough of GL over 2008, I keep up with what is going on through watching sporadic episodes and synopses(and apparently, there is very little going on, as evident in the last few times I watched).

Please, do not try to pigeonhole me into some category of fandom or soap viewer. If anything, it's very clear that you are a) someone pimping the gay agenda though GL and/or some GL fan, desperate to hold onto their daily habit of watching Ellen Wheeler's home movies. You voiced your observation, I most certainly can voice mine.

And there IS very little that is organic about this....Olivia is a woman who has been with men her entire life, enjoyed the power she lorded over them, and all of a sudden she develops an attraction to a woman, a woman she once hated? And don't give me that, "This has been slowly developing since last year..." nonsense. We've barely seen any of Crystal Chappel and Jessica Leccia since Gus's death and Rafe's exit. Yeah, save for the scenes at the Beacon where Liv's health was failing and Ava's baby's death and stuff like that, but where is Liv's grappling with the gay issue or with this attraction? And Natalia is Catholic. Where's the religious angle of this story? Why would a stiff, conservative woman who prays to the saints her whole life suddenly find herself in a situation like this, not questioning living with a woman and her child, being close to them not ONCE?! And Springfield is supposed to be a small town. Why are Olivia and Natalia just now hearing or noticing people staring at them or treating them as though they are a lesbian couple?

Are you really surprised people are asking these questions?!

I never said PGP(or any network) were slaves to the liberal agenda. But certainly, this storyline (just like anything gay) has piqued the interest of the gay community(and their allies) and has them interested in watching. And it would be downright foolery to assume that this hasn't factored into their decision to feature Otalia. TPTP and the writers are probably thinking, "Well, all the old farts in the nursing home abandoned us, the teenagers don't want to watch, maybe the queers will get us to that 1.9."

And if you reread the post, I mention liberal agenda in terms of those who are not gay, but that are allies of the gay community.

And I WISH a soap would tell a gay story that didn't have a blatant liberal message about "Coming out is okay," or "Love me mom/dad/child." I want another story on a soap. It could even be something relevant to the gay community. ANYTHING other than "The Coming Out Story." It's an old trick.

[bleedingroseca]

Again, not when seen in context of the rest of the episode; in context with the last few episodes really, since Christmas.

If you haven't watched since Gus was killed, which was when all of this started, not happened, then it's no wonder you find it hard to believe. Their love story truly began the day that Natalia sat by Olivia's hospital bed after the transplant, with Olivia begging her to leave her alone, when Natalia said simply, "I can't."

They have been moving steadily forward since that day and it been a deliberate, romantic, old-fashioned soapy build since then. A supercouple build if you ask me, the kind I remember from watching soaps as a kid. The kind no one has seen on soaps in a very long time; any soaps, daytime or nighttime. But if you have not watched then you could not possibly have been swept into the lushness of the story like so many others have been.

Like Nelson Branco said (and I am not a fan) whoever is writing for Otalia needs to be writing the whole damn show.

[RoseVioletDaisy]

Given how marginalized and ostracized the gay community is and has been, are you surprised that they're excited about the possibility of being humanized on a major network tv show? How should they react?

You're right, there is a liberal agenda, the same liberal agenda that forged the Enlightenment, inspired the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution, created the abolitionist movement against slavery, fought for women's sufferage, and struggled for civil rights. That is equal rights for ALL. Obviously gay characters can and should do far more than simply come out but coming out to family and friends is one of the most terrifying and important decisions a gay person can make and there is a desperate fear among many that their parents, children, and friends will no longer love or accept them if they know who they really are. That's reality that's, sadly, still almost universal for gays. Milestones are the cornerstone of drama and always have been. Should drama ignore that fact simply because it's not convenient for some?

[dragonflies]

Well said bleedingroseca!

One doesn't have to watch a show to be intrigued by something it's offering. From what I'm reading of people who do watch, these two are one of the few things they seem excited about that the show is offering.

[MarkH]

Very well written!

If attracting a gay audience saves the show, and if they learn (or move beyond) the mistakes of Nuke, then MORE POWER TO THEM.

There is an undercurrent of hostility to GL, and to the "liberal agenda" that I find off-putting. Why should we do anything but cheer the attempt of this show to reinvent (and thereby save) itself. I'd happily watch Reva snogging Vanessa if it saved the show!

[DRW50]

I don't think coming out or having your family accept you is a liberal message. There are people from all political backgrounds who have good relationships with their gay relatives or friends. Something like, "I'm going to go march in the streets and demand gay marriage," I would see as liberal, but that's never going to happen on a soap.

I think there would be room for stories which aren't about coming out or family acceptance issues, but since daytime still only rarely tells gay stories, there's less foundation to build on. I would love a story where a gay character is just gay, no coming out, no struggles to understand, stories about something beyond his sexuality, but as long as soaps only have a few gay characters or a few gay couples, the focus seems likely to be limited.

[smadleyb]

True... the way things are on soaps now, it's probably not very economical to have a gay character because they'd be the lone "token gay" unless tptb spent the money and hired a few foils / love interests / love triangles for them. Besides, the whole struggling for peer or even self acceptance has been done to death in movies and even cable / network shows and after school specials - why can't they just be gay without all the shock and awe - I don't know very many gay people in this day and age that even struggle with that kind of thing anymore in real life - they are what they are and nobody really cares... though maybe it still depends where you live, but it wouldn't kill one of these soaps to just have a character who happens to be gay, everyone knows about it and nobody really gives a wrinkled fig (unless the gay character ends up sleeping with someone's husband/wife, etc.)

[All My Shadows]

Eh. I'll pass.