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Gay characters on soaps

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Soon Nuke fans will infest Y&R.

On second thought? I say "no" to any gay storylines on Y&R. In fact, I say, "Hell to the no!".

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On second thought? I say "no" to any gay storylines on Y&R. In fact, I say, "Hell to the no!".

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Exactly!

  • Member
On second thought? I say "no" to any gay storylines on Y&R. In fact, I say, "Hell to the no!".

I never thought of that. This is gonna get fun.

(And I'm sorry that Muppet comment offended you...it was an attempt at wry humor that obviously failed).

  • Member
Here's to hoping Soaps are not headed in B&S direction because I think last night showed one of the biggest stereotypes out there. A threesome? How many straight couples on television have engaged in this type of activity? I don't care one way or the other for gay storylines because I just want a story, but I would like to think that last night's eppy was offensive to some people. It was more about how can we increase our audience rather than, let's just tell the tale of 2 gay men. It was far from that. I didn't care for it at all.

BTW, if Kevin must be gay, can we get someone else for him? This guy makes me want to hurl huge chunks! I need at least one masculine male to get any kind of enjoyment out of it.

ANDREA

To be fair, didn't they turn down the threesome offer? That's a stereotypical story but it DOES happen.

  • Member
Primetime's Brothers and Sisters continues to push the envelope and define where we're headed. Yesterday, to show full gay male foreplay (sorry, Moila)--shirtless sweaty necking -- and talk at length about a three-way... well ... that's pretty boundary-pushing.

While B&S has its problems, it is a continuing melodrama, a serial set around a family and their peripheral members. I really feel that B&S and its ilk are the inheritors of the soap mantle. Daytime may fade, but serials will live forever.

And in that note, if daytime wants to extends its relevance even a little bit, they'll look closely at what B&S is doing, and absorb that fearlessness.

By the way -- afraid of the advertisers? Last week Roger Newcomb reported that B&S was in the top 10 or top 15 of per-spot advertising rates on network TV. They may not be the biggest show, but that have a banging-great demographic. Daytime should try to lure THAT audience -- not huge but smart, progressive, affluent.

Implication: I don't think you lure that audience with any of our current eight soaps. They are too associated with grandma and 40 years of history and selling shoe polish. You make a new show, and build -- from the beginning -- for a smaller niche audience that is profitable. For starters, you don't air during the daytime.

Once we stop worrying about offending grandmothers in Peoria (who, in fact, probably wouldn't be offended -- but Madison Avenue is worried they will be), gay characters on soaps can flourish. So can the multi-cultural rainbow.

Totally agree! B&S is the only network television show currently on the to actually do the gay community justice. It's great what they have done over there, and yes it possesses all the staples of what makes a soap a soap.

  • Member
To be fair, didn't they turn down the threesome offer? That's a stereotypical story but it DOES happen.

Exactly.

They threw in a stereotype, and then THE COUPLE MADE THE NON-STEREOTYPICAL CHOICE.

  • Member
Soon Nuke fans will infest Y&R. *vomits*

I'm boycotting CBS aside from ATWT and GL, so I know I for one won't be watching, but in general, it won't happen unless there is a quality story, and nothing I'm reading so far suggests the gay character on Y&R will be anything but a side character.

No need to watch crumbs on Y&R when GL is already getting everything right, and ATWT is doing a fine enough job.

Again I really have to wonder -- to those who think gay characters on soaps are just "walking PSAs", are you watching Guiding Light? Olivia, Natalia, and Doris are being given the full-on soap treatment, and are all multidimensional characters, nothing PSA about them. (I wouldn't agree with that statement about Nuke either, but I think I'm on firmer ground with Otalia.)

Edited by jfung79

  • Member

I don't know if we're going to see a major same-sex couple on Y&R for some time, because the show is in a different place than ATWT and GL. Both of those shows are near the bottom of the ratings. They had less viewers to offend. Y&R is the #1 soap, and has more viewers to offend. Even when ATWT was in a healthier state, the rule still was in place. They had a very popular interracial couple, Duncan and Jessica, in the early 90s. Then in the late 90s, when Y&R tried a relationship between Neil and Victoria, they got tons of hate mail. I know it's not the same, because some have more of an issue with black man/white woman than they do with white man/black woman, but I think that shows the different atmosphere Y&R has to work in.

The interesting part is because of all the backlash against Nuke from some soap fans (not because they're a gay couple, just because a lot of people dislike the actors or the characters), they may actually get heavy praise if their only story for a gay character ends up being something like a gay character only being filler, or only being gay because of a story about how people react to their sexuality. They won't have to take a big risk on a gay character if they don't want to, and because of frustration with some of Nuke's writing and with the dreadful Rianca story on AMC, they may be seen as forward-moving because they may go back to the 90's soap trope of a character just being gay and having no real relationship of his own, instead of being shoved into a couple, like what we get with gay characters now.

I agree with what most of you are saying about Brothers & Sisters. I would say they feel free to take more of a risk because of the many gay writers and producers they have, but I don't think that's giving enough credit to Matthew Rhys. I've rarely seen a straight actor so comfortable with showing tenderness, affection, and passion with another man.

Edited by CarlD2

  • Member
Soon Nuke fans will infest Y&R. *vomits*

:o :o :o :o

Y&R has my sympathies. I know Paul Rauch isn't afraid to stick his middle finger up, though.

Once AfterElton gets in on it, it's over. If Rafe isn't in a relationship by Friday, all hell will break loose.

  • Member

Friday? Hell, I give them by 4 p.m. today. Tops.

  • Member
The interesting part is because of all the backlash against Nuke from some soap fans (not because they're a gay couple, just because a lot of people dislike the actors or the characters), they may actually get heavy praise if their only story for a gay character ends up being something like a gay character only being filler, or only being gay because of a story about how people react to their sexuality. They won't have to take a big risk on a gay character if they don't want to, and because of frustration with some of Nuke's writing and with the dreadful Rianca story on AMC, they may be seen as forward-moving because they may go back to the 90's soap trope of a character just being gay and having no real relationship of his own, instead of being shoved into a couple, like what we get with gay characters now.

Luke was not shoved into a couple. It took almost two years for Noah to be introduced. (The natural course for the show to take would have been Luke and Kevin, but the show didn't take it.)

I don't think anyone will care (positively or being "offended" wise) about a token gay character on Y&R, especially if it is just a repeat of what other soaps already did in the 1990s. I don't think AfterElton would or should waste any space on a filler storyline or filler character. They barely mention Riley on Degrassi compared to the coverage they gave Marco, for instance. They also never really beat the drum about Lucas on GH after he was dropped.

You raise good points about what some fans' complaints about Nuke might lead to, but I hope instead (not holding my breath) that soap producers will look at the positive reaction to Otalia to see what that could mean for their soaps. The ABC soaps should if the Bell soaps are too scared to "offend."

Edited by jfung79

  • Member
:o :o :o :o

Y&R has my sympathies. I know Paul Rauch isn't afraid to stick his middle finger up, though.

Once AfterElton gets in on it, it's over. If Rafe isn't in a relationship by Friday, all hell will break loose.

SO TRUE about AfterElton! I do enjoy the website, but they have extremely unrealistic expectations of gay representation. They expect Kevin and Scotty to be the focus of every episode of B&S, Christian and Olli to be the center of VL, and Nuke to be the entire ATWT. At least they admit that the Nuke writing is pretty poor. And the site is pretty honest about the films they review. I've seen some gay media sites give good reviews to any film with a gay theme or character no matter how awful the movie is. AfterElton's good in that respect. But I can't wait for them to start the "Give Rafe a boyfriend" clock counter or something. LOL

  • Member
Luke was not shoved into a couple. It took almost two years for Noah to be introduced. (The natural course for the show to take would have been Luke and Kevin, but the show didn't take it.)

I don't think anyone will care (positively or being "offended" wise) about a token gay character on Y&R, especially if it is just a repeat of what other soaps already did in the 1990s. I don't think AfterElton would or should waste any space on a filler storyline or filler character. They barely mention Riley on Degrassi compared to the coverage they gave Marco, for instance. They also never really beat the drum about Lucas on GH after he was dropped.

You raise good points about what some fans' complaints about Nuke might lead to, but I hope instead (not holding my breath) that soap producers will look at the positive reaction to Otalia to see what that could mean for their soaps. The ABC soaps should if the Bell soaps are too scared to "offend."

I agree with you about the time they took to put Luke into a relationship, but now the focus seems to be more on how awful Nuke and their fans are, and how Y&R shouldn't want a fan base like Nuke fans. Many also seem to love Y&R so much now that any story they have which will involve a gay character will almost automatically generate praise. I've already seen some people saying Goutman at ATWT needs to watch Y&R to see how a gay story is told, even though the story has not started and does not seem to have any major part of the show.

leev064

SO TRUE about AfterElton! I do enjoy the website, but they have extremely unrealistic expectations of gay representation. They expect Kevin and Scotty to be the focus of every episode of B&S, Christian and Olli to be the center of VL, and Nuke to be the entire ATWT.

I don't read the blog posts as much as I used to, but I read Gays of Our Lives and their writer is very even-handed about his expectations of the soaps and of their gay stories. He's had complaints about Nuke, he couldn't stand the Ravi/Nancy/Kris triangle on Hollyoaks and thought Kris and Ravi had no chemistry together. I think the complaint people have about VL now is that Christian and Olli haven't had a story in months and months. Most of the comments I read about Brothers & Sisters also seem to understand Kevin and Scotty can't be the stars of the show, they just want to see Scotty more than a handful of times a season, or see Kevin in a story besides working for Robert (I still don't get that storyline). When they first started recapping Brothers & Sisters, they didn't even like Kevin very much. I guess their opinion of him has mellowed over the years.

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