Many of you probably saw this. This is from the Sunday 5/30/2009 "Personality Parade" section (inside front cover) of Parade Magazine. The URL is given here, but I don't think it links directly to that.

ETA: The full column is linked here.

Q: There seem to be more gay characters on CBS soap operas--Noah and Luke in As the World Turns and Natalia and Olivia in Guiding Light. Can you tell me why?--B Fleming, Vista, Calif.

A: "Daytime TV has always tried to stay on the edge of cultural change," says Barbara Bloom, senior vice president of CBS daytime entertainment. "While some viewers have told us this makes them a little uncomfortable, most have said they identify with the characters' need to fall in love." At this point in the genre's history, viewer identification may not be enough. After its 57-year TV run, Guiding Light will go off the air Sept. 18.

The image and caption below also appeared.

Edited June 1, 200916 yr by MarkH

My eyes rolled UNCONTROLLABLY when I saw that picture. Seriously, I always feel like the Misfits from "Jem" whenever I look at them.

Edited June 1, 200916 yr by All My Shadows

My eyes rolled UNCONTROLLABLY when I saw that picture. Seriously, I always feel like the Misfits from "Jem" whenever I look at them.

But Nicholas Galbraith and Jake Silverman would do it for you, right? I somehow think of Parade as a 'granny magazine'. (Probably wrong about that). So, for me, to see soaps addressed in there...and especially the 'gaying' of CBS....I was surprised.

Seriously, I always feel like the Misfits from "Jem" whenever I look at them.

:lol: :lol:

But Nicholas Galbraith and Jake Silverman would do it for you, right? I somehow think of Parade as a 'granny magazine'. (Probably wrong about that). So, for me, to see soaps addressed in there...and especially the 'gaying' of CBS....I was surprised.

Oh, it's not them (the actors), though I could do without Van's bitchface. You know it's all about the story/hype/etc lol. If it was NG and Silbermann, I'd flove it because then they could write a story on how ATWT has repeatedly squandered potential for many years now, and not just with Luke and his storylines.

This bitch is out her damn mind. I guess being on the edge of cultural means stipulating a one year kissing ban on the homos and having Olivia and Natalia act like two spinsters. And waiting 36 years for Y&R to *maybe* have a gay character from an established family and for B&B, about fashion and set in LA, to not have ANY gay people.

Go have a seat over there, Babs, we're done.

and for B&B, about fashion and set in LA, to not have ANY gay people.

Go have a seat over there, Babs, we're done.

Yes!

No Jay Manuel?

No Tim Gunn?

Not even a Queer Eye?

Seriously?

My eyes rolled UNCONTROLLABLY when I saw that picture. Seriously, I always feel like the Misfits from "Jem" whenever I look at them.

Uh huh.

It's not CBS, it's P&G that's on the edge of cultural change. CBS and Barbara Bloom are taking credit for shows they are cancelling? OMFG. I hate that network even more after reading about this. I know the questioner pointed out CBS, but Bloom should have mentioned her "partners at Procter and Gamble" since the network made sure to mention talking with "our partners at Procter and Gamble" to try to shift part of the blame to them when the decision was made to cancel GL.

Oh, and there was no "one-year kissing ban", that's a combination of Nuke fan paranoia and later, typical snarky exaggeration by Nelson Branco. Even if there ever was a ban, it's a plain fact from the actual amount of time between kisses that it didn't last as long as a year. It is also long long since in the past. The characters now kiss practically every time they are on.

Edited June 2, 200916 yr by jfung79

It's not CBS, it's P&G that's on the edge of cultural change. CBS and Barbara Bloom are taking credit for shows they are cancelling? OMFG. I hate that network even more after reading about this. I know the questioner pointed out CBS, but Bloom should have mentioned her "partners at Procter and Gamble" since the network made sure to mention talking with "our partners at Procter and Gamble" to try to shift part of the blame to them when the decision was made to cancel.

It is CBS.

Other shows on CBS are also going through changes.

BB is taking credit because it airs under her watch.

This was a short blurb, and for all you know she actually might have said something about P&G.

This was a short blurb, and for all you know she actually might have said something about P&G.

That's true, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.

It's not CBS, it's P&G that's on the edge of cultural change. CBS and Barbara Bloom are taking credit for shows they are cancelling? OMFG. I hate that network even more after reading about this. I know the questioner pointed out CBS, but Bloom should have mentioned her "partners at Procter and Gamble" since the network made sure to mention talking with "our partners at Procter and Gamble" to try to shift part of the blame to them when the decision was made to cancel GL.

Y&R is reportedly going great guns with

a gay storyline

, to debut this summer, and B&B apparently alluded to the idea that Clarke Garrison may be bisexual (I didn't see that). Also, P&G always have had to get storyline approval from CBS...so we can imagine there was involvement or even encouragement from the net.

Oh, and there was no "one-year kissing ban", that's a combination of Nuke fan paranoia and later, typical snarky exaggeration by Nelson Branco. Even if there ever was a ban, it's a plain fact from the actual amount of time between kisses that it didn't last as long as a year. It is also long long since in the past. The characters now kiss practically every time they are on.

By all accounts, the kissing ban was a P&G thing, and NOT a CBS thing. P&G was afraid of Reverend Wildmon and his ilk, and even set up that customer comment line to gauge public opinion. It was shortly after that 800# that Nuke kissed.

It is CBS.

Other shows on CBS are also going through changes.

BB is taking credit because it airs under her watch.

This was a short blurb, and for all you know she actually might have said something about P&G.

Yes, all of that is true.

With a couple exceptions, CBS has always struck me as an old fashion conservative network. I am always surprised when their programming does something daring or different. I find their prime time line up to be completely formulaic and uninteresting, but it is does well so the audience must like these shows.

It is pretty clear that P&G is responsible for the kissing ban/s on ATWT and GL. CBS did not seem to have a problem with the gay story. Why would they? Most of the ads during these two soaps are for P&G products so it isn't like the network would lose ad revenue whatever happened. It was P&G that was afraid of a consumer boycott.

Edited June 2, 200916 yr by Ann_SS

And waiting 36 years for Y&R to *maybe* have a gay character from an established family and for B&B, about fashion and set in LA, to not have ANY gay people.

Go have a seat over there, Babs, we're done.

Doesn't B&B get credit for having tranny Donna frontburner for the past two years?

Forget about the gay issue...under BB, all the CBS soaps have become homogenized white bread soaps. I give P&G some credit for Nuke, but none at all for Otalia. Olivia whored her way through the menfolk of Springfield. There wasn't nobody left for her to bat her eyes at. So they stuck her with the blandest, most inoffensive woman character there was.

By all accounts, the kissing ban was a P&G thing, and NOT a CBS thing.

That's if you believe there was a "kissing ban." I don't.

As for Y&R or B&B, that's just catching up after the P&G soaps and AMC have forged the trail. Having gay characters now, years later, is not "on the edge of cultural change."

Edited June 2, 200916 yr by jfung79

That's if you believe there was a "kissing ban." I don't.

As for Y&R or B&B, that's just catching up after the P&G soaps and AMC have forged the trail. Having gay characters now, years later, is not "on the edge of cultural change."

Don't shoot the messenger.

You can actually trace the first gay storyline back to Young and Restless, and then to Days of Our Lives. AMC and OLTL really took it and ran with it, though.