No Gays of Our Lives

[Vee]

Radiated from the screen? Are we talking Ameera, or Colonel Mayer the cartoon villain? Zac and Zoe? A potentially dynamite story with Lucinda and Laurence Lau's Brian died on the vine. AFAIC they've had [!@#$%^&*] from the beginning, [!@#$%^&*] or stuff that was aborted, and somewhere along the line both Van Hansis and Jake Silbermann began to look like they'd rather eat a gun than share another scene together.

I can't speculate on Kish, but I do know that up until the firing notice I felt a lot less cynical about their prospects almost a year on than I did about Nuke in the same timeframe. As for Dr. Reid, yes, nice idea when the show is being cancelled. What did they do for Nuke when they had an option?

[DRW50]

I see what you mean, although when GL was cancelled, Otalia's stories took a turn right into the crapper, so sometimes soaps make even less of an effort once they're done. That's why I was surprised ATWT even made an effort with Reid, I thought he'd just be generic and pointless Nuke spoiler #40. If they at least manage to not trash the Reid character before the show ends that will probably be the most positive thing I can say about gays on soaps this year.

The problem with ATWT is that I think a lot of their younger to middle-aged couples are not great (beyond the vets like Tom/Margo and Bob/Kim, probably the only "couple" I like is Carly/Jack, who aren't together, and Henry/Barbara, who aren't even a couple), so it's hard to tell what is homophobia on their part and what is just not knowing how to write.

[bellcurve]

But there's still the "gay" element of the story that has to be delved into, and TPTB are not, mor will they ever, be ready to fully explore that. Not to mention we'd likely see the guy and the girl having sex, but not the two guys or the two girls.

Don't be foolish. Bisexuals would get the same treatment.

And also, at the end of the day, having bisexuals in love triangles and storylines don't mean sh*t without a good, solid, interesting story that isn't exploiting the gay sex as being tawdry or wrong or a sin. Look at Heather/Adam/Rafe as an example of that, not that I believe for a second that Maria was committed to really going there.

How were Kish isolated? They had friends in Layla, Cristian, Schuyler, Gigi, Rex, etc. Why does everyone on a daytime soap need to be connected to a core family? Haven't we learned this lesson from your precious Days of our Lives and what they've done by bringing in new blood instead of everyone somehow being related to one another.

Did they need to spend every single scene with someone else as a committed couple in a relationship living in a house by themselves? I don't understand that.

And I guarantee you if it was a couple related to two core families, ABC and OLTL still wouldn't have committed to them.

[R Sinclair]

Or she'll come back with Reese who has become female to male transgender portrayed by Greg Vaughn.

Did I miss something?

I agree. AMC's Maggie Stone was clearly bisexual. We saw her screwing Jamie Martin in the backseat of cars and having sofa sex, but she never shared an intimate scene with Bianca -- when she suddenly decided she was into women.

I agree here as well. Especially since "core families" are a bunch of bull. It's become so incestuous anyway and many of them have splintered off via divorces, deaths, new marriages, etc.

Also, Bianca was connected to, not just a core family, but the diva of daytime... and even she was written chaste and goody two shoes for TWO YEARS! Always single, never having her feelings requited... and the minute she has her first relationship with another woman, she immediately gets raped by a man and shuts her girlfriend out and subsequently drives her away. And then her next relationship literally didn't materialize until another two years later in her final scene on the show.

[EricMontreal22]

But all we've been told till now was they received next to no complaints. I think it's a scapegoat and OLTL just had to clean house... I do expect to see a Bianca recast soon (and even though I think Carl was joking about her being now bi or straight, it won't happen--Agnes and the afterEllen.com Binaca obsessed, etc, would never let it... If she'll have another serious love interest is another issue entirely).

R Sinclair, the slander Carl is refering to is all these little blind item "press tidbits" that one or both of the actors behind Kish was fired due to excessive partying that caused them to even have to cancel scenes.

[Shawn]

As long as my shows air quality stories with quality writing, I'll be fine without gays being featured. Sure, it'd be nice to see my community represented, but if it's not going to be given the same respect as other plots, I'd rather it not happen.

OLTL did it right, which does perplex me. Why get rid of a good thing and keep the mediocre, especially when the ratings are in the toilet anyway?

[Ann_SS]

I find it hard to believe that ABC received "next to no complaints" about the controversial gay marriage scenes and/or the Kyle and Oliver love scene. ABC must have gotten some negative feedback. However, I seriously doubt that is why actors were fired. I was reading a blog on AfterElton where Langford who sounded like he had inside info said that OLTL never had any plans for Kyle and Oliver after getting custody of the baby. They along with the other supporting minority actors were likely already on the chopping block when the axe fell. It was simply easier FV to sacrifice them than a vet.

[All My Shadows]

No.

All the stuff you mentioned happened well after the first year.

[dragonflies]

I think so too, they've been trying for years to do this anyways. The Zarf stuff set the ball rolling IMO

[marceline]

For some reason OLTL tends to slander actors when they let them go or when they're in the middle of contract negs usually through blind items. It's straight out of 1950's Hollywood.

[alphanguy74]

I think it's network brass that is putting the kibosh on this. Theyr'e probably getting snail mail from little old ladies who are clutching their pearls.

[RomeAt50]

I know. You'd think OLTL was way behind GH and AMC and bleeding viewers like crazy the way some people are talking. OLTL has often found itself behind AMC and GH. Its not anythimg unusual.

I don't see ABC doing it. They are cowards when it comes to Bianca's love life but they got huge backlash over that Zarf thing and over that Reese and Zach thing.

If the network was willing to give the same-sex couple physical scenes like Kyle and Fish got then it could work but given the reason they are leaving that is not likely to happen. I never understood why TPTB put characters like Maggie and Noah in intimate scenes with people of the opposite sex knowing that they could/would not do the same with the persons same-sex love interest. IMHO they shouldn't put a bisexual character in hetereosexual scenes that are more intimate than what they would be allowed to do wtih someone of the same-sex.

[dragonflies]

That's the thing though they got backlash against the Zarf stuff and yet they repeat stupid mistakes? It's what this show does and why I see them making her bi or straight

[Leia]

This is the reality check. It doesn't matter if a gay or black character is played by a core or not. We would have had the same result as we have with Kish.

[DeeeDee]

Exactly.