I found the JW article.

 

Weary’s first time being associated with a gay TV role was in 2005 when he played Luke Snyder on As the World Turns, but he left the role just before the character was about to deal with his sexuality. At the time, many in the press said Weary was homophobic for abandoning the character, but the actor candidly responds now, “It was embarrassing the fact that someone could actually try to create something out of nothing and turn that into a big deal.” 
 

Weary states the change in storyline was also going to mean an increase in work load, and only 14-years-old at the time, he
says, “I wanted to play sports and be a normal person and be with my friends. They wanted me to work more hours because that storyline would require a lot more time. Unfortunately, someone found that as an opportunity to make remarks about who my mother is, too, and I think there were rumors that she took me off the show because of it and it’s just bullshit. And I’m not trying to have this role [on Animal Kingdom] to be like ‘A-ha! I’m not homophobic! I’m playing a gay guy!”

On Friday, April 06, 2018 at 10:29 AM, Khan said:

 

I didn't know that Jake has gone on record about that, but I did believe KZ when she said she and her husband pulled him off the show, not because ATWT was going to make Luke gay, but that they were afraid that such a heavy storyline would affect his education. To me, that explanation made perfect sense.

 

I totally agree. I applaud the Wearys for putting his education first.

I missed a lot of the middle Luke/Noah stuff. I was touring for parts of 2005/6 (this was before you could easily catch up with your soaps online) and didn't see a lot of it ATWT. When I came back in 2006, Luke was gay and hiding it. I saw the stuff with Kevin, saw the serial killer storyline, missed the Daniel Hugh-Kelly segment, and then was touring again and saw a day or two with Lau. I've had the hots for him since I was a little boy watching All My Children so I was so disappointed that I missed that storyline. Now it sounds as if I should be glad of it. 

 

I think the show handled the gay storylines as well as they could have. Michael Landon's daughter whose character name I can't come up with right now was so popular at the time and had the whole Perils-Of-Pauline thing going and I could see that they were trying to do the same thing to Luke. I could appreciate the fact that were letting the gay kid have just as many crazy storylines as they were doing to other characters - although I still didn't enjoy most of what I saw. It wasn't until Reid came on that I really became involved with Luke - loved Luke and Reid together!  Luke was a "Lily" character - I feel like you either enjoy that sort of thing or ya don't, you know?

 

Edited to say: GWEN!!

Edited April 10, 20187 yr by adrnyc

35 minutes ago, adrnyc said:

I missed a lot of the middle Luke/Noah stuff. I was touring for parts of 2005/6 (this was before you could easily catch up with your soaps online) and didn't see a lot of it ATWT. When I came back in 2006, Luke was gay and hiding it. I saw the stuff with Kevin, saw the serial killer storyline, missed the Daniel Hugh-Kelly segment, and then was touring again and saw a day or two with Lau. I've had the hots for him since I was a little boy watching All My Children so I was so disappointed that I missed that storyline. Now it sounds as if I should be glad of it. 

 

I think the show handled the gay storylines as well as they could have. Michael Landon's daughter whose character name I can't come up with right now was so popular at the time and had the whole Perils-Of-Pauline thing going and I could see that they were trying to do the same thing to Luke. I could appreciate the fact that were letting the gay kid have just as many crazy storylines as they were doing to other characters - although I still didn't enjoy most of what I saw. It wasn't until Reid came on that I really became involved with Luke - loved Luke and Reid together!  Luke was a "Lily" character - I feel like you either enjoy that sort of thing or ya don't, you know?

 

Edited to say: GWEN!!

ATWT REALLY lucked out when they cast Eric Sheffer Stevens. ESS elevated the material he was given. Where Nuke were always a rather lackluster couple. LuRe were hot. ESS was the only bright spot during ATWT final days. Of course that hack had to kill Reid so that dullard Chris could get his heart. I really started to like Luke because of Reid. A real shame that they didn't get their happily ever after.  

Edited April 10, 20187 yr by victoria foxton

I never really was that into Luke and Reid either. I was mostly interested in Reid at the hospital. It was nice to get that old John Dixon vibe again.

Oddly, I think killing Reid made sense at least in the context of the history of the show.  If you recall, Irna Phillips was known for killing popular/long term characters on her soaps and this particular soap did that in spades back in the 50s/60s/70s.

 

Did I agree with the show killing Reid?  No, of course not.. but it is realistic and part of life.  

Edited April 11, 20187 yr by Soaplovers

Sorry---I'm never going to believe that's all there is to the story re: Jake. (Although I don't recall spec that he was homophobic, and any spec like that about a 14 yr old is out of line. I do recall peeps thinking that at 14,  he wasnt mature enough to handle the role, and given what we know about how that blew up, I'm glad he didnt have to deal with all that attention) That aside, I'm glad he's gone on and done well.  I honestly wouldn't have even recognized him in Animal Kingdom if I hadn't seen his name in the credits. 

 

Re: Reid/ESS, yeah he was great.  But all the Sturm and Drang over killing off a nine-month character was insulting. Personally, its not the way I would've done things, but plenty of shows ended killing off characters. GL had just ended with Alan's death. If someone had to die, I'd have had a few other nominees (oh, to put an end to Katie, Janet, Craig or Tom. JOY). And honestly, if it was between one of LuRe, I'd have picked the other half. 

Watching this episode and the scenes between Tom and Margo are a little devastating. 

The other thing that struck me is the subtle interplay between characters. In all the trauma and seriousness, I couldn't help but chuckle at that interaction between Steve and Craig and that sharp dig that Steve very deftly directs at Craig over Sierra.  Then the camera expertly segues to Dusty and John's conversation. ATWT's tracking shots execution was unparalleled back then.

I was always entertained by these episodes where half the town gathered in one place over some inciting incident.

 

 

 

Edited April 15, 20187 yr by DramatistDreamer

Sigh....days gone by. Extras! Family members showing up! David! And those HUGE earrings the women are wearing!

I miss the days when the ladies worn huge earrings. I loved when they answered the phone and had to take an earring off. I miss the days when soaps had nice sets. When they had good writing, acting, extra's and music🎵. I also loved when most of towns folk gathered in one place over some incident. Days gone by days we will never see again😢

LOL, this article appeared in the 3/22/00 issue of Soap News: 

 

 

Oakdale - The City of Lost Children

 

During a recent chat I had on the Internet at the Mediadomain Board, a poster mentioned the most over-used plot device on soaps: the long-lost child. Well, if not the most over-used plot device on other soaps, the long-lost child and variations thereof certainly is on AS THE WORLD TURNS. Here, updated, is a post from March 1998 where I listed Oakdale's "Lost Children".   So, as we enter the year 2000, welcome once again to Oakdale, Illinois, the heartland of America. Oakdale: where strangers are treated like family, because there is a good chance that they are! Everyone in Oakdale has an unknown or secret child, parent, or sibling. In May 1992, we were introduced to Lisa's long-lost son Scott. When he couldn't accept Lisa as his mother, Margo confronted him and said "Do you think you are the only person this has happened to?" I laughed, and after reading the list below, you may laugh as well, for Oakdale, Illinois truly is The City of Lost Children.   Lily - Adopted, her biological parents are Iva and Josh. Iva - Adopted, her biological parents were the Carpenters. Josh - Learned his father was Cal Stricklyn, not Henry Snyder. Aaron Snyder - The son Holden didn't know he had with Julie. Abigail Williams - The daughter Holden didn't know he had with Molly. David Allen Stenbeck - True father is James and his mother is ??? Paul Ryan - The son no one knew Barbara had until James first came to town. James Stenbeck - Not really a Stenbeck, his mother is Greta Aldrin. Gunnar St. Clair - Switched at birth with James. Dusty Donovan - Learned Gunnar was his father, not Burke Donovan. Margo - Discovered as an adult that John was her father. Ian Dixon "Duke" Kramer - The son John didn't know he had. Lien Hughes - The daughter Tom didn't know he had. Adam - Learned Hal was his father, not Tom. Sabrina - Unknown daughter of Kim and Bob. Jennifer Munson - Her biological father is Darryl Crawford, not Hal. Nikki Munson - The daughter Hal didn't know he had. Jenny Wendell - Julie's daughter, whose father may have been the late Linc Lafferty. Linc - Discovered his father was Woody Hutchinson. Scott Eldridge - The son no-one knew Lisa had. Sierra - The daughter no-one knew Lucinda had. Betsy Stewart - Discovered that Dan Stewart was her father, not her uncle. Dan Stewart - Adopted, learned his biological mother was Ellen. Dani Andropoulos - Her true father was Steve, not Craig. Steve - Discovered his father was spy Michael Christopher. Juliette Hanovan - Steve's long-lost half sister. Bryant Montgomery - His father was Craig, not Tonio Reyes. Damian Grimaldi - Learned Bettina was his mother, not Orlena. Carly Tenny - Turned out to be Rosanna's half-sister, not her cousin. Teddy "Ryder" Hughes - Adopted, birth parents were Grant and Joyce Colman. Allison McDermott - Her biological mother is her "sister" Emily. Beatrice - Learned that Duncan was her father, not her brother. Melinda Gray - Unknown daughter of Bob's late wife Jennifer. Lord Stewart Cushing - Unknown son of the late Paul Stewart. Samantha Markham Anderson - Royce's unknown twin and Lucinda's half-sister. Baby Snyder - The child Meg miscarried. The father turned out to be Josh, not Tonio. Royce Keller - Lucinda's long-lost half-brother. Neal Alcott - Lucinda's long-lost half-sister. Bianca - Lucinda's adopted daughter that she has forgotten about Connor and Evan - Unknown grandchildren of Lucinda's late husband, James Walsh. Also, Evan's mother tried to convince him his father was Alexander Cabot. Kirk McColl - Learned his mother was actually his father's housekeeper, Dorothy. Hutch Hutchinson - Learned his late mother was alive and was cookie maven "Aunt Mary". Georgia Tucker - Daughter no one knew Samantha had. Eddie Silva - Learned that Alec Wallace was his father. Parker - His father turned out to be Hal, not John. Hope - The unknown daughter Andy Dixon. Faith Snyder - Switched at birth with Hope. Camille - She does not know who her father is. ??? Baby Stenbeck/Walsh - The child of James and Lucinda who might be David, someone else, or may have died at birth.   Two children I would love to add to this list are Caleb and Ellie Snyder. When the Snyders were introduced, Emma had only four children. I still recall the scene when Emma told Iva she was adopted. Emma said that after she had Seth, she was told she couldn't have any more children, so Iva was adopted. Then Emma later gave birth to Holden and Meg. No mention was made of Caleb or Ellie. Suddenly the never-mentioned Snyders returned to the farm from Chicago. It took me a year before I could stop screaming at the TV set, "Emma has only four kids!"   And what about Jack Snyder? He and Caleb look an awfully lot alike to be only distant cousins. Hmmm...   And is Daniel Stewart Hughes really Tom's son or is he David's? Time will tell.   I haven't listed the stories of the ANOTHER WORLD characters that have appeared on ATWT. Let's just say they would fit right in. In Oakdale every year brings a new lost-child or two. Talk about overkill.   -Margery Scott

Edited April 15, 20187 yr by soapfan770

Speaking of Bianca, it's funny that even 1995 fans couldn't remember her!

 

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.arts.tv.soaps.cbs/RrkoADiK0eU

Well, I wouldn't have put Parker, Jen, Aaron or Connor/Evan on the list. Paternity questions aren't the same as "lost" children. (the Connor/Evan thing baffles me, meeting new people qualifies as "lost"?)

 

But it was hilarious that John kept meeting adults that he'd fathered throughout the 80's. And Jack was about the only adult male who never had a kid pop up on his doorstep---although I guess there was that baby WhackaJulia tried passing off as his. 

 

And I think that thing about Caleb and Ellie is completely off. I seem to remember that there was always talk about Emma's two kids who were off the farm and in Chicago. 

19 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Watching this episode and the scenes between Tom and Margo are a little devastating. 

The other thing that struck me is the subtle interplay between characters. In all the trauma and seriousness, I couldn't help but chuckle at that interaction between Steve and Craig and that sharp dig that Steve very deftly directs at Craig over Sierra.  Then the camera expertly segues to Dusty and John's conversation. ATWT's tracking shots execution was unparalleled back then.

I was always entertained by these episodes where half the town gathered in one place over some inciting incident.

 

 

 

 

 

Fantastic! That's just where I was last summer in my watch of the show. Miss that Tom. Lily looks so young compared to 1988 - she's all glamoured up  now. Great quality video - thanks for sharing!

Am at May 11, 1988. (Post originally said "1998" - oops!)  Craig is back now! A year off the show - doing The Facts of Life during that time and I don't know what else - and he's already back. I've grown to love Scott Bryce's Craig so much. It's good to have him on the show again! Of course, Sierra has left the show at this point. I'm hoping she comes back for some sort of reunion? Craig just called her in Montega and we neither saw her nor heard her voice so I'm not counting on it.

 

The Laura Simmons stuff is all out in the open now. Herb Petrie is the only one who believes her. I love everyone else's reactions: Kim's, Tom's, even Hal's - not a single one of them believes her for a second. I've heard from people on here that the writers strike moves quickly at the start as the fake writers burn through the story. Thank God for that! I have a feeling this Laura story would've been drawn out all summer if Marland and his crew were involved with it. I'm going to be happy to see the back end of this storyline.

 

 

Edited April 25, 20187 yr by adrnyc