Y&R

- I like some (not all) of JFP's new background music and hope they continue to mix the old with the new.

- I've liked Blake Hood as Kyle since day one.

- Amelia Heinle has been doing a great job lately.

- I'm not opposed to Steve Burton joining the show.

B&B

- Ridge's absence has left a much bigger void than Stephanie's.

I'm tired of male characters who have no chemistry with women being called gay. Unless they have some type of scorching chemistry with other men, which they rarely do in my opinion (and jokes aside I never really saw it with Kevin/Michael on Y&R either), then they will be just as much of a flop with men as they are with women.

To be fair, you see the same thing, online anyway, when they discuss male characters who are paired with someone with a woman who they have no chemistry with...

*edit* I already see that was mentioned. I find both pretty annoying. I do think sometimes it's done purposefully, maybe even more so with the guys--I know the main draw is eye candy for women but when you have guys on--worse case offenders like Carlentini's OLTL or DAYS and Passions particularly under JER--who seem to hang out together constantly with their shirts off (which of course is what guys--gay or straight--do ALL THE TIME in real life), you have to wonder about what they're going for.

Edited January 10, 201312 yr by EricMontreal22

Yes, I'd agree with that. To be honest I don't want any more gay characters on soaps, because soaps do a terrible job with them, but I don't mind the idea if the story is there. .

At the moment soaps do a terrible job with the majority of new to the canvas youth characters, gay or straight...

Yes I keep reading by a certain few Branco hyped trolls that Noah should be hooked up with Rafe(I don't even know he exists on the show anymore).

Or that Morgan needs to come back to GH as gay and hook up with Felix.

This really annoys me--but I have to say bringing Morgan on as gay, or better Lucas (I think that was his name) who *is* gay does make some sense, simply because having a token gay character on the canvas of a soap does leave him in a basically eternal supporting role. On the other hand having two gays on a soap who are bound to pair up cuz there's no one else (except maybe a day player) is not much better, and it's gonna be a long time till we see more than that. While I do see why having bisexual characters, particularly as written in the current state of soaps is problematic, it would at least add a bit more interest.

One reason I like the underated Kevin Sheffield storyline on AMC is that, while it was obvious they weren't ready to have him in a serious romance (I know he dated some random waiter), and it was largely about his coming out--they did still manage, within the parameters they were allowed by the networks (and apparently it was a story ABC was very worried about) to deal with more than just his parents not accepting him by doing the "deprogramming" story, etc. That may be a bit dated now (though it seems to be back in the news for some awful reason) and probably wouldn't be allowed by current daytime execs, but it did at least take the story in a different, more interesting direction. (which is, I am sure, what Frank Valentini thought Dena Higley was doing when he got so righteous about people disapproving of her making Daniel Coulson a psycho gay serial killer...)

One reason I like the underated Kevin Sheffield storyline on AMC is that, while it was obvious they weren't ready to have him in a serious romance (I know he dated some random waiter), and it was largely about his coming out--they did still manage, within the parameters they were allowed by the networks (and apparently it was a story ABC was very worried about) to deal with more than just his parents not accepting him by doing the "deprogramming" story, etc. That may be a bit dated now (though it seems to be back in the news for some awful reason) and probably wouldn't be allowed by current daytime execs, but it did at least take the story in a different, more interesting direction. (which is, I am sure, what Frank Valentini thought Dena Higley was doing when he got so righteous about people disapproving of her making Daniel Coulson a psycho gay serial killer...)

When you put it that way, it seems like the portrayal of gay characters has followed the same trajectory as the portrayal of black characters. Even though the "numbers" have gotten better, the writing has fallen in quality.

On the whole "so-and-so should be gay" phenomenon, I think of all the times somebody wanted Kevin Sheffield to come back to Pine Valley just like they wanted Billy Douglas to return to Llanview. Then of course there's the mythical Gay C.J. Roberts who was always just about to return to OLTL.

I was one of those (who wanted Kevin back...) But I get what you're saying. Still, at least Broderick's team made some slow attempts to integrate him into the canvas--his friendship with Kelsey (which was very realistic IMHO even her inevitable crush), being an honourary Cortland, going to PVU, and sticking around for over a year (I think Michael Delaney's cute doctor boyfriend disappeared soon after he died... Chris? Daniel McDonald who played him was a Broadway actor who died way too young of a brain tumour). Billy of course was groundbreaking--and made me a regular OLTL watcher at the age of 12 when I saw an add for his storyline during AMC one day--and the network prob wanted him off straight away, but there wasn't much reason for him to stick around or come back really.

But yeah, I think the problem is probably true of minorities in general. At least now soaps are less afraid now to pair couples up interacially, so it's not quite as limited, but... (though this sometimes seems to be reverting too as soaps have increasing difficulty doing anything execs see as even slightly controversial)

Has ANYONE--a writer, an actor, ANYONE--ever actually said that CJ was meant to be gay or is that just some fanfic thought that somehow took a huge life of its own? I mean I do buy the fact that Tomlin or someone initially wanted Rex to be a biexual con artist--the scenes with him eyeing Seth, etc, made it seem obvious they at least briefly thought about it, but... CJ...

Edited January 11, 201312 yr by EricMontreal22

I think there was far more potential in bringing back a recast Billy (especially if Joey was around) than CJ. CJ always seemed like some type of generic fanfic idea, aren't we clever for having someone who was Tina and Cord's son, even though this is meaningless, since Tina and Cord will barely ever appear.

Has ANYONE--a writer, an actor, ANYONE--ever actually said that CJ was meant to be gay or is that just some fanfic thought that somehow took a huge life of its own? I mean I do buy the fact that Tomlin or someone initially wanted Rex to be a biexual con artist--the scenes with him eyeing Seth, etc, made it seem obvious they at least briefly thought about it, but... CJ...

I think CJ became a sort of unicorn. He was whatever somebody wished him to be. I always shook my head at the calls for CJ to return because the character of Sarah was such a repeated failure. Just imagine the male version of "Flash."

The worst was when people kept saying that deadly dull Cutter should be CJ. Yes, because there's nothing better than having CJ as trying to rape his mentally ill cousin.

I think CJ became a sort of unicorn. He was whatever somebody wished him to be. I always shook my head at the calls for CJ to return because the character of Sarah was such a repeated failure. Just imagine the male version of "Flash."

CJ was best left to some writer of the PP future who could potentially do something interesting with him. OLTL males on the whole were rather generic and redundant during the show's final years. I imagine a guy somewhere between Jared/Cutter and Joey (the Tina and the Cord in him)

Edited January 11, 201312 yr by SFK

The worst was when people kept saying that deadly dull Cutter should be CJ. Yes, because there's nothing better than having CJ as trying to rape his mentally ill cousin.

People said the actor should have been brought in as CJ. Once he was brought in as Cutter, that kind of made things null and void

I think people were saying he should still be revealed as CJ even after he'd been Cutter for a while.

I think there was far more potential in bringing back a recast Billy (especially if Joey was around) than CJ. CJ always seemed like some type of generic fanfic idea, aren't we clever for having someone who was Tina and Cord's son, even though this is meaningless, since Tina and Cord will barely ever appear.

If Joey were on at the time, it could make some sense.

As to your second point--isn't that how a ton of soap writing has been done the past decade?

If Joey were on at the time, it could make some sense.

As to your second point--isn't that how a ton of soap writing has been done the past decade?

Yes. It's cheap-ass fanfic writing. And it never works. What a twist - you're Eileen Siegel's second cousin. We still don't care.

CJ was best left to some writer of the PP future who could potentially do something interesting with him. OLTL males on the whole were rather generic and redundant during the show's final years. I imagine a guy somewhere between Jared/Cutter and Joey (the Tina and the Cord in him)

Right, the last thing people needed was another typical guy that age on the canvas.

Wasn't Paul originally meant to be (when he was played by that horrible actor who had the hideous scene on AMC drunk with Babe) gay and CJ's navy lover or something? Surely that was all fan speculation as well?

Yes. It's cheap-ass fanfic writing. And it never works. What a twist - you're Eileen Siegel's second cousin. We still don't care.

But look! It shows that they know their soap history and are integrating new characters to the canvas so that we HAVE to care!

Yes. It's cheap-ass fanfic writing. And it never works. What a twist - you're Eileen Siegel's second cousin. We still don't care.

This right here. I'm so tired of writers trying to get me to like newbies their new pets.