One Life to Live OLTL: The Prospect Park Era (old production thread)

[cassadine1991]

i mean that would be hard to ease up on the intimate stuff with AT, because he was 16 and they showed him shirtless three times and he had his own soaphunks profile as soon as those scenes aired

[jfung79]

Indeed, Meredith Hagner was much older (early 20s) than Hazen.

[cassadine1991]

i know... i hate that double standard, I think it's most a US thing, or a network thing, because in Canada and other countries and in primetime, there are teens in gay/lesbian love stories

[cassadine1991]

and yet they did this scene with them, this could've worked for Shane/Jack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KUZbPao1oM

[Khan]

Oh, my God. Please tell me you are kidding about the soaphunks profile. I always felt like that site was borderline porn, but that's going beyond the pale even for them.

[Khan]

And they went ahead with the Parker/Liberty pairing anyway? Really, ATWT?

[cassadine1991]

nope, they have shirtless pics on his personal website http://soaphunks.net/hunk.php?pictag=trisch

yep.... but look Brandon Buddy was older than Kristen Alderson, Lenny Platt was older than Kelley Missal

[Khan]

But KA and KM were "of age" when paired with their respective on-screen love interests, yes? (I have no idea.)

[Vee]

Both.

With a straight story you, according to convention anyway, have more leeway - and even moreso online, obviously - but with a gay or bisexual teen story, particularly kids who looked so young back then (AW in particular looked about 13) I don't care what they do on cable or in film. While I applaud that honesty in those mediums, and it's certainly true kids that age can and do get up to all sorts of [!@#$%^&*] with girls and boys alike, and I do hope the Hulu soaps push the boundaries - I think it would've been very dangerous and more than a little creepy to do a story with any kind of serious physical angle with those two boys at that time. I think the smart thing to do, if they had actually wanted to go there eventually, would've been to hint at it, insinuate it and play up the tension and the unspoken attraction for at least another 6-12 to 18 months before even considering letting them kiss or something. You could've gotten plenty of story in the meantime simply from playing out interpersonal conflicts.

It's a double standard, of course, because we all know what kind of graphic and overtly sexual material they let Genie Francis or Kristen Alderson play on these shows when they were and looked very, very young, among others (I'm not sure Kristen was of age, or Martha Byrne for that matter, and I know Genie Francis wasn't). So maybe it's just me and my prudishness or overcaution. I just think it would've been a very bad idea for them to let those two play out any kind of really intimate material for at least another year or more.

That said, they're older now, so if blood rains from the sky and OLTL ever wants to bring Shane back and go there (I seriously, seriously doubt it) I'd be all for it today.

[cassadine1991]

KA was 16 and KM was like 17

[cassadine1991]

some thought they were kind of doing that, without actually doing it.. I so thought they were going to go that route, but of course after the whole Kish thing.. but I didn't trust RC to write any kind of love story (gay or straight)

there were several times I wanted Jack to just plant one on Shane and get it over with..

yeah.. Austin certainly looks older now, same with Andrew.. so it would give some closure, since I felt we didn't get any closure at all with those two

[Khan]

I agree.

[cassadine1991]

if only there was different HW at the time..

[Khan]

Vee's suggestion is exactly the way I would have played it, had I been head-writing the show. (Now do you see, Vee, why I'd want you to join my mythical writing team, lol?)

[cassadine1991]

i know me too... there are several fan-fictions that did exactly the same thing with them.. Jack feeling remorse with what he's done to Shane, all because he was afraid to admit he had feelings for him