Y&R: Coming Out Party

The coming out process for Philip Chancellor III continued on today's The Young and the Restless. Last week, he came out to his 'widow' Nina and I was looking forward to seeing her reaction, beyond the initial moment of shock. Sadly, though, we picked up with the story after the fact and Nina already seems to be more or less okay with things. In today's episode, she stood by Philip like a supportive friend and I have to admit, I feel a bit cheated out of a good scene or two!

At any rate, on today's show Nina let slip to Philip's mother Jill and his... well, Katherine is his late father's widow and a sort of secondary mother figure to him, I guess you could say. Anyway, Nina let slip that there were circumstances that the two of them didn't know yet about him faking his death, but wouldn't elaborate further, saying it was Philip's story to tell.

Katherine, who'd had a mini stroke when Philip showed up alive after twenty years, was being released from the hospital, so Nina headed to the Chancellor mansion ahead of her and Jill and told Philip that he had to tell them the truth.

Philip didn't think the truth would help all that much and sarcastically asked Nina if knowing had brought her any peace. Nina said it had helped her to understand that things were more complicated than she'd thought.

Jill and Katherine returned at that point and Nina left Philip no choice in the matter when she asked them if they'd like to sit down and hear the full story of why Philip spiraled out of control twenty years ago.

Jill asked her son to please explain whatever it was that would help them accept what he'd done and Philip wondered if they could possibly imagine anything that would really make it okay. Jill said she just wanted to hear what he had to say and Philip wryly told her that she wouldn't want to hear this.

Nina: Philip, will you just stop this? All right, it's no big deal. Just tell them. You owe them that much.

Katherine: Nina, it's more of the same. Now, he went away and left us to believe that he was dead. And now he's taunting us with some sort of secret. You know, I've had enough of your games young man-

Philip: I was never gonna be the man that you wanted me to be! I would never make you happy. I wasn't going to be the son or the heir that you wanted because Philip Chancellor III couldn't possibly be gay!

Katherine looked shocked, but it was the look on Jill's face that was truly priceless, as was the inflection she used when she responded with the single word "Gay?"

Philip explained that his sexuality was a big part of the reason that he'd left and then sarcastically asked if he was magically forgiven now that they knew he was gay.

Jill: I just don't understand how this could be. I mean, how could you have hidden this from us? Why would you want to?

Philip: It was the late 80's and I was young. I was trapped in who I was supposed to be, who I was pretending to be...

Katherine pointed out that he'd had a child with Nina and Philip explained that they'd had sex on a night in which he was drunk enough to believe that he could be who he was expected to be. Katherine realized that his drinking had been to cover up all his deceit and Jill quickly corrected her, saying it was confusion, not deceit.

Philip: I wasn't confused about being gay. I knew who I was. And I knew that I had to hide it, being a Chancellor.

Katherine: For Heaven's sake, we're not bumpkins Philip! I mean, you could have trusted us!

Philip: You want to believe that you would have been fine with it, I know you do. But you wouldn't have been. It was a different time. Genoa City is conservative. No, no, you would not have been okay with it. If I'd stayed here, it wouldn't have worked.

At that point, Nina brought up Christine, the woman that Philip had supposedly been in love with when Nina trapped him into marriage. Philip explained that loving Christine had been his last attempt to prove that he could be who he was expected to be, but there had come a point when he couldn't ignore that he wanted to be with a man.

Jill: Honey, did you have... was there ever anyone in your life?

Philip: A lover? No. No one. Every day I ached with loneliness. I couldn't have survived it. As long as I stayed here, I had no life.

Katherine asked why Philip hadn't just moved away. Interestingly, that question was left unanswered as the topic shifted to why Philip had sent Cane in his place all these years later. Moving away, of course, is the option that many LGBT people in Philip's situation end up taking and I would have been interested to hear them explain why Philip didn't just do that himself. The real reason, of course, is that this is a soap and when he left twenty years ago, the character was meant to actually be dead! Still, I'd have liked to see what reason Philip had for not just heading to New York or San Francisco or, with his money, any city in the world!

Jill: Katherine is right. You were punishing us, and not for anything we did. You just assumed we would reject you.

Philip: Some things never change! You know, I'm telling you how I felt and you're telling me that this is wrong. It's all about you!... I didn't leave because I wanted to leave, I left because I was forced to leave, because I couldn't be what you guys wanted. I knew that I didn't fit in here. I wasn't the son, I wasn't the father, I wasn't the husband that you guys wanted. I was just too unsure, I was no good to this family.

Katherine: You shut us out, not the other way around.

Jill: You didn't even give us a chance!

Katherine: Now come on, be honest. Why can't you be honest? If you'd have told us, you could have helped us learn to accept who you were. You could have! You took the coward's way out young man, that's what you did.

That really gets to the heart of the matter. So many young LGBT people face this decision (minus the faking of their deaths, of course!). What Philip has described is a situation that many closeted people over the years have faced and are still facing today. Being caught between the expectations of your family and community and wanting to be the person you really are, the one who is so different from what's expected.

Many LGBT people choose a Philip like option, of starting over somewhere else, somewhere more accepting. Others stay trapped in a life that isn't really what they want. More and more these days, though, the third option is coming out to your family and changing their expectations, as Katherine pointed out that Philip himself could have done.

That's far easier said than done in many cases, of course. I really hope this story is making some of the show's viewers think about their own expectations towards their children and how their assumptions may be causing them pain.

As far as Philip goes, it's hard to feel the sympathy for him that we're supposed to feel, mostly because what he did was so extreme, but also because he's not coming across as genuinely feeling all that sorry about it. True, his sarcasm about the truth making him magically forgiven shows us that he probably does know how wrong he was, but actions speak louder than words and nothing I'm seeing is making it seem like he's all that sorry. He's still blaming his family for forcing him to fake his death.

It would be a lot easier if we could get a better sense of just how tortured he was back then, and how haunted he's been ever since by what he did to his family. I'm hoping we're heading for a scene when Philip realizes that he should have at least given his family a chance. I wish he'd come back feeling that way, after twenty years to think it over, because right now he's coming across more like a selfish jerk than anything else.

Still, this is a very interesting story so far and there should be a lot of good stuff to come, what with Philip still having a son to come out to at some point.

Kish: Picture of the Past

Today's Kish scenes on One Life to Live picked up right where last Friday's left off, with Cristian pressing Kyle for information about Fish: how exactly was Fish using Layla? Kyle would only say that Fish wasn't the guy that he appeared to be and that he's not always honest. Cristian asked what exactly Fish lied about, does he have ten women on the side?

Kyle assured Cristian that he didn't have to worry about that and said that everything he knew about Fish was from when they were undergrads. Whatever Oliver was into now was his own business. Cristian asked Kyle what he'd tell Layla if she was a friend of his and Kyle admitted that he'd tell any woman he cared about not to get involved with Fish.

After Cristian left, Kyle took an old picture of himself and Fish together in their college days out of his wallet and stared at it in true lovesick fashion, which I found to be completely endearing.

That's how Roxy found him and, after she'd accused him of stealing some blood for Stacy and he'd told her he was innocent (which he is, for a change), she noted his morose demeanor and decided he was mooning over a girl. Until, that is, she snatched the picture and caught a glimpse of Fish. Not that she particularly cared, shouting after Kyle as he made for the door that whatever floated his boat was fine.

Meanwhile, Fish and Layla had returned from their date and thought they'd have the place to themselves since Cristian was supposed to close down Capricorn at 2 a.m. They started making out in the kitchen, but Fish pulled back and said that he couldn't go through with it. He hemmed and hawed a bit but ended up saying, more or less, that he cared too much for Layla to hook up with her on the first date.

Layla thought that was sweet, but told him it didn't matter and they resumed their foreplay. When Cristian returned home early, having gotten someone else to cover for him at Capricorn, he found the two of them getting hot and heavy on the couch. Honestly, no sex on the couch should be the first ground rule when sharing an apartment!

Anyway, Layla quickly headed for her room and Cristian wasted no time in telling Fish that he'd run into Kyle Lewis and that Kyle had told him that Oliver was using Layla, and that he wasn't the guy he seemed to be. Fish assured Cristian that Kyle hadn't been his friend since college and that he wasn't a trustworthy person, that he'd recently tried to blackmail Natalie Buchanan and her husband. As for him not being the guy he seemed, Fish lamely tried to play that off by saying that everyone in college had seen him as a computer geek who didn't know how to have a good time.

Maybe, Fish suggested, Kyle wanted Cristian to warn Layla away from Fish so that Kyle could try and get Layla himself. Cristian didn't seem to really buy that idea, but left it alone when Layla returned to the living room.

Once Cristian had gone to bed, Layla asked Fish if they should continue in her room or his, but Fish said that it was late and reminded her that she had to get up early for her first day at the station. Layla asked for a rain check and Fish agreed, offering a handshake in his own adorkable fashion, but Layla moved in for a kiss instead, just in time for Cristian to walk back in and catch them once again.

Another pretty good episode, all in all.

Seeing Fish scramble to explain Kyle's warnings was a bit unsettling, just because Fish has always been written as a pretty honest character. Then again, the person he's truly lying to the most is himself and living in the closet forces a person to be a liar, whether they are one by nature or not.

I think it's completely sweet that Kyle has been carrying around a picture of himself with Fish for all these years and it says a lot about him as a character. He's clearly been carrying a big torch for his former frat brother all this time and that just makes him all the more appealing to me.

I can't wait to see what happens next with these two!

Kish: A Mild Case of Gay Panic

Today was my favorite of all days, a Kish day on One Life to Live. Their scenes began with Fish and Layla on another date, this time at the fancy Palace Hotel. Layla was surprised that Fish could afford the place on a cop's salary, but Fish told her they had something to celebrate. Before he could tell her exactly what that was, though, she took a phone call from Cristian, who asked her if she wanted to stop by his family's diner, The Buenos Dias, for dinner. Layla, of course, wasted no time in telling him that she was out with Fish.

Layla and Fish had just been seated but hadn't even ordered yet when Cristian called Layla back, on the pretext of telling her that she needed to buy more orange juice because she'd finished the last of it that morning. While Cristian was talking, Kyle came into the Buenos Dias and overheard him say something about Layla being on a date with Fish.

Kyle asked if Cristian meant Oliver Fish and Cristian explained that Fish was his roommate and that he was dating his other roommate. Kyle said he'd seen them together at Capricorn and that Layla seemed sweet. "Too bad it's not going to work out."

That, of course, peaked Cristian's interest and he asked what Kyle meant. Kyle tried to cover by saying that he just meant it wouldn't work because of the whole roommate thing, but Cristian said that if there was anything he needed to know about Fish, Kyle should tell him. Kyle said that Fish was a great guy and that there was nothing Cristian needed to know that he wouldn't find out eventually.

Cristian still wouldn't relent, though, and asked if Fish was bad news for Layla. Kyle admitted that she could end up getting hurt and Cristian demanded to know what that meant. Was Fish abusive? As if! I can barely picture the adorable Fish busting a perp for jaywalking, let alone beating a woman! Kyle quickly squashed that idea but did tell Cristian that Fish was using Layla.

Back at the Palace Hotel, Fish ordered champagne from a flirty waiter who was practically devouring Oliver with his eyes, and told Layla that they were celebrating her new job: John McBain had approved her application to be his assistant.

Layla was thrilled, of course, and after they'd toasted her new job she raised a glass to Fish for being a guy 'cute enough and comfortable with himself enough not to care who's checking him out.'

Fish was confused, but after Layla told him that the waiter was into him he insisted that the guy was just being friendly. Layla rather hilariously informed Fish that she has impeccable gaydar and can always tell when someone is gay. She assured her date that the waiter was crushing on him (and who could blame him?).

Oliver was completely unsettled by this, so much so that Layla brought it up again over their soup, noting that it was flattering to be noticed by men and women. Fish replied that being noticed by a hot girl was one thing, but...

Layla told him that getting uptight about these things is not hot and that just because the waiter is gay doesn't mean Fish is gay. Oliver quickly changed the subject, suggesting they leave the restaurant. Layla pointed out that they hadn't had their main course and Oliver said that, whether it was because of the champagne or because she was so beautiful, he wanted to finish their date back at their place.

Layla joked she wasn't easy and that a bottle of champagne would only get him to first base, maybe second. Could he handle that? Fish told her that he could and when her back was turned he exchanged a glance with the waiter and gave him an awkward little wave, which may have just been his way of asking for their check, but still seemed full of subtext.

This was another really good episode, even though Kyle and Fish didn't actually have any scenes together. They're continuing to show us just how uncomfortable Fish feels about his sexuality and how hard he's working to try and prove to himself that he's straight.

I also like that Layla and Cristian are so clearly into each other that Fish isn't going to end up breaking her heart when he finally accepts who he is. We've seen that story play out on other shows, from Germany's Verboten Liebe (Christian of Christan and Ollie had a girlfriend when he fell for Ollie, and Ulli of Tom and Ulli did as well on the same show ten years before that) to As the World Turns (Noah was with Maddie when he fell for Luke) and even Dawson's Creek (Jack was with Joey when he came out, not that he had a boyfriend to be with after that!). I'm glad OLTL is going a different route.

Nuke Day: Zoom In As They Burn the Past to the Ground

Today's As the World Turns opened with a close up of Luke's hand on top of Noah's as they sat together at Java. Luke was asking Noah if he was sure that he was ready for the two of them to move in together, since the big day has finally arrived! I guess summer doesn't officially start in Oakdale until you've faced down the first psycho of the season?

Noah assured Luke that he was ready, but Luke persisted in pressing Noah to make sure that he was certain, that he didn't need more time to deal with the Colonel Mayer situation first. The scene turned downright cute when Noah asked if Luke had been watching Dr. Phil and Luke replied "No! No. A little bit." The two then joked around about how Luke would freak out if Noah actually admitted to having second thoughts.

Noah told Luke he was going to go back to his dorm room to get the rest of his stuff and asked him to meet him back at Java in an hour. Luke realized that their moving in together was actually going to happen and the two shared a really nice moment of happiness together, staring into each others eyes.

Sometimes, when I'm hating this show with a bitter passion, a moment like that makes me remember why I love Luke & Noah so much. If only they could deal with more realistic problems and issues! I know soaps are always going to be a bit over the top, and that's why I love them, but the trick to good soap stories has always been to ground things in as much reality as possible, to have characters face real life issues in addition to the occasional high drama story. That doesn't happen on this show. It's more like a bad parody of a soap opera, the sort of thing that non soap fans imagine all soaps to be.

After leaving Noah, Luke headed for the foundation office, where Damian and Lily were working, and hit them up for $500 so that he could pay the movers. Luke really is a trust fund baby, and neither Damian nor Lily batted an eye at the request before Lily handed over the cash.

When Luke left and Lily commented on how happy he seemed, Damian remarked that finding true love will have that effect. Lily marveled at how far Damian had come in accepting Luke's sexuality. Damian admitted that he still didn't fully understand it, but knowing Noah helped and the trick was to change with the times. Lily told Damian that she was really glad he'd come back into Luke's life.

Noah, meanwhile, was leaving his dorm room with a box when a random college guy stopped to say goodbye to him (they're just moving out of the dorms in July?) and rather oddly informed Noah that the top flap on the box he was carrying was open, as if Noah couldn't see that for himself. Apparently, though, he couldn't, because he thanked the helpful hunk and then set the box down to fix the flap.

While he was doing so he caught sight of Colonel Mayer's purple heart medal and had a little freak out before running off and leaving the box in the middle of the hall. This was followed by a scene where Lily and Damian discussed how young the guys were to be settling down and Lily noted that she felt okay about it because Noah was a rock, that he'd had to be with all he'd dealt with growing up with his father.

Luke waited impatiently at Java for all of ten seconds before he headed for Noah's dorm room and found it empty, with the box of Colonel Mayer's stuff abandoned in the hall. Noah going missing usually equals a kidnapping, of course, so Luke immediately called Lily and Damian.

Damian had the bright idea to check the abandoned army base where Colonel Mayer had been hiding out, and that was where Luke & Damian found Noah, who was having trouble dealing with sending his father to prison and with letting go of all the issues he had with dear old dad. Noah told Luke & Damian that the Colonel was always there, in his head, and Damian decided that he had the perfect solution for Noah.

The three of them (and Lily, whom Damian called to join them for no reason at all) headed to the Snyder pond, where they built a bonfire on a little raft and Noah let go of everything in true Viking fashion, throwing all of his father's stuff into the flames, including the movie he'd been making, and then setting it adrift.

As the guys watched Noah's daddy issues burn, Mayer wondered what he was going to do for his senior project now that he'd destroyed his film. This, of course, should lead nicely into the introduction of Noah's gay film school advisor.

So, the guys are finally going to be living together! I know I've said this more than once since the idea first came up last Spring, but we'd better actually get to see their apartment. It's never a good sign on a soap when a character doesn't actually have an onscreen residence.

Y&R: Nikki Talks; Plus a Great Michael Muhney Interview

On today's episode of The Young and the Restless, Rafe was nowhere to be seen and Adam was engaged in plotting against Ashley, but Nikki Newman was still focused on the kiss she'd walked in on between the two in yesterday's episode. Who can blame her, really? The image would have been burned in my mind as well, had I actually seen it.

Nikki headed to the hospital, where the family is keeping vigil while Victor & Nikki's young granddaughter is in a coma, and promptly spilled the beans to her daughter, Victoria, though she did at least make her promise first that she wouldn't say anything to Victor or to her brother Nick.

Victoria was shocked to hear that her half brother had been seen making out with Rafe, but they quickly decided that it made sense that Adam was gay: maybe that's why he kept everyone at distance, emotionally speaking. The two women agreed that being the secretly gay son of Victor Newman must put an awful lot of pressure on Adam.

Nikki noted that while Victor is all for diversity elsewhere, it doesn't apply to his own family. Victoria agreed, saying that Victor expected his family members to be strong, successful, and married with at least two children, one of them preferably male. And God help the male Newman who isn't moulded in Victor's own image. Nikki said that even her straight son, Nick, has suffered terribly in trying to live up to Victor's expectations of him. What must it be like for secretly gay Adam, then?

Victoria wondered if Heather, who has been involved with Adam on and off for over a year, knows the truth. Nikki had another concern: Adam was one of the suspects in the gaslighting of Ashley. What if he was using Rafe and it ended up hurting Estella's case?

With that in mind, Nikki decided that she might have to tell Victor after all, for Estella's sake. When Nikki ran into Heather (who happens to be the district attorney) she asked her, hypothetically speaking, what someone should do if they knew that a lawyer was romantically involved with another suspect in the crime their client was accused of.

Heather told Nikki that telling the truth was usually the best policy and Nikki headed off to tell Victor that his son is into guys. Of course, they were interrupted by a phone call before she could actually out Adam, so I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens.

Meanwhile, AfterElton has a fantastic interview with Adam's portrayer, Michael Muhney. Until reading this interview, I knew very little about Muhney other than that I was really enjoying his performance as Adam. Now, having read this interview, I'd have to call myself a fan.

I really enjoyed his insights into the character of Adam and the whole situation with Rafe, including his thoughts about Adam questioning his own sexuality after sleeping with his lawyer:

AE: Now, I hadn't seen it this way, but you said something that made me wonder if you might see if differently: Is Adam sort of curious about this experience, or was this just something he did just because he needed to do it to further his schemes?
MM: I think primarily what makes him tick is self-preservation, so yes, first and foremost, the initial reasoning for doing anything is "How am I going to get out of this scot-free?" It's like act now, think about it later. He doesn't put his emotions first, he puts his motives first.

However, upon doing something like that, I feel as though wouldn't anybody question yourself? Even if the answer to yourself is, "No. No I'm not," aren't you going to at least question it?

Einstein said, "There's no such thing as a stupid question, only stupid answers." He can ask any question he wants, and question that moment as deeply as he might want, and wonder why he did that and why he followed through all the way. Depending on how he can come up with an answer, that's how he's going to be able to handle that situation and digest it and move forward.

I think it would be a natural process to question a situation like that, questioning your sexuality, questioning just how detestable and despicable of a person are you for trying to fool other people into thinking you're someone that you're not. I think if you're not a sociopath, you're gonna question things.

You really should read the whole interview. Michael talks about what's being shown onscreen and leaving things up to the viewer's imagination, he talks about working with Yani Gellman, and even mentions working with Cheyenne Jackson on a pilot, and how Cheyenne clued Michael in about his gay fan base from his role on Veronica Mars.

Honestly, I'd quote the whole interview if I could!

Aiming for the Iceberg

Maybe we should file this one under 'Be careful what you wish for'. It has been announced that Guiding Light co-head writer David Kreizman will be joining Jean Passanante as co-Head writer of As the World Turns. Now, I've been wanting fresh blood in the show's writing department for a long time and bringing in a co-head writer is often a way of phasing out the person who currently has that job.

So, I should be happy. However, I know that Guiding Light fans feel much the same way about David Kreizman that ATWT fans feel about Passanante: that he basically destroyed their show. Instead of being a good thing, the teaming up of these two particular writers may be the final nail in the coffin for As the World Turns.

The statement from the equally awful Executive Producer of ATWT didn't make me feel much better:

"I am thrilled that Dave and Jean will make up the new head writing team," said ATWT executive producer Chris Goutman in a statement. "Both writers have an incredible respect for the show's rich history and I am confident this partnership will generate the exciting, character-based stories for which ATWT is known."

You have to wonder, does Goutman know that he's full of shit or is he actually just that deluded? Character based stories?! ATWT hasn't been know for those in a very long time, and certainly not during Passanante's reign of terror. Respect for history? If you're trying to make us laugh, that particular joke is too painful to ever be amusing, Gouty.

Rafe & Adam: Caught!

Rafe & Adam's story continued today on The Young and the Restless. The show started with Rafe being summoned by Adam's father, Victor. Rafe was more than a little surprised when Victor wanted to talk about 'what happened to Adam'. Rafe thought they were talking about all the hot sex that he'd had with Adam the other day (and flashed back to the very sexy thumb on lower lip moment), but Victor was actually talking about something completely different.

Adam recently told Victor that he was attacked by some men in prison who'd stuck a hypodermic needle in his eyes. This lie, of course, was to cover up the fact that Adam has been doing that to himself to induce temporary blindness. Victor wanted Rafe to find out exactly who'd attacked Adam so that he could make them pay.

Meanwhile, Adam was alone in his room, practicing his break up speech for Rafe. He was hitting all the right notes, too: what happened between them caught him off guard, and while he'd enjoyed it, he'd been thinking and it's just not who he is. He's sorry for misleading Rafe but it just can't happen again. He even threw in a 'I hope we can still be friends' for good measure.

Rafe showed up to talk, but before Adam could even begin his well rehearsed speech, his lawyer/lover asked him about the hypodermic needle attack. Rafe found it very odd that Adam hadn't been afraid to file reports when he was beaten and harassed in prison, and had even named his attackers, yet had never mentioned anything about a needle.

Adam claimed that he was afraid, that the guards had forced him to file the beating reports in the first place and he hadn't wanted to make it worse by reporting the men for having a hypodermic.

Rafe didn't buy the story. He told Adam he'd been around many prisons in his capacity as a lawyer and guards didn't force inmates to file reports. The story just didn't make any sense unless Adam was hiding something.

Adam tried to shift gears by asking that they not talk about this. He claimed that he didn't like to focus on this, especially not when he was so happy:

Adam: Listen Rafe, ever since the last time you were here I've been thinking about that non stop and when you called and said you were coming over, I got really excited.

At that point, Adam put his hands on Rafe's shoulders and moved in for a kiss, but Rafe pulled back and asked just how stupid Adam thought he was? Rafe called him on trying to sweet talk his way out of answering his questions.

Adam: God, I really am stupid. To think that I was hoping-

Rafe: What?

Adam: Forget it.

Rafe: Tell me.

Adam: What happened between us, Rafe, I thought I had found someone that I could be me with. To think that you're accusing me of using that is-

Rafe: No, I was just-

Adam: I was scared. Have you ever been scared? That's why I didn't put it in the report. These people could have killed me. Which is nothing compared to what you just did.

Rafe: Adam, I'm not trying to-

Adam: Rafe, what I did with you, I had never done with anyone before. I thought that what we shared- you know, you should probably just leave. I mean it, get out.

Rafe turned towards the door, but then stopped and said Adam's name in a much softer tone of voice. While staring into Adam's eyes, he placed his hand on Adam's and then slowly ran it up his arm until he reached his chest and grabbed a fistful of Adam's T-shirt to pull him into a kiss. Once again, HOT! Yani Gellman and Michael Muhney are managing to make this a very steamy affair, even though the show isn't letting them actually do all that much onscreen.

Now, this is where I get a bit upset. What do they think this is, As the World Turns circa Christmas 2007? Or Melrose Place circa 1993? They must, because they panned away from the kiss before Rafe and Adam's lips ever met.

Come on, Y&R, if you want to tell a gay story these days you cannot shy away from the kisses! That will only upset the fans and make the whole story more about your cowardice than good story telling.

Anyway, it was at that moment that Nikki Newman, ex-wife of Victor and one of Adam's biggest detractors, opened the door. While Nikki got to see the two hunks kissing, we as the audience only saw Adam's lower back with Rafe's arms wrapped around it. Nikki got a nice long eyeful and then closed the door without being noticed by the guys.

Well, Adam is definitely good. He knows exactly what to say to push Rafe's buttons. I was glad that Rafe called him on his obvious attempt to get out of answering his questions, but not surprised when he fell for Adam's next gambit. I mean, honestly, what guy wouldn't melt when hearing Adam say those words?

Now that Nikki has seen the kiss (I think it would have been even better if she'd walked in and caught them in bed, in the throes of passion), this little affair isn't going to stay quiet for long. It will be interesting to see how Adam deals with other people knowing. He can't tell the truth without exposing his other secrets, so will he have to pretend to be bisexual to everyone he knows?

It will also be interesting to see how Victor Newman deals with the news that his son has been with another man. Something tells me he won't exactly be understanding.

Coming Out on Y&R

I thought all of Tuesday's soaps had been pre-empted by the coverage of the Michael Jackson memorial service, but I just discovered that my local CBS station did air The Young and the Restless. Luckily for me, they aired it during As The World Turns' regular time slot, so my Tivo recorded it.

Tuesday was a pretty big day on the show: another character came out of the closet as gay, bringing the grand total of current LGBT roles on daytime soaps to an all time high of eight characters spread out over four soaps. This doesn't include Y&R's Adam, who may or may not be bisexual, even if he is sleeping with Rafe. When Forbes March debuts on ATWT, the number will go up to nine, though of course we'll be losing Guiding Light's Olivia and Natalia in September.

The latest gay character is none other than Philip Chancellor III, played by openly gay actor Thom Bierdz, and on Tuesday's show he came out to his 'widow', Nina.

First, some background. Back in the late 80's, Philip was a wealthy young alcoholic who'd been more or less trapped into marriage by Nina, whom he'd gotten pregnant while he was drunk. He was also facing all the pressures of being an heir to the Chancellor fortune while dealing with his personal demons.

Then, twenty years ago, Philip lost his life in a drunk driving accident, leaving behind a grieving family that included his wife and his young son, Philip Chancellor IV.

Flash forward to a few years ago, when Philip's family learned that there had been a baby switch. The Philip they'd known, loved and lost hadn't been the real Philip Chancellor III. It turned out that a man named Cane, who'd been raised in Australia, was the real Philip. In the years since, he's been living in Genoa City with his long lost family.

Recently, though, Philip's widow Nina returned to town and began asking questions and digging into Cane's story. Before long, Nina was having Philip's grave exhumed and it turned out that his coffin was filled with sandbags. Testing soon proved that there had never even been a body in the coffin to begin with.

Cane ended up taking another DNA test to prove that he was the real Philip, but he switched his fresh vial of blood with one he'd taken from a freezer. The test proved that the blood was from the son of Philip's mother Jill, but further testing revealed that the blood had been frozen.

In true soap fashion, this all lead to a confrontation on last Friday's episode. Nina got Cane to finally admit in front of everyone that he wasn't Jill's son and when Katherine Chancellor demanded to know how he could do this to people who'd shown him nothing but kindness, a voice from off camera called out that Cane hadn't done it- "I did." It was, of course, Philip Chancellor III speaking, in one of those over the top but delicious Friday cliffhanger moments.

On Monday, Philip explained to his family how the 'accident' he'd been in twenty years ago was no accident at all: he'd tried to kill himself. When it hadn't worked, he'd used his fortune to fake his death so that he could escape the life he felt so trapped in and had started over again in Australia.

Feeling guilty years later, he'd tried to heal the family he left behind by concocting the baby switch story and sending them Cane, a good man who could be the Philip Chancellor he himself was never able to be.

Tuesday's show saw Nina and Philip having it out, with Nina demanding to know how Philip could just leave her and their son behind to suffer, to go on believing he was dead. Philip told Nina that if he'd loved her and their child less, he could have stayed, but as it was he just couldn't bear to stay and see them be so let down by him.

Nina: ... What was so awful that you couldn't talk to us about it?

Philip: Back then, I couldn't have been honest with you.

Nina: Why?

Philip: I felt ashamed.

Nina: And you thought that I wouldn't understand shame?

Philip: Not mine.

Nina: Because of the drinking?

Philip: No, the drinking, that was just a symptom. That wasn't the cause of it.

Nina: Well then what? You said that you felt like you were letting us down, but you weren't.

Philip: Oh, I knew what was expected of me. I did what was expected, but I was acting a part.

Nina: You felt trapped?

Philip: Yeah.

Nina: In the marriage?

Philip: In my own skin. That's what you guys have to understand. Before anything else, this is not about you, it's not about Mom, it's not about Katherine, this is about me. It's about the truth that I've been hiding all this time.

Nina: What truth?

Philip: I'm gay. I've always been gay.

That's where we left things, with Nina's mouth hanging open in shock. I can't wait to see how she deals with the news, and how the rest of Philip's family deals with this revelation on top of having him turn up alive after twenty years.

It will also be very interesting to see how the son he doesn't really know, Philip IV (soon to be played by John Driscoll), takes the news. Philip IV is currently in the military and it will be fascinating to see a parent come out to their child on daytime TV for a change! I've wished for such a story before, with an older gay character instead of a teen or twenty something. It makes it even more interesting to have it be a character that the audience knew twenty years ago.

Where will things go for Philip from here? Will he stick around, find a love interest? The rumor that he'll be paired with Rafe certainly seems more likely now than it did before he came out.

Most of all, I love this sudden explosion of gay characters on the soaps! I think we owe it all to the popularity of Luke & Noah with fans. I think it really showed the powers that be that daytime audiences would be very open to LGBT stories and romances.

Of course, it didn't fully start with Luke and Noah, either. There would have been no Luke without All My Children's Bianca paving the way, and there were several minor gay characters on the soaps over the years leading up to her, the first major LGBT character from a core family. It has been a long process, but we're finally seeing it start to pay off in a big way.

I just wish Days of Our Lives and The Bold and the Beautiful would get with it! They remain the only two soaps that have never had a major gay character, while General Hospital and All My Children have but are currently LGBT free.

Luke Day: Cake Reunion!

Luke put in a brief appearance on today's As the World Turns. There weren't any Nuke scenes, but we did have a bit of a Cake reunion. Cake, if you don't know, was the fan nickname bestowed upon Casey and Luke during their fake relationship back when Noah was married to Ameera. The only enjoyable thing about that entire endless mess of a storyline was seeing Luke tease Casey about the two of them being a couple. Well, that and Casey yelling "I quit you, Luke!" when he 'ended' things in public!

I digress. Our Cake reunion today took place at Java, where Casey and Luke met up for coffee. Luke explained that Colonel Mayer was being sent to a maximum security prison and that Noah had taken the day off, wanting some time to himself to try and process everything that had happened.

Casey is reluctantly keeping quiet about the fact that Riley Morgan is really his 'dead' brother Adam, since that's what his mother wants. Not even Casey's father, Tom, knows the truth. So, when Luke asked what had happened with that whole situation, Casey covered about Riley's real identity and said that Margo wanted to give Riley a second chance. Then, Casey had the bright idea to have Luke do his dirty work for him.

Casey pointed out that Riley had been involved with Colonel Mayer and played the fear card, planting the worry in Luke's mind that the Colonel may still be planning some sort of abduction of Noah. Luke agreed to tell Tom that Riley wasn't who he claimed to be.

Luke found Tom at the Lakeview and told him that he'd seen a picture of the real Riley Morgan and that it wasn't the guy who was staying at the Hughes house. Not surprisingly, Tom wanted more details, but that was all Luke was able to say, since he'd promised to leave Casey out of it.

That was also the last we saw of Luke today. If you're interested in knowing what happened with Tom, he confronted 'Riley' about not having the right face and Adam covered by showing the burns on his (very yummy) chest and telling Tom he was Riley, but had a new face after being burned in an explosion in Afghanistan.

So, not much for Luke to do today, but Van looked great doing it. I'm very ready for them to bring on Noah's hunky gay film school advisor.

A New Hepburn Exhibit

I don't know if I've ever mentioned it here before or not, but I'm a huge Katharine Hepburn fan. It all started when I was pretty young, maybe 10 or 11, and I saw Bringing Up Baby on American Movie Classics (which actually used to show bona fide classics back then, without commercial interruption! I knew times had changed when I tuned in one evening four or five years ago and they were showing one of the sequels from the Halloween franchise!).

As soon as I saw her in Bringing Up Baby, I became a lifelong fan of Ms. Hepburn, and there were still so many treasures waiting in store for me: The Philadelphia Story, Holiday, and Desk Set, my favorite of her films with Spencer Tracy. That's just the tip of the iceberg, of course. I could probably write all night about which of her films I loved.

Hepburn has been gone for just over six years now, but her work and her legend will likely never die.

The reason I'm bringing her up tonight is that I just read Judy Samelson's article in Playbill about the new exhibit at The New York Library for the Performing Arts. Hepburn's estate turned over all of her papers relating to her work on the stage to the Library and they're now on display there through October 10th.

It sounds like a really interesting exhibit, one that I'd love to see. I'm enough of a fan that I've read just about every biography written about Hepburn and I even bought a second hand copy of the Sotheby's Catalogue for the auction of her estate.

Even if I wasn't such a fan, though, I think an exhibit on her stage career would be fascinating. The films are still accessible, always there to be discovered by new generations of fans, but it's not like there are DVDs out there of her performances on Broadway. They're lost to memory and belong to history, like most of the magic that happens on the stage.

Forbes March On His Latest Role

Over at Advocate.com, they're offering up a guide to daytime TV that is worth reading: Michael Fairman's Soapside column. In the latest issue, Fairman previews an upcoming interview with actor Forbes March. Forbes, formerly of All My Children and One Life to Live, will soon be playing a new gay character on As the World Turns.

Forbes mentions that people have been expressing concern as to how his real life wife is dealing with him playing a gay character, which is of course completely ridiculous and says a lot about the lingering attitudes towards playing gay roles.

He also talks about his take on his latest character's sexuality:

“The whole gay thing was not a big deal to me. I thought it would be a chance to play something interesting. A lot of my friends are gay. I did call them and asked, 'How would you like to see a gay person portrayed on TV'? I know it sort of sounds like a kind of a funny question. The consensus was, 'Please! Don’t do the campy affected thing.' I have some close friends who are gay and I owe them one.”

I can't wait to read the rest of the interview and, God help me, I'm even sort of looking forward to seeing what happens with this third gay character on ATWT. The show is insisting that there won't be anything romantic between this new character and Noah and/or Luke, but Forbes himself had this to say:

“Just because there is another gay character does not mean they are going to be bed-hopping. However, there are three points to a triangle. I assume there will be a triangle, because otherwise I am going to be looking for another job in six months.”

Let's hope something interesting does happen with the character. I've made it abundantly clear that I'm sick of Luke & Noah facing off with a new psycho every month and I'm still waiting for the first all male love triangle on daytime, though at this point One Life to Live or The Young and the Restless may get there first.