Nuke Sex: A Letdown? Yes & No.

I may have spoken too soon about the departure of Laurence Lau and his character, Brian Wheatly, on As The World Turns! I got an e-mail from Richard at VanandJake.com, who sent me a link to this article about Lau's new play, which included the following information:

Lau, who lives on the west side of Manhattan (Hell's Kitchen), also worked on "One Life to Live" and "As the World Turns" as business exec Brian Wheatly. It began as a three-month storyline, grew into six months and it still won't stop.

"They (ATWT) just called again," he said. "They want to keep stirring that story line a little longer."

Needless to say, I think this is fantastic! There is so much story still to tell where Brian is concerned and I'm glad to know that he (and Lau, of course!) will be back in the near future to continue telling it.

While I'm on the subject of As the World Turns (because I go there so rarely, right?), I wanted to mention that soap writer Tom Casiello, who has a blog that I really enjoy, wrote about Luke & Noah's first time and raised some very good points.

Casiello compared the long build up to the big moment unfavorably with a similar long build up on Days of Our Lives with super couple Jack & Jennifer back in the early 90's. Casiello rightly pointed out that the long build up with Jack & Jennifer was used to develop both characters and get them to the point where they (and the audience) were ready for them to make love to each other for the first time.

Casiello was absolutely right to point out that a similar opportunity was wasted with Luke & Noah. The audience was certainly more than ready by the time it happened, but I see no reason that Luke & Noah couldn't have done it a year ago.

In other words, they didn't take all this time for story reasons, to give us good soap where Luke & Noah had to overcome believable personal obstacles to finally come together. Instead, they just dragged it out for as long as they possibly could for political reasons, worrying about offending people. Casiello also noted that the soap press was well informed in advance before Jack & Jennifer's big moment, but Luke & Noah's first time was snuck in under the radar with none of the press attention that any soap these days direly needs. That, obviously, says a lot about how scared the powers that be were that there would be a conservative outcry if there was any press.

The fault for the long delay surely lies more with the production company and network than with the show's writers, but obviously the writers could have used the extended delay to really develop Luke & Noah's relationship and the characters themselves rather than just throw ridiculous plot points in their path over and over, none of which plausibly explained why these two weren't already making love.

As excited as I was and am that they finally made love, I do wish it had been more romantic. As I said the day it happened, I would have liked to see them in bed together before or after, with their song playing. I would have liked to see them being romantic and in love just before it happened, rather than having another fight.

But I think the fault really lies with soaps in general these days, and certainly As the World Turns in particular. There is no attention to long term story like there was back when Jack & Jennifer were getting together. It's all about the plot twist of the moment, and then it's quickly on to the next plot, even if it means sacrificing characterization in the process. That's probably the biggest factor in why soaps are doing so poorly now in the ratings.

Of course, writing aside, as much as I'd like to think that Luke & Noah could be treated like any other soap super couple, we've seen quite clearly in the past year and a half that there are still a lot of people in power that are too nervous to let that happen. A gay couple can't yet be treated like Jack & Jennifer or any other hetero soap couple.

That's why in the end, the very fact that Noah & Luke finally did make love at all is so huge and so important, so worth celebrating and cheering over. It's a big victory and the reason that it will be that much easier for the next gay soap couple to be treated more like any other couple on a show.