A Soapy Jumble

Well, months have passed and we've recently learned that Erica Kane and Viki Lord will not, in fact, be living on. All My Children went out with a cliffhanger ending last September and One Life to Live filmed its own reported cliffhanger ending just days before the news broke that Prospect Park was 'suspending' their efforts to move the soaps online.

That's life, I suppose, though it's a big let down for the those who loved these shows. It's especially sad that both shows will have departed the airwaves with no real resolution for the characters that fans have followed for so many years.

I've come to accept that daytime soaps are ceasing to exist. I think we're already seeing the medium move online in many original soaps, and while it would have been wonderful to see a soap make the transition from TV to the Internet, just as so many years ago Guiding Light made the move from radio to television, it doesn't seem like it's going to happen, at least not right now.

This will leave us with a grand total of four soaps on the air, one of which is the soap I grew up watching, Days of Our Lives. I wrote way back in April that Days was going to be doing a gay storyline at long last, with legacy character Will Horton.

In the months since then, the show has introduced another openly gay legacy character (albeit one who had never been onscreen before) in the person of Sonny Kiriakis. Sonny is played by Freddie Smith, who most recently played a gay character on 90210.

Since coming to Salem, Sonny has faced coming out to his Great Uncle, the powerful business titan Victor Kiriakis, who was surprisingly okay with it. Sonny had come out to his parents, Justin and Adrienne, before coming to Salem and they, too, are supportive.

Once in town, Sonny quickly became friends with the other college aged characters, including Will, but faced some prejudice from Will's good friend T. The cause of T's gay panic was a picture of him and Sonny together, taken before T knew that Sonny was gay, which showed up online and referred to them as having a 'bromance'.

For a few weeks T hung around making homophobic remarks to Sonny's face and muttering threateningly to himself about making Sonny pay, but it seems that particular aspect of the story has now been dropped, which is a relief.

While all of this was going on, fans were left to wonder if the show, which had just changed head writers, was going to drop the Will aspect of the story altogether. While there had definitely been hints that Will was secretly gay (he put off sleeping with his girlfriend, Gabby, as long as he could and hasn't slept with her again since their first time), the show hadn't committed to anything they couldn't easily undo.

Recently, though, actor Chandler Massey has been able to confirm that his character will indeed be coming out of the closet. The show is still staying mum on whether or not Will & Sonny will end up becoming more than friends, though.

All of this is certainly something to look forward to, but the history of gay storylines on the soaps isn't exactly littered with success stories! Call me a glutton for punishment, though, because I'm once more along for the ride.

All of this makes me miss the days when Luke Snyder was coming out on As The World Turns and there was still so much potential ahead for great story telling! The coming out story was so well done and things looked really promising when Noah first showed up. Then, of course, the boys were paired in one stupid story after another, most of which had an end goal of keeping them from ever having sex.

Speaking of Luke, Van Hansis recently had guest starring roles on episodes of Psych and Nikita. He was fantastic in both parts, playing a bloodthirsty victim of the insurance industry in one (below) and a Russian agent in the other (below).
It was so incredible to see Van on my TV screen again! It had been far too long. I thought he was especially good in Nikita, where he not only got to use an accent but also had an incredible scene where a single tear rolled down his cheek and completely killed me. I'd somehow forgotten just how talented Van was. Hopefully these were the first of many roles to come.

Erica Kane and Viki Lord Will Live On!

Back in April, I started a post with the words "It must be a very sad day to be Agnes Nixon." Today I am thrilled to say that I could write the exact opposite about the creator of One Life to Live and All My Children.

Every time a soap is cancelled, false rumors fly that the show will be saved by some other network or by a cable station. Back when Guiding Light was cancelled, there was even talk that the soap which had been the first to transition from radio to television could be the first to make the transition to being a web soap.

Sadly for GL fans, that didn't happen. It turns out, though, that the thinking behind that particular rumor wasn't so far fetched. It was announced today that All My Children and One Life to Live, the two iconic daytime soaps cancelled simultaneously by ABC back in April, will both be making the leap to airing online.

While all the details haven't yet been announced, it seems that a production company called Prospect Park has purchased the right to air both shows online for 'more than a decade'. ABC said, in part:

"Prospect Park will produce and deliver the two long-running programs to consumers via online formats and additional emerging platforms including Internet enabled television sets. Under the terms of the arrangement, the programs will continue to be delivered with the same quality and in the same format and length."

For nearly three months, fans of both shows have been bracing themselves for the loss of these two television icons, and now they've been given an amazing gift. Questions remain, of course, and I'm sure there are also many older fans who aren't Internet savvy for whom this news doesn't offer much in the way of consolation. But overall, this is great news not only for fans of these shows but for the medium in general.

A whole slew of online soaps have sprung up over the last few years, many starring current and former network soap stars. In fact, one of the best soap news sites out there, We Love The Soaps, has a whole news section on Indie Soaps and has even presented the Indie Soap Awards for the last two years.

It will be very interesting to see how these two classic shows fit into this modern medium. I'd be lying if I said that my very first thought, once I'd stopped cheering, was to wonder if airing without network interference will finally open the doors to more important story telling.

Both shows have already broken ground in telling LGBT stories, but imagine how much better they could have been without a nervous network butting in! I can't help but feeling that if this had happened a couple of years ago, we'd still be enjoying Kish as daytime's first gay dads on One Life to Live.

In fact, if I were headwriter Ron Carlivati, the first thing I'd do when Prospect Park took over would be to get them to rehire Scott Evans and Brett Claywell as Oliver Fish and Kyle Lewis!

Speaking of which, Carlivati had announced that after OLTL wrapped he'd be joining the writing team at General Hospital. While that would have been great news for GH, I'm hoping that he'll be staying put at OLTL now that it will live on!

A Sad Day

It must be a very sad day to be Agnes Nixon. The iconic daytime scribe who penned some of the most socially relevant stories in the history of the medium just saw her two remaining creations killed off at the same time.

I'm talking, of course, about One Life to Live and All My Children, which were both cancelled by ABC today. They will be replaced by a talk show revolving around cooking and a weight loss competition.

Though neither soap has LGBT characters onscreen at the moment, they were both leading soaps when it came to telling those stories over the years. All My Children broke real ground when they became the first soap to give us a gay character from a core family, Erica Kane's daughter Bianca, who came out of the closet back in 2000.

One Life to Live gave us the first teen gay character on daytime back in 1993 when future movie star Ryan Philippe played gay teen Billy Douglas. More recently, of course, that show gave us the amazing pairing of Kyle and Fish, which included the first real onscreen love scene between two men, including showing them in bed together afterward. In fact, that particular scene was better than anything I'd ever seen on primetime on any network. The two men also became parents, but were written off just when the show could have broken even more ground by giving us a story about the first gay dads raising a child on daytime.

Those were far from the only LGBT characters or socially relevant stories that these two shows told over the years, though they were certainly right up there with the best. All My Children was the show that gave us television's first legal abortion back in the 1970's and dealt with the very controversial issue of the Vietnam War in real time.

One Life to Live was the fist soap that had African American characters in major storylines in the late 1960's, including the controversial story of Carla Gray, a light skinned African American woman who passed herself off as Italian in order to get ahead in a racist society. A decade later they gave us the explosive Karen Wolek storyline, about a housewife with low self esteem who was secretly moonlighting as a prostitute. It made actress Judith Light a household name.

These were both greatly important shows not just to daytime TV but to television itself, mostly because of the driving force of Agnes Nixon, a woman who knew that you could tell great stories that were also meaningful and socially relevant. Sadly, her successors in the soap world largely forgot this lesson and all these cancellations we've been seeing in recent years is largely the result of that.

The simultaneous loss of these two particular soaps is in fact the worst blow that daytime TV has ever been dealt. If you had been able to fool yourself up to now that daytime soaps were not a dying breed, you certainly can't deny it any longer. There will soon be a grand total of four soaps remaining on the air.

All My Children will take its final bow in September and we'll have One Life to Live on our screens until January. With nine months remaining and nothing left to lose from those who blamed gay characters for driving down the ratings, can we hope to see a final return from Kish? It may not be likely, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

This is truly a sad day for any soap fan, even those like me who have become disenchanted by the direction the medium has taken writing wise. A lot of television history and a lot of talented actors are about to be thrown out for what sound to me like two very short lived TV shows that no one will even remember a decade from now.

A Groundbreaking Story for Daytime

This weekend I received an e-mail from a reader wondering if, now that I'm blogging again, I would comment on the male/male rape storyline that has unfolded recently on General Hospital.

I have to confess that General Hospital is not a soap I've ever watched regularly and, with my life being a bit chaotic recently, I hadn't followed the story at all. I'd seen reports about it on soap websites, of course, but I hadn't had the time to tune in.

The e-mail this weekend, though, prompted me to take a look at this story, which is a groundbreaking one for a daytime soap in the United States. I've heard a few rumors over the years that a male/male rape storyline was in the works on various soaps, but they always turned out to be nothing more than online speculation.

I've always thought it would be a pretty powerful story, if told right, but I honestly didn't think an American soap would ever go there. I knew that it had already happened on a British soap, though. Back in March 2000, Hollyoaks wrote what from most accounts was a pretty intense and well written storyline involving a male/male rape.

The character of Luke Morgan (played by Gary Lucy) had been bullied for awhile by his football teammate Mark Gibbs and some of his friends. When Luke finally stood up to Mark, he and his friends beat Luke up in a locker room after a football match. Luke ran off, but the guys gave chase and two of Mark's friends held Luke down while Mark raped him.

The actual rape took place in a special late night episode of the soap, but the aftermath played out on the show itself as Luke battled depression, lost his girlfriend because he felt he couldn't tell her about being raped, and eventually attempted suicide before finally opening up to his friends, family, and the police about what had happened to him.

Even then it was far from clear sailing, with Luke's father not wanting him to go public about the rape and his parents marriage crumbling in the aftermath. Mark and his friends were eventually found guilty and sent to prison, but it was far from easy for Luke to move on even after that. (I've only seen bits of the story itself on YouTube and read summaries, so bear with me if I got any details slightly wrong).

It always seemed less than likely that an American soap would tell such a story, especially when rape itself has always been such a poorly handled issue on daytime. Countless female characters have been raped over the years, but there are a few glaring examples that stand out as especially outrageous. Most famously (and most reprehensibly), of course, is General Hospital's Luke & Laura, where the rapist and his victim ended up not only marrying each other but becoming one of daytime's most popular supercouples.

On Days of Our Lives the character of Jack raped his wife, Kayla, before going on to become a lovably comedic character and one half of the popular Jack & Jennifer, not to mention a brother-in-law to Kayla, who'd married his brother.

The character of Todd Manning on One Life to Live was the leader of a very famous (and very well told) fraternity gang rape storyline back in 1993. While hardly a heroic character, Todd remains front and center on the soap today, with wives, ex-wives, children, and even a shared grandchild with his victim, Marty Saybrooke.

Worse, he essentially raped Marty again a few years ago when she had amnesia. That rape was more emotional than physical, since the clueless Marty thought she'd fallen in love with him and didn't regain her memory until after she'd made love to her rapist.

That's just a drop in the bucket and only touches on the male/female rapes. There have also been several stories in which a female character essentially rapes a male character and gets away with it completely, with no one even recognizing it as rape.

The one that comes to mind right away for me is from Days of Our Lives, where Sami Brady (herself a rape victim!) drugged her sister Carrie's boyfriend, Austin Reed, and had sex with him while he thought she was Carrie. That is certainly rape and would be described as such if the roles had been reversed.

That's really just the tip of the iceberg on this subject, so I'm sure you see why I thought that a male/male rape was doubly unlikely in a medium that is already squeamish about two men being together when both parties are willing.

So I wasn't really sure what to expect with this General Hospital storyline. It made sense that if any soap would feature a male/male rape, it would be the more violent than most GH, but I'd also trust them the least to deal with the aftermath of such a groundbreaking story.

The victim was 17 year old Michael, son of the show's lead character, mob boss Sonny Corinthos. Michael was in prison for murder last spring when he was beaten and raped by a fellow inmate named Carter, who was subsequently killed by Sonny's right hand man, Jason, who'd found out that Michael was being harassed by the man. The show left what exactly had happened up to viewer's imaginations until just a few months ago, when Michael discovered a friend being attacked and finally flashed back to what had happened to him.

Jason had his suspicions about how far the harassment in prison had gone, especially given how uncomfortable the virginal Michael seemed about the topic of sex after his release, but it wasn't until January that Michael finally confessed to Jason that he'd been raped.

Chad Duell (above), the actor playing Michael, really blew me away in that scene, as well as in subsequent scenes where he tells his brother & friend and discusses it with mother and then his macho, mob boss father.

Overall, in fact, I'm fairly impressed with what I've seen of this story, which admittedly is not much more than the clips I've just linked to! But Chad Duell seems a promising talent and I'm glad that Daytime has taken on another subject that seemed forever taboo. It's especially important, I think, that people finally see a story in which something that has largely been treated as a punchline in pop culture- being raped in prison- is far from being a joke.

2010 in Retrospect

It's hard to believe that 2010 is already at a close. I feel as if it was 2002 about ten seconds ago, so how can we possibly be about to enter 2011?!

As with any year, a lot can be said to sum up 2010 from just about any perspective imaginable. In the United States, those on the right of the political spectrum certainly had a lot to cheer in the mid term elections, yet it was also the year in which Congress finally passed some Health Care legislation and repealed Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which will allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military.

On the Same Sex Marriage front, no new states joined the five states (and Washington, D.C.) that had already allowed (or were about to allow) LGBT citizens their right to marry at this time last year, but Maryland did begin to recognize same sex marriages performed in other states and, best of all, California's Prop 8 was overturned in federal court, though of course the case is far from over.

President Obama appointed Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court this year, bringing the number of women on the court to an historic high of three.

In the entertainment world, the two biggest men to come out of the closet this year weren't really any great surprise: pop singer Ricky Martin and Will & Grace star Sean Hayes had both been rumored/assumed to be gay for many years, but that doesn't make the fact that they finally took the steps to come out publicly in 2010 any less noteworthy.

A true milestone this year in terms of coming out: the first openly gay country music artist, in the form of newly out lesbian Chely Wright.

Ricky Martin, by the way, was part of another trend this year: out gay celebrities becoming parents. Ricky Martin has been a dad since 2008, while Neil Patrick Harris and his partner David Burtka, and Elton John and his partner, David Furnish, all welcomed new children into their lives in 2010.

We lost some greats this year in every field imaginable, from daytime TV's Frances Reid, James Mitchell, and Helen Wagner, to primetime TV greats Rue McCLanahan, Dixie Carter, Barbara Billingsly, and John Forsythe, to all around legends like Lena Horne, Dennis Hopper, and Tony Curtis.

The literary world lost an iconic figure in J.D. Salinger and we lost a great historian, writer, and activist when Howard Zinn left us at age 87.

Last year in my retrospective, I mentioned that the year had been bookended by two very different gay love scenes in daytime soaps: Luke & Noah's long awaited first time on As the World Turns at the beginning of the year and Oliver and Kyle's amazing New Year's Eve love scene on One Life to Live.

It's sad to read the hope and excitement I was feeling over Kish a year ago at this time, completely unaware that in less than three months Kish would be gone, that in less than nine months there would no longer be an As The World Turns or any LGBT characters on daytime TV at all. This year, when I say "What a difference a year can make" I say it with sadness.

Well, on to some of my picks for this year's favorite things!

*Favorite Classic Fiction Book I read this year: Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut.

*Favorite Gay Fiction Book I read this year: Mary Ann In Autumn, by Armistead Maupin, with Stephen McCauley's Insignificant Others a near second.

*Favorite Modern Fiction Book I read this year: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I snobbishly put off reading this for ages because it was published in the U.S. as a Young Adult novel (in the author's native Australia, it was published as adult fiction), but it was so good!

*Favorite Non-Fiction (Literary) Book I read this year: The Book of William by Paul Collins.

*Favorite Non-Fiction (Autobiography) Book I read this year: City Boy by Edmund White.

*Favorite Film I saw this year: (500) Days of Summer.

*Favorite Gay Themed Film I saw this year: A Single Man. I only saw four gay themed films this year, and this was by far the best, but it couldn't begin to touch the beauty of the book.

*Film I Most Wanted to see this year but haven't yet: The Kids Are All Right. What's wrong with me?! I've been dying to see this. First film of 2011, for sure.

*Favorite Hour long TV Show: It's still Glee.

*Favorite Half Hour long TV Show: A tie between Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory, both of which I've belatedly caught up with and love.

*Best Daytime Soap: One Life to Live until March. After that, NONE.

*Favorite CD: Hard to say. I've been discovering Sondheim all year, so probably A Little Night Music or Company.

*Favorite Actress: Kristin Chenoweth

*Favorite Gay Themed Website of the year: AfterElton.com.

*Favorite Gay Character of the year (Daytime): A tie between Oliver Fish, One Life to Live (until March), and Reid Oliver, As The World Turns.

*Favorite Gay Character of the year (Primetime): Kurt Hummel, Glee.

*Favorite Gay Character of the year (International): Aaron Livesy, Emmerdale

*Hottest Actor (Daytime): A tie. Scott Evans (until March)

and then the Brothers Ford (aka Nicolas Robuck, David A. Gregory and Lenny Platt), One Life to Live.
*Hottest Actor (Primetime): Jared Padalecki. I still love me some Jared, and this year he even deigned to show some skin!
*Hottest Actor (Film): I barely saw any films this year, so I'll go with my choice from last year, the still very sexy Ryan Reynolds.

Well, I think that about sums it up. I hope 2011 proves to be a wonderful year for everyone reading this!

Year End Lists

It's that time of year again! Last night I made my list of the Guys Who Made 2010 and now I'm working on my retrospective look at the year.

While I work on that, I thought I'd share some lists put together by others. I always love these annual Best Of lists!

First up, The New Yorker's look at the best in film. Actually, I should say 'looks' since they have three critics weighing in: David Denby, Anthony Lane, and Richard Brody.

On the subject of film, Roger Ebert also offers his list of the top ten feature films and looking at all these combined lists makes me realize how few films I saw this year!

The New Yorker also has several writers commenting on the books they read in 2010.

Speaking of books, one of my favorite blogs, Band of Thebes, has a fantastic round up of 80 writers who choose their favorite LGBT books of the year. The list numbers 100 books and it's certainly enough to give anyone hope about the future of LGBT writing!

Oh, and be sure to check of Lambda Literary for several great articles on 2010.

Playbill.com has an excellent look at the year in theater , including a tribute to those who left us this year.

Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker has picked his top ten TV shows of the year, and then added another ten on top of that.

Even though I've more or less sworn off daytime soaps made in the United States, I can't help but check in on Michael Fairman's list of the Best and Worst in the year of daytime drama.

Fairman shows some love to One Life to Live, naming it best soap, but also calls out the shameful dumping of the Kish storyline as the most shocking moment of the year. He also names As the World Turns' Luke and Reid as the best new couple of the year and Reid's portrayer, Eric Sheffer Stevens, as giving the best overall performance by a supporting actor.

Not surprisingly, he 'honors' the ATWT writers with a well deserved nod for the worst writing of the year and mentions Reid's death as the most upsetting soap moment of 2010.

Fairman also offers photographic evidence of the 25 best and 25 worst soap moments of the year.

Well, I'll have my own retrospective on the year up later this evening.

HMS Daytime Continues to Sink

The Daytime Emmys are as big of a joke as daytime soaps themselves have become. The nominations were announced today and just confirm that this entire industry is content to run itself completely into the ground while maintaining the status quo.

Both Scott Evans and Brett Claywell were pre-nominated for their AMAZING work on One Life to Live (largely because new rules allowed them to submit themselves and not have to be pre-nominated by their fellow cast members), but neither received an actual nomination. In fact, One Life to Live, easily the best soap on the air over the last few years, was not nominated for Outstanding Drama Series or Outstanding Writing Team.

This is just a complete travesty and proves that the medium is dying for a very good reason. A show takes the time to write an incredibly groundbreaking story; they write it beautifully, they hire two outstanding actors who portray the characters perfectly; they hold nothing back, in fact, and give us a perfect example of what soaps could and should be like.

The end result? The network kills the story, fires the actors, brings in a hack like Jean Passanante to 'help take the soap in a new (read: old, tired, and badly written) direction', and the people who are supposed to at least reward the outstanding work of their peers completely ignore the entire thing, not even bothering to hand them a single nomination.

Brett Claywell himself had this to say on twitter today:

We tell a story that was groundbreaking and powerful, then lose my job and am overlooked for a nomination. Daytime is such a joke.

Way to fiddle while Rome burns, daytime.

Van Hansis Lands His First Film Role

We Love the Soaps has a new interview with Van Hansis in which he talks about his willingness to do a web series if he's ever approached (someone approach him!!) and about landing his very first role in a film, a horror movie called Occupant:

We Love Soaps: How are all your fans still going to be able to find your work?
Van Hansis: I’ve got to get cast in something and then they can watch that [laughs]. But I am a doing a movie, I can talk about it now. It’s called, Occupant. It's a horror film in the vein of [Roman] Polanski, that is, it's a psychological thriller. It's a lot of fun. It's a big departure from Luke.

We Love Soaps: In what way?
Van Hansis: In every way. The character is nothing like Luke at all. I’m excited to try something new and I’ve never done a film before. We’re in pre-production now, and the whole process that comes into play is so exciting.

I've never doubted that Van will have a bright future beyond As the World Turns, but I have worried that it will be completely stage based, and therefore unavailable to fans such as I who can't get to NYC.

Prior to the end of Kish and the announcement of Jean Passanante's ominous hiring, I was really hoping that Van would turn up on One Life to Live after ATWT wrapped. I would have loved to see what sort of character Ron Carlivati might have created for Van!

Now, though, I'd rather not have to tune in and see the destruction of a show that was so incredible these past few years, so it's nice to have a film to look forward to! I can't wait to see Van in a role that is so completely different from Luke.

Take Cover, Llanview!

I've finally found a small silver lining to Oliver & Kyle being written out of One Life to Live: they'll be gone before Jean Passanante can get her hands on them!

Yes, the Head Writer who drove As the World Turns into the ground, quite literally killing it with terrible writing, is headed for One Life to Live as an 'associate-Head Writer' once ATWT has finished production.

One Life to Live already has a very talented head writer in Ron Carlivati, so one can only assume that this decision comes from a network that is familiar with Passanante's resume and may be hoping to kill off OLTL for good. If that's the case, they're certainly on the right track!

I am so glad that Passanante never got a chance to do to Kish what she did to Nuke, but I'm sad about what this means for a show that truly was the best soap on daytime TV over the past few years. Hopefully, Carlivati will remain in charge and Passanante's impact will be minimal.

Luckily, I'd already decided to exit along with Kish, so if the worst does happen, I won't have to see the show descend to the sort of God awful stories that have plagued As the World Turns during Passanante's reign.

This just further confirms my new belief that, thanks to moronic network executives, the future of soaps won't be on daytime TV.

Getting My Gay Soap Fix

Since the news broke that One Life to Live was ditching Kish, I haven't watched a single episode of an American soap. I fully intend to watch the remaining episodes of the Kish and Nuke storylines, and the shows are beginning to fill up my Tivo in a way that will demand action sooner rather than later.

The truth is, though, that I just haven't had the slightest desire to press the play button so far. I'm so incredibly disgusted with the people who are running daytime (into the ground), and I just can't bring myself to care enough at the moment to tune in.

I've always been a fan of the soap genre, though, and that will never change. In the future, I'll just be seeking them out from somewhere other than network TV. Lately I've been getting my fix from outside the United States, in fact.

There's nothing new in that, of course. I've written before about my love of Christian and Olli on the German soap Verbotene Liebe. I'm not sure if I ever wrote about the fact that I was a huge fan of the gay storyline that the British soap Hollyoaks did a few years ago, with John Paul McQueen and Craig Dean (dubbed McDean by their fans). It was a very well told story.

After the guys broke up and Craig left town, there was John Paul and Kieron, the hot gay priest who (eventually) gave up his collar to be with John Paul, only to then die tragically, in scenes that were very painful to watch, just in time for John Paul and Craig to reunite and ride off into the sunset together (yay for a McDean reunion, boo for killing off Kieron instead of keeping him around and giving him a new love interest!)

I've seen gay stories on other British soaps (Eastenders, Emmerdale, and Coronation Street) but so far nothing else had even come close to McDean.

That is, until Aaron Livesy's story began on Emmerdale. Now, I'm not saying that Aaron's story surpasses McDean, so if you're one of the very vocal fans of that pairing, don't place a price on my head or anything. I'm just saying that it's the only story so far that has the potential to come close.

Emmerdale, unlike the other British soaps I mentioned above, doesn't take place in a city but rather in a small rural village. There have been other LGBT characters on the show in the past, and there has even been a gay wedding in the village, but I don't think they've ever done anything as powerful as the story they're telling right now with Aaron.

The character of Aaron is a rather thuggish 18 year old mechanic who lives in the village with his mother's ex-boyfriend, local veterinarian Paddy. He's had a troubled past and has a strained relationship with his mother and an absent father. In spite of his demeanor and his tendency to lash out at people, Aaron of course has a big heart that he keeps hidden away. Last December, Aaron got caught up in a moment and nearly kissed his best friend Adam, who isn't gay (sadly enough, since they'd make a really cute couple!). Aaron denied that he was gay, and even insisted that he'd never tried to kiss his friend, and to prove it he began dating Adam's sister, Holly. (Aaron is on the left, below, Adam is on the right, with Holly in the center)


Things quieted down for a few months, but after Holly broke up with Aaron, he began trying to get up the nerve to go to a gay bar in a nearby town. Eventually, he managed to go inside very briefly, but it didn't go over very well. Aaron seemed disgusted by the men around him, and when the one guy he did seem interested in asked him to play a game of pool, Aaron ran out of the pub and beat up some innocent garbage cans nearby.

In the meantime, Paddy had become worried that all of Aaron's mood swings and secrecy meant that he was either using or dealing drugs.

Last week, Paddy confronted Aaron with his suspicions. In the end, he realized that he was wrong, but also figured out that Aaron was gay. Paddy tried to be supportive, but Aaron lashed out and beat Paddy up.

I was liking the story a lot up to this point, but the scenes that really blew me away and made me a huge fan were when Aaron returned to the house and broke down in tears over what he'd done to the only person who really cared about him. Danny Miller, the actor who plays Aaron, was beyond amazing in these scenes, and I think he's easily one of the most talented people I've ever seen working in soaps.
After apologizing to Paddy, Aaron explained that he hated gay people and didn't want to be one, that he'd been fighting it. Paddy told Aaron that he himself had only been in love three times and that he'd had his heart broken each time, but even so he'd never deny himself the chance to be in love again, and that's what Aaron was proposing, a life without love.

Aaron said that he'd rather live a lonely life than a queer one, but Paddy got him to open up about the first guy he'd ever loved and tried to get him to open up about his feelings for Adam, but at that point Aaron shut the conversation down and decided to leave.

I'm doing these scenes no justice, by the way. They're incredibly heart wrenching and my eyes teared up more than once. You can watch them online starting here or you can watch Aaron's whole story, going all the way back to last July, here.

This week, Aaron came home but he told Paddy that he'd sorted things out and that he just was never going to be with a guy.

Clearly, Aaron is troubled and has a long way to go, but this story has been incredibly well written and acted so far, and I can't wait to see what happens next!

One of the most amusing things about all of this, by the way, is that Aaron's co-worker at the garage, Ryan, is played by actor James Sutton, who used to play John Paul McQueen on Hollyoaks! I guess the American equivalent would be if Van Hansis and Scott Evans ended up on the same soap together.

Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, Daytime

Given the topic I last blogged about and the lack of activity here in the week since, I wouldn't be surprised if you'd all been picturing me in a padded room somewhere, rocking gently back and forth as I mumbled the words to Kish's song, My Confession, over and over again.

Or perhaps you'd envisioned a suicide leap from a bridge, with my final words being a shouted curse upon the idiots who are running ABC Daytime.

The truth is much less dramatic: I've just been very busy. I wanted to write last Saturday, in particular, when I read the very ironic news that One Life to Live had just won a GLAAD Award mere days after announcing that they were writing off their gay characters for, essentially, being too gay.

I definitely wanted to write when someone had the nerve to spread rumors- which I feel were obviously meant as damage control for the network- that the guys had been let go for 'performance issues' and their personal behavior! This was in direct contrast with what had been said at the time the news broke and with the fact that both men have been pre-nominated for Daytime Emmys for said performances!

Brett Claywell responded to the rumors, saying:

"Scott and I treated each scene and each moment with the dedication and respect it deserved, and poured our hearts into those roles. Any stories to the contrary, especially this one, are malicious and offensive. Every scene that was filmed is a testament to that work ethic."

Scott Evans had something to say as well, via his Twitter account:

"Such a bummer what all of this is turning into. I will continue to respect the decision but will remain unhappy with the tactics."

What a shame that such an incredible, groundbreaking, and very beautiful story had to be marred in this way because the idiots in charge at ABC daytime let their homophobia show and then frantically tried to backtrack when the bad publicity started rolling in!

Brett and Scott are both incredible actors and they did such amazing work on One Life to Live. I have no doubt that we'll be seeing great things from both of them in the future, whereas daytime soaps are clearly doomed.

They're being controlled by these idiots who choose to ignore the future (such as viewers who like LGBT stories, who tend to be younger and could become long term viewers) to calm the fears of those who are quickly becoming the past (such as the older viewers who scream about 'immoral' characters- but just the gay ones, not the rapists and killers and hetero adulterers- on their daytime soaps and who, let's be honest, will be dying out within the next few decades anyway).

As for me, I'll stick with Kish until the end (and I'll write up their remaining episodes, including those that I've missed in the past week), but then I'm done with One Life to Live, and likely with network soaps in general, though I will probably follow Nuke (I'm very behind on them, sorry!) until As the World stops Turning in September, and I will always watch Days of Our Lives to some extent, since it's the soap I grew up with.

It's becoming clear, though, that the future of soaps isn't going to be on daytime TV. Even when talented actors and writers are telling great stories (which is very rare to begin with these days), the idiots in charge shit all over it. They've killed any chance the medium has of surviving in its present form.

Julianne Moore Goes Back to her Roots

I've been a big fan of Julianne Moore ever since I saw her in two films, Short Cuts and Cookie's Fortune, by one of my favorite directors, the late Robert Altman. Her work in Far From Heaven and The Hours just impressed me even more.

I knew, of course, that she'd had her start on As The World Turns in the duel roles of Frannie and Sabrina Hughes and that she'd been a fan favorite there. I've even seen some of her work on the show on YouTube.

I never imagined, though, that I'd be seeing Julianne actually return to the show! True, it's just for one episode, and it's not like she hasn't been doing TV recently anyway, what with her recent guest stint on 30 Rock.

Still, it's a nice tribute to longtime fans of the show. Now, if they could just get Meg Ryan to return to her role of Besty as well, what a send off that would be for the soap!

Pre Noms for Kish!

I haven't been feeling well at all these past few days, so I'm behind on the soaps and hoping to catch up this weekend.

If there's anything that could cheer me up, though, it was seeing that both Brett Claywell and Scott Evans have been pre-nominated for Daytime Emmy Awards!

The pre-nominees are those people in each category who've received the most number of votes from their peers to move forward to the actual nomination phase, where voters view the emmy reels and select the nominees and winners.

Brett has been pre-nominated in the Outstanding Supporting Actor Category and Scott in the Outstanding Younger Actor Category, for which you have to be 25 or younger. It's odd to see them nominated in different categories for the same storyline, but at least this way they won't be competing against each other!

I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that they both receive full nominations.

A few Kish-related people are pre-nominated as well, including the fantastic Ilene Kristen, who plays Roxy, but I was surprised and very sad not to see Tika Sumpter on the list. Tika, who plays Layla and who is tragically under used by the show at the moment (where are Cristian and Layla, anyway?!), did some downright amazing work in the episodes where she figured out that Oliver was gay. I became a huge fan at that point, and I think that work would have made her a strong contender to win the Emmy.

Meanwhile, this is the first time since joining As the World Turns that Van Hansis won't be nominated for a Daytime Emmy, since he isn't included on the list of pre-nominees. Van was nominated in 2007 and 2008 for Outstanding Younger Actor and last year for Outstanding Supporting Actor, but he never managed to take home the Emmy. That was especially frustrating in 2007, when he was nominated for his work in Luke's fantastic coming out story.

With As the World Turns leaving the air next fall, my not so secret desire is to see Van on One Life to Live. What a match up that would be!

One other performer has been pre-nominated for an LGBT role this year, and that's the amazing Crystal Chappell, who played Olivia (one half of Otalia) on the now cancelled Guiding Light.

I've been loving Crystal's return to Days Our Our Lives as Carly Manning (along with the wonderful Louis Sorel as Vivian), and I know her legion of fans are going to be thrilled to see her name on the list.

Setton Departs; Ollian in America?

If you've read my recent Kish posts, you know what a fan I've become of Amanda Setton, who has played Kim on One Life to Live since last June.

I just read the news that, in spite of being offered a contract and a pay raise, Setton has decided to leave the show and head to California for pilot season. She's reportedly filmed her final episode already.

I'm sure that she'll land a great role in L.A. (and, by the way, who knew she'd been in Gossip Girl for a whole season?), but she's leaving behind some big boots to be filled by whoever they recast in the role of Kim. It's just not going to be the same without Setton's unique take on the character.

Since Kim is presumably going to be at least somewhat involved in Sierra Rose's life, this will affect the Kish storyline to some degree.

Hopefully it will also wake the powers that be at One Life to Live up to the dangers of having these great actors and actresses working without a contract! You'll recall that Scott Evans has never been on contract with the show either and if a better offer came along, there would be nothing to keep him in the role of Oliver Fish. Scary thought for Kish fans!

Speaking of gay soap characters, it has been a long time since I've mentioned the German soap Verbotene Liebe, which features the fantastic gay couple Christian and Olli (dubbed Ollian by their fans). If you haven't ever seen this wonderful soap couple, you can follow their entire story from the beginning on YouTube, with English subtitles.

The reason I'm mentioning this now is that an American producer, Sam Martin, has purchased the rights to Christian and Olli's storyline and intends to make an American version of it!

It's funny to think of someone buying just one storyline from a soap opera to make into a series. Imagine if the British, for example, decided that Fish and Kyle would make a great series all on their own, with none of the connecting characters or stories included!

Okay, that would actually be pretty cool, and I think the idea of an American version of Christian and Olli could be great if it's done right. Verbotene Liebe has never held back on having Olli and Christian showing affection, including scenes of the two of them in bed together. They're a very romantic couple. Will the American version be so true to the characters?

I suppose it's possible, especially since HBO has the right to first refusal. Still, it's impossible to imagine anyone but Jo Weil and Thore Scholermann as these two characters, so the show is going to be very different no matter how they do it. It will be interesting to see what develops from all of this. In the meantime, check out the originals on Youtube!

WGA Awards

The Writers Guild of America Awards were given out yesterday. My favorite show, Glee, was nominated for both Best Comedy and Best New Show, but sadly it didn't end up taking home either award.

Instead, 30 Rock won best comedy (again? really?) and Modern Family won Best New Series. If Glee had to lose in the latter category, I'm glad it was at least to a show that I've heard so many good things about. I probably won't see it until they release the first season on DVD, but I do plan on catching it at that point.

Far more shocking, to me anyway, is that One Life to Live didn't win for best writing in a daytime serial. There is seriously no justice when the one show that is consistently well written keeps losing awards to far less deserving shows.

They lost to The Young and The Restless, which gave us such winning stories as the Adam and Rafe mess and having Philip return from the dead, come out as gay, and then disappear again.

Is it too soon to demand a recount?

Still, that's better than having One Life to Live lose to fellow nominees As the World Turns or All My Children, which would have been a real slap in the face given the state of things in Oakdale and Pine Valley these days.

Rest in Peace, Frances Reid

I just read the news that Frances Reid, the last original cast member of Days of Our Lives still on contract with the show, passed away yesterday at the age of 95 (though some reports list her birthdate a year earlier, making her 96). As someone who has literally watched the show since I was still in diapers, I honestly feel as if I just lost a family member.

I had two wonderful Grandmothers while I was growing up, but that didn't stop me from acquiring a surrogate Grandmother of sorts in the fictional character of Alice Horton, the matriarch of the Horton family on Days of Our Lives. Alice was always there with her homemade donuts, her advice, and her love for her family and friends.

What made Alice Horton more than just your run of the mill soap character was the wonderful Frances Reid, who brought more than just warmth and love to Alice, she also gave her an occasionally wicked twinkle in her eye and kept her grounded and somehow very real, even as the stories on the show became more and more fantastical and outlandish over the last few decades.

Her onscreen partnership with the late Macdonald Carey, who played Alice's husband Dr. Tom Horton until his own death in 1994, was something truly special. I missed the glory days of their pairing, of course, but have been able to see some clips of it thanks to the Internet. They truly made television magic together.

The show was built around the two of them in 1965, these two talented film and Broadway stars who provided a center of gravity and dignity to something that many looked down on then and still do today, the daytime soap. Can you imagine a show being built around two actors who are already in their 50's in today's youth obsessed entertainment industry? Maybe that's a big part of the reason soaps are in trouble.

Even though she remained a cast member until the end, her last actual appearance on the show was just over two years ago, on the Christmas episode in 2007. She hadn't been well enough to appear since then, though I'd read that scenes continued to be written for her, at least during 2008.

Frances was an incredibly talented actress who touched a lot of people with her portrayal of Alice. It was even more impressive when you heard the stories about how very different Frances herself was from Alice, as evidenced by her former co-star Deidre Hall in her tribute to Frances:

"Frances Reid, although the consummate actor's actor, was far from the donut baking, apron clad wife of Tom Horton most of America knew and loved. She was a saucy, wildly outspoken and politically incorrect woman. Frances was never shy about speaking her mind openly and passionately — even as we counted down to tape. She called it like she saw it, whether she was taking on the union, or critiquing your hairstyle — mincing her words was never an option. She earned the respect and admiration of her friends and peers with her candid approach to life, work, and philosophy. Whether you loved or feared her, you always respected her — and if you had the courage, she was a magnificent teacher, mentor, friend. I feel a strong sense of personal loss as Frances makes her way to Heaven, and know that we shall not look upon her like again."

For me, she'll always be Alice Horton, but I sure would have liked getting to see more of Frances herself! She sounds fascinating.

I'm certainly not the only one who thought of Alice as another Grandmother. It's truly hard to believe that we'll never be seeing Mrs. H on our screens again.

Jason47's Days Page has an incredible tribute to Frances, complete with several video clips. Check it out.

Rest in Peace, James Mitchell

I've written before about the relatively small number of openly gay actors on daytime television. At the moment, there are only two out gay men acting on soaps, both on One Life to Live, and neither is actually on contract: Scott Evans, who plays Fish, and Nicholas Rodriguez, who plays Nick.

The Young and the Restless boasts the only out lesbian cast member, Clementine Ford, though if we count Lea Delaria's recurring role as Madame Delphina on One Life to Live, the number goes up to two. Ford is the only out actor or actress working in daytime with a contract.

Of course, there are plenty of actors and actresses in daytime whose sexuality is more or less an open secret, people who are widely known to be gay but who have never officially come out of the closet. These are people who don't hide their sexuality with fake relationships with the opposite sex, but who never address the issue publicly, either.

Earlier this week, actor James Mitchell passed away at the age of 89. Mitchell spent the last thirty years playing All My Children's Palmer Cortland.

Mitchell was one of those actors who never publicly discussed his sexuality, so I was surprised to read in the Associated Press article about his passing that his death had been confirmed by his longtime partner, Albert Wolsky, an academy award winning costume designer. Their relationship was also mentioned in The Advocate.

It's not surprising that Mitchell never opened up to the public about his sexuality. He was from a generation that largely remained closeted their entire lives, even to those closest to them. On top of that, he worked in a medium where almost all of the younger gay actors are still staying in the closet today, forty years after Stonewall. Some are even actively hiding their sexuality, rather than just not discussing it at all.

From what I know of him, Mitchell at least had the courage to live his life openly with the love of his life at his side, and that's no small thing.

I have never been a regular viewer of All My Children, but the few times I have tuned in over the years and seen Mitchell's work, he always seemed to have a sly, amused air about him that made me think that Palmer would probably be one of my favorite characters if I watched the show.

I know he'll be greatly missed by all the fans of All My Children. Rest in peace, James.

2009 in Retrospect

What a year 2009 has been. The first African American President of the United States was sworn in, the first Hispanic Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court was confirmed, and three states and Washington D.C. decided to stop denying same sex couples their right to marry.

There were losses too, of course. Marriage equality suffered setbacks in California, New York and Maine and President Obama failed to live up to his campaign promises on the Defense of Marriage Act and on Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

Adam Lambert, Jonathan Groff, Gavin Creel, Meredith Baxter, Kelly McGillis, and Wesley Eure all came out of the closet publicly this year, while Scott Evans was outed by his own brother Chris in The Advocate, not that he minded. Chris Colfer of Glee began his career this year as an openly gay actor. Am I forgetting anyone else?

We lost some amazing talent this year, from Bea Arthur to Natasha Richardson and John Updike to John Hughes, and an era ended in the United States Senate with the death of Ted Kennedy.

It was the year that was bookended by gay love scenes on soaps. In January, Nuke finally got to make love on As the World Turns after countless delays and while it was very exciting at the time, it still wasn't all it should have been as a payoff for fans of the couple. At the end of December,Kish fans were treated to the most incredible love scene between two men ever shown on American television, showing what a difference a year (and a different network, production company, and head writer!) can make.

Yes, it has been quite a year. Here are my picks for some of my favorite things of the year:

Favorite Classic Fiction Book I read this year: Orlando by Virginia Woolf

Favorite Modern Fiction Book I read this year: The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.

Favorite Non-Fiction (History) Book I read this year: And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts.

Favorite Non-Fiction (Literary) Book I read this year: A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel.

Favorite Short Story Collection I read this year: All five of Ethan Mordden's books in his Buddies series.

Favorite Film I saw this year: Adventureland

Favorite Gay themed film I saw this year: tie Make the Yuletide Gay and Were the World Mine

Favorite Hour long TV Show: Glee!

Favorite Half Hour long TV Show: How I Met Your Mother

Best Daytime Soap: One Life to Live

Favorite CD: Adam Lambert's For Your Entertainment

New Guilty Pleasure Addiction of the year: American Idol Season 8 thanks to Adam Lambert

Favorite Gay Website of the year: AfterElton.com

Favorite Gay Character of the year (Daytime): Oliver Fish, One Life to Live

Favorite Gay Character of the year (Primetime): Kurt Hummel, Glee

Hottest Actor (Daytime): Scott Evans
Hottest Actor (Primetime): Jared Padalecki
Hottest Actor (Film): Ryan Reynolds
Hottest Athlete: Andy Roddick
Favorite Actress (Primetime): Kristin Chenoweth

Favorite Actress (Daytime): tie Erika Slezak, Florencia Lozano, Hillary B. Smith, Susan Haskell, and Robin Strasser, all of One Life to Live.

Best Day of the Year: The day I saw Rent performed live with Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal!

I hope 2010 is a wonderful year for all of you!

Year End Lists

I'm a sucker for all of the year end lists that take a reflective look back on the past twelve months, so I thought I'd share some links with you.

First up, the critics at The New Yorker.

Anthony Lane, Richard Brody, and David Denby each took a look back at the best films of the year. Among his top ten, Denby selected Adventureland, a film that I really loved and meant to write about when I first saw it, but which I somehow never managed to get around to mentioning!

Last year, I seem to recall that I'd only seen one of the films picked by these guys, so I'm doing better this time around since I also saw Up, another of Denby's selections, and Star Trek, which Lane mentions.

Nancy Franklin has a look back at the year in TV. While discussing everything from President Obama's inaguration to Tom Delay on Dancing With the Stars, Franklin also mentions the over the top reaction to Adam Lambert's AMA performance:

The “American Idol” runner-up, not the first gay contestant but the first to “do” anything gay, performed on the American Music Awards, on ABC, and went a little over the top, kissing a male dancer and mimicking oral sex. Then, on CBS’s “Early Show,” a replay of the kiss was fuzzed out (as was the oral-sex bit), as if this were 1909 and not 2009. Then ABC disinvited Lambert from Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show (sorry if I’m laughing at the idea that Kimmel’s show upholds any standard other than mediocrity) and “Good Morning America,” and a tentative booking on “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” was scotched. No one knows exactly where the line is anymore when it comes to what you can say and show on TV, but, wherever it is, it’s already been a crossed many times in recent years by headline-hungry heterosexuals acting in terrible taste. There’s a word for CBS’s and ABC’s hot-potato treatment of Lambert, and it’s either “hypocrisy” or “homophobia.”

James Wood covers the year in books, none of which I've read. But then, I don't tend to read all that many books the year they come out. I think the only books I've read in 2009 that actually came out this year were Judy Shepard's moving book, The Meaning of Matthew and The Angel's Game, Carlos Ruiz Zafon's follow up to Shadow of the Wind. The latter only counts as a 2009 book in its English translation, of course.

Hilton Als has a look at the year's best in theatre and Claudia Roth Pierpoint has a list of the top ten cultural events of the year, which includes a range of things from short story collections to ballet performances.

There is a comprehensive list of all the year end picks in many other categories if you'd like to check that out.

Playbill has a list of the Top Theatre Stories of the year as well as a look back on the Broadway stars who left us this year.

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello picks his Best Of in Television for the year, including Glee's Jane Lynch as Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy. Ken Tucker made his picks for the ten best shows on TV this year (Glee was at number 9, while Modern Family was at number 3) and also the five worst shows.

Roger Ebert picks the year's best films, and once again I've seen none of them! What was I doing all year?

If you're a soap fan, Daytime Confidential has their picks of this years 10 Best Soap Couples (with LGBT couples leading the pack, Kish at number 2 and Guiding Light's Otalia at number 1) and 10 Worst Soap Couples. Semi-LGBT couple Rafe and Adam from The Young and the Restless made this list as the number 1 worst soap couple of the year.

Michael Fairman picked the year's 20 Worst Soap Moments and they included several LGBT related stories. Coming in as the number one worst soap moment of the year? The Z Twins on As the World Turns. Also making the list was the much bemoaned Bianca and Reese storyline on All My Children and the badly executed Rafe and Adam storyline on The Young and the Restless. Y&R also made the list for the botched return of Philip Chancellor III.

Fairman also picked the 20 Best Soap Moments, of course. Number 2 on that list was Olivia confessing her love to Natalia on Guiding Light, while Kyle telling Fish he loved him at the gay group wedding on One Life to Live made number 12. Philip's initial return and revelation that he was gay on The Young and the Restless made number 17 on Fairman's best of list, even though the subsequent story made the Worst of list.

That's probably enough list-mania for now!