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Soap Opera History | Gay TV | Television | Written Word
Soap Opera History
The Soap Opera Book, 1978
In recent years, some critics have begun to notice "improvements" in daytime drama. Faces are younger, sets more varied, and sex more explicit. Moreover, storylines are "relevant"—at least on some shows. All My Children with its adventures in Viet Nam, The Young and the Restless with its depiction of breast cancer, are among the shows and episodes singled out for praise. Soaps like As the World Turns, meanwhile, are criticized for being too traditional, unadventurous, and unrealistic.
Continue to Soap Appeal
The Three Sides of Love
The Soap Opera Book, 1978
The love triangle. Two women in love with the same man. Two men in love with the same woman. Consider the possible complications. Three people whose lives are in some way torn by an impossible situation. From the beginning of the written word, the subject has fascinated us. One of the earliest examples is in the Bible. King David, in love with Bathsheba, uses his powers and position to send her husband to the front lines of battle where he is killed.
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Archetypes
The Soap Opera Book, 1978
There must have been a time in soap opera history when characters were well-defined types; when heroes were heroes, villains were villains, and almost nobody was in-between. There must have been such a time—because critics of soap opera and hosts of talk shows on the subject always allude to it. They describe, with some presumption, a standard cast of characters which is interchangeable from show to show.
If ever this was the case, it's not today. Soap opera characters are seldom merely Good or Bad. Though some male characters are superficial, females almost never are. Most display the depth, contradictions and growth that we associate with human behavior. The heroines have their share of weaknesses—not only for love, but for alcohol or crime, for example. Villains are not what they used to be either. Shows like Another World, Ryan's Hope and Love of Lifetake great care to present a full psychological picture; even the villain of the moment is perceived as an individual with "needs."
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Relevant Issues
The Soap Opera Book, 1978
The soaps have always been popular because they
tell stories—because they entertain. A good soap is,
traditionally, the one that makes you tune in
tomorrow, no matter what your previous plans. In
recent years, however, soaps have been judged and
received on a different basis. How relevant is this
soap? asks the serious viewer (who's not sure he's a
"fan"). What is it teaching our young people? asks the
mother (who enjoys them anyhow).
The concern with relevancy in the soaps is
perhaps inevitable. Any form of entertainment that
reaches 20 million people daily will be influential—
so why not for the public good? "I sincerely believe
that these various programs influence society in a
tremendous way," writes a viewer from Michigan, "...the writers and producers of ABC, NBC, CBS
have a great responsibility in their future endeavors,
since they can play a big hand in reshaping
sociological attitudes of the mass media." Many
share her view.
Continue to Relevant Issues
Remember Them?
The Soap Opera Book, 1978
Around the same time, America had its first popular radio series. The program was Amos 'n' Andy, a nighttime comedy series (not a soap) about two lovable naive black Alabamians who had migrated to Chicago. It was amazingly popular. In 1930-1 it was estimated that over half the people in the country listened to it regularly. Every night of the week for fifteen minutes, life would stop as everyone caught up on the latest doings of Amos Jones, Andrew H. Brown, George "Kingfish" Stevens, and their associates. Not surprisingly, other series like Myrt and Marge, The Goldbergs, True Romances, and Moonshine and Honeysuckle, quickly followed.
Continue to Remember Them?
Also see 25 of radio's favorite soaps
The Status of Minorities on Daytime
Soap Opera Digest, March 21, 1989
How accurately do soap operas represent the diverse ethnic and racial population of the United States? Do their characters exist in a white middle or upper-class vacuum? Do they perpetuate damaging, dated stereotypes about minorities including people with disabilities? Have the shows been successful in integrating their casts? Or are minorities merely tokens? A good way to measure a character's Importance is to look at their home. Many minor characters are only seen in the workplace. Having a family, a place to live and romantic problems is the sign of a front-burner character. We took a good hard look at the daytime serials and graded them according to how well they scored against that criteria. Keep in mind that we are giving marks for effort as well as success
Continue to The Status of Minorities on Daytime
All My Children
There are a series of articles on All My Children
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Loving
Soap Opera Digest, May 26, 1992
You've read in these pages about LOVING's nationwide search to find new young talent. The hunt is over — now's your chance to judge the results. These fresh faces will be on LOVING's front burner all summer in stories that take the show, according to Executive Producer Fran Sears, "back to basics. We're going back to Alden University, which was so much a part of the show's beginnings."
Not that the kids are flying solo, without benefit of family ties. According to Head Writer Addie Walsh, "We're connecting them strongly to their families; we're not just isolating them." Cooper is an Alden, Casey is Gift's son and Hannah is Dinah Lee's little sister. The writers are using these relationships, as well as the fraternity/sorority setting, as springboards for the new characters.
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Another World
Soap Opera Digest, May 26, 1992
An actress puts her reputation on the line when she signs on to play twins Vicky and Marley on ANOTHER WORLD. Not only does the dual role demand a high level of technical expertise and the ability to make swift emotional transitions, it also can make or break an actress's career. The first two actresses to play Vicky and Marley, Ellen Wheeler and Anne Heche, made their names playing the twins: They both won an Emmy for their popular and critically acclaimed performances. Both performers attest to the toll that playing Vicky and Marley took on their lives. In the seven years since the characters appeared together, Vicky/Marley has become the most concentrated dual role on daytime — and arguably the most difficult role to play.
Former AW writer Gary Tomlin, who created the role with Gillian Spencer, says Ellen Wheeler was already playing the more sympathetic Marley when the dual role was conceived in 1985. Tomlin says NBC was opposed to developing a twin story on the show. "There were so many twin stories at the time, it scared them off," Tomlin, who is now writing for SANTA BARBARA, notes. We defended the character, and they came around."
Continue to Another World
Santa Barbara
There are a series of articles on Santa Barbara
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One Life to Live
There are a series of articles on One Life to Live
Continue to One Life to Live
Ryan's Hope
There are a series of articles on Ryan's Hope
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How Did I Forget Him? Or Him? Or Him?
I know this will sound crazy, but when we first opened our Hot 100 List for nominations, I wondered if folks would even suggest more than an hundred different guys. Ha! Double ha! As of last count, almost 300 different guys had been nominated for their hotness. What I found most amusing was how when I read other guys' top ten choices, I kept thinking, "Gawd! How did I forget Patrick Wilson?! Or Christopher Meloni?!"
Continue to How Did I Forget Him? Or Him? Or Him?
Hollywood's closet still closed tight
Being openly gay, however, does seem to change the viewer/actor dynamic, says Leonard Maltin, film historian and critic for Entertainment Tonight.
"An actor's job is to convince you that they are who they are portraying," Maltin says. "If you are aware that an actor is gay and you are watching them portray heterosexuals, I think that's understandably confusing.
Continue to Hollywood's closet still closed tight
They're Here, They're Queer 
Continue to They're Here, They're Queer
Rescue Me
Who hasn't had a fireman fantasy? Now here are two for the price of one. Of course, it's Rescue Me, so all are prepared for the worst. No one -- especially the straight folks -- gets by unscathed in Denis Leary's world. For the time being, however, we'll take it.
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One Life To Live: Billy Douglas
Billy is reluctant to tell anyone of his homosexuality, especially his parents. He is able, however, to confide in the town's pastor, Andrew. And then, due to the scheming of a woman Andrew scorned, rumors fly around town, that the pastor is a homosexual and has made advances on Billy.
fame.
Continue to One Life To Live - Billy Douglas
The Down & The Dirty
IN MAGAZINE LA, 2002
One
of the soap world's most clean-cut hunks—Thom
Bierdz, formerly Phillip Chancellor from The
Young and Restless—lathers up a real-life
sudser more lurid than the wildest daytime
drama. It's a nonstop orgy of murder
and mayhem, sex and suicide, and life after
fame.
Continue to The Down & The Dirty
And the Walls Came Tumbling Down - As The World Turns
Soap Opera Digest, March 21, 1989
As Hank's story unfolds, the character
has had to explain his sexual preference to
many Oakdale citizens, so "going to confession," is the norm. Obviously, the pow
ers-that-be at ATWT wanted the audience
to know just who Hank really is, and their
efforts seem to be paying off.
According to Brian, viewer reaction to
Hank has been positive. Gay men have
written to thank him for presenting an excellent on-camera role model. Some letters
won't mention anything specific but think
"it's" great. Brian grins and reports that a
guy from out West wrote, "It was a real
shock when I found out that Hank was
queer. I guess it's OK. I still like you any
way. Of course, mama and grandma don't
think queers should be on soap operas."
Continue to And the Walls came Tumbling Down
How and Why Daytime's First Gay Man Came To As The World Turns
Soap Opera Digest, July 11, 1989
Daytime has always prided itself on addressing social issues. They've tackled child abuse and AIDS; returning Vietnam vets and teen alcoholism. But before this season, they'd never introduced a male character who happened to be gay.
"I was always told the same thing: that a male gay character would be a total turnoff for any female in the audience," says Douglas Marland, head writer of AS THE WORLD TURNS, and veteran writer of such shows as THE DOCTORS, GUIDING LIGHT and LOVING. "And I said, 'But I don't believe that.' I never believed that." Marland had the chance to test his beliefs his year when he created the character of Hank Eliot on AS THE WORLD TURNS.
Continue to Daytime's First Gay Man
Van Hansis Talks About His Role As
Daytime TV's Most Visibly Gay Teen
AfterElton, May 10, 2006
Everyone knows soap operas like outrageous plot twists: murder, blackmail, evil twins, and all the rest
This week, however, CBS' As The World Turns has been dealing with a more real-life drama: the revelation that a child is gay.
On Monday's episode, 17-year old Luke Grimaldi, played by Van Hansis, finally told his parents he is gay. On Tuesday, we witnessed the repercussions of that revelation: anger, betrayal, confusion, and hurt, all played in a surprisingly understated way, especially given this is a medium known for over-the-top acting and writing.
Continue to Van Hansis Talks
Soap Opera Weekly, August 14, 2006
When As The World Turns' Luke lashed out at Damian for his betrayal, Van Hansis deftly set his naive teenage character on the path to manhood with a polished performance that was anything but childish.
Continue to Applause, Applause
At Pine Valley High, Art Imitates Life
Soap Opera Weekly, July 9, 1996
Imagine being in Patricia Wilson's shoes. As she watched "All My Children" in her Desoto, MO, home last December she believed she was experiencing deja vu. Excited, Pat Wilson picked up the telephone and dialed her son Rodney 50 miles away, calling him out of his classroom in a St. Louis-area high school.
Imagine Rodney's initial shock with the intercom buzzed a few minutes before two that day, as he was teaching his last class. He recalls, "I was worried, actually, as never in six years of teaching had Mom called me with such urgency during the school day." When he returned her call, Rodney was intrigued with what his mother had to tell him.
Continue to At Pine Valley High, Art Imitaes Life
Gay TV We Love to Watch
MetroSource April/May 2002
With two new gay networks on the way, PRIDEVISION, the Canadian contender, looking to make time in the US, and gay pay-for-view movies in the works, we decided to check in with some of TV's groundbreaking residents. "You can bet that as you read this, the folks over at Viacom are huddled around, carefully planning their lineup of "must-see" gay TV. And over at ALT1-TV, David McKillop is most certainly sizing up the Goliath to beat in the race to bring gay programming to the masses. But as MTV's Matt Farber recently admitted, "There's no question we wouldn't be here without Queer As Folk being a success, without Will & Grace being in the Seinfeld time slot."
And we all know, a big part of the reason we have arrived "here" is due to the men and women who survived the slings and arrows of network censors, the right wing and sometimes, folks in their own backyards. And no doubt, the pitches at gay TV central sound something like this; "He's a single gay man a la will who works with an icy lesbian sorta like Kerry on ER, whose girlfriend is this funny Ellen type who teaches school and is trying to fix up her wholesome T.A., think Jack on Dawson's Creek, with her cute young nephew... You know like Justin on Queer As Folk,"
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Being Matthew Shepard
Next March 8, 2002
Now that a few years have passed since the death of Matthew Shepard, the media seems ready to fully examine the importance and the legacy of the gay 21 -year-old college student who was tied to a fence, brutally beaten, and left for dead in Laramie, Wyoming in 1998. The shock of his murder galvanized millions of people, and helped focused the nation's attention on the growing epidemic of hate crimes and anti-gay violence. This weekend (March 2002) HBO broadcasts The Laramie Project, and next Saturday, March 16th at 9pm, NBC will air the TV-movie The Matthew Shepard Story, starring Shane Meier as Matthew Shepard, and Stockard Channing and Sam Waterston as his parents, Judy and Dennis. The film focuses on the life and death of Matthew, and how his parents were forced to come to terms with the tragedy and subsequently respond to the murder trial of his killers
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here! TV
Next March 8, 2002
Representing a historic first, here! TV is a precedent-setting television destination dedicated to serving the country's gay and lesbian audience. here! TV offers original films and series, recent theatrical and video releases and a wide range of programming targeting gay and lesbian viewers.
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Starsky & Hutch
Next March 8, 2002
At first glance, Starsky and Hutch (1975-79, ABC) seems of a piece with Baretta, The Streets of San Francisco, or even producer Aaron Spelling's own Charlie's Angels--one more post-1960s police series with street smarts and social cognizance, that expresses at least a passing familiarity with youth culture. Yet on closer inspection, swarthy Dave Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser) and surfer/sensitive Ken Hutchinson (David Soul), confirmed bachelors and disco-era prettyboys, seem to have taken the cop show maxim "Always watch your partner's back" well past their own private Rubicon.
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The Long Firm
Southern Voice Online March 5, 2005
These days the miniseries format is more popular in comic books than on television shows. For comics, it’s an especially successful formula, spreading one story out over several issues. Even better, one writer will tell several stories over a number of issues but use different characters and artists to illustrate the action. And don't forget that the violent, charming, brooding, sexy Starks is gay.
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The incredible hunk
The Advocate, October 14, 2003
Daniel Petronijevic spent last summer surrounded by drag queens when he played a macho infantryman in Showtime’s groundbreaking film Soldier’s Girl, and this year he’s surrounded by football players. The rugged 22-year-old actor will be breaking ground as about-to-be-outed gay football player Thad Guerwitcz on ESPN’s first-ever dramatic series, Playmakers.
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A soapy coming-out party
USA Today, April 14, 2005
When Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry came out of the closet to his mother on his 31st birthday, Martha Cherry looked at her son and said, "I would love you even if you were a murderer."
On Sunday's new Housewives (9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC), Bree Van De Kamp (Marcia Cross) delivers those same double-edged words of support to her teenage son Andrew (Shawn Pyfrom), who came out to his parents in last week's show.
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Hard Time In Oz
Gay & Lesbian Pink Pages
Viewers who tuned in to the very first episode of HBO's prison series OZ in the summer of 1997 probably expected to see a smart, well-written drama depicting life behind bars – as evidenced by OZ creator/producer Tom Fontana's previous work on critically acclaimed shows like St. Elsewhere and Homicide.
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The gay side of 'Desperate Housewives'
CNN, July 22, 2005
Two days after being lavished with Emmy nominations for "Desperate Housewives," series creator Marc Cherry appeared before an especially appreciative gathering: Outfest 2005, a gay and lesbian film festival.
The ABC satire on suburbia that emerged as the runaway hit of the past TV season has a solid homosexual pedigree, even if the show's gay sensibility is more sly than overt: Cherry is gay and so are several of his writers.
Continue to AThe gay side of 'Desperate Housewives'
The Jury
The Philadelphia Inquirer February 16, 2003
The wizard of Oz, HBO's gruesome drama about a maximum-security penitentiary, Fontana now turns to The Jury, a Fox midseason series. It looks at criminal cases from a jury's point of view.
Production began last week on five hour-long episodes. No debut date. Fontana homeys Barry Levinson and James Yoshimura are coproducers.
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