Deep Soap: (Gay) Pride and Prejudice

By Sara A. Bibel
Fancast.com

Fear And Loathing In Daytime

Luke and Noah’s romance on As The World Turns is one of the hottest stories on soaps right now. Multiple sites post their scenes on-line and analyze their every move. (You can watch complete episodes of ATWT right here on fancast .) The story has generated mainstream media attention and increased interest in the long-running soap among the sort of hip, young viewers the genre is dying to attract. On July 3rd, Oakdale will even have a Gay Pride celebration featuring a performance by Cyndi Lauper. (Of course, many of those viewers are young men who aren’t considered daytime’s target audience and thus are not reflected in the female-only demographic ratings, and plenty only watch on-line.)

ATWT approached this story with caution. As with All My Children’s similarly popular lesbian love story a couple years ago, it began as a story about a teenager coming out. Almost every gay storyline on daytime has featured teenagers dealing with homophobia, both because older characters on soaps tend to be established as extraordinarily heterosexual and because it’s plausible that teenage characters won’t have significant romantic relationships. The old-skewing ATWT may have expected negative feedback when it paired Luke with Noah. It took them forever to kiss. When they did, the response, at least on-line, was along the lines of, “About time.” Still, it was months before they kissed again, and the writers have devised a myriad of contrivances, including marrying Noah to an Iraqi refugee, to keep the guys from having sex. According to the website AfterElton.com it’s been 26 days since ”Nuke” has kissed – hardly typical of a young soap couple.

The roots of daytime’s gay panic may have begun over thirty years ago when The Young & The Restless attempted a lesbian storyline – with disastrous results. I spoke with Kay Alden, Y&R’s former headwriter, who currently writes for The Bold & The Beautiful, about this chapter in daytime history.

It was 1977. There were only three television networks. The sexual revolution was migrating from its young, urban roots to the suburbs. (For a fictional representation of this era, check out episodes of Swingtown on this site.) In primetime, CBS featured “edgy” Norman Lear sitcoms such as All In The Family that frequently, and heavy handedly, tackled social issues. It was also the year Three’s Company debuted on ABC, titillating audiences with its main character who pretended to be gay so he could share an apartment with two straight women. (Am I the only one who never understood this premise?) Homosexuality had been classified as a psychological disorder until 1973. Prejudice against gay people was the norm in many parts of the country.

In daytime, The Young & The Restless was popular but not yet the number one show. The series had already tackled social issues including rape and alcoholism. The show made the bold decision to have Katherine Chancellor, lonely after the death of her beloved Phillip, start to develop romantic feelings for her friend and roommate Joanne Curtis. I assumed that the intent of the story, in addition to exploring Katherine’s emotional state, was to educate the audience. According to Alden, it was also about ratings. “The idea was to attract the avant garde viewers. Soap operas, at the time, had a very conservative Midwestern audience. I did a lot of research. Cosmopolitan magazine had a lot of articles about lesbianism at the time.” (While today Cosmo is not well respected, in the 1970s, Helen Gurley Brown’s version of magazine was influential. It encouraged young women to enjoy being single and explore their sexuality. Lesbianism was presented as another lifestyle choice, along with open relationships and one night stands.)

I wondered how Y&R convinced CBS that the time was right for the story. “We didn’t tell the network in advance,” explained Alden. “Back then we didn’t have to get stories approved.”

As one of the youngest members of the writing staff, Alden spearheaded the story. “This was not an idea Bill Bell would have thought of on his own.” Alden, living in Southern Missouri at the time, was interested in fully telling Kay and Joanne’s story but sensitive to how carefully the show had to tread with potentially controversial material.

According to Alden, the story was played very subtly. There was no overt dialogue or physicality. In fact, the show didn’t expect viewers to have an inkling of where the plot was headed. Instead, the moment Kay touched Joanne’s hand, “You could hear television sets clicking off all across America,” recalled Alden. “The audience knew exactly what was going on. It was one of the most remarkable experiences of my career. At no other time can I remember an instant ratings drop because of a single storyline.” The show quickly wrapped up the story, with Kay’s son Brock confronting her about her feelings and Joann leaving town.

Y&R had miscalculated. Instead of drawing in new viewers, the show had alienated many of the viewers it already had. Eventually, the show’s ratings rebounded. But it would be years before another soap would dare to tackle a gay storyline and decades before a gay character would be allowed to have a love interest.

All Hail The Princess

I loved Andrea Evans triumphant return to One Life To Live in her signature role as Tina Roberts. The ditzy, hilarious troublemaker was one of my favorites of all time. Sometimes when a character comes back after a long absence, it’s hard to fit them back into the canvas or make newer viewers care about them. Not this time. The decision to bring her back as a princess involved in a jewel scam was inspired and instantly tied her into current story. I can’t wait to see her reunite with her sister Viki. Tina’s lost none of her glamour or comic timing. Huge props to the make-up department for giving Evans the thick, 80s style black eyeliner that she wore back in the day. In my mind, I associate Tina with middle school. I remember how distraught I was when she seemingly died after going over the Iguazu falls in Argentina. (That’s right. In the 80s soaps had the budget for international location shoots.) I wore black to school the next day as my way of mourning. Now I’m piling on the eye makeup in celebration of her return.