Tag Archives: soap opera

#PRIDE – Gay History – June 18, 1992: Daytime Soap Opera “One Life To Live” Introduces First Gay Teen Character Played by Ryan Phillippe

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ABC’s One Life to Live, which debuted in 1968 had many a storylines tackling women’s issues and race, so it seemed the obvious next choice was to run a new storyline exploring homophobia and the difficulties of being a gay teen.

That was only 30 years ago.

Billy Douglas (played by Ryan Phillippe), a newcomer to the town of Lianview was reluctant to tell anyone about his homosexuality, especially his parents. He did, however, confide in the town’s compassionate pastor, Rev. Andrew Carpenter. But a scheming woman named Marty who Carpenter rejected began circulating rumors around town that the pastor had been molesting Billy. In a dramatic scene, the entire town, led by Billy’s parents, confronted Carpenter and demanded that he resign, the pastor delivered a riveting sermon against the evils of prejudice and homophobia. This led Billy to take a public stand in support of Carpenter — and to come out to his parents.

But this was not the first gay character that was introduced on an ABC soap.

Almost 10 years earlier in 1983, All My Children became the first soap opera to tackle homosexuality. Tricia Pursley portrayed the divorced Devon McFadden. After a failed, unhappy marriage, a series of destructive decisions and an affair which led to alcoholism, Devon returned to the show in 1983, after getting help for her drinking problem, as a single mother struggling to make ends meet.

She took a job at Pine Valley Hospital where she met and started dating a fellow single parent, Dr. Cliff Warner. Their happiness did not last long when Cliff found out his ex-wife, Nina Cortlandt, was single again. Cliff tried to let Devon down gently, but she took the break up hard. She was about to take a drink when she met psychologist Lynn Carson.

Lynn (played by Donna Pescow) became Devon’s pillar. When Devon found out that Lynn was gay, Devon was sure the affection she was feeling for her was love. Devon was especially jealous of Lynn’s ex-girlfriend. Devon confessed her feelings to Lynn, but Lynn did not reciprocate. In the end, the storyline concluded with Devon still in love with Cliff, having just displaced those feelings on Lynn.

Watch the videos below:

FIRST LOOK – WATCH: “Master of Dark Shadows” Documentary – Trailer

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MPI Media Group has officially released the trailer and announced the release date for it the highly anticipated Master of Dark Shadows, narrated by actor Ian McShane.

MoDS is a comprehensive celebration of the legendary Gothic daytime series Dark Shadows and its visionary creator, Dan Curtis.

In 1966, Dark Shadows debuted on ABC-TV as a daily Gothic suspense series. Airing in the late afternoon, the show attracted a massive youth audience as it shifted to the supernatural with the introduction of vulnerable vampire Barnabas Collins. Witches, ghosts and scary story lines turned Dark Shadows into a TV classic that led to motion pictures, remakes, reunions and legions of devoted fans.

The 50+ tear old series maintains a cult following to this day, and is available on DVD. The show also employed numerous gay actor many in lead roles including Barnabas Collins played by Johnathan Frid.

The documentary will be available across digital platforms and on DVD April 16.




Happy HOMO-Ween! – WATCH: “Dark Shadows” The Beginning Recap Video (1966 – 1971)

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My name is Victoria Winters. My journey is beginning, a journey that I hope will open the doors of life to me, and link my past with my future, a journey that will bring me to a strange and dark place, to the edge of the sea high above widow’s hill, a house called Collinwood, a world I’ve never known, with people I’ve never met, people who tonight are still only shadows in my mind, but who will soon fill the days and nights of my tomorrows.

Long before American Horror Story, The Walking Dead, Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries. Dark Shadows, a gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971 and has become one of the Top 25 Cult TV series in history.

The series which had a rocky start and was facing cancellation but became hugely popular when vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) appeared ten months into its run. Dark Shadows also featured ghosts, werewolves, zombies, man-made monsters, witches, warlocks, time travel, and a parallel universe. A small company of actors each played many roles; as actors came and went, some characters were played by more than one actor.

Dark Shadows was distinguished by its vividly melodramatic performances, atmospheric interiors, memorable storylines, numerous dramatic plot twists, unusually adventurous music score, and broad and epic cosmos of characters and heroic adventures.

Although the original series ran for only five years, its scheduling as a daily daytime drama allowed it to amass more single episodes during its run (1,225) than most other science-fiction/fantasy genre series  including Doctor Who and the entire Star Trek television franchise.

Dark Shadows also has the distinction of being one of the few classic television soap operas to have all of its episodes survive intact except one, although a handful of early episodes are available only in 16 mm kinescope format. Dark Shadows was filmed LIVE daily.

For a blast to the past all episodes are currently available on Hulu and many on YouTube.

 

 

TRIVIA:

  • Veteran actress Joan Bennett and Louis Edmonds are the only actors to appear in both the first and the last episodes of the series.
  • For more than a year and a half the characters of “Dark Shadows” used almost every possible phrase to refer to Barnabas Collins (“He’s not alive!” “He’s one of the undead.” “He walks at night but he ain’t alive.”) It wasn’t until the 410th episode that the word “vampire” was actually used on the show.
  • Bert Convy was considered for the role of Barnabas Collins. (Oy!)
  • Charlie’s Angel  Jaclyn Smith, was offered the role of Victoria Winters when Alexandra Isles exited the show, but she declined. Kate Jackson would later join the cast in a separate role.
  • The series was ABC’s first soap opera to appear in color, beginning with the August 14, 1967 telecast. Many shows which transitioned to color endured radical set overhauls, but following some screen testing the crew discovered they didn’t have to change a thing.
  • At least 11 Dark Shadows Actors were gay. Including: Jonathan Frid, Humbert Allen Astredo, Don Briscoe, Christopher Bernau, Joel Crothers, Louis Edmonds, Anthony George, Gene Lindsey, Keith Prentice, Craig Slocum, and Brian Sturdivant

Days of Our Lives Soap Opera Star Tweets Support for Chick-fil-A

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Days of Our Lives soap opera star Melissa Reeves who plays the (boring and annoying) character of the long-suffering  Jennifer Rose Horton Deveraux tweeted her support for the Chick-fil-A on Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day, woefully unaware of the millions of dollars that the national fast food chain has donated to anti-gay hate groups.

Whats especially ironic is that Days of Our Lives has done a storyline about gay teen Will Horton (Chadler Massey) whose supportive Aunt just happens to be played by Reeves.

According to my many Twitter sources Reeves is blocking EVERYONE who is tweeting her saying that they didn’t agree with her  stance.  But you can still contact the Days of Our Lives Comment Line @ (818)840-2067 or Corday Productions @ (818)295-2821

“Days Of Our Lives” Gay Teen Character Comes Out To His Parents – Video

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Teen daytime Days of Our Lives character Will Horton came out to his parents the long suffering Sami and very unlikeable husband Lucas this week.  And as with most soap-opera twist it was actually Will’s father Lucas who was the supportive of the two with Sami gnashing her teeth, wringing her hands and exclaiming “I feel like the world’s worst mother right now!”

But cha’ are Blance, but thats not what made Will gay.

Oh the drama.

I look forward to the day when a gay character is NOT the major storyline.  But is just part of the character.

India’s Soap Opera “Maryada: Lekin Kab Tak” Comes Out Of The Closet With Gay Characters

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“I can never love you or any other woman. I am in love with a man,”

This is a line spoken by India’s first gay soap opera character on the popular show “Maryada: Lekin Kab Tak” (Honour: But at What Cost?)

The show focuses on a patriarchal, conservative family in small-town northern India, the Jhaakar clan, whose eldest son Gaurav is now gay.

Screenwriter Damini Shetty has said that “We wanted to break new ground with ‘Maryada’ and talk about issues that people typically shy away from.  It would have been easy to show a gay person in a hip urban set-up, but we wanted to show it in this context to show that it’s a reality in every society, in villages, in small towns, where people struggle, like Gaurav, to come out to their families.”

Actor Daksh Ajit Singh, who plays Gaurav, said he received a lot of fan mail from viewers who see their own lives reflected on the small-screen.

In addition to “Maryada”, supernatural teen drama “Pyaar Kii Ye Ek Kahaani” (This Is A Story About Love) featured a sub-plot involving a gay architect who developed a crush on his roommate.

in July 2011 Indian health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad referred to homosexuality as “unnatural” and “a disease which has come from other countries” during a televised speech.