On Saturday, One Life To Live won Outstanding Daily Drama at the GLAAD Awards. But the timing couldn't be worse at the moment. Ever since I heard that ABC were getting rid of popular gay couple Kish on One Life to Live, I have been pissy mad. I was an on-again, off-again viewer of OLTL for years (my mom got me hooked on ABC soaps growing up) but when gay coule Oliver and Kyle were added to the fold last year, I became an avid watcher. Execs blamed the huge decline in ratings on the gay couple, failing to "resonate with the mainstream audience," and fans speculated that middle America may have rejected the gay storyline due to homophobia. Brett Claywell even shit down rumors ABC spread saying his and Scott Evans' hard partying caused them to fire them from the show. So now they're making it personal by trying to tarnish their image and make them difficult to work with. So tacky, ABC.
Says Claywell: "There is absolutely no truth to this rumor," Claywell tells Zap2it. "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."
Well for one I can tell you that's not the reason people aren't watching. When it comes to soaps, it seems writers always feel a sense of loyalty to the veteran actors, continuing to recycle the same tired storylines about baby switching, resurrections, multiple personalities, and love triangles. Truth be told, I'm over Todd's stupid schemes and always getting away with it. I'm also not believing Rex and GiGi's relationship (am I the only one who gets a gay vibe from him?). Also why is it whenever I watch John McBain he seems to be chewing his lines as he's saying it? No one seems more bored with his work on OLTL than John.
I feel in order for soaps to survive, they need to adapt wit hthe times. This is why reality television is so popular. They continue to take risks and tell different stories outside of the same tired schitck. OLTl was moving in the right direction with alot of the stories they were telling, including Fish coming out as a gay cop, his marriage to Kyle and the upcoming episode which will have Fish fighting for custody of his baby he had with GiGi's sister (who was trying to pass the baby off as Rex's). There also needs to be more diversity in Llanview (i.e., more black and latino characters. We can get more latinos than Cristian and more black people than the three they have running around right now. Their creatively bankrupt storylines are starting to burst at the seams, and if you think firing the most interesting characters on the show to force us to care about the boring ones, you're sadly mistaken. Once Kish goes, so does your gay audience and it won't be too long before OLTL suffers the same fate as many soaps who have been sent to their early graves.
There may be a way you can save Kish from being fired. Head over to http://dontputkishinthecloset.blogspot.com, http://www.daytimeconfidential.com, and http://www.welovesoaps.net for updates on this story.
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