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Gays of our Lives (April 06, 2009)SNAPSHOTS – A night with Legends, starring out gay actor Bryan Batt
Dashaun Young, Batt and Todd
DuBail of Legends
The cast of Legends
Bryan Batt SOAP STUD OF THE WEEK – (Paul James, Calvin of Greek) After far too long a wait, Calvin is back for another semester and, boy, has he been missed. Calvin’s that hot frat guy that you’d wish you’d had to pal around with to get you through the tumultuous years of college. Or to date and cuddle with on those long winter nights in the frat house. He’s a good friend that you can go to for support when you need it, even if you’re in a rival house. He’s also loyal frat brother happy to provide a shoulder to cry on or some sage advice about which girl to date.
But most of all, best off all, Calvin’s that guy who looks this good on the basketball court. And for all those reasons and more, he is our SOAP STUD OF THE WEEK.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK If you haven't yet watched the episode, you can watch it here.
Submitted by on Sun, 2009-04-05 19:54. |
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News, Reviews & Commentary on Gay and Bisexual Men in Entertainment and the Media
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OMG
I just found out John Partridge was the Rum Tum Tugger in Cats!!I loved him in that!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWYjPsgYs5s
He is so talented,swoon~
_______________________________________________
I heard some of my friends back at home do watch Ugly Wudi(btw,the name Wudi or 无敌 means invincible,matchless,unbeatable or unrivaled,stuff like that.But in reality I don`t think anyone in China will name their kid Wudi.It`s just a little too aggressive to be a first name)I personally had never watched it,so I can`t really comment on how good (or bad)it is.
I heard there is also a "Marc" in the Chinese version,not sure if the character is gay though.
The actor who played Chinese "Marc":
Edit:OK,I just did some research and turned out the character is supposed to be "straight" and had a very "butch" girlfriend.Hmmm....
Some thoughts on your great work
Incredible job on the year in gay soap stories. It really has been a huge reversal, and a disappointment. I really think Hollyoaks was the biggest disappointment. The Kieron/John Paul relationship was shockingly paced -- they would disappear for weeks at a time, and then suddenly, they would kiss, or suddenly, they would have sex, or suddenly, they were supposed to be in love. It was one of the most blatantly plot-driven stories I've ever seen. And then, as soon as Craig returned, Kieron was killed. Even worse, his death was meaningless. There was one scene where John Paul reacted to finding out Niall had killed Kieron, and that was it. The whole thing was just shock value with no followthrough. That's not even getting into Ravi, who was poorly cast, has no chemistry with anyone, and as you mentioned, the story sends very confusing, negative stereotypes about bisexuality.
Emmerdale -- what can be said? You said it all. I love Emmerdale, but Anita Turner's stories for gay men were, at best, halfhearted. It's very sad because Emmerdale had strong stories for gay characters for over 15 years. Now they just have Debbie Dingle, a generally straight woman who was "gay for Jasmine".
Eastenders...who would ever imagine, watching the show now, that it was once the most diverse, groundbreaking program around? Now everything is shockingly stereotyped. The black characters have stories only about drugs, or race problems, with only a brief amount of airtime for Lucas and Denise. The Masoods often have wacky comedy or money problems. Heather gets shameful "comedy" storylines which make her look like a fool and make fun of her weight. Christian, he's every gay stereotype rolled into one.This for a character who was brought on the show with headlines that he wasn't supposed to be stereotypical. EE is lazy, lazy lazy in every area.
Corrie -- Marcus was their highlight for gays in 2008. I still miss him. I also liked the sexual ambiguity around Liam's cute cousin Tom, who is now on his way out. You didn't mention Gail's father, Ted, who is gay. He's never had any stories about that (aside from Blanche believing Ted was going to "turn" her son-in-law Ken), but he's a warm, wise, funny character. The episode where he came out to Gail, who didn't have the best history with gay men after what happened to her daughter Sarah Louise, was one of the best of last year. Gail: I'm a Blairite!
Shameless -- what was the encounter with Mickey and one of Carl's exes? Those spoilers make me wary for poor Mickey, I hope he'll manage to pull through all the crises. I can guess who is going to get beaten up. I wonder why they haven't given Ian any gay stories this season.
Its the end of the world!
If tried and true soap operas are getting the ax, then one can only assume that the world will be ending very soon...
As for Clara Sheller, I have to disagree if only for the thought made in past weeks about how well the show portrayed 'real' and 'true' reactions to the situation. I actually liked the way they made it all about avoidance and bottling up their emotions, because its going to make the finale that much better.
If there had been all kinds of fighting and crying, I would have been put off by it, as it would be so out of place for this set of characters. Unless Pascal's husband gets involved, none of them are very expressive of their emotions. Take the instance of Gilles distrust of Clara after they got back together.
It was so good and very much like him to make that line about the condom, rather than do something like 'boink' her like he's simulating rape or something along those lines.
This show is all about the internal struggles, not so much about big dramatic explosions. That's just my honest opinion anyways...
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Take a break and explore the world of hedonism and pleasure-seeking!
Chuckles!
Gregor and the princess
>>I just know that it won’t be long before we’ll see these scenes again, only with a different lady. I have to say, I disagree with this assessment.
I'm not the biggest fan of the storyline, but the one thing most people seem to agree on that this will most likely be Gregor's last big storyline. This is Gregor's 3rd bigger love, his 4th if you count Rebecca which most people don't, which makes him positively geriatric by VL standards. So most people assume that this will be his swan song storyline, lasting between 1-2 years and that it will end with Gregor being killed off in a dramatic fashion (most people put their money on helicopter accident) as it has been on VL with about half the big dramtic love stories (Jan/Julia, Carla/Hanna, Leo/Cecile, Marie/Henning, Katie/Heino), allowing the princess to grieve her first love and then eventually move on to another one. So for better or worse, I do think that this will be Gregor's last storyline, so also that this will be the last lady he will wallow about in this fashion.
I do think that it will be another year before he gets written off, so there is no danger of any this happening any time soon, but there is definitely a timpestamp on Gregor's life here.
Seriously?
German shows are a lot less
German shows are a lot less forgiving of Brooke Logan or Jack/Carly or Holden/Lilly type situations. If a character has had too many romances they are considered no longer credible and are written off. And at least on VL breakups usually do stick once a story is finished. Not like on other soaps where you know that no matter what the characters do, it's just a matter of time till they will fall into bed again. (it's different for breakups that take place within a story/as part of the story, but in those cases VL usually telegraphs it quite plainly that pairing X is still "the story")
Forbidden Love is more like cross between a traditional soap and a telenovela. There is usually one designated main storyline, usually of an at least half aristocratic couple (they are also usually either the bumper or the header in the opening credits and are represented on the official banner). This couple usually has about two years of main storyline (sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less). Then most of them end with one of them getting killed off on a tragic way because it is hard to convince two actors to leave the show at the same time. At the moment, Gregor and Luise are THAT couple (they are not in the opening credits yet because the show still hasn't changed their opening credits; but I think a change will come soon)
And you also have the problem of the old/new issue. The princess has only had one love so far, so she is a "new" character. Gregor has had 3,5 loves, so on the eyes of the show he is an old character. It would be a waste to write her off when she has still so much potenital as a character while he in the eyes of the show doesn't. A death is the most logical choice in the eyes of the show because it preserves the romance of the storyline for eternity. So I would say it's pretty close to a given that Gregor will get this fate eventually.
The rules are less strict with less important pairings/side pairings where you can have normal breakups (like Christian/Coco for example or Judith/Fabian). But even there people no longer accept a character if he or she is perceived as having had too many (supposed to be genuine) romances. That's why Judith hasn't had a storyline since Constantin left, because she had three different guys she was supposed to be interested in in the space of one year. Though at least some of them are considered to "not count" because they were not very deep on an emotional level, Judith slid pretty closed to being played out territory. Hence they put her on the backburner to let her "cool off" and to see whether she can be credible in another romance again.
I think the core difference between VL and your traditional American soap is that VL has romance as its centerpiece, not characters. It's not "The many adventures and changes a character goes through", it's about going from one romantic storyline to the next. And for that it is key that the players and the romances have to credibly for the stories to be considered genuinely romantic. There will always be less serious stories too and there there can be more casual sleeping around and breaking up, but those stories are I think rather clearly second row to the romantic main stories.
This was a really
This was a really informative post and such an eye opener. Thanks Lola for some really great insight into how VL operates regarding their characters and the storylines.
Grading the story
BTW, I think that's also where the difference in how people grade the story comes from. If people look at this and mistakenly think that this is just gonna be some chick who will give Gregor something to do for a while, I agree then the story setup is very silly and cheesy.
But for the German fans when they look at the story and grade whether or not it is successfull, they don't grade whether it is a fun and timepass sexy romance for Gregor. They grade "Is this woman capable/deserving/believable as Gregor's soulmate/once and forever love/nobody will ever be higher than her". Because that is what she is. Whether we like her or loathe her, she is gonne be IT. No way around that.
And VL is notoriously inflexible in changing the direction of their main pairing (just ask Lydia and Sebastian). The only time when something can maybe be changed is when the pairing fails (like it was with Gregor's supposed to be grand first romance), but (1) it's not failing. The character of Luise and the actress are actually really popular and (2) Gregor has already failed to deliver a grand romance twice first with Max then with Rebecca. So even if this storyline was deemed to be unsuccessfull, I don't think that they would give him another one. And even the unpopula/failed main pairings are usually never aborted, but usually play out just like their one year or two year plan intended even if all fans loathe it,
Goodbye Gregor, goodbye Christian and Olli?
Well () It's far in the
Well
() It's far in the future. The Gregor/Luise storyline is built up to last at least one year, if not longer. And we don't even know if Jo and Thore even intended to extent their contract for yet another year (their contracts should be up for renegotiating again this fall) regardlessof what Gregor's fate ends up being. For all the know they might leave even before Gregor dies.
() Olli still has family. The No Limits is still a major location. And the blond woman who tried to talk to Olli in the hallway is Christian's cousin even though they so far haven't written much of a relationship between the two. Besides, if Gregor died, I'm sure they could build at least half a year to a year of fallout stories out of it, depending on how he dies
So, I don't think that the two storylines are entirely dependant on each other. If anything, Gregor having the current main storyline of the soap probably adds to Ollians value and screentime. We might think it's boring to have all those constant Gregor and Christian talks, but it serves an important function within the main storyline of the show, which is Gregor and Luise.
Besides, there have always been character who stuck around for long times even though they didn't have any family in town ever. Coco was a character like that. And Andi the character Olivia used to be in love with, started off with a brother, but the brother left rather soon, yet the character stuck around for many more years. (thoguh to be fair, both were kinda hand me around characters who had a lot of pairings) Nathalie is another character, who is only very loosely tied to the show through family ties (Sarah is her cousin, but they haven't been portrayed as close in a long time), but she just got a new storyline.
Gregor's Swan Song
I agree with what Lola is saying in her analysis here.
Gregor's role at NoLimits is being usurped by Olli buying in as a partner (courtesy of Aunt Charlie). Gregor's only "space" other than at NoLimits currently is the hangar while he works on his heli. With the relationship with Luise, he's slowly being transitioned away from NoLimits and the flat-share over to the castle.
Watching the dynamics at work with the NoLimits stories in the last few months, it is clear that the redecoration is more of Olli's personality than Gregor's. He's being moving away from that anchor location.
Despite the best intentions of the audience and writers, he cannot be a permanent fixture (as a spouse) at Castle Konigsbrunn because (a) he's not an aristocrat [that we know of], and (b) he's a former gigolo/call boy.
The show is being pretty heavy-handed with the fairy-tale aspect of the story--and I happen to love the actors and the story--so, as Lola observed, this is "The One" for him.
**SPOILERS BELOW**
Many of the characters he's had major stories with are likely to be exiting the show also in the coming monts. Sarah, Leonard (?), no word on his childhood friends Ansgar and Nathalie. Rebecca wasn't a real connection for him, so I'm not counting her. The only other characters he's had any other major dealings with are Olli and Christian, and Olli is taking his place at NoLimits. If Gregor dies, Christian could easily assume his half of the business, since he does most of that work now anyway.
I agree, Gregor's days are numbered.
Agreed. I can think of a
Agreed. I can think of a few ways to stretch the story, but it's realy just a question of whether or not they will stretch it from one year to two or not. Doesn't change the final outcome.
Not any news yet on whether Ansgar and/or Nathalie will leave. It's all about shrouded in mystery precisely because there are no hints of them leaving so maybe the Lahnstein family has more breath left in them (in the form of Ansgar and co) than he think, though either way I expect them to stretch till the end of the year since there still haven't been any official new cast additions in the form of Luise's or Eduard's family.
I have to admit I'm curious whether anybody will take over Sarah's job as the GreLu confidante on Luise's side or whether we'll go back to just Luise vs. Maria.
GTST
It's good to see GTST/Lucas in GOOL again. Hopefully the show will announce who's going to play Lucas soon. Oh, and it's also good to see the old GTST logo. That one hasn't been used since 2006. This is the current logo:
I loved the old logo and the old opening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa5ajBbB_vA (Both Lucas' parents Stefano and Janine are in this one)
This is the current opening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6PYLoEv9QY (Lucas' mother Janine and half-sister Nina are the last two characters in this opening)
It's a little too "hip" for my taste. Hopefully they'll get a new one soon. Maybe when they celebrate the 20th anniversary of the show next year.
Hmmm.....
The new opening...
A positive thing about the opening is that they update it regularly. The last few newcomers got a place in the opening about 2 weeks after their debut on the show. So I expect the same with Lucas.
United States of Tara
Toni Collette is beyond amazing,especially in the season finale,OMG!!So far this year she is my pick of best leading actress in a comedy series for emmy and golden globes.
But I`m a bit worried that votes will be splited among Edie Falco,Mary-Louise Parker and her.Since USoT,Nurse Jackie & Weeds are all on Showtime and will all be nominated in comedy category.
Things I don't say enough!
() I really love your ever changing GOOL icon
() You do a really great job with the translations. Love your translation of the AWZ spoiler/very envious of your spot on word choice. Now if you could just get Chroust or Grabosch to do a follow up and grill them a bit about Roman's supposedly new story!
() Great "one year later" feature. Very interesting look on things, particularly on the British soaps that I'm not as familiar with. Hopefully things will pick up bit in the later half of 2009.
The Icon
I love the icon as well. I can't take credit for it though. The great creative folks here at AE are responsible for it and they do a fantastic job.
In terms of the translations, I get help from folks who actually speak the language they are written in. Again, I can't take the credit!
I'm glad you liked the feature article. It's really a troubling problem, not just with the soaps, but with the dramas as well such as Casualty, River City and Waterloo Road where the gay characters just keep disappearing. I would have liked to have covered those and other UK dramas in the feature, but length prevented that. Maybe in a Part 2 future article perhaps.
Depressing, isn't it? That
Ugly betty is not a spanish soap
Física O Química
Here you can find some information of the new season: http://www.formulatv.com/1,20090406,10953,1.html
Fer y el chico 10. Fer se hace amigo de un chico deportista y heterosexual, poco a poco, se va enamorando de él. Para su sorpresa el chico, un día que salen de juerga, le besa. Pero al día siguiente no se acuerda. O dice no acordarse. Comienza un juego sentimental con constantes sube y bajas.
Translation...
Fer and the hot guy: Fer gets a new friend, a straight hunk fratboy type, and slowly he starts to fall in love for him. Surprisingly, the guy, one day when they go out together, kisses him. Next day, he doesn't remember it. Or he says so. It starts a sentimental rollercoster.
Interesting....
Better than i expected
The truth is that i expected that Fer spend most of the season as Julio's satellite, but it seems that the screenplayers have better plans for him
Shameless
Shameless on Sundany
Usually Sundance repeats the season before airing a new one but in between airing seasons three and four they switched it out for Vivenne Vyle and Big Girl's Blouse. It may be six weeks or longer.
The Original "Ugly Betty"...
Southland
Christian and Olli
Thanks for acknowledging the need for B and C stories on soaps. Especially when you consider that both Christian and Olli get considerable screen time on the show in that capacity. In many cases, one of them (if not both) is on 3-5 days a week, which I wouldn't mind if I were either actor. Add to that, the affection they continue to display in their B or C-stories. (positive role models, even in the background)
Contrast that with ATWT last year when Nuke were hardly seen, except on a particular day of the week. When I watched regularly, I would think, "Nuke is on, it must be Thursday."
And using "Nukes" as the standard by which we are judging Euro soaps? *shudders* Maybe Nuke ca. 2007, but not 2008 Nuke. It's all good though.
Zam...I had to LOL with
Zam...I had to LOL with your statement about using Nukes to judge the far superior Euro SOAPS. Compared to Euro SOAPS, Nuke was atrocious in 2008. How they picked up a GLAAD award for the mess that was 2008 has me scratching my head. This was the year of the kissing ban, muted phyical affection, Ameera, crazy daddy and lack of nuke time. Last year for nuke was just one sad mess. But I guess if there is no real competition you get to win.
Don't blame, Anthony for that! As editor, I decided
I would tend to agree with
I would tend to agree with 2009 Nuke's "superiority" if the actors and writers on that show had a better grasp of a quaint little something we call subtlety. What I can't stomach about a lot of Nuke's stories (and congrats to them on being front-burner a lot) are that too many revolve around "I'M GAY! i'M GAY! I'M GAY!" They are being drawn very superficially and very incompletely, and it does the community no good if people only see us a whiny little fags (sorry) whose only reason for living is "I'M GAY!"
GET USED TO IT
I'll stop screaming "I'm Gay" when people stop F@#!!! with me for being Gay.
Somebody has to advocate in order to protect the rights of all those "but for the fact that I like same-sex-sex I'm just like you" people who don't consider themselves to part of any "community" and believe they can just ride out the intolerance in quiet well-behavedness until the "revolution" has passed and gays are all of a sudden "equal" under the law and in society.
Fine, let them.
There has not been a single instance when Luke has called out someone for being a homophobe when they weren't in fact behaving homphobically (including closet-case, cheating, lying Brian).
It is one thing to say that a particular storyline is badly written or the story ideas leave much to be desired (that can easily be said for every story on ATWT, Nuke are no exception)
It is another thing to keep singing the "He's TOO Gay!" song. Too Gay for whom?
There is no such thing as too gay and this is a particular moment in this character's life where he is finding himself politically and figuring out what he stands for and realizing that he has the resources and ability to make positive change for gay people.
Exactly how many laws, propositions, referenda does it take for folks to wake up and realize that there is no such thing as "just" being gay in American society and why is it so bad for ATWT to reflect that?
To be gay in this country is to exist in a contested state. Some people chose to immediately engage. Some people don't. I think Luke and Noah reflect both of those inclinations.
Whether people like it or not, gay people (particularly the young) have a responsibility to stand up and say "Enough is enough" and not be afraid to call out heterosexim and homophobia where they see it and do something about it.
There is nothing about the way that Luke has responded to instances of homophobia that doesn't ring true to me in terms of what a young gay man in a small town who was socially conscious would do.
Yes he's shrill but that has nothing to do with him being gay. It has to do with him being Luke. He is also brave and intelligent and uncompromising when it comes to facing homophobia head on.
Noah's just as gay and not remotely shrill. Neither was Reg.
"Whiney fag?" Seriously?
Is it fair to have to deal with discrmination? No. But it's the reality.
Some gay people are privileged enough to have arranged their lives such that they don't have to deal with the social and legal ramifications of being gay on a daily basis (either because they are closeted, they are wealthy or they have sequested themselves within a bubble of tolerance).
But that does not reflect the general experience of gay people in the world or even in this country.
Some people have to "fight" everyday, just to get to be out and part of their community and that is just as much the gay experience as any other.
Soap operas are not subtle. They are dramatic and OTT and heavy-handed.
That is the nature of the beast.
But it doesn't mean they can't be used to reflect or speak to the society we live in.
Most people in this country don't get subtle. They need to be hit over the head with something to get it, particularly if they don't feel that it "concerns" them.
For every person who is "sick" of Luke talking about being gay, there are 5 people who say the NUKE storyline gave them the courage to come out or speak out (particularly young people)
There are plenty of gay characters on television right now who never say a political word, never seem to face any real discrimination and apparently live in towns where folks don't even know other gay people besides themselves exist so there is no "critical mass" of gays to scare the townsfolk into fear of an "agenda"
But every instance of a gay character on TV doesn't have to "just happen" to be gay.
Some gay characters should get to "Scream" it.
"Heterosexuality is not normal, it's just common." (Dorothy Parker)
I accept your point, but
I accept your point, but please understand that my point was that Luke is being presented as a unidemensional character whose raison d'etre is to be gay. As a gay man, I do not appreciate his treatment as a character who is a perpetual victim or gay "damsel", if you will. I never accused him of being "too gay".
A character who is out and proud is wonderful in my book as long as that character has something else to bring to the table. If their only purpose is to be gay, I'm not interested. It pays our community no compliments to have that kind of representation.
Gay people are complex beings with lives beyond their homosexuality. I want to see that in my representatives in the media. When people inclined towards prejudice finally see us for these complexities, and better understand our contributions to public, family, professional and private life, our fight for equality will grow easier.
I will admit this latest story regarding "the foundation" is admirable IF the writers handle it well and don't abandon his "good deeds" as soon as the arc has played out. Given the track record of this writing team however, I'm not hopeful.
I would beg to differ that Luke cried homophobia against Kevin in the incomprehensible ballot-box stuffing storyline, and it wasn't Kevin who was the homophobe. Yes, it was his campaign manager, but it wasn't Kevin.
As for the over-the-top aspect of the show (generally), I've been watching soaps on and off for more than 25 years and fully understand the nature of the beast. That's not to say I enjoy watching Sally Field's character in "Soap Dish" every day.
I do agree with you Michael
I do agree with you Michael that Nuke has had more screen time than many of their Euro counterparts so far in 2009. But for me it doesn't really translate into superior storylines, presentation or acting for that matter.
Congratulations to them for having plenty of screen time, but their past storyline appeared to be thrown together for the sake of giving Nuke some favored screen time. There was drugs, murder, Sherlock Holmes Luke, Noah just standing by, and then it was a wrap in three weeks. And now onto their next story.
Anthony...you have done a
Anthony...you have done a brilliant job over the past months on the coverage of Gay SOAP storylines around the world. And this weeks blogg is A+. I so look forward to reading your blog every week.
I can't even dispute your assessement over the state of European SOAPS from past to the present, since it's pretty much spot on.
I share your review and present state of the beautiful Olli and Christian storyline. It was near perfect up until Jo Weil, who plays Olli exited for his theater tour. How his two month absense was written was pretty sloppy from the new writers. And the sloppiness continued while Jo was gone during that time. It was never fully fleshed out the reason why Olli would choose to stay away from his boyfriend for so long instead of the stated two weeks. And Christian's reaction to that two month disapperance was so muted. It was pretty poorly executed. Having said that, i'm not too disappointed in what is happening now. Ollian had well over a year of being in the spotlight on the show from mid 2007 to the end of 20008, so I can wait a number of months while some other storylines have their turn, notably Gregor/Louise, Carla/Stella/Carla, Lydia/Sabastian, amoung others. Plus Ollian are still featured quite often, albait as supporting.
One of the biggest disappointments had to be how the whole JP/Kieron/Craig storyline was badly managed. Even though it ended the the way I wished with JP and Craig going off together, the lead up to their exit was rushed and badly presented. JP's reaction to Kieron's death was just unacceptable, with him seeming to not even mourn the death of the man he claimed to be in love with. So sad after what was origionally a superb coming out storyline.
Although i'm not a fan of ATWT...it's disappointing but not suprising that the show may be axed in a year or so. With GL in last place and ATWT next to last and unable to get out of the rut, it really was only a matter of time. I admitt I didn't think it would be so fast, maybe in four or five years. I've heard there is an attempt being made from TPTB to sell GL and ATWT as a package to another channel. I hope it works out for the many devoted fans.
Now here is my biggest suprise...Cotton came to the America selling himself to the US entertainment industry. I'm very suprised. All I know is his character on Corre is one of the worst in terms of a stereotypes, and an unpleasant one at that. And his acting leaves a lot to be desired.
Not everything about NUKE glows.
I find the comments on NUKE interesting but have to side with Zam on this one. That increased time for Nuke has been given recently is great but what, actually, are we getting for it? What extra is being brought to the table? For mine, very little.
Re Shameless, I too found Mickey difficult to warm to but he certainly has developed some appeal, especially his interactions with Ian. It would be nice if the writers could reconnect these two as the chemistry was good and the scope for story lines is obviously great.
Re Clara Sheller I tend to agree with Chuckles, Anthony. By now everyone is aware of how Season 2 ended. It was never going to be about screaming episodes or spiteful encounters. Gilles and JP are not that type of character. Clara found out in Episode 3 when, in a jealous fit, she publicly attacked another woman she thought(wrongfully) was making a play for Gilles that her standing in his eyes was much diminished. The whole point was how the three internalised their feelings and tried to work through them in a reasonably dignified way. JP certainly went through a crisis as he did not want to break up his friends' relationship. At the end Clara was well aware that she had to change and grow up, reference her final words to JP in the bedroom after she fainted.
Still and all it was a wonderfully crafted and acted series and the sad thing is that France 3 has decided not to renew it for another season largely because management were put off by the complaints about its adult content. Still if it has to end then the almost final scene of JP and Gilles kissing and embracing is something worth remembering.
Great column, as always, Anthony.
Cancellation
I don;t know if getting cancelled is considered a spoiler so I didn't put it in the subject line.
http://gaydaytime.blogspot.com/2009/04/france-2-says-au-revoir-to-clara.html
Apparently, the ratings was part of it but what really tipped the scales was it was too racy. Honestly, I've watched the last ep and I'm happy with it so I'm okay with it going.
There may be life in Clara Sheller yet.
Thanks, Glenn.
I checked the gaydaytime blog you mentioned above and there seems to be some confusion about the demise of Clara Sheller. The link provided to Tetu does give some hope for those who wish for a third season of this quality French production.
Hollyoaks