And I am not even watching this crap anymore.  At least Luke may have grown one ball in today's episode.  Only time and hormones will tell. 

Let's all give one big cheer to the rightwing-nuts at the AFA for bringing us AMEERA, SHE WHO MUST BE OBEYED.

I am switching all my attention (except this blog of course) to Verbotene Liebe, Brothers and Sisters any other gay-themed drama that support gay men and gay women in love in a realistic way.

Could this ridiculous Puke storyline get any dumber? I asked the same question at least once a week and you know what? It does get dumber every damn episode! I am so pissed at Luke for being so ball-less! Jeez. smack Noah a couple of times across that ignorant head of his. I thought Noah was wooden in some of his scenes before, but today it was as if he was wound up like the true dummy he is. Casey was the ONLY redeeming character in today's asinine episode. He is also the hottest of that sorry group in my book. Am I the only one that noticed that the Puke segments were miniscule at best? The only screen time they had to amount to anything was the opening and the ending. If I would have blinked during the other segments, I would have missed them. With the looks that Ameera Bitch was giving Casey, I would bet money that she is a plant with every intention of doing harm to stupid Noah and/or Luke. She better watch out because most of the queens that I have been friends with, you don't back them in a corner. You will come out with bodily harm. I wanna see Luke smack Noah and her both right upside their chops. Next week, I'll be damned if she doesn't kiss his dumbass AGAIN! What's CBS and ATWT telling all of us gays? Only a woman can satisfy a gay man? HELL NO! It's past time for  Luke to dump this loser boyfriend of his. Way past time!

BTW... Awesome live blog!

My new favorite character is Emily's assistant. Too bad he got fired. It would have been nice to have someone around with some sense and a spine.

Casey did pretty well, though. He wised up and got out of that mess.

So, as of next week, Ameera and Noah will have kissed as often as Luke and Noah. Is anyone affiliated with this show still insisting that there's no double standard? And if so, do their noses grow every time they open their mouths?

I think some of us proudly out queer folk have been too hard on ATWT.  Yes, there's a double standard, and yes, it's an indication of how far we haven't come.  But despite that, I consider it a significant development, as deficient as it is.  When the first kiss occurred I got on the ATWT message boards to see the reaction.  There is a HUGE segment of the viewing audience (and of the country in general) that feels like throwing up when Nuke even talk about being boyfriends, to say nothing of actual physical contact.  And there's another large group that is perfectly fine with gay people, but on a theoretical level.  There were lots of comments from people like that who said they were cool with gay people, but they weren't ready to see something like kissing.  And read the recent front page story on this site about the difficulties of getting gay characters on nighttime American TV.  Then there are the right wing groups who want to boycott P&G and the network for allowing even this cleaned up version of a gay story. 

Despite all the double standards and shortcomings I salute ATWT for putting this out there, and persisting with it.  A gay teen romance with physical contact is a huge thing for daytime TV.  As insufficient as it is, it will only lead to more down the road.  And in the meantime, the part of middle America that is watching will be exposed to this for perhaps the first time, and be forced to think about it.  And it will become more than theoretical to those who have seen us in those terms.  And the goofiness and unintentional hilarity provides us with this fantastic live-blogging experience!

Another thing about the quality of the show.  It can be truly awful (and used to be significantly better), but they put out a full hour show five days a week, every week of the year.  They also don't pay well to writers or directors.  I'm a bit of a writer myself, and it would probably take me two weeks to write a one hour show that didn't suck. 

For what it's worth, I'm predicting that the Ameera storyline will play out and she'll leave or get together with Casey, and Nuke will ultimately get into bed.  Of course, the question is exactly what "ultimately" means in this case...

They got the GLAAD award for last year, and this year, they're going for the AFA award!

Seriously though, I've stopped watching this show as I don't particularly like being repeatedly insulted.  I've also stopped watching anything on CBS, as that is how incredibly insulting the show has become.  I've let them know about it, too, and I suggest that anyone who feels the same do so as well. 

To the people who still insist they are doing something wonderful just by having this on the show, my personal opinion is that they have more than squandered any goodwill that they should get for that.

http://establisheddisestablishmentarian.blogspot.com/

Unfortunately, it seems the writers have got themselves in a corner. In order to make us root for Luke and Noah, they have to be likeable, but Noah's lack of intelligence makes that difficult. Even Luke's lack of consistancy in terms of being able to detect Ameera's BS is odd.

With other characters, even when they're being stupid about their love lives, they can be redeemed with other relationships. When Henry was an idiot and ended up gambling his livelihood, he was still a great friend to Jack Snyder and tried to help with the Parker/Kit problem. When Holden was "Holden' a grudge" against Lily, he was still a great, sensitive father to Luke. Those kinds of things make us care for the characters.

But Noah, unfortunately, doesn't get that opportunity, because his main link in this town is Luke. He really needs to not be dumbed down. They could have done a similar story without making him stupid, but that would require more subtlety. Ameera would have to be less obvious of a manipulator. The conflict would have to come from Noah's own internal struggle over wanting to be proud of his father vs. hating his father. Right now the conflict is from Noah not realising that Ameera likes him, which is pretty silly .

Noah is allowed to kiss someone! Are we sufficiently titillated. Well, you should be. And you should be sitting on the edge of our seats waiting for sweeps week when P&G will allow Noah to actually kiss Luke for a ratings bonanza that will kick off their reality program. I hope everyone is ready to help them out and Blitz the media with the good news!!!!!!!

But don't fret, there will be another sweeps week next fall. When Luke and Noah will be allowed to act like normal gay men for a few seconds and all of us can get together and let the media know about that, too. Too, much fun and love. Too, much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

.

And it looks like the worst is yet to come. 

Nuke is now Puke, and Martha Byrne is out next week as ATWT's resident heroine.  I swear, PGP should just pull the plug and end everyone's misery pronto.

Ack! I knew if I defended ATWT in any way I'd get the "back of the bus" analogy. And I got it twice! And I got the battered spouse analogy too. I feel like Barack Obama, who can't make a nuanced observation about anything without people over-simplying and attacking him for not being one dimensional.

Let me be blunt. I'm not satisfied in any way with the back of the bus. We deserve nothing less than completely equal marriage rights. We deserve nothing less than full fledged gay relationships on television shows, with kissing and rolling around in bed and character imperfections. We deserve to be able to openly join the military. We deserve...blah, blah, blah. Of course we deserve all those things, and I shouldn't have to prove my bonafides by saying those things.

We also live in a real country that is far from what we deserve. Where in many states you can be fired simply for being gay. Where a majority of our fellow citizens DON'T believe we should marry. Where a kid got shot by a schoolmate about two months ago simply for being gay. Where our enlightened friends in the TV industry find it difficult to get gay characters on prime time TV at all (see the in depth AfterElton article from a couple of days ago), where most gay kids growing up still feel the need to hide their identifies from their classmates and families for fear of being rejected or even kicked out of the house, where about half of the country thinks we're immoral simply for what we are, where people point and gawk and snicker when they see two guys holding hands. And on and on and on.

It's in that environment that I choose to not be insulted when ATWT breaks through a signficant barrier (the barrier shouldn't be there, but it is) and exposes sheltered America to somthing new, allowing millions of them to grow in the process. I choose to see the positive intentions of the people creating that breakthrough, rather than feeling like they're spitting in my face. Is the double standard proper in any way? Of course not. Am I satisfied? F*ck no. But to recognize good intentions, and to appreciate the wall being broken through, and to give them some time and space to grow and develop and gradually overcome the resistance of middle America, is in NO way settling for the back of the bus.

It's a multi-dimensional nuanced outlook. You certainly need not share it, but you should at least try to see past the surface. I certainly think we should raise a stink about it, and point out the double standards, and "demand" more representation throughout the media. But also recognize the world in which we live, and don't reject friends and allies because they're not perfect.

This is soooo not a case of 'something is better than nothing'. 

 A gay storyline done wrong is worse than no storyline at all.

 I agree with TWA2 about ATWT having squandered any goodwill they might have once deserved for showing a gay character. 

They may have started off good, but it's beyond pathetic now.

Watch Verbotene Liebe instead.  The subtitles won't kill you.

The Nuke/Ameera triangle ends in a three-way murder-suicide. That would free ATAT up to tell a much more interesting story -- how Casey discovers the True Gay Self he's been hiding all these years when he falls in love with Parker.

Now don't go telling me it wouldn't be FABULOUS!

Jeez, I don't check the website over the weekend, and then today I discover that everyone is not merely disagreeing with the points I tried to make, but they feel the need to disparage and attack.  What happened to amicable exchange of ideas?  Nonetheless I'll hop back in for more abuse.

Nukely, I wasn't dismissing you for using an analogy.  Analogies are a great tool.  But not so great if they're inaccurate, or if they're used to simply dismiss an argument without actually addressing the argument.  It's a Karl Rove maneuver to attack the person making the argument and dismiss him with an analogy like "back of the bus" or "battered spouse", rather than addressing the points actually being made.

Intentionally mis-reading the argument and assuming the worst about the poster is also not helpful.  Calling me "desperate" because of the points I made isn't helpful.  Or saying I'm acting "superior" to "mere mortals".  That implies an inflexible outlook not willing to consider other views.  I don't get that.

I won't make all my points again, except to say that the storyline is obviously representative of a double standard, and from a gay perspective is woefully inadequate.  I thought I made that clear.  All I'll add is to speculate about what happens if the storyline is killed.  Who wins then?  For one, Focus On the Family and all the other homophobic groups pressuring P&G and the networks to kill it simply because the characters are gay.  For another, all those middle Americans (and they were all over the message boards) who said "please CBS, make Luke straight again, he's such a nice boy", or those who said "I'm never watching again until they get rid of the queers", or those who said "I'm just not ready for that, please don't make me watch".  For a third, the people at CBS or ATWT or P&G who championed the idea, but who find it's just not worth it when they're being attacked from all sides. And who will think twice before going down that road again.  And lastly, bigots and homophobes everywhere who want gays to be totally marginalized, and who certainly don't want them to be seen in any sort of positive light.

Lastly, I certainly hope that everyone who is so enraged about lack of perfection in the show and compromise are themselves 100% out at work, 100% out to their families, 100% out at their school and church (if they go to school or church), and 100% open about showing affection to their partner in public.  Anything less is hypocrisy, representing a compromise made for some level of self protection.  I've been out for years, including 100% at work, even though it's a conservative financial company.  I've never sat in the back of ANY buses.