ATWT video clip update: Lauper hits a high note, Noah drops a bomb

Ok, Noah is officially a douchebag.

And when are Noah and Luke ever going to learn to kiss?

www.thebittersuite.blogspot.com

What a waste of Cyndi talent, when she sang True Color to Luke character, this is a chance for an actor to shine and show some acting skill. He could have sob silently or emote with much sadness instead hiding behind the dark light and acting awkwardly. This scene could have play out more effectively have it been a plot line in VL between Ollie and Christien. Relationship between Luke and Noah is so superficial. I mean Noah being gay man is just a tag line. Obviously his character need some Dr Phil intervention. Gay or straight his character is repulsive. Finding every excuse not to be involve with Luke. First the marriage , the death of his father and now enlisting in the army to be patriotic. The whole soap opera concept is base on love and hate relationship between lovers. It looks more like Luke is obsessed with a robot of a human. The writers must be homophobic being arm wrestled to create these two characters yet trying every excuse in the book not to make them gay. Are you sure P&G is behind this and not some EX-Gay ministry's working behind the scene?

I think van kisses weird. it just looks weird to me.

anyone else think so?

I've always found their kissing scenes to be strange.  I do think they kiss weird and yeah, it's Van not Jake that seems a bit off during those scenes oddly enough.  But at least it's not like Paul and Meg, whose kisses make me nauseous.

I have to agree with what others here are saying. Both characters seem kind of co-dependent rather than in relationship. You got Luke so desperate to be in a relationship that he will put up with whatever Noah does. You have Noah so screwed in the head (and I can kind of understand why, but still he's acting like a prick) that can't do anything more than run every time they try to have a relationship. Honestly, it's getting boring. Even with a real relationship they could play off a lot of drama and tension, but instead, we seem stuck at first base. I also agree that the foreign soap clips are better. But that's because they seem to let their characters act as real people even if some of their plots are outlandish. One thing going foreward- not just with this American show- but others, I wish they would realize its kind of old to treat gay as the only thing characters are. I think a lot of the things I see wrong with the character is that they are only just gay, and one dimensional gay at that.

The solution, dearest Van, is relatively simple: More lips, more tongue. Less teeth, and much less jaw. Clearly, this may take some demonstration and practice. So I will show you. For free. For several hours. At my place. Or yours. Just let me know what'll work for you...

 

As much as I love Brian's humor of the Liveblogs, ATWT has got to be sent a message. ATWT SUCKS.

They aren't being open-minded. They want to have it both ways. They want to be "inoffensive" to the religious right; and by just doing that they are being VERY OFFENSIVE - TO US. And they want to attract a gay audience. You really can't have it both ways. Pick a side and STAY ON IT.

 

Metabaron's point is very well taken. On the other hand it's so much fun talking about this silly show.

 

Clearly a decision was made from Somewhere On High that Nuke will NEVER have sex. Not even offscreen.

 

This is truly weird. I wasn't expecting a daytime soap to turn in to a Bel Ami video, but at least a shot of them going into a bedroom as the door closes, the music rises and the camera pulls discreetly back and away.

 

BUT NO!

If Nuke has sex,even offscreen, that means that ever-so-sensitive soap fans will be forced to think about HOT MAN-ON-MAN ACTION. And that's just too much for them all.

Pathetic! 

Nuke is officially BORING!! Honestly, I couldn't care less about these characters anymore and won't be following Nuke anymore. Bad writing and rigid acting have taken their toll. Bye, folks.

This entire storyline - since last year - is so pathetic. In the '50s and '60s, in cinema, we had psycho-gays, suicidal-gays, drunk-gays, killer-gays, mincing-gays, stalker-gays. Now in 2007-08, we get - what? - from ATWT - eunuch-gays & self-sabotaging-gays. The ATWT storyline is a direct descendant of "Advise and Consent", "The Fox", "The Children's Hour", "Tea and Sympathy", "Reflections in a Golden Eye", "The Sergeant", "Boys in the Band", "Dressed to Kill", etc. etc. - all protraying the worst possible character flaws and linking them with homosexuality. Aren't we all sick enough of this, notwitstanding our good feelings towards Van and Jake in doing the best they can with this human-repressive crap? We, like Luke, should just walk away and leave this unfulfilling relationship behind us. Hang out with Christian and Ollie. At least they actually sleep together and care enough to stay committed to each other without throwing stupid roadblocks up like naively getting socially involved with a homicidal dad who then tries to kill one of them, marrying a woman to help her get a green card, and joining the military with its homophobic policies. Thanks for the disgusting July 4th plot gift, ATWT. Thanks for nothing.

I've been surprised by the depth of negative opinion about the Pride episode and the Nuke storyline in general on the AE comment board, particularly since Ameera made her first appearance.

The storyline is definitely not what it could be, and the green card marriage plot was a bad choice indeed, but:

1.     Luke/Noah is a continuing, fundamentally positive storyline about a gay couple on the air for nearly a year now.  Yes, Luke and Noah are extraordinarily chaste compared to the heterosexual couples who have had recent sex scenes in an elevator, on tables and office desks, on a diner floor, and in the cabin of a children's sleepaway camp.  This clear double standard absolutely deserves criticism, but singling out ATWT as homophobic is misplaced.  ATWT is, at minimum,  ahead of all the other U.S daytime soaps, where there are no gay couples, chaste or otherwise.

2.      I'm a youtube viewer of JP for over a year and his character is absolutely more fully realized than Luke or Noah.  No argument there.  For potential positive impact in the U.S. , though,  only ATWT passes the Grandma test.  
My grandmother, long since passed, was a dedicated soap viewer.  When school was out, I would often watch with her.  In my later teen years, my grandmother stopped changing the subject and/or the channel when anything remotely sexual came on and we actually had some discussions about relationships, love, and, albeit gingerly and obliquely, sex.  It's the only time i recall that happening.  If Luke and Noah were on in 1984 instead of 2008, would I have come out to grandma? No, but it would have been a valuable lifeline against the overwhelmingly negative view of being gay I was surrounded by growing up in a small town.  I sincerely believe there are grandparents watching this storyline with their (probably closeted) grandchildren this summer, and both are better off for it being on the air.  The grandchildren may then head to their computer watch Hollyoaks and Forbidden Love on the internet, and that's great, but their grandparents won't be with them .  That makes ATWT different - and important.

3.    The truth is, this storyline will probably end within the next year.   Both Van and Jake are young actors on their first soap and almost all actors that age see a soap as a stepping stone in their careers, not a final destination.  One or both of them will leave to try to break into primetime TV or movies.  The success rate of this attempted transition is low, but it succeeds just often enough that it is very understandable why soap actors in  their 20s are almost compelled to attempt it.  A replacement Luke or Noah or a new gay character could be cast , of course, but I would be surprised if that happens.    P & G probably anticipated the criticism from social conservatives, but negative comments from the gay community have probably caught them off guard.   One of the actors leaving provides ATWT cover  to walk away from the controversy, and they will probably do so.  

Please understand that I totally think it is OK to criticize the storyline, and I agree with many of the criticisms.  I've called the comment lines.  I sent in a bag of Hershey's Kisses during the campaign.  It's just that I've noticed more and more comments here where the theme is "This story is no longer worthwhile and should be ditched."  instead of "The story would be so much better if ...".  It's the former sentiment I strongly disagree with.  I'm glad this story, flawed though it is,  is on a daytime soap and I'll be sorry to see it end.

What were they expecting? It's the "Give it Mikey -- he'll eat anything" syndrome writ large. We're supposed to be oh-so-happy with crumbs and act just like it's cake.

 

Well it's not.

If this storyline does indeed end because Van and Jake will migrate to bigger things (Brokeback: the Early Years on Logo perchance?) what does this have to do with us/ We have no power over any of this.

Except of course to change the channel or pop in a cassette of a REAL gay love story like Shelter.

 

my english is not so good 'cause i heard ny and not army. luke really needs to be a little selfish and move on. let go to luke! The army??? Well it was 4^th july .

 

Come on!  Oh please, is anyone really, truly surprised?  The surprise is really Luke ever really believing that screwed up Noah would ever really believe  in their "gay" relationship?  ATWT, P&G, CBS have outdone themselves in keeping Luke & Noah apart for almost one entire year without the two of them ever finding even one hour of alone time to consumate their love ... their physical love - like every other soap couple!  Noah's character is the silliest character ever created.

Remember, only a couple months ago, Noah reiterated Luke's Christmas line, and I quote, "I love you Noah...and I am so in love with you!"  And Noah repeated those same words, "I love you Luke, and I am so in love with you!"...and then joins the army so he won't ever have to sleep with Luke ever!

Truly the most f--d up love story in soapland history!  Why?  Because there is NO love story at all between these two teens.

Ciao guys,

Amadeus

I really have stopped watching the Luke and Noah storyline right after the mistletoe event, but had to watch this episode because of Cindy Lauper. It was good for her in many respects...to show her support to the gay community; to promote her tour; to promote her album and to try and selvage the mess which is the Luke and Noah storyline. And it was nice to see her on the show, but wow, that episode was painful to get through. Noah went from going to see Cindy Lauper with a semi date, to kissing Luke, to telling Luke he's joined the army, to kissing Luke again, and then saying goodbye to Luke all in a twenty minute span. The episode then ended with Noah racing off to get his gear packed for his deployment to training camp and then next stop...Iraq...maybe! Oh, and forget about that little thing called DADT; Noah just wants to make his daddy, who maybe looking down from heaven, or in Luke's thoughts, i'm sure, looking up from Hell...all happy and proud of him.

And the kissing between Jake and Van is just terrible. Both men seem like they just don't want to do it, especially Van. It seems so strained. It really makes me wonder if the problem is the breath on Jakes, since it has been rumored that his breath is kicking. And there is nothing worse than having to kiss someone whose breath stinks. If this is the case, then I sympathize with Van, and it would explain a lot about why their kisses look so awkward and unatural, with Van hardly opening his mouth.  If it isn't a breath issue, then someone needs to send both Van and Jake a tape of the VL actors Jo and Thore showing how to kiss authentically on camera.   

...I know a lot of people on here think that Van is gay, but I gotta say, the two of them kiss the way straight guys would that don't actually want to get each other's spit in their mouths. On the other hand, I've seen straight actors kiss that do it much better. So, who knows. Maybe neither of them are really dedicated to doing a totally realistic kiss, with tongue. I never thought the acting was that good, anyway. Not that they've really been given the chance. I haven't totally given up hope, but I'm not holding my breath. I keep checking in just to watch (can't take your eyes off a car wreck)

 

 

 

 

I say we take the warning labels off everything and let nature take it's course.

TWA2 is totally right -- get over the "ditch Luke and Noah" because of this or that storyline -- it's like a man in the desert refusing a glass of water because it has a slice of lime not lemon!  This is the ONLY thing with a gay storyline in any daytime TV!  The actors are young and good and hot and committed to it.  Even when they have to utter 1930's plot-lines like I'm gonna join the army (WTF?!!!)  Don;t kill the storyline -- EVOLVE it.  So they are parted for the service:  then Noah has to deal with discriminatory Don't Ask Don't Tell legislation.  Then Noah gets tag-teamed by his closeted bunkmates.  Then Noah enters into an illicit Jossi-and-Yagger type military love story with the hot black soldier played by Marcus Patrick.  Meanwhile, Luke discovers a new romance after joining that hot tub orgy nobody went to.  Then -- once they've sewn their wild oats -- then they can settle down together.  Just like life, no?

The Army sidetrack is supposed to end this week, so there will be no tag-teaming from bunkmates.  I know that might be crushing news.  :P

Established Disestablishmentarian - You've seen worse 

Tag-teaming from bunkmates? When did this discussion turn to that route? LOL!!!