Luke, Noah, Mason, and Who's Going to Carve the Pepparkakor

Noah is just gonna finish the film and Mason will leave the city.  Didn't someone say that this whole storyline had been hastily rewritten? 

I'll say that Forbes didn't seem to like his ATWT experience.  

I think the biggest problem was that Noah and Mason had no chemistry. Even if the writers gave them more scenes, it would still not work, so it was a good decision for them to write Mason out. I think the actors tried but there was nothing.

"World Turns needs an extroverted, effeminate gay man on that show. Give Mason eyeshadow!"

There was the Zac & Zoe storyline. Come to think of it, Zac had pretty good chemistry with Noah. Of course, Zac turned out to be Zoe's bf.

 I honestly don’t think America is ready for a gay storyline on a soap. It’s just too hot button of a topic.

^ I have hardly heard any controversy surrounding the oliver/kyle romance. If there has been some, please someone, let me know and i will take it back.

I think America is ready for a gay storyline that involves gay men, women, or whatever. I think ATWT screwed up big time with the kissing ban and now with their horrible writing. I feel if you tell a story well, it will be received well.

of course, there will be people who don't like it, but overall? i don't know, i think the majority of people wouldn't really give a crap.

It amazes me that two minimally gay characters, who rarely have sex and in a monogamous relationship gets soo many people upset, while a one night drunken pregnant high school girl storyline barely raises a brow, or for that matter underage marriages.

... there hasn't been any controversy or backlash regarding their gay characters.   I know the network has done a lot of internal research regarding the couple and they've been well recieved by the audience.  And since as Forbes pointed out, they own their soaps, they have more freedom to do what they wish.  Clearly given the success of Kyle and Oliver and how the show has handled it so far, some of America is ready.  This is more about P&G living in fear than the audience.

When I interviewed Forbes earlier this year, I'd been told by some of the people I'd spoken to that the TPTB was very skittish about doing the triangle so this is no surprise to me.  I'm sure that Luke/Noah fans are cheering Mason's exit, but they should be very upset, not only because he's leaving, but more importantly why.

Sorry to be cranky, but I opened this up expecting to find a detailed account of what happens to Luke, Noah and Mason in upcoming episodes and all I find is that...Mason leaves Oakdale still alive...that's a massive spoiler?

Again, sorry for the sarcasm.

March has been pretty successful in the acting biz for nearly a decade. He's no amateur. He knows that talking this candidly with an interviewer is bad idea if you want to go with the flow and get rehired by the production company, casting directors -- or in the case of ATWT -- major corporate sponsors like Proctor & Gamble.  

Though I don't agree with his assertion that US viewers might not be "ready for a gay storyline on a soap," Forbes has really put himself out there with this interview. I applaud him for his frankness and his concern. ATWT is struggling (like all soaps are) -- plus it has to deal with P&G's influence, which totally kills creativity.

"Any time I wanted to put my hand on Noah’s shoulder, several serious discussions ensued whether or not it would pass the mustard. Any body contact had to be cleared from higher-ups. Nothing kills a show faster than a boycott!" (Forbes March)

I think that sentance tells you everything you need to know about what's wrong with the writing for NUKE.

In a show where we are watching characters like Damian have sex multiple times with multiple women in the span of two weeks and he's shirtless more than men half his age (which is a great thing) the fact that Forbes and Jake and Van had to tip to around even just touching each other is SCANDALOUS!!!!

P&G should get slammed with boycott by every gay human being in the US.

GLAAD needs to condemn them up one side and down the other.

It is so overly heterosexist and heteronormative that it doesn't seem possible that "THE GAYS" haven't boycotted P&G before now.

I'm just saying, we buy stuff, gay folks buy stuff, if there is anything business folks get it's that we apparently have more disposable income so why aren't we using that to our advantage and boycotting the FRACK out of P&G?

for Van and Jake. The take all the crap about their storylines, they had to bear with all the unconfortable questions, only to be used as publicity, without any reward (good storylines or airtime).

I think it's a shame that two years later they don't have the guts to tell the storyline properly without fears. OLTL storyline has it flaws, but at least there's a commitment about telling the story, not only by the actors (obviously Van and Jake are more than devoted to their characters) but the writers and producers.

It's obvious that without all the Nuke success they'd be written off long time ago (at least Noah for sure). I only hope Van and Jake find another job and leave the show because all they'll recieve will be crappy storylines and no airtime (i'll be very glad if i'll get wrong)

considering the speed with which they usually do things on that show if it was going to happen would it have happened six months ago?  OLTL might spread one day into a week but they keep everybody in the same time while ATWT shoves a week into a day but everybody is in their own timelines - you can get to New York in 5 minutes but it takes Noah 2 weeks in LA.  If they were going to have a triangle that would have been when it happened they lost their window. 

Hell, Emily has gone through 3 men in the same time.  Every story they have tried to tell with NUKE has been a misfire because they can't commit.  The only one that was remotely interesting was the closeted step-grampa story thanks to Lawerence, Van and the over the top Elizabeth Hubbard. 

OLTL is getting some flack for not showing Kyle and Nick in bed together but I've seen them show more physical affection for each other in one episode then NUKE has in 2 years. 

I think CBS, PG, and ATWT knows it is in the death throes of its final year and all they want to do is collect as much money as possible from ad revenue.  I expect actors to start being dismissed as their contracts end. 

I confess I haven't watch ATWT lately because when I've tried on the days when no gays were on OLTL it was so wretched I turn over to what OLTL anyway.  When I'll take Rex and Gigi over your steaming pile of "stories" then you know they are lousy.

I read a lot of blog coverage on the various gays in soaps. I read all the soap stuff posted to this site, every day, and I have several other blogs on my feed reader that tend to give a fair amount of coverage to NUKE, KNISH and even thumb-up-their-butt Y&R. This is the very first mention of the AFA boycott I've seen since it was first launched . . . what? A year? Two years ago?

Are they sure some trigger-happy pencil pusher at P&G isn't looking at their declining revenue which is in all likelihood attributable to . . . oh, let me think . . . how 'bout conscientious shoppers opting to spend their money on bargain brands during a RECESSION ECONOMY to be frugal and jumping to the unfounded conclusion that it's all those damned, trouble-making gays' fault?

And their little dog, too!

Any exec with so much as two properly functioning neurons to rub together should realize that making eunuchs out of Luke & Noah isn't the way to weather a fundie boycott. If they'd just give us characters that are worth caring about, I'd buy enough TAMPAX tampons to dam the mighty Mississippi just on principle.

It’s just too hot button of a topic. They're criticized by the gays for not making Nuke gay enough....

^ i am sitting here reading comments at the vanhansis.net board and some fans are actually offended by the underlined quote, so i'm curious....is anyone here offended by it?

They should have a extroverted gay men on the show but not all gay men are over the top and like that and thats where I personally identify with the likes ATWT and OLTL, They have guys on like me just blue collar workers or students with broader interests than just fashion.

But the way Luke and Noah touch always seems forced, never natural and that is why you would not know they were gay not because they do not wear eyeliner.

I understand how Forbes March would be upset with the folks at At the World Turns. After all, they did fire him. The fact is, he had no chemistry with Noah and gave a lackluster performance at best. The Luke and Noah storyline has been a courageous undertaking for ATWT. This is the soap opera with the oldest demographic that has been on for over 50 years and we have seen a young male couple kiss, fall in love, have sex, move into together, kiss two other men and remain committed to one another for over two years. There is a Kyle and Fish only because there was a Luke and Noah. While there has been some conservative backlash (though I don't believe there was an organized boycott), the harshest critics of the Nuke storyline have been gay viewers. Despite over 40 kisses, we still complain that they don't kiss enough. As the producers of True Blood and One Life to Live are finding out, we are a very difficult audience to please. Even if the Nuke storyline should end tomorrow, it will be remembered as trailblazing and courageous. I know a 18 year old young man from the Midwest who told me that watching Luke and Noah convinced him for the first time that falling in love with another man was possible. So thank you ATWT and Jake and Van for going where no one else dared to go. I, for one, will always be grateful,