Is this the best NUKE we can get?

I have to admit to being totally confused about the manner ATWT airs the Luke Snyder and Noah Mayer (NUKE) storyline.  I find it choppy, uneven, haphazard, and at it’s worse, insulting and discriminating to gay individuals, at least this one.  Still, there have been a very few moments when they clearly present NUKE with respect and dignity.  Why, then this seemingly bi-polar treatment.

For example, when Luke and Noah weren’t together, when the character Maddie Coleman was in the middle, Luke and Noah kissed on screen.  Frankly, I was shocked at the quality and duration of the kiss.  But the next one, we know was edited to a bare minimum, and later, a third one, cut completely.

Luke, early on in his relationship with Noah, was complaining that Oakdale was “hardly a gay Mecca,” and he attributed that as the cause of his boyfriendless status.  And yet we’ve since seen Luke with three other gay ‘dayplayer’ characters.  We have also been told that Oakdale University had not one, but ‘two’ GLBT sign-up tables during Freshmen orientation.  So was Oakdale invaded by a bunch of gay people suddenly?  Or is Luke just a complete moron?

We’ve also seen Luke and Noah in Old Town Oakdale, holding hands, walking with arms draped on shoulders, nuzzling close, and then, of course, several near miss kisses.  If Oakdale is not a gay Mecca, and is supposedly a somewhat rural town in Illinois, how can they feel comfortable enough showing any degree of affection in public?  And no, I haven’t forgotten the lame New Year’s Eve dancing that apparently went unnoticed by every person at the party.  Not very realistic, in my opinion.  (And I’m not even mentioning Noah’s need to get comfortable with being gay.) 

This brings me to the Valentine’s Day missed kiss.  To me that is the one kiss I can’t complain about.  Some guy walked by and took notice that they were two guys about to kiss, so they stopped.  I think that was a completely natural ‘miss,’ if you will.  I can’t complain about that one.  But because it comes after so many misses and so much off-screen NUKE relationship building (as hints have been dropped about this, i.e. ‘stolen kisses on back porches’), it stands out as another betrayal by ATWT.  That is unfortunate. (Plus, on a side-note, how are we supposed to stay vested in a romance, when most of the romance is apparently taking place off-screen?)

Like some of you in the other post on this site, I feel it is not fair to blame the writers.  I can’t imagine there is a write alive that would choose to pen NUKE as it has been aired.  That is not quality story-telling, and I’d like to think they want to tell quality stories.  I, myself, have written over 65 NUKE fan-fictions, and though I don’t claim to be great, they seemed fairly well received, unless people were fibbing to me.  That’s certainly possible, but my point is, it proves there is a market for NUKE.  And I’m certain that CBS, ATWT, and P&GP know this.

On the Internet sites of CBS, ATWT, and P&GP, Luke Snyder (and the actor that portrays him, Van Hansis) is promoted heavily.  Noah Mayer (and Jake Silbermann) not as much, but that is probably because he is not on contract.  To me that begs the question, why promote NUKE (or the actors) so much on the Internet, but not at all in mid-show bumpers, or teasers during other shows on CBS?  The answer, again in my opinion is fear.  TPTB clearly know the established (or traditional) audience for CBS soaps is mostly older, conservative, straight, women.  On the Internet, the audience is younger women and men of every orientation.

That being the case, why not film NUKE extras and air them only on-line.  That would seem to me the easiest and fairest solution.  That way the traditional audience would not be ‘forced’ to watch the content they find objectionable (and I’m not even going to get into that hypocrisy or logic).  At the same time NUKE supporters could have some of the content they are hungering for.  Not only would it be fair, it would show that ATWT respects its diverse audience.  Which, again in my opinion, is not an audience to trifle with, if for no reason other than they are going to out-live the traditional audience.

My preferred solution is a spin-off series for NUKE.  I think there is tremendous potential there and money to be made for those owning the characters, if the series is done properly and aired on a supportive media outlet, which in my opinion is not CBS (I’ll get back to that shortly.)  One other option I can think of is to create a two-hour television movie for NUKE, which CBS could air, if they were willing to allow the showing of the normal affection people in a romance display.  No nudity, no simulated sex acts, just the normal affection of people finding love.

Those are my three solutions and without one of them, I’m going to have to give up NUKE.  It’s just too frustrating and insulting.  I appreciate the efforts made to date by both ATWT, P&GP, and, of course, Van and Jake.  But, it’s at the point now where it just isn’t entertaining anymore.  And I don’t buy the arguments that not seeing much NUKE is just the normal ebb and flow of soap characters.  Nor, do I buy the argument that they are treated as traditional ‘super-couples’.  Nor, do I buy the argument that you are just giving ‘us’ enough to keep ‘us’ wanting more.  None of that rings true.  I agree with some of you on this site that would rather see NUKE leave Oakdale, than for it to continue as is.

One last point about CBS.  This is the network that airs “Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show” and “Big Brother” in primetime.  Those shows they don’t find offensive.  I do!  On “Big Brother” this season they have a forced gay couple.  These guys did not know each other before the show.  They were paired up, forced to sleep together, and play every challenge together.  The first challenge was called “Over or Under,” where the couples must cling together in the missionary position suspended in mid-air.  Of course, all the straight couples had to do it also, so in that sense they were treated the same.  But my point is CBS airs this type of gay couple, because they find them less real, less threatening, or less offensive.  Is it because they are farcical, unbelievable, or being humiliated?