ATWT Heats Up, But Not Between the Sheets
Van Hansis and Jake Silbermann by Stephen Lovekin/WireImage.com
Things are heating up for Luke and Noah on
As the World Turns - but it's not their sex lives.
Instead, fans of the show are waging a campaign against the way the show has handled the couple's on-screen intimacy, which is to say, barely at all. While other couples suck face freely in daytime drama ecstasy, the fictional gay couple has locked lips exactly twice in the course of their TV relationship.
After months of kiss-less dating, it was the Valentine's Day ep in which every couple on the show locked lips - except Luke and Noah - that spurred fans to speak up. Forget about their suppressed libidos: Fans say the show, which is owned, produced and written by Procter & Gamble Productions, is suppressing the portrayal of gay intimacy. But P&G denies the claim that they're squeaky-clean portrayal is simply their way of pleasing a "diverse audience."
And
As the World Turns has been, historically, a trailblazer for gay characters in the genre. The show was the first to introduce a gay character, taking the step in 1988, and again the first to have featured a gay kiss, with Luke and Noah last summer. Despite the trailblazing, the show has been surprisingly free of flack from organizations that often go up against gay themes on television.
Speaking to their history with these issues and how it's playing out now, CBS issued a statement, saying: "For many years,
As the World Turns has dealt with controversial and groundbreaking storylines on important social issues. CBS supports the producers' vision for the Luke and Noah storyline; we have not censored it, or asked them to hold back in any way."
One viewer of the show said, however, "It's 2008. [Gay relationships are] something that's real. If they were not going to follow through with it, they shouldn't have started it."
What's your take? Are Luke and Noah the victims of network censorship? Is it possible that the writers are self-censoring? Is it simply a coincidence that the couple's not getting hot and heavy? Or are they just chaste guys?
- Anna Dimond
