You’d think I would be sick of talking about OLTL’s Kish after watching clips on repeat all weekend (dude, where was I when Kyle did the striptease for Natalie’s bachelorette party? LOL!) but no, I’m actually more inclined to ramble about them than ever.
In fact, I unleashed over in the WEEKLY blog this morning (the entry will show up here in a few months).
OLTL’s Kyle Lewis represents daytime’s new generation of gay characters. He’s just your average joe — with a taste for blackmail and a guy named Fish — soap character.
And it goes on from there.
I honestly do love that these are just two regular soap joes who happen to be gay. That Kyle is going to try his hardest to move on — that we’re going to see Fish jealous — because that is so normal and so typical of soap. Dude, I want Fish to seethe and maybe to crawl just a little, to earn Kyle’s love after pushing him away. And I kinda hope Kyle at least has a decent date or two before it’s all said and done. That typical push-pull is often missing from LGBT-themed storylines, because it’s easier to keep characters in a perfect little bubble. With ATWT’s Nuke many fans are outraged if Noah or Luke so much as look at someone else, and the show doesn’t even touch the idea anymore. Brian’s feelings were unrequited, Zac was a psycho, Mason’s just kinda there, etc. That’s not to say I’m advocating a breakup or something (after all, I value my health). It’s just that a real triangle would be an interesting thing to see played out. I don’t think AMC’s Bianca has really been in one either…do we count Zach and Reese? ‘Cause I kinda don’t want to! LOL.
Maybe Kish just have it easier, because while Noah was specifically brought on for Luke, they were brought on separately and don’t have “property of so-and-so” stamped on them. So while there is an investment to see them together, a few roadblocks along the way in the form of Stacy, Layla or Nicholas Rodriguez‘s character aren’t unexpected.
But then again, you could probably make the argument that at one point, Kish was similar to Nuke: two kids who fell in love and fell hard. But then they had to grow up and face harsh realities and fight and breakup and see other people… only to hopefully realize, years later, that they still belong together.
For me, surviving the messy stuff, and the “getting back together,” is one of the best things about a good soap couple. I mean, it’s why I’m fan of ATWT’s Carly and Jack and why I want GL to end with Josh and Reva reuniting.
Actually, wait, I think I’m a Carjack fan because I’m a masochist. LOL.
But a little pain, a little longing, is good for the soap couple soul… and as much as it hurts to watch Brett Claywell and Scott Evans play these scenes where Kyle and Fish just can’t seem to get it together, it’ll only make it that much sweeter when they finally manage to reconnect.
badnecklace.com 
Hi Mala!
First off, as I said on twitter, I really love reading your stuff, especially because of how you hone in on issues pertaining to women, persons of color and other minority groups in U.S. soaps. It’s refreshing to read criticisms and observations about the shows I watch from someone who has your point of view. If only you’d been around to write about that horrid Ameera/Amira debacle in ATWT in early 2008…
I’m glad you pointed out how sometimes fanbase support can act detrimentally to storyline development of the characters that such fanbase champions, e.g., Noah and Luke on ATWT. If Noah and Luke never break up for legitimate and real reasons rooted in the characters’ psyches and personalities and unless and until “Nuke” receive a proper love triangle, then they will never be on equal footing with their heterosexual counterparts in Oakdale. And frankly, I’m sick of this “separate but equal” standard that ATWT has been imposing on these characters for over 2 years now because such standard has effectively eviscerated any bona fide, as you call it, “push-pull” dynamic in that relationship, which has gotten stale since 2007. The last time their story grabbed my interest was when the great Laurence Lau came on and played Brian Wheatley. I’m glad Van Hansis stated on the record that he played it as if Luke were reciprocating Brian’s feelings, but too bad it really didn’t play out more overtly onscreen.
On the other hand, because Kish has gotten off to such a great start wherein being gay is almost a non-issue and is just another aspect of the characters’ personalities, I just hope that OLTL’s/ABC’s PTB will not repeat the mistakes committed by the ATWT/PGP/TeleNext so that the good times will continue to roll with Kish — and by “good times” I mean hard core jealousy, scheming, angst, drama, romance and all that good stuff that make for riveting soap opera.
I only want OLTL to treat Kish just as it does Blair/Todd/Tea et al. in terms of storyline and characterization. That’s not too much to ask for, is it? :-)
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Hi James!
Wait, do you really want OLTL to treat Kish as it does Blair/Todd/Tea? LOL. ‘Cause I think I want better than that for Kyle and Fish! But I know what you mean… the same caliber of writing that they’d give any straight characters, and hopefully what we’ve seen so far is indicative of what we’ll continue to see!
And thanks. Issues of racial, sexual and religious diversity are pretty close to my heart and I really enjoy talking about them, especially when it comes to television, which is not just a forum for entertainment but in many ways a teaching tool as well. It’s the best way to expose people to minority perspectives that they may not otherwise get to experience!
I actually did talk about the Ameera storyline a bit. We just got blogs when it was playing out and I think I wrote a few pieces in the magazine as well. Check the ATWT tag here or look back on SOD/SOW.com towards the early pages of Mala’s Masala! :)
I was fascinated by Brian and the potential there. Laurence Lau was great, and I wish he’d stuck around longer. Heck, I wish Zac had stuck around longer, too. Because both of those characters shook Noah and Luke up, changed the status quo, and made them react to their environment and each other differently.
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