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Gays of our Lives: Have A Little ‘Class’

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Days of Our Lives (U.S.)

derrickSo Days is going to play this classic misunderstanding stuff with Sonny and Paul.   Soaps do this all the time, but here it needs more drama or something.  The scenes are just so dull and lifeless. The dialogue trite and rote.  We’ve heard this all before and seen it all before.   And Sonny and Paul don’t talk to each other like a romantic couple who has been through a lot together.   There should be a lot more longing and angst and desire.  It’s not just there and the show should be playing it.

Most all is that we know the show won’t play this as a real triangle.  Derrick and Paul will just be friends and Sonny will stew about it.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Derrick eventually gets them together rather than doing some classic soap scheming to keep Sonny to himself.  This is gonna be the story of three nice gay men who aren’t sleeping together saying and doing boring things.  And that these hot young gay men aren’t having any sex is probably most hard to believe part of this whole story.

I did like Sonny’s bitchy remark about Derrick being a bellboy.  That was the best part of the whole clip.

To be honest, I’m wondering why the show is even bothering.  The story is barely played and when it is, this is what we get.  So far Sonny’s return has been a bust.


EastEnders  (U.K.)

So gay people can donate organs in the UK?  Since they still can’t donate blood I wondered if it extends to organs so looked it up. Oddly enough gay man can donate their organs as long as they don’t have HIV.  Now that doesn’t make much sense, but those are the facts.  As for the story, I know Ben got mad at Kathy, but she has every right to be concerned and it’s good that Ben has to go through therapy before donating.  He could use some head shrinking after all he’s been through.

This show is still doing nothing with Johnny.  Get it going, please.


Emmerdale  (U.K.)

aaronI know people loved this past week and there was lots of good drama for Robert and Aaron and the other characters.  But I had some problems, mostly with Aaron and Robert.  Big ones.

To begin with, Aaron kidnapping Lachlan was contrived.  I just don’t buy that Aaron would do that.  Seems the show did it just to create all that drama.  Robert kidnapping Lachlan I could see because we’ve seen Robert act this way before.  I did like Robert calling Aaron ‘Cain’ though, harking back to the time Cain kidnapped Robert (a story I hated, BTW).

So Robert is bisexual now?  And Aaron knew?  Funny since it’s something that they never talked about as early as a few weeks ago when Robert made a snarky remark about gays.  I guess my problem with it is that I don’t see why Robert had to label himself as anything.  As for the story that Robert told about his father, that’s really out of character for Jack.  Jack Sugden was a nice, compassionate guy.  He would have never treated Robert like that.

An even bigger problem is that in the past, we were led to believe Robert explored sex with men after he left the village.  Now they want us to believe it was happening while he was a teenager on canvas (involved in major romances with women) only we never saw it and no one talked about it.  I know soaps do stuff like this all the time, but I expect better from Emmerdale.   Fans were upset about it and I don’t blame them.    Thing is, all that was really unnecessary.  It added so little to the story.  I don’t know why the show would mess with all that history for no reason.  Just seems dumb and pointless.

I like how Paddy hasn’t forgotten that Robert tried to kill him, plus all the other horrible things Robert has done like so many other characters have. But Robert had a good point that Paddy wasn’t there during the Gordon storyline and Robert was.  To be fair, that was bad writing and certainly out of character for Paddy.  If we’re going to be real about it though, the show wanted Robert to be Aaron’s savior, as part of the character of Robert’s reclamation project for all the murders, attempted murders, kidnapping and other crimes he committed while courting Aaron.  I know we’re to forget all that stuff because the show is selling Robert and Aaron as a major couple now, but my memory is not that short.

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It is realistic though that Aaron would be unable to quite understand the concept of bisexuality.  A lot of people don’t.  Hell, including me.  But those are my issues.  LOL!  But I’m okay with Robert being bi.  He’s the kind of character who has delicious chemistry with women (like Rebecca and Charity) and the show will be able to explore that.

Paddy and Marlon are awesome together.  One of this show’s best ‘couples’.   I’ll never forgive Rhona for nearly breaking them up.

Poor James.  I always knew Emma was insane and deep down, so did James (and their kids).  It never made sense to me that James would go back to her given their history and her issues and the crazy stunts she’s pulled since she came back into their lives.  I’d like to think this will mean story for the Barton men.  None of them, especially Finn, have had anything to do for ages.  Here’s hoping.

How did everybody get out of the hospital in time to attend James’ funeral?  Rhona was in critical condition.  Aaron nearly died as well.  Hard to believe they’d be out in a week, much less a day or so.

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Anthony D. Langford
I watch a lot of television, probably too much. But can you really watch too much TV? I've yet to find out. Anyway, I especially love TV when they give us positive portrayals of gays, something that has gotten better but we're still fighting for. I've written about gays in television for many years first at the much missed After Elton, then New Now Next and now at TV Source. It's kind of a passion of mine and I look forward to sharing it with you.

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23 Comments

  1. Are you serious? You don’t think Aaron would kidnap someone? Aaron is no saint and I wish people stop acting like he is. Also what do you mean “bisexual now?” Robert has always been bi. lol

  2. What do you mean “bisexual now?” Robert has always been bi. lol

  3. In the photo above for Hollyoaks, James didn’t have sex with rentboy,”Chico.” They only slept together, as in actual sleeping without sex. They made a point of that the next morning when Chico (Kevin) got his money. James later had Chico pretend to be a doctor on the phone when James lied and told JP that he’d started therapy and prompted JP to verify by calling the doctor.

  4. I did. It only made me mad that Justin and Colin never got a real reunion at the end of that show.

  5. Did you notice that the coach in Class was Justin from 6Degrees?

  6. Robert made reference to Jackson when he was giving Aaron the what-for that time before Robert learned about Gordon, so the show implied that Robert knew. I don’t recall any on-screen conversation where Aaron told Robert about him.

  7. I do think they should mention him, I just don’t think it’s an attempt to claim Aaron’s had no one since Robert.

  8. I don’t think it was that necessary either, but I don’t think it’s that out of character for Jack or his relationship with Robert. A lot of fans seem to think Jack was a saint and a perfect father. He never was.

  9. I don’t know the history (I wasn’t watching then, though I have seen Jack in various clips I’ve watched over the years), but it still seemed unnecessary. I mean, as far as I know, Robert had plenty of issues with Jack already, there was no need to pile this on top.

  10. I can’t recall them ever discussing him. The last time I really remember Jackson being mentioned was when Aaron first came back, Adam (who was spiraling because he had just found out James was his dad) made some crappy remark about him and Aaron got pissed.

  11. But Jackson’s not Adam or Ed, Jackson was Aaron’s first love, the major love of his life before Robert, someone who he even might still be with if Jackson hadn’t died. I’m not saying they need to talk about him all the time, but you think his name would come up, especially now if Aaron’s readying to make this bigger commitment to Robert.

  12. Sorry. I meant to get to get this show. But I have so many to cover I just didn’t have time. I’ll be sure to give it a look. Thanks for the tip.

  13. Finn goes to visit him in the hospital next week, and Joe Gill, who plays Finn started following the other actor on Twitter, so perhaps there is a story there.

  14. Have Robert and Aaron even ever discussed Jackson? My memory is poor so I’m sure someone will recall it as I do not.

  15. “Also, it kinda seems like Jackson has been completely wiped from Aaron’s history, so Robert will be the only man he ever loved.”

    They’ve repeatedly mentioned Aaron’s old feelings for Adam and have also mentioned his being in contact with his ex-boyfriend Ed. If they want us to think he had no one until Robert, they aren’t doing a good job of it.

  16. The problem with the Jackson story is it was self-contained misery porn. The only people on the show who really interacted with him were Jackson and his mother. I do wish they would mention it, but I don’t really think they’re ignoring it or acting like Aaron never loved anyone until Robert.

  17. “So Robert is bisexual now? And Aaron knew? Funny since it’s something that they never talked about as early as a few weeks ago when Robert made a snarky remark about gays. I guess my problem with it is that I don’t see why Robert had to label himself as anything. As for the story that Robert told about his father, that’s really out of character for Jack. Jack Sugden was a nice, compassionate guy. He would have never treated Robert like that.

    An even bigger problem is that in the past, we were led to believe Robert explored sex with men after he left the village. Now they want us to believe it was happening while he was a teenager on canvas (involved in major romances with women) only we never saw it and no one talked about it. I know soaps do stuff like this all the time, but I expect better from Emmerdale. Fans were upset about it and I don’t blame them. Thing is, all that was really unnecessary. It added so little to the story. I don’t know why the show would mess with all that history for no reason. Just seems dumb and pointless.”

    I’m genuinely confused. Why do you think Aaron knew that Robert was bisexual? We were shown Aaron being annoyed and confused at Robert being bisexual and Robert arguing with him about being bi not meaning he’s going to cheat or have random people.

    Using your logic in the second paragraph, they never should have made Robert anything but straight, because we never saw him with men and no one ever talked about him being with men in his years away.

    The time period when Robert talked about his time with a man wasn’t a time he was interested in any woman. It was right before he went away to Spain and came back obsessed with losing his virginity to a woman and finding a girlfriend. So it isn’t that hard to believe. It makes more sense to me than the idea that he was 100% straight until he was offcamera.

    Where was this nice, compassionate Jack? The Jack who repeatedly hit Robert? Or got physical with his wives? Jack wasn’t a saint, or even close.

    “How did everybody get out of the hospital in time to attend James’ funeral? Rhona was in critical condition. Aaron nearly died as well. Hard to believe they’d be out in a week, much less a day or so.”

    They never said it was a day after. It was supposed to be several weeks.

    ” If we’re going to be real about it though, the show wanted Robert to be Aaron’s savior, as part of the character of Robert’s reclamation project for all the murders, attempted murders, kidnapping and other crimes he committed while courting Aaron.”

    If we’re going to be real we should also mention that Dominic Brunt left the show for months to work on one of his horror movies. Robert reclamation project may have been part of it, but they also needed a reason for Paddy to be estranged from everyone enough to leave the village.

  18. You do know that Jack hit Robert more than once over the years, right? When he found out Robert scared Victoria over his affair with Katie, and years earlier, when Robert was about 14, and he argued with Jack about adopting Andy. They basically said that Jack “leathered” him once when he caught him with a guy. That isn’t comparable to what happened to Aaron, and the show never said it was. I’m confused at the idea from some that Jack was this saint of a man or a father. He had a bad temper and he showed it over and over. He hurt his wife Sarah’s arm badly the day before she died. He smashed a huge cabinet of plates and dishes down near DIane when he was angry with her. He got physical with Robert. It’s not like they were saying he was beating the hell out of Robert over and over.

  19. A lot of people have been saying Van Guy is intended for Finn. I do hope that’s true. He needs a story line of some sort.

  20. Hey, Anthony, have you been watching Skam? It’s a Norwegian show. It’s third season is centered around Isak, a teen just trying to figure out things (..i.e. gay stuffs). if you’ve never heard of it, here’s the link to the show .. http://skam.p3.no/
    …and here’s a link to the translated videos …

    The show comes out in “real time” ..so we know there will be an episode this Friday, if not before.
    You don’t have to cover it or anything, but I thought you might enjoy it.

  21. Thank you for remembering that Jackson existed. It’s way too important a part of Aaron’s story to ignore. It also surprised me that Chas was so keen on the engagement, but I won’t be surprised if she’s against it next week. And then all happy about it again the week after that.

  22. In all the Emmerdale drama last week, I think we also got a hint at a new love interest for Finn – that guy in the van that he went to help after the crash. His family even made a big deal of what a hero he was for saving that guy when they were sitting around the hospital room before James died. This would be such a welcome development. The Robert/Aaron episode sounded like an attempt to fill in some blanks in their story that needed to be addressed – even if they didn’t jibe with history. Aaron being abused by Gordon didn’t jibe, either, but they went with it. I may be alone in this, but I still find this marriage talk out of character and awkward.

    On People of the Valley, I agree about the repetitive conflict between Tyler and Iolo. They look good doing it, though, so I’ll keep watching. The problem with Gaynor’s decision about Tyler’s honeymoon is that she doesn’t raise these concerns to Ffion who takes a day off whenever she finds something better to do than go to work.

    I’m down to watching only Sonny-related clips from Days of our Lives, and they are painful to watch. Freddie Smith seems bored and unwilling to put any effort into his character. I can actually hear him thinking about his lines when he’s acting. We know he’s better than this. Paul has been pining for Sonny and promising to wait for him ever since he appeared on the show, and now that Sonny is single and showing an interest he decides to date other guys. On the other hand, right now I find Derrick more interesting than Sonny so it does make some sense.

  23. I’ve only seen assorted clips from last week’s “Emmerdale”, but I did see a lot of the Robron fans on Twitter being furious about Paddy not jumping for joy when Robert talked to him about marrying Aaron. Sure, Paddy was just as cheat-y last year as Robert, but Paddy never tried to murder Robert or threatened his child. I dunno why Paddy is just expected to get over that, though I’m sure he will.

    And yeah, the retcon about Jack Sugden rang way false to me. Why not just say that, in the years away from the village and the family, Robert felt the freedom to explore his sexuality more? That makes much more sense than tarring Jack just to give Robert and Aaron another point of commonality.

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