Web Helps Soap Actress Beat System, Fulfill Lesbian Kiss
Long-running soap Guiding Light airs its final episode next month, which means fictional lesbian couple Olivia and Natalia will be no more. The actresses behind the sapphic duo, however, are (ingeniously) using the web to keep their love alive. Hoorah!
Like all entertainment lands, the make believe world of soap operas are populated mostly by straight couples, which means that gay couples almost automatically make an impact with viewers, especially among the lavender set. Therefore, it's no surprise that actresses Crystal Chappell (seen here) and Jessica Leccia became super popular with the gays.
Despite the Chappell's requests, Procter & Gamble, which has produced the show for 57 years, refused to green light a lip-lock. That's pretty rude, although we can't say we're surprised. Soap producers mirror their largely middle American viewers and their straight-laced morals.
Well, P&G can eat it, because Chappell enlisted Leccia and a group of dedicated volunteers to give P&G a virtual middle finger by launching their own very show, the web-based Venice.
It's there that they will live out their lesbian fantasies. No, they won't play the same characters - P&G owns them — but Chappell promises there will be a lady-on-lady kiss "within the first 30 seconds" of the first episode. Obviously this will be quality programming. But, seriously, we think this is great. Gay folk are woefully underrepresented on daytime television and could certainly be utilized in plot-twisting ways. (Imagine the havoc a hell-bent queen could wreak on General Hospital. It gives us goosebumps.)
Meanwhile, on a somewhat related note, Chappell will also be returning to her old series, NBC's Days of Our Lives, where she'll reprise her character Dr. Carly Manning, who was put into a death-like coma and then buried alive by the evil Vivian. Shit, soap operas are awesome. But even more so when they have gay love.