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Post by pepe1958 on Apr 22, 2009 15:41:34 GMT -5
Um, I searched around and didn't find any listing for this (which surprised me a bit), but I wonder if y'all are aware that the American soap opera The Young & the Restless will be introducing a gay character, or, rather, outing a character (or two, more below): Rafe Torres (played by Yanni Gellman), who's been a recurring character since November of last year, is a pro-bono lawyer/public defender, as well as the nephew of Estella, Victor Newman's housekeeper.
Reportedly, this week or next, Lily Winters (Christel Khalil) will attempt to play matchmaker and hook Rafe up with her friend Colleen (Tammin Sursok), when he reveals that he is gay.
Now, according to the rumors circulating, Rafe may not be the only gay man in Genoa City: indicators say that Rafe's outing will lead, within a month, to the outing of a more prominent character, with heavy betting that it may be Adam Wilson (Chris Engen), Victor Newman's son, or the soon-to-be re-introduced Phillip Chancellor IV (casting not yet announced).
Anyway, I wanted to share this with y'all, as I'm very excited and hopeful that Y&R can do a good story with this--right now, the show is on fire creatively, and I'm hopeful that we'll get something good from it.
(If I've broken any rules about spoilers or such, please let me know.)
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Post by davedoty on Apr 23, 2009 7:59:37 GMT -5
I started watching the show a couple of weeks ago, partially because I had heard the rumors about a gay character, and partially because I was curious about the almost universally hailed "best soap on the air."
I enjoyed it, but to be honest, I don't find the writing on individual stories to be that much different than what I see on ATWT. Where it suceeds is mostly on the bigger "meta-issues," like more of a sense of a connection between the various stories, and the show itself having more of a sense of guiding principles. It still has companies and family dynasties that provide structure to the cast and individual stories. In ATWT, most of the big companies and businesses that the show once revolved around are either faded away, or nothing more than set changes to break up the home scenes. And the only family with a significant number of family members showing up regularly are the Snyders, who don't have the power and wealth to generate stories, or a strong matriarch/patriarch to hold it together. (Even if they used Emma more, she's not exactly ideal to be the engine driving Snyder storylines.)
I'm still too new to the series to have much opinion on the various characters. One story only shows one side to the characters, and they might be very different. For example, Phyllis seems to be a horrible, vindictive witch, but that may just be because she's in a story about her husband leaving her for his ex-wife.
If I've seen the soon-to-be gay character, he hasn't even registered on me, so I'll have to wait a bit to judge him.
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Post by pepe1958 on Apr 23, 2009 9:36:56 GMT -5
If I've seen the soon-to-be gay character, he hasn't even registered on me, so I'll have to wait a bit to judge him. Rafe briefly appeared on this past Monday's episode, representing Neil in the custody case. |
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Post by pepe1958 on Apr 23, 2009 18:37:30 GMT -5
Spoiler: Rafe's "outing" occurs in tomorrow's (Friday, April 24) episode.
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dkp
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Post by dkp on Apr 23, 2009 21:38:58 GMT -5
I'm so excited for tomorrow and glad Y&R is adding a gay character. I am one who is rooting for Rafe and Adam to be a couple some day (RAM). There's poll on AfterElton for potential love interests for Rafe. Please vote for Adam. www.afterelton.com/TV/gayslives/04-20-09?page=0%2C12 |
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Post by davedoty on Apr 24, 2009 8:18:31 GMT -5
So, I notice no one is running to Phyllis' defense after my comments. Should I assume my view of her is right on target?  |
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maya
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Post by maya on Apr 24, 2009 8:58:06 GMT -5
No, I absolutely LOVE Phyllis
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dkp
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Post by dkp on Apr 24, 2009 15:26:43 GMT -5
I LOVED today's scene in how it wasn't a big deal and a non-event.
According to Nelson in today's Suds Report, he's supposed to be getting a story that will unfold in the upcoming months. I'm excited.
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Post by Bonobochick on Apr 24, 2009 16:22:21 GMT -5
I haven't watched the show yet today (I watch it semi-regularly). I don't hate Phyllis but I am not a fan. I think the problem for me is I don't understand why she and Sharon are fighting over Nick cause he's not worth it to me.  Also, I tend to not care for characters like Sharon because everyone always thinks they're perfect, states that repeatedly when not making excuses for them whenever they do something wrong and that grates on my nerves (SEE LANA LANG). |
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Post by overtherainbow on Apr 24, 2009 17:16:23 GMT -5
They actually air the soap here in Norway  Which is a miracle, since we only get three American soaps, DOOL, B&B and Y&R. The sad thing is that Y&R here is two years behind USA.. And I don't have the channel that airs it either.. Oh well, I'll just have to follow it online I guess, cause I am really looking forward to this storyline! |
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Post by davedoty on Apr 24, 2009 18:08:05 GMT -5
No, I absolutely LOVE Phyllis I loved Sydney on Melrose Place. Are you saying that Phyllis is a nice person, though? Someone PLEASE kill that dog! |
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Post by pepe1958 on Apr 24, 2009 20:50:10 GMT -5
I LOVED today's scene in how it wasn't a big deal and a non-event. According to Nelson in today's Suds Report, he's supposed to be getting a story that will unfold in the upcoming months. I'm excited. I agree, I love how the show just treated it matter-of-factly and neither Colleen nor JT (the only two who apparently know already, though I wonder if Billy knows, since he's a longtime friend of Rafe's) had a pretty-much non-issue reaction. And, yeah, Nelson says Rafe is bumping up from recurring to supporting, so I'm really looking forward to where the story is going. As for Phyllis, meh, she's ok. I much prefer The Chipmunk. |
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dkp
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Post by dkp on Apr 25, 2009 10:02:06 GMT -5
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Post by overtherainbow on Apr 25, 2009 10:54:58 GMT -5
Thanks, I watched it, seems interesting. Will definitely keep watching and see what happens. |
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Post by floatilla on Apr 25, 2009 20:10:07 GMT -5
Can I say that for all the daytime soaps here in the US Y&R has always been my favorite...sorry ATWT.....and it was proved to me in Friday's epi.....No angst, no drama...Rafe comes out and they barely bat an eyelash...like its normal. It is refreshing to have a mature gay character comfortable in his skin..no?
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Post by Bonobochick on Apr 25, 2009 21:06:34 GMT -5
Can I say that for all the daytime soaps here in the US Y&R has always been my favorite...sorry ATWT.....and it was proved to me in Friday's epi.....No angst, no drama...Rafe comes out and they barely bat an eyelash...like its normal. It is refreshing to have a mature gay character comfortable in his skin..no? To be fair, Rafe is at least 10 years older than Noah & Luke and came out prior to his arrival in Genoa City so likely he's had time to be comfortable in his own skin and sexuality. He may have had an easy coming out or a difficult one but it's unknown and he seems fine now regardless. That said, while the writing on Y & R is not perfect, it is better in a lot of aspects than on ATWT, so I have hopes that it will be less about causes & battling the homophobe of the week and just be good character-driven soap. And yes, it was totally refreshing to see Colleen not even bat an eyelash at Rafe's reveal after Lily's painfully obvious attempt to set Colleen up with Rafe. ETA: Likely going to do blog entries about Y & R too. First entry was done this evening. |
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Post by floatilla on Apr 25, 2009 21:11:38 GMT -5
Can I say that for all the daytime soaps here in the US Y&R has always been my favorite...sorry ATWT.....and it was proved to me in Friday's epi.....No angst, no drama...Rafe comes out and they barely bat an eyelash...like its normal. It is refreshing to have a mature gay character comfortable in his skin..no? To be fair, Rafe is at least 10 years older than Noah & Luke and came out prior to his arrival in Genoa City so likely he's had time to be comfortable in his own skin and sexuality. He may have had an easy coming out or a difficult one but it's unknown and he seems fine now regardless. That said, while the writing on Y & R is not perfect, it is better in a lot of aspects than on ATWT, so I have hopes that it will be less about causes & battling the homophobe of the week and just be good character-driven soap. And yes, it was totally refreshing to see Colleen not even bat an eyelash at Rafe's reveal after Lily's painfully obvious attempt to set Colleen up with Rafe. ETA: Likely going to do blog entries about Y & R too. First entry was done this evening. Thats nice....  |
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Post by amber80 on Apr 27, 2009 3:59:46 GMT -5
I have never watched Y&R before (they don't air it here (anymore) ), but it looks interesting... |
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Post by davedoty on Apr 29, 2009 0:16:18 GMT -5
Eh. I don't know. There's certainly things that I like about the soap, but I'm leaning away after trying it for a few weeks, mostly because of this Chipmunk nonsense, which seems almost like a parody of how ridiculous soaps can get. I'd be willing to write it off a an aberation, but all of the Y&R fans in more than one forum are rushing to its defense as a perfect example of how Y&R is so much better than ATWT. I can only take them at their word Judging Y&R by the Awesome, Ultra-Realistc and Naturally Character-Driven Talking Chipmunk Hallucination Storyline, this show is pretty clearly not my cup of tea.
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Post by jjose712 on Apr 29, 2009 5:33:39 GMT -5
I read a lot about Rafe's come out and how refreishing it was in comparision to Luke in ATWT, that after watching the scene i can't help but feeling a bit dissapointed.
First of all, i don't think Rafe even exist without Nuke's previous success, in ATWT Luke is really coming out, i don't see Rafe coming out at all. He is just saying to a girl (and to the audience) that he is gay, but it's pretty obvious that he came out long time ago (so i don't see the point in comparision).
About the scene, it was a good way to show a gay character without making a big deal about it, of course. But the truth is that the scene don't give me any clue about how they go to develop the character, if Rafe is going to become a prominent character or have an interesting storyline.
We'll se in the future, but it's pretty clear that for a soap is easy to deal with a gay character than with a gay couple, so i don't expect a love interest for Rafe in the short time
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Post by pepe1958 on Apr 29, 2009 13:22:53 GMT -5
Personally, I thought the Chipmunk storyline was absolutely gripping. Kevin's breakdown--due to his childhood traumas, and enhanced by his kidnapping--allowed for the development of the Chipmunk to emerge organically from the story. Believe it or not, as presented on the show, it was for more realistic than many prime time shows or even movies, and much more affecting.
Of course, Rafe exists partially due to the success of Luke and Noah. We have to give ATWT props for creating those characters and forging ahead. But I've given up on ATWT due to the ridiculous, plot-driven storylines.
Y&R is a character-based soap, so Rafe's development will be gradual, natural. I found his coming out to be refreshing, mostly because I'm an older gay man and that's how it is for me now. In this case, I can actually relate more to a character like Rafe than I can to Luke and Noah.
I'm confident that Y&R IS going to do something with Rafe; of course, it would be nice if that includes a romance, but even if it doesn't, just knowing that there's a confident, out gay man on the canvas is important. And as the audience grows to like and admire Rafe, perhaps that will give TPTB that courage to develop a romance for him.
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Post by lolaruns on Apr 29, 2009 13:43:52 GMT -5
Can somebody explain to me what the chipmunk story is?
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Post by GTSTfanMark on Apr 29, 2009 14:58:53 GMT -5
Sure, it's refreshing. But what I love about ATWT is that we've seen Luke grow up on the show. He's part of one of the core families and they continue to write for him.
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Post by pepe1958 on Apr 29, 2009 15:06:34 GMT -5
Can somebody explain to me what the chipmunk story is? In a, er, nutshell: as a child, Kevin Fisher was humiliated and abused by his father, who would throw him in a closet; as a result, he developed claustrophobia; flash forward to recently, Kevin goes searching for the missing Katherine Chancellor and is kidnapped by villainous Clint, who drugged him and locked him up in a closet, making Kevin think that Clint was his abusive father; realizing this, Clint forced Kevin to participate in bank robberies, wearing a chipmunk mask; Clint had a heart attack and Kevin hid him in the closet; Amber found Kevin who, in a delusional state, forced her to help him rob more banks; they were eventually captured and, despite his family's protests (knowing Kevin's childhood traumas), Kevin was locked up in a padded cell, where he became mostly catatonic, with visions of a large chipmunk teasing and taunting him; finally, when he was placed in a strait-jacket, Kevin went totally catatonic and had an internal fight with the chipmunk--eventually, he knocked the head of the chipmunk off to reveal...Kevin himself, who told the catatonic Kevin it was time to return to the real world. |
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Post by Bonobochick on Apr 29, 2009 15:44:54 GMT -5
I thought Kevin's breakdown was well done (the actor was excellent) but I couldn't get in to the chipmunk at all. I know some folks are hoping Rafe will find love with Adam, but they'll have to pry Adam away from Heather from my cold, dead hands first! I lurve me some Adam/Heather.  However, if they're going to pair Rafe with an existing character, I think Daniel or JT would be good bets for him or at least juicy potential of either being gay, bi or curious. Neither one is sparking with the current partner not to mention their respective storylines have them has little more than pretty decorations. |
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Also, I tend to not care for characters like Sharon because everyone always thinks they're perfect, states that repeatedly when not making excuses for them whenever they do something wrong and that grates on my nerves (SEE LANA LANG).
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Which is a miracle, since we only get three American soaps, DOOL, B&B and Y&R.
