News

1986: Bobby was alive and well on Dallas; his death was a dream.

1994: All My Children's Erica visited her mother's grave.

1995: Another World's Grant shot his brother, Ryan, in the back.

1997: Days of our Lives recast the role of Jack...in a shower."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1938: Radio soap opera Houseboat Hannah premiered on the NBC Red Network. Hard working Dan O'Leary, who lost an arm in a factory accident, moved his financially strapped family aboard a house boat in Shanty Fish Row on San Francisco Bay.

1970: The Hortons gathered for Thanksgiving on Days of our Lives.

1989: Peter Bergman debuted as Jack Abbott on The Young and

the Restless. 1997: General Hospital's Quartermaines were robbed

on Thanksgiving, thanks to Tracy. 1997: The Port Charles

interns made sure Ellen and Jake had a Thanksgiving meal."The best prophet of the future is the past."

― Lord Byron

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1964: On Another World, Bill Matthews (Joseph Gallison) and Missy Palmer (Carol Roux) shared a kiss on the bridge.

1970: On Days of our Lives, the Hortons celebrated Thanksgiving. "Bless this food, and give us the courage and strength to live to the fullest...

1986: Bobby was alive and well on Dallas; his death was a dream.

1994: All My Children's Erica visited her mother's grave.

1995: Another World's Grant shot his brother, Ryan, in the back.

1997: Days of our Lives recast the role of Jack...in a shower."The best prophet of the future is the past."

― Lord Byron

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1938: Radio soap opera Houseboat Hannah premiered on the NBC Red Network. Hard working Dan O'Leary, who lost an arm in a factory accident, moved his financially strapped family aboard a house boat in Shanty Fish Row on San Francisco Bay. Resourceful and resolute Hannah O'Leary became...

Langford’S Picks And Pans

Neighbours

As I said last week, I’m really enjoying Neighbours these days. The fallout from the accident has continued to make for interesting soap. Now, I don’t know anything about epilepsy or its symptoms, so I can’t say if the show is being medically accurate about Andrew’s illness, but it’s dramatically compelling to watch.

I see a lot of comments about Andrew being ‘stupid’ for not taking Aidan’s advice and telling people about his situation, but his behavior makes perfect sense to me. Andrew has always been one to avoid problems. His father is repeatedly telling him he needs to be tough and he can’t even talk to Chris and his friends because they won’t have anything to do with him following the accident. Risking his health might be stupid, but it’s realistic.

What isn’t so realistic,...

"Don't start with me, concrete!"

Happy 27th Birthday to Thore Schölermann, and Happy 63rd Birthday to Olivia Newton-John. Time to name your top five Olivia songs! Here are mine (which was tough, because she's my fourth all-time favorite singer): 5. "Tied Up," 4. "A Little More Love," 3. "Twist of Fate," 2. "Suddenly," and my #1 is a song that I will forever champion in the face of universal derision, "Soul Kiss". Out Oscar-nominated director Lee Daniels has been tasked to bring Valley of the Dolls back to TV. I'm going to need some time to absorb this. Justin Timberlake will portray late Casablanca Records co-founder Neil Bogart (who helped launch Donna Summer and The Village People) in the big-screen bio-pic Spinning Gold. I'm going to need some time to absorb this. Oxygen has officially announced that they have started the casting process for Season Two of The Glee Project, beginning with a multi-city...

AfterElton and AfterEllen have named their Hot 100 Men and Women of 2011. Check out the soap-filled list below:

After Ellen's Hot 100 Women

1. Naya Rivera - Glee

2. Heather Morris - Glee

3. Jessica Capshaw - Grey's Anatomy

4. Sara Ramirez - Grey's Anatomy

8. Dianna Agron - Glee

10. Lea Michele - Glee

40. Crystal Chappell - Venice/Days Of Our Lives

49. Jordana Brewster - ex-As The World Turns

57. Michelle Rodriguez - ex-Lost

65. Jane Lynch - Glee

67. Lindsay Lohan - ex-Another World

69. Nadia Bjorlin - Venice/Days Of Our Lives

For the full list, click here.

After Elton's Hot 100 Men

1. Darren Criss - Glee

3. Chris Colfer - Glee

5. John Barrowman - Torchwood

6. Luke MacFarlane - Brothers & Sisters

7. Jonathan Groff - Glee

8. Jensen Ackles - Supernatural

10. Ricky Martin - ex-General Hospital

12. Cheyenne Jackson - Glee/30 Rock

15. Matt Bomer - White Collar

16. Jared Padalecki - Supernatural

17. James Franco - General Hospital

18. Chord Overstreet - Glee...

Announcing This Year's Visibility Awards Host ... Neil Patrick Harris!

Like many businesses, the end of the year gets pretty hectic around here as we balance the books, hide the bodies, and fight over the freebies sent by the networks. (I'm still mad I didn't get the CSI "Do it Yourself Autopsy Kit!")

Not only do we have the Visibility Awards to get all shiny and polished to hand out to this year's winners on Monday, we also had to write up articles looking back at the year in TV, Movies, Music, Coming Out and so forth. All of that is on top of our usual recaps, articles and posts. And then there are the usual unexpected things to cover like John Cameron Mitchell's people calling us at the last minute to attend a screening of Mitchell's new movie Rabbit Hole starring Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart. And then we...

Here's last week's caption pic winner. This week's caption pic is at the bottom of the page.

Thanks to everyone for participating! And the winner (because he does bear a resemblance to a certain TV character) is ...

Biography presents "Puck Run Out: Noah Puckerman, the after-Glee years"

Thanks to Strepsi for this week's winning caption.

Weekend Birthdays - Soap God Edition! Thore Schölermann's impressive nipples turn 26, and Van Hansis turns 29.

Speaking of rainbow cupcakes, below you can see a news report out of Indiana about some gay college kids who were refused service by a local bake shop ... because rainbow sweets would corrupt the owner's children, or something.

 

We didn't realize it, but yesterday was the 19th Annual Celebrate Bisexuality Day. Ratings news: Modern Family's return scored the show's highest ratings ever, while 30 Rock embarrassingly lost to the CBS clunker William Shatner Plays a Grouchy Old Fart. Below...

Plus flying the gay-friendly skies, Matthew Mitcham's footie advice, dissecting Federbear's tweener, and will The Arrangement smell like a rose ... or something else?

How can you say no to that face?

Matthew Mitcham is interviewed by heraldsun.com and drops a few interesting tidbits. He calls Jason Akermanis (who infamously said gay athletes should stay in the closet) "irrelevant," he thinks the time is right for closeted footie players to come out, and about being one of the few openly gay high-profile athletes he says "It's a part of me that I love and enjoy and I like being known as gay. I see it as something positive, so it's just another positive thing to be known as." If the trailer for Logo's The A List doesn't tempt you to watch the show (and judging by the comments, it doesn't) then maybe this trailer for another Logo show will do the trick.

Welcome to another edition of Gays of Our Lives. In Gool Theater this week all three of the U.S. soaps (As the World Turns, One Life to Live and The Young and the Restless) have clips. Find out which one had me in tears, which one disappointed me and which one put me in a blind rage.

Plus, Simon faces his doppelganger on Doctors, Fer finds out that sleeping with his boyfriend isn’t as fun as he expected on Física o’ Química, and the battle between Lucas and Dex continues on the Dutch version of Good Times, Bad Times.

In Gool Scoops And Spoilers, Luke and Mason go to war over Noah, but it’s Noah who suffers deadly consequences on As the World Turns, things get steamy between Kyle and Oliver on One Life to Live, Ugly Betty battles with her own sister for the new stud...

Welcome to the 52nd edition of Gays of Our Lives, which means we’ve been here a year. Happy Birthday to us! And as with our very first edition, this week we bring you all the latest news, spoilers and clips of your favorite gay characters in soaps and dramas.

In Gool Theater, Dr. Simon Bond deals with a gay teenage boy’s first crush on Doctors, Oliver shows his butch side on One Life to Live, Lucas goes back to work and stirs up trouble on the Dutch version of Good Times, Bad Times and Christian and Olli face tragedy on Forbidden Love. Meanwhile, Santiago and Diego continue their chaste relationship on Rich Kids, Poor Parents.

In Gool Scoops And Spoilers, One Life to Live’s Nick and Oliver lay their romantic cards on the table while Kyle is questioned about a decision he’s made about his love life,...

Last year soap operas brought us a number of gay romances, but none captured audiences’ attention quite like Forbidden Love’s Christian (Thore Schölermann) and Olli (Jo Weil), which found fans worldwide and left viewers wanting to know more about the actors who play the roles. This week we correspond by email with Jo Weil for his thoughts on Christian and Olli’s relationship, the duos popularity, the future of the couple and more.

AfterElton.com: How do you feel about the way Christian and Olli’s story has been told?

Jw: I’m very happy that I’m part of this wonderful love story. When I first heard [about it], I never imagined that Ollian/Chrolli would be accepted by so many of our fans. I’m very proud of that. I have received so many wonderful letters and e-mails from fans that I’m now aware of this fictitious couple...