Reply #3: Soaps are a very weird genre

[Chovexani]

In some ways they're as salacious as anything you'd see at night, and in others they're stuck in the '50s.

Part of the reason they're so regressed in some ways is because of the sponsorship issue. More so than any other genre on tv they are beholden to sponsors. Hell, the whole reason they're called soaps in the first place is because back in the day, they were put on the air by laundry soap companies. The fandom is weird too: it tends to be split between younger, college aged people/young SAHMs and the old people who've been following them for decades. The sponsors give in on occasion to the young people wanting to see more progressive storylines and characters but they are deathly afraid of offending the old bitty demographic.

I haven't watched soaps since I was in high school watching Young and the Restless with my grandma. I have been following the Luke and Noah thing and Bianca on that other show (Guiding Light?), though, on gay TV sites and it's obvious the writers just don't know what to do with GLBT characters who are an actual part of the show. In the past GLBT characters were just a one-shot guest star who's there for the Very Special Episode on AIDS or homophobia or something.