Breaking News: Actress, Crystal Chappell, handcuffed.
June 27, 2009 by admin
Filed under Entertainment, TV
On Friday, Emmy-winning daytime actress, Crystal Chappell was visibly restrained in Springfield, IL. Luckily, the event was caught on tape. Let’s take a look.
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What you just witnessed was a professional lead straining against the invisible suppression of network standards and practices. The actress put up a noticeably internal struggle, but then succumbed to the pressure. The video is all the evidence required.
Once again I am here at my desk questioning the courage of a network to move forward in a natural, yes, natural, progression of a same-sex storyline. I give CBS Daytime and the other networks of daytime television deserved credit for being the only genre with an extended commitment to LGBT issues, but to produce a coupling that is a veneer of their potential, is merely symbolism over substance.
It is no secret that lesbians will watch anything that remotely represents our circumstances. Just look at the Netflix history or current queue of a Sapphic sista, and you will find every low budget, single camera, and late-night Logo channel offering out there. To find a love story with a happy ending where the gay girl isn’t violated, murdered, left for a man, or burned is an accomplishment, and when we do find the odd Imagine You and Me, Saving Face, or I Can’t Think Straight, we will watch it again, and again, and again.
The OTALIA storyline began with such enormous potential. It wasn’t the first of its kind, so it was able to fly below the conservative radar. It was “label-less”, so it required no public classification by the powers that be. It was the first mature storyline that involved an undeniable daytime diva voluntarily offering her heart to another woman and having it accepted with a loving confidence. OTALIA is not a coming of age storyline where sexuality is questioned; OTALIA is a love story where the prejudices of society and religion are questioned.
Perhaps the network never expected such a worldwide sisterhood alliance to this pairing, but this is the Internet age, and the Twitter era. Real time information is at our fingertips. Though the elusive Neilson families may not tune into Guiding Light, there is at least one online family of five thousand plus international members watching and waiting for their story personified on screen. Their loyalty and their commitment deserve better than a sterile version of fruition.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not asking for gratuitous afternoon titillation, I can get that from those DVDs I keep in the back of my lingerie drawer. What I am demanding is that the OTALIA storyline be unleashed from these archaic network standards of a time past. Yesterday’s video evidence of Crystal Chappell’s craft caught in restraints is not the first time I have witnessed the censorship, but the last time my tolerance will allow.
As I have said publicly before, the network billed this storyline as label-less, but it is not lifeless. Gay people touch, gay people hug for longer than what appears to be a celebratory chest bump, and gay people in loving relationships kiss each other, if not in public, then definitely in the privacy of their own homes. Shocking, I know.
CBS and the other powers of controlling deprivation, out of some misplaced responsibility to the public interest, have created an atmosphere where the kiss, or the no-kiss, has become the story. Affection between the two characters should have occurred long ago with little fanfare, just as with those mundane family moments of baking cookies and getting the kid ready for school.
Look at the video again. Crystal is a method actor. She engenders in herself the thoughts and emotions of the character, Olivia, in an effort to create a lifelike performance, but something is circumventing the immersion. I can only surmise that it is the network succumbing to corporate pressure of one kind or another.
CBS, where is your courage? You canceled the show, what is there to lose except more respect? Cease the accommodation of the most conservative members of your audience. Only by continuing to push the envelope with respect to same-sex family portrayals can the medium advance. After all, if our community is as dirty as some would like to believe, wouldn’t a little soap be the answer?
You were right all along, m. My optimismm which wasn’t nearly cautious enough, has allowed my heart be smashed into about a million more pieces than it would be if I’d stayed in my cynical shell.
I’m still Olivia’s slave.
these were my thoughts exactly. I had to rewatch that scene because it felt like Crystal Chappell, the actress was going ahead with the kiss even though she didn’t allow Olivia to go there.
Certain seems after the last week (if the office episode wasn’t the perfect time then the gazebo sure was considering the dialogue) that something is rotten in the state of Springfield.
For me it’s about how glaring it is that they aren’t. It’s more jarring that in moments when a kiss would have been real instead we get the moments of duck and weave or fade to black.
Looking an awful lot like what happened with CBS and Telenext with Nuke to this viewer
yeah what i don’t get is if Nuke was eventually allowed to kiss and the world didn’t end, then why aren’t Otalia allowed to kiss? Isn’t it the same thing?
I agree with you 1000 %
Thank you. Well done.
For the last 3 weeks I’ve been hard pressed to believe we’ll see any “reality” scenes with these two.Such great potential in the beginning.The behavior, or lack thereof, of this same sex couple no longer reflects the characters involved or the natural progression of the story line. I have the feeling the actors were up for a lot more than what they are allowed to portray.
Brava!
rr
You’re so right. Love your comments on DVD rentals etc… how true is that!
I’m thrilled with all the issues GL are covering, especially coming out to children, but I’m being driven absolutely barmy by the lack of affection. I want to be good and say… ‘All in good time’, but it’s, frankly *cough*, doing my nut in. Everytime they agree to move forward, we get all excited, and then they get back to eyesex over various baked goods.
I keep having to remind myself that US daytime has only included same-sex relationships in the last 5 years or so, is that right? We had ours 15 years ago so I guess the public are more used to it, though it’s still highlighted as a ‘daring’ thing to do pre-watershed, which annoys the pants off me.
It’s such a shame GL was dropped, otherwise we’d not care so much and it definitely would be a case of ‘All in good time’ and we’d be loving the closeness.
It does feel like they’re bowing to the network, god knows why, are they waiting for sweeps? Not that ratings matter any more. Or do they honestly believe that this is how the story should run? Miss out the week with the horniness and you might think Olivia was adopting Natalia.
How do we tell them that it’s just not on? That they are suspending our disbelief beyond all recognition? What did the Nukers do to get their boys to kiss?
I really hope Natalia’s absence drives a bit of passion into them. However, I’m nervous she’ll come back and they’ll have to start all over again. *twitches*
Oh God, but I love them.
When it comes to numbers, ratings, finance, interests [whatever they may be] and such, there’s no room for emotions. The lack of emotions creates these kinds of scenarios, in which the level of respect for an actor is nullified, because an actor is just that – an actor. And then the story gets ripped, because a story doomed by outsiders, lacking emotions, will become just that – a story with an essence losing track along the way. It’s like a great party that abruptly ends because of a fight, with lots of happy people getting hurt.
The private life of the audience is packed with real life emotions, situations that beg to be portrayed in the most simple and honest way possible, without the travesty we’re so used to. But they can’t be handled correctly because TPTB lacks the feelings of emotions and selfrespect. Comes to show why a particular group of an audience, of which I’m also part of, is constantly being let down. But sadly enough, that’s how it works. The only priorities that really count are those these corporations have for their own conveniences.
By the way, CC is a wonderful actress and to have her waste her time,energy and talent in this kind of charade is downright disrespectful.
Well written and thought out… I am still ‘invested’ but getting near disappointed as the days go by. Happily & Sadly, alas I will watch because for me I’ve watched ‘Imagine Me’ until I wore out the DVD and now it skips, just like Otalia lately…
Love the actress’s CC and JL, they blow me away. Worth the watch because of them for sure. Still hoping we all get our happy ending.
These two wonderful actors play any lines given to them with a great deal of conviction. The writers have done an outstanding job this year surpassing most of the other soaps with their story lines. This is 2009 so if we have progressed so much why is television still handcuffed. We see it on the regular shows and a lot more. Come on people…save the light!
Incredible analysis and insight…it is a shame that it is true.
I’d hate to detract from what you’ve so eloquently expressed already. I’d say let’s wait and see how this plays out, but haven’t we done that for over a year now? And with little time left for the story to wrap, throw in a pregnancy, let’s just say Natalia isn’t the only one with nausea.
The fall from this particular story feels that much harder and more painful from the beautiful build the writers brought us in the beginning, to a screeching stereotypical halt.
I believe one day gays and lesbians will get to see themselves personified onscreen without many of the disappointing cliches we’ve seen in our lifetimes. But I also believe that day will only come when our stories can be told without the constraints from archaic TV network standards.
Let’s embrace technology and everything that will come from it. TV shows are heading to the web and that is where I predict we’ll see our stories told with some honest depiction.
I only hope I’ll be able to see those come to fruition in my lifetime.
Side note – Where are all the rich lesbian/gay people? You’d think by now they’d combine their money to develop quality gay/lesbian content. And no, Logo doesn’t count.
“As I have said publicly before, the network billed this storyline as label-less, but it is not lifeless. Gay people touch, gay people hug for longer than what appears to be a celebratory chest bump, and gay people in loving relationships kiss each other, if not in public, then definitely in the privacy of their own homes. Shocking, I know.”
I’ve cut this part of your piece to highlight for those who believe that this is a label-less story and not about being gay or a lesbian (etc), I can edit the above article by simply stating:
“As I have said publicly before, the network billed this storyline as label-less, but it is not lifeless. People in love touch, people in love hug for longer than what appears to be a celebratory chest bump, and people in loving relationships kiss each other, if not in public, then definitely in the privacy of their own homes. Shocking, I know.”
Bottom line, labels or no labels, a kiss-less and sex-less relationship is called friendship….maybe we’ve all misunderstood the original intention of this storyline?
PS: GREAT BLOG!!!
I said this months ago..and was beat down by the bpd’ers who “loved the glacial pace that was so true to their lives, and who had experienced the same things..” I said it was homophobia, I said it didn’t ring true..and I was right..Damn!!!..I was right..
AMEN to that!!!!
Excellent analysis..I agree with you 100%..I don’t know what in hell they are waiting for..
thank you for a well written expression of our feelings..
right…so I should blame CBS for not having the courage to let Otalia kiss? what about the first kiss? was a kiss between them in January…why then they ware able and now they aren’t specially after they are sure the show it’s being cancelled. If I don’t blame CBS then it’s definitely the writing that…well …Nice to know doe that CBS has the guilt of making fans feel like they are losing their time watching this story. All I can say is…I love Jessica and Crystal for the wonderful and talented actresses they are but…who’s to blame for the errors in this storyline? Writing versus CBS! If CBS is restricting the show…the lack of a kiss and so on…then someone ..the writers for example should come out and tell everyone what is happening because of CBS…not letting us judge and look for answers and get sick of it.
Thank you for this…was wonderful to read and be informed! The disappointment is huge…from whoever uses censorship on this story!
Wow!! Well stated!! Your words reflect what many of us feel….thanks so much!!
Wow! Why is this whole article about Chappell? Isn’t Otalia a two-party relationship? Doesn’t the non-white actress, Jessica Leccia, deserve some credit for her role? What is she a mannequin?
For someone interested in a more honest portrayal of lesbian couplings, you could do a hell of lot better in recognizing that at least two people are required for a basic lesbian relationship and both deserve equal billing.
I don’t think that is what is being said at all. M seems to be pointing out that in this one acted moment in the show, where the camera is on Olivia, that there seems to be a disengage. This seems in no way a cheer for half the pairing but a pointing out that as a self identified actress who goes on instinct that there is a VERY evident moment of being forced to go against that instinct.
Watch the clip.
Jessica is certainly not a prop in this story at all but for the first time in this stories telling it is VERY clear that someone involved with the show (network, Telenext???) is forcing the actor (in this case Crystal) NOT to react as she feels the moment calls for.
Good article. I’m just pissed. It’s been getting weirder and weirder. I’m really disappointed. I read somewhere the P and G were trying to destroy the audience base for GL so that their products would not be effected.
It’s distressing
This is the first time that I’ve seen Lesbian Death Bed with the couple having never even gotten to the bed.
LOL @ Alicia
But why blame CBS? AMC showed kissing between Bianca and several girlfriends. If we got a kiss or sex scene that was overly tame, I might be tempted to blame CBS, but it’s obvious that none have been written. Let’s face it: the writers we fawned over and thanked–and some even sent flowers to–screwed us over.
Amen! I, too, had a WTF reaction to that moment, because it seemed that there absolutely *should* have been some kind of kiss there–on he cheek, if nothing else. Or, if they just absolutely couldn’t have a kiss there, then it should have been a full-on body-hug that lasted for more than half a second.
So, thank you for articulating what so many of us are thinking, at this point.
crystal chappell is a awesome actor…it does not matter if she plays gay or not we all know she is not….days of our lives are very lucky to get her back…and for ratings sake I hope they will keep her!
Very interesting article. Keep us posting dude !!