All My Children: As If

In today's New York Times this 'brief' appeared in the Arts section:

Sex Change Is Planned on All My Children

It has been 18 years since the fictional character Hank Elliot made his debut as the first openly gay male in an American soap opera on As the World Turns. Now it’s time for a different sort of coming out. On All My Children Zarf, a male character to be played by the actor Jeffrey Carlson, will begin making the transition from male to female in a new plot set to begin on Thursday on ABC, The Associated Press reported. According to the soap’s executive producer, Julie Hanan Carruthers, the show was looking for something new and felt that its audience would be interested in a story on the themes of sexuality and gender. The producers consulted with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and also sought out some transgendered people for advice. Damon Romine, a spokesman for the alliance, said he had not seen the show yet but had the sense that All My Children was interested in telling Zarf’s story with dignity. Mr. Romine said that because emotions are so close to the surface in soap operas, this story can show what transgendered people go through. All My Children is ripe for some positive change itself, its audience having slipped to 3.1 million last year from 8.2 million in 1991-92, according to Nielsen Media Research. “After 36 years, you start rehashing,” Ms. Carruthers said. “It’s inevitable. We didn’t want to fall back on the baby-switch story again.”

CoL says:

With a character whose name is unfortunately a rhyme for something unpleasant, ABC Daytime journeys into uncharted terrain. It might be more inviting if Megan McTavish were even capble of writing more mundane characters. It might be more inviting if it didn't stink of a stunt.

The character becomes more aware of his/her true self after kissing a lesbian, so the spoiler goes. There is a major character on this show, by the way, who is a lesbian, although save for one chaste kiss in an airport one would be hard pressed to point out any reasonable facsimile of a sex life for the poor creature, who was raped and impregnated by a psychopath. Bianca is definitely one of the more likable characters on the show, but there isn't much of a life there except as counselor and supporting player. Now it seems she will be the conduit for Zarf's transformation.

We think that Mr. Carlson would be better served auditioning for the remake of the Christine Jorgensen Story. It's already been written and is a real part of the history of the sexual revolution. Perhaps All My Children would be better served if Ms Jorgensen's story were transported to contemporary Pine Valley. It's already been told and nobody could screw it up, unless of course someone tried to dumb it down. Naw, that would never happen in Daytime Drama!