Exclusive Video (Part 2): “Otalia” Live on in Venice – The Series
December 18, 2009
Last week, GLAAD’s Entertainment Media team brought you the first part of our conversation with Crystal Chappell and today we are excited to show you the conclusion. Diehard fans of Guiding Light will remember Crystal as one half of lesbian supercouple Olivia and Natalia, or “Otalia.”
Crystal is keeping the spirit of Otalia alive in her new web series, Venice – The Series, in which she plans to take storylines further than Otalia were ever allowed to go. Crystal plays Gina, a lesbian with a tumultuous love life, and Jessica Leccia, who played Natalia, will appear as Ani, Gina’s ex-girlfriend. The first episode is already available on the series’ website and episode 2 will premiere today. Fans can subscribe for $9.99 for the full season.
In the video below, Crystal discusses how Venice came into being as well as the overwhelming response she’s received from fans. GLAAD applauds Crystal Chappell for taking matters into her own hands in order to give her devoted fans the honest portrayal of women in love they were craving.
Related Posts:Exclusive Video: “Otalia” Live on in Venice – The Series (Part 1)
December 11, 2009
GLAAD’s Entertainment Media team recently had the privilege of sitting down for a conversation with Crystal Chappell. Diehard fans of Guiding Light will remember Crystal as one half of lesbian supercouple Olivia and Natalia, or “Otalia.”
Though Otalia supporters were disappointed by the lack of intimacy that the couple were allowed to show, Crystal is keeping the spirit of Otalia alive in her new web series, Venice – The Series. Crystal plays Gina, a lesbian with a tumultuous love life, and Jessica Leccia, who played Natalia, will appear as Ani, Gina’s ex-girlfriend. The first episode is already available on the series’ website and episode 2 will premiere on December 18. Fans can subscribe for $9.99 for the full season.
Especially in light of the dearth of lesbian characters on television, GLAAD applauds Crystal Chappell for bringing much needed visibility to the lesbian community.
In the video below, Crystal gives an overview of the series and what to expect in the coming season. Check in next Friday for part 2 of our interview!
Related Posts:Guiding Light Goes Off the Airwaves with No Otalia Kiss
September 22, 2009
Last Friday, CBS‘ Guiding Light, TV’s longest running soap opera, went off the air after 72 years. With it went Olivia and Natalia, popularly known as “Otalia,” the show’s resident lesbian couple who were never given the opportunity to show any real intimacy on the air.
Jessica Leccia (l.) and Crystal Chappell (r.) as Guiding Light's "Otalia"
The pair had a long and convoluted history that began with them as bitter enemies. In a surprising turn of events, Olivia (Crystal Chappell) and Natalia (Jessica Leccia) began to grow closer after Olivia underwent a heart transplant and was nursed back to health by Natalia. LGBT fans became enthralled with the storyline when it became clear earlier this year that their relationship would become romantic.
Unfortunately, the resulting storyline polarized most of Otalia’s LGBT fans. Although it was made clear by the writers that Otalia not only had romantic feelings for each other but were in fact a couple, Otalia were never shown expressing their emotions with the same level of physical intimacy as other Guiding Light couples.
While the Otalia story was strong in many respects, the fact that the couple didn’t so much as kiss is perplexing considering the displays of affection between LGBT couples shown on other daytime dramas. All My Children broke ground with the character Bianca Montgomery (Eden Riegel), who shared the first lesbian kiss in American soap opera history. The character later married her girlfriend, also a first.
Though Bianca is not currently appearing on AMC, there are presently several other compelling LGBT relationships being depicted on daytime television. Most notably, Luke (Van Hansis) and Noah (Jake Silbermann), also known as “Nuke,” have been a popular staple on As the World Turns for several years now. ATWT and CBS ran into controversy similar to that which now surrounds Otalia when Nuke were not shown kissing for a long stretch of time. However, they are now shown being physically intimate with some regularity. Also of note is the budding relationship between Oliver (Scott Evans) and Kyle (Brett Claywell) on ABC’s One Life to Live.
Eden Riegel's Bianca (r.) kisses her bride on All My Children
It is unclear whether the decision not to have Otalia kiss came from CBS or the Guiding Light’s writers. However, GLAAD has been engaged in discussions with CBS regarding the overall lack of LGBT visibility on their scripted programming. Although Guiding Light has now gone off the air, we will continue to work with CBS to ensure that their other scripted daytime and primetime programming fairly, accurately and inclusively reflects the lives of LGBT Americans.
On a final note, there is hope for Otalia fans despite the cancellation of Guiding Light. Crystal Chappell, who played Olivia, will be keeping the spirit of Otalia alive on a new web series called Venice, set to debut in November. Though the characters of Olivia and Natalia will not appear (they are the property of Procter & Gamble), Chappell will be playing a single lesbian woman in Venice, CA. Jessica Leccia, who played Natalia, has agreed to appear on Venice and the two women will at long last share a kiss. The New York Times recently published an article on the upcoming web series that provides a lot more detail, but be sure to visit glaadBLOG in the future for all of the latest on Venice!
Related Posts:Network Responsibility Index Continues to be Covered on TV and Blogs
August 4, 2009
Since the release of GLAAD’s third annual Network Responsibility Index (NRI) last week, the blogosphere has been abuzz with responses to the report. CBS and SyFy have promised big changes and Chelsea Handler comedically pointed out a few things she thinks we missed.
Video courtesy of E! Online:
We at GLAAD always appreciate Chelsea’s humor. A strong and hilarious ally to the gay community, she hosted the 20th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco earlier this year, so despite what some blogs would have you believe, there is no feud between GLAAD and Chelsea Handler. We thank her for bringing attention to the NRI on her Chelsea Lately!
The NRI analyzes programming on the five broadcast networks, the eight highest rated non-children’s/news/sports cable networks plus HBO and Showtime which, as subscription networks, do not receive as many viewers but are considered to be among the major cable networks.
Paul James as gay frat boy Calvin Owens on ABC Family's Greek
E! was not among those networks this year. However, because ratings change from year to year, the ten cable networks counted this year are not necessarily the ten that will be counted in next year’s NRI. Case in point: the second annual NRI counted Spike, which was replaced this year by Sci Fi (now SyFy). This may change again in next year’s report. Several cable networks that did not crack our top ten but air significant LGBT content, such as ABC Family, Bravo and BBC America, were included in the “Additional Cable Overview” found in the rear of the NRI.
Bloggers also wondered why daytime television was not included in the report. There is little question that the daytime TV landscape for LGBT characters is better today than it has ever been. We commend the writers of daily dramas such as As the World Turns, The Young & The Restless, Guiding Light and One Life to Live for seamlessly incorporating LGBT characters into their stories. However, tracking 6,113.5 hours of primetime network and cable television is a big task.
While right now we do not have the staff capacity to include daytime in the NRI, we do monitor storylines and recognize outstanding representations in the Daily Drama category at the GLAAD Media Awards.
Related Posts:Guiding Light will Shine No More
April 1, 2009
After 72 years and more than 15,700 episodes on television and radio, the daytime drama Guiding Light will be going off the air. CBS will broadcast the final episode on September 18, 2009.
"Otalia"
This news is not only unsettling because it is the longest-running soap opera in television history — it’s been airing on CBS since 1952! — and it’s always sad to see an institution crumble. But we’re also upset because the series just began a lesbian love story that was heralded by fans, devotees and newbies alike.
As we reported less than a month ago, Olivia (Crystal Chappell) and Natasha (Jessica Leccia) were just at the beginning stages of a romance neither of them expected. Though we trust the writers will do their best to wrap up all the storylines before Guiding Light sings its swan song, we are concerned for all the fans of “Otalia” clamoring for an in-depth portrayal of two women in love.
Watch the final episodes of Guiding Light while you still can, weekdays on CBS.
What You Should Be Watching
March 11, 2009
Already missing The L Word? Hungry for lesbian images? Believe it or not, you should be watching a soap. And no, we’re not talking about All My Children, with the tumultuous love between Bianca and Reese. We’re talking about CBS’ long-running Guiding Light.
For weeks, sparks have flown between Olivia and Natalia, but they are now officially a couple — and setting the soap world ablaze.
The Advocate held a great interview with the two actresses portraying “Otalia” (yes, there’s a fan name for the couple). Be sure to read the full story here, but we liked these excerpts:
Have there been challenges, as an actress, as opposed to when you are in a heterosexual relationship story line?
Crystal Chappell: No. I have approached this as a basic simple love story. I think it’s really non-gender-specific in my world as an actress. My character has found she’s falling for another woman. It’s still what I have always done in terms of my work and the approach to it. I did feel, however, that we needed to take it slowly and not sensationalize it. If you think about how long we have taken to get to this point; it was intended to create a long-term bond between these two characters. We take baby steps at times to create a love story that the audience can invest in.
Jessica Leccia: It may have been a bit easier because we did not play that we were in love. Maybe it seemed a bit banal, but we were literally folding laundry in one scene and moments came out of that. Our relationship developed slowly and it was sometimes ugly and sometimes pretty and normal … which is what friendships are.What about the first time you two kissed on-screen? Was it nerve-racking?
Crystal: I am always a little nervous when I kiss somebody. Your heart flutters and you think, Did I brush my teeth?
Jessica: In the first kiss you think, Is my lip too high? Did I make a scowly face?
Crystal: And you want it to look pretty!
Jessica: It was really nice. Good times.
Guiding Light airs weekdays on CBS. Check local listings for air times.
