Reese Williams and Bianca Montgomery

Reese Williams and Bianca Montgomery are fictional characters

Character (arts)

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

and a lesbian

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

couple from the ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

daytime drama All My Children

All My Children

All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...

. Reese was portrayed by Tamara Braun

Tamara Braun

Tamara Braun is American actress. She is best known for her roles on General Hospital as Carly Corinthos from 2001 to 2005, along with her roles on Days of our Lives as Taylor Walker and Ava Vitali. She is also known for her role on All My Children as Reese Williams.-Biography:Braun was born in...

, and Bianca

Bianca Montgomery

Bianca Christine Montgomery is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. In June 2010, Christina Bennett Lind replaced Eden Riegel, who portrayed the role from July 2000 to January 2010. Until Riegel assumed the role, the character was portrayed solely by child...

was portrayed by Eden Riegel

Eden Riegel

Eden Sonja Jane Riegel is an American actress. She portrayed Bianca Montgomery on the daytime drama All My Children, and propelled the character into a gay icon, as well as a popular figure within the medium...

. On Internet message boards

Internet forum

An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...

, the pairing is commonly referred to by the portmanteaus "Rianca" (for Reese and Bianca) and "Breese" (for Bianca and Reese). The couple debuted in October 2008 and is groundbreaking for featuring the first same-sex

Same-sex relationship

A same-sex relationship is a relationship between two persons of the same sex and can take many forms, from romantic and sexual, to non-romantic close relationships. The term is mainly associated with gay and lesbian people...

marriage proposal, as well as the first legal same-sex wedding and marriage, on an American soap opera. In addition, the pairing's family is the first onscreen family made up of same-sex parents in the history of American daytime television

Daytime television

Daytime television is the general term for television shows produced that are intended to air during the daytime hours on weekdays. This article is about American daytime television, for information about international daytime television see Daytime television....

.

The couple's wedding took place on February 13, 2009. Though the wedding received praise for being the first on an American soap opera, it also received criticism. The couple's romance was the subject of controversy, from writing and development to fan dissatisfaction and creator commentary.

Writing and portrayals

Eden Riegel was cast in 2000 as Bianca Montgomery, the lesbian

Lesbian

daughter of Erica Kane

Erica Kane

Erica Kane is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children.The character has been portrayed by actress Susan Lucci since the show first aired in January 1970, until the last broadcast television episode aired in September 2011. Erica is considered to be the most popular...

. Riegel left the role and returned several times, before permanently retiring from the role in 2010. She attributed her 2008 return to the wishes of her fans. Through the web presence she created for herself during her web series Imaginary Bitches

Imaginary Bitches

Imaginary Bitches is a web series created by Andrew Miller that premiered on May 2, 2008. Season one comprises 13 five to seven-minute webisodes...

, fans let her know how much they wanted her back on the show. "I definitely wanted to fulfill that desire if I could," she said. Riegel then let the show know she was willing to come back. "[The] next thing I knew I got a call and they said, 'Okay, we've got something for you,'" she said. The story the All My Children writers came up with involved a new love interest for Bianca, Reese Williams, who would be portrayed by daytime alumni Tamara Braun. Riegel addressed specific reasons she made the return. "It was the storyline that got me excited," she said. "I always want to come back. I love All My Children, and they’re my family. I barely need an excuse -- it’s usually just about timing." Riegel added that "this time it was the fact that they were going to have Bianca in a committed relationship". She stated, "It was very, very important to me, and I was so glad to hear that. In the context of that, there’s some pretty exciting story line plot points that I’m aware of that are dramatic and fun to play and enticing as an actress." In addition, Riegel was enthused about playing opposite Braun. "It means so much [that Braun was cast] because it shows how committed AMC is to this pairing," Riegel said in an interview with Soap Opera Weekly

Soap Opera Weekly

Soap Opera Weekly is a weekly magazine covering American daytime soap operas. It features onscreen and offscreen news about the series, interviews with and articles about performers, storyline summaries and analysis, and related promotional information...

. "We're going to have some serious stuff to play- they aren't going to waste her talents."

After portraying Ava Vitali on the NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

soap opera Days of our Lives

Days of our Lives

Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...

, Tamara Braun did not expect to appear on another daytime drama so soon. "I didn't want to do another soap, I was ready to do other things," Braun said in an interview with TV Guide

TV Guide

TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...

. "But this was an opportunity I couldn't pass up." All My Children head writer

Head writer

A head writer is a person who oversees the team of writers on a television or radio series. The title is common in the soap opera genre, as well as with sketch comedies and talk shows that feature monologues and comedy skits, but in prime time series this function is generally performed by an...

Charles Pratt, Jr.

Charles Pratt, Jr. is an American television writer, producer and director.-Daytime Soap Positions held:All My Children *Head Writer: August, 2008 - November, 2009...

was creating the role of Reese with Braun in mind when he offered her the role. The story he presented her convinced Braun to take the part. "[T]his is a story that's groundbreaking and over due," Braun said. "Two female soap characters having a baby together is unprecedented. I wanted to be part of something that could have a strong an positive impact and help give same-sex couples their rightful place in the world of daytime drama."

Since coming out

Coming out

Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....

as a lesbian, Bianca's romantic entanglements have consisted of sexual confusion

Questioning (sexuality and gender)

The questioning of one's gender, sexual identity, sexual orientation, or all three is a process of exploration by people who may be unsure, still exploring, and concerned about applying a social label to themselves for various reasons...

, unrequited love

Unrequited love

Unrequited love is love that is not openly reciprocated or understood as such, even though reciprocation is usually deeply desired. The beloved may or may not be aware of the admirer's deep affections...

, bad timing, and betrayal, including a short-lived romance with Lena Kundera (Olga Sosnovska

Olga Sosnovska

Olga Sosnovska is a Polish-born UK/US-based actress.-Career:Sosnovska is perhaps best known in America for her role as Polish businesswoman Lena Kundera on the soap opera All My Children...

) and an on-but-mostly-offscreen romantic relationship with Maggie Stone

Maggie Stone

Mary Margaret "Maggie" Stone is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. She was portrayed by actress Elizabeth Hendrickson, who also portrayed Maggie's identical twin sister, Mary Frances "Frankie" Stone. The character comes to Pine Valley in early 2002 after the...

(Elizabeth Hendrickson

Elizabeth Hendrickson

Elizabeth Hendrickson is an American actress. Her big break came when she was cast as character Frankie Stone on the daytime drama All My Children...

). The pairing of Reese and Bianca finally allowed the character to be scripted into an onscreen committed relationship. The show had been criticized in the past for not giving Bianca a full-fledged onscreen romance. When asked by The Advocate

The Advocate

The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...

if she felt Bianca's pairing with Reese, especially by bringing on a recognized name (Braun), would make a difference, Riegel replied, "I think there has to be a difference." She responded to the criticism about Bianca's lack of onscreen intimacy with past romantic partners. "I don’t know if the criticism is entirely warranted," she said. "I know I was glad that the show’s priority was in giving me good stories, and I thought that they did go further than anyone else had ever gone, so I always thought that they should be commended." Riegel added, however, that she knows the lack of onscreen intimacy between Bianca and the character's past romantic love interests left fans and herself unsatisfied. "She never really got to have the kind of relationship that she deserved," stated Riegel. Riegel said of Bianca's return this time, "you’ll see a couple of things you haven’t seen in a while".

The writers characterized Reese as "very warm and real and very expressive with her feelings". Her relationship with Bianca is also "very" affectionate. In the past whenever a kiss was written in for Bianca, significant soap opera press usually focused in on the moment as an event and another kiss usually took a year or longer to happen following the immediate shift of making her romance more physically reserved than heterosexual relationships on the show. The atmosphere was different for Reese and Bianca's relationship. Braun said in an interview with Shewired.com that she would not have been able to portray the character as well back then because Reese is so affectionate. "This character is warm and open and for me to play a woman who's in love, it's important for me to be able to express that," she said. "Perhaps that's one of the reasons they wanted me to play this." Braun and Riegel have portrayed their characters as in love and committed to each other. Reese was also scripted early on as the love of Bianca's life, negating Bianca's previous true love Maggie.

When asked how she felt Bianca and Maggie (BAM) fans would respond to the Reese and Bianca pairing, Riegel stated, "I'm pretty sure BAM fans will never be entirely satisfied until they have their two favorite girls together forever. But Lizzie's [Elizabeth Hendrickson] been so successful on Y&R

The Young and the Restless

The Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...

[as Chloe Mitchell

Chloe Mitchell

Chloe Mitchell is a fictional character on the CBS daytime drama The Young and the Restless. She was first portrayed by a set of twins, Darla and Sandra Greer, from 1990 to 1991, and briefly by Danielle Ryah in 1994...

], and is so obviously happy there, I am hoping they are able to embrace this pairing for the time being."

Wardrobe

All My Children's wardrobe director, David R. Zyla, collaborated with Braun in creating the wardrobe for the Reese Williams character. The two had worked together before when Braun portrayed Carly Corinthos

Carly Corinthos

Caroline Leigh "Carly" Corinthos Jacks is a fictional character on the ABC soap opera General Hospital. Originated by Sarah Brown on April 8, 1996, the role of Carly has been portrayed by Laura Wright since 2005...

on General Hospital

General Hospital

General Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....

. While bringing their ideas together, they tried to make sure they did not make Reese into too much of a cliché. "I like that she goes from really strong pants with a buttoned shirt and tie, which is so on trend but is also just great style, to wearing dresses," Braun said. Reese's wardrobe goes back and forth between the two different types of style which allows Braun and Zyla to play with her fashion. "She's an architect, so to me, I would think she has a real eye for lines," said Braun. "She appreciates form and beauty, and the look we came up with I would describe as 'streamlined

Streamline Moderne

Streamline Moderne, sometimes referred to by either name alone or as Art Moderne, was a late type of the Art Deco design style which emerged during the 1930s...

with a flair'."

For Reese and Bianca's wedding, the dresses of the brides were chosen to complement each other by featuring "a long, lean, Grecian flowy feeling". Braun and Riegel shopped for the dresses together. As Bianca, Riegel was dressed in a Monique Lhuillier

Monique Lhuillier

Diane Monique Lhuillier is a fashion designer most prominently known for bridal wear. She owns a couture fashion house based in Los Angeles, California....

one shoulder sari-inspired dress with gold beading. Her shoes were gold Aldos. Reese's dress was designed to fit her style as an architect. Her dress was designed by Andrew Gn. It was "a fit to flair" which featured center beading applique and the shoes she wore were off white.

The characters' family, including their daughter Gabrielle, were "dressed in the wedding's color palette: deep red." Haley Evans, who portrays the flower girl and Bianca's daughter Miranda Montgomery

Miranda Montgomery

Miranda Mona Montgomery is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. She is currently portrayed by Mackenzie Aladjem...

, wore a red velvet Lucy Sykes dress. Bianca's mother, Erica's red dress was designed by Gustavo Cadile

Gustavo Cadile

Gustavo Cadile is an Argentine fashion designer.Born in Junin, Argentina, he began his career in Buenos Aires at the age of 17, where he studied and worked with Manuel Lamarca. At 23 he was given a ticket to fly to Miami on vacation, a trip that would change his life. He is quoted saying "I fell in...

Storyline

Most of Bianca and Reese's relationship takes place offscreen in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, where they live with Bianca's daughter Miranda Montgomery

Miranda Montgomery

Miranda Mona Montgomery is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. She is currently portrayed by Mackenzie Aladjem...

. They decide they want to expand their family with another baby. Zach Slater

Zach Slater

Zachary "Zach" Slater is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. He was portrayed by actor Thorsten Kaye from May 20, 2004 to November 19, 2010; Thorsten returned to the role on August 5, 2011 to September 23, 2011...

comes to Paris and meets Reese. He agrees to be their sperm donor, and none of them tell Bianca's sister and Zach's wife, Kendall Hart Slater, for fear that she will say no. When Bianca is close to delivering her and Reese's baby, she returns to Pine Valley

Pine Valley, Pennsylvania

Pine Valley, Pennsylvania is the fictional setting for the long-running American soap opera All My Children. It is a small suburb of Philadelphia...

to tell Kendall. Before she can, a tornado

Tornado

A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...

hits and Kendall is injured. After an ambulance takes Kendall to the hospital, Bianca goes into labor and Zach helps her deliver their baby, a girl. Bianca and Zach later find out that Kendall is coma

Coma

In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...

tose. Bianca worries for Kendall but also fears how she would react to the news of Zach fathering her second child.

Reese comes to Pine Valley not long after the tornado with Miranda. She proposes marriage to Bianca, and Bianca accepts. Reese and Bianca decide to have a commitment ceremony in Pine Valley and to get married later in Paris, since gay marriage

Same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....

is not yet legal in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

where Pine Valley is located. Those plans change as they plan to legally marry in Connecticut. They set their wedding date on Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day

Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...

. Bianca's cousin, Greenlee Smythe

Greenlee Smythe

Greenlee Smythe is a fictional character from the daytime drama All My Children. She was originally portrayed by actress Rebecca Budig from August 11, 1999 to November 30, 2005, and was portrayed by actress Sabine Singh from April 20, 2007 to January 15, 2008...

, also plans to marry her former husband, Ryan Lavery

Ryan Lavery

Ryan Aloysius Lavery is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children, as portrayed by Cameron Mathison from January 12, 1998 to 2002 and from 2003 to 2011. The character is set to come back in January 2012 when the series returns online...

, on that same day. The two couples arrange for a double wedding.

Bianca finds out that Reese was once engaged to a man and that she is Reese's first lesbian partner. She is hurt Reese did not tell her this. She also becomes increasingly insecure in their relationship as she sees her fiance getting closer with Zach. Bianca decides to test Reese's love for her. She tells Zach and Reese that she will be leaving town, but she secretly stays to spy on them. When Bianca witnesses Zach and Reese in an embrace as Zach gives Reese a kiss to the forehead, she believes Reese is cheating on her and flees. She ends up in a car accident soon afterward, but suffers no serious injuries. Zach and Reese rush to the hospital to see Bianca, and Bianca explains that she saw them embracing. She asks if they are in love. Zach and Reese say no. Despite this, Bianca is furious with Reese and does not want to talk with her. Reese frustratedly leaves the hospital and sends Bianca a note saying she plans to leave. After reading the note, Bianca hurries home to convince Reese to stay; she says that she loves her and knows that she is not romantically interested in Zach. Reese says that she would not have left, regardless.

Zach and Reese continue to bond, and Reese and Bianca continue planning their wedding. However, tragedy strikes when Kendall and Bianca's brother, Josh Madden

Josh Madden

Joshua "Josh" Madden is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. He first came to Pine Valley on June 17, 2005 and was originally portrayed by actor Scott Kinworthy until September 15, 2005...

, is killed by Zach after Josh has taken Reese and his family members hostage. Zach is determined to have Josh's heart be donated to Kendall, who needs a heart transplant to save her life. Erica

Erica Kane

, the siblings' mother, makes the painful decision to take Josh off life support

Life support

Life support, in medicine is a broad term that applies to any therapy used to sustain a patient's life while they are critically ill or injured. There are many therapies and techniques that may be used by clinicians to achieve the goal of sustaining life...

and donate his heart to Kendall.

Kendall awakes from her coma days after her transplant. She is told of having been recently comatose, about her heart transplant, that Josh is dead and she has his heart, and of Bianca's engagement to Reese. Kendall is naturally overwhelmed by all the news, but handles it well. When she is told of Zach having fathered Bianca's second child, she seems numb to this news also. Her family had thought she would take this particular news badly, but Kendall seems okay with it. Greenlee (Kendall's best friend) and Erica, however, are the only ones to believe that Kendall is not okay with Zach being the father.

Kendall moves back home not long after being awake from her coma. Reese can sense that Kendall is uneasy with her and Bianca living there. She talks with Kendall alone, but it is apparent that Kendall is distant. After their conversation, Reese leaves the room and Zach comes in. Kendall tells Zach that she wants Reese and Bianca out of their home. Zach later obliges Kendall's wishes and sets Reese and Bianca up at his casino to stay. Reese and Bianca get into a fight while there, but later reconcile.

The day before Reese and Bianca's wedding, Kendall refuses to attend the ceremony. Zach tries to convince her to change her mind, saying that she is acting childish, but Kendall explains that he and Bianca betrayed her. Bianca receives word that Kendall will not be coming to her wedding and immediately rushes to Kendall's home to insist she attend. Kendall says that she will only come to the wedding as long as Bianca promises to leave for Paris soon afterward and take Reese and baby Gabrielle with her. Bianca reluctantly agrees. Later that night, Reese and Bianca have a wedding rehearsal. Kendall picks up a wine glass and makes a snarky toast to Reese and Bianca but particularly to Reese. Reese becomes upset; she grabs a bottle of wine, a glass, and walks off. Bianca follows her, but Reese wants to be alone. Zach later finds Reese and consoles her. He pulls her into a hug and then kisses her passionately; Reese kisses back. After a few moments, with Ryan having witnessed their kiss, unknown to them, they agree that the kiss never happened and that they already have people they are deeply in love with. Ryan later confronts Zach about the kiss, but Zach says it was nothing and nonchalantly walks away from Ryan.

On their wedding day, Reese and Bianca are blissfully happy before the ceremony. Bianca feels that maybe she should stay in Pine Valley. She later tells her mother this and says that she will stay, which Kendall overhears and subsequently decides not to attend the wedding after all.

Without Kendall, Reese and Bianca exchange wedding vows on February 12, 2009. Ryan, however, has called off his wedding with Greenlee after seeing Zach and Reese kiss. He tells Greenlee that he knows Zach and Reese have been sleeping together and that he does not want to be married next to them, but promises her that he will give her the wedding of her dreams. Greenlee then tries to get in touch with Zach; she wants to know if he has really been having an affair with Reese. When Greenlee cannot get in touch with Zach, she drives off on her motorcycle in search of him. Also on the road are Zach and Kendall in a car arguing. Kendall ends up in the wrong lane and nearly hits Greenlee. Both try to swerve out of the other's way, leaving Greenlee to drive off the road. When Greenlee's body is not found, she is presumed dead. Reese, Bianca and others soon find out about Greenlee being missing. Ryan tells Bianca that Zach and Reese have been engaging in a sexual relationship with each other. Bianca goes to Reese to tell her that their relationship and marriage is over. She later sends Reese annulment

Annulment

Annulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost as if it had never taken place...

papers, and returns to Paris with Miranda and Gabrielle.

On April 24, 2009, Bianca comes back to Pine Valley after having discussed with Zach the reasons she left. After later talking over her and Reese's relationship problems with Zach and Kendall, the couple reconcile and hope that they can work their relationship out. They return to Paris together with their children, and later remarry. In 2010, Bianca returns to Pine Valley for a family emergency, and soon wants to stay. After Reese decides that she is not coming back to Pine Valley, Bianca decides to end their marriage for good and now is single.

First same-sex marriage and critical praise

Reese and Bianca are the first same-sex couple

Same-sex relationship

to become engaged for marriage on an American soap opera. On October 31, 2008, AfterEllen.com

AfterEllen.com

AfterEllen.com, founded in April 2002, is a website that focuses on the portrayal of lesbian and bisexual women in the media. AfterElton.com, its brother site for gay and bisexual men, was launched in January 2005. The websites were founded by Sarah Warn, who initially served as the editor in...

founder Sarah Warn

Sarah Warn

Sarah Warn is an American writer and the former editor of entertainment website AfterEllen.com.-Biography:Warn graduated from in Tacoma, WA in 1992. She then attended Wellesley College in 1996 with a degree in women's studies, and received a master's degree in theological studies from Harvard...

stated, "Bianca (Eden Riegel) and Reese's (Tamara Braun) much-anticipated engagement finally took place on ABC's daytime drama All My Children today (the first lesbian marriage proposal on daytime TV), and for once, the AMC writers didn't disappoint." In addition, the couple has been allowed the type of physical intimacy not previously allowed between same-sex couples within the series. Their kiss following the marriage proposal was seen as a change in the show's attitude about portraying homosexual relationships. "...They had an actual kiss — a real one, not a peck on the cheek," stated Warn. She added that the kiss was significant due to romantic kisses, explicit or otherwise, between two women on All My Children or on any daytime drama being rare.

Reese and Bianca's wedding on February 13, 2009 marked a first-time event for a daytime drama; the couple exchange vows in the first legal same-sex marriage in American daytime history. (Within the show, the wedding took place on February 12, 2009, Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day

.) Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) president Neil G. Giuliano released a statement in honor of the milestone:

In addition, All My Children was nominated for a GLAAD Award in January 2009. The wedding event was featured on CNN

CNN

Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...

on February 16, 2009 following the continuation of the February 13, 2009 episode. The CNN report featured positive and negative thoughts about the wedding. The View discussed the wedding the following day, and relayed that angry letters had been sent to them about the wedding. Regardless of this, they applauded ABC for featuring the ceremony.

Gabrielle Montgomery

In October 2008, with Bianca's return to the series during a series of tornado

Tornado

es striking fictional town Pine Valley, Bianca was reported to be pregnant with her second child. Fans immediately began speculating on who the sperm donor was, which caught the attention of soap opera press, LGBT

LGBT

LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

press, and other media outlets. TV Guide

TV Guide

reported that "nobody knows [Bianca's] in town until her brother-in-law finds her under the rubble". SOAPnet.com

SOAPnet

SOAPnet is an American cable television channel that broadcasts current and past soap operas and primetime dramas, along with some original programming. The channel launched on January 20, 2000, and is owned by Disney-ABC Television Group, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...

stated, "The physical affects [sic] of the tornado are miniscule [sic] compared to the ripples Bianca’s presence creates." Another soap opera website sensationalized the story by stating, "When Bianca returns to town this time, she will have a brand new ‘someone special’ in her life and a big surprise — Bianca is pregnant! And wait until everyone finds out who the 'father' is."

Fans, aware that Miranda Montgomery

Miranda Montgomery

Miranda Mona Montgomery is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. She is currently portrayed by Mackenzie Aladjem...

, Bianca's first child, was the result of rapist Michael Cambias

Michael Cambias

Michael Cambias, formerly a brief resident of the fictional town of Pine Valley, appeared on the American daytime drama All My Children. He was portrayed by actor William deVry, from January 23, 2003 to August 2003, and later in a ghostly vision in 2004 and 2006.The character is one that lives in...

, speculated Zach Slater

Zach Slater

as the child's biological father. Zach was Michael's older brother. Fans theorized that Bianca wanted a baby closely related to Miranda and asked Zach to father the child. If Bianca were already pregnant when she got to Pine Valley, then Zach could have "donated" last time Bianca was in town, even though the timing within the series did not correlate with this. Another theory concluded Bianca’s former love Zarf/Zoe

Zoe (All My Children)

Zoe is a fictional character from the ABC daytime drama All My Children, and is credited as the first transgender character to appear on a soap opera at the beginning of a male to female gender transition. She was portrayed by actor Jeffrey Carlson in August 2006 and then again from November 29,...

, a pre-op MTF transsexual, as the father; the argument arose over a website putting "father" in quotations. The "father" is really a "mother" trapped in a "father’s" body, the theory entailed.

Zach was eventually confirmed as the father of the child by magazine Soap Opera Digest

Soap Opera Digest

Soap Opera Digest is a weekly magazine covering American daytime soap operas. It features onscreen and offscreen news about the series, interviews with and articles about performers, storyline summaries and analysis, and related promotional information...

. Bianca's reasons for asking Zach to be the donor and doing so without informing her sister and Zach's wife, Kendall Hart Slater, infuriated viewers. They reasoned that neither Bianca nor Zach would do this to Kendall. After Ellen.com stated, "This storyline is all kinds of wrong — and not just because it makes [the website] feel like [they] need a shower. Bianca and Kendall have a strong, very close relationship." The website could not fathom that Bianca would make "a move like this" without discussing it with Kendall first. Bianca's reason, however, was that she did not want to give Kendall a chance to say no.

Bianca wanting her children closely related was seen by viewers as unneeded, since the children would still be closely related through Bianca. An AfterEllen.com editor relayed, "...Bianca wanting a baby closely related to Miranda, whose father was a rapist and whose grandfather was a mass murderer. I’m no geneticist, but propagating that DNA seems risky at best." The choice for Zach as the father makes Miranda and the new child not only half siblings but cousins as well, which some found "icky".

Reese being introduced as Bianca's love interest was the first time an American soap opera would showcase same-sex partners having decided to create a child together. Riegel set up the Reese and Bianca storyline and what the couple's introduction entailed to newspaper New York Daily News. "Zach is looking for Kendall," she said. "He is shocked to find Bianca. Nobody knew she was coming to Pine Valley. Zach discovers Kendall's lifeless body and resuscitates her. Paramedics come, but they only have room in the vehicle for one person. Zach convinces them to take the kids, as well. He and Bianca wait." This gave the series a chance to explain Bianca's return to the audience, as they saw Bianca, clearly pregnant, sit beside Zach. "Zach agreed to be Bianca's [sperm] donor, but she failed to tell him that the pregnancy took," explained Riegel. "The reason she was not forthcoming is that Kendall was not told. Bianca came halfway across the world from France in the Cambias private jet - the only jet that can fly into a tornado - and didn't even get to tell Kendall the truth."

The writers detailed Bianca and Zach talking only briefly before Bianca was seen going into labor. Zach delivers the baby, a girl. "If there's a giant storm, Bianca will give birth," joked Riegel, referring to how Bianca's first pregnancy (with Miranda) went. Riegel clarified that the baby "is actually" Reese and Bianca's, while Zach is the sperm donor. "After Zach delivers Bianca's baby," she said, "Reese tries to get to Pine Valley, but the roads are closed. She and Miranda fly to New York to surprise Bianca." Bianca's second child is soon named Gabrielle Montgomery, with Reese's blessing. Reese and Bianca are the first same-sex partners on an American soap opera to raise a family onscreen. Bianca had previously raised Miranda with character Maggie Stone

Maggie Stone

, but the interaction takes place offscreen.

Romance, sexual confusion, and the wedding

Viewers of the series noted what they considered "the many failings" of the Reese and Bianca love story. LGBT viewers were especially vocal about their discontent regarding the storyline. There were complaints that Reese was not "sufficiently integrated" into the Pine Valley canvas for the audience to invest in her relationship with Bianca, as well as complaints about the budding relationship between Reese and Bianca and their sperm donor Zach. The couple's wedding was heavily criticized. While there were viewers who felt that the wedding ceremony was a "joyous and celebratory" landmark, others were left feeling that the show missed an opportunity to make the union memorable when it cut to other story points during the wedding as Reese and Bianca exchanged vows.

Following Reese and Bianca's arrival to the series as a couple in October 2008, the writers started building a Zach and Reese friendship. To viewers, the friendship soon became somewhat sexual in nature in what they described as Reese "giving off a sexual vibe" whenever around Zach. This perception was intensified once Reese was revealed by the series to have been engaged to a man just a couple of months before becoming romantically involved with Bianca. Viewers who speculated Reese as bisexual

Bisexuality

Bisexuality is sexual behavior or an orientation involving physical or romantic attraction to both males and females, especially with regard to men and women. It is one of the three main classifications of sexual orientation, along with a heterosexual and a homosexual orientation, all a part of the...

suggested that she may be after Zach. The writers played this angle with ambiguity; they added in hug and kiss "teasers" such as Zach giving Reese a lingering peck on the cheek/neck.

Viewers became frustrated and angered by what seemed to be the writers situating a man into a lesbian love story, as well as Reese seeming to share more screentime and secrets with Zach than Bianca, and a lack of Reese and Bianca truly knowing each other. The audience had experienced sexual confusion storylines before with other former love interests of Bianca's, most notably Maggie, and were hoping that this love story would be without such confusion. At one point, Reese confesses to Zach her ambiguous feelings for him and asks him if he feels the same way for her just as "the phone [rings]" and "[saves] the day".

When asked by The Advocate

The Advocate

in a February 12, 2009 interview about viewer concern among the LGBT community that Reese would leave Bianca for Zach and likely has romantic feelings for him, All My Children executive producer Julie Hanan Carruthers

Julie Hanan Carruthers

Julie Hanan Carruthers is an American soap opera producer.-Positions held:All My Children*Executive Producer General Hospital...

responded, "First of all, it’s not true. I think what’s confused in Reese’s head is she has misinterpreted a friendship. Zach is one of the [few] people who have not kicked her to the curb, so to speak, in Pine Valley." Carruthers said that that Reese is a confused and insecure person. "She has never wavered in her commitment to Bianca," she said. "It’s solid, Reese has just had a lot of emotional stuff hit. Her family is rejecting and judging her... in both her family and Bianca’s." In specific response to viewers being upset at the appearance that Reese was considering leaving Bianca for Zach, Carruthers stated, "She is not considering it. That’s the audience rewriting what’s there. It’s not being written that way at all. Reese has never wavered in what she wants." Carruthers acknowledged that Reese leaving Bianca for a man would upset viewers, but that "it's never been about that". "I don’t know how to stress this more," she said. "Never has she played a moment of, 'I want Zach more than I want Bianca,' or 'I would leave Bianca for Zach.' He has literally just been a friend. Look, we tantalize in this genre. We do it whether we do it with heterosexual or homosexual couples. It’s what the genre is."

Despite Carruthers comments about the Zach and Reese relationship, Reese passionately engages in a kiss with Zach the same day of The Advocate February 12, 2009 interview, the night before Reese and Bianca's wedding. Carruthers explained, "The night before the wedding when Kendall, Zach’s wife, nails her with a backhanded toast, Reese gets a little drunk, and the person who consoles her is Zach." Carruthers described it as a moment where she kisses him and then realizes, "Oh, my god, what the heck am I doing? The person I love is Bianca, and the person you love is Kendall. What just happened?" That moment, said Carruthers, is what unravels Reese's world and "where someone tells somebody and it grows bigger than it ever was".

In addition to viewers being upset by Reese's actions, AfterEllen.com was frustrated by Reese's ambiguous involvement with Zach and stated, "ABC touting the wedding as a 'historic daytime event' just ticks [them] off". Carruthers said, "[Reese] may not be the poster child to represent the lesbian women in the world. But at the same time, she is very responsible, as are the writers portraying a woman dealing with a crisis and trying to ground herself in her identity." She relayed that though Reese and Bianca would break up due to the Zach and Reese kiss, Bianca would return in the spring to give resolution to the story. "The journey Reese has to take to earn Bianca’s trust again is significant," said Carruthers.

On February 16, 2009, in response to the February 12, 2009 interview by The Advocate, television program Soap's Up from Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

's A-Channel criticized Carruthers for insulting the audience's intelligence by saying that the audience had been rewriting the storyline. The program stated that while "it is good" for All My Children to feature a same-sex wedding, they have not been impressed by the love story and that a show's producer should have more control over the way a character behaves.

On February 27, 2009, Warn, who had previously praised the series in her AfterEllen October 31, 2008 column for the portrayal of the couple's onscreen physical affection, criticized the structure and overall writing of the romance. "...many queer and straight viewers began heading for the door when it became clear that the kisses and the wedding plans were just new ways to dress up the same old depressing and boring lesbian storylines about sperm donors, custody battles, and sexually confused lesbians," she said. "From an entertainment perspective, some of the conflict between Reese and Bianca at the end was interesting, but overall, their storyline became boring and predictable pretty quickly."

Warn said that the February 12, 2009 statements by Carruthers regarding Reese insulted the audience's intelligence. The statements were not supported by what the audience saw, she said. "There is validity to the argument Carruthers is making — that there simply aren't enough romantic-pairing options for long-running lesbian characters unless you're willing to change the general makeup of the established cast of characters," said Warn. "This logic is frequently used by TV writers and showrunners to justify minimal lesbian visibility, bad lesbian storylines, and the growing trend towards adding bisexual characters to their shows instead of lesbians." Warn said that while this may be an understandable decision for an individual show, when it is happening on various shows, the viewer is "left with a television landscape populated by lesbians who sleep with men, or no lesbians at all, only bisexual characters (who also primarily sleep with men)" and that All My Children "fed right into" this with the Reese and Bianca storyline.
On March 23, 2009, The Advocate interviewed Braun about her portrayal of Reese and the Reese and Bianca storyline. "From my point of view, Reese is not in love with Zach and she never has been," said Braun. "As far as the kiss, any doubt she may have had about her relationship with Bianca dissolved immediately after it happened. It was a moment of needing a connection. It was not about being in love with Zach. She was drunk, upset, and it was unfortunate. It was a terrible mistake. As far as I am concerned, Reese has always been in love with Bianca."

Braun said Reese's feelings toward Zach can be summed up as a "dear, dear friendship and connection on an intimate but not sexual level". She said that Reese has never had a clear point of view. "One minute I think I am playing a storyline that is going one way, and then there is a detour. So I have to make it clear in my head. Yes, it’s not fun playing the outsider who has nobody, and no strong leg to stand on," said Braun. "Reese has been under a microscope since she came to town and doesn't have any family to support her. There is no one around who knows the essence of who she really is."

Braun clarified that, in some ways, this was "not the story" [she] came on to play but that it was in other ways. "We were getting married, which is why I wanted to do the role," she said. "I thought that we were going to show what it’s like to be a same-sex couple in a loving, committed relationship dealing with what life throws at them and the outside world and how they are treated. There are a lot of story points and ideas I thought we were going to hit upon, but they decided to take it another route."

In response to the LGBT community being left "very disgruntled" with the Reese and Bianca storyline, Braun said, "I am sorry they were not happy, because one of my main reasons for taking this role was to be able to give a positive voice to same-sex couples." Braun agreed that "the issues" went "off-point" and that she understood why it was difficult for viewers to root for the Reese and Bianca couple. She thanked the viewers who supported the pairing despite the way the romance was told. "I was shocked by [the positive feedback] because I know it was not the story they wanted," she said, "but they were so happy to be represented on TV and on a soap."

"Blame" and fan retaliation

On April 13, 2009, Charles Pratt, Jr.

Charles Pratt, Jr.

Charles Pratt, Jr. is an American television writer, producer and director.-Daytime Soap Positions held:All My Children *Head Writer: August, 2008 - November, 2009...

, head writer of the series, was interviewed by TV Guide about the Reese and Bianca relationship. After saying he felt he had longer to tell the love story and that it could have been better told if not for Riegel temporarily departing as Bianca, Pratt was viewed by fans and critics as blaming Riegel for the failure of the storyline. "I was led to believe we had her for longer than we really did — suddenly I got word that Eden is leaving now," stated Pratt. "We got to play everything we wanted to with Bianca and Reese but not in the time we’d hoped for — in my mind, it was a two-year story. I guess I could have rushed to the wedding earlier so that they’d have had more time together as a married couple and then had them break up, but I think the fans would have been even more unsatisfied with that."

Despite earlier comments by Carruthers that "Reese never wavered in her commitment to Bianca" and was not bisexual, Pratt admitted that they were considering on "turning" Reese bisexual. "...if Tamara decided to stay, keeping her on the show as an angry lesbian — with no other lesbian characters on the canvas — would be kind of insane," said Pratt. "So we thought about making Reese bisexual — kind of an Anne Heche

Anne Heche

Anne Celeste Heche is an American actress, director, and screenwriter. She started her career on the daytime soap opera Another World, for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1991. Heche gradually landed supporting roles in feature films, and in 1997 appeared in I Know What You Did Last Summer,...

who bounces back and forth — and maybe make her an opportunistic black widow, a real bad girl. And Tamara would have been really great at that. But, ultimately, we decided to stick with the message."

Pratt's comments to TV Guide about Riegel and the storyline angered viewers and critics, who felt Pratt was being dishonest about not knowing how long Riegel was signed on for and did not admit to what they consider the true flaws of the love story. They reasoned that it was known from the beginning, to even fans of the series, that Riegel had only signed on for a four-month contract to portray the Reese and Bianca storyline and that her four-month contract should not mean that the story could not have been better written. In early 2009, Riegel briefly exited the show to focus her attention on pilot season. She had said that if the story was well-written, she would extend her contract. She ultimately declined extending, but agreed to return to "tie up" the Reese and Bianca storyline for a spring 2009 "happy" ending.

Fans "retaliated" against Pratt's comments about Riegel and the storyline. Two fans created an animated online series called Pratt Falls to "skewer" the show's executives about the love story. In Season 1, Episode 1 of the parody

Parody

A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...

, viewed on YouTube

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

, a fictional Carruthers has to tell Pratt that there are "fans" who become emotionally invested in the show. The fictional Pratt asks, "Who are Bianca and Reese?" and "We have lesbians on our show?" The series, described as tongue-in-cheek

Tongue-in-cheek

Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...

, concludes its first episode with the animated Pratt announcing that he has devised a plan to blame the failed storyline on Riegel as he urges Carruthers to call TV Guide to arrange an interview.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Writing and portrayals

Wardrobe

Storyline

First same-sex marriage and critical praise

Gabrielle Montgomery

Romance, sexual confusion, and the wedding

"Blame" and fan retaliation

See also

External links