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All My Children’s Bianca Montgomery Named In Top 20 Most Important LBGTQ TV Characters Of All-Time!

Courtesy/ABC

June is pride month so the LGBTQ community is showing their solidarity in events and festivals around the country in major cities, and around the world.

In honor of reflecting back on how far we have come on television with its representation of gay characters (and there is still much further we need to go), the Decider polled over 40 LGBTQ television professionals and critics and asked them to rank their top LGBTQ television characters of all time.  After the votes were tallied, 50 characters were named.

Within the major list contained some soapy characters including: #12 Billy Crystal’s Jodie Dallas on the ABC sudsy sitcom, Soap, #17 Jussie Smollett’s Jamal Lyon on the primetime soap, Empire, and at #44 Al Corley and Jack Coleman’s Stephen Carrington of the original ABC version of the sudsy, Dynasty.

However, most notable to daytime drama audiences was the inclusion in the top 20. and at #19 to be exact, of Eden Riegel’s exquisite performance of the character of Bianca Montgomery on ABC’s All My Children.  Bianca’s coming out scenes to her mother, Erica Kane (Susan Lucci), her struggles to be accepted by her mother, her struggles in the romance department with the her women in her life, her same-sex wedding to Reese (Tamara Braun), while always maintaining to be the moral center of Pine Valley. even though she was an LGBTQ character. were all important moments in television history.

Riegel, talked about the important of the coming out scenes, and how key Bianca’s story was to legendary AMC creator, Agnes Nixon  in the recently posted Agnes Nixon Daytime Emmy Tribute Extended Version released and produced last week by On-Air On-Soaps Michael Fairman.  You can watch what Eden shared here.

Courtesy/IMDB

Decider’s Twitter account upon naming Bianca to the Top 20 tweeted: “Bianca Montgomery’s importance to gay TV characters went beyond the milestones”.  Eden Riegel tweeted back: “Couldn’t be prouder to be #19! #PrideMonth2017

So, what do you think of Bianca Montgomery being named to the Top 20 Most Important LGBTQ TV Characters Of All-Time?  Excited to learn she was high up on the list?

Check out the entire top 50 here.  Then, let us know if you think any other gay characters should have been on the list from the world of daytime drama? Comment below!

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Excellent! The character deserved to be on the list. I wish Will Horton had been too, but with the way he was killed off, not surprised. Great for Bianca/AMC tho. Speaks to the legacy, talent and insight of the great Agnes Nixon!

There will never be enough thanks to give Agnes Nixon for making the beloved daughter of the biggest star in daytime a lesbian. Agnes also gets credit for introducing gay characters much earlier on AMC. Eden deserves the credit as well for an outstanding performance.

One could argue that Will Horton could be on this list (much lower than Bianca). Unfortunately, the recast and subsequent (soon to be undone) murder of the character negated this.

The 3 other current shows would have characters on the least important list. At least GH has 4 recurring gay characters. CBS Daytime really should be ashamed.

I still remember that day when Bianca came out to Erica. I also remember how pissed I got when she didn’t win the Emmy that year. That was total robbery to me.

Good for Eden. Powerful story and a very well deserved honor but I’m shocked that Ryan Phllipee Billy Douglas/AIDS Quilt story isn’t right up there with her. What a glaring omission!

Thank you for remembering OLTL and the quilt story told a decade earlier than AMC groudbreKing story!

Maybe the character can be added to the fabric that makes up G.H.

Dear all my children
When is all my chilgren return to soap opera again
I love soap opera all my children.

Those scenes and that story line helped me and my mother connect as I came out. I will always be in debt to the AMC writers who took such an important storyline front and center in Erica Kane’s doorstep! It was handled with such class and grace!

All My Children

Billy Miller Memorial Scholarship Endowment Created at His Alma Mater to Help Others ‘Realize Their Dreams’

Two months since three-time Daytime Emmy-winning actor, Billy Miller passed away, the beloved All My Children (ex-Richie), General Hospital (ex-Jason/Drew) and The Young and the Restless (ex-Billy) star, will now have a permanent scholarship endowment in his honor at the University of Texas at Austin which was Miller’s alma mater.

Through the scholarship, it will be able to help radio/television and film undergraduate students with financial need. Billy’s family and friends have established this permanent scholarship in his memory, naming it the William Jon Miller II “Billy Miller” Memorial Scholarship. They hope the endowment will be a legacy to his life and love of acting.

Before becoming soap-famous, Billy graduated from the the university’s department of Radio-Television-Film (RTF) at the Moody College of Communication. On its official website, they shared the news of this special memorial scholarship and how Miller died at the age of 43 after surrendering his life to bipolar depression, which he struggled with his whole life.

Photo: JPI

Megan Hubbell, Billy’s sister, expressed, “We want something positive to be held in his name in perpetuity through the University he loved. He would be honored to know that even in death, he can help someone else realize their dreams.”

She added how she hoped her immensely talented brother will be remembered: “I hope BJ (as Billy was known by to his friends and family) is remembered for the kind-hearted, silly, funny, goofy, generous, beautiful soul that he was His megawatt smile, deep belly laugh and gorgeous mug were gifts on screen, but his true self was a bright light that will be carried with us forever.”

Photo: JPI

According to Miller’s family, Billy had his picks of schools and UT was his first choice. When he first came to the university, Billy started in the zoology program before switching to radio-television-film, where he felt he belonged. Miller was one of just 20 students at the time accepted into the department’s prestigious production-sequence program.

“BJ was extremely proud to be a Texas Longhorn and always remembered his time there fondly,” Hubbell said. “The time he spent at UT allowed him the space to explore who he wanted to be and what he wanted to accomplish.”

Photo: JPI

In honoring her brother’s work and strength to persevere in the often heartbreaking world of entertainment, Megan related: “I always admired the guts it took to go after a dream in Hollywood that so many people tried to discourage. He heard, ‘You’ll never make it’ more times than I care to count, but he used those comments as fuel and said, ‘Watch me.’”

Miller’s roles went far beyond those on daytime soap operas, as throughout his career he played major parts in primetime’s Suits, Ray Donovan and Castle to name but a few.

Photo: JPI

In his death, Billy’s family is encouraging people to take stock of their own mental health. “BJ would want anyone struggling with intrusive thoughts to seek professional help,” Hubbell said. “Do not suffer in silence or try to muscle through on your own. Mental health is vitally important and shouldn’t be spoken about in silos behind closed doors but rather in open forums with open arms. Shame has no place in the discussion to seek help.”

To donate to the William John Miller II “Billy Miller” Memorial Scholarship click here.

Share your thoughts on Billy’s family and friends, along with his alma mater, setting up this memorial scholarship endowment to help other talented young people in financial need get a shot at realizing their dreams via the comment section below.

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All My Children

‘Live with Kelly and Mark’ Scores Touchdown in Ratings with Taylor Swift-Inspired ‘Halloween: The Eras Show’ Delivering Largest Audience In Over A Year

More great numbers for Live with Kelly and Mark. The talk shows Live’s Halloween: The Eras Show scored an impressive 2.9M total viewers on October 31, making it the most-watched Halloween episode in four years, according to the Nielsen ratings.

The episode also delivered some of the highest ratings in seven months for the morning show, particularly among women 18-49 and 25-54. Live’s Halloween: The Eras Show also pulled in a 1.92 household rating, as well as a 0.47 among women in the key 18 to 49 demo and a 0.69 among women 25 to 54. Those are up over the last two years of Halloween episodes and since Consuelos first started in the co-host chair back in April.

According to Deadline, Live’s Halloween: The Eras Show, also pulled in the largest audience numbers for a single episode in more than a year and half.

Photo: Disney/ABC

As is tradition with “Live’s Halloween” episodes, they are always filled with costume and pop culture moments and special guest surprises. Ripa and Consuelos were right in step with the biggest social media love story at the moment; that of Swift and her burgeoning romance with Kansas City Chiefs Tight End, Travis Kelce.

During Halloween week which started on Monday, October 30, Live was up up 11% versus the week prior in total viewers, and averaged 2.6 million viewers throughout the week.  Year-over-year, the talk show was up that week by 15% in terms of total viewers.  It looks like the former All My Children’s alum on-screen chemistry is just as palpable as it off-screen; as the two marrieds are making quite a successful run together on morning television.

Photo: Disney/ABC

So, what do you think of the impressive numbers for the Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos on ‘Live’? Did you enjoy their recent Halloween episode? Share your comments below.

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All My Children

‘All My Children’ Star Peter White Dead at 86

Peter White, best known to soap fans as All My Children’s Linc Tyler, passed away this week at the age of 86. The cause of death was revealed to be melanoma.

The late actor’s former AMC co-star Kathleen Noone (ex-Ellen Shepherd Dalton) confirmed the news to multiple outlets sharing that White died in his home in Los Angeles of melanoma on Wednesday, November 1st. His death was first reported by Soap Hub.

White’s first soap opera role was actually on The Secret Storm in 1965-66. Then in 1971, he joined CBS’ Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, where he took on the role of Dr. Sanford Hiller. However, he became soap-famous for his role as Linc on All My Children which he began in 1976 and it would be a role he would play on and off till 2005.

Photo: ABC

In story, Linc was in love with Kitty Cole and later her sister Kelly (both played by Francesca James), despite his mother Phoebe’s constant interference and disapproval.

Peter later appeared in numerous primetime shows including: The Colbys, Knots Landing, Dallas, Sisters, Hill Street BluesThe JeffersonsThe Paper ChaseThe West WingStar Trek: Deep Space Nine, Sisters, and more.  His film roles included: Dave, Flubber, Armageddon, Thirteen Days and First Daughter.  

Photo: BroadwayWorld

However, White jumpstarted his entire acting career in 1968 with the starring role as Alan McCarthy in Matt Crowley’s original Off-Broadway production of The Boys in the Band.  Later, the drama was made into a landmark 1970 film, White and his original co-stars were all featured in it.

Share your condolences and remembrances of All My Children’s Peter White via the comment section below. But first, check out this clip when Linc was trying to help Kelly after the murder of Eddie Dorrance.

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