Bianca Montgomery and Maggie Stone

Maggie (seated) and Bianca (standing).

Bianca Montgomery and Maggie Stone are the members of the popular Bianca and Maggie or BAM couple appearing on the American soap opera All My Children. Bianca Montgomery is portrayed by Eden Riegel and Maggie Stone is portrayed by Elizabeth Hendrickson.

The two characters were in a much campaigned for on-again/off-again romantic flirtation (and later romance) that spanned four years. Despite the couple taking three and a half years to make their romance official, the couple gained a large and loyal fanbase (to this day) and managed to constantly intrigue not only the noted All My Children audience, but soap opera critics, gay/lesbian magazines such as The Advocate, and lesbian websites such as AfterEllen.com, ultimately becoming the most demanded homosexual pairing in American daytime soap opera history. The pairing of Bianca Montgomery and Maggie Stone had many ups and downs, but were always seemingly written with the underlying concept of being each others' star-crossed true loves.

Background

Writing

When Brian Frons began his career at CBS and moved to NBC, where he became head of NBC Daytime at age 26, he carried one specific ideal concerning soap operas with him: It's important for soaps to get real. Frons felt that "soap clichés" may have worked the first ten times, but that now audiences know them as well as writers do. Frons further relayed that real life is unpredictable. Having once worked with SBS Broadcasting for six years in England, when he returned to the U.S., he brought a different perspective as to his feelings on soap opera characters, stating, "I understood that people were watching authentic people in reality shows and believed people wanted soap characters to become more real."

As head of ABC Daytime, in 2002, with Jean Dadario Burke as executive producer, Frons had ABC begin adding more depth to All My Children's Bianca Montgomery, the lesbian daughter of Susan Lucci's Erica Kane. Feeling that Bianca was defined only by her sexuality, they began writing her character to become every woman, to make her more real and to understand what makes her good or bad. When it came to Bianca's best friend, Maggie Stone, while initially being uncertain whether to romantically pair Maggie with Bianca, the writers of All My Children later outlined the character to have trouble in admitting to being gay. Such plot points included Maggie dating male characters to avoid her romantic feelings for Bianca. And Bianca was given a lesbian love interest as to complicate matters further. At the time, in an interview to New York Post, Frons stated that he considered the Bianca-Lena Kundera pairing "much bolder" television than romantically pairing Bianca with "longtime" galpal Maggie. Unsure about whether pairing Maggie with a man romantically would be successful, he was quoted as saying, "Maybe it will turn out we made a mistake. Maybe it will be decided that Maggie has no chemistry with Henry because she is a lesbian and wasn't ready to deal with it."

Maggie's coming-out process was designed as going from denial, to confusion, to acceptance of her sexuality --realistically portraying what a lot of lesbian and bisexual women experience. Maggie's journey into her sexuality was what All My Children viewers never truly saw with Bianca, since Bianca had already accepted her sexuality when she returned to Pine Valley after a long absence.

Early scenes between Bianca and Maggie revolved around Bianca romantically desiring Maggie, then, as time went on, Lena and Maggie glaring at each other while Bianca would rattle on cluelessly about her baby or her mother, seemingly unaware of Maggie's newly developed romantic feelings for her. By the time Megan McTavish had stepped in as All My Children head writer with Julie Hanan Carruthers as executive producer, McTavish explained that Maggie's involvement with character, Jonathan Lavery, was as much a result of her feeling rejected by Bianca as anything else. After the Lena/Bianca/Maggie ordeal, a love triangle that viewers never did warm up to, a story arc was written with a real sense of direction toward a Jonathan/Maggie/Bianca love triangle, though very slow at times and not really a praised love triangle either.

However, with fan response resonating astoundingly loud for a Bianca and Maggie romance, Frons felt that Bianca and Maggie had become the supercouple of daytime during their flirtatious reign on All My Children. In having added more drama to Bianca and Maggie's relationship by involving Maggie with an abusive boyfriend and having Bianca save her from that relationship, along with all the other aspects of Bianca and Maggie's complicated dynamic, Frons noted, "It was very real and had not been done in daytime [television] before."

Actresses approach to the couple

In 2002, a little while after the death of lesbian character Frankie Stone and All My Children introduced the character's twin sister, Maggie, the show soon embarked on a will-they-won't-they storyline between the characters of Maggie and other resident Pine Valley lesbian, Bianca (Frankie's girlfiend, before Frankie was murdered), although at first hesitant on having Frankie Stone's twin sister be a lesbian as well.

The actresses who portray Bianca and Maggie, Eden Riegel and Elizabeth Hendrickson, were noted by viewers as having immediate on-screen chemistry together, so much so that the magazine Soap Opera Digest wanted to know the specifics of how they exuded such chemistry. The two women, though both heterosexual in real life, stated that they just clicked, that they make each other laugh and really can't help but like each other.

When later queried on the matter of many fans of the show All My Children wanting to see a romance between Bianca and Maggie, the two were more than upfront about their desire for gay and or lesbian representation in the form of love stories on television, with Riegel stating first:

I think Liz will agree that it would be an amazing storyline. It would be an important storyline. Every single day, I meet a fan who has been spoken to personally by what they see on the screen. I realize what an incredible opportunity we have to show a real love between two women that really speaks to people and can promote tolerance and respect.

Hendrickson followed up Riegel's response with, "That's one of the reasons that I took the role of Frankie. They didn't necessarily say that Frankie was going to be a lesbian, but they alluded to the fact that she could be. I felt that I could make an impact, and what better way to choose a role? I am more than willing to go that way."

Music

Music within the Bianca and Maggie relationship consists of a mixture of soft rock, indie, pop and the show's own original melodies. Romantic and or otherwise powerful undertones are always present within these scenes. In a less hectic time for the characters, an original song titled "All I Ever Wanted" was played during a scene where Bianca and Maggie discussed their feelings for each other, but decided to remain best friends.

In a more difficult instance, on July 8 2003 during a pivotal scene in which Bianca is raped, Tori Amos' version of "I'm Not In Love" was featured prominently on the show. The following day, the show broadcast a RAINN (Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network) PSA after the program. In response to the rape storyline of Bianca, fans of the Bianca and Maggie relationship organized a charity auction on eBay that ran throughout the month of July 2003 with all proceeds having gone to RAINN.

Original and featured music on the show All My Children was followed through by composers A.J. Gundell, Gary Kuo, Kim Oler and Jerry Pilato, and in 2004, they were nominated for a Daytime Emmy in the 31st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Achievement In Music Direction And Composition For A Drama Series.

Storyline

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Bianca and Maggie first meet.

The storyline begins with Mary Margaret "Maggie" Stone as she comes to Pine Valley to find out more information about the death of her twin sister Frankie. When she does, she bumps into Bianca Montgomery, who immediately faints after uttering the name of her previous lover, Frankie, at first sight of Maggie. People, even then-enemy and sister Kendall Hart, crowd around Bianca to make sure that Bianca is okay. Maggie, kneeling in front of Bianca, is taken off guard when Bianca wakes up and lunges toward her with an instant hug, stating, "Frankie! You've come back to me." Maggie carefully chooses her words as she relays to Bianca that she is not Frankie, but is rather Frankie's twin sister. Bianca is so thrilled to see the face of her beloved Frankie that Maggie's words don't seem to register all that much with Bianca, as Bianca reaches out and softly touches Maggie's face. Maggie is immediately cautious and abrubtly leaves, but not before agreeing to meet with Bianca at Myrtle Fargate's place to further discuss Frankie.

Maggie later reconnects with her family, Vanessa Cortlandt and Leo du Pres, whom she barely knows. During this time, it is Bianca who Maggie bonds with. However, on the night of Frankie and Maggie's birthday, when Bianca brings over cupcakes and champagne in the hopes of cheering up who she feels is a saddened Maggie missing her sister, Bianca and Maggie drink more champagne than planned, and when Bianca becomes drunk, she leans over to caress Maggie's face in a moment of missing Frankie, which freaks Maggie out. Maggie completely angers at Bianca, yells at her that she isn't gay like her sister, and that she's not her sister in any other way than physical. She screams that Bianca should realize that. Bianca tries to apologize to Maggie and states that she made a mistake in touching her so intimately, and that she had a little too much champagne and was just missing Frankie, but Maggie doesn't want to hear it, and after more screaming between the two and crying, Maggie kicks Bianca out of her room.

It isn't long before Bianca and Maggie reconcile, however, and then plan to work together to discover who killed Frankie. Maggie is the one to discover that Frankie has been killed by a henchman of her aunt, Vanessa. When Maggie confronts Vanessa, Vanessa attacks and drugs her. Vanessa binds her to a wheelchair and leaves her to die in an abandoned pump house near Willow Lake. David Hayward and Leo find Maggie just in time.

Sexual tension

As the storyline progresses, Maggie grows to care about David and Leo, and her cousin, Trey Kenyon, as well, but Bianca is the one to whom she grows closest, despite her earlier feelings that Bianca sees her as gay or wants her romantically. Maggie sees other girls tormenting Bianca and to Bianca's surprise, asks Bianca to go to the prom with her, which they use to flaunt in the faces of Bianca's tormentors. After the event, they express that they had an amazing time together at the prom, and their relationship turns into a solid friendship. Their friendship is not without noticeable sexual tension, however, in which Bianca is scared that she may be using Maggie as a replacement for Frankie. This pushes Maggie towards a guy named Tim Dillon. Maggie dates Tim in a few instances, but she feels a deeper connection to Bianca. During the time after Leo is killed, Bianca comforts Maggie. They form a heightened emotional intimacy between each other. At one point, Bianca cannot bear it any longer and wants an actual romance with Maggie. She confronts Maggie about it when Maggie asks her if they want to go out and see a movie together. Bianca replies, "Maggie, are you asking me out on a date?" When Maggie brushes it off as just two friends hanging out, Bianca becomes further agitated, to the point that it forces Maggie to agree to meet at the boathouse (a special place in which they spend time together), so that they can discuss this in private. Maggie admits that she loves Bianca, but states, "I'm into guys" and that she is heterosexual (straight), and cannot be "that" woman for Bianca. When Maggie says that she's sorry that she can't be Bianca's lover, Bianca gently touches her face and says that she's sorry that it can't be Maggie either.

Some time later, Bianca does find romance, with a woman named Lena Kundera. Maggie is shown to display signs of jealousy at seeing Bianca with another woman, though these signs largely go unnoticed by Bianca herself. When David suggests that he pay for Maggie's expenses for college, Maggie agrees. After enrolling at Pine Valley University (PVU), she has a difficult time with Henry Chin, who is her lab partner in chemistry class. Though Henry is not the most open guy, Maggie finds him intriguing, and after spending more time with Henry, Henry now sharing his deepest thoughts with her, the two eventually share a passionate kiss in her dorm room. They see that they have mutual feelings for each other, and then date. Henry's family is a traditional Chinese family who expresses unhappiness about Henry's romance with Maggie, as Henry's mother feels that Maggie is keeping Henry from his goal of being a doctor when she encourages his real passion for music. Their relationship ends a little after Henry cheats off of a test he and Maggie are taking for a class.

Through thick and thin and angst

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Maggie helps Bianca in the aftermath of Bianca's rape.

In the summer of 2003, the show All My Children writes Bianca to have been raped by Michael Cambias. Maggie is there for Bianca in the aftermath of her rape. Bianca keeps the rape a secret, although everyone notices the changes in her behavior. Bianca hides the rape by contributing her change in attitude to being upset that she has broken up with Lena. It is true that Bianca did indeed end her relationship with Lena, but she doesn't want to tell Lena about her rape. Weeks later, Bianca only confides in Maggie that she was raped. Maggie wants to tell the police, but Bianca has Maggie promise on their love of Maggie's sister, Frankie, that Maggie will not tell anyone what happened.

Bianca comes to the decision not to terminate her pregnancy, after having talked thoroughly with David about it. Kendall's feelings on the matter also help to aid Bianca's decision to have the baby. She confesses to Maggie that she wants to keep the baby because it may be her only chance to have one. Maggie doesn't readily agree, but counsels her to tell her mother the truth. Bianca is scared to tell Erica about the pregnancy due to fear that it will destroy her, thus Bianca turns down this suggestion of Maggie's. She feels that if she tells her mother the truth, her mother will always resent her child because her child will be a product of rape. Bianca comes up with a plan that she can hide the pregnancy, with David's assistance, and go away to give birth to the child. When she returns with the child, she will inform everyone that the baby is adopted. Maggie isn't too keen on this plan and feels that it's a bit much, but she promises to keep her vow that she won't tell anyone about Bianca's pregnancy.

Maggie's confession

As time wears on, Maggie starts to increasingly show hints that she desires Bianca romantically. At one point, she even says, in an admiring way, "You look beautiful" to Bianca while Bianca holds up an outfit over her pregnant belly in the mirror. Maggie then quickly leaves, making up some excuse as to distance herself from Bianca as she sits to herself and thinks back on the moment she called Bianca beautiful. A while later, after Bianca tells Maggie that she will be moving to Paris to avoid her mother finding out about her pregnancy, Maggie becomes both distant and emotional in the same minute span. While both are on the couch, and Bianca leans her head to Maggie's, who is turned away, Maggie shocks and confuses both herself and Bianca when, after she slowly turns her head around, she gives Bianca a passionate kiss.

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Maggie stuns both Bianca and herself when she turns to kiss Bianca.

Embarrassed, Maggie flees and never speaks of the kiss again after telling Bianca that their kiss meant nothing. Maggie then dates Jamie Martin during Bianca's later stages of pregnancy, while Bianca has rekindled her romantic relationship with Lena. Not long after, Lena leaves town and Bianca is told that the baby she just gave birth to is dead. Maggie becomes even more of a support line for Bianca. The show finally does oversee that Maggie profess her love for Bianca to Bianca in the summer of 2004 after playing an "I never" game, to which Maggie feels that she was never truthful about that night she kissed Bianca, now admitting to Bianca that she thinks about that moment a lot and thinks about doing it again.

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For the first time, Maggie admits to Bianca that she is in love with Bianca, not just a friendship type of love.

Maggie feels this may be her "coming out" moment. Bianca is stunned, and Maggie wants to know if they can begin a romantic relationship with each other. Unfortunately, it is Bianca who is now putting the brakes on their chance at romance, as she is moved by Maggie's confession, but gently tells Maggie that she is still in love with Lena, and doesn't want to pressure Maggie into a romance that she might later regret. Maggie is heartbroken and begins to distance herself from Bianca. After meeting Ryan Lavery's brother, Jonathan Lavery, handsome and much a brooder, she dates Jonathan.

Bianca's confession

In the coming months, it turns out that the character, Jonathan, is an abuser who hates Maggie's friendship with Bianca. He feels that Maggie is secretly in love with Bianca and that Bianca is openly trying to pursue Maggie romantically, so he does all he can to isolate Maggie from Bianca. Jonathan proposes marriage to Maggie not long after they move in together. Maggie is conflicted and emotionally down, but accepts his proposal. With his jealousy and paranoia increasing, Jonathan begins to verbally and physically abuse Maggie. Bianca has her suspicions that things aren't right with Maggie. She goes to Maggie and Jonathan's apartment, where after becoming extremely emotional at Maggie feeling that she isn't lovable and that maybe that's why Jonathan doesn't love her, Bianca admits her true feelings for Maggie, crying as she tells Maggie that Maggie is extremely lovable. Maggie tears up as well, slight hostility in her voice as she accuses Bianca of just loving her as a friend. Bianca tells Maggie no, that it's so much more than that, as she lays a kiss to Maggie's forehead and then leans in for a kiss to her lips.

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Bianca leans in to kiss Maggie after admitting that Maggie is so much more than a friend to her.

Maggie breaks the kiss, and Bianca explains as the two embrace each other:

I think I was wrong. You're not just a friend to me... I think -- I think I've fallen in love with you.

Maggie rejects Bianca's concerns and her love, stating that Bianca is just a martyr willing to sacrifice her own happiness with Lena just to get her away from Jonathan. But finally, when friends Aidan Devane and Anita Santos contact Jonathan's ex-girlfriend and brings her to town and she tells Maggie about all the abuse she went through with Jonathan, Maggie dumps Jonathan, and challenges him for his abuse against her and her loved ones. Ultimately, though, Maggie decides not to press charges against him due to the lack of evidence.

Departure

Soon after, in 2005, and free from Jonathan, the plot has Bianca and Maggie deciding to move to Paris with Bianca's newly-discovered-alive daughter, Miranda Montgomery: Bianca asks Maggie to go with her. Maggie declines at first, claiming that she doesn't want to add more problems to Bianca's life. But after Bianca's farewell party, Maggie realizes that the moments in which brought her true joy in life were the times that she spent with Bianca and Miranda. She rushes to the airport and manages to get on board the Cambias jet just in time for take-off. Both women conclude that their relationship goes against explanation, but that they love each other deeply.

Return and back again

When Bianca returns for a visit to Pine Valley, she tells everyone that she and Maggie are an official couple in Paris.

Bianca is soon written into the script again when she returns to Pine Valley later not too long after her previous visit, this time a little before Thanksgiving 2006. She brings her daughter, Miranda, with her for an extended visit. She then admits that she came home to Pine Valley, heartbroken, because Maggie has allegedly had an affair with another woman (details of the affair were never disclosed). However, Maggie soon shows up on Bianca's doorstep in Pine Valley. Maggie knows that Bianca is the only woman that she's in love with, and she wants to renew their romance. Bianca still shows signs of deep romantic feelings for Maggie, but isn't ready to resume their relationship and leave with her to Paris. Maggie has a confrontation with Zoe, a new friend of Bianca's who wants a romance with Bianca as well. Zoe is a transgender rockstar, biologically male, but identifies himself as a lesbian woman. Maggie cautions her not to hurt Bianca, and tells her that she isn't ready to give up on Bianca. Maggie later says a tearful goodbye to Bianca during an emotional talk at the park, in which Bianca tells Maggie that she has never stopped loving her and that someday Maggie could once again be an important part of her and Miranda's life. Maggie then returns to Paris, but promises to still fight for her. She mouths the words "I love you" in her final scene before departing. Bianca soon moves back to Paris as well, the storyline leaving open a romantic reunion as a possibility for the two.

Cultural impact

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Maggie and Bianca on the cover of Soaps In Depth

Being one of the few or only lesbian romances on television, let alone on daytime, Bianca Montgomery and Maggie Stone's romance gave lesbian viewers a reflection of themselves, whether closeted or out and proud, and thus inspired other lesbian and or gay individuals to admit to their sexuality. Having been well appreciated by heterosexual fans as well, Bianca and Maggie's romance touched on more than just the expected:

When actress, Eden Riegel, was selected for the role of 16-year-old Bianca on the show All My Children, it wasn't long before Bianca became the first long-standing character on a soap to come out as gay or lesbian. All My Children was constantly nominated there after by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) for its "fair, accurate, and inclusive portrayal" of a lesbian teenager and her mother's process of coming to terms with her daughter's homosexuality.

But Bianca's awful habit of falling romantically for straight women could easily be noted as well, thus keeping her from having an on-screen girlfriend. GLAAD Director of Communications, John Sonego, contends that "Many young, newly out lesbians fall for a close friend, only to discover the friend is straight" and that on television "Unrequited love...and heartbreak are what keep the viewers tuning in - and learning."

With the writing on All My Children, however, this unrequited love bit kept happening to Bianca, especially when she then deeply fell in love with Maggie Stone, who would constantly insist that she is straight.

BAM

While GLAAD was pleased with Bianca's lesbian storyline, as demonstrated with their choosing the Bianca Montgomery character as their first gay character to receive the Favorite Out Image of the year Award , two years of no on-screen romance had BAM ("Bianca and Maggie") fans enraged. BAM fans set their sights on the writers and executive producers of the show All My Children in an effort to have them develop a romantic relationship between the two characters. The fans campaigned relentlessly and were pretty vocal, getting their intent across to the All My Children writers and execs. It seemed to work as top soap opera magazines constantly commented on the rabid fan support for the Bianca and Maggie relationship. Bianca and Maggie were even voted as "Best Non-Couple" of the year in Soap Opera Digest's December 31 issue.

All My Children holding off on pairing the two potential lovers only made fans cheer for them even more. Their deep discussions and the heated stares they would give each other drew in viewers just as much as a naked heterosexual couple steaming up a shower would. Mail bags overflowed with support for Bianca and Maggie, and at some point, the show couldn't ignore it anymore.

With BAM supporters taking their campaign up to the next level, such as in February 2003, with letters, videos, t-shirts, and roses to All My Children, they proved to be a force to reckon with, gaining a great deal of attention from most soap opera magazines.

Caving in

The fan support for the much anticipated Bianca and Maggie romance was thought of as so intense by the soap opera media that even award-winning LGBT news site Advocate.com (under the same name as its magazine The Advocate), couldn't help but notice, stating, "Ironically, the move to provide Bianca with a girlfriend might disappoint the fans who've been cheering the most for it. When our lesbian protagonist finally gets her groove on, it won't be with Maggie, who flirted with Bianca for months. That potential pairing spawned a devoted fan club, BAM! (an acronym of the characters' initials), who lobbied the network in really inventive ways, even mailing Bianca-and-Maggie valentines. But the object of Bianca's affection will instead be the mysterious bisexual Lena (played by Olga Sosnovska), a newcomer to the fictional town of Pine Valley."

Jean Dadario Burke, the show's executive producer at the time, was noted as saying, "There was wonderful chemistry with Bianca and Maggie." But Brian Frons, head of ABC Daytime at this point, gave thoughts as to somewhat base his reasoning for not going through with the Bianca and Maggie romance when most screams for it could be heard the loudest:

Rather than trust that momentum, 'cowardly network people that we are, we did some research.' After polling 1,500 soap fans about Bianca's love life, the network found that many viewers wanted Bianca to have a romance--with someone else.

Maggie's sexuality

Frons' assessment didn't entirely seem to add up when the Bianca and Maggie fanbase only kept growing bigger and bigger as unprecedented in American daytime soap history for a homosexual pairing, and were being more and more vocal about what they wanted. The main reasoning that many fans in the poll Frons alluded to on the matter may have wanted to see Bianca with another woman may have been due to Maggie's ambiguous nature during her early relationship with Bianca, to where fans had to wonder on more than one occasion whether or not Maggie was gay, naturally causing some to feel that she may not be right for Bianca romantically after all and spun into heated debate on whether Lena was better romantically suited for Bianca. Even Elizabeth Hendrickson weighed in on her character's perplexing mixed signals when either stating that she may or may not be gay: "There's a huge question mark hanging over her head, isn't there? But I think that almost any woman at that age [has one]. I think every woman and every man, at some point at their life... It's only natural to think twice about your sexual orientation."

Just as noteworthy is that Maggie's sexual identity managed to perplex the soap opera media as well, who usually have a good grasp on the psyche of soap opera characters. But in this case, their confusion led to even Soaps In Depth putting Bianca and Maggie on the cover of an October issue detailing November storylines with the caption "Together At Last!", though the actual article did not address the chance of a romantic relationship between the two.

Chemistry

TV Guide

Bianca and Maggie's romantic chemistry has been praised quite often by critics, and thus even further upset fans, as well as critics, who also deemed themselves fans, not being treated with seeing Bianca and Maggie's chemistry play out in its fullest.

TV Guide soap columnist Michael Logan dubbed the non-relationship as "Rip-Off of the Year" in his January 4 2003 roundup of "The Worst of 2002", simply stating:

AMC teased and titillated us mercilessly with the flirtatious sparks between openly gay Bianca (Eden Riegel) and her buddy Maggie (Elizabeth Hendrickson), but the show-once famous for its boldness-didn't have the guts to put the in a real romance, even though the fans are begging for it. C'mon, AMC! These two have more chemistry than any boy-girl duo in soaps!

Later, Bianca and Maggie's first kiss on All My Children was ranked as number four on TV Guide's list of the best same-sex kisses on television.

Soap Opera Digest

Riegel and Hendrickson were asked by Soap Opera Digest what they thought accounted for their on-screen chemistry. While Riegel replied that chemistry can't be faked, and when two people like each other, there's an energy between them that's undeniable, Hendrickson stated "When I started, my friends were telling me what great chemistry we had, and I didn't notice it. But now that I've worked with probably half the cast, I realize what amazing chemistry we have together. I'll have to work with men and really, I'm heterosexual, but I have more chemistry with her! I'm trying to have romances with boys, but I don't know, I just feel it with her!

Feminist Media Studies

Published in July 2003 was Lesbian(s) on daytime television: The Bianca narrative on All My Children, an analysis on Bianca's lesbian life, as examined by author C. Lee Harrington in the book Feminist Media Studies, Volume 3, Issue 2. Along with other tempestuous matters in Bianca's life, her complex relationship with Maggie Stone was also thoroughly studied.

New York Daily News

On June 13 2004, New York Daily News (the sixth largest daily newspaper in the United States), was added as yet another aspect of the media taking interest in the love story of Bianca Montgomery and Maggie Stone, when they reported the week in which Maggie would finally, face-to-face, reveal to being in love with Bianca to Bianca herself, just as all the other soap opera magazines revealed, though Bianca would be the one to turn down Maggie this time.

Merchandising

SOAPnet BAM ID bracelet

In November 1 2004, SOAPnet, described as the new way to watch soaps, launched shopsoapnet.com. An on-line shopping boutique which offers customers SOAPnet-themed items, including products from its original programs "I Wanna Be A Soap Star" and "Soap Talk" as well as exclusive SOAPnet-brand merchandise. SOAPnet stated that they are always looking for unique ways to put a new twist on a long-loved genre. One aspect of their marketing was to make popular soap opera couples a part of the equation. With Bianca and Maggie's notable visibility as being one of the more longed for couples, the following was stated:

Additionally, soap fans have a history of supporting character couples and giving their favorite couples nicknames that combine the letters of the characters' names. For example, fans of a Nikolas and Emily pairing on General Hospital refer to the couple as 'NEM.' Shopsoapnet.com will honor this tradition by offering limited edition bracelets engraved with a few of these popular couple names including NEM and BAM. BAM honors a Bianca and Maggie pairing on All My Children.

The Bianca and Maggie (BAM) ID bracelet originally went on sale for $14.95, as seen in the ABC TV Store with the advertisement of the couple's star-crossed predicament:

BAM bracelet -- All My Children’s Bianca and Maggie (BAM) may not be a soap super couple...YET! That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t show your support for the intriguing duo that can’t quite seem to get together (it’s like they’re distracted or something) with this stylish brushed-pewter/nickel plated ID emblem featuring engraved lettering, a 6 ¾” velvet strap in forest green and adjustable chain strap. Limited edition.

When the two left

AfterEllen.com, a website that focuses on the portrayal of lesbians and bisexual women in the media, had previously commented on All My Children taking a step back in giving Bianca a romance when they addressed Bianca's pregnancy with Miranda, feeling that "since it almost assures Bianca's continued asexuality in the near future, the pregnant-lesbian storyline is a favorite refuge for TV writers who both want to avoid dealing with the sexual aspects of lesbian relationships and who want to 'normalize' the lesbian characters -- to show viewers that, at their core, lesbians are just like heterosexual women." With sarcasm thick, AfterEllen.com further added, "Who of course, all want to be mothers."

When actresses Eden Riegel and Elizabeth Hendrickson left their roles of Bianca and Maggie at the same time in the year of 2005, with their characters being written out together as possible lovers, AfterEllen.com's tone could still be noted as bitter toward All My Children's handling of the storyline, though they had some good to weigh in on as well, first titling the article "The End of a Lesbian Era on All My Children." They started out the article with a goodbye to the duo. "Today, as All My Children airs its final episode with actresses Eden Riegel and Elizabeth Hendrickson (who have left the series to try their luck elsewhere), we say goodbye to one of American television's longer-running lesbian storylines--a storyline which has alternately entranced, infuriated, delighted and frustrated viewers over the last four and a half years." As to Bianca and Maggie's star-crossed dynamic, a point was brought up that while stringing out romantic storylines for maximum drama is appropriate and even expected in daytime television, it is also expected that, eventually, star-crossed couples do get together.

Return

BAM fans weren't the only ones upset when the show wrote Maggie as having cheated on Bianca, and, which, of course, resulted in Bianca fleeing back to Pine Valley, with Maggie soon following her to plead for Bianca's forgiveness. Soap Opera Weekly magazine's January 23 2007 issue quoted Elizabeth Hendrickson as saying that she found out that Maggie had cheated on Bianca by watching the show (since her character of Maggie hadn't returned to Pine Valley yet), and that she was screaming and yelling at the television. It was a huge shock to her.

Although there was something Hendrickson was very happy about with the storyline of Maggie returning to chase after Bianca: Maggie's sexuality. It was more than apparent that Maggie had now come to terms with being a lesbian, and while upset that Maggie had cheated on Bianca, Hendrickson was more than thrilled that Maggie had cheated on Bianca with a woman, confessing that she'd always felt that Maggie was leaning more toward the women than the men, and that she is glad that the writers made a decision as to Maggie's sexuality; that it was about time that they had.

Influence on the actresses themselves

Soap Opera Digest asked both Eden Riegel and Elizabeth Hendrickson as to when they took on their roles, did they anticipate how much their storyline would affect them personally. Hendrickson relayed, "I'll be completely honest. When I signed with my agency, they asked me, 'What do you want to do and what do you not want to do?' And I said, 'I will not do soaps.' I didn't want to be involved in a medium that I didn't feel would challenge me. But after a couple of years of pounding the pavement and not getting a job, I was like, 'Okay!' After my very first day, I realized how challenging it would be. You take on a whole new life with your character."

Riegel responded on a slightly different note:

I did anticipate being affected. But I think it has more so than I expected because of the nature of the storyline and the fans. I meet them, and I am actually making an impact on their lives. I'm just an actress, you know? But there are people listening, people who really care. It means so much when fans come up and talk to us because they care so much. It makes us care so much, too. I mean, this is our lives — it's not just our job.

See also

• Supercouple

External links

• Official ABC page
• Soap Opera Digest.com
• soapcentral.com
• afterellen.com
• Advocate.com
• Bianca and Maggie youtube