Bianca gets it on: All My Children's lesbian finally gets some lovin'. But will girl-on-girl action help or hurt the ratings-plagued soap? (television).

After more than two tortured years spent drinking from the well of loneliness, life is about to heat up for Bianca Montgomery, the only out regular character in daytime television. When Cupid finally comes calling this month for the popular All My Children lesbian, the show will make history by featuring soapdom's first same-sex kiss.

The lip lock, scheduled to air in late April (pending war coverage), should be just the beginning. After weighing the impact of such a move for months now, network executives say they're finally ready to go the distance with Bianca and her new love interest. "They will actually have a sexual relationship. We will see the seduction," promises Brian Frons, president of ABC Daytime.

As for Eden Riegel, the twice-Emmy-nominated actress who plays Bianca, she's looking forward to the story line. "I'm really excited about it," says the heterosexual 22-year-old.

For a medium so devoted to sex and romance, this is no minor glass ceiling finally being shattered. The end to Bianca's celibacy will occur "shortly after the kiss," says Jean Dadario Burke, the show's executive producer. (For anyone unfamiliar with soap opera storytelling conventions, "shortly" doesn't mean "after the next commercial break"--it means, as Burke says, "within weeks.")

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.

"There was wonderful chemistry with Bianca and Maggie," acknowledges Burke. But, Frons says, 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.

Enter Lena, a character with a secret agenda to undermine Bianca's powerful mother, diva extmordinaire Erica Kane. In classic soap form, Lena's love for Bianca will disrupt her nefarious plans and transform her into a better person.

The story line is welcome, if overdue, says Michael Logan, TV Guide's soaps columnist: "How much longer could they have a lesbian character who is young, who is attractive, who is really personable, and not give her a romance?"

Although he too hoped the show would ignite the Bianca-and-Maggie sparks, Logan predicts that BAM! fans will go along with the new pairing. "People are really starving to see something they haven't seen," he says. "One of the problems plaguing all of daytime is that it's very much settled into a 'been there, done that' kind of thing."

That's a turnaround from the days when soap operas often beat prime-time TV to the punch on social topics. "All My Children was quite a bold, daring, landmark show for the first two decades of its existence, in the '70s and well into the '80s,' Logan says. For example, "Erica Kane had the first post-Roe v. Wade abortion [on TV]. And you just don't see that anymore. It's really pointed up with the way they've handled, or mishandled, the Bianca character, while everywhere you look in prime time, there are gay and lesbian characters."

Although All My Children has a better track record than any other soap for gay-inclusive story lines, none of its previous gay characters ever enjoyed a real romance. With recent ratings lagging--All My Children currently ranks in the bottom half of the 10 network soaps, although it fares much better among teens--the show might as well take what some executives perceive as a gamble. "There are some in our group who are afraid it's going to hurt ratings," Frons admits. "I think it's going to help."

If their relationship causes trouble for Bianca and Lena, that suits some gay viewers just fine. Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation entertainment media director Scott Seomin, who says the kiss should be applauded, understands what makes for good viewing on a soap: "Frankly, if she has some happiness, I hope it's short-lived. The moment that Bianca settles into domestic bliss with another woman, that's the time viewers tune out and Eden Riegel loses her job."

Asked whether viewers will actually see two women lounging in bed together, Burke plays it coy: "Well, we need there to be some surprises, don't we? We want you to stay tuned!"

Never shy about publicly rooting for Bianca to have an affair with Maggie, Riegel now turns her enthusiasm to possibilities with Lena. Does she think they'll be seen in bed together, like so many straight soap couples? "You know, that's anybody's guess," she muses. "But I sure hope so. That would be fun."

Behreas also writes for the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Free Press.

For previous Advocate magazine coverage of All My Children's Bianca, go to www.advocate.com