Gay Soap on Hiatus as Creator Seeks ‘Deal’

No future screenings are scheduled for “Secret Passions,” the locally produced, gay-oriented soap opera that had its Orange County cable television debut on Cablevision of Orange over the weekend.

Producer David Gadberry says he has completed episodes two and three but has no plans to submit them to Cablevision or to any other public access broadcaster, pending some sort of “deal” he declined to discuss. He had previously said he hopes that his show will be picked up for production by a commercial cable company.

If the “deal” goes through, Gadberry said, the show, which has aired on 22 public access stations nationwide and in Canada, will no longer be aired on public access. But if the deal falls through, he said, he will continue producing the soap and submitting episodes for public access broadcast every two weeks. He said he has received funding from local businesses and individuals, whom he did not identify.

Gadberry says he has sent the pilot episode to nine public access outlets in Orange County and to two in Los Angeles, but he won’t name them for fear they will be “bombarded” with calls.

Last week’s local debut broadcast drew two calls from people. Both admitted that they didn’t see the show but only read about it, according to John Borgenson, a programmer for Cablevision of Orange programmer.