SOAP Q: Sheffer Stevens talks to Michael Fairman about Dr. Reid’s demise!

As the World Turns ends its run on Friday but for me, the grieving began when Dr. Reid Oliver was killed by a train that looked like something out of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood! The actor who brought the snarky and sexy Reid to life, Eric Sheffer Stevens, gave a terrific exclusive interview to Michael Fairman’s On Soaps site.

Eric told Michael of the train vs. car scene the resulted in Reid’s demise: “I did not quite get how I was stuck on the tracks, that wasn’t quite clear to me, but overall, as an idea; I loved the idea of Reid dying and giving the heart to Chris, and all of that. I thought, “Yeah sure, that is not a neutral way of going out.” (Laughs) … I am sure Reid would not have died right away if the show, as a whole, was not wrapping up.”

Many fans are bitterly disappointed that while most of the couples on the soap were given a happy ending, the gay couple of Luke and Reid was not. But Eric says: “I feel that it’s the better ending, and it just raises the awareness of it all the more, and to have them interacting with a funeral director… and it’s all about a gay couple. All the focus then is about the gay couple and how they love each other, and how it should be easier to take care of Reid’s remains and effects. But they are not married, but they are a couple and they are not quite being treated the same way, as if they were a straight couple. That is all good stuff, but not satisfying stuff. But, to have the couple be the focus of everybody’s conversation and grieving, I can’t think but that helps bring awareness to gay couples.”

Michael pointed out to Eric that as the 54-year-old soap ends its run, so much of the attention has been on his character of Reid who had only been on the show for nine months!

“It’s bizarre to me and wonderful, and not just for Reid, but to have the gay couple be such a focus at the end of the show,” said Eric. “All the other storylines are dealing with it in someway. It helps raise people’s awareness of gay couples and relationships, and how normal and fantastic they are.”

Eric isn’t sure what he would have wanted to have happen storyline-wise for Luke and Reid had the show continued but he said: “I was interested in seeing how they were developing the relationship and where it was going to lead them. I would love to see them date and have Reid open up some more, like Katie said he was finally doing at the end. And, see him in a relationship, and get really close with Luke, and showing them living together. And Luke is a man now, so whoever Luke would end up with, even if later down the line the Reid relationship didn’t work out, that is the next step… to show him with somebody, and living with him, and being a proper couple as adults.”

Eric is well aware that the gay storyline was handled differently than the straight storylines, most glaring was the fact that Luke and Reid never made love: “That frustrates a lot, and no story is reflected in daytime television, as it would be in life. So that is a given. But it is frustrating for everybody and should be. They are not at a point yet where they should be, to tell a gay storyline as they would a straight storyline. And, that has to do with who their sponsors are and their audiences are. And, they have to take that in to consideration, and everybody understands that, but that does not make it less frustrating.”