GLATWT88

I agree about your sentiments regarding Contessa @Taoboi. I feel that Contessa seems like an afterthought on M2M ATL but her friendships with the LA ladies seems more genuine and actually highlight her presence.

Omg! This is some pippin hot tea that I've been served. I am really surprised or not but wow

What was the original air date for today's repeat?

Wow! I had no idea all this was going on behind the scenes. Was there a gap between being with Beth and then being with Mandy? Was it known that they were seeing each other?

I still haven't listened to the podcast but I plan on it. I think at times it was easy to be appeased and think well there's a black character or there's a black family, but it wasn't enough. I hate to say but look at primetime it's just as guilty and I hate to use it as an excuse, but primetime well into the 90s and 2000 still cast shows with all white main casts like Friends, SATC, Will and Grace which took place in the most diverse city in the world. Soaps are built around core families and to think that there hasn't been a long lasting black family that has been fleshed out, extended and prominent for decades like a white family is disappointing. I love soaps, I think it's such a fascinating genre and an incredible form of storytelling. I do not hold any hope for remediation in the treatment of black characters/families and that's because I don't hold out much hope for the genre itself anymore. Well into the 2000s, 2006/7 maybe, I think there was still a faint possibility that the genre could have been saved and I use saved very lightly, but when little was being done besides restricting budgets, cutting casts, and doing the minimum to just get by and make a profit the end was inevitable. There's way too much competition now, more than ever and the soaps are incredibly poor in quality and writing. I have tried to watch all 4 since the shut down and its excruciating. I think there have been some incredible black actors and black characters on soaps but all were handled poorly if we are being honest. I do see some great young black actors today like Sal and Lamon on Days and I think part of that comes from knowing that as a black actor (like in many other realms) you need to work so much harder. They honestly give it their all with the horrendous writing on that show. Not discounting some wonderful vets on Days and young actors too, but watching some of their scenes last week has probably been the most interesting part, I hate to think that talent will be wasted. I think in retrospect it's easy to see how wrong things have been. Things that were forgiven or maybe we didn't think were a big deal, now we see from a different perspective and realize how unfair or wrong those things were or maybe accepting crumbs just is no longer acceptable.

https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/general-hospital-former-star-vinessa-antoine-gets-candid-about-shows-lack-of-diversity.html/ The actress gets candid on the soap opera’s diversity Diggstown is the first time that a black woman has headlined a Canadian drama series. On the lack of diversity on General Hospital and the genre as a whole, the actress was candid in letting her thoughts be known. She explained, “Personally, from my experience and seeing how things are done, I think that there is one particular soap, The Young and the Restless, that based on their track record, has been able to put those storylines in the forefront. The era in the 1990s with the late great Kristoff St. John (Neil) and Victoria Rowell (Dru). That was a very beautiful and interesting time. I haven’t’ seen it repeat itself. I do feel that if there’s one soap that could do it [again], it would be Y&R.”

Thanks for the information. If you look at it from the number of affiliates airing GL in the wrong timeslot, it may not seem like a big deal because there are 100s of affiliates. If you look at it by market and affiliate reach then it's more clear why the timeslot change may have played a role in ratings. The top 10 US markets make up a little over 30% of TV homes. That's roughly 1 in 3 TV viewers. 8 out of 10 of those Top US Markets aired GL at 9 or 10am (exception being D.C. area and Houston). If you include Miami, Orlando and Detroit from your list, all which are in the Top 20 markets (two in the top 15), and add them to the 8 - that's already over one-third of US homes getting GL at a rather unusual timeslot of 9 or 10am. That means that just from those 11 stations, 33% of TV homes in the US have GL on at 9 or 10am. This doesn't include other stations that aired GL in the morning as I didn't count all of them or the fact that Sacramento (a top 20 market) didn't have GL on at all. Also, from your list Pittsburgh and Portland (Top 30 markets) and off the top of my head Baltimore (Top 30) have GL in the morning. I wouldn't be surprised if 50% of TV homes or more had GL at 9 or 10am or in the case of Sacramento not at all. I'm by no means stating that GL would be a ratings success if the affiliates all had it at the 2/3pm timeslot, but when it's on at an unfavorable 9 or 10am timeslot in at least 40% of TV homes. It's going to have a significant impact on the ratings. That 500k margin from 8th to 3rd place is difficult to bridge when your timeslot is hurting rather than helping you. Also, it's harder to reach a younger demo at 9/10 for a soap opera. I'm many of those markets GL didn't have a lead in or lead in for any other CBS soap, which is always helpful especially when viewers would watch an entire lineup or get curious to what was happening on other soaps from promos or general curiosity. Despite all of this and what many have said about GL's ratings, I thought GL performed solidly in the early 2000s.

That's something I always wondered about. Why did affiliates mess around with GL's timeslot so much. I know as early as 1992 some affiliates had dropped GL or already made the move to an early morning timeslot. In fact, most major markets had GL on in the morning instead of its intended 3pm slot. However. GL's ratings were pretty good in the early 90s and the demos were on par with ATWT and BB (It would beat both several weeks in demos in 94). I know CBS had a pretty full lineup with 4 soaps taking up a large block of affiliate programming at very competitive timeselots. In the NYC area GH was the lead in for Oprah on ABC, which may have hurt GL in this market. GH is still the most popular soap in the NYC area and I think largely in part of it's timeslot and years of being lead in for Oprah. Around 2005-early 2007 GL would on average have less than a 500k difference in total viewers than GH which would often rank third overall. Some weeks there was less than a 200k difference when GH would have drops. Yet, by this time GL was already on at 9 or 10am in most of the major markets. The only thing I can assume is demos. GL's total viewers throughout the 90s and early 2000s were pretty consistent with the competition (exception being YR and BB), but it was never that far off the soaps that ranked 3-7. However, the demos for GL weren't the best. I did see that it would beat out ATWT and BB in the early 90s in 18-49 some weeks, but by the 2000s, the demos just weren't there. Again, not sure if it had to do with timeslot changes or other factors.

I watched an interview with Linda Gray and she said that Larry Hagman would purposely eat horrible things to make his breath bad for their kissing scenes on Dallas.

I've always read that there was a lot of behind the scenes drama and antics on the set of Beverly Hills, 90210. There seemed to be lots of tension in particular with the female cast members. I know Shannen had her issues with everyone which isn't a surprise and Jennie Garth had some issue with Tiffani. There was also lots of rumors of hookups and drug use, but I think when you have a particularly young cast those things were the norm.

So Empire but for daytime.

I'm just going to leave this here. I was parched because I was feeling this thirst trap

Ugh! I hate it everytime I hear that a couple that's been together that long is getting divorced. However, you don't know what's going on in anyone's life or marriage. But 20 years is a long time, but I guess if you're truly unhappy what's the point. Thanks for the info. I started watching later and I knew Gina Tognoni as Dinah. I personally enjoyed Gina, but I never knew any other actress as Dinah.

I found this as I was watching promos for GL from 1993 on YouTube. This was a special promo for the NYC area as Guiding Light was moving to its new timeslot at 10am. Weird how I've looked for this info in the early/mid 2000s as to when GL moved to 10am on my CBS, and recently have found two sources. Who's the actress in the frame? She's the only one I don't recognize from when I started watching.

I've said this before, I wish there was a like function because there's not much I can add but I agree with your post. I also feel VR has received so much backlash (more so) for speaking out because she is a woman and then the idea that she's just bitter because she keeps fighting the issue.

If you just said this, you would have been better off. I don't understand why VR would want to return to Y&R if she was so mistreated. I wonder why other actors have not also spoken out. I believe VR should try and get others to speak out as well. She's also worked since leaving Y&R so I'm not sure why she asks to be brought back. I don't want to make it seem like you can't have an opinion on the VR situation, because you definitely can and you are entitled to it. But as a white male (as you claimed), saying that you don't understand why VR is the only one complaining and that she must be a troublemaker because she's the only AA saying anything is problematic. Do you think that maybe other AA actors that have faced injustices on Y&R or other shows don't speak up because there isn't much room for AA on TV as it is and speaking up may cost them their career. Sure it's easy to say Shemar has been quiet but he's been working in pretty high profile jobs and being the outspoken AA might not get you the job. This. This is what I was trying to explain to @Fevuh

This is a clear example of white privilege. The fact that it bothers you that a black woman continues to talk about the injustices and poor treatment on a TV show because of the color of her skin. White people don't have to worry about finding representation on mainstream media, because they are well represented. They have plenty of space where they can find roles, where casting directors look like them, where execs look like them, etc. You have the privilege of being bothered by someone else's injustice instead of being directly impacted by it. Also, white privilege doesn't mean you didn't have a hard life or you didn't struggle. You can have white privilege and be poor, homeless, faced discrimination based on your sexual orientation, etc. There is a huge misunderstanding of the term. White privilege means that you didn't have to struggle or endure injustices because of the color of your skin. You yourself sad the cop only pulled you over because of your AA boyfriend, so you agree that race plays a significant role on the perceptions individuals have of certain people. America was a country founded on slavery and those roots of oppression have a hold on our country for its entire history and until there is healing, awareness and understanding things will change very slowly. Slavery and segregation didn't cease to exist in this country and then suddenly we didn't have a race problem. Forms of violence against AA people have been committed in more subtle ways or not so subtle such as disproportionate police brutality cases.

Seems like a lot of the complaints are similar to those we have now, except both budgets and diversity have gotten much worse. When I was reading the comment about the wedding looking cheap and not hiring extras, i was like just wait a few years and you'll hope you had the quality of that 1997 wedding. Also, read an interesting comment of the pairing being forced because there aren't enough AA cardmembers and the show being unwilling to have an interracial pairing.

Bring back Generations. It's 👏 time 👏

Well said. She should be able to speak out about the injustices she's faced and those in the industry, yet still want to be on the show. These are complex issues and she can hold one opinion about the show and her character and another about what she's endured BTS. VR has a connection to the character and is loyal to the fans. It speaks volumes that she wanted to bring Y&R to all those displaced by the hurricane. Besides, she can make more change from the inside taking space at the table than shouting from the outside. The current climate has helped issues like this to get more notice and act as a catalyst and speed up the process, but in most cases change doesn't happen as quickly. VR can seem contradictory by asking to be back on the show and call out the unfairness she endured at the show, but when talking about race and issues of race she's up against an unfair system, besides everyone needs some coin. I have to agree with everyone on Tyler Perry's shows. I always thought most of his work resembled bad daytime soap operas, but he catered to an audience that was neglected for a long time especially when it comes to drama series/serials.

Bravo might want to look into its RH franchises - most are in need of some diversity. Most need cast changes but they keep bringing everyone back. Jersey brought the entire cast from last season back for the new season and there a few of those girls that are so boring they need to go or change their status on the show.

Here's a clip from Guiding Light from 1967 featuring Dr. Jim Frazier played by Billy Dee Williams. Jim Frazier and his wife, Martha Frazier, were the first regular AA characters on a soap from what I've read. May have been posted on the forum before, but thought I'd share here. Dr. Jim Frazier was a hospital administrator at Cedars Hospital. Billy Dee fumbles his lines a bit at the 4 minute mark. Billy Dee has appeared in the Star Wars franchise, GH: Night Shift, GH, Dynasty and other works. ----------- Brighter Day was the first soap to include an AA character as well as the first two have an AA on contract although short lived as the soap was cancelled soon after. Mon, 09.17.1962 First Black actor cast in an American TV Soap Opera Rex Ingram On this date in 1962, the first Black actor integrated American day time television. Rex Ingram, appeared as an ordained minister named Victor Graham on the show "A Brighter Day." In August on that year, the show made history by creating the first daytime television contract role for an Black, but had no time to make much of an impact, as the show was cancelled two weeks later on September 28. Source: https://aaregistry.org/story/first-black-actor-cast-on-american-soap-opera/#:~:text=On this date in 1962,show "A Brighter Day."

Damn you didn't have to out our old as.ses like that. But you're probably right. Besides, let's not pretend these teens haven't heard worse. They are having threesomes at 14 according to Erika on RHOBH. Happy that VR is continuing to push the issue.

Stassi's that obnoxious girl that celebrates her birthday the entire month, so I totally see her crying right now and screaming "But it's my birthday!"

*wrong thread*