GL Week of 5/28...

[ANDREA LOATHES REILLY]

Overall, the past 2 shows have been excellent.

I wasn't even bothered by Remy and Ava. Both were ok, but the others were amazing!

Josh is such an azzhole, and I am so glad Reva explained to him who's really in charge...

I enjoyed the show so much that the CHEAP sets didn't even bother me that much. They bugged me, but just not that much... Keep this coming!

Please share your thoughts...

ANDREA

[tanyia2]

I wish that Kreizman and Wheeler would go on a permanent vacation.

My hatred for Remy continues everytime that guy opens his mouth. He had no right to attack Gus like that and I hope he is on his way out.

I loved Reva telling Josh off and Ava should join Remy in the afterlife.

[Juliajms]

Today was good. Coop in Ashlee's bedroom was kind of . Security at Juvie must be pretty lax. I like Coop and Ashlee together, but that was just silly. I guess I'm just going to have to accept a certain lack of realism in this story. The boys and girls aren't really seperated, teachers can get into the student's rooms and parents can just grab the gaurds whenever they want (even if Gus is a police, that was silly). OK, I'm over it and will try not to complain for the rest of the summer, even though I know they're going to give me reason to.

Remy is a jerk. I hate him less than I did in the Tammy days though.

What I want to see badly is Josh end up alone for awhile. I'd love to see Cassie walk away now and hook up with Rick just as Reva meets a handsome stranger.

Ava needs to keep her grubby mitts off Coop. I wish she had left town with AM. Speaking of which, it kind of felt like AM was there one second and gone the next. I didn't even know his last day was his last day. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention. Sometimes I do other things while the show is on.

[ANDREA LOATHES REILLY]

Remy is so over the top. He takes "hot head" to another level. The guy is so hot, but he opens his mouth and nothing comes out. He's certainly a weak link @GL.

And Coop/Ash were adorable today...

ANDREA

[Gray Bunny]

Remy is quite yummy-looking, but his whole angry black man schtick is old and stereotypical. The one man in town with an endless chip on his shoulder, and of course it's the African-American. I don't know if a happier Remy would make him more interesting, though.

[MichaelGL]

Remy is a an azz. Simply put. The man is a joke. How he's acting right now, doesn't make sense from how little we've seen of him since the characters inception.

I'm liking Natalia, but I'm just waiting for DK to mess up here and have me not to like her.

Arg a PERFECT episode is RUINED when Ava comes waltzing into a scene with none other than Coop. Why won't this woman just DIE! Seriously she is one of the weakest links on the show.

Ashlee and Coop scenes were good. I agree about the lack of logic concerning the security of the place these teens are staying in. (Daisy, Ashlee, and Rafe are in juvee, who's next Leah?)

The Josh and Reva scenes were CLASSIC. I love how it seems like Reva is the villian here, yet she's totally right about Josh. That's classic Reva. The scene was very much like the ones they had when Reva first came into town. KZ and ESPECIALLY Robert Newman did a good job. Loved Josh's meltdown in the <cringe>hotel room.

I wish they would just get rid of the beacon, and start spending their money in making small house sets. Nobody really has a house in Springfield.

[SpiritualJunkie]

The show's starting to improve.

I'm actually enjoying this new storyline with Gus and I didn't think I'd care. The chick who plays Natalia kinda sounds like Joy Bisco...but she's a way better actress.

Ashlee and her Bob Marley mophair was hilarious.

Although I've pretty much had enough with the drawn-out Josh/Reva thing, I admit their scenes today were really well-written. And it's good that Josh admitted that he doesn't think he's been harder on himself. That said, I still want both of those two to be alone for a very long time.

Yeah, A-M's last day was the one where he hugged Alan unexpectedly. The whole thing seemed..unfinished.

I never really noticed until I started watching ATWT again but the lighting on GL's is sooo dark.

[P.J.]

I'm a little lost with the Blake thing...but it was a nice use of history when she brought up that Dinah had killed Hart.

[jacks]

You said exactly what I was thinking. Every time they show Remy, they make him the angry black man. When Tammy dies, he looses his job as a cop for nearly beating the suspect to death. He huffs and puffs and blows the house in. Josh offers him a job, and he goes crazy. Natalia tells him what happened with her and Gus and then he goes off on Gus. Oh and can we forget the time when they had him physically attack Lizzie? I can't remember if it was Lizzie or Dinah but he had been drinking after Tammy's death and went ballistic. See a recurring theme here? DK and EW said three years ago in an interview with CBS.com that "bringing minority characters into story is definitely a top priority for us!" Well they wait three years and what do they do? Write story lines where people fulfill stereotypes and negative expectations society has for them. Anyways, sorry about my rant.

The Josh/Reva scenes were GREAT! Ms. Shane even had her old Southern accent there for awhile. Overall really good! But now even Cassie and Josh are living in Beacon. Everyone now lives there including the Spauldings!

[Juliajms]

I guess I'm alone here, but I don't see Remy as the stereotypical angry black man at all. It's not like he's always had some generalized anger at the world. Specific things happened and he's pissed. In a way, I think Cassie and Remy are the only ones responding realistically to Tammy's murder. Alan had someone murdered and almost everyone else is just going about their business like nothing happened and pretty much treating him like he did nothing wrong. Beth even tried to have a baby with him It's bizzare. If the person I loved (even from afar) was murdered and no one seemed to care, I think it'd be awhile before my anger subsided. Are black characters not allowed to be angry when it's called for just because it might be seen as a stereotype?

That said I think the actor who plays Remy is nearly as bad as Ava. There are lots of talented minority actors out there, GL needs to find one of them and drop Remy. He's just noticably bad, imo. Of course, I'd rather see Ava go because she gets way more airtime and I've come to actively hate the character. Stay away from Coop Cooper B****!!

[jacks]

the fallout from Tammy's murder has indeed not been too realistic. Cassie really is the only one who seems to care and Beth even hated Alan for awhile but now she is doing everything she can to have Alan's baby. I couldn't understand how Doris could keep her job and let Alan get away like that.

But anyways, everyone gets angry regardless of race or their background. but consider how they people of color make up 40% of the pop. but are severely underrepresented in many portions of society (like the soaps). so if the few times those people are being represented but in stereotypical roles that have been done before, what's the point of even having them? You don't need to make all of the people of color saints but show both the bad AND the good. Remy, a black man, on the verge of physically harming a white woman until someone else-wasn't it Frank?-came into the bar to save the day isn't the way to bring minority characters more into story. If Y&R did something similar with Neil after Dru's death, it could be handled better and less stereotypical because he is not that show's token. it won't be one of the show's few times to show someone like him. On GL, although Remy has seen some increased airtime he is far from a major character and other people of color like Father Ray, Mel or her parents aren't seen enough to provide that extra backbone that Y&R has. However, with the addition of Natalia and Rafe-himself introduced in what some might see as stereotypical-presents a great opportunity for GL to better utilize minority characters.

They also need to just make some of the characters live in a couple of different condo/apartment buildings and use the hotel less. there are other more important things than sets on a show, but if everyone lives in the same generic room with different color bed sheets, that is not the way you are going to attract or better yet, maintain your viewers. I still love GL so I hope it can be that little engine that could.

[Juliajms]

That's the reason to have them on the show in the first place as far as I can see. Otherwise why have white people on the show when we just do the same things over and over? I just don't think minorities need to be stereotyped or anti-stereotyped. They should be written in a character based why just like any other character would. When it's time to be mad they should be mad.

I guess, I'm just saying in the case of Remy there is every reason for him to be pissed. I think there is character motivation. I don't think soaps should be afraid to have a character behave a certain way just because people are going to scream stereotype. Sure, Remy put his hands on a white woman, but he had a pretty good reason. Jon put his hands on Lizzie too and he also had a pretty good reason.

Now the Vega's on OLTL are more of a case of stereotyping to me. They react to almost every situation with anger. Remy wasn't angry until Tammy was murdered. Jon was anger boy cuz the world did him wrong. I think Remy will go back to his old self with Natalia's help. I may be wrong, but I think he's getting a redemption type story.

[Soapsuds]

It was nice seeing Blake. The rivarly between Blake and Dinah could be good. Both are so good at being evil.

I dont get Josh and Cassie. They do nothing for me. Why is Cassie so upset with Josh and Reva sleeping together? Reva should be the pissed off one.

All in all the show looks so much better. There are some characters(Aslee. Ava) I can do without.

[SpiritualJunkie]

I never thought that Remy was being portrayed as the stereotypical angry black male until it was pointed out. I just thought he was the type of guy who had good reasons to be angry, who's not the "forgive, forget, and move on" type of guy. But then again, I don't try and see what stereotypes soaps come up with their minority characters.

And while I wasn't fond of LSV before...he's kinda growing on me. I would definitely keep him before MRS.

[jacks]

Today's show was pretty good. Shocking to see Mallet killed that one kid's dad. And glad to see that Cassie was clear that no man would be worth taking her life in that lake over RJ. Strong stuff!

but anyways, there are specific stereotypes associated with certain groups. the angry black man. or that all blacks condone the use of the N-word. that all Italians are part of the mafia. Or that any person who looks Latino or Hispanic is from Mexico. There are many more specific stereotypes associated with certain groups that many ignorant people make to believe true. So when a show repeatedly showcases someone in one of those specific roles, it is not helping. A man who gets angry about something and just happens to be black is not fulfilling a stereotype. But what GL has been doing is showing someone who's anger has helped defined the character and what we can expect from the character, an angry black man. There are no specific stereotypes about someone like Jon attacking, harming or scaring a white woman. The same is not true for Remy.

I think that what they need to do is what you said. Write these characters as they would any other. Unfortunately nobody has really caught onto that advice, at least not at GL. Like I said, a show like Y&R-which according to Victoria Rowell had as many as 16 black recurring/contract actors at one time-has a much greater chance of better presenting a similar storyline because a black person there isn't forced to be representative of their entire race, or speak for all of the black people in Genoa City. There are not the token. Looking back to the 90's, GL had a plethora of black characters compared to now, and by the end of the decade, they started to bring other people of color, like the Santos family into story(albeit as mobsters.) the show has no justification for ignoring certain groups for so long regardless of any budget cuts because we wouldn't say the same thing if Cassie, Reva, Josh, Alan, Beth and all of the other main characters were dropped in favor of Remy, Mel, Natalia or Father Ray? (Not to say that anyone here was implying that.) I think its easier to incorporate people of all backgrounds rather than leaving someone out because of their ethnicity! Heck, we are all ethnic. We don't think of white people as ethnic but they are too. Italians, Germans, French, Polish and then some. On a side note, I myself do not look for specific stereotypes on shows, but after taking a couple of classes on being a culturally competent leader this year in university, I notice certain things a lot more. Sorry for the long post!