Days: Two Actors Out

[koos]

Funny, I feel the complete opposite. I think it's getting worse and less tolerable by the day. I haven't even made it through the whole week yet, but I have a feeling that tomorrow will be the last episode I watch for a good while. It's starting to get the same "Why is he/she saying that? Why is he/she doing that? What happened to that character development?" feeling that it had two years ago, and for the first few months of this year, in my opinion.

[Vanguardian]

They really wasted Renee's time by bringing her back. I wouldn't be surprised if Marcus Patrick turns up on DTV's Passions playing a new character. The show is famous for studly, bad actors and Marcus would fit right in there (plus he's been on Passions before playing the part of Father Denny).

[Money]

So let me get this sraight... Lexie and Abe are viable characters only if they appeal to a BLACK AUDIENCE??? How about TPTB actually being invested in them so they can appeal to all races, thereby not having to write them as "black characters". I don't hear anyone saying Deidre and Drake are too old therefore they don't appeal to the younger demographic. Nor do I hear anyone saying they need to get rid of their Caucasaian characters because they aren't white enough. Jeez! With this type of logic no wonder James and Renee remained tokens all these years.

[Khan]

>> What's the use of having black characters if they don't bring in that demographic?

Say what!?

That isn't the only reason to include Black characters, you know. Believe it or not, a lot of White viewers would like to see a little diversity, too.

>> Get a really good story going and try to attract black 18-39 yr. old viewers. That's

a huge Demo that the soaps have lost in recent years.

Frankly, that has nothing to do with it. Soaps have lost Black viewers for the same reason they've lost everyone else. The stories are dreadful, the characters are unrecognizable, and the newer, more one-dimensional actors are being "pimped" by these shows at the expense of the ones they've known and loved for years.

If your theories held any water, CBS, then GENERATIONS would still be on the air. But, guess what? The white folks stayed away...and so did the blacks, lol.

[allatwitter]

Black characters are only useful if they attract black viewers?

And what does "written as black folks" mean? You can't tell they are black by looking at them? How does one properly write black folks?

[MikeGoldy]

I want Lexie on the show, because Lexie is a DiMera, and I think Renee Jones is a wonderful actress. But the main question I have is, why does have to leave again, and Josh Taylor gets to stay!?

[Khan]

>> And what does "written as black folks" mean?

Apparently, if a Black character isn't written as a jive-talking, tap-dancing, watermelon- and fried chicken-eating simpleton, he ain't being real.

[Khan]

>> But the main question I have is, why does have to leave again, and Josh Taylor gets to stay!?

Because, I think, Lexie is a DiMera, and Ed Scott, along w/ Hogan Sheffer, wants to phase out that family.

Now, if you'll excuse me, this Black viewer has to iron his dashiki in time for the Earth, Wind & Fire concert tonight.

[MikeGoldy]

LOL. Still, I want Renee Jones on the show, and I want my Lexie I always wanted a big rivalry between Lexie and Kate, I think Koslow and Jones would rock that

[Shawn]

Talk about ignorant.

The problem isn't whether or not they are being written as black folks, its that they aren't being written for PERIOD.

[ChangedBYSon]

Excuse me, Money, but the reason the Winters on "Y&R" appeal to ALL RACES...is because they

are realistically written as everday Black Folks.

You immediately believe them.

The same cannot be said for boring ass "no lines" Abe and Lexie.

Do they ever say ANYTHING black people would say?

Celeste is a whole other story--she has incredible appeal that hasn't been used in years,

but Abe and Lexie have never been given the FLAVOR that Neil and Drusilla got.

Another good example is the PHENOM couple of Jesse and Angie on "All My Children" many

years ago. They had the entire black community under their spell and were superstars

in that demo just as Neil, Drusilla and Malcolm were.

LIVIA on "AMC" is another good example of an exciting black character that black viewers

could get behind. Evangeline was also really popular.

AND YES...they certainly do need to be RELATABLE and have black audience support

to keep from getting AXED from these shows.

Apparently, you have no idea how HUGE the black daytime viewing audience is and how

that one group has made many of these shows "Y&R", "AMC", "GH" into #1 hits.

Don't forget that the title song from "General Hospital" went to #1 on the R&B charts in

1980. Black viewers made Luke and Laura a Phenom just as well as whites, and their

ratings could not have been achieved without that black demo.

White people LIKE YOURSELF don't understand that "black audiences" want to see characters

who remind them of themselves--Drusilla, Jesse, Angie, Livia, Evangeline-----DID THAT.

Abe and Lexie don't.

They're boring as wood.

They need to bring Tek back and give Lexie some real HEAT again.

That was the only time she ever had a good storyline IMO.

[ChangedBYSon]

WRONG!

Thanks for the nice "Politcally Correct" answer--but see my last post.

Even the Upper Class HUXTABLES on the Cosby Show were given a "context"

relating to their heritage and their experience as black professionals.

The current film "Why Did I Get Married" is another prime example of HUGE SUCCESS

occuring when black professionals are portrayed as multi-dimensional.

Abe and Lexie have no flavor.

FOR INSTANCE

When Lexie was talking to Shawn in his hospital bed,

they should have had her say:

"Shawn, I know things look bleak...but believe me...Prayer changes everything,

and no matter how bad this seems...you can always make a way out of now way."

Of course, you wouldn't recognize the cultural context of those lines.

But THATS how they need to write Lexie's lines.

[Roman]

OK. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Whether Lexie and Abe have "Flavor" or not is left up to the individual.

But please. Show the very same respect for others that you would want yourself.

And, even if you agree with someone, there is really no need in telling someone what they get and don't get.

Thanks.

[Khan]

I'm in the middle of picking out my 'fro and fixing tonight's collared greens and cornbread; so, I don't have too much more time to spend on this issue. BUT...

>> the reason the Winters on "Y&R" appeal to ALL RACES...is because they are realistically written as everday Black Folks.

Number one, their ethnicity has little, if anything, to do with their appeal (that is, if they ever had any appeal; I can think of more than a few people who didn't give a damn about the nauseating Neil/Dru/Nathan/Olivia quadrangle, or who only cared about the Neil/Dru/Malcolm triangle, b/c Shemar Moore happened to be a very fine-looking, if extremely limited, actor); and number two, even if your narrow-minded views about "realistic" Black people on TV were correct, limp-wristed and mealy-mouthed Lily Winters is hardly Soul Sistah No. 1.

>> Do they ever say ANYTHING black people would say?

And just what, pray tell, do Black people say?

I doubt Abe and Lexie ever say anything that intelligent people would say, but that's true of all characters on DAYS, and hardly indicative of their ethnicity, or lack thereof.

>> [AMC's Angie and Jesse] had the entire black community under their spell and were superstars in that demo just as Neil, Drusilla and Malcolm were.

Okay...

1) Again, it wasn't just the black community, but the majority of AMC fans.

2) That was due more to Agnes Nixon and Wisner Washam's skillful writing - b/c, certainly, if those two had been mired in crap story after crap story, no one, regardless of race, would've cared.

3) As popular as Neil/Dru/Malcolm might've been for some people, they will never hold a proverbial candle to Jesse and Angie, or their popularity - and frankly, comparing the latter to the former is insulting.

>> Apparently, you have no idea how HUGE the black daytime viewing audience is and how that one group has made many of these shows "Y&R", "AMC", "GH" into #1 hits.

And apparently, you have no idea that when these shows were number-one, each of them had only one or two actors on contract. Most of AMC's Angie Hubbard's family were off-contract/recurring characters; GH had only Simone Hardy and Scotty's friend, Bryan (who, along w/ girlfriend Claudia, was off-contract); and Y&R had Tyrone, Amy and Mamie, who was recurring. Y&R increased their "quota" to pick up displaced GENERATIONS fans, sure; but it wasn't as if the sudden infusion (of Neil, Olivia, Drucilla, Mamie, and Nathan) suddenly put them at the top of the ratings. Y&R was already number-one - and believe me, the story about Tyrone Jackson going undercover as a white man to infiltrate the mob had little to do w/ it.

>> When Lexie was talking to Shawn in his hospital bed, they should have had her say:

"Shawn, I know things look bleak...but believe me...Prayer changes everything,

and no matter how bad this seems...you can always make a way out of now way."

I don't know, CBS, that sounds awfully white to me.

Perhaps, if Lexie were to call Shawn "Honey lamb," that would make the difference?

[David_Vickers]

I'm not African-American and I love Abe, Lexie, & Celeste and do NOT want either of these fine characters and the actors who play them---James Reynolds, Renee Jones & Tanya Boyd---- off the show. C'mon Ed Scott keep all of them on the show.