Y&R: Significant Decline in Black Viewers?

[Chris B]

Adding on, I loved how different all the black characters were from each other and that they weren't all related. You can say Dru is an over the top, sassy diva, but was Olivia anything like Dru? Was Callie? Was Keesha (was she black?)? Even looking at the men there is a diversity so everyone could see themselves. I thought it was a fairly honest portrayal of black people. Right now they're too vanilla for my tastes. It feels like they're just place cards for diversity. The writers clearly have no interest in Kristoff. Otherwise he wouldn't be thrown with Karen. It's sick that they don't value Kristoff after so many years with the show.

[DeeeDee]

It depends. lol

Exactly.

Nia Peeples being a perfect example.

An attractive, mature, capable actress shoehorned into a pointless relationship.

It really is.

He & Doug Davidson are so underrated it's sad.

[marceline]

I think the "all black people don't act the same" discussion we're seeing in the comments actually highlights part of the problem. There is no singular "black" experience so one character can't appeal to that whole demo. And this goes for any minority group: Latinos, gay people, etc... Some black people relate to Flavor Flav, others to Tiger Woods. Some people could relate to Dru, others to Malcolm but everybody can't relate to one character that's why there needs to be a number of characters with a range of experiences. While primetime has gotten more diverse on a lot of levels, soaps went screaming in the opposite direction.

Yes shows need great writing and great stories but if I look at a show and see that everybody looks alike that's a pretty good indication to me that I won't get either. Good writing takes imagination and if a show can't "imagine" a world where somebody in it looks like me, then perhaps I'm better off taking a chance on a show that can.

ETA: Actually I don't even need to see people who look and/or act like me as long as they don't all look and/act alike.

[MarkH]

This is so interesting.

I wrote about this very topic yesterday in the Y&R weekly thread.

The thing I am liking about the Ana/Tyra add is that they aren't playing the "race" card...they're building emotional resonance. Ana and Tyra represent "the other side of the tracks" that Dru came from...and from a hazy distance when Neil looks at Ana and Tyra, he probably sees a young Dru and Lily. These are much better pathways to his heart than the cold, austere Karen...unable to commit and unable to warm up (as her singing stage fright showed).

I see them now setting up the Karen-Tyra contrast...so when Neil picks her, he has followed his true nature once again. Then, of course, the stage is set for Dru's return.

If this is good emotional storytelling that HAPPENS to involve persons of color, some viewers might come back, including viewers of color. I wouldn't hold my breath though. Lapsed viewers never come back in substantial numbers.

[Wales2004]

Very true. I was watching a show last week that suggested the way to fix diversity and the portrayal of certain groups of people was to have the "right" people behind the scenes. Theoretically this could be part of the solution as long as, for instance, the black people that are designated to work behind the scenes understand that black people aren't all cut from the same cloth. If you've got black people behind the scenes that are promoting the idea that all black people speak and act the same, that all black women are angry, etc. then there won't be progress.

In order to get to that point though, the majority of black people have to understand and respect differences of people within their race and understand that one person can't easily speak for the masses. Things have changed in that black people don't exist in one big cluster sharing the same experiences. The Cosbys is an example of a show that took some flak from certain black people for not being an accurate depiction of a black family. It isn't if all black people exist in the same economic condition but since they don't then The Cosbys represented a family who did well but had various problems anyway which is the case for all families, though the nature of the problems may be different.

I also agree that the nature of the storytelling and the quality of the writing makes a huge difference.

[aMLCproduction]

What a great topic. And Indeed, Black biewer ship has been eroding FOR YEARS. We used to have, Malcolm, Olivian, nate, Neil, Dru, Mamie, KeeshaAnd more.. Now we only got Neil and Lily and Devon only count as half. Today's white writers are scared or can't write for Black Characters. Bell had it down to a T.

[dm.]

It's true. These writers at least don't know exactly how to write for Neil, Lily and Devon.... they try their best.

Lily.... I won't talk about her. Everyone knows what I think of the portrayal of this character.

Devon.... hasn't had a good storyline since Dru was there. Now finally something is coming up. But otherwise he isn't that interesting.

Neil.... I love Neil/Karen, but just not with each other. He needs someone exciting.... enters Dru. They need to ask VR back.

[crc]

I stopped watching Y&R for a number of reasons, but as soon as I heard Victoria Rowell was leaving the show, I tuned back in for her final scenes and was sorely disappointe with that cartoonish looking fall over the computer generated cliff.

I have to give LML some credit, she obviously loved writing for Dru and Vicky was THE front burner character of 2006. I will never forgive the cast for not giving a pre-nom cause she rocked it and carried that show for whole freaking year. Anyway, I give the hack credit for seeing the value of the character and actress, but as someone already mentioned, she turned her into the crazy, angry, desperate black woman and it was just frustrating to watch.

Y&R, at least for the years I've watched it, always had a diverse Black cast of characters. There was always someone to appeal to different Black viewers. And they were integral to the show. I don't know where they're at know, but I gather that the show doesn't do either of these things so much anymore and that's sad.

I do want to say, as a Black viewer, I don't need to have Black characters to tune into a show. I tune in for good story and good characters first and foremost. Hell, the only soap I'm watching now is B&B and until recently it was the WHITEST friggin soap on air. LOL! But, Y&R set THE standard and had a very special thing going on their Black viewership and sadly, they seem to have slipped up. This is the same show that had a study that showed they were losing tons of black viewers several years ago and made every effort to bring them back. They brought back Victoria Rowell, Shemar Moore and for one year, there was dozen Black characters on the show at one time. They used to even integrate input from people like Vicky regarding story, dialogue, clothing, etc. It's just all so sad.

[MoTheGreat]

I remember Victoria Rowell said Mr. Bell use to ask for her input about Dru. But CK & the others are just going with the flow.

[aMLCproduction]

Indeed, esp with some of the slang words Dru and Malcolm used which is Y Dru should be helping to write the dialog. Not only that, with all these HW's and Exc changes, the long term vision gets lost. Prolly another reason y Y&R is a sinking sad ship. Y&R's black characters were the corner stone of Y&R. I know SO MANY BLACK Y&R viewers, well used to be veiwers. It was the number one soap for black America.

Indeed, esp with some of the slang words Dru and Malcolm used which is Y Dru should be helping to write the dialog. Not only that, with all these HW's and Exc changes, the long term vision gets lost. Prolly another reason y Y&R is a sinking sad ship. Y&R's black characters were the corner stone of Y&R. I know SO MANY BLACK Y&R viewers, well used to be veiwers. It was the number one soap for black America.

[MoTheGreat]

Dru try to get LML to let her write some stuff but Lml thought she knew it all. I still believe the stuff Dru would write would have went over CK head.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

As DeeDeee pointed out, LML didn't know how to write for ANY FEMALE CHARACTER. They've were butchered the most under her tenure, and sadly, they've yet to recover.

[DeeeDee]

The way LML wrote every female character was crazy.

Maria may be a snooze but at least under her the female characters are recuperating.

[ReddFoxx]

It also has to do with the stories, which haven't been really up to caliber in recent years. While it's true some the decline in black viewers is because the black characters were phased out, it's not the only reason. When Y&R was diverse, at the same time the stories were well-written and everyone wanted to tune in. The main reason people are tuning out is because Y&R has taken on a completely different tone than before, it's not the same. I honestly think that if Y&R still was diverse, but still had the current type of storyline, it would still be in decline.

[PJA]

As a black person, I would love for them to cater more to their black characters as they used to, but I wouldn't stop watching if they didn't because if that was the case I wouldn't watch Bold and the Beautiful either. A lot of my family members watched Y&R through the years and some still do, but those that don't watch it stopped watching in the 90's when the black characters were still a major priority so it had nothing to do with that.