Diversity in Soaps: Black Characters, Gay Characters, Latino Characters

[Ann_SS]

Ugly Betty is the most diverse prime time show with well told stories for its minority characters unlike Grey's Anatomy which is written and produced by an African American woman. Apart from Ugly Betty, I think the best ethnic diversity is on the procedural shows where the writers do not have to have many stories about the personal lives of the minority actors.

[miajere]

Primetime can be just as unimaginative. ABC shows throw a bone out whenever possible to a diversity, but lets face it- diversity usually implies taking a white whole and adding a sprinkle of this, a sprinkle of that. It's still out to imply that white America lies at the center of the equation and for alot of people, not just those of color that isn't the case. Nor do gay characters solve the problem, because they too tend to leave out the racial implications involved in sexuality, dating, etc. If I'm a black lesbian- is Nuke supposed to rock my boat?

With some breakout cop shows they find it in their heart to pair a white cop with a black to differentiate from one show from another. Yet no one has had the balls to recreate New York Undercover?

The last show that I watched that truly displayed the multi-faceted aspects of America was the Wire. The show was very much split down the middle, with blacks ranging across the economic board, as well as the white characters. Gay and lesbians were not ushered out as some social story, but were given s/l outside their sexuality. Unfortunately, for most people tuning in it was viewed as being predominately black and being about drug pushers. Yet their following is just as loyal as Mad Men if not more so. I even stumbled onto a blog out to recreate the magic by re-watching the show and commenting as if they'd never seen it. Needless to say, I think most dramatic roles for AA end up on HBO. They aren't recognized so much during Emmy selection, but...

I once watched the directors commentary on a television show for ABC, and the creator went into lengths about why they had trouble getting a specific s/l to the one black actress on the show- the network concerns, to put it in their words, "they just weren't buying it". This wasn't 20 years ago, it was less than 5. Even my beloved Audra McDonald takes a backseat to Kate Walsh on Private Practice, and the wellness center is supposed to be hers!

I'm curious about other shows, what they're about, how they work; but there are few shows on primetime that have captured my imagination, and every year the primetime lineups are announced I find one maybe two shows worth my time during the week. Some viewers have taken to implementing Bechdel's test, but very rarely can shows hold up. I have to wonder if POC in dramatic roles are depressing for the American audience?

[MoTheGreat]

Even before they thought about Luke being gay. I thought ATWT should have made Casey gay where he hooks up with Dallas. I thought they could have done a lot with this. It give Margo & Tom a storyline without either of them cheating on each other. You got the cop angle. I'm sure they can do a racial angle to this.

[chyti]

word, even when there are there they are not there. I have a problem with OLTL's diversity in a bubble, but it's my problem since some think just because black people are on the show it counts.

[lovely_m]

Wait a minute, Greg Vaughn wasn't latino!

[miajere]

I'm reminded of that Oprah special where she reported 70% of African American women single/unmarried... She left out the number of those unmarried that are lesbian. The Wire pulled that aspect off beautifully and without any recognition.

AS for the bubble. I don't think the actors would care if they didn't know they were systematically getting the shaft story wise, even in their bubble. I continue to hear people talk to writing black characters, just like everyone else (and I get the colorblind mentality they're after), but what's so frightening that they must forget/leave out the color.Is color bad? I think the writers find this approach easier with Latino characters, they can write them as brunette, and have a wide range of options and recasts available, should the role call for more; but once again that's not going to bring in the audience; and their pursuits are immediately abandoned.

Then there's the issue with finding writers that are POC. I'm certain they're rolling their eyes every time the industry asks they step up more and join in. Especially when they've been knocking on the door for decades.

[Cyberologist]

The same thing happened with Timothy Stickney RJ and Renee E. Goldsberry pairing here was another powerhouse pairing squelched and for what? Perchance they become a kick-A supercouple?

They had no intentions of playing her out with John McBain or Todd Manning in an Interracial pairing and she was rockin' in both storylines but they didn't want her to overshadow so they watered her down....I didn't like her at all with Cris so they didnt do it for me.

[MoTheGreat]

Yeah but he's white. They get white actors to play white latinos & they have to so is throw in a few spanish words to a real latin relative & nobody be the wiser. White people playing latin parts & White latins are inexchangable. Just like when they hire dark latin is play black parts or a latin to play a part they cause for an half black & white character.

[RomeAt50]

That's a good point. I notice with gay characters its mostly just gay white men, there are few women or non white gay men. Or at least judging from what I've seen.

[Vee]

OLTL has done a lot of things right lately with its minority canvas; the Latino, black and gay components are, I feel, fairly strong, moreso than perhaps all other soaps at this point. I can quibble about some of the characters and choices; for example, I'd rather see R.J. and the whole Gannon family than the Evanses, but I do like Greg/Rachel and Destiny has begun to grow on me. That new family needs depth and background, but they have potential and their story is, I feel, much more than just token writing - the medical drama with Shaun has been very heartfelt. Putting aside Terrell Tilford's "Mommie Dearest" performances, the amount of attention given to the build on Greg and Rachel in the last two months has been sadly unprecedented for black characters in soaps these days.

I also am glad to see OLTL always pushing to continue Latino visibility with Antonio gone, even when it's only a tertiary character like Nick. Both Latino and gay, he is clearly an admirable guy, a nice fellow even though he's on the losing end of Kish. Putting him in there as an activist also advances OLTL's social conscience again. You can build on these minor characters (Nick, Mr. and Mrs. Evans, etc) and help them put together a larger whole with the more important minority contract players.

OLTL has done a lot, especially with the gay story, but there's always more to do. The Evans family needs fleshing out, as I said, and R.J. and some other black or gay (or both!) characters who aren't in the same family could help. Nick or Markko could get a relative. Carlotta could get more airplay. We haven't seen an Asian character since Hank's girlfriend Lisa West, and BTW that was another insulting daytime cliche - Asians and Latinos are often used as the de facto, automatic love interest for other characters of color, with no other purpose other than to keep them away from the white people. Who can forget ABC's last stab at an Asian family - the AMC story with "Henry and the Chins" (literally, they were named the Chins) who ran a Chinese restaurant! WTF!

And for that matter, have we ever seen an Indian family? An Arab family? Talia was a great character, but OLTL wasted her.

[alphanguy74]

That's because of several reasons:

1: Lesbian SL's have limited appeal to audiences. Straight women aren't usually interested in them, gay men aren't most of the time, straight men aren't unless dildos are involved. A soap's target audience just won't watch a Lesbian SL for the most part. But straight women will watch a gay man SL all over the place. And straight women and gay men are the primary audience of soaps.

2: Becuase of the homophobia within the black community, soap are afraid to write a gay black character. Just like they are afraid to write a black man involved with a white woman, because of the threats the writers and actors get.

At this point, the only gay chracters I REALLY like on TV are on Brothers and Sisters. I think that show is brilliant. And it might be all white, but if the cast was all black, I'd like it, too. It's just structured very well, well written and well acted.

[All My Shadows]

The fact of the matter is, though, if it was an all black show, ABC would have never in a million bazillion years ever picked it up, ever ever ever everrrrrrrrr. That's what rubs me the wrong way about ABC Primetime. They're way too comfortable with their trendy white girl demographic...I don't see them ever trying to step out of that box until the box begins to cave in on them.

[Chris B]

Actually, lesbian stories on various primetime shows have shown rating spikes, while gay stories haven't so I disagree that less people want to watch lesbian stories. I think lesbians are more acceptable in general so people are less likely to stop watching a show because lesbians are brought on. And Otalia became hugely popular despite poor writing and a lack of affection. That spoke volumes. As for the lack of diversity, I must say there is a lot of racism in the gay community as well, so I don't expect black gay characters even with a gay HW. Look at Chad and Vincent on Passions. They paved the way and got very hot and revealing sex scenes, but where as the Nuke-esque hype? Or the Ram/Kish hype before anything even appeared on screen! They paved the way and got no credit and I think it's because they're black. Both actors were hot too. I understand the story was crazy, but everything on PSNS is crazy.

I appreciate what JER did in terms of diversity on that show. Since Passions debuted, he set the bar for minorities on soaps and THAT'S who I want people to look to. He had no problem having two core families of minorities and giving them stories and integrating them into the cast. As controversial as he was, he had a vision and stuck to his guns. He was fearless. If you look at each soap on air, they've all brought on new families in recent years and none are black. The closest are the segregated purely supporting Evans family on OLTL and B&B's experiment with Justin and Marcus. Instead of Julie Pinson as Janet, why not cast someone like Victoria Rowell? You have a new character who isn't related to anyone (which happens a lot) so if you want--ANYONE can be cast.

Another problem is the built in diversity on these soaps. ATWT could bring back Lien and you have instant diversity! Here Bonnie has a popular romance with Dusty, the only successful story since he returned and they're given no screentime and she's been fired. It's like they just threw the characters together and are upset that it caught on. Don't even get me started on the sea of black characters on Y&R. And it confuses me that DAYS can't figure out anything for Renee Jones, a young and vibrant actress who could easily be mixed up in that cast. AMC has STARS they refuse to write for and GH is sadly a lost cause.

[All My Shadows]

Oh yeah, I totally agree. I think that can just be filed in the "sign of the times" category, though, as it's rare that most characters on a given soap are written with more than one or two dimensions. I guess my main point is that...if the minority characters are being written like [!@#$%^&*] just like the other characters, don't gloss over the shittiness by given heaping on praise just because they had the guts to actually put a minority on the screen. Don't let them think they're doing something right when in truth, they're still doing it all wrong. coughNUKENUKENUKENUKENUKEcough.

One of the things that turned me off of DH (a show that I was obsessed with during it's first season and most of the second and third) was how A.Wood was given this horrific story (fantastic character, though) to play and was ditched after the year was done, but Dana Delany came on board with a story that was also pretty lame, yet she's still around for more lame stories to come. Also, I love how once Andrew's sexuality stopped being a thorn in Bree's side, he just became a punchline every now and then. Of course, the show is about the wives, but the first and second seasons were able to successfully intermingle the lives of allll of Wisteria Lane's residents very well, but I guess that reflects more on the show's changes than on changes in how they've written a particular character.

[Vee]

If they had to do the lame Janet/Liberty intro on ATWT, it would have been at least interesting to have let them be black, Asian, Latina, or otherwise. I think Michael Park would've worked well with any number of daytime's underused actresses of color. Instead Janet, Liberty and that damn sister are just another trio amongst the gaggle of anonymous white folks on that show these days.

I never cared for Evangeline on OLTL, and I think her exit and Kish were the best things that ever happened to Layla, who would never have developed if she was still around. While REG was a beautiful woman and talented, I felt Evangeline as a character was another Lily-type, and then she was neutered further in that classic daytime way so as not to offend anyone, and then made sanctified a la Y&R's Christine or Natalia Livingston's Emily on GH. I don't think that's a good model for any character of any race, and I thought her two interracial romances, while perhaps laudatory by virtue of their very existence onscreen, were poorly written and acted, the way any other bad story with a same-race couple would be. Also, OLTL seemed to use Evangeline's character as a bludgeon to ward off criticism, or doing anything else with anyone else the audience might care for. No time for Layla, or for the Gannons, who audiences genuinely loved and cared for - the attitude was, who needs minority characters with personality when you have Evangeline making out with the leading men? I feel that's the same kind of blackmail Y&R now practices with Lily.