When was this Wheel episode? I always think of Pat Sajak as being a bit too socially conservative for that, glad to know I was wrong...

I made that up, but it was based on a real contestant I saw several months ago, an older lady who mentioned her "partner of X-how many years." I also saw a man who went to the bonus round and won, and then his guy came from the audience and they hugged and so forth. Pat asked who it was, and the contestant said "This is my boyfriend so-and-so..." I've seen contestants mention same-sex girlfriends and boyfriends on several game shows, mainly Wheel and Millionaire. It amazes me because there's no big deal made out of it, no "Ooooh, your partner? Well, just to let you know, I voted against Prop 8!!" That's really the goal.

Well, really, I just want to see a gay couple in a jewelry commercial. And I want to see black people in something other than Kool Aid and fast food commercials.

I doubt they ever will.

The ironic thing is that they are SO resistant to change their entire networks are being undercut by cable.

If that isn't karma nothing is.

Edited April 18, 201015 yr by DeeeDee

The trouble with Neil and Victoria was that it was not well written.

First of all,it was rushed.After a couple of dates they were suddenly a couple.The original concept of friends dating casually and finding out they had feelings was jettisoned.

Neil had broken up with Dru because he was not happy with her ambitions for her career,yet this was not an issue with Victoria who was always presented as very business orientated.

Then the interraccial aspect was ignored.This was presented by Bell as forward thinking,yet I saw it as ducking an issue that was controversial.I could imagine Nikki or Victor addressing this with their daughter in some way,but nobody said a word.

The interracial aspect wasn't ignored.

There were three problems with Neil/Victoria.

One Kristoff & Heather had NO chemistry. Great chemistry as friends but NO romantic chemistry.

Second Neil & Victoria were both parts of two extremely popular, recently broken up supercouples.

And three the hate mail.

Edited April 18, 201015 yr by DeeeDee

It didn't help that Victoria was pregnant with another man's child throughout the relationship.

It didn't help that Victoria was pregnant with another man's child throughout the relationship.

Or that Neil was still heavily involved with his ex & their child.

I made that up, but it was based on a real contestant I saw several months ago, an older lady who mentioned her "partner of X-how many years." I also saw a man who went to the bonus round and won, and then his guy came from the audience and they hugged and so forth. Pat asked who it was, and the contestant said "This is my boyfriend so-and-so..." I've seen contestants mention same-sex girlfriends and boyfriends on several game shows, mainly Wheel and Millionaire. It amazes me because there's no big deal made out of it, no "Ooooh, your partner? Well, just to let you know, I voted against Prop 8!!" That's really the goal.

Well, really, I just want to see a gay couple in a jewelry commercial. And I want to see black people in something other than Kool Aid and fast food commercials.

Popeye's Chicken Tenders Lady at the Drive-Thru: HAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE.

Popeye's Chicken Tenders Lady at the Drive-Thru: HAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE.

Darius Mother is NOT amused.

Darius Mother is NOT amused.

LOL. Win.

Neil/Victoria were horrible. lol

They sure was I was always thinking why not Malcolm & Victoria but I guess they will still have gotten threats.

They sure was I was always thinking why not Malcolm & Victoria

Exactly.

Heather & Shemar had chemistry with EVERYONE.

Was Amy black? I can't believe Y&R had the mob in the 80's.

Amy was black. And yes, Y&R had mobsters for a while even before this, going back to around 1982, and a couple of peripheral black characters came in around those stories that led to the Tyrone/whiteface story. The first was Commander Lewis, precinct commander for the GCPD and Carl Williams' boss. When the mob framed Carl to make him look like a crooked cop (to end his mob-busting investigations), son Paul went undercover to infiltrate the mob and clear his dad. Commander Lewis was initially the only one who knew Paul's mission and helped set up his cover. Later, they introduced two more black characters. There was Jazz Jackson, a Mr. T clone who was hired muscle for Tony DiSalvo, ex-mob lieutenant turned mob boss who wanted revenge on Paul for foiling previous boss Pete Walker (who framed Carl). And there was Amy Lewis, Commander Lewis' daughter and Paul's original girl friday when Paul started his PI business. Jazz came to work for Paul after helping take Tony down and had a thing for Amy. Then Jazz's brother Tyrone came to GC to work for the DA's office and infiltrated the mob as white Robert Tyrone. "Robert" fell for mafia princess Alana Anthony, even though Amy had fallen for Tyrone over his brother.

I can't imagine a soap story like this playing today but it sounds like a major story with a lot of appeal. We don't have a writer today who could pull this off. And Nathan Purdee was in this.

That was the story that introduced Purdee as Kong, Mr. Anthony's hired muscle. We eventually learned Kong's real name was Nathan and he couldn't read. He took a liking to Amy, who taught remedial reading on the side and, once she realized Nathan was illiterate, she taught him to read. That part of his story later came back to light when they introduced Dru and he taught her to read, giving back what Amy had given to him.

he taught her to read, giving back what Amy had given to him.

Which Dru then paid forward via Devon.

Edited April 18, 201015 yr by DeeeDee

But didn't Bill Bell introduce the Grants on Days of Our Lives and pen a controversial interracial romance there in the 70s?

Actually, that was Pat Falken Smith. By that point, Bill Bell was just a "story consultant"; PFS was DAYS' real HW.