Best and the Worst Black Storylines

[DRW50]

I don't like to think about Jamal and Allison, it depresses me, and also leads to memories of Rafe the vagrant, stuttering angel.

I think it was a big step forward in terms of acceptance when the CBS soaps and P&G soaps incorporated black characters, because ABC was known as having more "issue" soaps, as being edgier. To see black faces on a show like ATWT or GL was more of a sign of something changing.

Unfortunately, we know where that went, but I grew up loving characters like Mamie, Dru, Gilly, Jessica, Hamp and although I know they weren't what Jesse and Angie are in terms of importance, they still meant a lot, especially the very casual way the characters were integrated while still having their own communities and lives. That is something which I did not even notice at the time. Now, in the era of THAT BLACK STORYLINE, it's a marvel.

[Cheap21]

I may be in the minority but I liked Neil and Victoria and hated when they prematurely ended

Tom and Simone on GH were another good interracial couple. I beleive they were the first to get married on daytime. GH had some good black characters in the late 80s/early 90s

Was the Raymond/Amber/Rick story the first interracial WTD story? On Footballers Wives, one of the most memorable lines was white Lucy asking the doctor during her first ultrasound if they could tell if the baby was black? LOL

[DeeeDee]

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE.

[Adam]

Weren't the network execs getting nasty e-mails from biggoted viewers in the south? Is that what killed them?

[SFK]

Wow, Norma Donaldson pretty much cornered the market there on bad black soap mothers. She would have been my pick to play Taylor Roxbury Canon's grandmother dear, Vivian Taylor Roxbury's mummie. I find her very watchable, I'd like to see all of her Y&R stuff, God rest her soul.

I wasn't watching GH then. I remember a bit of Stephanie's Simone before she left for OLTL, but mostly Felecia Bell who was involved with Justus and Jack Wagner as Tom, and of course little Tommy who wasn't too keen on Justus.

[DeeeDee]

Kristoff & Heather were getting it at HOME.

[Adam]

Oh yeahh.... I remember reading that now.... its really pathetic how some fans who have really distorted the line between fiction and reality. I mean come on now.....

[DeeeDee]

Viewers defend it so why not right?

[DRW50]

Did Simone ever have an exit? She disappeared not long after Guza took over.

[SFK]

Good question, I don't remember a clean exit. I want to say that she and Tommy left town before Justus did. Little Tommy was a real brat towards Justus.

And it's a shame that Steve and Audrey's handsome biracial grandson has never been SORASed and brought to the show.

[Vee]

IIRC - and this may be wrong - Nathan Purdee's interplay with Tonja Walker as Alex was very popular in his early days at OLTL. They played and wrote it as flirtatious and a bit dangerous, and I seem to recall hearing that Hank and Alex were in fact promoted as a couple in some areas or to some affiliates.

I've always liked Hank and felt the character could do a lot more. If they could get him back, I'd've put him with Andrea Evans' Tina. That would be a real shock to the system. At his best, Purdee had a very dry, droll humor which would've been perfect opposite her.

[DRW50]

Why do you want to kill Tommy

[DeeeDee]

+1.

[DRW50]

They seemed to be testing Alex with several men after Carlo died. The clips I've seen with Alex and Herb Callison were surprisingly good -- she was probably more his type of woman than he might have realized.

Alex and Hank would have been great together, and very hot. RJ/Alex were fine but they were also a little too much alike.

There was such an intensity about Nathan Purdee which was often ignored, or the show was afraid of it. I remember those hot fantasies he had with Carlotta.

There was so much they could have done with Hank, it's crazy. It's even crazier when you realize there was only one reason why they didn't.

[Vee]

I think they were afraid of it, and you're correct, he was intense. At one point I thought it would've been interesting to have Hank return as a defense attorney which would've immediately given Purdee more to do than stand around saying, "How are you holding up, Bo?"

Also, his "relationship" with Rae made me want to gouge out my eyes. That was so gross.