Victoria Rowell: "Debbi Morgan wanted to come to Y&R"

[SFK]

I think it's awesome that these actors are working, and I love that he's got this studio down in Atlanta and everything, but the sitcoms are just... sleepy. You're right, it's like they can't decide if they want to be sitcoms or what, and dramedy is GREAT on sitcoms (see clip below), but something's just missing here. It also looks like actors are ad-libbing (in dramatic scenes as well, there was a fight between a couple I saw the other day and they were stepping over each other's lines as if they were improv'ing it) which can have great results with the right direction, but again, something's just missing... the shows aren't tight enough.

They need to study THIS:

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[DeeeDee]

WIN.

[alphanguy74]

PLEASE.... I have known and/or dated every "type" of person on QAF, it' the TRUTH and we just have to get a grip and deal. I have had many people tell me I have "exquisite" taste in all things, so dear, I have no issues there. And since QAF was Showtime's highest rated show for quite some time, many others agree with me. EVERY queen I knew watched that. Local bars threw PARTIES around the broadcast, for Pete's sake!

[DeeeDee]

And overseas.

Despite being told repeatedly that people would NOT watch a Black Drama.

[Khan]

Nice try. ;-)

We've come a long way from "Beulah." I'm the first to acknowledge that, and the first to be grateful for it. Shows such as "The Cosby Show" and "Family Matters" took great pains to write mostly "color-blind" stories, and I'm grateful for that, too. Along the way, however, writers and producers alike fell into this line of thinking that it was enough just to portray us as something other "skinnin'-and-grinnin' coons." Guess what? It wasn't, and it isn't. You can't just put an upwardly mobile Black family in a nice® neighborhood and say well done. You have to flesh out these characters, too, and pay attention to things like "story" and "character development." IOW, the same aesthetic standards we all hold predominantly Caucasian shows to, we must hold predominantly Black shows to as well. We shouldn't give a particular series a free pass or a proverbial pat on the back just b/c it features Blacks who aren't somebody's maid or the whore. It should also follow filmmaker Billy Wilder's advice and not bore the audience.

[Khan]

As well as she should. SNL had no business promoting a "comic" who wasn't even being ironic in his sexist and misogynistic "humor." Frankly, I consider hiring him to guest-host a low point in that show's history.

[Khan]

Tyler Perry might know his way around a good, spontaneous joke, but he has absolutely no "story sense" (a cardinal sin of entertainment, if you ask me), and he needs a director who knows how to work with performers, listening to their ideas and telling them what works and what doesn't.

[ReddFoxx]

Agreed, there are so many of these loudmouth's out there, the comparisons for the troll are overwhelming.

[alphanguy74]

then why do so many in this thread say that lack of story for Black characters are the reason Y&R is losing viewers? Are you saying that if they wrote EVERY black character off the show, and the writing became good again, then it would get the black audience back? That makes sense to me, cause I watch fagless shows all the TIME... but Vicky sure don't see it that way.

[DRW50]

Wilona was always the best part of Good Times (along with Florida and James).

That audience is so involved..."She's got it on tape!"

Penny's biomom reminds me of Judy Garland for some reason.

[Khan]

Because, if that's what they're saying -- and I don't fault them for saying that -- then that's what they believe. I, however, believe differently. I believe Y&R's losing viewers for the same reason soaps in general are losing viewers: the stories, such as they are, are not engaging; and too much airtime is being devoured by actors and characters who simply don't deserve the attention. Period.

I'm saying if Y&R got back to being Y&R and stopped being THE EDGE OF NIGHT, it would lure back a lot of people who remembered what it was like to tune in everyday and enjoy what they were watching.

Besides, we all agree everyone, Black and White, watched Y&R back in the day to see Jill being fabulous and "Miss Chancellor" being rich. Right? ;-P

[Khan]

I love moments like that. Moments when the audience forgets that what they're watching unfold is "make-believe," b/c the characters and story are just so engrossing. Remember when Edith Bunker, on "All in the Family," finally stopped her attempted rapist by shoving a burnt cake in his face, then ran out of her and Archie's house? You could almost feel the audience bleachers' shake, they were cheering and stamping so loudly. God, I wish I could write stuff that provoked that kind of reaction!

[SFK]

It's the mouth and the voice, that kind of "bubble" in the throat sound, I dunno, hard to explain. But that of course is Chip Fields, Kim Fields' mother. Kim was also on the show as one of Penny's friends.

The audience was the unsung additional character of every scene, the best is the scene where Penny shoplifts at Christmas.

[SFK]

And all these years and we still don't have a black Miss Chancellor, can you imagine the pop culture icon she would be? A role Josephine Premice would have ROCKED.

There's still time for Jenifer Lewis.

[DRW50]

You should have started this thread