Interracial relationships in soaps

[MichaelGL]

Yes Madison made the Hubbard's lives a living hell BUT once they found out about the abuse Madison was dealing with courtesy of her father, the Hubbards and Erica all sided with Madison and helped her muster up the courage to do the right thing. Since then, IMO, she's become a part of the family. From my POV bitchy Madison was just a facade for the mess the real Madison was; a woman dealing with her greedy unloving husband and an abusive father. JMHO.

Back to the topic at hand, Y&R's Neil/Ashley and ATWT's Bonnie/Dusty are the two very obvious instances that prove the hesitance of today's writer to follow through and put forth energy into a interracial pairing. Both relationships started with a bang, and went out with a whimper.

[SFK]

I'm content to see Randi dealing with office politics at Fusion for right now, let her and Frankie have a little happiness before she goes off to run the Paris office and they end up getting a divorce.

Now Natalia and Scott, I like that, though not at the expense of Brot (trying to avert my eyes from the writing on the wall). I think Natalia and Scott would get on well and Annie trying to keep a leash on Scott would be the main conflict (and I'd love to see Natalia handle Miss Annie). Wherever Natalia's love life leads her, I hope the writers aren't married to this idea of her being neurotic and super cautious about relationships (granted, she has some interesting family history on the subject but if she's going to be the type of person who's always looking for reasons not to get into a relationship, that's going to get really old really fast... first step would be a guy who's not on the force). BTW, have Brot and Natalia kissed, made out, had sex? I think we're still on kiss, right, like under mistletoe?

[Quent]

After years of black characters playing sidekick roles (Roy Franklin, Tucker, Heather Dalton), ATWT hit pay dirt with great characters like Camille Bennett, Denise Maynard, Ben Harris, and , of course, Jessica Griffin. These characters were in major storylines with front-burner storylines. Camille went toe-to-toe with the great Dr. John Dixon, and Denise was heavily involved in a baby-switch s/l with ATWT's signature couple , Lily and Holden. Jessica had a fascinating story with Marshall Travers, who was a great villain, who just happened to be black. Then, all the color went out of Oakdale. I was encouraged when Bonnie flirted with Holden and got together with Dusty, but it's been zilch ever since.

As much as I love Tamara Tunie, though, I don't blame TPTB for splitting up Duncan and Jessica. They were two great performers who , unfortunately, seemed more like brother and sister than husband and wife. Duncan and Shannon had all the heat.

[Bright Eyes]

Let's not forget the very first interracial romance in soaps ... David Banning and Valerie Grant. If only it all went as planned.

[DRW50]

My issue with Marshall and Jessica was the story focused on destroying Jessica's self-respect and integrity because this was supposed to show us what a big man Marshall was. This type of stuff was all over ATWT with Sheffer in charge.

I thought Duncan and Jessica had some chemistry, although for me Duncan and Shannon did have a little more passion. Unfortunately the show did not know what to do, they didn't know how to write for Shannon anymore, and the stories they gave her were very dispiriting. Marland always gave Shannon ridiculous backstory which could be tackled with humor and zest. To have Shannon return as a prisoner, as someone who had delivered a stillborn child and had had a mental breakdown, it was a bad choice. They ended up souring all the characters in the storyline.

I really liked the friendship between Camille and John. They fired her so unexpectedly and I still think it was wasted potential. At the time I thought they decided they would not write for 3 black women, but then, they soon stopped writing for Denise and Cassandra Creech left, so they barely managed to write for 1.

[DRW50]

What were the original story plans for them?

[Bright Eyes]

Nothing specific, but they were supposed to be end game. David sleeping with Trish and her getting pregnant with Timothy/Scotty was the forced re-write that shot it all to hell. Pat Falken Smith really fought for the Grants to become a main family for the show.

[marceline]

That's something else. Writers 10 or 20 years ago saw value in diversity overall and actually fought for it. Wasn't there a writer at GL who almost quit over Bridget/David? I'm fuzzy on that history. But now those types of people - the Curlees, Malones, Labines - are just out of the business and most have been very clear that they want nothing to do with soaps anymore while this current crop worships homogeneity. For them its all about making the sausage and those of us who look at the process are destined to wish we hadn't.

[DRW50]

I think Patrick Mulcahey left because the show didn't go with the Bridget/David story he'd set up.

It still bothers me that P&G spent all those years slowly getting more conservative viewers to accept black characters and relationships, then interracial pairings, and suddenly it was all shot to pieces. This was when soaps still had individual identities and different types of viewers and in its own way what P&G was doing was as important as the more progressive ABC soaps. Then progressive became a dirty word for all soaps.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Patrick Mulcahey DID QUIT in 1994 when PGP scrapped his plans to pair these characters. Though, Nancy Curlee had also wanted to do it a year or two before and wasn't allowed, but you could clearly tell that was the direction they wanted to go in all along. Kat/David was great, but Bridget and David were soulmates.

[Cheap21]

I didnt know which was what but I knew one parent was Japanese. I beleive the other is Spanish. I didnt realzie it at first but after I found out, I can kinda see it in her eyes. She has a pretty exotic look to her and now I can understand where she gets it from

[ChitHappens]

ATWT broke all kinds of records when they had 4 black males on the show at one time, each with a story. But then they broke other records by disposing of 3 in a matter of a year (give or take). The worst part about that was they kept Pete Parros over Lamman Rucker or even Real Andrews. PP beats out Kristoff St John for the most boring black male on daytime ever! Turning Marshall into a rapist? Huh?

The story of Doc was over before it truly began, and I was so ready for that. Jessica and Margo's long standing friendship jeapordized over a man neither of them could stake a claim because both women were married. Margo fantasizing about this gorgeous man while Jessica sleeps with him? Why did they squander that story I will never know. I ran home every day from work to rewind my tape for that but it was abruptly scrappped and Doc was gone.

Real's character (forget his name) and Barbara? Loved that too. He brought out the absolute best in her, but of course, that was scrapped too and he was gone.

ATWT sucked major rhino balls after that! Haven't been a fan since!

ANDREA

[DeeeDee]

Technically 6.

Too bad it didn't last.

[JackPeyton]

There is NO reason these ladies were not front burner. They are three of the best actress' to hit soaps in the past decade and do so much with so little. Id kill to see Tika play half the [!@#$%^&*] Bree/Melissa/kristen/etc get. Shannon is in good company on AMC but she is much better than most of them. They did a chem test with her and Ryan and they shoulda went there and oushed her front and center.

[NoUNfoMe]

They treat Shannon like a damn stepchild on AMC! They obviously don't know what they have over there. She should be a leading lady but that will never happen! I've always loved Tika and I wish Daphnee would come to AMC!!!