FOX's Tribes (1990)

[dc11786]

@victoria foxton Thanks. I'm working my way through week six (early April 1990) and I have to say things are gelling a bit better. The main stories remain Anny's pregnancy, the deconstruction of the Cox family, and the building tension within the Pressfield household over Chris' growing friendship with his new stepmother, Pamela. 

After being visited by a truancy officer at Toppers', Anny makes the decision to return home and try to talk things out with her parents. The confrontation between Anny, Matt, and her parents, Carl and Sophie, is fairly strong for the show. Anny proves to be as stubborn as her father, Carl, and remains determined to keep her baby and raise the child as a single mother even if she is only fifteen years old. As the conversation builds, Carl's motives become increasingly clear until he flat out states the obvious; he doesn't want to get stuck with Anny's kid the way he got stuck with his sister Bobbie's. Matt, the said child the Kubiaks were stuck with, warns his aunt and uncle that they run the risk of not only losing their daughter, but also their grandchild. The acting isn't always the strongest, and sometimes the dialogue can be a bit clunky, but the situation is well crafted. 

In reference to @danfling's point regarding the "Ryan's Hope" connection, the Kubiaks are a working class ethnic family, seemingly second and third generation, that contrast the upper middle class white collar Cox clan and the well off, but not untouchable, Pressfield family. Carl can be Johnny Ryan-lite at times. Anny is definitely a young woman in the mold of a Ryan girl; she wants to study law. Bobbie Kubiak is definitely a less complex Delia with Matt filling the role of the abandoned John Reid. After deciding not to have an abortion, Anny informs Lorraine, and the audience, that she wants to be a supreme court judge one day. Timing is everything.  

As a follow up, Anny plans to leave town by bus in order to escape her tryannical father, but soon learns you can't go far on thirty bucks. Before she can depart, Sophie and Carl show up at Lorraine's apartment, where Anny has been staying, and makes amends offering her the opportunity to return home and attend the local school which caters to the needs of teenage moms. As a further olive branch, Sophie (a seamstress) has brought a dress for Anny to wear to the Father-Daughter Dinner that evening. 

The Father-Daughter Dinner is shown. Despite this being an opportunity for stories to intersect, sadly it doesn't occur. The show  has a limited number of female characters. Carl and Anny's arrival is one of the final moments of the episode, but we never have to see any of the actual fallout. There are moments of snickering, but there is no opportunity for Carl to defend his daughter or for Anny to react to returning to the school environment. 

Also at the Father-Daughter Dinner are Stacey and Melinda Cox with their dad Ian. This is the first family get together since an aborted dinner several episodes earlier where a process server arrived to deliver Virginia divorce papers. The lead up to the dinner is a ride for the Cox girls. Stacey is adamant she won't go, and Virginia has to coax her into going by refusing to let her use the car. Stacey ends up squirming out of the original plan (Stacey and Melinda going together with a dress prepared by Sophie Kubiak) and instead jets off leaving Melinda in a lurch. At the dinnner at Westdale High, Stacey arrives late wearing a provocative outfit (her shoulders are exposed, oh the horror!) Stacey goads Ian into an argument and only becomes further hurt when she realizes Ian doesn't want Stacey to make a scene because of his business connections. Stacey's rebellion continues to be a thread as Virginia Cox arrives next day for a PTA meeting to discuss dress code only to find Stacey wearing yet another provocative outfit. In the second time in this show's short run, a mother refers to their daughter as a tramp (Sophie Kubiak said something similiar to Anny upon learning she was pregnant). Later, Mr. Stevens, the science teacher, also confronts Stacey about her sullen attitude. 

While Stacey attempts to lash out, Melinda seeks solace from Billy, her boyfriend, who in a beautifully awkward moment tells Billy he cannot know what its like to lose the heart of his family a year after his mother's death. It is a tender moment for the couple, but its only a piece of the larger triangle developing now that Melinda has begun spending time with Billy's best friend, Matt Kubiak. When Matt Kubiak arrives to drop off Stacey's dress, Melinda hitches a ride with her knight in shining armor. While Melinda is at the dinner, Matt and Billy work on mounting a picture of Melinda and Billy. Later, when Melinda stops by Matt's place, it isn't clear whether she has come to see Matt or Billy as she is aware both of them are at Matt's. The two friends, one girl trope is rarely used anymore so I appreciate it. 

The final thread that is getting attention is the growing tension between Billy and Chris Pressfield over Chris' decision to try and build a relationship with their new stepmother, Pamela. Billy has finally convinced Chris to join him, Pete, and some young woman to attend a showing of "Rocky Horror" only for Chris to accept an invitation to go see an exhibit with Pamela at the museum. Billy, of course, flips when he learns that Chris is abandoning him for Pamela. Later, there is a nice scene between Bill and Billy about Chris' social isolation and how neither of them real understand him. Chris is much more sensitive and reserved than either his father or brother, which has also deflated Bill's plans to turn Chris into a salesman. Billy's latest plan to get Chris out of his shell is to throw a party at the Pressfield house to bring people to Chris.  Later, Billy blows a gasket when he spots Pamela and Chris sitting in a booth at Topper's, but Pamela pushes a reluctant Chris to accept Billy's offer of planning the party. 

It's by no means a perfect show, but it has a lot more depth than I initially expected it would. 

[Soaplovers]

I just watched the final episodes that were uploaded onto Youtube (episodes 86 to 90).. and unless the uploader mislabeled the episodes, I do think there 95 episodes for the entire series and not 90 episodes.

Reason I say that is because I was a child when the show was on originally and I was home watching it in the summer, and I remember there were a week of episodes that aired in the Chicago area after the 90th episode before it was canceled.

I think those episodes had to do with JoJo and his trying to impress a new girl.. and Stacy/Daryl still on the run.

[dc11786]

@Soaplovers Interesting to hear about a possible additional week. The Chicago Tribune lists "Tribes" airing at 5pm until Friday, July 6, on Channel 32. On Monday, July 9, "Mr. Belvedere" has taken over that spot.  

The Los Angeles Times states the show's last episode would be on July 13 on their local Channel 11, but the newspaper listings for that station drop Tribes in mid-June. 

It's also possible the final 5 aired in even less markets. I am not sure. I know "The Catlins" is listed as airing a week longer than it is listed in the soap books than it does in the newspaper TV listings. 

 

[dc11786]

Looking back through this thread, I am surprised I didn't post anything post week 6. I know I wrote stuff, but I must not have posted it. Or I posted parts in the "Loving" thread in comparison to Mary Ryan Muniteri's run whihc was about a year after "Tribes."

One of the big shockers for me in the post-week 6 episodes was a "Tea and Sympathy" plot where Big Bill Pressfield, local entrepeneur with a younger trophy wife, suspects his artsy son Chris might be gay. It features a hilariously bad episode teaser where Billy overreacts (on purpose) to the news that his brother is gay. It all leads to Chris bedding down with Carol Delaney (Janice Heiden, weeks before she'd pop up on GH as the spa owner who blackmailed Monica over the affair with Ned). In the available online episodes, there is no connection made between the Delaney clan and Lorraine Delaney. I believe Lorraine leaves just as the other Delaneys are introduced or just before. THis all happens around week 14 when they start to make the major adjustments. 

With the missing episodes, I don't know the fate of Pamela Pressfield. She just seems to disappear around episode 65 or shortly before. I think she was originally tapped to be the Carol Delaney part as there was lots of Pamela / Chris material. Kerry Remsen was the daughter of the casting director so I think when it was clear she was a nepo hire, they dumped the character. 

Stacey Cox's story remains the most impressive with her lying about Mr. Stevens, the friendly science teacher, sleeping wtih her before admitting to someone (I think her sister Melinda) that she was lying. This results in Stacey becoming a pariah and being targeted by Pete, who rapes her in the Cox's living room. The rape story is powerful. Stacey starts calling Darryl at the hotline and attempts suicide before they run off together. Pete seems to genuinely believe that Stacey wanted to sleep with him, which is a bit off putting but also slightly intriguing. Pete's story is very layered. It turns out he has been lying about his identity to fit in with the more elite kids. His father is a scummy con. The rape case brings his father and sister into the story. Earl's reaction to the rape allegation is he was surprised that Pete was even interested in women. There are moments where this could have been very compelling. 

The Melinda / Billy / Matt story was angsty. I didn't like the stretch where Jojo locked Matt and Melinda in a boiler room. That was dumb. Also, the addition of Frankie, Michelle Stafford's runaway character, seems like a Tina replacement. The band story was light and fluffy, but Scott Garrison has a decent enough voice for a daytime show that his singing wasn't distracting. I like that Bobbie was back, but I just think there was a missed moment by not having Bobbie back for more of Anny's pregnancy. 

Jojo and Laura were an intriguing possibility, but I didn't think they could carry the show for long.

 

[Soaplovers]

It also appears as though the premiere of Tribes was pushed back five or six weeks from the 2nd part of January 1990 until the first week of March 1990 according to an LA Times article.   

The creator Leah Laiman lamented on that sudden change of premiere date because they wouldn't be able to make changes/corrections quickly because they would have too many of the episodes already filmed and in the can by the time the show debuted. 

It does explain why the last twenty to twenty five episodes of Tribes had a marked improvement and focused on the characters/stories that were making an impression on the viewers.   Stacey Cox was the breakout character of the soap and I have a feeling had the show not been canceled suddenly that her character would have eventually become the lead character over her onscreen sister (the classic ingenure caught between two guys).

The last five episodes shown/available on Youtube (episode 86 to 90) was heavily focused on the rape storyline involving Pete Sago and Stacey Cox.  What made this story interesting was the fact that both characters had past history of lying.

In fact, the lawyer discussion of having Pete's older sister take over guardianship was to ensure that his lies about being being a wealthy kid wouldn't be exposed in court.. while Stacey's past lies were coming back to haunt her and her on the run story with Daryl had definite summer teen possibilities.

According to Michelle Stafford in an old interview, she had mentioned the story planned for her involve her getting involved with Melinda's ex Billy.   The seeds were planted in earlier episodes where her character Frankie had made moves on Matt, which made Melinda jealous.  So it made sense that Billy and Frankie would have interacted once the whole counterfeit money story arc had resolved.

I remember being a child and watching the show.  The story I remember most was the Mrs Robinson story between Chris and the older woman played by Janice Lynde.  From looking at the Youtube channel, I remember seeing episode 64 when she removed her dress and stood in front of Chris.   Episode 65 had a parental guidance advisory at the start of the episode, so my mom hit record on the VCR so it taped.  After it taped, she watched the episode and I guess the two got hot and heavy in the episode so my mom wouldn't let me watch it.

In these current times, that story was pushing the envelope since the character of Chris was under 18 and she was over 40 so I was surprised that the story was being done.. but seemed to quickly end without anyone really finding out about the two... I don't think.