October 18-22, 2010

[Saving ATWT]

No soap seems to be actively courting the black demo. In a lot of cases, I think minority viewers are just taken for granted and it's just assumed that blacks and latins will tune in. I was somewhat suprised to learn just how many African American fans ATWT had even though the soap had not showcased black characters in MANY years. Also, demos are broken down by race in addition to age, education, income-level, and gender and I'd really love to see these figures. I'm curious to know if these numbers are strong or if this is a case of the networks intentionally avoiding the black female demo due to some economic motive. As for Latino viewers, I think it would be really hard to compete against the Telenovella--better quality and viewers can only consume so much soap. B&B en Espanol does okay and I don't quite understand why other soaps haven't made the effort.

As for OLTL, the show has a really big cast considering it always runs under-budget. I'm new to the show but OLTL seems to have more characters than GH and maybe even Y&R. As for those comments about the Ford bros. being Latino, I had no idea. They remind me of a younger ATWT Snyder family minus the tacky farm house.

[Saving ATWT]

It sucks when anyone's show get cancelled.

[jpoliver78]

You are correct in that OLTL does have a very large (contract) cast, perhaps even the largest in daytime.

I believe the comment about the Ford family was made in jest. The matriarch, Inez, may be part Hispanic (based on the appearance of the actress), but the Ford brothers appear decidedly Caucasian, even downright WASPy. John Wesley Shipp will soon join the cast as the Ford patriarch, Eddie. (Shipp previously played Dawson's dad in WB's "Dawson's Creek".)

To answer an earlier question...no, I do not consider the Evans family when it comes to diversity. Only two members of the family - Destiny and Shaun - have contracts and the parents will likely fade into the woodwork again now that Greg will be written out and his secret is out of the bag. Even lily white B&B - despite being set in L.A. - has an African-American female joining the cast, which makes them about as racially diverse as OLTL when it comes to African Americans. It should be noted, that OLTL at one time boasted a full fledged African-American family called the Gannons, whose only member left is Nora (who isn't even black).

[TeamEric]

Used to be about women? Well, to be fair which era are we discussing. Rauch railroaded the Bukes onto the canvas to remake OLTL into Dallas wannabe. It was only under Gottlieb in the 90s that OLTL returned to a female-centric show with focus more on Nora than Bo, Luna than Max, Viki than Clint, etc.

CR was a nice enough guy but I found him most of the time dull as dirt. Cord was a nice enough guy but a lousy actor. Bob Woods was the one real talent as Phil Carey could go way OOT for my taste.

I am NOT fan of Rex but John and Todd are far more appealing than the crud at GH.

[TeamEric]

Looking at ratings archives, Higley's OLTL bled viewers, too. The last time OLTL was UP year over year in ratings was 2000 under JFP. It lost all her gains under Tomlin.

I think an attempt was made with Nate/Inez to present them as in financial straits with the foreclosure intro. Gigi's been struggling to pay for college. RC just tends to gloss over the "CLASS" issue b/c he's so focused on PLOT PLOT PLOT.

[DRW50]

I think even in the Rauch era, women dominated. Gabrielle. Tina. Viki. Megan. There was also more victimization of women, which is awful to watch, but I think the women that Rauch actually focused on carried OLTL for years. The Buchanan men might have been sexist at times but they also loved strong women. I don't think it was until the Gottlieb era that the Buchanans were written as some type of cavemen. The women were generally stronger in the Gottlieb era but that also came at a price -- Luna was very difficult to write for and her last year or two on the show was with less and less story. Viki was written into a corner and was basically reduced to a victim who had no control over her own life. Tina was marginalized and humiliated.

I don't think women seriously started to take a backseat until the late 90s and it's been getting worse ever since; we're at the point now where it's just default that Todd has this harem, that Jessica has no mind of her own, that Langston and Starr cannot do anything without a man, that Dorian will usually be shown when it's time to get crazy over David, et al.

[DRW50]

I'd also forgotten to mention that the Buchanans were on the show for about 4-5 years before Rauch took over.

[Llantano Incorporated]

Women RAN OLTL in the 80's. The Buchanan men were generally sidenotes in every story. The woman were victimized, but generally won in the end.

[Saving ATWT]

I was being glib regarding the Ford Bros. being Latino; however, I highly doubt any of the actors are Hispanic and the Name Ford is uber-Anglo. The brothers do remind me of the 1980's ATWT Snyder family in that these guys are used as studs from the wrong side of the tracks.

OLTL has too big of a cast in that they have too many similiar characters doing too many similiar things and this often takes away from tight story telling. When I first began tuning in, I had trouble telling all of the blond 30somethings apart. I realize they all have history and, therefore, fan bases but wish TPTB would mix thing up a bit and make the show a bit more diverse. The Evans family is just window dressing and none of the characters as is really stand out. A stunt cast like Victoria Rowell would be a great move to pump some life into the family.

BTW, Dorian on OLTL reminds me of Lisa on ATWT. Lisa might as well have been Mayor and both characters shoot campy one liners. The more I watch OLTL, the more that I notice that the two show copied each other in various ways. Llanview is like Oakdale with a budget.