OLTL: Discussion for the week of September 19th

[DRW50]

I do blame RC for a lot of the problems on the show now and I can see that even a few years ago, when they did seem to be making a stronger effort, minority representation wasn't the ideal (mostly because Greg was so poorly cast and written), but I do blame most of the recent stuff on ABC/Frons. Any minority presence was shut down as quickly as possible and is now reduced to insulting tokenism or cliches (everything with Destiny's teen pregnancy).

[EricMontreal22]

Right, it's precisely what soap satires, and people mocking soaps do all the time. I think it can be fun if he does this with a few lighter stories, but it just becomes annoying when always done. AGnes Nixon always quoted someone (Dickens?) saying Make them laugh, make them cry, make them wait as her mantra. But, at her best, she didn't make them wait by repeating the same basic scene with big zoom ins on the clue being missed, etc, over and over. There's development of character and storyline WHILE you're waiting, and hopefully the revelation comes around the same time as it does for the character.

[TeamEric]

You just don't go get it

As a white Latina, I can tell you, the issue is NOT Dani, Inez or Nate's skin color. The issue is the lack of attention paid to their ethnic roots. Dani, at first, had scenes where she spoke some Spanish back to her mom. But that's been all whitewashed out of her character. Nate and Inez each had one token scene addressing her Spanish heritage.

The ties that BIND Latinos of all colors is the common LANGUAGE. Téa was stripped of her language and ethnicity in 1999 and Florencia and Latina fans hated that whitewashing. Ever since her return, Flor admitted she'd had to fight hard for Téa to speak Spanish regularly and retain some ethnicity. The viewers never forget that Téa Delgado is a Latina. But sadly she's the only one left fighting for that ethnicity.

Cris left calling Carlotta MOM, not mami as he always used to... Téa, Carlotta, Cris and even Tomas didn't even exchange goodbyes in Spanish! That was so disappointing...

[TeamEric]

RC simply doesn't do aftermaths and fallout... he just slides right into buiding to the NEXT reveal and a whole new game of WINK WINK at the audience.

I believe Eric nailed it, RC often enjoys SATIRING a soap versus writing one. We joke about Morris should be added to the opening, but can't you see a SNL skit about Morris the porcupine being a lead character? I can. It's often a parody of itself. Some folks really dig RC's satirical writing as GOOD CAMPY FUN... but there is an edge to it that is rather mocking, IMO.

[TeamEric]

I don't let ABC/Frons off the hook as GH is a sea of white, too.

I blame Frons for firing DD's Rachel who I really enjoyed. TT is a very sweet man but a dreadful actor. RC miscalculated totally investing too much in Greg and not enough in Shaun. SR has a wonderful likeability and should have become a more prominent character. I do blame some of Destiny's failures on SE though.

[MontyB]

I don't blame anything on SE. Agreed she really couldn't act in the beginning, but it's the writing for her is bad. Destiny's dialogue is written as if she's 28 or something.

[TeamEric]

JMO, SE has not improved very much. And RC writes Starr like a 28 year old too often too.

But I do hear you on the bad dialogue.

However, I thought the bullying scenes at the high school were sadly some of the most realistic teen dialogue of the last several years on soaps.. teens can be petty and childish and yeah cruel. Shane is pretty realistic lonely teen who feels like a misfit. AW has grown into that material. SE just has not grown into her role at all.

[Scotty]

I wonder how old all of this is supposed to make Tina now.....when she first showed up in 1978 she was 16.....so that should make her 49 now, but who knows.

[IcyOne]

Where have you people been? The "1970" thing has been LONG established. The 1995 storyline that revealed Todd to be Victor's son said he was born in 1970. This is nothing new.

[Khan]

Twenty-eight? Try eighty-eight!

[Scotty]

Why that's almost as old as Nate.

[TeamEric]

I don't recall Tina's age ever being changed as she grew from a teen to adult onscreen. But her kids ages became a bit of a mess. Also, Cord was older than Tina by more than a few years if I remember right.

[alexisfan07]

http://serialdrama.typepad.com/serial_drama/2011/09/dumb-guys-and-smart-mamas.html

Love this post Especially the Fords hate and the little Matthew plug at the end

[AlexElizabeth]

Destiny's dialogue is the worst. When she had scenes with Danielle a few days ago, she had a line that was something like this. "I love having a part of Matthew growing inside of me." Seriously?

[Vee]

Thank God I wasn't drinking anything when I read that.