It seems like latinos only get a huge amount of airtime when they are white latinos or the writers write their characters without acknowledging their heritage. Take Maurice "My character is Cuban and Greek but I don't know how to play Greek so I play him as Italian and would never dare think of playing him as Latino like how he was raised, so people just assume my character is Italian" Benard as an example

I tend to cut Maurice Benard some slack because I remember when he was precisely written as Latino (even after his Greek/Irish father was introduced into the canvas) down to the marriage to the Godawful Lily and the rivalry (however scant) with Miguel back in the 90s. As much as I hold him accountable for being a lazy-ass actor, I'm certainly not going to blame him for TIIC's decision to whitewash his tired character into a terrible Italian stereotype.

The main problem is that black characters are not ever written that strong or with any sense of equality. You'd never see a black character really matched up as a strong adversary to a character like Victor Newman or Jack Abbott. That's been the issue for years, black characters are generally relegated to staying within the realm of storylines specifically written to involve black characters. I think the only instance of that trend being broken is with Dynasty, where Diahann Carroll played Dominique Devereaux and got to play out the adversarial type of role for a little while. There are a lot of black actors and actresses who could step into those sort of characters easily, but those parts just aren't written.

+1.

Coincidences.

Now you have someone like Destiny on OLTL, who existed solely to be degraded for white people, again and again and again.

...while the Black characters with potential to be more (see Evangeline Williamson and Rachel Gannon, even though she is a biracial character) are purposely set up to play second fiddle/lose to the white characters

I tend to cut Maurice Benard some slack because I remember when he was precisely written as Latino (even after his Greek/Irish father was introduced into the canvas) down to the marriage to the Godawful Lily and the rivalry (however scant) with Miguel back in the 90s. As much as I hold him accountable for being a lazy-ass actor, I'm certainly not going to blame him for TIIC's decision to whitewash his tired character into a terrible Italian stereotype.

By 2000 the only decent Latino characters were on OLTL & GL.

OLTL always had problems with it's minority characters but at least Latino actors got to play Latino characters.

...while the Black characters with potential to be more (see Evangeline Williamson and Rachel Gannon, even though she is a biracial character) are purposely set up to play second fiddle/lose to the white characters

In Daytime Black Men are eunuchs (unless they are paired with Black/Latina/Asian actresses) & Black Women are concubines (who always lose to white women) for white men.

Im curious as to how folks felt about the recent resurgence of the Hubbards on AMC. It seemed initially like they were trying to move Frankie into a more prominent position on the show when Angie and Jessie were brought back and then it seemed to lose focus.

If I were to compare the Hubbards (or rather, Angie and Jesse) to the shoddy way that the rest of the ABCD soaps treated Black characters over the past decade and change, I'd say that AMC did the best job. Did they get the stories that were worthy of their legendary status? No, but the writing could've been a lot worse for them (relatively speaking, of course).

As for Frankie, he's another example of a character with the potential to be more than what they'd written for him. It's too bad that they saddled him with the AMC version of Christel Khalil (though, to be fair, I'm not sure if Denise Vasi is prone to CK's self-hate issues) because I thought that it contributed to his light being dimmed.

Im curious as to how folks felt about the recent resurgence of the Hubbards on AMC. It seemed initially like they were trying to move Frankie into a more prominent position on the show when Angie and Jessie were brought back and then it seemed to lose focus.

As long as Ryan Lavery was considered the ultimate man on AMC, Frankie was never going to get any respect. If AMC hadn't been canceled Frankie would now be playing second fiddle to Griffin. One of the things that reeeeally galled me about AMC was the treatment of Frankie and Natalia. The children of a bonafide super couple got treated like dayplayers while a character like Marissa got shoved down our throats day after day.

Edited September 24, 201213 yr by marceline

Randi wasn't a bad character.

On paper the character was a cliche but would have had lots of potential in the hands of an actress that could actually act.

By 2000 the only decent Latino characters were on OLTL & GL.

OLTL always had problems with it's minority characters but at least Latino actors got to play Latino characters.

I can't speak for GL, but you're right about OLTL. I've had my issues with their Latino stereotype (i.e.: the characters being portrayed as jealous, possessive, and quick-tempered), but at least they weren't saddled with shiteous Eye-talian personas in a sad attempt to keep a character ethnic without committing to their actual heritage.

I'd cite Talia Sayid as a positive representation of a Middle Eastern character, but she, too, falls in the casting trap of looking white enough for certain viewers to 'accept'.

Isn't Denise Vasi another "Black For Pay" actress performer?

Randi wasn't a bad character.

On paper the character was a cliche but would have had lots of potential in the hands of an actress that could actually act.

Forgive me if this sounds blasphemous, but wasn't she supposed to be an updated retread of the Donna Beck character from way back before my time? That's how her (initial) story read to me.

I don't think the treatment of the few black characters who can't be leads in top tier story on soaps overall is good in fact its embarassing in this day and age. I also think that (some) of the ..attrition in the soap audience is due to Black audience they bailed and started watching BET and such..we waited and waited and never got much respect from these soaps so they started their own (& reality shows).

Its 2012 Kerry Washington's Olivia Pope (Scandal) is the only lead actress (African American) on a primeTime show (speaking of CBS, ABC, NBC etc)...so there you have it. Nothing has changed.

Didn't Randi's story come on she was a prostitute; Frankie wanted to save her; Angie didn't like her then and all that.

Edited September 24, 201213 yr by Cyberologist

It seems like latinos only get a huge amount of airtime when they are white latinos or the writers write their characters without acknowledging their heritage. Take Maurice "My character is Cuban and Greek but I don't know how to play Greek so I play him as Italian and would never dare think of playing him as Latino like how he was raised, so people just assume my character is Italian" Benard as an example

IDA on that. While true in most cases, it's not for all. I always felt like I was watching an educated Latina when viewing Tea on OLTL. She had an ethnic look to her and she puts a Hispanic spin on many of the words she uses. I also always got a kick out of her breaking out and speaking Spanish even though I rarely knew what she was saying. She may be one of the exceptions b. lord knows she got alot of airtime. The Vegas were also portrayed as the Latinos they were for the most part

Edited September 24, 201213 yr by Cheap21

Isn't Denise Vasi another "Black For Pay" actress performer?

For all we know, she could be. However, I'll reserve my vitriol until she starts spouting some Christel Khalil nonsense.

I'd cite Talia Sayid as a positive representation of a Middle Eastern character, but she, too, falls in the casting trap of looking white enough for certain viewers to 'accept'.

+1.

And then OLTL killed the character.