Black Character Portrayals in Soaps Today

[SFK]

Daytime will never get it right nor truly attempt to do right by its entire audience at this late stage in the game, so I'll just shut up and watch the "A Matter of Mothers" two-parter on Good Times or The Women of Brewster Place (perhaps the best black "soap opera" that ever was) when I need my fix.

[DeeeDee]

OLTL wasn't the only soap to do that.

Y&R fired a Latina actress & hired a white actress to PLAY a Black character

[Cheap21]

who was that?

[DeeeDee]

Keesha (Malcolm's ex-wife).

[Cheap21]

Thanks. But Keesha was still black though right? Its not like on OLTL where they completely denied Blair's race and from then on she and all her children were portrayed as if she was 100% white

[marceline]

I've sworn off debating Vange on the boards but I want to say that I really, really, really wanted a scene where she owned up to how she played RJ. I hated the fact that they swept that under the rug. Especially when she had the nerve to get salty with him every chance she got after that and it was made even worse when Layla got to town and started rolling her neck at him too. Of course by the end RJ was so emasculated that he should've been carrying a box of tampons.

Every time I see that ridiculous press statement about OLTL breaking barriers and tackling difficult stories, I think about Blair and her Amazing Race Extreme Makeover. I never stopped wondering what Mia Korf would've done with the character all these years.

[frequentsoapfan]

Like how DAYS fired a biracial actress to hire a white actress to play a Latina character

[DeeeDee]

Keesha was indeed still Black but it was ridiculous to fire a Black woman to hire a white woman to PLAY a Black woman.

[frequentsoapfan]

Who was the HW?

[DeeeDee]

Bill Bell.

[ChitHappens]

I thought it was bad when Ricardo Montalban played a Native American, but that was 50 years ago. Pity we have not progressed

[Cheap21]

yeah its bad nonetheless. Do you have pics/clips of the two Keeshas?

[frequentsoapfan]

What wa she smoking? I can see hriing the latina chick cuz she did kind of look black but replacing her with an Italian?

[marceline]

All the stuff mentioned in this thread is part of the reason I will not cry about the death of soaps. Between the portrayals of women and of minorities, my only regret is that there isn't an actual PHYSICAL grave for me to dance on because I would be electric sliding all over that thing until the cops took me away.

[ChitHappens]

They'd be hauling me off with you!