GH50: Week of June 17 Discussion

[GregNYC]

She has an annoying whiny voice.

Lately, GH has so many scenes that are meant to be comedic, that when they try a serious scene, audiences are confused.

[alexisfan07]

Did anyone else catch this? LMAO I can't

[sivad40]

Taylor is a black woman (races of other women fit this role too) TV stereotype called the Escape Goat:

This character is simply there for one purpose and one purpose only: They are designed to be so hideous, so unlikable, so "nasty, " that the general audience hates them. This black female character usually comes along with a bad attitude (for no apparent reason). They are unattractive, overweight, loud, and generally a hassle to other characters. (Pick a show and any black female character can fit this role.) Generally this is so because this character is there to distract the audience from the less" than desirable"qualities of the main "white" cast of characters (a lot of times the white female character).

This is the role of the black female escape goat. She is not there to be developed, loved, liked, cared about. Her past will not be looked at or examined closely. She is simply there as a diversion to make the rest of the cast more adhesive and cohesive.

[Cheap21]

It has nothing to do with being black. Taylor could have just easily been white and fulfilled the same role and GH has had many of those as did RC's OLTL. The only reason she is black was bc of her Felix connection.

[DRW50]

I think they don't want TJ to be with a white girl so they cast a black actress to remind viewers of who is supposed to be with who.

[Cheap21]

It doesn't matter as TJ isn't going to be with Taylor. Its obvious she serves one role and will likely be gone once that is fulfilled. She's a plot device, plain and simple and I don't expect to see her get much characterization and development between them as a bonafide couple

[Vee]

Of course she could've been white, and of course Ron's written many white characters just like her. But the point is that RC has an even more casual, absentee and borderline offensive plot-driven approach to his black characters than his white ones - T.J., Shawn and Taylor are only the latest round.

[JackPeyton]

I dont think it has so much to do with TJ not being with a white girl as it is pimping molly and rafe, as rafe ties to people like silas, lucy and sam.

tj is the only tolerable teen on this show tho.

[DRW50]

I won't be surprised if she turns out to be pregnant and then they are thrown together for a longer period of time for that reason. The main goal seems to be to remind that TJ isn't supposed to be in Molly's orbit, that he's damaged goods compared to Rafe.

[DRW50]

I think it's also about race. Other than one night stands that everyone regretted (like Matthew/Destiny) or plot point conflicts (Nate/folder girl), there aren't a lot of black/white couples on Ron shows. Shawn/Alexis mostly just seems to be one of those "throw them together because there's no one else" situations, that and conflict between them because their kids are together.

[GregNYC]

I didn't like how RC wrote TJ to be an violent, jealous BF.

[Cheap21]

that's a symptom of daytime in general, not exclusive to RC soaps

[Chris B]

Bingo Carl! The actor playing TJ is too good for the amount of work he receives. It's the same thing with Bryton on Y&R. He started off with a bang and Jack Smith and Lynn Latham featured him a lot, but once those writers were gone he was forever on the backburner. Ron has never been good when it comes to writing black characters. They've had a very limited presence on his OLTL and on GH he's made no effort. Sean went from actually being on the frontburner in a relationship with Carly to being a token black sidekick with limited screentime. Felix is forever a sidekick as well.

[DRW50]

I agree, but I was using this as an example of why I think they cast a black actress as Taylor.

[Vee]

And the thing is, he's done this same crap to many characters of all colors and creeds, not just T.J. - I can name a score of other white young men like him who got shafted for the latest pairing of the moment in a plot-driven mechanism just like this one. But the thing is that Ron does the same routine that much more quickly and callously with black characters because he simply does not write for black characters beyond these kind of plot points or a backburner affair, and he hasn't even really tried to in a very long time. He had a shot at it with Tika Sumpter and Daphnee Duplaix, but he gave them both up to backburner storylines because he ultimately couldn't be bothered. He has never been able to be bothered with black talent. He's more comfortable with them in supporting roles that border on parody - the original versions of Destiny and Shaun on OLTL, for example.

He also has no sensitivity for certain issues, like having young black T.J. violently assault doe-eyed white Rafe out of nowhere, allied against the other young white characters, or having black Taylor be the vixen who turns T.J. against the innocent white kids. Or Alexis turning on Shawn for daring to do the same thing as white hitman Jason.

Tequan Richmond is excellent, just as Jason Tam was on OLTL; Sean Blakemore is probably the finest man on soaps in years, and he's reasonably talented and very good in some scenes this week. Marc Samuel, I know not everyone likes him but I do, and he's capable of more. And he's just Sabrina's handmaiden. The girl playing Taylor is better than this caricature, too. It's a real mess.