According to the Y&R Board Opinions - if Y&R was the worst at handling Black Characters/Families, who was the best?

[watson71]

About the only thing Corrine Jacker did correctly at AW in 1982 was integrate Bay City with African American characters.   While their storylines were standard soap fare, the casting of the African American characters was top notch from 1982-84:

 

Quinn Harding (Petronia Paley) and her brother Ed (Howard Rollins, Jr.)

 

The Morgan Family- Bob (Robert Christian), his estranged wife Henrietta (Michelle Shay), and children RJ (Reggie Rock Bythewood) and Mary Sue (Tisha Ford)

 

Architect Roy Bingham (Morgan Freeman)

 

Dr. Abel Marsh and his rock star twin brother, Leo Mars (Joe Morton)

 

former prostitue turned good girl Lily Mason (Jackee Harry) and her niece Thomasina (Sheila Spencer and Pamela Kay) who was adopted by Quinn

 

Grant Todd (John Dewey Carter) and his son,  Carter (Russell Curry)

 

 

 

 

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Edited May 7, 2019 by watson71

[Fevuh]

Why are you defending the Winters from 20 years ago as a reason they should be forefront now?  And Braeden should have gone a long time ago.  Peter Bergman and the Abbots other than Tracy and Ashley have stunk.  Bryton James is awful.  So is Heinle and she's now a best actress.  Doug Davidson has been a crotchety old man for 5 years or more. Painful.  I am an equal opportunity critic.  We all ain you too. 

Edited May 7, 2019 by Fevuh

[juppiter]

Y&R in the 90s was one of the best at doing it. Black viewership is what made them the #1 soap, and they honed in on that once upon a time.

 

ETA: Oh, soaps now? IDK, don't really watch. I know Y&R does not have the black families anywhere near as frontburner as they were in the 90s... they were consistently frontburner.

Edited May 7, 2019 by juppiter

[Vee]

 

So your defense of Y&R has now gone from "what about all the other soaps" to "why didn't you watch Generations 30 years ago?" to "fúck the Winters family". Got it.

 

BTW, none of that addresses the fact that Y&R's black canvas today is a sad excuse of what it once was. Which was the issue we were all discussing normally in the Y&R thread before you tried it here.

[DramatistDreamer]

This is going to sound judgement and maybe a tad rude but this entire post was a waste of my time. 

 

@Forever8 posted an insightful podcast that KSJ did a few years ago in another thread.  I just listened to it last night after I wasted time posting in this thread.  I'd never heard that interview before.  Anyone who hasn't and is interested (truly interested and not just looking for ways to defend 'the company store) should take a listen to his interview on the challenges that blacks in the soap industry have faced.  He talks about the unheralded Ellen Holly as well as the history of blacks in the genre, the breakthroughs and the lows.  He talks about Generations as well and Warren Littlefield's duplicitous pronouncements and the consequences it had for the show.  The interview is truly worth a listen to anyone who is genuinely looking for some insight.

[teplin]

 

I came here to post the same thing! Jacker did terrible damage to the show but I appreciated that she introduced these characters and gave them agency. And the actors were, by and large, wonderful. It was sad to see so many of them leave so quickly after Jacker's departure.

 

AW tried again in the '90s with the Burrell family, all of whom I liked, but it was half-hearted at best.

[xtr]

Going back to the treatment of the Winters family, I saw someone posted elsewhere that the actors that play Mattie and Charlie are no longer on contract. Someone on Soapcentral said that at the end of May 3's closing credits, they were no longer on contract.

 

I like the twins, especially Charlie. I always liked his relationship with Neil, and would have liked to have seen more done with him.

Edited May 7, 2019 by xtr

[Darn]

 

Well, this has been fun. Enjoy everyone!

[Efulton]

 I agree completely!