Racism and racial representation on soaps

[soapfan770]

That was so randomly awkward and bad but I know a few people actually thought was “groundbreaking” she said that but the character of Denise really fell apart after that and then we had that of her and Andy which could have been really interesting but ended up pretty twisted & wretched. I remember the actress had been alright on AW but this was a mess. 

[DRW50]

 

If this had been on a completely different type of soap, I could have seen it that way, but on ATWT it was just a lousy idea, especially since there was no real effort to follow up on these tensions.

 

The Andy/Denise/Ben triangle was also a terrible idea, as Ben and Denise had little chemistry and the pairing involved trying to make viewers hate a character they'd basically watched grow up. The scene where Ben raged at God for not leaving Andy dead was awful. 

[soapfan770]

Yikes I remember that too! Aside from Ben & Camille I wasn’t impressed by anything ATWT had tried in the late in the ‘90’s. I remember the show hyped it up big they hired Monti Sharpe so of course his character was a filthy creep. 

[DRW50]

 

Such a waste of a talented actor. I guess the story was well-meaning but it was panned at the time (especially the church scene with the Oakdale residents, including Lucinda, singing "Reach Out and Touch Somebody's Hand").

[soapfan770]

 

Considering what all was going on the show at time it wasn’t that bad of an umbrella event although it wasn’t all that great either.

 

As for Sharp after he left ATWT I recall another soap, I think PC hired him and hyped it up like ATWT did that they had hired him yet next thing I knew he was under SOD’s Who’s Goings section. I don’t think Monti has done anything daytime since.

Edited June 2, 2020 by soapfan770

[titan1978]

Thank you for the info.  That sounds awful.

[MichaelGL]

Re OLTL: Don't forget in addition to the other diverse type of characters Ron and Frank started off with, there was also BethAnn Bonner's character Talia Sayid, who finally made Antonio interesting.

[All My Shadows]

Yes, they giddily went along with this stupidity then a year later referred to it as "brazen" when melodramatically eulogizing Ronald's OLTL. A full decade has passed, and it still sticks in my craw.

[GLATWT88]

I wish there was a "like" option. Thank you. 

 

You're right I did see Abe in one of the preview posts around and I did catch Lani on a day I caught a bit of an episode.

 

When I first started watching soaps what I noticed about Y&R was that they actually has a black family that was prominent. I knew who all these characters were and they actually seemed to serve a purpose and have things going on. I'm surprised Lily and Devon are still on because I would have recognized them right away, unless they're being played by new actors. Just probably weren't on much these past few weeks before repeats.

 

I have not seen a single non-white face the weeks I watched BB. I remember a few years ago when I started following more regularly again there was the Avant family which was just being introduced. I also remember Rome Flynn was on but can't remember his character's name which I swear I read somewhere that his character was going to come out as gay but I don't remember that ever happening on the show unless that rumor completely made up. 

 

As for GH, I usually tune in and out right away or don't bother as there's an hour gap between the end of BB and GH and I start doing other things. So I was probably not paying attention. 

[Faulkner]

Re Y&R: Lily was on a bit before the hiatus but Devon has basically disappeared. That show has really gone all in on Adam, Chelsea, and Phyllis, with some Nick/Sharon/Newmans and Kyle/Summer thrown in.

 

The Avants actually dominated B&B for a few weeks when Nicole was waffling over giving her surrogate child to her transgender sister Maya or keeping it for her own after learning she wouldn’t be able to have another child. It was a very soapy story, and I believe what Rome Flynn won his Emmy for. But after that, they were done, and we had that weak triangle with Zoey/Xander/Emma.

 

GH had certainly pushed Curtis/Jordan/T.J. to the forefront, ironically around the time the original Jordan, Vinessa Antoine, gave an interview about how neglectful the show had been towards black characters during her tenure. But the Ashford story ultimately became about Sonny.

 

DAYS is hot and cold on Eli and Lani. They gave them a big wedding and made Lani friends and co-conspirators with Kristen after the time jump. But unlike Gabi, who dominates DAYS year-round, Eli and Lani’s presence on the show is inconsistent. Abe is currently flirting with Kate, and we’ll see where that goes.

[rlj]

Isn't Sadie worst than Mamie?

 

Tyrone the Pimp

 

The firing of Renee Goldsberry

 

IMHO, the missed opportunity of Marshall/Felicia, AlanMichael/Gilly, and Trucker/Angie pairings respectively

 

And don't get me started on the Jessica/Duncan/Shannon triangle and the bts Emmy bs!

 

 

[Aback]

I did not know about this but it's being discussed these days in the AW Forum:

 

j swift said:

Of course eventually, Paulina went from a South American con artist to an Italian chef with a long lost child who somehow knew to try to find her in Bay City, but that's soaps.

 

Bear in mind: Paulina was always waspy blonde.

[Faulkner]

What do people think of Evangeline on OLTL with the benefit of hindsight? We all remember the ugliness of the Jovan/Jolie fan wars, and I believe this caused a lot of anger:

 

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It’s just weird how much Evangeline dominated OLTL in the mid-2000s (alongside Jessica/Natalie/Blair), and how easily she was simply dismissed and forgotten. And it was so clear the show considered John/Natalie endgame, as they valued Natalie more as a character.

[titan1978]

I loved Derek!

 

That OLTL nonsense-  maybe your ratings crashed because the Dorian part of the gay story was stupid.  And I don’t remember Viki having anything worthwhile going on, and the rest of the show except those characters was pretty awful.  But blame what was even remotely working.

 

Ron should never be a solo HW, and Frank continues to be a wimp when it comes to portraying gay characters on GH.

[Darn]

 

I found her and REG frankly annoying (it took until the Hamilton soundtrack for me to warm up to her) but I didn't realize how good or rare it was for a soap to actually have a black woman so frontburner. Evangeline absolutely dominated the screen for most of her tenure and I can't imagine any black character getting even a tenth of the material she did.