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How goes black representation on soap operas? [1]

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Date: 2022-12-30

There was no congressional hearing this afternoon to preempt the soap operas, but CBS nevertheless decided to rerun an old episode of The Young and the Restless, a show that predates the Roe v. Wade decision and is still going today.

The rerun was a classic, the masquerade ball episode from October 2, 1991, with the rather unmemorable title “Episode #1.4707.” I didn’t watch it when it first aired, I would have been more likely to have been looking forward to a new episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, a show with two black actors in its core cast for its whole run, one of them playing a Klingon.

The Young and the Restless had black actors in its main cast back then, too, but as someone who only started half-watching at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, I didn’t recognize any of them. Their characters may still be restless, but they’re no longer young.

However, Peter Bergman as Jack Abbott and Eric Braeden as Victor Newman have endured on the show, and were quite recognizable in their costumes, Victor as a Roman conqueror and Jack as a modern European prince, I’m guessing. The last new episode of 2022, which aired yesterday, ended with Jack kissing the much-hated Diane Jenkins (Susan Walters). I’m still unclear on what was it that Diane did that was so bad, but that’s for another day and perhaps another venue. And Victor and his wife Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) discussed the meaning of Christmas in an episode from last week.

To be fair, one of the black characters in the masquerade ball episode has an enduring legacy: Kristoff St. John played Neil Winters, dressed as Dionysus. Neil Winters something to do with Chancellor-Winters, a company that is frequently mentioned. Don’t ask me what it is that Chancellor-Winters does, but it seems to be big business on par with Newman Enterprises.

Neil Winters went to the ball with Olivia Barber (Tonya Williams). Of course characters on soap operas have to fall in and out of love fairly frequently, but back then there was also the pressure to avoid “interracial” romance, which had the silver lining of requiring the show to have at least two more black characters.

That meant soaps had to have four black characters, but the producers felt no need for more. Maybe things have changed for the better since that episode first aired, but Victoria Rowell, who played Drucilla Winters on The Young and the Restless for a decade and a half, sued the producers of Days of Our Lives in 2015.

Rowell claimed that her advocacy for black actors and crew members was the main reason she was turned down for Days of Our Lives, and not anything creative. The case dragged on for a couple of years before a settlement was reached, but it’s unclear if Rowell was satisfied by the settlement.

Rowell went on to create The Rich and the Ruthless, fictionalizing her struggles. Luchina Fisher for ABC News:

Jamey Giddens, a longtime soap watcher and co-founder of the popular website and podcast Daytime Confidential, said the problem of lack of diversity in daytime drama persists. "Each soap has three to four black characters in play but they never get the strong, meaty stories that their white counterparts get," he said. "These characters will get serviced, then back-burnered for say, six months."

Also, their storylines tend to be hermetically sealed off from those of the white characters. For example, Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) might turn to Amanda (Mishael Morgan) for a shoulder to cry on now that her intense hatred of Diane has cost her Jack’s love, but Phyllis could just as easily have turned to any other woman other than Diane for that.

The main issue, though, is what happens behind the camera, Giddens said. "There have not been as many writers in the writers' room telling these stories. There are two, maybe three black writers across the board," he said, adding that since the start of daytime dramas, all the way back to the days of radio, there have only been a "handful of black writers, directors and producers in this genre that is beloved by black families." [...] Giddens credits Rowell with calling attention to the lack of diversity in soap operas and establishing the Winters family on "Y&R." "Vicki has long been one of the most vocal critics, and it cost her a lot of punishment for speaking out and saying what needed to be said," said Giddens, who is also a co-writer of "The Rich and the Ruthless."

If I may suggest a New Year’s resolution for soap opera producers: hire more black writers.

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