Well, I’m just saying Tucker is supposed to be older than Ashley, and that’s blatantly not the case with Trefor St. John in the role. I’m not sure they’ve got much chemistry, and I can’t see his character’s obsession with Ashley. Conversely, I could see his great chemistry with Audra Charles. Why he’d give up that hot bundle for a geriatric Ashley just doesn’t register with me (unless he was planning to simply use Ashley, get control of Jabot, dump her again and get together with Audra).
You certainly underscore how Y&R has all but purged virtually all the Black characters other than for just the few romantically involved with the White ones. Lily’s is almost the most ridiculous. She had two young children and then *poof*, they were SORAS’d to seniors in high school (with the two actors playing them barely looking much younger than her), sent off to college and now gone. It’s like Lily is single without any kids now and can “play” with Daniel like they’re both carefree teens again. It’s just so odd.
I’ve always viscerally hated the SORAS’ing of child characters on the soaps, which messes up timelines/ages, etc. These shows have years to develop, let them age naturally. Lily’s kids should be at home (born in 2010, so 13 years old) and would be likely quite unhappy that she was dating her ex-b/f and looking to interfere or sabotage the relationship so they could get her back with their dad. In fact, go right back to it, even Lily herself should just be 28, so she wouldn’t even have 2 13 year olds unless she got knocked up as a high school freshman (nevermind that the no-longer-seen adult kids are around 21/22).
General Hospital has gotten into a bit of a pickle over a recent recast with the Molly Lansing-Davis character, though this because of the gross misconduct of the actress playing her who had to be fired after being drunk or high while driving and causing two accidents (Haley Pullos). The character should be in her early 20s (SORAS’d from what would be 17). The new actress who took over the role turns 40(!) soon, which got a lot of flak. They had another actress briefly in the role for a few weeks who was the right age, but bore a strikingly uncomfortable resemblance to the now rarely-seen tranny doctor(!)
I’d have liked to have gone to Hollyweird way back when, not to be (my politics alone would’ve gotten me blacklisted). Consulting would be nice, if only to keep the characters on track (heck, I’d probably do a lot more darker stuff - maybe too dark for daytime tv). My preference is seeing stuff flow more organically, rather than forced P.C./Woke garbage for relationships or storylines, which you especially see on nighttime shows or even commercials. Probably the biggest mistake decades ago (for non-leftists, at least) was not starting up their own version of Hollywood instead of letting them be at the mercy of leftists who would not stand behind them, but would stab them in the back. They’re the only group that’s been purged more than Black folks off the CBS soaps. =8-0>
I often think Tucker and Diane may be secretly plotting to take over Jabot and dump both Ashley and Jack in a huge, dramatic betrayal! But now that Kyle has left the company and is boinking Tucker’s ex-conspirator, maybe not.
I didn’t include Lily in my list of remaining POCs because her Pakistani genes seem most prominent in her looks, so I always think of her as Middle Eastern; but Wikipedia says her mother was part native American, part white and part black. Just sayin’.
The SORAS thing is indeed weird, but I have to admit, I rarely get overly interested in the storylines because there are so very many whoppers about how things actually work and assorted improbabilities, it would be embarrassing to get too invested—can’t even begin with the nonsense they want us to believe. In the 80s, before cable, I was confined to bedrest for a few months, and that’s when I got hooked on ATWT and Y&R—my tv only got 4 channels. After ATWT died, I watched B&B more often; but the writing is so bad you can skip it for weeks and hardly miss anything.
I would stop watching for years at a stretch, but now that I’m retired reading current events on FR every day, soaps remain interesting as an indicator of what the writers of these shows (that all started out aiming at traditional conservative housewives) believe their current diverse audience is interested in or will put up with, such as the mainstreaming of unmarried sex, female assertiveness, gay storylines, and so forth. You mentioned the absence of Rick Forrester for what—a decade now? I suspect that most of the soap audience was not yet ready for the full blown transgender storyline and probably flamed the comment boards. But I could be wrong.
Soaps do a public service when they tackle issues like alcoholism or the like. Yesterday Finn gave a brief PSA about swimming safety tied to the storyline. One small development I’ve noticed is that traditional soap women often told lies and manipulated in relationships. These days, there is more direct, egalitarian communication, especially between couples. The lying and manipulation is now more between enemies or frenemies, both business and social, or coming from soaps’ outcasts, from well-established liars like Victor or Phyllis, or from criminal villains.
Well, these convos have successfully filled my procrastination quotient for several days while the heat wave rolled through! Today it’s so nice out, my undone yard work is calling. Thanks for your interesting points of viewership, FRiends!