|  |
| The touching love story of All My Children's simple-minded Stuart (David Canary) and AIDS-stricken Cindy (Ellen Wheeler) was handled with a high level of sensitivity and demonstrated the show's social consciousness. |
For a long time, Claudia and Brian Phillips (Bianca Ferguson and Todd Davis) filled the token-minority slot on GH. They were strictly back burner and their onscreen activity was fighting. Then there was an aborted Christian/Jewish love story between Jake (Sam Behrens) and Rose (Loanne Bishop). But both those plots fizzled out. More recently, GH broke ground with the interracial romance and marriage between Dr. Tom Hardy (David Wallace) and his black colleague, Dr. Simone Ravelle (Laura Carrington). The show took time to establish back story and family for both characters, and then developed a modern plot in which her parents (upperclass professionals) initially objected to the match. Shortly after the wedding, the newlyweds were forced to directly confront bigotry when a white racist insulted Simone and Tom stepped in to defend her. Currently, Tom and Simone are working through difficult problems that test their commitment and question their racial attitudes. Adding to the tension is Simone's friendship with newcomer Dr. Harrison Davis (Kevin Best), a black surgeon. Already on the hospital staff is Dr. Irma Foster (Dwan Smith), a black psychiatrist. The Laverys' housekeeper, Olin (Beulah Quo), is Asian. Seen on a recurring basis is Martha McKee (Nancy Becker Kennedy), a paraplegic on and off the show. The Asian Quarter plot several years ago was an entire adventure story which focused on an Oriental family's battle with the Asian Mafia. Also, GH likes to give its Middle American town some international flavor by the presence of Italian, Australian and British characters.
AS THE WORLD TURNS: B
ATWT tries hard to demonstrate that white middle-class families are not the only game in town. Introducing a homosexual man, designer Hank Eliot (Brian Starcher), was a first for daytime and ATWT should be commended for taking that step. While their black family, the Franklins, are back burner, they exist in a real world and have been successfully integrated into a number of plots. Attorney Jessica Griffin (Tamara Tunie Bouquett) is a completely developed character — nothing token about her. The show has flirted with the idea of an interracial romance for Jessica, but opted instead to put her with black cop Roy Franklin (Count Stovall). Tom Hughes (Scott Holmes) recently discovered he had fathered an Amerasian daughter, Lien (MingNa Wen), when he was in Vietnam. A teenager, Lien participates in all the story lines that focus on the younger characters.
DAYS OF OUR LIVES: B
The recent introduction of the Ramirez family, and black up-scale surgeon Marcus (Richard Biggs), has filled a void that has existed on the show for years. In the past, good cop Abe Carver (James Reynolds) has been the sole representative of minorities. Always a loner, Abe has recently been evolved in a romance with fellow cop Lexie (Cyndi James Gossett). Famous for their anti-heroes, DAYS has always gone for stories about people from the wrong side of the tracks. Ethnic heritage — as in the Brady clan (Irish) and the Kiriakis dynasty (Greek) — has also played a major part in establishing character identity. A few years ago, DAYS presented an entire, well-developed plot line that explored a romance between an Orthodox Jew and a white Protestant. The recent story of Kayla's (Mary Beth Evans) deafness addressed the day-to-day problems faced by the hearing-impaired
Return to "Media"
