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SANTA BARBARA: B
The show's hero, Cruz Castillo (A Martinez) is of Mexican descent, and he is married to the daughter of a well-established upper-class white family. This is a first for daytime. In addition, Cruz's family has been seen and integrated into a number of plots. His heritage has not been made an issue, but it has not been swept under the carpet, either. When Cruz took custody of his baby son, Spanish words of endearment were used to comfort the child. There is currently a hot-headed black cop, Boswell (Russell Curry), whose methods are at odds with Cruz's approach to the law. Not too long ago, the show presented a story about a teenage girl, who was raised by her white mother, coping with the discovery that her father was a black inmate. This past year, Cain (Scott Jaeck) believed he was reunited with his grown Amerasian daughter. Extra and under-fives are racially mixed. But SB is still haunted by the ghosts of the Andrade family, Santana's clan. When the show first aired, much was made of the fact that for the first time a soap was introducing a core family that was Hispanic. Unfortunately, the Andrades have been written off SB.
THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS: C
The Abbotts' black maid, Mamie (Margeurite Ray), still serves breakfast to the clan every morning in a style that is reminiscent of sitcoms of the 1950s. She's smart and savvy, but she's a servant. That would be more palatable if other black characters had been introduced as professionals in this corporate, upper-class universe. The only other black actor seen consistently is Nathan Hastings, who portrays detective Nathan Purdee, Paul Williams's sidekick In the past, Y&R did a story in which Tyrone Jackson (Phil Morris), a black cop, pretended to be white (with the help of makeup) and romanced a gangster's daughter as part of his plan to infiltrate the mob. Just before the wedding, he revealed that he was black and stopped the wedding. Recently, other black characters have left the show, leaving the cast with less racial diversity. On a positive note, actress Chris Templeton, who has a physical disability, has consistently portrayed secretary Carol Robbins as capable and independent. Recently, the character had a full-fledged romance and marriage. AIDS patient, Jessica Blair Abbott (Rebecca Street), had a storybook romance with John Abbott which bypassed many of the real problems persons with this disease face.
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ONE LIFE TO LIVE: C
Until just recently, there was a complete absence of black characters on this once integrated show. In recent months, OLTL brought on Vera and Dennis to remedy this situation, but both characters are minor at this point. OLTL broke ground with the story of Caria Gray (Ellen Holly), the lightskinned black woman who allowed herself to pass for white in order to achieve success. Her painful self-conflict over this choice and the renunciation of her heritage was dealt with realistically and movingly years before prime time even attempted casual integration. But OLTL now concentrates on elaborate fantasy stories and has left its social consciousness in the 1970s. And when conditions necessitated the departure of Al Freeman, Jr., who portrayed Captain Ed Hall, a longtime fixture in the police department, the part was not recast. The introduction of Cord (John Loprieno) provided an opportunity to delve into his Mexican heritage, but that story never moved beyond a standard tale of illegitimate birth. Viki (Erika Slezak) has an Asian housekeeper, and extras do seem to be racially mixed, but the show is by and large white
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