Generations

I remember when Generation was showing on t.v. My family & friends was very excited about the series. We were very disappointed when the series was cut short. I regret that I could only watch a few episodes because I was working and I did not own a VCR recorder at the time. I wish that all the episodes would run again on "BET" or another channel. I wonder if maybe it could be put out on DVD? Most of the people from the show I still watch on t.v. and at the theater. I was not interested in the past until I watched Generation. This series showed the past and the present. It showed where the families started and how they ended up. Because of Generation I am now a genealogy researcher.

First of all, "Generations" was an NBC soap, not ABC. Second of all, as a prime time series, the tenure of "The Drew Carey Show" has no bearing on the decisions which determine the life or death of a daytime program. No matter how much a viewer loves a show, the show will die if the ratings aren't high enough, and "Generations" ranked far behind every other daytime drama for its entire run.

The concentration on African-American characters was both what made the show unique and a large part of the problem with it. The creator of the show evidently went out of her way to portray the characters as normal, down-to-earth, middle-class Americans. Unfortunately, it is "abnormal" characters which spice up the drama. The main family on "Generations" were the owners of an ice cream parlor. Much of the day-to-day action was mundane, even banal compared to that on other soaps of the period.

Even if "Generations" had clearly excelled over its competition, it would likely have lived a short life; it was on the lowest-rated network (in daytime ratings anyway), it had an iffy time slot, and it was a cold half-hour launch, in a time when virtually all of the shows were an hour. So it was doomed to end up an admirable but regrettably short-lived effort.

There was this big interest for soap operas in late 80's. Generations was the most important one. Newspapers and magazines went crazy when kelly rutherford came Turkey. Still it's very interesting, we Turks never really understood what was the big deal about having focus on African Americans. No one here remembers the series as a breakthrough from the race discrimination perspective. Yes there were Marshals and they were nice people and Adam and Maia were cool but that was all. It was just like any other series. We were really surprised when we learned that the show was somewhat a breakthrough...Anyway I still remember vividly all characters. All girls in Turkey were in love with Kyle Masters and there was this evil guy Reginald. I remember callin people you're so "reginald" even years after the shows ended

Especially the generations born in 80's learn their born hours according to the Dallas hour.(For example there was one hour to Dallas or Dallas was almost finished..)For that time period that crosses with my childhood the most important soap opera was certainly "Generations" and probably you remember the hot blond in that program was Sam..Men and women everybody was loving Sam at that time period in Turkey.And yes women also love her cause all women were fake blonde and all of them desire to look like Sam..:)I'm sure if you're from 1980 and upper generation and watching Gossip Girl, probably you are giving the same reaction that i gave.. THAT'S Sam! And she's still gorgeous!!!:)Kelly Rutherford who was born in 1968 and has a child, like in "Generations" still beautiful and a woman with style.She's wearing suitable clothes to her age and at the same time she's also natural and elegant.She is showing women how to wear clothes at this program without loosing their femininity especially for the ones at their 40's, wearing 20's clothes. (by Moda Vitrini)

People have talked about 'Generations' and its problems over the years. I just wanted to point out the positives. One of them being that it was a major network's first honest attempt to make a soap opera with black characters in the forefront of the story. They were not maids or chauffeurs or domestic servants, but they were in business. The Marshalls had a successful ice cream business that was made with the sweat and blood of a black man, Henry Marshall, despite having a limited education.

Ruth Marshall, Henry's wife, grew up as the daughter of the maid of Rebecca Whitmore. She had a very difficult experience, but she turned that resentment and became an ambitious person. Ruth brought the Whitmore estate, and the problems she faced in doing it, which I thought was a very good storyline, which represented to her that she finally made it big. Vivian, Ruth's mother, was Rebecca's housekeeper who worked for her for years and remained friends ever since. Rebecca's oldest daughter, Laura, wasn't close to Ruth growing up and the feeling seemed mutual.

For me, I liked the way the writers introduced the viewers with voice-overs. Also I like how the characters' backgrounds were shown through the writing. I guess the problem was that people weren't' that excited about a family who owned an ice cream business That would have been more of a plot for a sitcom on primetime than a daytime soap opera. Plus some it its characters could have been more developed in its short run.

All in all, "Generations" is an example of black success on television, even though its overall aim didn't make an impact.