"Black and white. In color." That was the original advertising tagline for GENERATIONS, an NBC sudser that debuted on March 6, 1989. Why is this particular soap's debut on the list when no other one is? Well, GEN was the first daytime soap to incorporate black characters in leading roles in a major core family from the series' start. Created by Sally Sussman Morina, a former Y&R writer, GEN suffered from permanently dismal ratings, and was cancelled in 1991, though it launched the careers of such stars as Kristoff St. John and Kelly Rutherford. With GEN, for an all-too-rare moment, daytime was a lot more diverse.
"Black and white. In color." That was the original advertising tagline for GENERATIONS, an NBC sudser that debuted on March 6, 1989. Why is this particular soap's debut on the list when no other one is? Well, GEN was the first daytime soap to incorporate black characters in leading roles in a major core family from the series' start. Created by Sally Sussman Morina, a former Y&R writer, GEN suffered from permanently dismal ratings, and was cancelled in 1991, though it launched the careers of such stars as Kristoff St. John and Kelly Rutherford. With GEN, for an all-too-rare moment, daytime was a lot more diverse.