FLASHBACK: AIDS Breaks Out on Daytime TV

AIDS BREAKS OUT ON DAYTIME TV STORY LINES CATCH UP WITH NEWS

by Barbara Beck
Philadelphia Daily News
November 17, 1987

Daytime soap operas, perhaps the last bastion of irresponsible sex in the '80s, have discovered AIDS.

In two weeks, on NBC's soap opera ANOTHER WORLD (weekdays at 2 p.m. on Channel 3), Dawn Rollo will be diagnosed as having AIDS. And on ABC's ALL MY CHILDREN (weekdays at 1 p.m. on Channel 6), Mark Dalton - the half-brother of the manipulative Erica Kane - is awaiting results of an AIDS blood test.

Although soap operas have been known to address such hot issues as incest and teen pregnancy way before prime-time series, daytime TV - until now - has
rarely even mentioned AIDS. The reason, according to TV writers, has less to do with the severity of the AIDS epidemic and more to do with entertainment values.

"Let's face it, people often use TV to get away from the nitty-gritty details of rules that regulate their lives," one TV soap opera writer said. ''To the extent they don't want that encroachment, we spare them."

ANOTHER WORLD producer John Whitesell II acknowledges that AIDS does not make the cheeriest of story lines. "I'm not looking to depress the audience," he said. "I'm hoping our AIDS story won't be downbeat. But in daytime television, what we try to do is to reflect what's going on in society. This is a problem that really affects everybody right now and it's something people need to know more about."

For JoAnn Emmerich, vice president of daytime programming at ABC, "it was an opportunity for us to do a public service." But, Emmerich adds, AIDS will not become a major part of the ALL MY CHILDREN story because the subject is just too "depressing." (Similarly, Emmerich shies away from other disheartening topics, like breast cancer, as plot devices for the popular ABC soap.)

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Whitesell says his real reason for adding AIDS to ANOTHER WORLD is to demonstrate to the audience that an AIDS diagnosis is not, in itself, a mortal wound.

"The thing that interests me personally is the quality of life for the AIDS victim," he added. "Having known some people who have acquired the disease, it has touched me. It's important to know that people who have this disease still are people and should be treated with respect. That's what I hope we'll be bringing to light."

Whitesell's writers have arranged for Rollo (played by actress Barbara Bush) to contract the AIDS virus through a blood transfusion from her mother who, unknown to Rollo, is a drug-addicted hooker.

As part of his TV treatment of AIDS, Whitesell says he might bring actual AIDS victims onto the show. "We've talked about taking Rollo into a real session with other AIDS patients. That's the kind of thing we are looking for."

Meanwhile, back on the set of ALL MY CHILDREN, Dalton (Mark Lamura) - a musician and composer - has had a history of drug abuse; during one incident in New York, he shared a needle with a character who he later learns died from AIDS. This month Dalton learns that the results of his AIDS test are negative.

In typical soap opera fashion, he is also in the process of reuniting with his ex-wife, whose own sex history could include exposure to someone with the AIDS virus. The plot line, which ALL MY CHILDREN producers won't reveal, heats up during the second week of December.

Despite these developments, it is still apparent that daytime soap operas have been behind many other forms of entertainment in acknowledging the existence of AIDS.

The theater took the lead among forms of entertainment in dealing specifically with AIDS with such plays as "The Normal Heart," "As Is" and more recently, "Beirut." Television later became involved in the AIDS issue with made-for-TV movies and occasional episodes of ST. ELSEWHERE, DESIGNING WOMEN and L.A. LAW.

"It was a question of realism," said Terry Louise Fischer, co-creator of NBC's L.A. LAW. AIDS is a concern real people are having, and to ignore that on a socially conscientious show just wouldn't wash."

In addition, earlier this year ABC ran a critically praised Afterschool Special about a girl who contracts AIDS through a blood transfusion.

"ALL MY CHILDREN's Emmerich says that response to the AIDS story line has been favorable. "The viewers are glad we are addressing the issue," she said. "Many were concerned that Mark Dalton did not die of AIDS. Some did not want us to touch AIDS at all. But by far the majority are glad we are tackling the issue."

Even the gay community, so widely affected by the virus, sees the soap operas as another method of public education.

"At this very moment, the majority of new AIDS cases are from the heterosexual community," said Mark Segal, editor of the Philadelphia Gay News. "If the shows treat the issue of AIDS well and educates a few housewives, then we're moving in the right direction."