''Tribes'' is a daily half-hour
soap opera
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
that aired briefly on
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
in 1990. Created by veteran soap writer
Leah Laiman
Leah Laiman (born August 29, 1946 in Tel Aviv, Israel) is an American soap opera writer and romance novelist.
Career
Laiman got her start on daytime television during the early 1980s at General Hospital. Laiman succeeded former Head Writer, ...
, the series was targeted at a teen audience.
Overview
Laiman described ''Tribes'' as "a cross between a daytime soap opera,
MTV and an
after-school special
The American Broadcasting Company coined the term Afterschool Special in 1972 with a series of television films, usually dealing with controversial or socially relevant issues, that were generally broadcast in the late afternoon and meant to be ...
."
Set in Southern California, the series follows a group of teenagers and was "geared to catch the teen and pre-teen audience before they begin homework or go out for the evening."
''Tribes'' Executive Producer Dennis Steinmetz, a veteran of
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
' ''
The Young and the Restless
''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, ...
'' and ''
The Bold and the Beautiful
''The Bold and the Beautiful'' (often referred to as ''B&B'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. It premiered on March 23, 1987, as a sister show to the Bells' other soap opera ''The Yo ...
'', said:
Noting that the show was not just for teenagers, Fox executive vice president of program development Steven Chow said, "It's about the relationship between teens and their parents". Steinmetz concurred, saying "I think anyone can watch this. The stories are universal ... We tell stories about teens which affect adults." Laiman noted that the focus of ''Tribes'' is "how children respond to what's happening in their families", citing the storyline in which a mother starts drinking to cope with her divorce.
Steinmetz said of the show's "comedic moments":
Cast
*
Ele Keats as Anny Kubiak
* Kim Valentine as Stacey Cox
* Lisa Lawrence as Melinda Cox
* Zero Hubbard as Daryl Johnson
* Greg Watkins as Billy Pressfield
* Patrick Day as Chris Pressfield
* Michael Aron as Peter Sego
* Scott Garrison as Matt Kubiak
*
Jill Whitlow
Jill Whitlow (born November 11, 1963) is an American film and television actress who achieved her greatest recognition during the 1980s. She is best remembered by American audiences for her role as Cynthia Cronenberg in the 1986 cult horror film ' ...
as Lorraine Delaney
*
Michelle Stafford
Michelle Stafford (born September 14, 1968) is an American actress, screenwriter and producer. She currently plays Phyllis Summers on the CBS daytime soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'', for which she has won two Daytime Emmy Awards. In 201 ...
as Frankie
*
Kerry Remsen
Kerry Remsen is an American actress. She is the daughter of actor Bert Remsen and casting director Barbara Joyce Dodd, sister of Ann Remsen Manners and has been married to Ron Cates since 2006. She attended the U.S. Grant High School in Van Nuys ...
as Pamela
Production
Called a "low-budget show" by Laiman, ''Tribes'' was produced "like a
movie-of-the-week", and one-third of the material was shot on location.
Steinmetz explained:
Laiman said of the mostly inexperienced young cast:
Noting that the series must explore potentially controversial issues to be viable, Laiman explained:
Asked about ''Tribes'', veteran soap writer
Agnes Nixon
Agnes Nixon ( Eckhardt; December 10, 1922 – September 28, 2016) was an American television writer and producer, and the creator of the ABC soap operas ''One Life to Live'', ''All My Children'', as well as ''Loving'' and its spin-off '' The Ci ...
— creator of the American daytime serials ''
One Life to Live'', ''
All My Children'' and ''
Loving'' — commented on the concept of a teen-focused soap opera:
Broadcast
Debuting on its own stations, Fox hoped ''Tribes'' would be picked up for national
syndication
Syndication may refer to:
* Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system
* Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips
* Web syndication, ...
like its reality legal series ''
Cops'' and ''
America's Most Wanted''.
The soap opera was scheduled to premiere in January 1990, but a week before its debut it was pushed back to March by Fox executives who "feared that it would get lost in the competitive February ratings
sweeps". Laiman, understanding of the decision and calling Fox "very conservative when it comes to advertising dollars", nonetheless noted that the delay put the series at a disadvantage. According to Laiman, most of the initial 65 episodes would be completed before the series premiere, which would not allow for the changes that might be made during production based on audience reaction to the series. She noted, "When it's on the air, you can see things and change them ... It's a problem we have to live with."
''Tribes'' premiered on March 5, 1990 in the 6:30 p.m. time slot on the Fox-owned stations in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Washington, Dallas, Houston and Boston. The ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' called it the first American youth-oriented serial drama.
Originally contracted for a 13-week run,
''Tribes'' ultimately aired for 19 weeks. The series' cancellation was announced in June, and its final airdate was July 13, 1990.
References
External links
*
Cast photo at Getty Images
{{US daytime soaps
1990 American television series debuts
1990 American television series endings
1990s American teen drama television series
American television soap operas
Fox Broadcasting Company original programming
Television series about teenagers
Television series by 20th Century Fox Television