For responsible treatment of alcoholism
Soap Opera Digest, 1989	Home   Cette page en Français

According to the National Council on Alcoholism, an estimated 10.6 million Americans are alcoholics, another 7.3 million are negatively affected by alcohol (drunk driving, illness, accidents, ...), and over 4.3 million drinking teenagers are showing signs of potential alcoholism. Last year, nearly 100 000 people in this country died in alcohol-related deaths.

Indeed, alcohol and drug addiction have reached epidemic proportions in the US - and the soaps have been addressing intelligently and effectively in hard-hitting story lines involving major characters. Most recently The Young and the Restless and Santa Barbara have focused on the devastation alcohol wreaks on the lives of alcoholics, as well on those who love them.

The Young and the Restless’s Philip Chancellor (Thom Bierdz) struggled for several years with an alcohol problem, ultimately denying his addiction and paying for that denial with his life. When Bierdz decided to leave the show, the writers made good use of his exit by killing the character off in a drunk driving accident. This should send a powerful, emotional message to the many teenage viewers of the show who might be tempted to drink, and it is a prime example of daytime drama’s ability to educate the public without sacrificing dramatic impact.

On Santa Barbara, we observed Mason Capwell’s (Lane Davies) rather rapid descend into extreme alcoholic dependency, his denial, and subsequent redemption through an intensive treatment program and attendance of AA meetings. And Santa Barbara gave nearly equal time to the alcohol problems of Mason’s rescuer, Lisa DiNapoli (Tawny Kitaen), and his wife, Julia (Nancy Grahn). Both daughters of alcoholic fathers, Lisa became an alcoholic herself, while Julia (who isn’t alcoholic) has profound problems in her relationships with men. In a couple of very effective scenes, Santa Barbara showed us how Julia and Lisa were also helped by AA.

Tawny Kitaen feels Santa Barbara’s writers dealt with the problem accurately - failing short on only one account. “Lisa did a lot of yelling and arm-twisting to get Mason to attend AA meetings. Someone who’s an alcoholic dealing with another alcoholic wouldn’t do that, because he / she would know that one of the reasons an alcoholic drink is to get away from authority. Otherwise”, says Kitaen, “I’ve gotten so many letters from alcoholics saying how much it has helped them to see their problems dramatized”.

Three other shows have been dealing with this issue, too : Guiding Light has followed Ed Bauer’s battle with the bottle for twenty years, All My Children illustrated the devastating results of drunk driving when Tom and Brooke’s daughter Laura was killed, and As the World Turns’s portrayal of teen alcoholic Andy Dixon has been superb.