NBC's Generations: Groundbreaking Drama

Generations is an American soap opera that aired on NBC from March 27, 1989, to January 25, 1991. The show was groundbreaking in that it was the first soap opera to feature from its inception an African-American family.

This half-hour serial was promoted as television's first fully integrated daytime soap. It focused on the relationship between two Chicago families: the Whitmores and the Marshalls. Their association began several decades ago when Vivian Potter was housekeeper and nanny for Rebecca Whitmore and her three children: Laura, Stephanie (nicknamed Sam), and J.D. Vivian's young daughter, Ruth lived with her in the Whitmore mansion.
When Ruth grew up, she married Henry Marshall, who owned and operated five moderately successful ice cream parlors. With Ruth's urging, Henry enlisted the help of business mogul Martin Jackson, who marketed Marshall's ice cream nationwide. The move proved so successful that Ruth was able to buy the Whitmore mansion. Ruth and Henry had three children, Chantal, a lawyer, Jacquelyn Marshall Rhymes, a homemaker and mother, and Adam, a junior executive with the Hale Hotel chain. Living with the Marshalls was Ruth's mother, Vivian.

Like Ruth Marshall, Rebecca Whitmore also had a challenging past to overcome. Unknown to Rebecca, her ex-husband Peter stole her inheritance. Determined to move forward with her life, a middle-aged Rebecca enrolled in law school and succeeded in becoming one of the nation's leading attorneys. When the serial premiered, her daughter Laura was married to advertising executive Trevor McCallum. Realizing that Trevor was cheating on her, Laura ended the marriage. They had an adult daughter, Monique.

Although Rebecca was saddened by the break-up of her oldest daughter's marriage, she was happy to see her granddaughter, Monique, marry photographer Jason Craig. Soon after their marriage, Jason inherited a multimillion dollar fortune, making him a murder target. Rebecca's youngest daughter, Sam, accepted a position as model and spokesperson for the upscale Hale Hotel chain. Sam's boss, the dastardly Jordan Hale, expressed an interest in Sam that went beyond business. Police detective Kyle Masters was also wildly attracted to Sam.

Doreen Jackson, a recovering drug addict, was married to Martin Jackson. Following a brief fling with Adam Marshall, Doreen found herself pregnant. Before their daughter, Danielle, was born, the relationship died. Doreen next took up with her doctor, Daniel Reubens (SHAFT's Richard Roundtree). He resurfaced in Chicago in 1990 with his daughter, Maya Davis - alias Diana Reubens (KILL BILL VOL. 1's Vivica A. Fox)- after falsely being accused of killing his wife.

This '90s Throwdown On "Generations" Is The Most Epic Soap Opera Fight Ever

1. When you think of fights on soap operas, you probably think of this classic Dynasty throwdown. 3. But that's because you might not remember the NBC soap opera Generations. 4. The series, which aired from 1989 to 1991, starred familiar actors like Vivica A. Fox, Debbi Morgan, Kelly Rutherford, and Kristoff St. John. Daniel was suspected of killing someone after a lab explosion 15 years prior and fled to Chicago with his daughter Maya. 6. Daniel soon began to date former nightclub singer Doreen Jackson (Jonelle Allen), which did NOT sit well with Maya. 7.

GEN was ranked last in the ratings for it's entire run, and NBC ended it just short of it's 2 year anniversary. After 22 months, and 470 episodes, the final episode was scheduled to air on January 25, 1991. However, the last episode, was not shown on NBC due to coverage of the Persian Gulf War. GEN found another life in syndication on the BET network, where the reruns of the soap ran until 1993. The last episode was finally seen on BET.

Generations was a soap opera that aired on the NBC television network from 1989-1991. It focused on the lives of two families who were interlinked in the Chicago area. The show was created by Sally Sussman Morina. The series was unique in that one of the two main families of the show.

Ruth Potter Marshall (Joan Pringle) and Rebecca Gardner Whitmore (Patricia Crowley; Dorothy Lyman) were old friends, due to the former's mother, Vivian Potter (Lynn Hamilton) being the housekeeper and nanny for Rebecca's children, JD, Laura (Gail Ramsey) and Stephanie, known as Sam (Kelly Rutherford). Vivian had worked for Rebecca's parents, and stayed on with Rebecca and her family until she had been let go after she had lost her inheritance due to her scheming husband, Peter (Ron Harper), whom she divorced after it was revealed that he had stolen her inheritance.

Rebecca also had a sister named Jessica who was an actress.  In a coma was Rebecca's father, Hugh (Jack Betts) who recognized his daughter, Jessica, by watching her show.

Rebecca's oldest daughter, Laura, was married to an advertising executive named Trevor McCallum (Andrew Masset) whom she later divorced because he had cheated on her numerous times.

Trevor and Laura had a daughter named Monique (Nancy Sorel) who was married to photographer Jason Craig (Anthony Addabbo) who later inherited a fortune which made him a murder target.
Ruth was married to Henry Marshall (Taurean Blacque; James Reynolds) who opened a moderately successful chain of ice cream parlors all over the Chicago area. With Ruth's urging, Henry enlisted the help of businessman Martin Jackson (Rick Fitts) to help sell Marshall's Ice Cream all over the country.  This successful venture allowed the Marshalls to buy the former Whitmore mansion.

Ruth and Henry had three children. Chantal (Sharon Brown; Debbi Morgan) a praticing attorney; Adam (Kristoff St. John) a college student who also worked for Hale Hotels; and Jacqueline Rhymes, a housewife and mother. Martin was married to troublesome Doreen Jackson (Jonelle Allen) a recovering drug addict.

After she and Martin divorced, she took up with Adam and they had a child named Danielle. After that relationship broke up, she set her sights on her doctor, Dr. Daniel Reubens (Richard Rountree), which infuriated his daughter, Maya Davis (Vivica A. Fox) which caused her and Doreen to have a memorable catfight.
Many well-established actors had roles on this show. Most notable are Jonelle Allen; Taurean Blacque; Joan Pringle; Patricia Crowley; Vivica A. Fox; Gail Ramsey; Lynn Hamilton; Debbi Morgan; Kristoff St. John; Richard Rountree; Dorothy Lyman and Barbara Rhoades.