Santa Barbara Discussion Thread

[juniorz1]

FUN FACT: I think SOW kinda sorta realized and admitted their blunder with ED because the SOW Santa Barbara tribute Issue has Carrington on the cover (pictured with Roscoe Born). Of course, Cruz & Eden were the centerpiece, Lionel & Augusta were on it, Warren & Angela (!- I'm shocked it wasn't a BJ picture), CC & Sophia, and The Walker family, so there were a lot of old characters on there. But you'd have to be more than a little insulted if you were on the show til the end and the actress you replaced gets the cover of the tribute issue.

Not so fun fact: The same week that issue came out, JFP killed Maureen off 'Guiding Light.'

[Wendy]

I still have that issue packed away somewhere.

[DRW50]

That's the first SPW I ever bought. I have it somewhere too.

[~bl~]

I hope I have that SOW somewhere. I know where my SB cancelled magazine is. I didn't mind Eric Close as Sawyer.

[Soaplovers]

Regarding Pam Long's year-long stint on the show... was there any established character that anyone felt she actually wrote well? Of all the established characters, I think the character she wrote the best was Gina.. but since Gina was an OTT character, I think that could be why.

I remember reading an interview with Pam Long during her stint that she did have plans for Terri Garber's character Suzanne.. but shortly after that interview came out, her character was written out. So I wonder if she was fired, or if the actress just chose to leave? I remember she was tested with Ted... then she fell off a cliff after being terriozed by that weird old lady and then left town as soon as she came out of a coma (I certainly hope that wasnt waht Pam Long meant when she said she had plans for her LOL).

That said... i thought the Ballymoor story had potential when it started out... and then just became stupid as it went along.

I do think that Pam Long was trying to evolve the show since a lot of the popular actors had departed.. but I think she went about it the wrong way.. and in some cases... went too fast with all her changes. The one character that I did actually like that Pam Long created was the Lisa character.... she was such a great bitch.. especially to Lily... a win imho

[juniorz1]

It wasn't the first I bought, but I did buy it. And I'm so sad that in one of my many moves over the years, I somehow parted ways with it.

Luckily enough, a fan recently sent me most of the SB-related stuff from that issue via the internet, though I KNOW there was more I don't have.

I'd love to buy it off any of you or even pay one of you to color copy the SB pages for me and send them to me. I miss having it SO MUCH.

Hmm...I'd say Gina but I just don't think she was used enough during Long's stint to say that she was written well. Not to mention that she was isolated from the Capwells, which was probably largely due to Brandon being off the canvas, a HUGE mistake since he was the source of most of the conflict for she and them.

As far I think I'd have to go with CC & Sophia- while Ken/Sophia wasn't by any means my favorite storyline for them, I do think they were building something with Ken & Andie that was meant to go on much longer. Many of the CC & Sophia fanbase have expressed disappointment to me that she didn't get to fully flesh out & finish it because CC was going to be the hero for Sophia for the first time.

Plus, for once in the character's tenure on the show, I do believe that storyline was going to give him the opportunity to earn back Sophia's love, redeem himself in her eyes (and the fans'), and actually be the man that was worthy of her.

And CC distracting himself with younger Angela after Sophia had taken up with younger Ken was just the kind of tit for tat that he would pull, even though it was hypocritical of him since he'd taken up with MANY younger women over the years.

I do have to point out, however, that Long didn't quite last a year. Her material began airing in the spring of '92 and SB was off the air in January '93.

Frankly, I still don't understand why the Dobsons didn't pull a Larry David and return to write the final weeks of the show. Maybe it hurt too much, who knows their reason, but their ending is the only ending I think that the fans would have wanted.

Ugh, I hate talking about this because it makes me angry, sad, disgusted, confused, and just downright emotional all over again. SB was my soap and it left a shell of its former self, which it didn't have to.

To end my post on a positive note, I totally agree with you there. I really liked Lisa, I often forget that she was a Long creation, and of all of Long's influx of new characters, Lisa was the one that actually fit SB. Plus, she was meant to be a very young character, which was always SB's weak spot.

[DRW50]

Paul Raven posted the cover some time back.

[Wendy]

I was admittedly meh on all the characters who were not Capwells, involved with the Capwells, or interacted with the Capwells from years past (of which there were few) by '92-ish, so Bridgette Wilson's Lisa made no real impression on me, either way. I admired Pam Long (one of the only times I did) for actually trying to use Lilly/Lily's (sp?) con history. But Paula Irvine took me right out of it as I still think she was miscast and far too young after Lynn Clark's RM-lookalike version.

As an aside, Lisa. We had just come off of the Lisa/Eden debacle. Had this writing staff never heard of a simple baby names book?

Another aside, I did like that Lisa also made Rafe miserable, but I think that is simply because I hated Rafe, never bought him as a Castillo, and hated that the show ditched the (IMO!) much superior Castillo brother (even if the dumb rewrite said he wasn't), Ric.

[juniorz1]

Agreed on Lyhn Clark vs Paula Irvine and Lily's evangelistic past not working because Irvine looked so youthful and frankly, didn't play Lily that way.

And OF COURSE I agree with you on Ric vs. Rafe- there IS no comparison!

So was there a rewrite that said that Ric wasn't really a Castillo or that he wasn't superior? Because I don't remember him being revealed to not be a Castillo at all.

Also, I have a question that some may be able to help out with:

In this age of youtube and tape trading and the fact that a lot of what we see on the sites now is what aired in foreign countries, does anyone know for sure some of the things that aired in foreign countries that were different here?

I know about the Terry Lester/Gordon Thomson switch, but the specific scene I'm wondering about is the pin prick to CC's "corpse"- I've always remembered it being Keith who did that and have seen it that way on youtube now. But in Marlena delaCroix's SB: A Spot Like Camelot article, she recalls a distinct memory of it being Gina who pricked CC with the pin. Is this just an error on her part or did it air as Gina doing it in the US and Keith doing it in other countries?

I WILL say that deLaCroix's article had other mistakes (like the Dobsons returning to SB in 1990 when it wasn't til '91 and saying they were locked out of the studio in November '87 when I'm pretty sure it was early '88 when that happened, etc...)

[Wendy]

Maybe not a rewrite, but just a stupid plot point? Either way, Ric was not a Castillo. Do you remember when Carmen Zapata was recast for a time with Karmin Mucillo? Around that time, it was revealed Carmen had an affair with Harlan Richards (a baddie business guy on the show) and Ric was actually his son - and Ric was in a tepid romance with his own half-sister (played by Julie St. Claire) and didn't know it. When he did, he left town.

And stupid Rafe was Rafael's spawn with some unknown woman, so he was a Castillo.

On another topic, SB really liked the name Lisa. In uploading some Mason/Julia stuff tp my YT account last night, around the time Mason went to rehab for his alcoholism, I had forgotten about Mason and Julia's secretary, Lisa DiNapoli, played by Tawny Kitaen. (And who always took me out of her scenes, even if her acting was okay, as all I could see was her writhing on a car in that Whitesnake video!)

Yep, a simple baby names book would have been helpful.

Edited March 7, 2012 by Wendy

[Wendy]

Someone at TWoP says that the actress who played Michael's very brief possible love interest, ex-nun Greta MacAdams who was on in 1989, was dead. (I don't think recently. It was brought up in discussion about Terry Lester and Michelle Nicastro.)

Anyone remember hearing about this? I know she was a minor character on the show, but if true, that's sad.

ETA: I checked IMDB and there seemed to have been an issue about this. The last post on her message board on the IMDB page says she is alive. One other post had her married to Mark Lamura. So, I have no idea.

Edited March 9, 2012 by Wendy

[Wendy]

It is somewhat old, from 2009, but a French SB site has a nice little interview up with Carrington Garland, (ex-Kelly Capwell #3). The interview is in English and there are a few pictures. She looks the same except older.

And in one of the photos, it looks like she is with Constance Towers (Helena, GH).

[DRW50]

Carrington has barely aged! It's too bad she doesn't keep in touch with anyone from the show.

[DRW50]

6/14/88 Digest

[DRW50]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2aUNNGvc6k