Santa Barbara Discussion Thread

[Khan]

 

I feel like that was a very calculated move, on the part of Long and Paul Rauch, to go after the GL audience once they realized they would never lure away GH fans permanently.  If they had been successful, I think they would have phased out a lot more of the Capwells and other, existing families in favor of earthier families like the Walkers.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Very true.

 

I think this show went so wrong in killing and writing off most of the Perkins and basically casting the Andrade family aside. Poor Danny never even seemed like he got a shot to be developed. And poor Santana got cast aside for the fair haired Eden. 

 

I'm beginning to wonder watching all these SB episodes was SB's primary issue was that they always has this interchangeable cast of characters. No one truly stuck around, thus giving people reason not to invest. I think also that building the show around Eden/Cruz became a problem when they left b/c none of the characters were interesting enough to keep the audience. 

[Soaplovers]

 

Though oddly her hair better then...which is saying how bad her hair looks now on days lol

 

When watching these early episodes....the show hit pay dirt with Amy/brick and Joe ( original joe)/kelly... but it seemed like once eden/cruz took off...no other character/couple was all that important.

 

I think had the show built up the supporting cast..it would have weathered eden's departure better.

 

I recall Pam long saying she had no idea when she started that Cruz was departing..that had she known..she would have written differently.  In her defense..she was given a barebones show with only the Cap wells as a focal family.. and I think she saw the Walkers ad the 90s version of the Perkins family.

 

Sadly...her efforts didn't work...but as I've said before she did come up with some ok stuff like the Lisa character...pairing Lionel/Gina together.. and she did give Santana a good send off (leaving to start over and meeting a handsome guy on the plane)

[NothinButAttitude]

 

I still don't think that Pam Long writing the show any different b/c Cruz was leaving was gonna do it must justice. The nail was already in coffin by then. No one was gonna care for the show any longer b/c Eden was gone. This is why super couples have been detriments to the genre. People invest in these couples so much that once they are over, the fans are done with the show overall. That's why I feel DAYS is struggling now. 

 

This is why I always say soaps need to start writing strong individual characters before tossing them in super couples. That's why I feel P&G soaps didn't feel the brunt a lot of times b/c their shows didn't hardly invest in super couples. They had super couples but most of their characters in the last 20-30 years were just as interesting as individuals, and had lives outside their pairing. I've barely seen Eden/Cruz interact with others outside their orbit unless they were interlopers or family. 

[amybrickwallace]

It always both amused and bugged me that every time Cruz was involved in a case, a family member, an in-law or friend was always involved in some way. While Eden's assault case in late 1988 was riveting with some absolutely powerful acting, no police force in their right mind would let the husband be investigating his own wife's rape. Yes, I know this is a soap opera but come on. I think it would have been more realistic to have Cruz forbidden from investigating officially, but to do end-arounds and investigate on his own.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Wasn't Cruz the only damn cop on this show? 

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 Most of his partners or other cop characters got killed or written off. It was Cruz Castillo or nothing on this show. 

 

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[amybrickwallace]

 

It sure seemed that way!!

[NothinButAttitude]

@amybrickwallace, I'm sure you'll enjoy this:

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[amybrickwallace]

^ That was a beautiful soap wedding. I liked the outdoor park setting.

[amybrickwallace]

 

Amy and Brick were so underrated as a couple. They were of more blue-collar roots (though Brick did come into money later when it was discovered that he was the Lockridge heir), and New Stailand nonsense aside, went through problems that viewers could relate to. The fact that Kerry Sherman (Amy) didn't look like a supermodel, but attractive in an approachable way, made her unique and set her apart. She put a different twist on the soap opera heroine.

 

Dane Witherspoon and Robin Wright had off-the-charts chemistry both on and off camera, and getting rid of him after just three months was a huge mistake. No knock on Mark Arnold, who had recently come off of three and a half years on EDGE as Gavin Wylie, but he just wasn't Joe Perkins. I would have loved to see Dane play out the earthquake scenes, the Carnation Killer story, Joe and Kelly's wedding, etc. If he had stayed on SB, I wonder how things would have turned out for him and Robin in the long run. As it was, he got another chance at soap stardom on Capitol, and it quickly fizzled out. He never acted in daytime again, and shortly thereafter quit show biz altogether and moved to Denver - where he died in 2014.

 

Pam Long said in a podcast interview in 2009 (Brandon's Buzz - which also has an interview with A Martinez from 2013) that she was told that A was going to be sticking around, so she decided to go ahead and accept the HW gig. Shortly thereafter, he decided to leave. She said that had she known he would be leaving, she wouldn't have taken the job. I guess hindsight really is always 20/20!

[Sapounopera]

I never understood why the show killed off Joe so early

[amybrickwallace]

 

I don't, either. When you are a brand new soap that hits paydirt with a couple right out of the gate...you fire one half of the couple and replace him with an (admittedly talented) actor who doesn't have even a fraction of chemistry with his leading lady? The Dobsons' logic has always eluded me on that one.

[Soaplovers]

 

The only logical reason I can come up in regards to the recast is maybe the actor did something unprofessional that warranted his firing.  

 

Based on what I heard about Robin wright, I would have fired her for being a spoiled brat and being a bitch to her co workers...but I think her being forced to stay a year longer then she wanted was perfect punishment.

[NothinButAttitude]

^

That's the first I've heard of this. Robin Wright didn't get along with her co-stars? If so, that would make sense why she doesn't like her time at SB being brought up.

[Soaplovers]

 

I recall Chelsea handler had her on...and she kept going on and on about how much she loved Santa Barbara...and even finding Kelly cap well in the phone book and calling her....and Robin wright had this stunned and shell shocked look on her face.  But the kicker was how Chelsea pointed out that she got princess bride cause rob reined watched SB...and Robin wright basically said that was sad he watched the show.