Santa Barbara Discussion Thread

[slick jones]

Lady Elizabeth Peale

 

This Santa Barbara site can answer many questions. This is her character info.

[amybrickwallace]

John Allen Nelson was one of the biggest wastes of talent ever on SB. I never understood why they never did more with him.

[slick jones]

As much as I loved Santa Barbara, they wasted so many opportunities with so many actors and characters. I could have seen a hundred different ways for them to use Warren, Jade, Danny, Minx--half of the original cast. I would definitely kept the Warren/Maggie story going. Their scenes were hot, even if SM wasn't the best actress.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

 

I've said this before in here, but it seems once the Dobsons felt that the Capwells and their significant others were hits, everyone else were disposable. A show about only the Capwells would've been cute for a 30 min soap but an hour long soap, nope. Watching these old episodes fill like overkill at times with the amount of time the Capwells suck up. Yes, they were the central family, but even they can unnerve me at times. 

 

Sucks that the Dobsons scrapped the low-class Andrades and Perkins and the class system that the show teased the first few years. While the Lockridges were supposed to be the Capwell's formidable rivals, even they fell flat it seems. 

 

Is it just me or did they seem to be teasing Eden/Warren until Eden/Cruz popped? 

 

And they never committed to the young teen stories. Ted was like the bastard Capwell as he never got good stories like Eden, Kelly, or Mason. I go back and watch that hotel arc with the ghosts and is still boggled as to what that story is about. 

 

Did the show get a grasp on Warren and Ted after they were recast and returned in the last years of the show?

[amybrickwallace]

 

No. Marcy Walker once said in an interview that Eden was supposed to have a Romeo and Juliet type story with Warren. Cruz was supposed to be with Santana.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Do you think they scrapped it b/c Laken and Ted already had that story and they just gave all of that to them? 

 

I agree that SB had tons of talented actors that they cast aside b/c they weren't Gina, Cruz, Julia, or the Capwells. 

[amybrickwallace]

 

I don't know, but I personally found Ted and Laken so boring together. I also think that so many people picked up on the chemistry between Marcy and A and just ran with it.

Edited November 24, 2017 by amybrickwallace

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Well that's b/c I feel they didn't really even try with Ted or Laken. Both seem so flat from what I've seen. 

[Soaplovers]

 

I think warren/Eden were scrapped because the two had a few scenes together when she first came to town..and the chemistry w asnt there...yet was there instantly with Cruz.  

 

With Peter holding Amy/Joe hostage at the Perkins house...we don't see Jade nor the mom...which is a shame.  If I recall correctly..when Joe dies...all the focus is on Kelly's grief while Jade/Marisa aren't shown for weeks.  At that point, it was apparent the Dobsons thought the Capwells were gold..and the other characters not worth anything.  

 

If you saw the first episodes, Warren was hitting on Jade and there was chemistry yet they were dropped for him with Summer.

[amybrickwallace]

At least they didn't try to recast Joe again. It was a big mistake to get rid of Dane Witherspoon to begin with, and Mark Arnold was just miscast. 

[j swift]

I agree that Warren was wasted early on.  Although,  I wonder if John Allen Nelson's film career interrupted the growth of the Warren character?  He was filming the magnum opus known as Hunk during the first year of SB and it may have gotten in the way.  

 

I found Warren's relationship with his parents to be refreshing and appropriate for the 80's.  Warren and Augusta were close because Lionel traveled.  There are interesting scenes after everyone knows that Channing Jr was gay and Augusta inquires about why Warren was wearing Channing's tuxedo jacket at the time of the murder.  Warren knows that Augusta has slept with Joe and they silently agree to keep their secrets.  I also liked Warren's admiration of his father and that his desire for adventure was based on Lionel.  Finally, I adore any scene with Warren and his grandmother.  Early on, he is putting on tanning oil and she makes fun of him for being a lifeguard; it sets the tone that Warren is motivated to please his grandmother.  I feel like those relationships got lost with the recast.  

 

On the other hand, CC and Mason's distrust is a constant but, the other Capwell parental relationships seem to have no consistency during the course of the show.  Eden is at times complicit with CC, or she is burdened by his expectations, or she is happy being a princess.  There is no explanation of how/why CC projected all of his hopes and wishes for Channing on to Eden.  Kelly and Ted are never encouraged to have any ambition from their father.  Sofia's relationships with her children are only differentiated by the fact that Eden calls her Momma, Kelly calls her Mommy and Ted calls her Mom.   

 

Yet oddly, my two favorite SB scenes of all time are Capwell parent scenes.  First, Mason introduces CC is Channing's lover and CC tells Mason that he loved Channing anyway and would always cherish him more than Mason. Second, during the OG Dinner Party from Hell, when Mason puts CC on trial during supper with Pamela, Sofia gets a monologue about how she tried to care for Mason but he rejected her attempts at mothering.  Such good stuff that I am grateful is still available to watch. 

[amybrickwallace]

^ Very well-said!! Plus, CC didn't come into his own until Jed Allan came on. He sold the menacing aspect of CC that the previous actors had only made unintentionally funny. You REALLY didn't want to mess with CC as played by Jed.

[NothinButAttitude]

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[amybrickwallace]

Of Robin Mattson's many soap roles, Gina is my favorite.

[Carlos Abad]

I am watching episodes from 1987 on youtube and I was wondering when did the Dobsons leave the show. 

I've read it's this year, but, what are the last episodes or month they are involved on the show?