Santa Barbara Discussion Thread

[Marissa Gallant]

I just watched this episode. Yeah Madeline is dead. And Kirk has the heart of a ruthless beotch. It seems to me that they planned on David being the killer right away. Before he was even officially in town, they were showing his cigs. CC tried David at home and office and had him call him back. He wasn't officially in town until after the story broke in the papers, which would have been the next day.

[Wendy]

Never even was aware that Don Rickles show existed. Huh! Louise Sorel was also once married to actor Herb Edelman. He occasionally played a detective on Murder, She Wrote but will forever be known to millions as Stan Sbornak, feckless ex-husband to Dorothy Sbornak, on The Golden Girls!

[Paul Raven]

And Louise had a role in the infamous primetime disaster'The Survivors'. Would be interesting to hear more about that also.

[Marissa Gallant]

And he was in St. Elsewhere. He married Nurse Rosenthal.

[j swift]

OK, but once you get to the actual resolution of the mystery, go back to this episode and you'll see that it was implausible that the murderer could get from the scene of the crime to where they were shown within the episode...

[Marissa Gallant]

Oh, okay. That's gonna be a bit.

[Lex S]

I actually came to GH to watch Lane and Nancy together around 2004? It was during a hotel fire there which was supposed to be a huge deal. They quickly got rid of Lane, nothing happened... I actually probably watched for another year after that right through the end of Tamara Braun's stint.

[Soaplovers]

I'll be honest and say that while I liked Julia and Mason together, I think the pairing diminished her character in the same way that Eden being paired with Cruz diminished her character.

[Beach Climber]

I haven’t watched GH in a really long time but I recall them ironically giving NLG a Mason/Julia-lite pairing right after Lane was let go from the show. Feuding lawyers constantly bickering and facing off against each other.  

[amybrickwallace]

I think Lane first aired on GH in late 2002. He left in 2004.

His character was actually a psychiatrist, but it was the same kind of vibe.

[victoria foxton]

GH quickly killed him. Like they did many a character back then.

[amybrickwallace]

Plus, Cameron had a long-lost, estranged son already on the canvas - the very popular Zander. I wanted them to explore that relationship because there was so much history there. Alas...

I know burnout and a fraying relationship with NLG hastened LD's exit from the show and I wonder if he would have stayed to the end if things had been better. Personally, I can't see him playing out the Sasha story, the Cassie story or Ballymoor. He really did get out while the going was still (mostly) good from a story standpoint.

[Beach Climber]

The only thing I recall him wanting for Mason was conspiring against CC and acting shady. I can understand not wanting your character to become boring but that side of him got old fast and I hated when they resurrected it when the Dobsons returned in the 90s. 

[Wendy]

As I have said before, I know this show was the Dobsons' "baby", and they were denied access for years, but wrong or right, time marched on, writers evolved the characters, so inexplicably taking them backwards because the Dobsons seemed to want to forget everything that happened in their absence did the show and the characters absolutely no favors.

[FrenchBug82]

I feel you there but then sadly I think this is a pattern that holds true to most soaps.
Female characters that are established with a strong personality very rarely survive a super-pairing with their strength intact.
As a matter of fact, I'd argue that even *regular popular pairings* are somehow tied in soap writers' minds with softening a female character to the point of non-recognition. See what they are doing to Ava on GH right now because the pairing with Nikolas is popular for instance.
In any case, I believe you are right. But it was probably worth it on balance.