Santa Barbara Discussion Thread

[Sapounopera]

Nothing about Craig's story made sense to me.

What was the point of Derek Griffin?

Conboy copied the 4 Orphans story on GL with Maryanne Caruthers.

[Marissa Gallant]

Derek got to play the bad guy. 

That said, the 4 orphans story isn't SB at it's best. I have problems though because I adore John O'Hurley so much, and I enjoyed the movie story, his chemistry with Judith McConnell, and the character. But the orphans were dumb.

Craig was an orphan looking for family. He went from the kids at the orphanage to Robert and Tonnel. Searching for a home. Then he met Kelly and gets dumped on by her. 

[Marissa Gallant]

The mansion was just remodeled. So now, the mansion is all white. Cruz and Eden's house is all white. Mason and Julia's is all white. What did these people have against color?

[CMS]

When I watched SB in the 90s Lane Davies's Mason was my main reason. I love the character and his portrayal is perfection.

That being said - I never saw the first months, so when I found episodes on Youtube I finally watched the show from the beginning. There were quite a few scenes when Mason was downright creepy, especially with Santana and Veronica. I'm glad that they quickly added more layers to the character and that Lane Davies used every morsel to give the character depth.
I'm jumping a lot between episodes and years at the moment and I can understand why Lane Davies got bored eventually. There are still great moments in his last year, but a lot of fillers as well.

[Sapounopera]

A Mason/Julia/Cruz (emotional) triangle might have carried Santa Barbara after Eden's exit. Carrington Garland's Kelly could have been part of the mix in some way.

[Wendy]

I am a Mason/Julia fan and am glad Cruz/Julia never went romantic. It's refreshing to have a solid friendship between the sexes without having romance sully it.

Cruz was intertwined with Eden for so long, his individuality seemed lost. And I don't think something with Julia could have fixed that. (One could argue the same for all the pairings, M/J included, but at least Mason/Julia were divorced for a time and had some breathing room.)

It's too bad that Cruz could not have something focused on HIM. Had he been able to develop as an individual a bit deeper, maybe the writers could have branched out THEN bring on a new romantic option for him.

As it was, I completely understand why A Martinez opted to jump to L.A. Law.

Edited December 26, 2022 by Wendy

[Manny]

Oh I loooved Kelly and Craig. John Callahan and Carrington Garland were so hot together. I mean, I was probably 13 around the time I watched it, but I still found the two of them together really hot.

Speaking of Carrington, I was pissed off when they recast her with Eileen. I did not know Y&R at that time, so I didn't know who Eileen was, but she was NOT Kelly Capwell to me.  

Edited December 25, 2022 by Manny

[Jdee43]

Early Mason is such a loser. Santana and Veronica barely stand him; they only pretend to be friendly to get what they want. His father barely tolerates him, and his mother can't be bothered to give him the time of day. Hard to believe his character is going anywhere. 

[Keri]

Every once in rare while when I'm bored I will watch a few minutes post Eden going over the cliff in 1991. I think I'm trying to decide if I ever want to rewatch it again lol. 

Is there anything decent about the Suzanne storyline? It all seems like hot garbage to me. Even the actors didn't like it- while A didn't.

Not sure why I'm torturing myself with it lol. Actually I do know- I haven't seen it really since it first aired and I'm just curious, but coming up to the first ep with her and blech.

Even her hair was just awful.

[chrisml]

The Suzanne story was a disaster. I felt sorry for all the actors involved. The Suzanne plot gets even more ridiculous as it goes along. I always wondered if this was the Dobsons' way of getting back at A. Martinez for supporting JFP. 

Edited December 29, 2022 by chrisml

[Marissa Gallant]

I'm hopefully getting to the end of this Shaman storyline. I want to skip it and at the same time, I want to watch it. The art theft story is ramping up. It's a story that gives Lionel and Augusta more screen time, so that's good. But the criticism of everyone being in their own bubble is DEAD ON accurate. 

As far as Suzanne, I have never seen it. Not sure that I want too either. I'm struggling to get through 90. I really just want to start over. To go back to the stories that made me happy. 

[Keri]

Funny that's how I feel. I'm just on the cusp of 1990. But I kinda want to start over. I went back and started organizing my collection bc it needed tidying up. (Yes I have too much time on my hands this week lol)

Was reading the episode descriptions and start to get pulled in. Eden and Lionel in the graveyard. Augusta slapping Eden. Good times lol.

The Suzanne storyline is awful and has no resolution. The only part of it that is remotely interesting is the final clip where Eden comes back as Channing and shoots Sophia but I get most people wouldn't like that either.

I'm not seriously watching it, just the occasional clip. Hate watching I guess.

 

Edited December 29, 2022 by Keri

[Joseph]

So I decided to go through with my old project of Introducing Soaps To Brazil, my first 2 Choices Are Santa Barbara and Bold and The Beautiful because both were shown here at a point, depending on the response I might try with others, So I would Love Recommendations, What Episodes Do You think are the most crucial from SB's Let's say first 3 years (1984 - 87)????????

[victoria foxton]

I would choose 86-87. Because SB was firing on all cylinders. The Dodson's last years was pretty good. Even Anne Howard Bailey's first year was good. Even though she tended to toss aside a lot of the Dobson's characters.

Edited December 29, 2022 by victoria foxton

[Keri]

For me the storyline I would include would be-

- the who killed Channing storyline

- Mary and Mason

- the baby storyline with Mason and Julia

- a bit about the Brick reveal

- maybe the Kirk/Eden storyline?

- maybe the Kelly and Joe storyline? It was generally popular wasn't it?