Santa Barbara Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

 

[j swift]

Were Christopher Mayer and Christopher Norris in the cast at the same time?  I wonder if a PA ever got confused and gave them the wrong script.

I know he went by Chip, but it was amusing to me.

[chrisml]

According to the French Santa Barbara site, Mayer last aired on April 21, 1989. Norris first showed up on March 9.

[Jdee43]

I've gotten up to episode 85, 11/26/84. Louise Sorel and Nicholas Coster are really carrying the show. 

I'm just stunned by the lackluster writing. In this episode, two storylines have their climax, and there are no pay-offs whatsoever. One is Joe being exonerated, a story that goes back to the first episode. You'd think this would be exciting, with Joe finding the killer or something. But no; instead, Peter, who just got shot trying to kill Joe, now reveals that he was there at the time of the murder and can vouch that Joe didn't do it. Everyone believes this, and this clears Joe. It's so silly and anticlimactic. The writers keep giving Peter things that come out of no where, ruining the character. They also have lost interested in Joe; he's not even in the episode where he's cleared. Both characters are dead 3 months later. In hindsight, they should have gotten rid of both of them in the earthquake.

The second story that climaxes is the "adventure" of the 4 teens buying a haunted hotel, fixing it up and trying to run it, all the while being harassed by their teacher Ray Walston. I felt so bad and embarrassed for My Favorite Martian Ray Walston; through a comedy of errors, he's caught with a hooker. This is his last appearance and the last time we see any of this. It was all supposed to be "funny," but what a waste all around. The show had no idea what do with the younger characters.

The show in general has no idea what to do. The show in 1984 is not working.

[Khan]

I wonder if that's due to good, old-fashioned network interference, or to the Dobsons realizing that what worked on the page as they were creating the show wasn't working on the screen.  Either way, I think they realized early on that they had made some poor casting decisions that, in turn, hampered many of their original plans for the show.

As for the story centering around the teens, however, I tend to think the Dobsons' hearts simply weren't in writing for them - that, in fact, they were forced to write for them, even though SB was their creation, because NBC was chasing after the youth markets, and they believed featuring younger characters in their own stories would lure younger audiences to the show and away from GH.

If you look at the Dobsons' material on other shows - GH, GL and ATWT - you'll notice that they didn't write much (if at all) for the teenaged characters.  I can't say that I blame them either.  Teenagers aren't that interesting to watch.  The only ones who could write for them honestly and still hold viewers' attention were Douglas Marland and Agnes Nixon.

[Keri]

That stuff with the teens was AWFUL. I've never managed to sit through it.

It's funny- I started watching SB late in its run and got hooked. If I had started from scratch as it aired I don't know if I would have stuck.

I didn't mind the story with Peter. Found Joe and Kelly boring.

[j swift]

The pilot always made me think that all of the good stuff happened off-screen.

I would have preferred a flashback to Sophia's drowning followed by the first months telling the story of the summer that lead to Channing's murder.  In that scenario, we could watch Peter's double life as a teacher and gigolo (hired by Augusta).  The beginnings of Joe and Kelly's romance.  Channing's gay love life and his affair with Santana.  Gina adopts baby Brandon and lives as a sugar baby. The adventures of Channing and Warren to find the coins.  Culminating in Channing's party where Lionel returns to town, Channing plans his revenge, and Sophia sneaks back in disguise.  Then, Channing is murdered, Eden returns to help investigate, and falls in love with Cruz. 

To me, Channing was such a black canvas.  Eden and Mason envied him.  Santana was his beard and had his child.  His presence was felt so deeply, that it would have been nice to get to know him a bit.

Edited May 15, 2023 by j swift

[Liberty City]

Is it wrong I just have zero interest in returning to Santa Barbara? I'm stuck in the 900-episode range.

[Paul Raven]

When Marland arrived at GL he praised the Dobsons but immediately pointed out there were no young stories hence the arrival of Morgan/Kelly/Tim etc

Marland said he liked writing about the young ones because their lack of maturity and experience meant you could write jealousy/misunderstandings/fickleness much easier and more believably than with older characters who could look dumb or selfish.

It didn't help that the SB youngsters were played by green actors given 'hi jinks' stories. If they had committed to  young love/serious stories things might have worked better.

[Keri]

Liberty City- well 900 is 1988, which is pretty bad imo. 

Re the pre pilot stuff- occasionally I come across people hoping for a reboot, and they envision a focus say on the grown Chip and Adriauna, etc.

I think you could do a better show going back in time. Young CC, conflict with his brother in business and relationships, the Lockridges could still be around. 

Could mine and expand the history of both Pamela and Sophia with the family.

And go up to say the pilot. 

They would need to come up with more stories than just the known history though.

 

[te.]

IMHO, Santa Barbara is typical of a show that really doesn't need a reboot and people would probably be better off creating a show that's similar instead. There's not really a strong "hook" that would be enough to reboot, ie Dark Shadows being a gothic soap opera with a vampire (and horror movie tropes) or like Edge of Night being a soap version of Perry Mason. 

[Liberty City]

The issue is none of the characters are rootable, in my eyes. Jill Farren Phelps came in and re-shifted the canvas to be the Cruz & Eden show, and they are a couple that I simply detest. And it's oversatured. And no other storylines are gripping. I understand the transition when EPs change, but this is just.... jarring.

[chrisml]

My comments are nothing new but SB's problem was consistency. An individual episode could be brilliant, and the next one would be an absolute mess. The dialogue was usually the saving grace, but that wasn't always the case especially in the early years. The revolving door of writers and producers meant there was constant whiplash. There was little long-term plotting and most stories just fizzled out. It always felt as if the writers (whichever ones were working at the time) were just making stuff up as they went along. Yet when SB was on a roll, it was fantastic t.v. so it's annoying that someone couldn't step in and maintain that quality for longer than three months at a time. 

Edited May 17, 2023 by chrisml

[Jdee43]

I think the main problem Santa Barbara had in 1984 is that none of the characters are especially interesting, memorable, or even likeable. They all are so generic and boring that it's hard to care or be invested in any of them.

Augusta and Lionel come the closest to breaking the mold.

It's crazy to see Mason, who later becomes interesting, being such an unlikeable non-entity in these early episodes. He could just stop appearing, and no one would care or notice. 

Robin Wright is so beautiful, but boy her character sucks, especially after Dane was fired; the character is so grating. It's the writing.

Edited May 18, 2023 by Jdee43

[Khan]

I think you have to credit Frank Salisbury for making Mason the interesting character that he was.  IMO, Salisbury's work on other soaps could approach poetry, and poetry was right up Mason Capwell's alley.