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Santa Barbara Discussion Thread

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By dm.
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Jdee43 Rising Star

Jdee43

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Episode 124 (1/22/85) has Cruz joining the police force. After almost 6 months, the show finally has a cop among its long-term contract players. It still doesn't have a doctor though! Very rare for a soap not to have contract players who are cops or doctors! I wonder how much of that was an oversight.

Cruz was introduced in episode 11 as a worker on the oil rigs, an expert in fires and stuff. Then around episode 50, it's revealed he is really some sort of spy. But that goes nowhere; he has no real spy adventures. Now, all that's out; he's going to be what he always secretly wanted to be, a cop. Talk about rewrites.

I wonder what the original plans were for Cruz. He's pretty much a background character throughout 1984. What was the point of making him a spy? 

 

 

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j swift Grand Master

j swift

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@Jdee43 I wonder if the change in course was due to the burgeoning romance with Eden.  Cruz being the head detective on the Channing Murder case would be an obvious source of conflict once the couple was established. 

I would further speculate that more story was planned for the oil rig where Maggie's husband was injured.  For example, maybe they would've explored more about the reason for the explosion, or some sabotage.  But, perhaps that was sidelined due to the lack of popularity of Maggie and Warren, as well as multiple CC recasts.  I suspect that CC was going to be more of an antagonist, then the sort of sly rogue he became when Jed Allen assumed the role.  And maybe with Cruz as a spy, he could've investigated CC's culpability. 

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Jdee43 Rising Star

Jdee43

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Episode 125 (1/23/85) has Cruz tell his spy boss that being a cop "is a hell of a lot more important than the assignments I've been getting from you people the last six months!" These assignments were barely shown on screen! Even Cruz can admit that the first six months of Santa Barbara have been pretty lame 

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The show is definitely more watchable in January 1985 than it was in 1984. But it's still being let down by poor casting choices.

Episode 125 finally has a pay-off to the Mason/Veronica/Lionel story, and it's so lackluster and disappointing, mostly due to the poor acting of Andrea Howard as Veronica.  Howard is a very beautiful woman, but she can hardly act her way out of a paper bag. She's totally incapable of giving her character any interior life. It's impossible to tell who she genuinely cares for, Mason or Lionel, as her reactions are all the same, blank and bland. 

Episode 125 also points up the failure of the Joe recast. New Joe and Cruz have none of the buddy chemistry that Joe and Cruz had with Dane in the role. They've even dressed up Mark Arnold in one of Dane's old denim outfits, and he just looks silly. Mark Arnold has no charisma; he just comes across as a bully to Cruz, Kelly, Peter, anyone. With the recast, it was probably for the best to kill Joe off, as he seems to have no purpose or appeal anymore; he's just shrill and has chemistry with nobody. 

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Chris 2 Rising Star

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No Robin Wright? 

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The Joe recast is one of the odder ones. I don’t know why Dane Witherspoon was let go, but I’m assuming he was. He wasn’t exactly Olivier but he was pretty to look at. Mark Arnold was a completely different type.

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Jdee43 Rising Star

Jdee43

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A quick summary of the show's history: 1984 was rough. 1985 and 86 were its peak. 1987 it started to decline.  1988 and 89 were the bottom of the barrel, its nadir. 1990 and 91 were spent trying to recover. 1992 it threw in the towel. 1993 it was off the air.

A good quick summary? 

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MarcyWalkerFan Apprentice

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Absolutely spot on! 85-86 were absolute peak....the acting, writing was top notch and gold standard for TV...pretty much enjoyed 88 as well although not at par with the previous years...Acting of all the 3 protagonists during the Robert Barr story line was great too but not much else to write home about otherwise....after that it was just an unfortunate slide. 

Well Robin probably didn't want to add a single day to the already extended 4 year stay she had on the show 

That Joe recast was painful to watch, dunno how the cast members kept a straight face whilst acting with him....

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