Jump to content

Santa Barbara Discussion Thread


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 4.2k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Members

 

I think I recall the Dobson's inheriting this story and stating this wasn't how they would have written Eden out.. but had to write what was already started.. and decided to fix it as much as they could (this scene is probably the Dobson's making sense of the mess they inherited.. and it made sense since Eden always had unresolved issues with Sophia.. even was hypnotized to forget seeing Sophia alive when in Europe)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Bridget Dobson said in an interview shortly after being booted from the show that head writers Chuck Pratt and Anne Howard Bailey lobbied hard for Shirley Anne Field as Pamela while Bridget, at this point the sole (non-writing) executive producer, wanted Marj Dusay, who was fresh off of "Capitol." 

 

From a 1988 interview with Bridget:

 

"Jerry and I had conceived Pamela many years ago but NBC did not want us to bring on another forty-ish character. But we kept pushing because we know it could be hot stuff." Once the powers gave in, movie queen Samantha Eggar was signed, but quickly got cold feet when the rigors of daytime grind were fully explained to her. Fellow British actress Shirley Anne Field was cast instead. "She was Ann and Chuck's first choice," reports Bridget. "Marj Dusay was my choice but we cast Shirley Anne because we wanted the head writers to be excited. To me, Marj is a great beauty and seemed to be the kind of person that CC (Jed Allan) would have once been attracted to. Ann and Chuck's perceptions were not marginally different from mine - they were very different."

 

Ironically, Field wound up delivering a tepid, colorless performance and was given the heave-ho after three months. The replacement? Marj Dusay. Perhaps just as ironically, Dusay came on board as nothing short of brilliant with each icy line reading revealing encyclopedias full of character. Clearly, the plot possibilities were endless and the likelihood that the actress would emerge at the forefront of Santa Barbara - much as Elizabeth Hubbard rules supreme as Lucinda on As the World Turns - must have seemed delicious to loyal watchers. Guess again. Dusay was on the unemployment line before she knew what hit her and the dandy part was foolishly tossed into limbo.

 

Dusay lasted only until the summer of 1988, then returned for a week in March 1991.  When SB was canceled, she had this to say about the experience:

 

"I always thought Santa Barbara was a very good show and liked the work on it.  But when I went in it seemed to be just going to hell in a hand basket.  I truly believe they had their problems within the show, and they just more or less hired me to get rid of the character.  Pamela was the baby of the Dobsons, and when they had their struggle [with NBC, which resulted in their outster from the series they had created] somebody had to take it over, and by then the character couldn't go anyplace.  It evidently was so much politics, and if I had known that it would have helped me feel a lot better.  I thought Pamela was going to be a wonderful character, and she might have been had the Dobsons stayed.  It felt good to return, because there was something of real substance for me to play, and I was much more comfortable.  I liked the way the Dobsons brought Pamela back and where she was coming from.  It's a shame the show was canceled and I'm sorry for all my buddies there."

 

SB should have done much more with Pamela, but it sounds like the writers were not fans of the character and/or Dusay.  Of course, she and Jill Farren Phelps would reunite a few years later at GL when MD was cast as Alexandra Spaulding so apparently there was no ill will there.

Edited by redontop4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

The previous regime (Sam Ratcliffe/Maralyn Thoma and John Conboy) started teasing that Eden had a split personality in early 1991. The Dobsons' work began airing in February so, yes, they inherited this story. But it was the Dobsons who tied Eden's mental troubles to her crazy family history. Eden had spied Sophia and Lionel together on the Capwell yacht, then saw Sophia "die" going overboard or something like that. Out of that trauma, Eden's alter ego, Lisa, emerged to help Eden deal, and apparently Lisa was also a jewel thief at one time.  Then another alter ego emerged, Suzanne Collier, and then another, that of Eden's brother Channing, who was murdered by Sophia and got revenge by shooting Sophia in the scene above. Then the real Suzanne Collier showed up . . .

 

It was a mess, mostly of the Dobsons' making. (A Martinez has said many times that he regrets agreeing to play the scenes where Cruz did not recognize his soul mate, Eden, in a wig and glasses.)  The clip above aired in July 1991 so the Dobsons had several months to either toss or rewrite the embryonic story they inherited.  But to be fair, Marcy Walker was making noise again about leaving SB when she shot her pilot, "Palace Guard."  This, no doubt, left the writers in limbo (again) and needing a way to get Eden off the canvas quickly if that series was ordered for the fall 1991 schedule, which it was.  And that was the end of Eden/Lisa/fake Suzanne/Channing.

Edited by redontop4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Pamela easily could have been SB's version of Alexis Colby.

I remember this being sooooo unbelievable. How could Cruz not recognize Eden with just a bad wig and glasses on? It was like Lois Lane not recognizing Clark Kent was Superman. There had to have been a different way the story could have been told.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

I would have ended it with Eden falling off the cliff and her body not being found.  That way if her pilot didn't get picked up and/or didn't work out... she could have returned as being in a coma and/or reverted to the Lisa split personality and taken up being a jewel thief again.  And perhaps when A Martinez left the show, it was after receiving word that the Eden personality had taken hold and she was asking for him... and Cruz left Santa Barbara to go to Eden.. and once they reunited.. sent for the kids so that they could live happily ever after.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I don't know why the Dobsons had to make the story so convoluted. Terri Garber's character never worked, and the storyline made Cruz look like an idiot. I wonder if this storyline was the Dobsons' way of getting back at Marcy Walker for wanting to leave just when they regained control of the show.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

The early 1991 summaries are being posted on Tumblr.  As previously mentioned the timeline is nuts.  Around November 1990 Robert Barr is shot and Eden goes into a coma.  She awakens in time for a Xmas miracle.  Then, the first week in February she gets a necklace from Quinn, (pretending to be Robert), which triggers a nightmare when she remembers that a huge diamond was once attached to it, thus beginning the jewel thief angle. 

 

Bridgette Dobson proudly said that she never watched SB during her time off of the show.  Looking back, that might not have been a good idea because any character growth between CC and his kids during their absence was immediately abandoned upon their return. 

 

 

Edited by j swift
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Yeah. Capwell Dinner in '91 aside, I wasn't a fan of Round 2. As you say, it seemed like the characters regressed. And now we know why. While Mason was no innocent in his rivalry with his father, sometimes CC could be downright hateful. I remember when Mason was trying to tell him that "Suzanne" (the fake one) was Eden and CC just said horrible things about Mason. Only when Cruz backed him up did CC listen. Then he tried to be all joyous with Mason, who told him to go to hell. (They did then have a nice reconciliation scene, but I think it was long past time for Mason to say that.) Also found it all sorts of ironic how much of a cheerleader he became of Mason and Julia upon their remarriage since, during the Tori era, CC most definitely did not approve. (But he seemed to soften long before. Even going so far as to plead with Julia to help Mason once Mason had fallen off the wagon after their divorce. "Capwell fits of sincerity", as she told CC.) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

While I agree that the writing and performances of the dinner party are exemplary, upon reflection, Mason's motivation to defend his mother to CC in February 1991 comes out of nowhere. 

 

Arguably, Gina had been far worse to Mason in 1990 than CC had ever been by maintaining Sonny and keeping Mason from his wife and children. 

 

Also, CC and Mason had a prior reconciliation during Mason's wedding to Julia and Mason knew that Pamela was a mortal threat to Kelly, whom Mason was always protective, so the setup didn't really make sense.        

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

True, but I think CC is worse because, well...that was Gina. Always devious. CC is Mason's father. I just had more of an issue because CC did always seem to view Mason through the "Pamela lens", meaning he was not from his adored Sophia, and Mason always seemed to suffer because of it. As I said, Mason himself was no innocent, but CC certainly didn't make things any easier.

 

But, looking back, I also agree the motivation for that entire dinner is suspect. But if you look at that in a vacuum, it was one of the final interesting scenes that the Dobsons crafted. The rest was a mess.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy