December 15, 1987 Digest

Didn't he also appear on Murder She Wrote as a deputy/sheriff?

That story was bad. I can't disagree with SOD, and it was very disappointing to see such a great couple end in such a manner.

I'm not sure about Rick and Murder She Wrote - it's not on IMDB.

Why did the Dobsons return become such a misfire? Had they just been away too long? Did their anger over how they'd been treated show up in the material?

SOD covers SB's 1989 Christmas party.

That was the first Weekly or one of the first I got. Thanks for posting this, as mine is long gone...

The ridiculous thing about the story, which I mentioned earlier but will repeat for those just joining, is I think it was done for shock value. The problem was how pointless the whole thing turned out to be. Aside from a few random scenes with other women, Todd McKee's story as Ted pretty much ended with Hayley's death. I wasn't surprised to see him leave the show a year later. Then, when Ted came back two years later as Michael Brainard, he eventually fell for Lily, whose evangelist background was completely forgotten by the writing team.

Actually, they did address Lily's evangelist background. Lisa Fenimore, played by Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, despised Lily because either she or her father got caught up in Lily's evangelist movement and found out she was a fraud.

I was reading the SOD panning of the Eden split personalities story - they basically said the story made no sense, it was tough to tell some personalities (like Channing and Linda) apart, and that it made no sense that Cruz didn't recognize Eden just because she had a dark wig. They named it the worst story of 1991.

Do you agree with that?

Wholeheartedly. That story was a mess from jump and it re-wrote some of the history of the show. All the crap with Andre and the tiara and her Lisa personality was sheer crap.

I disagree that it was tough to tell the personalities apart though. For most of the storyline, Eden was split into only one alter, Lisa, and Marcy did a very good job of distinguishing her from Eden. Then when she "died" falling off the cliff, she came back as "Suzanne Collier," complete with an awful brown wig. Again, it was easy to distinguish this new personality from the others, given the wig and Marcy used a different voice. HOWEVER, you could EASILY still tell that it was Eden and for Cruz (and Sophia I think) not to recognize her was PREPOSTEROUS! As for the Channing personality, he only showed up on Marcy's last episode, when Eden (as Channing) shot Sophia.

The Dobsons returned to the show after this storyline had been going on for like 4 to 6 months so they were stuck with it. Unfortunately, Marcy had already announced her departure and so they had to use it to write her off of the show. Bridgette has been quoted as saying that she never would have done the story in the first place and certainly never used it to write Marcy/Eden off the show.

With all that said, the Dobsons actually did a VERY good job with it when they came on. The previous writers used Eden's witnessing Lionel & Sophia discussing their affair and Sophia falling off the yacht to her "death" as an excuse for the split, but never gave that angle a second thought. When the Dobsons took over, they re-centered the storyline around that incident and wrote it as such, hence Eden shooting Sophia as "Channing", just as Sophia had done to her brother Channing years before. I still didn't like the story, but they did their best to salvage it and for the mostpart, they did.

I WILL say that I'm forever grateful to them and Marcy for giving us that tiny scene about a month later, where Eden is shown in a window as Cruz is meeting the real Suzanne Collier. You could read her lips say "Goodbye Cruz. I love you." as tears rolled down her face. She left her wedding ring on the window sill and was never seen again, but that moment at least gave us one final glimpse of Eden and some closure.

Imagine how frustrating it would be if your favorite character of all-time was leaving the show and for the last 3 months she was on, not once was she acting as that character. It was just awful.

Thanks for the extra insight! I was hoping you'd share some of your thoughts. I'm glad the story wasn't as bad as it could have been. It's a shame that Cruz and Eden left under those circumstances. It seems like they ran out of ideas for Cruz quite a while before A left.

I have some doubts:

lane davies, why he left the show?

Why Terry Lester left the show?

it is true that relations between Marcy Walker and Robin Wright were not good after the success of The Princess Bride?

Why was not given more space to Dame Judith Anderson (Minx-1)?

Why after the flop of Palace Guard, Marcy Walker was not reported immediately to Santa Barbara?

Why Louise Sorel left SB the first time?

Why the episode in which Mary is crushed by C has become so famous?

Why Charles Bateman was fired?

Why Santa Barbara was canceled in 1993 while loving, who plays minor, lasted until 95?

Why Dobson left the show in 92?

Louise left the first time because she wanted more storyline. She said she didn't realize, as this was her first soap, that you often have periods of downtime. She was also outspoken about stuff she didn't care for (like feeding Laken her pet pigeon), which probably didn't help.

I have some doubts:

lane davies, why he left the show?

Lane left to travel the world with Todd McKee AND because of his volatile relationship with Nancy Lee Grahn, following a messy affair and breakup.

it is true that relations between Marcy Walker and Robin Wright were not good after the success of The Princess Bride?

I know Robin was pretty much a bitch on set when TPTB forced her to extend her contract for a year in order to get time off to film "The Princess Bride." However, I'm pretty sure she still got along with Marcy rather well. The only reason I can think of that there would be animosity is because Marcy was extremely close to Bridget & Jerry Dobson and may have been protective of them against Robin's bad attitude.

Why after the flop of Palace Guard, Marcy Walker was not reported immediately to Santa Barbara?

I'm pretty sure at first, she was contractually obligated to CBS and was unable to take any other jobs, including going back to SB. I'm not sure if the contract lasted the whole primetime season or 2 seasons, but I know she had a contract with them. I think she was able to return in '92 when A was leaving, but they didn't ask her. She was also more than willing to come back for the end but again, she wasn't asked.

Why the episode in which Mary is crushed by C has become so famous?

Because it was shocking and a totally original way to kill off a character. Soaps just didn't do stuff like that at the time so it was pretty huge and memorable. I know I'll never forget it.

Why Charles Bateman was fired?

The show (rightfully IMO) wanted an actor with a stronger presence to play CC and decided to go with Jed Allan. Jed had previously auditioned, but they deemed him too young for the part. They even made him dye his hair grey to age him. What's funny is that the producers didn't bother to tell Charlie- Jed himself ended up doing it. They were at a party together and Jed apologized to him for his taking over his job. Allan was stunned that Bateman actually had no idea and this was the first he'd heard of it.

Why Santa Barbara was canceled in 1993 while loving, who plays minor, lasted until 95?

That was some BS on NBC's part, but it's widely known that the major factor in their decision had to do with the results of the lawsuit of the Dobsons vs New World. I'm not sure exactly what happened, as the records were sealed, but it's been widely speculated that that was the nail in SB's coffin.

My bad on Lily. I had forgotten that story in late 1991-early 1992. And I call myself a huge SB fan. Sheesh.

i do not know if this has already been posted in this thread, but this YouTuber is posting a lot of SB scenes on his/her channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URr8VktKTec&feature=feedu

...the death of Mary.... I think it's become famous because they have killed a much beloved in that period in a manner so cruel, and this has made ​​it shocking, a big risk in deciding to do without it ...

May 1, 1990 Digest.