Santa Barbara Discussion Thread

[Carlos Abad]

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[DRW50]

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[Capridge]

You know, you may be right about that. I did not enjoy Pam Long's writing at all but I think she might have done well with Augusta & Lionel. Though she might have only used them for silly mini-stories like she did with Lionel & Gina.

[j swift]

The 1969-1979 part of Sophia's timeline is what never made sense to me.  The storyline led us to believe that CC and Sophia were destined to be together.  However, she was married to the Count three years longer than CC, and she had an affair with Lionel twice during their marriage.  

 

There are several loose ends that were never resolved.  Did Marcello spend the entire series in jail?  Why did Joe only served five years for shooting Channing, but Marcello spent nine years in prison for falsifying evidence?  Why did Sophia completely forget about Marcello, with whom she had a longer relationship than she did with her own children (like she forgot about Brick and his child)?  What did Armonti Industries produce and why did they move their manufacturing from Italy to Santa Barbara?  

 

Obviously, some of those are written in jest.  However, Sophia deserved to be a much more layered character. Her history is suggests conflicting interests in fulfilling her own desires for fame or lust, versus her duties to the needs of her family.  She was redeemed through a cancer storyline which made her into a martyr and as a result her history was quickly dismissed.  Changing writers and a focus on the younger characters never allowed her to be explored as fully as she could have been.  

Edited April 30, 2020 by j swift

[Forever8]

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[BetterForgotten]

Doesn't Disney now technically own the rights to the show? I believe 21st Century Fox purchased New World in the late 90's, and obviously Disney recently purchased most of the 21st Century Fox properties. 

[victoria foxton]

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Bloopers - 1984-1986

[Soapsuds]

I always thought it won Emmys to keep it on the air. The ratings for the most part were bad. IMO SB was trash. 

[pdm1974]

I wasn't the biggest Pam Long fan, either. I did think she utilized the Lockridges much better than the writers before her. She also expanded Minx's role on the canvas.

A reunion would be amazing! I would love to see one just with the Dobsons. The show won so many awards in its short time, but it also had a ton of backstage drama that would be wonderful to dish.

Edited May 19, 2020 by pdm1974

[AbcNbc247]

Well, NLG does have her own YouTube channel where she interviews soap stars.

 

And I’m sure she could reach out to Alan Locher too.

[Capridge]

 

Interesting theory but I really doubt that

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That's true. It was lovely to see Minx a bit more involved in the storylines and Janis Paige player her well (even though she was far too young to be playing Nicolas Coster's son, but I didn't mind that).

[Soaplovers]

I've always given Pam Long slack when it came to her 10 month stint on the show.  She inherited a critically ill show that had stupidly relied on just one couple at the expense of everyone else. So I think she did the best she could.  

[chrisml]

Pamela Long was just the wrong writer for the show. SB needed a hw who could play up the show's wit and Long is too earnest for that. I felt that the SB characters lost their individuality and became flattened during her tenure (Mason and Julia were neutered beyond belief for ex.). SB's demise was certainly not Long's fault as it has been on life support for a while. I know people talk about losing Marcy Walker as the death knell, but I think it was firing Carrington Garland. You also had Justin Gocke, Roberta Bizeau, Frank Runyeon, Louise Sorel, John Callahan and Roscoe Born leaving or fired. In my mind, The Dobsons and Rauch are the ones really responsible. 

[Capridge]

Probably, but she introduced way too many new characters IMO and didn't get the characters that were already on the show. Cruz's exit was totally out of character, Lily's backstory was rewritten (she slept with Mason in 1986 but was now somehow a virgin again), Brandon was totally forgotten once baby Channing arrived, Gina was dumbed down considerably and Julia became totally obsessed with the haunted mansion and wanted to stay there even though both her husband and daughter were getting hurt. And then Mason, who loved Julia and became self-destructive whenever he lost her, suddenly implied that their marriage could not work out because Julia had won the judgeship and not him? That was totally out of character, too.

ICA! Although Eden was probably the heart of the show, the death knell wasn't just Marcy leaving, it was all of those factors, many of which could have been prevented because a lot of these actors were fired.

John Conboy is underrated IMO. He respected the show's history enough to bring back characters like the Lockridges, Robert Barr and Keith (unfortunately Justin Deas didn't want to come back but Conboy did try).

[chrisml]

I agree. Conboy had his problems (Julia's rape was a major misstep) but I think some of the problems could have been ironed it. The Dobsons and Rauch just made so many irreparable mistakes that nothing Long did would have saved the show. She certainly didn't help, but the show was too far gone. D & R really killed audience loyalty and interest.