Santa Barbara Discussion Thread

[amybrickwallace]

Robin Wright serves as narrator of a new CNN series to debut tomorrow night:

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2020/09/09/new-cnn-original-series-first-ladies-premieres-sunday-october-4-at-10pm-et/amp/

[DRW50]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zMInlITgMI

 

 

[DramatistDreamer]

I don't know if this has been posted but this memoir has a connection to Santa Barbara, the real as well as the imagined and serialized place.

 

Is It Soap Opera Or Real Life? It's Both.

[victoria foxton]

 

[amybrickwallace]

 

I hadn't heard about this. Thanks for posting it.

[amybrickwallace]

Dena Dietrich played Katie Wallace on SB from 1985-86, the (presumptive) mother of Brick Wallace and biological mother of Channing Capwell Jr.

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/news/dena-dietrich-actress-who-played-mother-nature-in-margarine-commercials-dies-at-91

[Paul Raven]

delete

Edited December 6, 2020 by Paul Raven

[dc11786]

I apologize in advance as this post will be a little bit all over the place. 

 

I'm curious what impact Paul Avila Mayer would have had on the series. I cannot help but think he would have fleshed out the Perkins family. I really like that unit in its original form, but casting is really rough. I was really shocked to hear in one of those opening episodes that Joe's trial financially crippled the Perkins clan. That was a very realistic story beat. It gave a very solid motivation to John's dislike of his son beyond the fact that he thought Joe was a killer. The John / Joe dynamic was very complex. Marissa clearly loved her Joey in a way that provoked sexual jealousy in John Perkins. I think the Dobsons envisioned John as a Stanley Kowalski type. There was a very good scene in the dining area of the Perkins home where John lets Marissa know he has desires that she isn't satisfying since Joe's release from prison. Also, Marissa's dislike of Kelly seemed to suggest that the Dobsons saw Marissa as a bit of a Jocasta-esque woman. If they were going to kill off John, they should have explored the Kelly / Joe / Marissa triangle more, but clearly none of that happened. I don't think the actors in the role of the parents really allowed these parts to flourish. 

 

Speaking of miscast, I don't think Melissa Brennan (now Reeves) worked as Jade. Jade is clearly an antagonist in the beginning like Cricket Montgomery on "As the World Turns." The way she plays John is fun writing and Reeves does well with that. The seductress part doesn't really work though for me. I also think the show completely missed the mark by not even contemplating a Jade / Ted pairing with Warren as a spoiler. I believe that Jade, an aspiring actress, would definitely see Sophia as someone to aspire to or even exceed. I know they teased Warren / Jade, but I think a Jade / Warren / Ted situation would have been interesting and played on a lot of the history with C.C. / Sophia / Warren. 

 

Also, I think I would have brought Jade back to town in early 1987. I think Susan Marie Snyder would have worked as a washed up Jade who had tried to make it in Hollywood and failed as Snyder doesn't work for me as Laken. I think Jade returning in 1987 with the intention of exacting money from the Capwells would have been interesting. I would have had Jade pursue the line of thought that the Capwells that used their influence to sway the hands of justice and land Joe in prison. I would have liked to seen Jade convince a returned Marissa (maybe Constance Towers?) to seek financial retribution through a civil case. Even if the case didn't have much of a legal standing, I could imagine some lawyer as seeing it as a way to get the Capwells to cough up some money to keep the story out of the papers. 

 

When C.C. caught on to the scheme, he would have asked Ted to intervene to convince Jade to drop the case. Hayley would have been disturbed by the way Ted was becoming more and more like C.C. Maybe after the fight regarding Ted's decision to help C.C. hurt the Perkins family.

 

If Marissa was back in town, I would have liked to see them play more on that dynamic with Joe even though he was dead. Rick Edwards' Jake could have been revealed to have been a cellmate of Joe's when he was in San Quentin and Marissa could have offered the young man room and board. Initially, Marissa would just enjoy reconnecting with someone who knew her son, but later would develop romantic feelings for him. I would have also had Marissa be a buttinsky who was giving Brick grief about his relationship with Santana. 

 

I find the 1987 episodes I have watched, certain characters did really well with the Dobsons gone and others just didn't. I think the Gina / Keith dynamic is very intriguing and Gina becomes a much trashier character than she was when Linda Gibboney was playing her, but I do feel the trajectory was set in motion by the Dobsons. I think there are times where the characters delve more into their feelings than they did under the Dobsons, but at other times the show just seems super plot heavy. I know a lot of people like the Elena Nikolas story, but it just seems such a product of the 1980s. Maybe if I saw the entire story I would feel differently. 

 

There are little things that annoyed me. Carmen Castillo, Cruz's sister, seemed to replace Marie Alise Recasner's Alice Jackson. I thought there was some interesting potential in the pairing with Alice and Cruz's partner Paul Whitley. I know Patrick Mulcahey made mention of how the casting of Paul was boggled, but the show is clearly going for a Paul Michael Thomas' knock off, correct? I did find it interesting that the initial obstacle to that romance was that Alice didn't trust police officers. That certainly would be something that would be equally relevant today. I wonder if the Dobsons would have played a Brian / Alice / Paul triangle like they seem to be suggesting towards the end of their run. 

 

I think Michael Durrell was an interesting addition and C.C. purchasing a chemical company seems like such a huge shift away from the hotel. I don't hate the concept, but it just seems to be such a huge shift in direction. I don't hate the initial Jeffrey / Kelly interplay, but I also really liked the Kelly / Quinn stuff I watched in the 1991 episodes. 

 

The craziest stuff I watched was in a February 1988 episode that opened with the fallout of a bombing involving Cruz and later (half-way through an episode) involved a shootout involving Cruz, Eden, and Cain. What a plot driven mess that was. I was impressed with A Martinez handling the realization that he may have a tracking device planted in his head. He played that as serious as hell, which must have been quite difficult. I get why people like A Martinez and Marcy Walker, but Eden and Cruz have some stories that are not really enjoyable. I did like the T.J. / Sophia stuff I watched but it was bizarre to hear Sophia talk about blowing up some oil rig. I guess I liked the concept of T.J. and Sophia more than I liked the actual story.  

 

I will say I found the 1991 episodes a lot better than people had suggested, but man is the show overloaded with recasts and poor casting decisions. The Dobsons definitely cut several characters that should have stayed. I think Quinn and Kelly were strong together. Carrington Garland was very convincing and much more interesting as Kelly than Eileen Davidson's Kelly. Yikes. That was such a terrible casting decision. Davidson's Kelly just goes around butting into everyone's story. They were better off keeping Garland. I was surprise to see that Dobsons reused the musician having a heart attack story with Kelly (didn't they give that to one of the Stewart girls on "As the World Turns" with Peter Simon's character?) 

 

I know this will be controversial, but I like the Eden multiple personality story. I pretty much like anything that goes back into the original Channing, Jr. murder. The only thing I would have done differently was I would have used Eden's Channing Jr. persona to rectify the Cassandra / Warren. I would have had "Channing Jr." kidnap Minx on his way out of Santa Barbara and reveal that he knows what she did to him all those years ago. He blames Minx as much as Sophia for his death and that he has enacted his own revenge on her. He reveals Cassandra is NOT her daughter that he had gotten his hands on the information about her real daughter and switched it with Cassandra's. Channing Jr. would have implied that Minx's actual daughter was dead. This way you could still do all that Warren / Cassie / Mason stuff without changing Warren's paternity. 

 

Also, while I wouldn't have changed Mason's paternity, I think the show should have eventually revealed that part of the root of C.C. and Mason's hatred was C.C. believed that Mason was in fact the son of his brother Grant Capwell, who had been engaged to Pamela prior to her marriage to C.C. I would have allowed Mason and Grant to unite against C.C., for C.C. to reveal his suspicions, and for a DNA / blood test to prove that C.C. was in fact Mason's father revealing that a large chunk of C.C.'s animosity towards his son was based on mistaken hubris. 

 

As I watch more and more of Mason, I do have to say it's very clear that something is psychologically wrong with Mason. I appreciate that they don't play him like a garden variety soap opera lunatic, but that it is increasing obvious that Mason is not a mentally health person. I don't have any sort of diagnosis for him, but others do feel this way about Mason right. Like he is clearly a person dealing with personal demons that have manifested into a form of mental disorder. The Dobsons at least seem to be playing him that way in their 1991 run. 

 

I don't hate Wanda DeJesus as Santana as many others do. She's not my favorite Santana, but she is certainly functional and much more engaging (to me at least) then many of the other recasts from that period. I do sort of see where the Dobsons want to go with Santana. I was unaware that the land that the Andrades lost to the Capwells was the site of the Oasis, which was a very interesting set piece. I think Santana taking control of the Oasis, while married to C.C. would have been interesting especially if she was given the chance to raise Gina's child by C.C. the way that Gina had the opportunity to raise Brandon. 

 

Santana's return story involving that sleazy doctor is intriguing. I'm surprised by the Warren / Santana friendship and how the show doesn't seem to afraid to point out that C.C. isn't against using his wealth and power to get what he wants. I know many complain that the show reset Mason, but so much of who Mason is as a character seems to be based on the animosity between Mason and C.C. I feel like taking that away seems to take away who the character of Mason is. Anyway, Mason drudging up all the history between Santana and Channing Jr. during the trial is just gravy to me. I also love how the doctor just ends up confessing that he did everything and ended up shaming C.C. in the process. 

 

I will also say this. I like C.C. and Santana. Not as an endgame couple, but as some complication that allows the characters to react. Santana designing C.C.'s bedroom in the mold of her dream room for her and C.C. and then having a romantic montage to Vanessa Williams' "Save the Best for Last" is just wild to me. 

 

I also think Craig as Mason's shooter makes sense, but I'm sorry that they went that direction because Craig worked for me. 

 

Also, Angela Raymond was clearly the best new character to come out of the Dobsons' second run. 

 

 

[Chris B]

I had gotten bored and took a break from watching. I recently got back in and have watched about 30 episodes which has taken me around episode 150. The Peter story is finally winding down and people are finally discovering that Sophia is alive. I feel like this Sophia story has gone on FOREVER! I’m excited to see where the show goes with these two stories resolved. 
 

The Joe recast is horrible, so I can’t wait for him to die so Kelly can move onto something else. I’m also excited for Julia who I believe will arrive in another 30 episodes or so. I feel like so many characters (like Gina) are treading water as this Peter story wraps up. I can’t wait for the reactions from everyone once they know Sophia is alive. The Eden/Sophia scenes were fantastic. I love how they played Eden’s love for her mother and excitement for her return only for it to hit her that her mother had abandoned her. Marcy Walker is a little powerhouse. Im also excited for the final CC and Robin Mattson as Gina, but I think I have a longer wait for those two. 
 

Another thing I’ve loved is that they seem to keep the location footage going pretty regularly. I hope that never stops. The show films in California and is set there, so it’s nice to get to see them outside of the studio. It certainly added a lot to the conclusion of the Peter story. 

[j swift]

Capwell Industries was a very diversified company.  They were heavily involved in property development from the Capwell Hotel, to the offshore casino, and the Country Club.  They were also involved in oil production, as evidenced by John Perkins job, and later the oil rig that was inadvertently blown up by Sophia, as well as medical science.   It seems odd that a company with industry in the title did not actually doing anything industrial, and property development and oil don't seem to mix.  Amusingly, if you google Capwell Industries, there is a real company that produces flour, rice, and porridge.  I cannot imagine a soap about making porridge.

[amybrickwallace]

 

You sure?

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(Both Nic Coster and NLG guested on the show - at different times.)

[OzFrog]

I found myself on another Youtube rabbit hole this weekend, this time watching back on Mason and Julia’s storyline. God those two were so wonderful together. Playlist here if you’re interested: 

 

 

[amybrickwallace]

@dc11786, you have incredible story ideas (and I've said that on other threads here). I think you missed your calling!!

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[Carlos Abad]

 

 

[FrenchBug82]

I don't know much about contracts but the way she tells the story of the extra two years sound... weird.

Could be that they negotiated an extension of her contract if they let her out early of the first one to do The Princess Bride (and it would have been a fair deal for her rather than lose TPB altogether) but "They added two years because I was gone four months" is an oddly passive way to tell it as if they forced her.

Is there a backstory there I am not familiar with?