Santa Barbara Discussion Thread

[Lex S]

Right? Recasts are pretty much unique to daytime. However, I remember a few recasts on primetime shows. Seinfeld's father was a different actor in season 1 in the very beginning. Also with children, I guess, it's easier. On Mad Men they recast Don Draper's son.

Edited September 19, 2021 by Lex S
Adding

[FrenchBug82]

Primetime comedies seem to be comfortable doing it more than dramas.
I have been digging through my brain to think of a primetime soap that may have done it and I can only think of The OC and Dallas (Jenna). And the latter was recast from an originally one-episode role so it is obviously not the same as recasting a full-on character.

[amybrickwallace]

Of course, the biggest primetime recast ever might be Darrin Stephens (Bewitched).

Back to SB, at the beginning Gina seemed to be weak while Santana was strong. A couple of recasts later, with Robin Mattson and Gina Gallego in the roles, Gina became strong and Santana weak. It's really amazing how recasts can truly change the trajectory of a character.

[Marissa Gallant]

This is so true. I also can't imagine Robin and Charles Bateman. Or Jed towering over Gibbony would have felt wrong somehow. I wonder if there are reasons for this. Like, TPTB know that the actors will never play it exactly the same, so let's shift the character a bit. 

I'm also fascinated by the characters the DON'T try to recast. 

Dallas temporarily recast Miss Ellie with Donna Reed. And Game of Thrones did it a lot. As long as Downton Abbey never tries it with the Dowager Countess or Isabelle Crowley, I'll be okay. If it does try, you'll hear me hyperventilating through your computer monitor. Lol

[FrenchBug82]

OMG How could I have forgotten Miss Ellie! Major recast for sure.

[Beach Climber]

Does it seem like Santa Barbara recasted more than the other soaps? They all recast but it did feel like SB did it more often given the short time the show was on. Maybe it was a side effect of focusing on such a small amount of the cast since they wouldn’t have survived with losing 3/4 Capwell kids but we also had recasts for the Lockridge kids, Gina, Santana, and CC. 

[amybrickwallace]

They probably didn't have more recasts than other soaps, but they did have a lot of recasts for only being on the air for 8 1/2 years.

[j swift]

Not to go too far off field, but obviously prime time shows have a period of development prior to air, and replacements are made before episodes are show.  For example, Lisa Kudrow was famously replaced on Frasier by Peri Gilpin as Roz after the initial pilot.   Similarly half of the cast of All in the Family and Buffy were replaced during the development of those shows.  Daytime doesn't have that same luxury.

[j swift]

I was reading this article on the French SB fansite and two things stood out to me

http://santabarbara-online.com/article3Audience1989-2.htm

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First, I always forget the almost real-life-soap detail that Bridget Dobson was competing against the show her parents created.  I recall an article upthread that Bridget had to convince the Hursleys to let her write because they thought that she was too much of a "party girl".  Then, they tried to manipulate her to stay when she got the GL offer by telling her that she wasn't talented enough to go out on her own.  It is no wonder, with that family system, that Bridget would have difficulties negotiating with the authority figures that wound up locking her out of her show.

It doesn't take a Freudian analyst to see the comparisons between the Capwell family drama and Dobson's own life.  Including the diathesis of  Pamela the evil mother who tries to kill anyone that would compete for the love of her children, and the Sophia, who abandons her kids only to magically return and right the wrongs of her past, which may have paralleled the fantasies that Bridget had about Doris and her devotion to GH.   And the children who volley between rebelling against their father and trying to win his favor and attention. 

Second, it is remarkable that even in a creatively low point for GH, it almost tripled the ratings of SB.

Edited September 20, 2021 by j swift

[amybrickwallace]

It all makes sense and goes along with the adage, "write what you know".

[FrenchBug82]

I would be interested in an actual "scientific" study of the pace at which they recast - although I dont know what the proper criteria be since I don't think simply counting without taking other factors into account would be accurate - but I am pretty certain SB would be higher than most other soaps.
You had a combination of very high turnover of B- and C- level characters and high recast rate of A-level characters in only eight years (that's crucial: four CCs, three Masons, three Kellys wouldn't ring as bad over 30 years) you really get a really fast pace of recasts at least, and a high rate probably.

[j swift]

It is no surprise that as soon as the Dobsons returned in 1991, Mason (who has previously reconciled with CC) put him on trial at that famous dinner party and Eden has to shoot her mother and go mad in order to leave Santa Barbara.  Because, no matter how old the Capwell kids got, or how much success they achieved, they were still defined by the accomplishments of their parents.

Edited September 20, 2021 by j swift

[amybrickwallace]

I know they returned late into the Eden departure story and MW had already put in her notice, but I still wish Eden had gotten a better exit. The multiple personality story got to be too confusing and convoluted.

[j swift]

Having recently read the synopsis of that period, I don't think you should let them off the hook so easily. 

In the fall of 1990, Eden was shot and went into a coma, (presumably to allow Marcy time off).  Then, she magically awakens for Christmas, and Robert Barr gifts her an emerald which causes her to have memory flashes.  In January of 1991 the Dobsons return, and the dinner party marks their first official week of scripts.  Eden has a brief flash during the dinner party, but nobody really notices.  Then, in February, Marcy's departure is announced.  Soon after the whole multiple personality story begins.  Prior to that period, it looked like a story of how Eden and Robert were once thieves for thrills.  It wasn't until the Dobsons return that the whole confusion about multiple personalities, and Eden's anger at Sophia, became a part of the plot.  There may have been a story outline, but one tends to think, given the multiple interviews that Bridget gave about not watching the show while she was gone, that she probably did not feel beholden to the plans of prior writers.

[amybrickwallace]

Yes, and no doubt sped up the demise of the show. You just can't ignore everything that has been written and aired, then expect to just pick up where you left off.