Santa Barbara Discussion Thread

[sb34]

I apologize if this topic has previously been brought up in this thread. I’m afraid I don’t have the time or patience to wade through 200+ pages of posts.

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Thanks in part to the “Return to Santa Barbara” (RTSB) fan fiction that another member had previously posted (but which sadly hasn’t been updated in years), I was able to rekindle my interest in Santa Barbara and see what it would have (hopefully) been like had it continued into the 2000s. In it, Cruz and Eden are back together and have been for some time (while not hiding the fact that Eden had abandoned Cruz and their kids for some time). But when and how they reunited was never addressed.
 

So now I want to hear ideas from others:
 

What are your ideas for how Eden would find her way back to Santa Barbara, and when (considering that she left in 1991)? And how about Cruz finding his way back there (having left in 1992)? Or would they reunite first and THEN come back to Santa Barbara? For that matter, how would they first encounter each other again? I imagine if Cruz suddenly found himself in Eden’s presence after all that time, his first feelings would be hurt and anger at being abandoned, so a true reunion might take some time. When might you see that happening, and what might you envision as the scenario surrounding their “true” reunion? 
 

And the kids — I also wonder how it would affect them to suddenly have their mother back in their lives after such a long absence and how long it would be before they finally accepted her. In RTSB there’s a scene when Adriana (by then in her late teens) says Eden has been previously been gone and didn’t return for many years, adding she felt at the time that her mother didn’t want her. Do you think they would’ve been pre-teens or early teens at the time of Eden’s return? 
 

Also, while RTSB all but completely ignored most of the events that happened on the show from 1992-1993, I feel it wouldn’t do to just ignore the fact that Cruz had dated Kelly for a while. So I wonder if Eden would have ever found out about that and how, not to mention what the ensuing fallout would entail. 

 

One more thing — eventually it would come out that Eden had shot Sophia, so how might you see that happening? Surely she’d get arrested, but do you think maybe her sentence would be light (comparable to Sophia’s after it was revealed she had shot Channing)? How would all that affect Eden and Cruz’s relationship, not to mention the kids? 
 

I know I’ve posed A LOT of hypothetical questions, but I’d love to hear everyone else’s “fantasies” regarding how it would all happen! 

 

ETA: RTSB pretended like the Walkers didn’t exist, but there again, that wouldn’t do if it were truly Santa Barbara on TV. Even so, I like to think it somehow comes to light that Jodie had been mistaken and that BJ was Reese’s all along, not Cruz’s. And so Eden wouldn’t have to deal with the knowledge of Cruz having a previously-unknown child at all.

[Jdee43]

I think a lot of Santa Barbara's woes are traceable to all the money that was poured into it, at its beginning and through its history. I think that's one of the main reasons for its rocky history; with all that money comes a lot of people overseeing how the money is spent. 

The Dobson might have been better off on a more modest show, one without such a big budget. They might have been able to retain more control and come up with more relatable stories.

Edited October 21, 2022 by Jdee43

[Keri]

Yeah this is pretty much what I think, although I'm not sure she was great at everything. She was rich and beautiful and just dabbled in whatever crossed her mind for 6 months and then moved on. Bc of her position nobody would have told her if she actually sucked.

I liked CG's Kelly slightly better, but I think ultimately even she grated on me.

@sb34  I'm not really into the fan fic stuff but with Eden I alternate between thinking it is both ironic and fitting that she would abandon her family much like Sophia did, and being really pissed off bc Eden would never have abandoned her family BC of what Sophia did. 

So for me it is less about Cruz and more about what her leaving/ the way she left means in the context of the Capwell family and their history. 

I mercifully never watched much after MW left. 

Edited October 22, 2022 by Keri

[Liberty City]

The show itself is not awful; just certain decisions made were awful. But, overall, for the most part, it has a strong cast of actors and some solid sets.

[sb34]

That doesn't answer any of my questions though. I want to hear everyone's ideas of how Cruz and Eden might have stumbled across each other again, how they rekindled their love, what Eden's disappearance and later reappearance must have affected the kids, if Eden would get arrested for shooting Sophia, etc.!

[Contessa Donatella]

And an amazing international popularity! It had so much good about it that it made you just wish it hadn't had the internal struggles going on that it did. This great creative creature that unfortunately was trying to eat itself from the inside out. Maybe different parties should have had to go into court-ordered counseling together?? I've heard of cases where that's been done. I've never heard if it did any good.

I can't do what you are asking but I did do something similar. Let me just explain. Awhile back, earlier this year, there was a thing going around that said that Bennifer getting back together was going to cause a reset in the time-space continuum & things were going to go back & have big or little do-overs back to approximately 2004. I didn't question it. I just took it as a mental challenge & set out what I would change under those terms for Guiding Light and for Days of Our Lives. The nice thing was I didn't have to say HOW I would make it happen. I only had to be very specific about what the NEW version would look & seem & be like. Anyway, you probably like what you've already set forth just fine & think I'm a nut, but here's an alternative that you're welcome to use should you have any interest.

[gimmetoo]

If Santa Barbara was plagued by so many BTS issues, please explain how for 3 consecutive it was awarded the Daytime Emmy for Best Show ?  

[Contessa Donatella]

You hope it means that the peer groups vote based on what is nominated, which is shown by the reels that they watch. And, that people do not vote based on news, scuttlebutt, rumors, etc.

The first year they won, one reel was produced by Bridget Dobson & one reel was produced by JFP. I always thought that was a sign of the system working.

Edited October 22, 2022 by Tonksadora
just thought of something

[Keri]

Yeah I don't think BTS issues means a show won't be objectively good and win awards. 

A lot of great shows and movies were a complete nightmare BTS.

[Marissa Gallant]

I keep saying this. But Sophia did not abandon her family. She CHOSE her family, got knocked overboard and then was essentially abducted my Marcello.

They were also the first to do block voting. They submitted fewer actors for awards, then everyone voted for them. 

[DRW50]

At about an hour and 46 minutes there's a very childish office fight with Ted, Mason and Kelly. It's strange picturing Kelly screaming and throwing things around in a tantrum fight with her brothers, but if I would have cast anyone to do that, ice queen  Eileen Davidson would be near the bottom of the list. What exactly the thought process was in choosng her, I will never know.

 

[Contessa Donatella]

Was that JFP that was behind the block voting? I'm of the impression that she got several shows awards and introduced block voting to those shows, so I guess what I''m trying to figure out is if she learned it at SB or taught it at SB.

[Sapounopera]

Santa Barbara suffered from 80s  soap syndrome. Once the Dynasty-supercouple madness was gone, they had no idea what to do with a Capwell show without Cruz and Eden or their other big stars.
This episode is so awkward. The Capwell kids and Rosa-Santana scenes reminded me of a telenovela.

Edited October 23, 2022 by SAPOUNOPERA

[Marissa Gallant]

I've had a bit of time to think it over. I think that Eden kept longing for the life she left. Wanting to feel that sense of completeness again, she remarried. However, the love wasn't the same or nearly as powerful and it was not a happy marriage. She eventually needed a break. Looking to relive her moment of happiness, she got onboard the Orient Express. 

Cruz was lonely and confused. He didn't remarry. He almost did, but his fiance was killed by some European bad guy. He was off chasing the bad guy and heard the bad guy was on a train. 

Cruz sees Eden onboard the only train that matters to them both. She winds up helping him avenge his fiance, and shucky darn - her husband gets killed in the fallout. 

it's a road to each other because Cruz really doesn't trust her. He decides to head back to SB because the tween Adrianna hascstarted to get into trouble. Eden follows him. They reunite again in SB

 

I think she was the mastermind of that. I know it occurred during her. SB years, and that it wasvthe first show that did it. But I'm not the world's leading expert, so I will gladly accept any corrections

 

[DRW50]

You're right. She did the same at Guiding Light and Another World, to increasingly diminishing returns (she was canned the same year she did this at AW).