Santa Barbara Discussion Thread

[Contessa Donatella]

I will say that there was this one day when I did not like the SB broadcast:

On February 21, 1989 #Mason (Lane Davies) meets #God (Brian Frons) in Heaven. God was played by NBC's vice president for daytime, Brian Frons. Mounted on the wall was an all-white peacock with the initials GBC (God's Broadcasting Company). At the beginning of the clip you can see God's secretary - Joan Crawford played by the amazing Joe Marinelli - watching her favorite show, "Santa Barbara", what else? It's really telling that Frons had the ego to cast himself as God in a soap over which he has power for the time being. No other PTB ever set themselves up over Good & Evil.

Just ran right into this tonight.

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[chrisml]

I know John Conboy gets a lot of flack for his tenure on the show, but it's the last time I enjoyed the show (admittedly, he had his problems). Once Rauch took over, the show just lost so much of its appeal. He made bad decision after decision. The departures of Marcy Walker, Carrington Garland, Roberta Bizeau and Louise Sorel really spelled the end for the show for me. I've never bothered to watch the Pamela Long tenure. I've seen the odd episode or clip but I have no desire to watch. The beginning of SB was very rough and I wonder how much time the Dobsons had to get the show on air. When did NBC choose to switch from Match Game/Hollywood Squares to SB?

[Jdee43]

If you can believe it, Santa Barbara was supposed to debut a few weeks earlier than it did, but wasn't ready yet. This gave Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour a few more weeks of shows, through June and July 1984. 

I thought SB's July 30, 1984 premiere wasn't bad. A lot of money was poured into it, with the remotes, the sets, and the extras. But things went south from there. You could argue that Santa Barbara still wasn't ready, after 13 weeks being on the air! 

Here's a link to an article from Nov 5, 1984 by Tom Shales of the Washington Post talking about how SB resorted to an earthquake, ordered by NBC, to shake things up! 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1984/11/05/santa-barbara-shakes/c98d4919-3537-4a36-91f5-971417239fca/

 

Quote from the article: 

...the quake was originally envisioned as a means of doing away with characters in the soap that, according to audience research, aren't particularly popular with viewers. Those who tested poorly would have pink stucco houses fall on their heads. NBC ordered the testing and the guinea-pig audiences made their choices. That's when the network got the really bad news. None of the characters tested very well. None of the characters was particularly popular with viewers. 

So NBC considered, at least briefly, making this such a killer of a quake that it wiped out virtually the entire cast. 

Edited October 24, 2022 by Jdee43

[MichaelGL]

How many characters did the quake kill off, and who were the victims? 

[Carlos Abad]

Only John Perkins died. 

[MichaelGL]

^I figured. The article makes it sound so dramatic.

[Carlos Abad]

Not by the earthquake but I think the main victims of the bad ratings were Dane Witherspoon, Ava Lazar and Melissa Reeves.

The three of them had character individual promos, the same as Mason and Kelly, and Dane and Ava were fired.

In Melissa’s case she has many counts episodes in the first 3 months or so and then she practically disappears from the show with little episode counts (maybe one episode every month with nothing to do).

[Liberty City]

While I can understand that point of view, the Dobsons were the ones responsible for Carrington Garland's exit, per her own admission, who stated they wanted to take Kelly in a "new direction." Roberta Bizeau Weiss' deal was a one-year now, so I suspect the deal to pick up was not met. And, considering her replacement, Marguerite Hickey, was only on for a few weeks, I suspect Flame's storyline was already wrapping up. The only exit I would firmly place on Paul Rauch is Louise Sorel's exit, again, by her own admission. Marcy Walker's exit, for me, is more-so on her taking a job on Palace Guard than the executive production team. If anything, the writers' story of Eden's multiple personalities was more of a selling point for her to move to primetime, but it seems like Walker might've wanted that in the end over daytime.

I found an an article by Janet Di Lauro from the July 30, 1991, issue of Soap Opera Weekly, which stated:

❝ As fate would have it, the emergence of Suzanne was most untimely. No sooner had the plot twist been scripted, than Walker landed a starring role on the upcoming CBS series Palace Guard. Her inevitable departure from SB left the show's writers in a quandary - how to neatly wrap up the actress' last weeks. Walker readily admits that portraying Suzanne "was not my favorite way to leave the show, but I realize that it had to be this way because of storyline. I think when fans learned that I was leaving the show, they wanted to see as much Cruz and Eden as they could. I would have liked to play out their romance and their relationship - I think it would have been a nice gift to the audience. But unfortunately, that just couldn't be."

The character of Suzanne then turns into a fourth personality, that of Eden's late brother, Channing. It is as Channing that Eden leaves SB. (His/her departure does leave the door wide open for a Walker return.) There had been some talk about recasting, a sensitive subject.

"They've got to keep the show on an even keel," Walker says. "They thought that Eden's leaving would have a detrimental effect on the other characters. But I think [the writers] got a taste of the audience's dissatisfaction and decided not to recast and leave the door open. If the show (Palace Guard) doesn't work, I can always come back; I'm not averse to that. [Ed. note: The real Suzanne comes to SB in a few weeks when Terri Garber arrives on the show.] ❞

For me, personally, had Paul Rauch come in at a different time, he could have worked quite well as executive producer, as we've seen from his tenures at other soaps. Same with John Conboy (especially if he wasn't attached to Jill Farren Phelps).

[Contessa Donatella]

Personally I think Paul left a lasting negative impression with his arrogance over the final scene. Putting that cigar out on the soundstage floor, in a spotlight, was just so uncalled for & it is such a big gesture that it overshadows everything else.

[Keri]

But Palace Guard didn't work out and MW never came back. 

I've never looked at how long it was on the air but SB would've still been airing. Maybe it was already dead in the water.

That Suzanne dreck was beyond awful.

I hung in only to see if it would resolve and when MW left so did I. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Here is the opening cast, in case anyone is interested.

This was the cast from the first week of episodes (July 30 – August 3, 1984):

Series regulars:

• Dame Judith Anderson (Minx Lockridge)
• Valorie Armstrong (Marisa Perkins)
• Robert Alan Browne (John Perkins)
• Ismael "East" Carlo (Ruben Andrade)
• Margarita Cordova (Rosa Andrade)
• Lane Davies (Mason Capwell)
• Rosemary Forsyth (Sophia Armonti/Dominic)
• Andrea Howard (Veronica Gayley)
• Ava Lazar (Santana Andrade)
• Todd McKee (Ted Capwell)
• Stephen Meadows (Peter Flint)
• John Allen Nelson (Warren Lockridge)
• Rupert Ravens (Danny Andrade)
• Melissa Reeves née Brennan (Jade Perkins)
• Peter Mark Richman (C.C. Capwell)
• Julie Ronnie (Laken Lockridge)
• Louise Sorel (Augusta Wainwright Lockridge)
• Dane Witherspoon (Joe Perkins)
• Robin Wright (Kelly Capwell)

Recurring/episodic guests: on-going recurring characters in italics

• Philip Abbott (warden)
• Ian Abercrombie (Phillip)
• Frank Avila (policeman)
• Carlo Allen (Burt)
• Jim Boeke (bus driver)
•  Doug Boethin (Jeremy Thomas)
• Arthur Burghardt (television reporter)
• Ed Dogan (warden's assistant)
• Rick Fitts (Jake)
• James Hornbeck (Mr. Forbes)
• Margie Impert (news reporter)
• John Jackson (helicopter pilot)
• Geof Prysirr (henchman)
• Bill Saito (Ambrose)
• Robert Brian Wilson (Channing Capwell, Jr.)
• uncredited actor (Bill Larwin)
• uncredited actor (Nick Salvi)
• uncredited actor (Miss Thomas)

[Sapounopera]

They were crazy to get rid of Ava Lazar.

I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I prefer Linda Gibboney's Gina to Robin's. 

Back in those days I didn't care for Carrington Garland's Kelly, but now I realize that she is what the role needed to survive. The 80s were coming to an end and the princess in danger type could not stay any longer.

Carrington and Kimberly Simms *Mindy 2 GL* were what their characters needed in order  to keep up with the times. They were more like Nicolette Sheridan's Paige on KL. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Following this thread right now has put me in the mood of thinking about a passage in an interview & maybe you'd enjoy reading it, or re-reading it as the case may be. I believe it is some part of a 6 part interview, which is named

My Exclusive Interview with BRIDGET DOBSON

and can be found at

http://pierin26santabarbara.blogspot.com

 

(as far as I know the link is good)

 

One of the offers that came within a few days of our new “retirement” was stunning: NBC-TV called to ask if we were to own a show, if we were to be in complete charge of every creative aspect of a show, from sets and costumes and hairstyles and music to every minute detail of the production, acting and writing, would we be willing to work again? Nobody in history had ever been asked this question. Not before and not since. We were being offered total creative control of an hour a day television drama five days a week. We were floored. And enticed. And terrified. It had never been attempted and never achieved, not starting from zero - nothing - a blank page - to an hour a day, every day, five days per week, no seasons, no holidays, no respite...with total control in the hands of two individuals, not in the hands of a corporation or a network.

So it was that Jerry and I came out of retirement and climbed what seemed to be an extremely steep creative mountain, clinging to sheer granite, our pen was our pick, no path, no trail, no rope or safety net. We'd done our writing push-ups in the years leading up to this moment, but there was no way to properly prepare. What if we died? Nobody even thought of that.

[chrisml]

I remember reading that Rauch fired Bizeau because of her relationship with Born. Born had apparently written a song insulting Rauch and others. Bizeau/Weiss was collateral damage so to speak. The Dobsons were setting up storylines with Bizeau so they clearly wanted to write for her. I think that's why Hickey briefly came in to wrap up everything. It probably explains why Runyeon would exit since Flame and Michael were set up to be a couple on the show. 

 

Edited October 25, 2022 by chrisml

[Marissa Gallant]

I do want to add that I've recently been guilty of talking about how horrible the show was. And 1988 WAS. But I don’t want to sully my memory of a show that I enjoyed so much for so long. So I needed to bring it back to the stuff that worked.