1 hour ago, BetterForgotten said:

I have not seen an official source, but Michele Val Jean posted on Twitter that Bridget Dobson has passed away.

 

I was just coming here to see what people were saying because I saw someone post it on IG. What a sad loss to start 2024.

 

It is very upsetting to hear that Bridget Dobson has passed. She was a very talented woman. 

"Santa Barbara" is by no means the show I know the best or have loved the most, but it is always a show who's foundation is the most intriguing. I find the initial set up of the work of the first generation Andrades, the blue collar Perkins, the eccentric old money Lockridges, and the wealthy and haunted Capwells a fascinating group of people. Santana Andrade's aborted run as the show's central anti-heroine willing to do whatever it takes to reunite with the child she had been coerced into giving up should have been told for years and years as Brandon was forced to choose between the mother who he loved and loved him and the woman who brought him into the world.  

I know many have explored Irna Phillips' writing through the lens of her desire to be someone's mother stemming from the child she lost and the children she adopted, but I have to wonder if Dobson doesn't have her own noteworthy story arc. Through her work at "Guiding Light," "As the World Turns," and "Santa  Barbara," there was always a story about someone being switched at birth (Phillip, James/Gunnar, Brick). I can't help but wonder if Dobson wasn't working through her own desire to be someone else's daughter. 

In thinking about the Dobsons' final run in 1991, I cannot help but notice that Brick was one of the few originals that didn't return, which makes me consider the missed opportunity on not only the part of the Dobsons but on Pam Long, who wanted integrate a lower class family. While Brick was Sophia's son, he grew up in the circus and was surrounded in the dwindling middle class world that existed when he was on the series. I think that he should have come back in 1992 in place of the creation of Reese Walker. Brick Wallace returning to Santa Barbara with his new wife Jodie and their brood of his, her, and their children. 

47 minutes ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

 

Jill's face at 2:27 will never not be funny 😂😂

5 minutes ago, AbcNbc247 said:

Jill's face at 2:27 will never not be funny 😂😂

I once described it as if she was chewing on glass. You know, broken glass. The other notable thing is just how crazy the cast goes!

2 hours ago, dc11786 said:

I can't help but wonder if Dobson wasn't working through her own desire to be someone else's daughter. 

Such an interesting thought. She certainly deserved better ones than she had!

Who can tell me what the dates were that they were locked out? I want to recommend some episodes to someone whose never watched any of the show & I know I don't want to have it be during that time period. Of course, alternately, what episodes would you recommend? 

Santa Barbara may be the first daytime soap I ever watched - it was not the soap (or network) my grandmother watched, and which I ended up gravitating toward, but a babysitter watched it. I think that's one of the reasons I still feel drawn to the show even as I never end up having time to do a full watch. I have to thank Bridget Dobson for how she did help me, and so many others, find our way into soaps. 

AW is my #1 soap. Just is. Always will be. 

I came to GL late but it became like AW to me, so it's my #2. 

And, Santa Barbara has always been my #3 & very special. 

RIP Bridget Dobson. Reading about her relationship with her parents helps me understand why she did such an amazing job writing for Mason.

Was there any talk of changing the opening credits as the years passed, or was the intro seen as too iconic (or they didn't want to spend the money)?

I don't know the answer to the above question, but at the mention of SB intro, I remembered that back in the day, my friends and I would try to guess which cast members are displayed throughout the intro I mean, obviously none of them, but back then as kids we thought the people seen in the intro are the actual cast members  

10 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Was there any talk of changing the opening credits as the years passed, or was the intro seen as too iconic (or they didn't want to spend the money)?

I think it's been said Raunch was planning for a new opening sequence in 1993 had the show continued. 

1 hour ago, dc11786 said:

I think it's been said Raunch was planning for a new opening sequence in 1993 had the show continued. 

Thanks. That makes sense. I'm surprised Conboy didn't.

3 hours ago, dc11786 said:

I think it's been said Raunch was planning for a new opening sequence in 1993 had the show continued. 

I remember reading that as well.  IIRC, Rauch was keeping the theme song, but he was going to premiere an entirely new opening.

I wonder if he would somehow incorporate the arches from the original opening that kept appearing on the screen.