Santa Barbara Discussion Thread

[tonymidnight]

Anyone who's interested ... I found it interesting that a family tree shown in the Feb 5 1987 issue of Soap Opera Digest listed Sophia's second husband as "Armand Armonti."  Had no clue they ever named the Count.   

[DRW50]

Thanks. That seems like a parody name...or someone who would have conspired with Angela Channing for about 3 weeks in 1986.

[DemetriKane]

I am planning to jump back into this show since I never watched it from the beginning. Can someone give me a reasonable episode to restart with? I dropped it just a few weeks after Marcy Walker joined, it is so deadly boring. When does it get better??

[Jdee43]

It gets better in January 1985 with the start of the serial killer storyline. It starts out of nowhere with episode 114.

If you go back a week though, to 109, you can see the start of Cruz and Eden as an official couple, with Cruz manhandling Eden, tackling her to the floor, treating her like crap --  that time period's way of showing how much chemistry they would have..

The storyline from 109 that Cruz and Eden are in about a sunken ship gets dropped as Cruz eventually becomes the chief cop investigating the serial killer. From the start, Cruz is laughably terrible at his job, letting the killer easily escape, inadvertently giving the killer the heads up as to where his victim will be, etc.

Edited March 28 by Jdee43

[DemetriKane]

Thank you! I will jump to Episode, 100. 

[tonymidnight]

In the Nov 27, 1990 issue of SOD, James DePaiva (best known as Max Holden on OLTL) reveals he was in talks with SB to replace Justin Deas as Keith Timmons.  Negotiations fell through because DePaiva and producers couldn't agree on scheduling issues.    

Speaking of scheduling issues, did you know Justin Deas was originally supposed to play the character of Kelly Capwell's saxophone-playing neighbour Dr. Justin Moore, a role written specifically for him.  Deas "had become unavailable at the last moment" and the role went to Larry Poindexter after a rush-audition.  When Deas became free again, he was offered the role of Keith Timmons - and the character of Justin Moore was phased out to make room for Timmons.      

http://santabarbara-online.com/InterviewLPoindexter2.htm

 

 

 

[DRW50]

Thanks. It's a shame things didn't work out better for Larry. I've always had a soft spot for him, and he really did have to do just about everything in the acting business to get through, including softcore. 

[DRW50]

Feels odd seeing A Martinez used in this way. I guess this was very very early on for his SB run.

(I didn't even know the Search guy)

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[chrisml]

That infamous storyline. UGH. 

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[Jdee43]

I'm watching the episodes where Peter kidnaps Kelly after her wedding to Joe, from mid-February 1985, 139 on. Their scenes are well acted. I'm struck by all the outdoor location work. Kelly's menaced by a snake and a cougar while trying to get away from Peter. She even blows up a car. The show seemed to have money to burn doing all this stuff!

I'm not enjoying the other main story as much, with Sophia. Her disguises and accents are just so lame, it's hard to believe no one would recognize her. I'm not sure if Judith McConnell is quite the right actress for this current storyline. She can't do creditable accents for the life of her. 

Lionel has been kept in jail for too long. Back in December 84, he almost seemed to be the new star of the show. Having him in jail for two months has really diminished his role. 

[chrisml]

A recent A. Martinez interview. Insane how much racist b.s. Martinez had to endure because of his character's romance with Eden. It would probably be worse today. 

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[DRW50]

Thanks @chrisml 

Eden and Cruz were so idolized by many from so early on, I'm not sure I've ever heard A Martinez talking about the backlash he received. It is another reminder that being perfect, as Cruz often was, still does not stop bigotry or racism.

[Contessa Donatella]

Oh, that's so funny to me because my reaction & impressions are so very different. I loved Judith McConnell as Sophia & appreciated all of her disguises & accents not in the sense of their being consistently realistic, because they not only weren't, they weren't intended to be. But, you always knew what the intent was & what the elements being used were meant to stand for, if that makes any sense at all. But, it truly was always a "performance" not an actuality, again if that makes sense. 

Abrupt change of subject: Have you ever seen the Russian version of the "stunt, recast reveal" where it changes from Terry Lester as Mason to Gordon Thompson as MasonWannaBe? If not, here it is with the bonus of getting to hear Julia dubbed in Russian. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/DGimzgSpYp4/

 

 

Edited April 13 by Contessa Donatella

[chrisml]

And it's so interesting how often interracial relationships in t.v. shows and films use the "perfect partner" trope to prevent those complaints but it never works because racists don't care. I don't recall Martinez speaking too much about this, and I'm sure he didn't want to make a deal about it at the time because it might encourage the bigots to get louder (as well as for other reasons). 

[Contessa Donatella]

Like what other reasons? That he wanted to be a team player or something like that?

I do think there is some method to the madness when they idealize an interracial couple to some degree because it gives them rootability for the non-bigots. They know they're going to get backlash so it's that much more important that the couple be wildly popular!