This week, the beginning of a new year, in Atlanta, GA, the beautiful, brilliant, iconic, Creator, Writer & Producer Bridget Dobson, at the age of 85 passed on to that great afternoon timeslot in the sky. We will be diminished by the loss. She gave us so many characters. She gave us so many hours of entertainment on GH, GL, ATWT & Santa Barbara. She was the daughter of Frank & Doris Hursley. Her long-time partner, co-creator, co-writer, co-producer & husband Jerome Dobson has our many condolences. 

https://soaphub.com/days-of-our-lives/news-days/santa-barbara-creator-bridget-dobson-dead-at-85

 

     

Not much can be said that hasn’t already been said. Bridget was such a complicated woman whose personality was never unnoticed. Eccentric, troubled, yet deeply fascinating. So much of that channeled into her writing and the characters she created and had a hand in developing.

Bridget and Jerome’s GL work still holds up incredibly well and I’ve been so grateful to discover some of it over the years. Though the good and the bad, you always know and feel when you’re watching material penned by the Donson’s. There’s a certain vibrancy they had that always trickled into their work. RIP and thank you for the hours of entertainment, Bridget! 

I feel like it’s been a while since we’ve had a TPTB loss of this magnitude in daytime. I’ve never watched a full episode of Santa Barbara, but any and all that I’ve seen of their GL is great soap. It really was the perfect mix of old and new - character-wise but also in style, story content, dialogue, etc. I wish their ATWT could have gelled as well.

It hurts my heart to watch our legends leave without ever getting the widespread respect they deserve. I hope BD knew that her work was/is still remembered, discussed, and enjoyed to this day.

3 hours ago, All My Shadows said:

I feel like it’s been a while since we’ve had a TPTB loss of this magnitude in daytime.

I would argue losing Michael Malone not long ago was up there, but that's me.

14 minutes ago, Vee said:

I would argue losing Michael Malone not long ago was up there, but that's me.

Just the other day I was discussing their "lightning in a bottle" period with Gottlieb & if he were alive today, would they be writing together as we speak!!!

15 hours ago, Faulkner said:

Michael Logan posting it feels so special, since he is still the only soap journalist that would ask the questions that needed to be asked. And while the Dobsons were very flawed in how they executed Santa Barbara, it is still very clear their vision for that soap was the only vision it needed.

6 minutes ago, Liberty City said:

Michael Logan posting it feels so special, since he is still the only soap journalist that would ask the questions that needed to be asked. And while the Dobsons were very flawed in how they executed Santa Barbara, it is still very clear their vision for that soap was the only vision it needed.

I know! I was so pleased when, suddenly out of nowhere, Logan speaks up!!! 

9 hours ago, Jdee43 said:

It's a shame the Dobsons weren't hired by any soaps after Santa Barbara. They definitely could have elevated the mid to late 90s and 2000s.

1984 Santa Barbara isn't that wretched; just fast forward all the scenes with the younger characters and it almost becomes watchable. The most quirky part of 1984 are the Lockridges, which might have been the characters who were also the most autobiographical for the Dobsons.

I remember reading somewhere that post-SB NBC considered them for AW. I would have loved to see what they would have done with that show.

Even though the Capwells dominated through the years, I always preferred the quirkiness of the Lockridges. I thought they were fascinating. Lionel, Augusta, Minx, and even, once she went all nutty, Cassie, were some of my faves during the show's run.

24 minutes ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

Just the other day I was discussing their "lightning in a bottle" period with Gottlieb & if he were alive today, would they be writing together as we speak!!!

As a gay teen coming out in the early 90's, Michael Malone's period on OLTL meant so much to me with the Billy Douglas story.

Edited January 7, 20241 yr by 1974mdp

RIP Bridget Dobson ➡ Santa Barbara Creator Dead At 85

Kelly Capwell Robin Wright

1.09K subscribers

 

238 views Jan 6, 2024

3 days ago, Bridget Dobson passed away at the age of 85. She and her husband Jerry Dobson were the creative forces behind our beloved ‘Santa Barbara’. Thank you for creating the best soap opera. ❤️

 

Pinned by Kelly Capwell Robin Wright

@KellyCapwellRobinWright

13 hours ago

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5 minutes ago, 1974mdp said:

I remember reading somewhere that post-SB NBC considered them for AW. I would have loved to see what they would have done with that show.

Very close! It was P&G who wanted them & had it arranged with them but somehow NBC blocked the move. You know NBC and P&G had this weird arrangement where they took turns choosing the show leadership, like JFP was a P&G chosen EP so then the next one, Charlotte Savitz was NBC's choice. So, apparently it was NBC's turn & we lost out on having a Dobson Renaissance!  🤬🫣🙄😶🫥

Perhaps it was for the best after their experience with NBC on SaBa and what the P&G soaps were bring reduced to by the mid 90’s. I just don’t see them thriving in that atmosphere very well.

I do know they still kept tabs with the daytime community into the 00’s. Bridget and Jerry visited the Y&R set, toured the set, and met with Lee Phillip Bell not long after WJB passed in 2005, I believe. 

This appears to be the homesite of a 4 channel SB YT hosted by Robin Wright. Appears to be hundreds & hundreds of episodes. 

https://www.youtube.com/c/SantaBarbaraSoapOpera

Also you may want to know when the LOCKOUT was:

Sept 1988-early Dec 1990. 

21 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

Perhaps it was for the best after their experience with NBC on SaBa and what the P&G soaps were bring reduced to by the mid 90’s. I just don’t see them thriving in that atmosphere very well.

 

You bring up an excellent point. They settled with NEW WORLD out of court Nov. 1988 but they did not settle, also out of court, with NBC until Nov. 1990! 

One thing that I am sure many know but some might not, ... that first year when they won the first of 3 consecutive Best Show Emmys, one reel was produced by Bridget & one reel was produced by Jill! Which is probably the very best outcome it could ever have been. 

In honor of Bridget Dobson, it’s “that thing with the dead leaves!” they would try to write compelling material around! 

Any excuse to hear the “Ritoutnelle” theme is a good one IMHO though! 

But seriously, Bridget and Jerry’s GL stint should be studied as a masterclass on how to “revive and reinvent” an old soap while still maintaining its original integrity and heart. 

3 hours ago, Vee said:

I would argue losing Michael Malone not long ago was up there, but that's me.

Oh, absolutely. I didn't realize it's only been a year and a half since he passed.

1 hour ago, BetterForgotten said:

In honor of Bridget Dobson, it’s “that thing with the dead leaves!” they would try to write compelling material around! 

Any excuse to hear the “Ritoutnelle” theme is a good one IMHO though! 

But seriously, Bridget and Jerry’s GL stint should be studied as a masterclass on how to “revive and reinvent” an old soap while still maintaining its original integrity and heart. 

I love that thing with the dead leaves, and as much as Bridget hated it, I think it tied their show together perfectly. A new era for an old show, but it's still afternoon soap.

7 hours ago, All My Shadows said:

It hurts my heart to watch our legends leave without ever getting the widespread respect they deserve.

ICAM.  But maybe that's because so much of their work is unavailable today.  If not for the stuff that shows up from time-to-time on YT, hardly anyone born after a certain year would know about or remember the Dobsons' work on GL, for example.  And we all know how the folks at YT just looooove to take [!@#$%^&*] down for no damn reason.

3 hours ago, 1974mdp said:

I remember reading somewhere that post-SB NBC considered them for AW. I would have loved to see what they would have done with that show.

I do, too.  On the one hand, there's no doubt that the Dobsons would have breathed new energy into AW, giving the show a direction or purpose that it never really had after 1979/1980.  But, on the other hand, unless NBCD and P&G were willing to give the Dobsons creative leeway, as well as invest heavily in promoting the show again, I question whether their writing would have increased AW's ratings all that much.  As I said in another thread, I think there came a point when no one outside of AW's most diehard, core audience really cared anymore about the show, regardless of how well it might have been doing at any given time creatively.

Moreover, I just can't see NBCD willing to work with the Dobsons again after everything they went through on SaBa.  CBS and ABC might have taken a chance on working with them - I, for one, would've loved to see what they could've done with OLTL or GL again - but not NBC.  Given the time and money they had spent litigating, along with the fact that SaBa ultimately failed, I think NBCD would've kept the two far, far away.

TBH, I have mixed feelings about SaBa.  There was a lot about the show that I loved, particularly some of its' cast (Marcy Walker, Judith McConnell, Louise Sorel, Nicolas Coster, Nancy Lee Grahn and Lane Davies, etc.) as well as the family dynamics among the many Capwells and Lockridges.  In the end, though, SaBa was more about great moments - dialogue, scenes, even whole episodes - than about great storylines - at least for me.  For example, I thought the Channing Capwell murder mystery, which opened the show, was pretty good, but Eden's rape, although violent and graphic, turned out to be a very distasteful and insensitive storyline.  It's like, most of the time, whenever they actually had something good going, they'd always find some way to sabotage it.

19 minutes ago, Khan said:

ICAM.  But maybe that's because so much of their work is unavailable today.  If not for the stuff that shows up from time-to-time on YT, hardly anyone born after a certain year would know about or remember the Dobsons' work on GL, for example.  And we all know how the folks at YT just looooove to take [!@#$%^&*] down for no damn reason.

I do, too.  On the one hand, there's no doubt that the Dobsons would have breathed new energy into AW, giving the show a direction or purpose that it never really had after 1979/1980.  But, on the other hand, unless NBCD and P&G were willing to give the Dobsons creative leeway, as well as invest heavily in promoting the show again, I question whether their writing would have increased AW's ratings all that much.  As I said in another thread, I think there came a point when no one outside of AW's most diehard, core audience really cared anymore about the show, regardless of how well it might have been doing at any given time creatively.

I think that this is true about the way things were with AW but I also wonder if that could have been changed. 

19 minutes ago, Khan said:

Moreover, I just can't see NBCD willing to work with the Dobsons again after everything they went through on SaBa.  CBS and ABC might have taken a chance on working with them - I, for one, would've loved to see what they could've done with OLTL or GL again - but not NBC.  Given the time and money they had spent litigating, along with the fact that SaBa ultimately failed, I think NBCD would've kept the two far, far away.

Yep. I'm sure that is why NBC blocked P&G's plan to have them HW the show in spring 1993. The Dobsons thought it was because NBC wanted the timeslot for another show & that is also true. They did. 

19 minutes ago, Khan said:

TBH, I have mixed feelings about SaBa.  There was a lot about the show that I loved, particularly some of its' cast (Marcy Walker, Judith McConnell, Louise Sorel, Nicolas Coster, Nancy Lee Grahn and Lane Davies, etc.) as well as the family dynamics among the many Capwells and Lockridges.  In the end, though, SaBa was more about great moments - dialogue, scenes, even whole episodes - than about great storylines - at least for me.  For example, I thought the Channing Capwell murder mystery, which opened the show, was pretty good, but Eden's rape, although violent and graphic, turned out to be a very distasteful and insensitive storyline.  It's like, most of the time, whenever they actually had something good going, they'd always find some way to sabotage it.

Here I disagree. Eden's rape, hard though it was to watch was classic, iconic wonderful storytelling & exactly what lesson about rape needed to be put into the soap group mind.