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

 

     

I said it before, but The Dobson’s appeared to need a really strong EP to collaborate with, to support them, and to ground their material. That’s why I think their creative marriage with Allen Potter was so successful on GL. They didn’t have the same caliber producers on ATWT, and yes, on their own creation, SaBa.

 

16 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

I said it before, but The Dobson’s appeared to need a really strong EP to collaborate with, to support them, and to ground their material. That’s why I think their creative marriage with Allen Potter was so successful on GL. They didn’t have the same caliber producers on ATWT, and yes, on their own creation, SaBa.

They also needed a sponsor and network who allowed them to write what they wrote best and not chase trends, which, clearly, was what they were doing when they wrote stuff like "Barbara Back in Time" or "Tom and Margo vs. Mr. Big."

May she rest in peace.

Her GL was brilliant!

Her ATWT was unfortunately not as good.

Her different SB was just dreadful. I'm surprised it last as long as it did. Her premonition of it being cancelled came true. The Digest awards and Emmys delayed its cancellation. 

3 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

Her different SB was just dreadful.

I wouldn't say SaBa was dreadful.  (If you wanna talk about a soap that was dreadful, look no further than PASSIONS, lol).  SaBa had plenty going for it, once they worked out most of the kinks.  I just think the bean counters at NBCD and New World Television mucked it all up in the end.

I remember reading a WATN interview with former OLTL HW Peggy O'Shea, where she talked about her time as a consultant on SaBa.  TPTB asked her to watch the show for awhile and then give her thoughts.  She said she told them there was nothing wrong with the show and to leave it alone.  "So, of course," she said, "they went and changed everything."

Edited January 7, 20241 yr by Khan

Bridget Dobson was weird. She certainly wore the pants in that marriage. Jerry was wimpy. He seemed scared of her. 

Was there any reason why the Dobsons chose to begin Santa Barbara with a murder mystery? Were they fans of Henry Slesar or the Edge of Night or something? Watching the mystery drag on over the show's first year, I'm not sure if that kind of thing was really their forte. 

It's interesting, for their own show, they chose to go with stuff that they weren't as strong writing, teen hijinks and murder mysteries/ crime. If those elements were toned down, perhaps  the show might have been better, especially in the beginning. 

Edited January 7, 20241 yr by Jdee43

I was just reading someone's post elsewhere. Bridget, eccentric yes, but brilliant & the better writer/creator of the two. Jerry, very good with production & also very easy to be with & considered a friend by many. 

Jerry wrote a novel that was published in 2018. His website domain is pretty much dedicated to it:

https://jeromedobson.com/ 

44 minutes ago, Khan said:

I wouldn't say SaBa was dreadful.  (If you wanna talk about a soap that was dreadful, look no further than PASSIONS, lol).  SaBa had plenty going for it, once they worked out most of the kinks.  I just think the bean counters at NBCD and New World Television mucked it all up in the end.

Also dreadful a fair amount of the time was BEACH. (Sunset Beach) I mean the turkey baster storyline, why the hell was that not considered 1st degree assault? And, the Poseidon Adventure? Really? A story arc within a daytime soap that reboots that movie? What were they thinking? And, from the get-go why target the youth market & ask the affiliates to show it at noon? 

Dobson is credited as creating one of soaps first antiheroine in Rita Bauer on GL. Rita was such a diverse complicated character.

4 minutes ago, SoapDope said:

Dobson is credited as creating one of soaps first antiheroine in Rita Bauer on GL. Rita was such a diverse complicated character.

Wait. Hold on. Are Rita Bauer & Rita Stapleton the same person? Who is Rita Bauer? 

2 hours ago, Khan said:

Eden's rape, although violent and graphic, turned out to be a very distasteful and insensitive storyline. 

@Khan I don't know if you saw the Entertainment Tonight Y&R 50th anniversary special, but there was a segment on social issue storylines where Lauralee Bell talked about Cricket's date rape and how Bill Bell wanted to tell that story properly. I got the impression that Lauralee Bell was taking a swipe at how other soaps told rape storylines and I think one of the rape storylines she was swiping was Santa Barbara Eden.

53 minutes ago, Jdee43 said:

It's interesting, for their own show, they chose to go with stuff that they weren't as strong writing, teen hijinks and murder mysteries/ crime. If those elements were toned down, perhaps the show might have been better, especially in the beginning. 

I agree.  I also thought the inherent class conflicts in the beginning (between the Perkinses and Andrades and the Capwells and Lockridges) were a smart way to build a new soap, but I probably would have concentrated just on two: the blue-collar, Hispanic Andrades and the rich, eccentric Lockridges.

29 minutes ago, SoapDope said:

Dobson is credited as creating one of soaps first antiheroine in Rita Bauer on GL. Rita was such a diverse complicated character.

Rita Stapleton Bauer is so fascinating to me.  As I said years ago, Rita basically was a decent person, but with one major flaw: the truth just wasn't in her, lol.  Like with OLTL's Tina, though, I never thought she lied with the intent of hurting people.  Rather, she lied, but she lied for the right reasons.

54 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

Jerry wrote a novel that was published in 2018. His website domain is pretty much dedicated to it:

https://jeromedobson.com/ 

I'd love to read that novel someday.

28 minutes ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

Wait. Hold on. Are Rita Bauer & Rita Stapleton the same person? Who is Rita Bauer? 

Rita Stapleton Bauer. 

6 minutes ago, Khan said:

I agree.  I also thought the inherent class conflicts in the beginning (between the Perkinses and Andrades and the Capwells and Lockridges) were a smart way to build a new soap, but I probably would have concentrated just on two: the blue-collar, Hispanic Andrades and the rich, eccentric Lockridges.

Rita Stapleton Bauer is so fascinating to me.  As I said years ago, Rita basically was a decent person, but with one major flaw: the truth just wasn't in her, lol.  Like with OLTL's Tina, though, I never thought she lied with the intent of hurting people.  Rather, she lied, but she lied for the right reasons.

That's a very good summary of her character. 

19 minutes ago, kalbir said:

I got the impression that Lauralee Bell was taking a swipe at how other soaps told rape storylines and I think one of the rape storylines she was swiping was Santa Barbara Eden.

Ironically, I think a major reason why SaBa told their rape story was to take a swipe at Laura's rape on GH.  But the twist of having her rapist turn out to be her gynecologist was just so tasteless that it ruined the rest of the story for me.  Only a man (Chuck Pratt?) would think that would be an okay way to wrap up a rape story.