Classic Soaps Santa Barbara

[Emelee]

They were brought back for a nostalgia factor, but only Darlene Corley could pull off the kind of comedy her character required. The current actress playing her granddaughter (named also Sally Spectra) caught a bad break, because just as she was going to be involved in a storyline with Thomas, the actor left. And then she was going to be paired with Liam, but Bradley Bell (correctly) decided that it was more effective to bring back Hope and resurrect the rivalry with Steffy.

Isn't Sally & Wyatt a popular pairing? Also, I hear they are currently in the process of re-casting Thomas.

 

[Michael Torrance]

Isn't Sally & Wyatt a popular pairing? Also, I hear they are currently in the process of re-casting Thomas.

I am not sure. Wyatt has not really had good chemistry with his leading ladies, except than with Katie actually, but Bradley Bell decided to kill that story to bring back Thorne/Ingo Rademacher for a few months, only to have him exit again. And meanwhile he paired the leftover characters together, as he loves to do--ergo, Sally and Wyatt.

 

[Jason73]

Earthquake!

I've been wanting to see the earthquake episodes and by employing some liberal skipping, I got there tonight.

First a minor quake shakes things up across several scenes a few episodes prior to the main quake. It's during the foreshock that August and Lionel are having sex and Augusta utters the classic line: "darling you make the earth move for me." So cheesy but so fun.

The build up in the actual earthquake episode is great--Augusta's dog barking, the horses acting uneasy, the wind blowing throughout the entire episode, and everyone acting sort of jittery. Everyone's arguing and in a state of high agitation. Joe has just shot Peter in a struggle for a gun. Peter is in the hospital and Joe has been arrested. Warren and Ted come to blows over Channing and end up in a horseback chase. Mason and Kelly argue over Mason's railroading of Joe. Santana and C.C. (now C.C. number 3, who just seems constantly angry) argue over Brandon as C.C. discovers that Santana has been planning to leave the country with Brandon. (Santana had just decided not to actually take him right before C.C. showed up and started bellowing.) The news that Joe is alive ripples through town ahead of the quake causing more arguments. Augusta is at her wit's end thinking Lionel is having an affair with Eden and follows him to Sofia's grave where he meets . . . Eden. The wind suddenly stops blowing for several scenes. Augusta gets the final scene. She's alone outside (presumably still at the cemetery) upset after overhearing what Lionel told Eden about Sofia as the quake strikes.

 

[Michael Torrance]

The wind suddenly stops blowing for several scenes. Augusta gets the final scene. She's alone outside (presumably still at the cemetery) upset after overhearing what Lionel told Eden about Sofia as the quake strikes.

I actually remember that Greek TV started airing episodes with the earthquake. So it was not very clear, as we had not seen the previous episodes, what the deal was with Channing, Sophia, etc. I don't know still that I ever settled all the details in my head, except remembering Minx switching the babies and Sophia having been presumed dead.

 

[Jason73]

I actually remember that Greek TV started airing episodes with the earthquake.

How interesting to just lop off the first 80 or so episodes. When I think about it, the earthquake isn't a bad place to start. The show has finally worked out a lot of the kinks from the early days. These post earthquake episodes are finally making me want to watch every episode and not skip. Now that the backstory has been established and the plots are all humming along without as much clunky exposition the show is starting to get good. It's not 1985/1986 good yet but it's moving in the right direction.

Starting with the earthquake episodes would mean that viewers would also skip past the jarring Joe recast and start with Mark Arnold in the role. I miss Dane Witherspoon but Arnold isn't too bad.

Judith McConnell is finally on screen, though she's still often dressed as Dominic. Lionel is hot on his/her trail but nobody knows yet that Sofia is alive. Lionel has admitted to Augusta that he was on the boat with Sofia when she fell overboard. Peter, thinking he was on his deathbed has cleared Joe from Channing's murder. I found Peter kind of dull at first but he's turning into a great villain stirring up trouble not just for Kelly and Joe, but Mason too. Plus he seems to be holding several secrets regarding Channing's murder. The dynamics between Santana and Gina are really interesting. Currently Santana is the stronger of the pair and is sneaking around behind Gina's back trying to get Brandon, while clueless Gina thinks she and Santana are good friends. The dynamic will completely flip when Robin Mattson and Gina Gallego are in the roles. Santana and Mason are dating now. The Brick and Amy romance is just getting started. I can understand why I liked this couple so much when I was a teen watching. They have a nice chemistry. Brick is easy on the eyes and Kerry Sherman as Amy is really warm and likable.

 

[Daniel Avery]

 

[Jason73]

Was the show really considered "controversial" back in 1984?

 

[Michael Torrance]

Was the show really considered "controversial" back in 1984?

Hardly. At best, it was unconventional for its quirky characters, but even that happened later than 1984. It did become controversial, for all kinds of reasons, first when Eden's rapist ended up being her gynecologist and then when Augusta ended up dating Julia's rapist. Ironically, the show was showered with Emmys during these later ratings-poor and bad-decisions-rich years.

But back to its golden era...

 

[Daniel Avery]

Calling a show "controversial" is a technique PR people use to get people to sample it, or to drum up some interest. Note this was NBC calling its own show "controversial"--such a tag, if authentic, ought to come from the soap press, not the network airing it.

SB was pretty much 'paint-by-numbers' in its first year, and only started pushing the envelope (the 1980s envelope, to be fair) later on. And that was because they were the darlings of the Emmys and felt they could get away with a lot. Once the network got on their case to raise the ratings (since Emmys were not paying the bills), they got sloppy. But then every soap experiences this in their final years.

 

[Emelee]

Controversal... these days the ads scream ".... will change the soap forever!!!!"
But never does.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Oh, yeah....it seemed every cover story on soap magazines for General Hospital in the 2000s said "this will change GH forever!" and...well, it was the same lather-rinse-repeat formula every month or so. At least Y&R has enough integrity to admit that nothing changes on their show for years on end.

Anyway, an observation that "no one would be caught dead in those shoes" would probably be in poor taste.

 

[Jason73]

Michelle Phillips has randomly turned up in one scene playing herself. She has her jewelry stolen and hits on Cruz and annoys Eden and then she's done.

Channing's murder has finally been resolved and Sofia has been revealed as his killer.

There's lots of good stuff going on at the moment. Julia and Mary have both arrived and I am in the middle of the Christie rape story. Her rape was shockingly brutal. It's a really juicy story. Christie is raped by her adopted brother. He bullies her into claiming Ted raped her. Mason becomes Ted's lawyer which puts him at odds with Mary. Lane Davies and Harley Jane Kozak are riveting playing off each other. Christie is wracked with guilt over putting Ted in this situation but is continuing to lie so far. Julia is going to take on Ted and Mason soon as Christie's lawyer. (Julia is currently embroiled in a ridiculous storyline involving Amy's kidnapped baby and a king and some other nonsense. I'm fast forwarding through that stuff.) I'm pretty sure this story was just wrapping up when I started watching the show in 1985. I've always thought Tricia Cast is a terrific actress. She must have gone right from SB to Young and the Restless. I remember being hooked on the Nina-Phillip-Cricket triangle on Y&R when I was a teen mainly because of Cast.

Gina is finally moving into full on scheming bitch mode. She's had an affair with Mason. She's married to C.C. and has just miscarried C.C.'s baby after arguing with Santana and Sofia and falling down the stairs at the Capwell mansion. "As far as I'm concerned, it's open warfare, forever," Gina tells Santana and Sofia and she is going to stay pretty much true to her word for as long as she and Sofia are on the show. I just love Linda Gibboney's neurotic take on Gina. I don't love the new Santana. I miss Ava Lazar in the role.

Kelly is dating Nick and they are quite boring.

It's strange to be watching a period where Ted and Laken get more airtime than Cruz and Eden.

Todd McKee is gorgeous.

 

[Jason73]

Oooohhhhh! I was just watching an episode thinking about how the new Santana kind of reminds me of Victoria Principal. I didn't realize Pam number 2 from Dallas, Margaret Michaels, played Santana for a while.

Gosh this New Stailand storyline with Brick and Amy is garbage. Amy was impregnated by her dentist. Then her baby was kidnapped because the plan all along was for the baby to be the heir to the throne of New Stailand. Amy has her baby back now but she and Brick are in New Stailand and Amy is contemplating staying there and letting her baby grow up to be the king. I love Brick and Amy and I don't really want to fast forward their scenes, but this story is just so dumb.

 

[Michael Torrance]

Todd McKee is gorgeous.

He looked too much like teenybopper bait when on the show to attract my attention. Maybe it was also the role. He had a much meatier role on B&B and, in true B&B fashion, was discarded after his initial arc ended, same as any male actor they have brought on through the decades.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

I watched the 80's British film My Beautiful Launderette this weekend and after reading up on it, I found that Shirley Anne Field (Pamela Capwell Conrad #1) is one of the supporting cast. Her stint as Pamela was brief and I know that Santa Barbara were partial to recasts but I was wondering if anyone knew why she left so quickly? I found an interview where she described the show as "A graveyard for actors. Like going to the office". Did she leave of her own accord or was she sent packing to make way for the incoming Marj Dusay, who would've been a "starrier" name to US soap fans?

 

[Jason73]

Apparently the head writers wanted Fields for Pamela but Bridget Dobson wanted Dusay. I found this on another soap forum:

From a 1988 interview with Bridget:



"Jerry and I had conceived Pamela many years ago but NBC did not want us to bring on another forty-ish character. But we kept pushing because we know it could be hot stuff." Once the powers gave in, movie queen Samantha Eggar was signed, but quickly got cold feet when the rigors of daytime grind were fully explained to her. Fellow British actress Shirley Anne Field was cast instead. "She was Ann and Chuck's first choice," reports Bridget. "Marj Dusay was my choice but we cast Shirley Anne because we wanted the head writers to be excited. To me, Marj is a great beauty and seemed to be the kind of person that CC (Jed Allan) would have once been attracted to. Ann and Chuck's perceptions were not marginally different from mine - they were very different."



Ironically, Field wound up delivering a tepid, colorless performance and was given the heave-ho after three months. The replacement? Marj Dusay. Perhaps just as ironically, Dusay came on board as nothing short of brilliant with each icy line reading revealing encyclopedias full of character. Clearly, the plot possibilities were endless and the likelihood that the actress would emerge at the forefront of Santa Barbara - much as Elizabeth Hubbard rules supreme as Lucinda on As the World Turns - must have seemed delicious to loyal watchers. Guess again. Dusay was on the unemployment line before she knew what hit her and the dandy part was foolishly tossed into limbo.



Dusay lasted only until the summer of 1988, then returned for a week in March 1991. When SB was canceled, she had this to say about the experience:



"I always thought Santa Barbara was a very good show and liked the work on it. But when I went in it seemed to be just going to hell in a hand basket. I truly believe they had their problems within the show, and they just more or less hired me to get rid of the character. Pamela was the baby of the Dobsons, and when they had their struggle [with NBC, which resulted in their outster from the series they had created] somebody had to take it over, and by then the character couldn't go anyplace. It evidently was so much politics, and if I had known that it would have helped me feel a lot better. I thought Pamela was going to be a wonderful character, and she might have been had the Dobsons stayed. It felt good to return, because there was something of real substance for me to play, and I was much more comfortable. I liked the way the Dobsons brought Pamela back and where she was coming from. It's a shame the show was canceled and I'm sorry for all my buddies there."

 

[Jason73]

I preferred Dusay of the two, but I didn't mind Fields. Her soapy courtroom return was fun.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Thanks for the in depth response @Jason73

The show sounded quite chaotic behind the scenes with the merry-go-round of recastings and infighting.

 

[Michael Torrance]

Paul Johansson played in Soapdish right after a stint on Santa Barbara, and he said that while the film was wild in some areas, it was actually not wild enough when it came to rewrites, citing Santa Barbara and how sometimes he would get the script rewritten from one take to the next. Over the years I remember reading interviews from many actors who were quite exasperated with the too frequent script changes, and maybe some comments about the show being hell for actors relate to that.

The show, sadly, often had more intrigue behind the cameras than behind. I think the Dobsons were overall the right people to run the show in the beginning, but when they came back the show had veered from their vision too much and they lacked the energy or resources or both to right it again.

Santa Barbara was also unlucky to be on a network, NBC, that was not as committed to its soap lineup as the other two--hence two more shows (Sunset Beach, Passions) debuted after its cancellation, and both were cancelled. Contrast that with B&B which, while debuting three years later than Santa Barbara, was protected by CBS and given a cushy time slot. Many affiliates refused to air NBC's entire daytime lineup as a block so Santa Barbara would sometimes air before noon, sometimes later in the afternoon, and by the last three years sometimes after midnight.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Dusay had come off a similar recast on Capitol, where she played the mean (I won't go so far to call her "evil") Myrna Clegg after Carolyn Jones died of cancer. She also was one of the actresses who played the indomitable Alexandra Spaulding on Guiding Light. I remember being most impressed by 'Alex,' though I also loved her turn as Blair Warner's rich mother on The Facts of Life. Come to think of it, Nicolas Coster (Lionel Lockridge on SB) played Blair's father on Facts, so she has an impressive soap pedigree, even if she never knew it.

Yes, NBC's lack of enthusiasm in the 1980s and 1990s for its day-part was perplexing, since they were so extravagant toward early morning (Today Show) and late-fringe (The Tonight Show and Letterman) after having conquered prime time. You would think execs would have put the grease ($$$) where the squeaky wheel was...but instead they famously treated their daytime shows like wicked stepchildren. Victoria Wyndham of Another World remarked in an interview (shortly after the show's cancellation was announced) that NBC had "finally gotten their way," since she knew they had wanted rid of AW "since the early 1990s". If NBC had insisted that their affiliates air their soap lineup in "proper" order and not allow them to time-shift (and eventually not air) the soaps, then none of the other networks would have been forced to allow the same thing...which obviously hastened the demise of other soaps on other networks and now makes it impossible for the networks to advertise anything in their line-up with a defined timeslot.