Santa Barbara - General Discussion

[cleo]

@WendyCR72 ah maybe I'm being too harsh lol. She was reminding me of Chelsea Reardon. I do think she was a fine actress.

Yeah- that is terribly young. A friend of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer and she is that age. Surgery Monday.

As for the show, so far I'm mostly enjoying the Gina Ethan story with his wife blackmailing herself.

 

[WendyCR72]

Just now, cleo said:

@WendyCR72 ah maybe I'm being too harsh lol. She was reminding me of Chelsea Reardon. I do think she was a fine actress.

Yeah- that is terribly young. A friend of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer and she is that age. Surgery Monday.

As for the show, so far I'm mostly enjoying the Gina Ethan story with his wife blackmailing herself.

 

Oh, I know everyone has an opinion. And my originally-younger self, being a big Mason/Julia fan, HATED Sasha. LOL!

But as an adult, I learned to separate the actress and character. 😊

Although I will never not laugh at the irony of Sasha in a freezer as Michelle's/Sasha's voice sings, "Am I Blue?"

Someone on staff had a wicked sense of irony.

[Shirlaine]

Back to the normal life, finally. And hopefully back to watching SB today.

I, too, liked Ted best with Laken. I don't really remember much of her comeback; only that I wanted Ted to stay with Hayley. Now that I've seen the show from the beginning, I vote for Laken. I also remembered some things lasting a shorter period of time or happening sooner (Ted & Hayley's marriage, Amy's death, the tape case of Dylan's death) and some lasting for a longer time (mainly Cruz and Santana's marriage). I read the episode descriptions in advance and tell myself "only 10 episodes until a good one.. only 5 more to go". I love the show, although it doesn't sound like it!

I read from the episodes descriptions that Pearl's brother Brian will be briefly shown (not his face, though) in the episodes to come. Yet, it will be a longer time before the character actually "enters" the show. I wonder why it was so, have you guys ran into any info on it? Maybe they didn't find a suitable actor for Brian right away or just wanted to save that storyline for later? I recently found Veronica Mars (never saw it in my 20's, why oh why?) and Kyle Secor was in it. It will be interesting to see him as Brian again, after seeing him older as Jake Kane.

I have to watch the episodes with very loud volume to understand everything the actors are saying. I don't like using headphones, so I try to time my watching at times when my husband isn't at home, so he doesn't have to listen to it. It will be a nice change when I will get to the episodes with the Finnish subtitles. :D
 

[cleo]

Veronica Mars is also on my list to watch although it may be ages until I get to it lol. 

Had no idea Pearl's brother was a character. I skipped all that. 

I've watched most of it, I watched Kelly's storylines until probably after the Dylan stuff. I skipped New Stailand, the Pearl, Courtney, Kelly in the asylum stuff. 

I watched some of Kelly and Jeffrey. Once TJ came on the scene and they threw Jeffrey under the bus I bailed on the story. 

I've watched a lot of Gina's stories, but I have skipped some. 

Even Cruz and Eden there are some I skip, the whole Eden in a wheel chair story, some of the later stuff too.

I also tend to skip any stories about who's the daddy, faked pregnancies, miscarriages, basically hate baby stories in soaps lol. 

Edited January 22, 2023 by cleo

[Shirlaine]

I don't remember much of Eden's wheelchair storyline. Just mainly that she didn't think she could be together with Cruz if she was in a wheelchair. Why is that? Seems strange to me.

I'm, not enthusiastic about the baby storylines either. Though it was interesting that after Eden married Kirk, Cruz kept pursuing her until she got pregnant. It stopped there. She probably would have happily divorced Kirk and raised the child with Cruz, but no. Maybe that was socially unacceptable or something. But wait, then there is Tori, who gets pregnant by Cruz. But they are not written together and it is ok for Eden to be raising Chip (and of course, Tori is a bad mother to justify this). 

Compared to other soaps (well, B&B mainly), SB doesn't really have many child or teenage characters. And the few that exist, don't grow up over one night. Though several couples talk about having children, many never do or there is a miscarriage. 

I ran into an interesting thing when reading the episode descriptions. According to them, Amy was last seen in episode 438, then next time in 527. She died in 541. So, they totally forgot her for almost 100 episodes and then used her for a handful of episodes, after which killing her.

And another interesting thing: Mason is in episode 503 and ends up sleeping/passed out in church or something. Nothing indicates he's going somewhere. After some episodes, his family start to wonder where he is. In 513 he calls CC from some church. In 523 he comes back. Maybe they could have written him go somewhere or tell the others that he needs to be alone for some time.

Do you know if episode 512 can be found somewhere as a whole? I only have the latter part of it and as it was in the middle of interesting events, would have liked to see the beginning, too.

[Bali]

On 1/20/2023 at 9:13 PM, cleo said:

I forgot Richard Hatch was on this show. He always seems like a bad guy to me.

JM was really a good actress. It would have been interesting if they had her go back into movies earlier. Could've stirred up all kinds of stuff, memories, esp if Lionel was around.

Sasha- the actress cannot sing. Why do soaps always have an actress around singing who can't sing?

At the beginning, Sashas singing didn't bother me, but the more she sang, the more irritating it became. There was one on AW that I think was worse but I can't remember her name. I think at some point, one of the shows probably had a female who could actually sing, then the rest of them followed. Their singers weren't great though...

[cleo]

@Shirlaine  512 is not on YT in English  but I did find a Dutch one, if you can speak Dutch.

There's a guy that uploads regularly so if you keep an eye on YT it will pop up sooner or later probably.

[Shirlaine]

I finally got to the episodes in which the marriage of Cruz and Santana is (unofficially) over. This storyline has been very interesting for me, so I'm quite happy that the episodes, where the most important things happen, contain much of this and little of other characters.

 

The mental institute of SB is strange. People (Pearl, Courtney) come and go, the doors of the patients' rooms are open and patients run away all the time. In episode I watched yesterday, Pearl went to get Alice away from the asylum. Sooo realistic! :D

[cleo]

Yeah it's like when they show hospital nurses freely giving out patient info to anyone who asks. Ridiculous.

Thr whole Kirk/Eden/Cruz/Santana story was pretty good.

I did not like Gina and Keith drugging Santana though.

[cleo]

So this Derek guy is a bad guy right? I find the actor irritating.

I think I'd be hard pressed to say which is the worst- 88, 89, or 90. I think the only story I like across this time is Robert's.

Of course I'm also probably not remembering those years entirely either.

ETA Cruz and Nikki had chemistry. They really should have let that play out and have Eden with Robert for longer. 

Edited January 27, 2023 by cleo

[Shirlaine]

I don't remember if this was discussed here before, but who do you guys would prefer Brandon to be living with? When I saw SB for the first time (and not the beginning of the show), I always thought he should be with Gina, although she was unstable. I disliked Santana and even didn't judge Gina for drugging her. Now that I've seen how it all began, I see things differently. But I don't which woman I would prefer to be Brandon's guardian. Either an earlier Santana or Robin Mattson's Gina. I'm curious to see the episodes in which Brandon finally finds out Santana is his real mother.

[Bali]

13 hours ago, cleo said:

So this Derek guy is a bad guy right? I find the actor irritating.

I think I'd be hard pressed to say which is the worst- 88, 89, or 90. I think the only story I like across this time is Robert's.

88 is the worst. I'm going with 88. Yes, Derek is bad. 

The show done Robert WRONG!

What's really bad is that I just finished the Derek storyline and had to remind myself who you were talking about. That is a sign of a bad story. 

I think I preferred Brandon with Mason and Julia. GG's Santana is a nutjob. Gina loves him, but his big concern is always that SHE needs him to take care of her. No, dear sweet boy, SHE should be taking care of YOU. Brandon was forced to grow up way too fast. The story when Brandon finds out the truth is excellent. 

[cleo]

1 hour ago, Bali said:

What's really bad is that I just finished the Derek storyline and had to remind myself who you were talking about. That is a sign of a bad story. 

Lol. This is why last night I was like- can 1990 possiblybe worse than 1988 or 1989? Ten minutes of the guy and I was ready to bail. Less. 

 

1 hour ago, Bali said:

The show done Robert WRONG!

Oh 100%. Come sit at my table. I just watched last night the eps after Kelly slept with him and promptly ran to tell CC and flaunt it in front of Eden. I'll never be convinced she actually gave 2 shits about him. Kelly suddenly turning into this massive bitch continues to amaze me. 

I'm not sure what the writers intended, but it totally comes across to me as a) Kelly only goes for him out of jealousy and as some sort of conquest and b) Eden doesn't really want to go back to Cruz but does so bc they are married and have kids. Like and I generally like Eden and Cruz but this storyline galls me. 

And I haven't even gotten to the parts yet where Quinn and Flame take over, and Robert dies and I'm sure no one gives a shit. 

Ok I'll stop yapping about it lol. 

 

9 hours ago, Shirlaine said:

I don't remember if this was discussed here before, but who do you guys would prefer Brandon to be living with?

I don't care much about this storyline, but I generally think he would have been better off away from all of them- CC, Santana, and Gina. They all just fought over him and passed him around like a prize. IRL that would be terrible for a kid. 

The storyline with Gina and Keith drugging Santana and setting her up was too much for me, I don't know why. I just hated it. 

Edited January 27, 2023 by cleo

[Bali]

29 minutes ago, cleo said:

Lol. This is why last night I was like- can 1990 possiblybe worse than 1988 or 1989? Ten minutes of the guy and I was ready to bail. Less. 

 

Oh 100%. Come sit at my table. I just watched last night the eps after Kelly slept with him and promptly ran to tell CC and flaunt it in front of Eden. I'll never be convinced she actually gave 2 shits about him. Kelly suddenly turning into this massive bitch continues to amaze me. 

I'm not sure what the writers intended, but it totally comes across to me as a) Kelly only goes for him out of jealousy and as some sort of conquest and b) Eden doesn't really want to go back to Cruz but does so bc they are married and have kids. Like and I generally like Eden and Cruz but this storyline galls me. 

And I haven't even gotten to the parts yet where Quinn and Flame take over, and Robert dies and I'm sure no one gives a shit. 

Ok I'll stop yapping about it lol. 

 

I don't care much about this storyline, but I generally think he would have been better off away from all of them- CC, Santana, and Gina. They all just fought over him and passed him around like a prize. IRL that would be terrible for a kid. 

The storyline with Gina and Keith drugging Santana and setting her up was too much for me, I don't know why. I just hated it. 

I can't stand Kelly at this point. She's so selfish it dusgusts me. She is best with Craig or Rick, but then Robert or Quinn show up and she's an uber bitch again. Frankly, she was a bitch to poor Rick too. Dude needed a friend, but she's too self centered to notice. 

Gina and Keith drugged her with such glee in their hearts it was too much. I truly, honestly thought Mason was the best with him. 

Well, Flame and Quinn kill Robert, but no one knows because somehow Quinn Convinced Robert to switch clothes with him. Robert was the one free. He would never be so stupid he switched clothes. 

The decline starts in 88. That's when every one is in a bubble and the cast connectivity ends. Cruz only gets scenes with Eden. Julia only gets scenes with Mason. Mason rarely gets scenes with Eden or Kelly. It wasn’t good. 88 has TJ. Enough said about him.

90 gets Augusta at Lionel back. So I think 90 has the edge over 88. 

 

[Bali]

On 1/23/2023 at 5:37 AM, Shirlaine said:

I don't remember much of Eden's wheelchair storyline. Just mainly that she didn't think she could be together with Cruz if she was in a wheelchair. Why is that? Seems strange to me.

I'm, not enthusiastic about the baby storylines either. Though it was interesting that after Eden married Kirk, Cruz kept pursuing her until she got pregnant. It stopped there. She probably would have happily divorced Kirk and raised the child with Cruz, but no. Maybe that was socially unacceptable or something. But wait, then there is Tori, who gets pregnant by Cruz. But they are not written together and it is ok for Eden to be raising Chip (and of course, Tori is a bad mother to justify this). 

Compared to other soaps (well, B&B mainly), SB doesn't really have many child or teenage characters. And the few that exist, don't grow up over one night. Though several couples talk about having children, many never do or there is a miscarriage. 

Yes, Tori is pregnant by Cruz, but she raped him then tried to hide it by marrying Mason (who didn't know the father or the circumstances?

Babies on set are difficult to deal with. There was speculation that Brandon would have aged if the show had continued, but we'll never know

[cleo]

I am enjoying Augusta's return. She brings some good snark. I actually didn't remember her being this snarky before.

[WendyCR72]

Someone has a YT channel devoted to Cruz/Eden, but they also posted some good Mason/Julia clips. I know everyone loved Lane Davies' Mason most. So did I. But I always did like this scene with Julia and Gordon Thomson's Mason after Eden's last "death", when she fell over the cliff.

Nice to finally see this scene again:

 

[cleo]

Yeah that was a good scene. I thought GT was fine. And I know the Dobsons had their flaws, but there were some really great scenes with really great writing once they came back. It's like - flashes of greatness. 

I actually have been watching the odd clip after Eden went over the cliff. They handled her death pretty well- although I did not watch Cruz's scenes, but the memorial, and  CC and Sophia and Mason scenes and Kelly.

And then they ruined it with that Suzanne garbage story.

Edited January 29, 2023 by cleo

[Shirlaine]

On 1/28/2023 at 2:04 AM, cleo said:

I am enjoying Augusta's return. She brings some good snark. I actually didn't remember her being this snarky before.

 

And I just saw her leave in an episode I watched yesterday. I liked the foggy goodbye scene but the story about a sudden lover, Joseph, was stupid in my opinion. I haven't read much about the backgound of Louise Sorel's leaving the show, but it feels quite sudden and the Joseph storyline seems like something that was come up with under pressure or in a haste.

And now we have Lily Light in the show, arguing with everyone and being so very annoying. I remember disliking her back in my youth and I still do on the second round of watching. How long does it take for Mason to snap out of it and return to his old self?

All those years ago, I didn't see (of course, as I didn't know what was going to happen) the little hints about the coming storylines and events. For example the flight attendant wings of Tori, or Amy suddenly reappearing in the episodes (= she will have a significant storyline coming). Now that I know these upcoming events, I notice things. So, Cruz hasn't even divorced Santana and they're already setting up the Tori storyline. Maybe they could have waited for a bit and let Cruz and Eden be happy together a couple of months.

Strange thing: Cruz is still legally married and he wants Eden to wear his ring and asks her to move in with him (which she declined). I mean, yes, they are meant for each other and all, but just a couple of episodes ago he was so sad and felt so guilty, and now he's so happy and ready to jump into a domestic life with Eden. Somehow it feels wrong. And what are the members of their family - and Santana  - going to think when they see the ring on Eden's finger? If she is going to wear it, I'm not sure if I understood it correctly. Maybe I'm taking this too seriously.

Edited January 29, 2023 by Shirlaine

[WendyCR72]

7 hours ago, cleo said:

And then they ruined it with that Suzanne garbage story.

God, yes. A "best friend" never mentioned before, out of left field. And NO ONE recognized fake Suzanne was Eden in a freaking wig.

Hated it.

And "real" Suzanne Collier was a dud. I really can't blame Terri Garber as she was great in the North and South miniseries. The writing she was saddled with on SB was, by and large, trash. So Suzanne failed.

[nilyank]

4 hours ago, Shirlaine said:

And now we have Lily Light in the show, arguing with everyone and being so very annoying. I remember disliking her back in my youth and I still do on the second round of watching. How long does it take for Mason to snap out of it and return to his old self?

 

If I remember correctly from my dim memories of originally watching SB, once Mason stopped wearing white and is back in darker suits, he is pretty much back to normal.

[Shirlaine]

Some more Lily Light in today's two episodes. Too much. She is so irritating that it tempts me to skip her scenes, but I am determined to fight this through.

 

Dr. Rawlings was finally arrested. Maybe this long and uninteresting storyline is finally coming to an end. Poor Alice is taken to and from the asylum almost daily. At least she finally speaks more than one word per episode.

 

I just mentioned here that Cruz wanted Eden to wear his ring and asked her to move in with him. In today's episode they talked about getting married and having children, and Cruz said that it won't happen in a while (well, divorce first, of course) and his attitude seemed somewhat different than last time. He wants them to have kids as soon as possible but says that it won't happen in a while. Like so often in soaps, Cruz and Eden talked about having several children. Reality: only one child together, years later.

[Shirlaine]

Ok, I finally got to Tori Lane storyline. Once again I try to remember, if I disliked her this much the first time watching. I don't understand why Cruz, who is all about honesty, keeps things from Eden now.

 

What do you guys think of SB music? I don't mean the actual songs of various artists but the instrumental pieces. I myself like this kind of music a lot and whenever I find a tune that sticks to my head, I look for it on the French SB music site. One such piece is a tune they played on Eden & Cruz scenes in 1986, when those two couldn't be together. If I remember it correctly, it's tune "Eden & Cruz 11" on the website. Another one I recently found and which I can't locate on the music site is used for example in episode 524, in 39:20 mins (Russian dubbed episode on Youtube), when Jane/Roxanne switches the lights off. I have listened about a hundred tunes from the music site, but can't locate that one.

 

One more thing that came to my mind yesterday. I like how the dialogue in SB is often "natural" and not polished. People say wrong words, start phrases again, take pauses. I think this is why the show doesn't feel so soapy to me and I could watch even 10 episodes in a row. Nice flow of speech and thing happening. And now I start to wonder if I already wrote about these thoughts here once, hmm.

[cleo]

Tori Lane, it's not a very good story. I mostly feel bad for the actress who was always saddled with stories that was guaranteed to make every SB fan hate her.

Also if I were Eden, I would have absolutely thrown Tori in Cruz's face when he was attacking her over Robert.

The music- I don't like any of the romantic music. On any soap really. On SB, I do like the tension/suspension music from 1991, it just brings back memories for me.

As for 1990- I do enjoy Craig being snarky about Kelly and Robert. Blonde girlfriend #2 heh.

Also, they really were kind of teasing a bit with Augusta and CC. I had no idea. I'm enjoying their scenes a lot. Not that I ship them- gah no- but it's fun to watch the sniping/flirting.

[Shirlaine]

Watched three episodes today. Wow, Tori has been in the show for less than 10 episodes and she's already trying to come between Cruz and Eden. That went fast from stopping by for a play and greeting an ex to buying a house (close to that ex) and whining about past to him.

 

It tempts me a bit to watch some episodes with Robert as everyone seems to like his storyline - even my German friend says she so likes him with Eden. Then again, as I started to advance chronologically years ago, I want to try to keep it that way. Nice to think that there are almost half of the show that I have never seen. I know, I know, it's the worse half but still. In my opinion, 1986 is the best year of the show.

 

I like Gina and Keith together. I didn't remember that they kind of drifted into a relationship because of the whole Santana mess, but it's nice to see their interaction.

 

The baby contract storyline is approaching. Though if Julia's pregnancy is coming soon, so is Tori's. Yuck.

[Bali]

Sound advice from episode 3. Ted to Danny, "No woman is worth jumping off a mountain with a kite strapped to your back." 

Yes, I started over. The Julia/Dash and upcoming Eden/Lisa stories sent me back to the beginning. I will get there some day, but Sophia divorcing CC after marriage 3 because their adult dang kids want it is the dumbest divorce reason ever

[cleo]

@Shirlaine you should watch at your own pace, we all approach it differently.

Yeah I won't watch the Julia/Dash stuff.

I do like the Eden/Lisa story and parts of Cassandra's story, but both of them have personal meanings for me they wouldn't necessarily for others. 

[Carlos Abad]

Hello everybody!

Just found this long post about my favorite soap opera.

I'm watching Santa Barbara from the beginning.

It will be great to share my opinions and read yours.

[WendyCR72]

10 minutes ago, Connelly said:

Hello everybody!

Just found this long post about my favorite soap opera.

I'm watching Santa Barbara from the beginning.

It will be great to share my opinions and read yours.

Welcome to Primetimer!

[Shirlaine]

Hi Connelly! Nice to see another new member here besides myself. :) In which episode are you at the moment?

I finally got to Amy's death today. Usually these kinds of scenes aren't hard to watch but I lost my elderly parents in 2019 and 2021, after having taken care of their official things and been for them for their last years; seems that it still affects me when I see a loss of a loved one even in fiction. I'm not sure what I think about Hayley and her choice of to not tell the police she threw the bottle that caused the fire. A little thing I noticed recently: after Roxanne was exposed, Ted lost all his interest in Jane and started to pursue Hayley. What changed his attitude towards her? Only a while ago, he couldn't forgive Hayley for her lies. Well, of course they need him to be there for her after the fire and to be willing to marry her, so he needs to be caring enough for that. Sometimes these changes of attitude just happen too quickly for me.

Luckily, Mason is slowly getting back to his old self. Unluckily, he still likes Lily.

Like Bali, I heard a line worth quoting in an episode I watched today:

"Why is it that in certain situations, you seem to be the only available cop in town?"

(Eden to Cruz, when he has seen Tori about her minor car accident)

Yeah, why indeed?

[cleo]

Amy > Hayley. Like seriously. She should've taken responsibility for her actions. Someone died. Hayley was warned by people and ignored it.

Did she know someone was going to die? No, but inciting violence, vandalism, attacking a place- anything can happen so yeah so yeah she should have known better.

I mean Amy and Brick had a baby for Pete's sake. 

AND THEN Ted basically betraying his brother Brick? F you Ted. 

 

 

[Shirlaine]

The whole Hayley's "will confess, won't confess" thing is getting annoying to watch. First, she is determined to confess, then Ted or someone else interferes and she stays silent. The same goes on in front of Brick, in front of Cruz, in front of the police. I wish she just ended up in jail, but no such luck. I didn't remember she turned so brainwashed and unlikable at this point.

Another thing that annoys me is the way Cruz still keeps hiding things from Eden and is a jerk to her when she tries to ask him about it. Eden even asked her what if the situation was other way round and she was seeing an old boyfriend and had secrets with him. Cruz said he wouldn't like it. Yeah, but that doesn't make him change his behaviour.

Just when I thought Lily Light couldn't be any more disgusting, she was. Pretending to be a virgin and getting Mason to sleep with her. Though it was nice that the aftermath of this made Mason to finally come to his senses. I just wonder how stupid the writers could be back then; as if Mason didn't smell that Lily had been smoking, if she goes to her immediately after it. 

Suddenly, I don't like much of what is happening in SB at the moment. Hope things will get better soon.

[Shirlaine]

My watching is progressing nicely. Cruz and Eden aren't fighting with each other anymore and Tori seems more like a common enemy for them. I have to say that I can understand the fans getting frustrated (but I think sending hate mail is stupid, as it's not the the fault of the actress) with the storyline as it seems all Tori does these days is harasses Cruz and claims to have these emergencies all the time. Like in today's episode, she couldn't let Eden and Cruz be away for one night but she had to find them to tell him about the earring Keith has. It really couldn't wait until the next day? I also went and read the whole lighthouse thing from the episode descriptions. How disgusting! I thought Tori took advantage of Cruz only once but repeatedly.. I mean, the writers must have realized that people will be furious of that and that it is so very wrong.

I really hate how Pearl is treating Courtney now. Suddenly, he is soooo in love with Kelly (and she apparently cares for him too for some reason) and keeps telling Courtney about his feelings. I mean, who goes to prison to see a person who is in love with you and starts telling her he must get to see another woman. Pearl was such a nice guy before and now he's a jerk. Great.

I think my posts are often just criticism towards what's happening on the show. So, now I'm trying to find some nice things, too:

- I like that Santana and Cruz are polite to each other, now that there's no relationship between them. Santana is almost likable

- I always love Eden and Cruz together

- can't wait for Gina to mess up CC & Sophia's wedding plans, just for the sake of drama

- I'm happy Keith resigned from being a DA

See, that wasn't so difficult!

 

[cleo]

The lighthouse thing- well Tori raped Cruz imo. I thought there were times when the show had some self awareness of that, and then other times not. 

I mean they never referred to it as that, but there were times the other characters seemed to respond as though they also saw it as non consensual and then other times where it was treated as though Cruz had more agency than he did.

[Shirlaine]

The episode descriptions give the impression that again and again, Cruz wakes up in pain, Tori injects/gives him strong medicine for the pain and then they make love. I'm interested in seeing if they really wrote it happen several times. A horrible twist anyway.

 

[Shirlaine]

This week I've watched CC and Sophia cancel their wedding, Lily tell Gina she's her daughter and Ted and Hayley decide to get married. There has also been a lot of drama between Cruz, Eden and Tori. Some observations and thoughts:

- I didn't remember how everyone was plotting to get the tape back from Gina. Not very nice to cheat Hayley into thinking that Ted was going to confess. Then again, she shouldn't have thrown that bottle in the first place.

- I also didn't remember that there was so much scheming between Lily and Mason at this point and that Lily wasn't sincere when she started to get along with Gina. Do you guys remember if that changed at some point? I don't remember why she left the town in the first place but I understand that she will return in the later time.

- I'm just so sick of Tori throwing herself at Cruz all the time and even kissing him twice. And he didn't stop her right away! Although Tori has now told Cruz directly that she loves him (and he made it clear that he doesn't want her) and Eden and Cruz seem to be getting along better, I just wait for the whole lighthouse thing to finally happen and to be over with.

The whole storyline with Lionel, Jane, Caroline and the dinosaur bones is just so boring. Then again, so is the one with Alice getting to know the world outside the mental institution. And the same circle goes around with Pearl and Courtney all the time: they see each other as friends, Courtney gets upset because Pearl lusts for Kelly, and they argue over the matter. 

Even with so many boring storylines going on, I still find the current episodes interesting (and I keep watching 2-4 eps per day) because of the tape thing and the few nice scenes Eden and Cruz have together. Also, the baby contract is coming closer each day. I was wondering how they will write Mason to jump from Lily to Julia so quickly, but they already wrote them to take the distance with the excuse of plotting against Gina.

One more thing. After Keith had been obsessed with Katie's death and furious at Cruz about it for so many years, it doesn't feel believable that he just accepted everything without any suspicions when Tori lied to him about how it all happened. I notice a lot of little things like these that annoy me these days. :D

 

[cleo]

Cruz was drugged and he thinks it's with Eden when Tory does her thing. The show.makes that very clear. He is delirous and hallucinating basically. 

I never watxhed the stuff with Lionel and Caroline and Jane. Life is too short lol.

I also didn't watch much of everyone trying to get the tape from Gina. I can only tolerate Gina in small doses and this time in the show barely that.

ETA I think Lily did eventually become genuine with Gina but she left with no explanation. It wasn't a well thought out character really.

Edited February 16, 2023 by cleo

[WendyCR72]

Rest in peace, Stella Stevens (Phyllis Blake).

[cleo]

The thing with Terry Lester is- he is a good actor but he and NLG just have zero chemistry.

So I'm at the point watching them in scenes and wondering how it would be if it was LD or GT in it.

Watching Feb 1990- really weird for the first time in forever they mention Channing. 

Eden camping? Like in a tent? Ha! Also super boring.

I'm beginning to get mildly interested in Derek and whatever shenanigans he's up to.

[Shirlaine]

I had to google Stella Stevens. Apparently I haven't seen any episodes with her yet. I thought Gina's mother was supposed to be dead, based on how she explained things to Lily.

I did it. I finally got through all the Tori Lane storyline episodes up to when Hayley finds her raping Cruz. It was all so completely, thoroughly disgusting. Obnoxious. I don't have words good enough to describe it. I was sighing and moaning (of agony) when watching Tori abuse poor sick Cruz. It would be interesting to know if there was a single person watching the show back then, who thought this was a good plot twist. I'm just glad it is over now for her/them and Cruz and Eden can slowly start to get things fixed between them. I know it takes tens of episodes but I'm ok with that. For days, I felt anxious to reach these episodes. I think this show pulls me into its world too deeply sometimes.

Yesterday, I had watched three episodes of SB and then went to hug and kiss my husband. He joked to me that I watch too much of these romantic shows (that being only SB, don't watch others at the moment) as I stared at him in that (romantic) way. :D

Kyle Secor finally appeared in the show. He is so young! I dislike Lionel and Caroline together so much. I wonder why I liked her in the first time watching. Even though Jane isn't behaving very nicely and is extremely jealous of Lionel, I like her better now than when she was after Ted. I wish Kelly came back and the tape storyline ended already. It all has got boring too. I also wonder why the writers suddenly decided to bring up Madeline Laurent case again and make Courtney her killer. Maybe the actress wanted to leave the show and the wrote her quickly off this way? The scenes of Courtney dreaming of Madeline's murder (and Keith being there to harass her all the time) are uninteresting and awkward to watch. 

Oh, and the Air Supply performing in a barn was funny. Although the whole thing felt like promoting them and their album (which was obviously the purpose), I didn't mind it as it was something completely different and refreshing in the show.

Edited February 22, 2023 by Shirlaine

[cleo]

Fans didn't really like Tori so it's safe to say the actress got a deluge of hate mail after that story, but my understanding was the actress got tons of hate mail throughout her run. 

Like even towards her, you know it's a shame when some fans can't separate the actor from the story. 

I actually thought as an actress she was okay, but man just awful stories and writing for her. They did not give Tori much personality at all other than getting in the way of others' happiness.

[Shirlaine]

That was well said, cleo, about Tori getting in the way of others' happiness. She really did that all the time. I might have even liked her if her storylines were of a different kind.

Keith is suddenly Eden's friend. Would have been more believable if that started earlier and little by little, instead of all of a sudden. Gina finally got married to CC. Oh, how unhappy she is. Santana tried to trade The Tape for Brandon's custody. When her plan backfired, she (and Brick) just disappeared from the Capwell mansion and there was no aftermath whatsoever. Really strange.

I was wondering if anyone was interested in starting to watch SB together from the beginning at some point, maybe within 3-6 months? Something like 1-3 episodes / week and then some discussion on what's happening. People seem to be at different points of the show and it would be nice to have a common ground of discussion. For me, it wouldn't rule out watching where I'm currently at, at the same time, as the number of common episodes wouldn't be too high. Just a thought. :)

[cleo]

Hey Shirlaine, it's a nice idea, but I probably couldn't keep that up tbh. Also baseball is starting soon and I watch a LOT of baseball, I'm kind of a nut about it lol. So it really interferes with my other shows.

[Shirlaine]

I understand quite well cleo. :) If at any point anyone wants to start watching together, I'll be in.

In today's episode, Gus Jackson was introduced. Also, Pearl's brother Brian has been in several episodes and I like him a lot - though he is a bit one-sided, always being bitter and angry at Pearl. I read that his character will just disappear from the show and no-one will talk about him anymore. I really don't understand this kind of writing. It is the same with Paul Whitney, who is Cruz's colleague. First, he dates Alice, then when Brian comes back, Paul and Alice are suddenly a couple no more, without explanations.

Cruz is terribly angry and miserable all the time, but at least every episode gets him and Eden closer to getting back together. Mason is suddenly interested in Victoria but at the same time "making a baby" with Julia. I didn't remember how Julia developed a little crush (and jealousy) on Mason right away. I thought it happened later on, but no; as soon as they had made love the first time, she was calling him and making an effort to see him everywhere.

I have watched about 100 episodes after I started writing here. Must mean that the storylines are good as I can't restrict watching to one episode per day, which was quite easy before. 1986 is great, in my opinion.

[WendyCR72]

Check out this Long John Silver's ad from 1981. Anyone look familiar?

 

[Shirlaine]

I think I've seen that commercial on Youtube some time ago. She looks so different! I have been 1-year-old (or less) during that time.

I'm getting closer to the end of 1986. Jeffrey just appeared on the show. Pearl and Brian are setting up a scene to get Courtney confess she killed her sister. I didn't remember how interested in Tori Mason was when he and Julia had these get-togethers in the hotel rooms. He even called Tori while Julia was in the shower. Poor Julia. 

Do you guys remember a website with SB character episode guide? I doubt that it still exists but I found the complete list I had printed back in 2003. It listed all the arrivals and departures of characters (or changes of their actors) in particular episodes, and I still find it interesting to browse it through.

 

[Shirlaine]

Here's an example of the things listed.

[cleo]

@Shirlaine this website has pretty good episode descriptions as well as a ton of other stuff. If you're not familiar, it's worth checking out. 

http://santabarbara-online.com/index2.htm 

It also has some interesting interviews. 

Jeffrey really grew on me. Kelly is my least favourite character, but I did enjoy some of the storylines with her and Jeffrey. Moreso once Pamela was around. 

[Shirlaine]

Cleo, I use the French site all the time, I could spend a whole day going through stuff there. :D I often check the episodes the characters will be on the show there, but I also find it handy to have that ancient list, where I can take a look if anyone interesting will be appearing in the coming episodes.

I noticed that Jake Morton will be appearing on the first episode of 1987. So soon already! I thought Hayley and Ted would be more solid by when he arrives, but I guess I remembered it wrong as it seems they never seem to do anything else but argue anymore.

[Bali]

I've been busy at work, and not watching as much. I had to start over because I just couldn't take the later years anymore. I just watched the creation of the Circle of Truth and the first episode to use that 2 way mirror. Augusta on one side not knowing Lionel is pouring himself a glass of wine on the other. The comedic timing of those two. Perfection. Pure perfection. But it is difficult to not laugh in my cubicle while its on.

I've also been watching the leadup to the Pawn episodes of DOOL.