Santa Barbara - General Discussion

[cleo]

I just watched the first ep with Amado, except he was playing a smaller part named Tomas...I guess they liked him and brought him back for a recurring role.

I just came to say- man he was smoking hot.

[Steph J]

On 5/4/2020 at 3:03 PM, WendyCR72 said:

Oh, you ain't seen nothing yet where whiny Santana is concerned. Wait 'til Gina Gallego takes over.

Man, you weren't kidding. I'm now 400 episodes in (which brings me to the end of February 1986) so I'm at the point where Gallego is Santana, Jed Allen is C.C., and Robin Mattson is Gina, and Gallego's Santana is like fingernails on a chalk board for me.  It's Brandon this and Brandon that. Even when she's got Cruz - looking fine in his tight little jeans and seeking some help getting over Eden - standing in front of her, it's still "Am I going to get Brandon back now?"  I'd be a little more sympathetic were it not for the fact that Brandon clearly loves and is deeply bonded to Gina, but God forbid any of the adults in his life actually base their decisions about him on what would actually make him happy.

At this point in the show, there's a lot of marriages/engagements of contrivance happening - Eden marries Kirk so that he won't have to testify against her about her pulling the plug on C.C., Santana is being steered towards marrying Cruz so that C.C. will give her custody of Brandon, Mary accepts Mark's engagement ring because he's in critical condition after an explosion - which is kind of annoying just because of the sheer frequency of it (at this point the only couples who are together because they actually love each other are Brick and Amy and Kelly and old ass Nick and she's cheated on him with Dylan), although I do kind of love Kirk going off the rails after realizing that Eden is still in love with Cruz.  Like, dude, you knew that she was in love with Cruz when you talked her into marrying you. You can't be all surprised Pikachu about it when you find out that she's going to keep being in love with him even though you're now her husband.

Overall, still really enjoying the show, although I continue to find it somewhat baffling how it has such trouble making new characters stick for longer than 6 months to a year.

[cleo]

The writers couldn't manage anything outside the primary Capwells, characters or stories. It's a real shame.

I liked the Kirk/Eden/Cruz storyline.

I watched a lot of Kelly's storylines once and then never again. I just found it boring. Maybe the one with Peter I would watch again.

At least when Robin Wright was in the role. They practically created a different character for CG.

[Steph J]

Does anyone know what the deal is with Robert Newman's month long stint as Kirk Cranston? I'm assuming that something happened with Joseph Bottoms that necessitated a recast, but it seems odd to me to bring in someone like Newman (who I'm assuming was already something of a name in daytime since he'd already had his first stint at GL) just to play out the last 28 episodes of the character's arc.

[cleo]

I dont know what was up with the original actor but I thought RN was on a break from GL....there were periods he wasn't on GL and this was one of them. He didn't take the break to do SB, I assumed he just reached a point where he needed a job again. And then went back to GL.

I soo much preferred RN's portrayal to the original actor. RN was more attractive, more charismatic, and brought actual menace to the role. 

Also why the hell couldn't the Dobson let Kirk go. From 1985 on they kept dragging him back back as a 'bad guy' only he was just a sad bore. The character not the actor.

[Steph J]

I'm now at episode 547 (September 22, 1986) and it's amazing how, no matter what happens to her (Keith preying on her, Gina getting her addicted to crack, losing Brandon), I just can't feel sorry for Santana because she's such an obnoxious cow all the time.  Victoria Lane has just arrived on the scene and I already have the feeling that I'm going to feel the same way about her.

Loving Gina and Keith.

[cleo]

Yep to all of the above. Victoria Lane- felt bad for the actress, she got a ton of hate mail. I don't really like her storyline much. 

I think you're getting to Mason and Julia, that is a good storyline.

I'm watching 1987 and Santana is just gone and it's great. 

Speaking of 1987, it really is a shame Elena didn't interact more with CC. Wolter was such a great actress. The moments where her crazy slips through are great. 

[Hiyo]

Henry Darrow, who played Cruz's dad Rafael Castillo from 1989 to 1992, passed away at the age of 87.

[WendyCR72]

3 minutes ago, Hiyo said:

Henry Darrow, who played Cruz's dad Rafael Castillo from 1989 to 1992, passed away at the age of 87.

Damn, I really liked him.  😞 May he RIP!

[cleo]

I'm watching old GH and he had a small part in a super dumb storyline in 1982. Recognized him right away.

[ByaNose]

It’s a shame that they don’t air this anywhere. They had great great actors, storylines and beautiful sets. That said, the person who replaced Carrington Garland with Eileen Davidson should have been fired. I was surprised that Garland never acted on another soap. I like Davidson but she was too old for the role. Which is funny because Davidson is only 4 years older. So, I take it back she wasn’t too old she was just wrong for the part in general. 

[Hiyo]

Out of all the Kellys, I felt Garland looked the most like she could be Marcy Walker's sister.

[cleo]

I liked CG even more than Robin Wright. 

I have almost every episode up until the time MW left. I have some from after- I think the end of the yr she left. But I mostly stopped watching when she left so I thankfully never saw ED and the various storyline abominations that happened.

[WendyCR72]

Rest In Peace, Tawny Kitaen, a.k.a. Lisa DiNapoli #1 (and, of course, David Coverdale of Whitesnake's ex and car dancer in one of his videos)!

Per Variety: Tawny Kitaen Dead At 59.

[Bali]

I just found that some wonderful person has posted all of Santa Barbara IN ENGLISH on YouTube. I am having so much fun rewatching it. I ff through some of it, but CC and Sophia. I still love them, and Mason and Julia. And Mason. I just watched the episode at the Casino and opening night. The Lionel/CC poker game which ended with Gina upending the table. Then Mason and Augusta on the floor flipping the cards to see who would have won it. I was laughing so hard.

[Bali]

I want to add that Robin Wright is the only person on the show that has hair that moves! Might have liked Santana more if she had ever said anything other than Wha wha wha I want Braaaannnnndon back! Whine. 

Also just finished CC and Sophia on the ferry blowing fog horns at each other. They were my favorites when I was 15, they're my favorites now.

And I blame Lane Davies for my weakness for brown eyed men who need someone to love them. He is the force behind Mason and the other's paled.

[cleo]

Yeah Santana was a drag. 

I've been watching 1987, just at the ep where Elena dies. Mason spends like a bazillion episodes kidnapped and pretty much no one cares lol. Poor Mason. I always thought Elena and Mason should have bonded over being outcasts.

[Bali]

I am just at Sophia's cancer. I just want to smack her and say, tell your damn family. I really think there were major missteps on the show. Killing Mary, (although that DID lead to Julia and Mason), breaking up CC and Sophia over and over ad nauseum. Kelly or Eden in the hospital every damn week, Kelly's life is basically The Perils of Pauline, and the ten year long Brandon Custody battle. Just to name a few

Also, I love how they all dress. I'll just lounge around my house in my silk camisole and silk robe. I've spent 14 months lounging around the house in men's boxers and the baggiest Tshirt I own. 

Edited June 5, 2021 by Bali
Add

[Bali]

Man, I clearly remember CC's daisies. And I remember the ice cubes down Ted's chest. But I do not remember CC's brother at all. Maybe because of my intense hatred of Reginald Love and when I look at the actor that is all I can see.

[cleo]

Well he was barely in it. Blink and miss it.

[Bali]

2 hours ago, cleo said:

Well he was barely in it. Blink and miss it.

Good. 'Cause I hate him. Yes, I know there is a difference between characters and actors. Don't care. Hate Reginald so much I can't do it. 

[Bali]

On 3/14/2021 at 8:42 PM, Steph J said:

I'm now at episode 547 (September 22, 1986) and it's amazing how, no matter what happens to her (Keith preying on her, Gina getting her addicted to crack, losing Brandon), I just can't feel sorry for Santana because she's such an obnoxious cow all the time.  Victoria Lane has just arrived on the scene and I already have the feeling that I'm going to feel the same way about her.

Loving Gina and Keith.

You are not alone in that feeling. I can't stand her!

I found out that I'm back in the office in 2 weeks, so I'm zipping to as much CC and Sophia that I can get because I was living my own soap opera in 1986 and missed a lot. I had never seen the fashion show. Whew.

And when Eden says she doesn't need to have faith because she and Cruz just ARE. Yep, that there.

[cleo]

Eden and Cruz were a zillion times better than Luke and Laura.

[Bali]

On 6/7/2021 at 9:27 PM, cleo said:

Eden and Cruz were a zillion times better than Luke and Laura.

Because he respected her from the beginning. 

[Bali]

After rewatching the first couple of years, it really makes me think, "the Eden multiple personality was so effing stupid". I know every soap had to have one back then, but it was stupid. 

And why can't couples be happy? We watch the Thin Man movies EVERY New Years. Same movies, year after year, and I've never thought, "Gee, the chemistry between Nick and Nora would be SO MUCH BETTER if only they were married to the wrong people." 

And also, this show needed Augusta!

And Jed Allen probably contributed to my weakness for brown eyes. Jed Allen, Lane Davies, Stephen Schnetzer, yep- let's just blame NBC. LOL

Edited June 10, 2021 by Bali
Spelling

[cleo]

I'm in the minority bc I loved the Lisa storyline. I also loved Eden with Robert and I think they should have gone further with it. BUT the Lisa storyline ended terribly. Complete suckage from the moment Eden went over the cliff and came back as Suzanne. The lack of resolution with Eden and Cruz was such a betrayal of everything that had gone on before. I was 14 or 15 and it broke my heart. I stopped watching. 

I also hated the Andre character- mainly bc I didn't like the actor. I feel like the Jeromes really had a thing for smarmy unattractive blonde Europeans. He reminded me of that guy with Kelly in the early seasons- can't remember his name. Eden/Lisa would had better taste.  

Edited June 10, 2021 by cleo

[Hiyo]

The problem with Eden’s multiple personality story, if I remember correctly, was as Cleo pointed out, there was no real resolution to it. Had Eden been written out while still being “Eden” and not some other personality would have made it a bit easier to accept. It would have still sucked for Eden and Cruz fans, but there would at least have been some closure to it all.

[cleo]

I don't know why my phone wrote Jeromes when I swear I wrote Dobsons lol. Sometimes I think my phone is out to get me.

[Bali]

3 hours ago, cleo said:

I don't know why my phone wrote Jeromes when I swear I wrote Dobsons lol. Sometimes I think my phone is out to get me.

It probably is. I feel like once the Jerobsons came back, they were too intent on dregging up ancient history so they could end it like they wanted to.

But can we agree it was better with Augusta?

[cleo]

Yeah I liked Augusta. I was just thinking about that early creepy storyline with Lionel and Eden and Augusta slapped her. It was a good scene.

I don't remember a lot about Augusta when she came back. It will take me a while to get to the eps. I'm watching I started a rewatch and have made it to 1987 and then once in a while I jump ahead to 1990 and onwards. There are still episodes I haven't seen.

[Steph J]

12 hours ago, Bali said:

And why can't couples be happy? We watch the Thin Man movies EVERY New Years. Same movies, year after year, and I've never thought, "Gee, the chemistry between Nick and Nora would be SO MUCH BETTER if only they were married to the wrong people." 

In fairness, the Thin Man movies are cumulatively 589 minutes long, which would be equivalent to just 14 episodes of the show at 42 minutes each. That's something like 6% of a year's worth of episodes for a daily soap.

But I get what you mean. Getting married to the wrong people first is often a rite of passage for soap couples, but there should be long periods of happiness and togetherness, too. I mean, Eden and Cruz finally extricate themselves from their respective marriages to Kirk and Santana and are reconciled by episode 518, but by episode 532 Victoria comes along and their relationship is being undermined again. I'm on episode 638 and I understand that I'm still a couple of hundred episodes from them finally making it to the altar.

Writers should be able to create story for a couple  that involves them solving problems as a couple rather than constantly blowing the pairing up to get them back together. There's only so many times you can watch two people break up before you start to wonder if they're actually good together after all.

[Bali]

10 hours ago, Steph J said:

In fairness, the Thin Man movies are cumulatively 589 minutes long, which would be equivalent to just 14 episodes of the show at 42 minutes each. That's something like 6% of a year's worth of episodes for a daily soap.

But I get what you mean. Getting married to the wrong people first is often a rite of passage for soap couples, but there should be long periods of happiness and togetherness, too. I mean, Eden and Cruz finally extricate themselves from their respective marriages to Kirk and Santana and are reconciled by episode 518, but by episode 532 Victoria comes along and their relationship is being undermined again. I'm on episode 638 and I understand that I'm still a couple of hundred episodes from them finally making it to the altar.

Writers should be able to create story for a couple  that involves them solving problems as a couple rather than constantly blowing the pairing up to get them back together. There's only so many times you can watch two people break up before you start to wonder if they're actually good together after all.

Fair point on the movies. However, can't they keep them together? You are also right about letting them stay together for at least a month before the next catastrophic event? There's only so much a gal xan take.

One more thing, since I'm on 1986. Love Lane Davies, LOVE Mason. HATE his skeevy mustache. shiver. Ick. Looked great on Tom Selleck, less so on almost everyone else.

[Bali]

And one more thing about constant breakups- they are even MORE annoying when it happens because the character act completely out if character and do things they would NEVER do! 

[cleo]

Yeah I celebrated when Mason's pornstache was gone.

[Bali]

Oh, Gina, Gina, Gina. CC isnt that great of a prize, you delusional little whack job...

[Bali]

I found a great resource, interviews, major storylines, episode summaries. I found the interviews interesting. Sounds like Judith Mcconnell agrees with us about Mason. Wonder who the witch that Jed Allen talks about is. 

The site is originally in French, but if you click the British flag, it flips to English. 

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

[cleo]

Yeah it's a good site. I started using it years ago for the episode summaries when I started collecting eps.

[Bali]

20 minutes ago, cleo said:

Yeah it's a good site. I started using it years ago for the episode summaries when I started collecting eps.

I've been reading as many interviews as I can find. Trying to figure out what all was happening behind the scenes. I think that was probably the best story...

[cleo]

There was another site that posted some old articles. Apparently when they locked the Dobsons out Lane Davies and someone else- maybe Jed Allan- refused to work for a couple days.

[Bali]

6 hours ago, cleo said:

There was another site that posted some old articles. Apparently when they locked the Dobsons out Lane Davies and someone else- maybe Jed Allan- refused to work for a couple days.

I knew most of that. I didn't know LD and NLG had issues off set at the end. I know Nicholas Coster and Louise Sorrel think very highly of each other. But a small part wants the Soapdish facts. Then the other part really doesn't want that. 

I do know someone was so nasty Jed Allen refused to ever say her name again. Probably someone from after I quit watching. 

[Bali]

Now I'm going to talk about the humor. Favorite funny lines include but are not limited to:

Earthquake, ground is shaking. Lily Light says, Was that an earthquake. Mason answers, No the ground always shakes when I walk into the room.

Gina strips, Cc says, Well, she's got spirit, I'll give her that.

Sophia blowing the fog horn to keep CC from talking.

Champagne bubble baths.

Augusta cooking the pigeon. But especially CCs reaction to it. 

 

[WendyCR72]

I recall reading RUMORS (stressing this) that Jed Allan and Wanda De Jesus (the final Santana Andrade) did not get along, so maybe that is what was being referred to. But I guess we will never know.

And yeah, LD/NLG had issues towards the end of Lane's time at SB. They did a joint interview in the defunct Soap Opera Weekly soap magazine around 2002, when Lane and Nancy reunited on General Hospital and were blunt about their past issues. But by the time Lane had joined GH, it seemed like they put all of it behind them.

[Hiyo]

Oooh, now I am curious. What were the issues between NLG and LD?

And yeah, I liked Augusta as well. I think she was written out at one point because Sorel objected to the storyline where Augusta was starting to fall in love with Julia’s rapist or something.

[WendyCR72]

21 minutes ago, Hiyo said:

Oooh, now I am curious. What were the issues between NLG and LD?

And yeah, I liked Augusta as well. I think she was written out at one point because Sorel objected to the storyline where Augusta was starting to fall in love with Julia’s rapist or something.

Been 19 years since that interview. I forget. LOL! But if I recall, some of it was just the usual "so much time spent together that they got on each other's nerves" along with other stuff, so Lane was more than ready to exit SB.

But, as I said, they also seemed to get past it.

23 minutes ago, Hiyo said:

And yeah, I liked Augusta as well. I think she was written out at one point because Sorel objected to the storyline where Augusta was starting to fall in love with Julia’s rapist or something.

Yes, that is why Louise Sorel bounced the final time. And I don't blame her. That plot twist was offensive and awful.

[cleo]

Well Lane and NLG had a romantic relationship and it ended, that was always my understanding. So there is bound to be sour feelings esp at the time. And then yeah by the time of GH they seemed friends again.

Does anyone know if Robin Wright has ever said much about the show? I thought she was pretty dismissive of it but I don't know if that's true.

I didn't know Jed Allen wrote a book.

[Bali]

Hopefully this will work. Here is an excerpt of Jed Allen's autobiography.  Kind of appalling what happened with Charles Bateman. But damn, can you imagine having JA from the beginning? 

http://santabarbara-online.com/LivreJAllan2.htm

And also Santana and CC are just a sick idea. Has that woman no shame? "I'll go for that rare Father, son, son" trifecta. Surprised she didn't boink Ted at some point. 

[Bali]

11 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

I recall reading RUMORS (stressing this) that Jed Allan and Wanda De Jesus (the final Santana Andrade) did not get along, so maybe that is what was being referred to. But I guess we will never know.

It does seem to fit. JA also said she lives with a famous actor and Jimmy Smits fits that category.

And I know acting is acting, but it would be very hard to do a love scene with an ex. 

Honestly, I had pulled the plug on SB when LD quit. There was just a little too much "keep them apart" for me. I still don't think married HAS to equal boring. They can even have arguments and flat out fights. Be constantly wooing each other after said fights. But one fight equals divorce. 

It's interesting to me that A Martinez and LD formed a lifelong friendship. And that LD has directed A's daughters in shows.

[Bali]

Damn it just sort of hit me that IF this was still on, CC would be dead. And probably most of my favorites would be languishing on the back burner. 

Except for Kelly, who would still be getting kidnapped 5 times a year.

[Bali]

Made myself happy today and watched Mason and Julia's wedding. Best. Vows. Ever!!!! I promise you ground beef, milk and eggs. Awwww

[cleo]

I'm watching the eps when the original Pamela showed up. There's so much that doesn't make sense.

Alex acts like he raised Elena alone. So did Pamela give her away or what? She expresses no grief over Elena being dead but carries around a picture of Mason and Jeffrey.

Also I only saw Marj Dusay in the later yrs. It's just a bit jarring trying to connect that history with this. Like this Pamela talks about the letters she sent CC and Mason. Then I remember Sophia talking about how hateful the letters were, like that Pamela was unbalanced.

Two biased perspectives to be sure.

Anyway bc I've never seen any of the original Pamela stories, I'm hoping some of it will be good.