Santa Barbara is an American television soap opera that aired on NBC from July 30, 1984, to January 15, 1993. The show revolves around the eventful lives of the wealthy Capwell family of Santa Barbara, California. Other prominent families featured on the soap were the rival Lockridge family, and the more modest Andrade and Perkins families.

The serial was produced by Dobson Productions and New World Television, which also served as distributor for the show in international markets. Santa Barbara was the first series for New World Television.

Santa Barbara aired in the United States at 3:00 p.m. Eastern (2:00 p.m. Central) on NBC in the same time slot as General Hospital on ABC and Guiding Light on CBS and right after Another World. Santa Barbara aired in over 40 countries around the world. It became the longest-running television series in Russia, airing there from 1992 to 2002. Santa Barbara won 24 Daytime Emmy Awards and was nominated 30 times for the same award. The show also won 18 Soap Opera Digest Awards and various other awards.

Plot

The original plotline surrounded conflicts between the wealthy Capwell and Lockridge families. Stage legend and Oscar nominee Dame Judith Anderson received a great deal of publicity for headlining the cast as Lockridge matriarch Minx. John Cory of The New York Times wrote "a good soap opera has plot, plot and more plot" describing the myriad of "dramatic possibilities", "ideological/societal warfare" and predicting "bitterness along the blue collar versus country club divide." which takes place five years before the series begins. Joe Perkins has been jailed for the murder, paroled and returns to Santa Barbara determined to prove his innocence and renew his relationship with Kelly Capwell, sister of the victim.

One controversial storyline involved Eden being brutally raped, and later discovering that her assailant was her gynecologist Zack Kelton, who had examined her after her rape. Zack's portrayer, former Dallas cast member Leigh McCloskey, stated that he was uncomfortable with the storyline as he felt that women had enough concerns about visiting gynecologists.

In 1988 Libby Slate wrote for the Los Angeles Times, "Clearly, this is a show that is not afraid to take chances: Roles for deaf performers are a television rarity day or night" However, creators and executive producers Bridget and Jerome Dobson tightened the show's cast among a handful of popular characters and proceeded to kill off or write out weaker links and supporting characters via a natural disaster and the "Carnation Killer" serial killer storyline. When the Lockridges staged a comeback in the early 1990s, the much younger Broadway and movie veteran Janis Paige assumed the part of Minx. The soap showed promise with an early Alexis Carrington-style villainess, Augusta Lockridge (Louise Sorel), but even though critics praised her performance, her storyline was suddenly dropped and Sorel left the show. She would return later on a recurring basis and signed a contract when the Lockridges were written back in as regular characters.

When a major earthquake hit Santa Barbara, core character Danny Andrade slept through the whole thing. Minx Lockridge was unfazed, saying that the 1984 Santa Barbara earthquake was nothing like the one in 1925. She was later locked in an empty sarcophagus. Luckily, her grandchildren were around to let her out and she escaped with merely a bruised ego.

thumb|right|220px|The supercouple, [[Eden Capwell and Cruz Castillo|Eden Capwell (Marcy Walker) and Cruz Castillo (A Martinez)]]

Under new executive producer Jill Farren Phelps' tenure, most of the show revolved around Eden Capwell and Cruz Castillo. By concentrating on such popular characters as Cruz and Eden, C.C. Capwell and his wife Sophia, Mason Capwell and Julia Wainwright Capwell, Gina Blake, and Augusta and Lionel Lockridge, the program achieved critical acclaim as well as slowly but surely rising ratings. For example, in the July 14, 1986, episode, former nun Mary Duvall McCormick (Harley Jane Kozak) was killed by a giant neon letter "C" (for "Capwell") atop the Capwell Hotel toppling on her while she was standing on the hotel roof during an argument (this was later referenced in the American Dad! episode "Homeland Insecurity"). Despite an irate letter-writing campaign by the show's fans (and an offer from the soap to come back), Kozak was reported as saying that she had "no desire to return to SB", or in fact, any other daytime soap. Another example from 1989 involved Greg Hughes (Paul Johansson) having a dream while unconscious about Mason and Julia being aliens and being taken to "The Capwell Zone". Also in 1988, Julia backs out of her wedding to Mason while at the altar giving their wedding vows, revealing to Father Michael she is in love with him and they make love.

In October 1987, the Dobsons were locked out of NBC studios after repeated attempts to fire the head writer, Anne Howard Bailey. Bridget Dobson said, "It was impossible for Anne Howard Bailey to get inside my head, and I could not get in her head. She has a darker view of life than I do; I think she thinks of me as Pollyanna, and I think of her as Darth Vader." The Dobsons sued, and were eventually allowed to return to the program in 1991, but ratings never recovered, even as the show won three Daytime Emmys in a row for Outstanding Drama Series.

Cast and characters

thumb|right|260px|Cast on Christmas 1989<br/>Cruz Castillo, Mack Blake, Eden Capwell, Julia Wainwright, Mason Capwell, Sasha Schmidt, Augusta Lockridge, C.C. Capwell, Kelly Capwell Following common daytime drama practice, over the years the producers of Santa Barbara recast original characters multiple times. By the end of the series, almost every original character had been recast, excluding only Eden Capwell and Cruz Castillo, Lionel, and Augusta. Out of those four, not one stayed with the show through the entire run. The characters of Kelly, C.C., and Santana had the highest number of recasts, four each. Some recasts proved successful, most notably Jed Allan (C.C. Capwell #4), Judith McConnell (Sophia Capwell #2) and Robin Mattson (Gina Blake DeMott #2), but many were upsetting to fans. Following Wright were the departures of Justin Deas in 1988, and Todd McKee as the original Ted Capwell, Lane Davies as Mason Capwell and Marcy Walker as Eden Capwell in 1991.

By 1992, most of the original characters had either been recast a few times or written out, and new characters arrived on the scene. Roscoe Born was cast in the dual roles of twin brothers Robert Barr and Quinn Armitage from 1989 to 1991. In 1990, Leonardo DiCaprio received a Best Young Actor in a Daytime Series Nomination at the 12th Youth in Film Awards for his appearance as a young Mason Capwell. After Zack Kelton's death, McCloskey returned as a new character, district attorney Ethan Asher. Steven Nichols joined the cast as psychologist Skyler Gates in September 1992.

Louise Sorel was written out In 1987, she took over as executive producer until 1990 although there was a five-month transition period where both were credited. In 1990, Pratt was replaced by another associate writer, Maralyn Thoma, but her tenure was cut short when the Dobsons finally settled in court and returned to the series. Shortly before the Dobsons returned, Conboy was let go and Paul Rauch was brought on as executive producer.

  • In Slovenia, the show aired on POP TV from 1995 to 1998.
  • In South Africa, the show aired entirely on SABC 3 from 1987 to 1998 and also on Bop TV.
  • In Spain, TVE1 aired 520 episodes of the show from 1989 to 1991 when they refused to buy more episodes even though the show was very popular. However, Antena 3TV bought the rights to the show and continued airing it right after it concluded on TVE1 in 1991. It aired until 1996 with several breaks in between. The show never concluded due to failing ratings attributed to constant timeslot changes. in an afternoon slot, before briefly switching to the Sky Soap channel in 1994. Santa Barbara was mainly shown in the 23-minute format in the UK, although some ITV regions broadcast it in the hour-long format when burning off episodes during the early hours of the morning in the early '90s. The only American daytime soap opera that has successfully been broadcast in the UK is Sunset Beach, which aired on Channel 5 in the late '90s. Coincidentally, Sunset Beach was NBC's eventual replacement for Santa Barbara when it began in 1997.
  • In Zimbabwe, the show aired on ZBC TV1 from 1991 to 1997.

The series enjoyed great success in France during the first seasons. It was broadcast at primetime at 7:00&nbsp;p.m., attracting between 8 and 10 million viewers each evening.

Reception

New York Times television critic and cultural news reporter John Corry enthusiastically describes Santa Barbara as "good trashy fun" recapping characters, plot twists and social themes, while surmising "the dramatic possibilities here are endless." He calls it "pretty good stuff" speculating "one wonders how Dame Judith, flicking her riding crop, is going to involve herself in what comes next" writing "It is probable that any number of viewers will tune in tomorrow to find out."

Tom Shales of The Washington Post wrote "As for whether Santa Barbara really is worse than the soaps that are doing well in the ratings, that's a tough call. On the surface, it doesn't appear to be inferior to all those other daytime offerings designed for people with too much time to kill."

In its first year, a reviewer for People Weekly wrote that the Santa Barbara TV series "could be the worst show on TV—ever".

Mark Dawidziak claimed in August 1984 that Santa Barbara was "a serial full of hammy acting, predictable story lines and atrocious dialogue".

Awards

Daytime Emmy Award wins

Drama series and performer categories

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto;"

|-

! Category

! Recipient

! Role(s)

! Year(s)

|-

| Outstanding Drama Series

|

|

| 1988, 1989, 1990

|-

| Lead Actor

| A Martinez

| Cruz Castillo

| 1990

|}

Other categories

  • 1993 "Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series"
  • 1991 "Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team"
  • 1991 "Outstanding Drama Series Directing Team"
  • 1991 "Outstanding Achievement in Lighting Direction for a Drama Series"
  • 1991 "Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling for a Drama Series"
  • 1990 "Outstanding Drama Series Directing Team"
  • 1990 "Outstanding Achievement in Lighting Direction for a Drama Series"
  • 1989 "Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team"
  • 1989 "Outstanding Achievement in Makeup for a Drama Series"
  • 1989 "Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling for a Drama Series"
  • 1988 "Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series"
  • 1987 "Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series"
  • 1985 "Outstanding Achievement in Graphics and Title Design"

Other awards

  • Writers Guild of America Award for Television Daytime Serials (1991, 1992)
  • Casting Society of America Artios Award (1990)

Music

Joe Harnell composed the theme music for the show. Shortly afterwards, Dominic Messinger took on the position of composer and Music Director of the show. Music on the show was contemporary in style, with popular music themes composed and memorable original pop songs written specifically for each character and romantic couple, rather than the usual practice of soap operas of matching recorded cues to a scene.

Starting from the first episode, the show featured "If Ever You're in My Arms Again" by Peabo Bryson as a love theme for Joe Perkins and Kelly Capwell.

  • Nothing Can Take Me Away From You

See also

References

  • Santa Barbara Soap Opera - Facebook Page
  • "The 1980s American Soap Opera That Explains How Russia Feels About Everything" by Mikhail Iossel, Foreign Policy, July 24, 2017