From: lf01+@andrew.cmu.edu (Liz Fox)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv.soaps
Subject: SB: article in local tv guide
Date: 12 Jan 93 04:45:26 GMT
Article-I.D.: andrew.gfIha6_00iUy017cZk
Organization: Office of the Dean - CFA, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA


[Sophie not Liz]

 
I'm an SB lurker who has watched SB since last August.  I'm really
sorry to see the show go.  I have watched DOOL for over 20 years,
and am really disgusted with it.  I started watching SB the week
Frank had Cruz and Jodie trapped in the slaughterhouse.  I love this
show!!!
 
This article was in our local newspaper's TV soap section for this week.
I thought you all might be interested in reading it.  It was written
by Connie Passalacqua, and is reprinted without permission.
 
			Farewell
 
It's not too early to stock up on tissues for the final episode of
"Santa Barbara," which will be broadcast Friday, Jan. 15.
 
"SB" was given its time, time and time again - eight and a half
years worth in all.  But despite great critical notices and three
Daytime Emmy wins as Best Show, the series never got off the ground,
ratings-wise.
 
Why did "SB" fail?  It's a complicated tale of umpteen production
regimes and a network (NBC) that never adequately marketed the show
to a hipper, more highly educated audience.  A book - or a master's
thesis - would be needed to document the whole story.
 
The beginning of the end was probably the forcing out of the show's
creators, producers and head writers Jerome and Bridget Dobson, in
November 1987.  The show had its real glory days under the Dobsons;
it was the very embodiment of the couple's sophisticated, witty
writing style.  The real city of Santa Barbara, Calif., was the
Dobsons' home, and they aimed to bring to television the kind of
intelligent, if slightly eccentric, people who lived there.  Who
could forget the late Dame Judith Anderson (also a Santa Barbara
resident), then in her 80s, as Minx Lockridge, dropping those
delightful double-entendres?  Or Sophia Capwell, (as played by
Judith McConnell), coming back to town to the family she had
deserted years ago by disguising herself as a man for several
months?  Or Mason Capwell (played by the incomparable Lane Davies),
a snotty, spoiled attorney who muttered Shakespearean asides about
all he did and at one point turned out to have an alter identity,
the Wild West-inspired Sonny Sprocket?
 
Perhaps the most impressive "SB" character of all was the strong,
independent attorney Julia Wainwright (played by Nancy Grahn).  She
first appeared in 1985, determined to find a man solely for the
purpose of impregnating her so she could be a single mother.  This
had never been done on family-oriented soaps before - or on TV at
all.
 
In late 1985 and 1986, "SB" became the hip show to watch.  But due
to a contract dispute with New World and NBC, the other owners of
the show, the Dobsons were exiled from the soap until 1991, when the
couple won an ownership lawsuit.  They came back as writers briefly,
but their work was a disappointment.  While they were gone, the
idiosyncratic show had gone too far afield from their original
vision.  A series of producers passed through "SB," each of them
putting a very different stamp on the show.
 
Perhaps the most valuable legacy "SB" leaves to the rest of the soap
world is that of the wonderful acting work done on it.  From the
very beginning, it was "SB"'s informal policy to hire the very best
alumni of other soaps.  Nine-soap veteran Nicolas Coster (who played
Lionel Lockridge) gave the show enormous charm.  The always-centered
Marcy Walker (who played Eden Capwell and formerly portrayed Liza
Colby on "AMC") became the show's beloved leading lady.  After four
tries the show found its tyrannical patriarch C.C. Capwell in fiery
Jed Allan (who formerly played Don Craig on "Days of Our Lives").
Robin Mattson (who played Gina and formerly played Heather on "GH")
and Justin Deas (who played Keith after portraying Tom Hughes on
"ATWT") were deliciously wicked as the most subversive soap couple
ever.  Memorable actors who made their soap debuts on "SB" include
Grahn, A Martinez, Louise Sorel and Sydney Penny.
 
Because "SB" brought many intelligent and creative moments to the
soap world, it will probably be as fondly remembered as that other
great cerebral soap in the sky, "The Edge of Night" (which was
canceled in 1984).  The real tragedy is that "SB" will be replaced
by two game shows.  NBC now has only two remaining soaps, "DOOL" and
"AW".
 
 
That's it.  I really wish the show wasn't going off the air.  I just
hope that they'll go into reruns on cable so I can see the entire
eight and a half years.
 
Have a wonderful mini-con this weekend.  I'll be thinking of all of
you guys in Pittsburgh!!  Will someone who attends please post a
summary of the weekend's events so we know how much fun you had???
Thanks!
 
 
Sophie Mitzel