At two-and-one-half years of age, Santa Barbara is one of the most firmly
established, talked-about soaps on the air. Though not yet in the nielsen top
five, it is nonetheless NBC's first successful entry in a time slot once
seemingly doomed to reruns-a slot shared by the wildly popular General Hospital
and old familiar Guiding Light.
Santa Barbara is also a long-overdue break for its creators
and part-owners, Bridget and Jerry Dobson. It's their first "baby". For years they
paid their dues on other soaps where they rejuvenated iron-poor blood: General Hospital
in the early seventies(the smashing Phil Brewer murder mystery),Guiding Light
in the mid-to-late seventies and As The World Turns in the eighties.
The Dobsons' combination of labyrinthian plotting, spicy humor,
and offbeat characterizations generated enough notice to finally put one of
their originals on the map. Like the Young And The Restless, Santa
Barbara is totally individualistic in style and content. As a
result, there are elements utilized on this show which are not common on all the
others. There are also elements common to other soaps which are foreign to
Santa Barbara-whether accidentally or purposely. More often than not, this uniqueness works
in the show's favor. The root of the story is the long-standing antagonism between
Lionel Lockridge(Nicolas Coster), an easy-going, spendthrift dilettante; and
Channing Creighton(C.C.)Capwell(Jed Allan), an industrious millionaire who is
occassionally prone to dubious methods in protecting his large family. Playing
pivotal roles in the conflict are ex-actress Sophia Wayne Capwell(Judith
McConnell), C.C.'s wife and Lionel's ex-lover; and the intense Brick
Wallace(Richard Eden), the son shared by Lionel and Sophia.
It's incredible that Santa Barbara has remained so well centered, considering how
drastically its structure has been altered during its short life span. Of its
four founding families, only the Capwells remain intact. The blue-collar
Perkinses have virtually all been killed off, except Marisa and Jade. They're
usually off in another room. The Mexican-American Andrade family, highly touted
when Santa Barbara premeried, is now minor except for Santana( Gina Gallego). And the
zany, sitcom Lockridges are now represented solely by Lionel, his son Warren and
his too-scarely-seen, indomitable mama, Minx(Dame Judith Anderson).
On almost any other soap, this would be heinous plotting. Such a loss of family
balance-not to mention continuity-could be death for a relatively new soap. For
a show as wild as Santa Barbara can be, however, it has been a blessing
Santa Barbara
is
not traditional, family-based soap about nice couples who guide their plethora
of relatives through loveee triangles and murder trials in between hospital
emergencies. And it doesn't pretend to be.
Prodigal son Mason Capwell(Lane Davies) is a cynical, sometimes unethical lawyer
whose most vulnerable trait is a crying need for father C.C.'s approval. Mason
is crazy enough to bed his horny stepmommy Gina...offer to father a child for
determinated single lawyer Julia Wainwright(Nancy Grahn), his female
counterpart...or fall in love with mary Duvall, a virtuous ex-nun who ended up
killed by a letter C.
Gina first got involved with the Capwells by adopting Brandon, the illegitimate
child of Santana Andrade and the late Channing Capwell,Jr. Then she roped C.C.
into yet a second dismal(but lucrative) marriage. How? She blackmailed C.C. by
threatening to destroy a tape which could clear his daughter Kelly(Robin Wright)
of murdering the second boyfriend in two years who flaked out and tried to kill
her. Then-as an added bonus-Gina discovered that Lily Light(Lynn Clark), a bogus
evangelist, is her long-lost illegitimate daughter.
Santa Barbara isn't all
played for laughs. It has a heroic, romantic pair that clobber their counterparts
when it comes to sensualit-iron-willed Eden Capwell(Marcy Walker) and tenacious,
idealistic cop Cruz Castillo(A Martinez). These two have fought everything from
family interference, to Cruz's hasty marriage to his childhood pal Santana, to
Eden's near-death at the hands of yuppie mad-man hubby Kirk Cranston(Joseph
Bottoms), to the recent Katie's Timmoms drowning mystery. Enmeshed in this
suspence caper are Katie's embittered brother, wily D.A. Keith Timmons(Justin
Deas) and Cruz's jealous ex-flame Victoria Lane(Kristen Meadows). Keith is also
tied mysteriously to Courtney Capwell(Julia Campbell), C.C.'s conniving niece,
and the recent murder of her sister Madeline. Madeline's murder made for a
much-heralded, then seemingly dropped story thread which has suddenly been
picked up again. Whether or not the Dobsons meant for the story line to go on a
two-month sabbatical, its interim lack of story mention was a bit awkward. But
it's such fun! The shaky alliances among a sea of rats-Mason, Gina, Lily, Keith
and Victoria-make for much of Santa Barbara's storytelling. Fortunately, their
antics are balanced by the heroism of Cruz and Eden, the struggle of C.C, and
Sophia to find happiness, and the sensitivity of anti-hero Lionel. a perfect
balance.
Other story fronts include the young marriage of Ted and Hayley Capwell(Todd
McKee and Stacy Edwards) in the interest of avoiding damaging courtroom
testimony-even though they love each other- and the intriguing new set of women
inhabiting Lionel' house. Black ex-mental patient Alice Jackson(Marie-Alise
Recasner) loves Cruz's cop friend, Phil Whitney(Stoney Jackson), but has visions
of an evil cop from her past. Plain Jane Wilson/Roxanne(Jane Sibbett), a college
student suffering fron split personality syndrome, fights her vampy mother
Caroline(Lenore Kasdorf) for the affections of lonely Lionel. The pairing of
Kasdorf and coster looks like a winner.
Of course, the entire cast of Santa Barbara is a winner. Nicolas Coster's
gentleness and "oh-what-the-hell" carriage as Lionel bely a reserve intensity
which he displays in spades vis-à-vis C.C. After numerous hit-and-miss casting
attemps, Jed Allan is clearly the definitive C.C. Capwell; and Gina Gallego, the
definitive Santana. No need to proceed further. There isn't a bow-wow in the
church.
Directors Gary Bowen, John Sedwick, Andy Weyman and Rick Benewitz are
consistently imaginative risk-takers.The freeze-frame ending and campy music
when Gina got C.C. in a compromising pose provoked howls. And Caroline's first
scene in which she melodramatically dumped another rich lover-juxtaposed with
daughter Jane's account to Lionel of the first scene which her mother had played
time and time again with unsuspecting males-was a writing masterpiece. The
Dobsons and their writing fold-Charles Pratt,Jr., Frank Salisbury, Patrick
Mulcahey and Courtney Simon-are getting better all the time at turning out
brisk, original scripts with lively dialogue.
Santa Barbara, indeed, copies no one. For that reason alone, it deserves to
succeed.