"Santa Barbara" (1984) TV series 1984-1993

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Creators:

Bridget Dobson
Jerome Dobson

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

30 July 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In Santa Barbara, California, the fascinating and tumultuous life of the rich Capwells around who gravitate other families...

Plot Keywords:

Barbara | Santa Barbara California | Beautiful Woman | Soap | Santa Claus

Awards:

45 wins & 103 nominations

Cast

A Martinez	...	Cruz Castillo (496 episodes, 1984-1992)
Lane Davies	...	Mason Capwell (460 episodes, 1984-1988)
Marcy Walker	...	Eden Capwell / ... (445 episodes, 1984-1988)
Robin Wright Penn	...	Kelly Capwell Perkins / ... (391 episodes, 1984-1988)
Judith McConnell	...	Sophia Capwell / ... (344 episodes, 1984-1993)
Todd McKee	...	Ted Capwell (324 episodes, 1984-1988)
Nancy Lee Grahn	...	Julia Wainwright / ... (275 episodes, 1985-1993)
Nicolas Coster	...	Lionel Lockridge (257 episodes, 1984-1993)
Jed Allan	...	C.C. Capwell (248 episodes, 1986-1993)
Robin Mattson	...	Gina Capwell / ... (223 episodes, 1985-1993)

Runtime:

45 min | Norway:45 min (2123 episodes) | USA:60 min (2137 episodes))

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono (1984-1987) | Stereo (1987-1993)

Certification:

USA:TV-PG

Filming Locations:

Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Dobson Productions

Quotes:

Ted: Oh, come on Julia, haven't you ever been in love?
Julia: Yes. I've also had scarlet fever and the measles. Ask me which one I liked best.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saved by the Bell: Rockumentary (#3.22)" (1991)

Hooked by a Soap

What was it about "Santa Barbara" that managed to get dedicated non-Soapists like me hooked? Humour, in a word. SB is the only soap I'm aware of that had an all-the-way-thru' sense of humour about itself. I discovered this , as so many do, while surfing the channels. Up came an incident in SB when a lawyer character is seen in a coma. He fantasises himself into an all-white version of his lawyer's office (i.e. Heaven) where he is seen arriving bedecked in white from head to toe. His first stop is his secretary's desk. "She", also a vision in white, is not his real secretary but one of SB's male characters who is also a transvestite. He/she is seated at his/her desk, filing his/her nails AND--here is the piece of resistance that made SB irresistable to me--watching the opening credits of his/her favourite soap on the office TV. The favourite soap being--what else?--"Santa Barbara! A nice little touch of post-modernism there, I think.

Then there was the murder of the lounge singer by the local District Attorney and her husband.(A very Santa Barbara reversal of the usual plotline!) They hide the body in a freezer which provides a superb full- face picture of the corpse for the closing credits. The make-up artist has done a superb job, ice crystals mixing with mascara and blusher to achieve that all-over "dead" effect. AND, forgoing the Santa Barbara theme music, the episode ends with the dear departed lounge singer's own voice singing the highly appropriate "AM I BLUE?"!!!

From then on I was hooked. Humour and a wonderfully anarchic script that had characters trapped in dungeons at the beginning of an episode and attending a" black tie 'n' frocks party" at the end, are what made Santa Barbara a soap like no other. And I daresay we shall not see its like ever again.