Santa Barbara is an American television soap opera that aired on NBC from July 30, 1984, to January 15, 1993.[2] 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.[3]

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.[4] Santa Barbara aired in over 40 countries around the world.[5] It became the longest-running television series in Russia, airing there from 1992 to 2002.[6] 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.[7]

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.[8] 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."[8]

A central plot around which many of the others revolve: the murder of Channing Capwell Jr.[9] 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.[10]

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.[11] 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" [12] This was a reference to the character Sister Sarah, played by deaf actress Phyllis Frelich for 31 episodes.

Over the course of the soap, almost every major character would be accused of the murder of Channing Capwell Jr. or find his or her life involved in the incident in one way or another: from his illegitimate son to his mysterious, presumed-dead mother.

Production

The series was launched on NBC with high promotion on July 30, 1984, while the 1984 Summer Olympics was airing on rival network ABC.[13] 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.[14] 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,[15] 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.

The supercouple, 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.[3] The show was famous for its comedic style and offbeat writing.[17] 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[18] (this was later referenced in the American Dad! episode "Homeland Insecurity"[19]). 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.[20][21][22][23]

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.[12][24]