Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara got me through a tough period in the late 1980s. For a while there it was the only thing i really looked forward to. Mason's rich sarcasm, Gina I's uncontrollable facial expressions, Gina II's bone structure, Eden's dreamy egotism, Kelly's bad luck, the coincidences, the overheard conversations, the misunderstandings that went on for weeks at a time, the laughter, the tears, the sorrow and the pity, the daily dose of hyperbole, hysteria and melodrama, the little bit of insanity in a sanitized world, that was Santa Barbara. It's been gone from our screens for years, in Australia at least, where i used to watch it. But it lives on in the backwaters of my mind, often resurfacing, at odd times, giving me solace in times of extreme absurdity. Thank you, Santa Barbara, I will never forget you.

I am simply overjoyed to see so much love for this unique and superior daytime soap! I have always loved this show (and I am NOT a daytime soap fan), and it seems to me that just about everyone who has seen it would agree that it was way above the cut. I came across it quite by accident and became addicted for years to come. Many people have mentioned how great the writing was, or how it managed to incorporate comedy into it regularly. The storylines were always intricate, thrilling and well thought-out. Some of the actors on this show were simply Oscar-worthy, and many have gone on to achieve considerable success in the industry, most notably Robin Wright Penn (She was always a natural). The relationship/repartee between Mason (Lane Davies) and Julia (Nancy Grahn) was pure, unadulterated genius. They were like "Moonlighting" meets Hepburn & Tracy. Gina (Robin Mattson) and Keith (Justin Deas) were simply outrageous! Never were two evil people so darn entertaining at every turn! Not only that, but Ms. Mattson managed to make Gina a character who you could sympathize with on same level, in spite of all her flaws. Her love for her son, Brandon, was NEVER in question, although her treatment of just about everyone else was deplorable! I should mention that the original Gina (Linda Gibboney) was simply outstanding, and I was shocked to see her go. It took me a while to warm up to Ms. Mattson, who gave the character a different twist, but in her capable and accomplished hands, I grew to love her portaryal. This show worked on so many levels. It definitely deserved the Emmys it won. In fact, it deserved many, many more. I would like to take a moment to comment on the real people behind the characters. I am an actor, writer, director, singer and producer. I used to watch this show when I was about 12 and 13 years old. As a young kid with stars in his eyes, I would write to all the actors, and so many of them were beyond accomodating. A Martinez, who played Cruz, used to write back to me every month. And, he didn't just drop a note. He would write complete letters, answering all my questions and responding to all my hopes and aspirations. He saw this young kid who looked up to him, and he embraced it. It is people like that who truly gave me inspiration to follow my dreams and goals. Another one who would always take the time to write me back was Jane Sibbett, who played Jane. These people really took the time to reach out to me and make me feel valued, and that has affected me into my adult years. I should point out that both of these actors work consisitently. Jane Sibbett was part of another superb show called "Herman's Head" for four years. I truly am happy for them. Finally, I had the pleasure of running into Judith McConnell, who played Sophia, at an audition recently. I couldn't resist telling her how much I loved the show. She was with her daughter, and her eyes just lit up. I can tell you, from speaking to her, that she loved doing the show as much as we loved watching it. They knew they had something special and extraordinary, and the years she spent on that show are very fond in her memory. Meeting her was a great experience, because I got to connect to her in a real way. She was very gracious and appreciative, and can I say she looks fabulous? She looks like she's still in her late thirties, and she's got to be about sixty! I wish every one who had a part in this show success, and I would be honored one day to work with just about any of them.

I have good memories of this daytime serial, which debuted in Australia in 1987, when I was in high school. Even though the later years of the show were unwatchable, when the head writers in the early years were Bridget and Jerome Dobson, it was simply magical. I remember well the beautiful romances of Kelly and Joe (Robin Wright and Dane Witherspoon), the high-camp aristocratic antics of Augusta and Lionel (Louise Sorel and Nicolas Coster) and, and best of all, the heavenly romance between ex-nun Mary and the hard-bitten, cynical Mason (Harley Kozak and Lane Davies). This storyline in particular was brilliantly acted, movingly written, and thoroughly touching. Mason's transformation into a more sympathetic character through his love affair with Mary was wonderfully handled.

It is a shame that the programme is no longer on the air, but if it had firmer handling, it may have caught on and built a substantial audience. All it needed was more story consistency, and some more appealing love stories to hook the audience. SANTA BARBARA's penchant for the quick fix, and inability to give its actors stable storylines may have contributed to its undoing. Anyway, I hope that the show one day either turns up again on TV, if not in its full run, but even in 'best of' shows. I rate it as one of the best shows on TV, then, now, and everafter.

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.

I love "Santa Barbara" and hated to see it got canceled. It was really the best soap ever. Actors like A Martinez, Marcy Walker, Robin Mattson and more managed to make me laugh in one scene and cry in the next. Characters and storylines were funny and well-written. It won three Emmys with a reason! No other soap can compare!!!