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Santa Barbara is an American television soap opera that ran from July 30, 1984 to January 15, 1993 on the NBC television network. It was created by Bridget and Jerome Dobson, (Bridget was the daughter of Frank and Doris Hursley, the creators of General Hospital) who were real-life residents of Santa Barbara, California (where the show was set) and it focused originally on the lives of four diverse families in Santa Barbara: the wealthy Lockridges and Capwells; the more middle-class Perkins, and the poorer Andrade families. While most of the focus was on the wealthy Capwells, the other families were also featured as well.
Santa Barbara aired at 3:00 PM (ET)/2:00 PM (CT) on NBC in the same timeslot as General Hospital on ABC and Guiding Light on CBS and Passionate Dreams on BGC and right after Another World. On Sky 1, Santa Barbara airs at 1:00 PM after both One Life to Live at 12:00 PM and All My Children at 11:00 AM and before General Hospital at 2:00 PM.
The Capwells consisted of patriarch C.C. Capwell (Peter Mark Richman; Paul Burke; Charles Bateman; Jed Allan); his former wife, Sophia (Rosemary Forsythe; Judith McConnell); his daughter, Eden (Marcy Walker); his son, Mason (Lane Davies; Terry Lester; Gordon Thomson); Ted (Todd McKee; Michael Brainard); and Kelly (Robin Wright Penn; Kimberly McArthur; Carrington Garland; Eileen Davidson).
On the rival side was the equally powerful Lockridges, consisting of widowed matriarch, Minx (Dame Judith Anderson {Anderson was herself a resident of the real-life Santa Barbara}; Janis Paige); her son, Lionel (Nicolas Coster); his wife, Augusta Wainwright (Louise Sorel); their son, Warren (John Allen Nelson; Jack Wagner (The Bold and the Beautiful and General Hospital) and their daughter, Laken (Julie Ronnie).
Minx was the widow of T. MacDonald Lockridge "T for Tiger", she growled. She was a sour old woman who was a lifelong Capwell hater. At first she did not approve of her granddaughter, Laken's romance with Ted Capwell, but after convincing her that he was nothing like his father, Minx relented and even helped her granddaughter to sneak around with Ted, as she knew that it would get Laken's mother, Augusta's goat. Minx made it abundantly clear that she hated Augusta, due to her frivolous ways, but more so, Minx was amused by Augusta's silliness.
However, Augusta was clearly on her mother in-law's side when her hatred of C.C. was so great that when he tried to take her mansion away from her after he discovered that she had taken his son away from him. She promptly retaliated against her lifelong enemy by shooting him in the backside with an antique gun that her late husband owned, which was loaded with buckshot!
Aside from the wealthy Capwells and Lockridges, there were also the Perkins and Andrade families.
The Perkins, who were more middle-class were comprised of patriarch John Perkins (Robert Alan Browne), who worked at Capwell Industries; his wife, Marisa (Valorie Armstrong) and their children, Joe (Dane Witherspoon; Mark Arnold); Jade (Melissa Brennan Reeves) and Amy (Kerry Sherman), who sadly perished at work after a girl named Hayley Benson threw a projectile starting a fire.
John had been thrown out of the house by Marisa after he revealed he did not want his son, Joe, back in the house after his stint in prison. She would relent eventually. Joe would be killed by the wicked Peter Flint (Stephen Meadows), a scheming man who had once been engaged to Kelly Capwell. He tried to take Kelly's life as well, but he would meet his maker at the hands of Cruz Castillo (A Martinez), the boyfriend of Kelly's sister, Eden (Marcy Walker). After Joe's death and then after John had died in an earthquake, Marisa would leave town.
The poorer Andrades included Ruben Andrade (Ismael Carlo) and his wife, Rosa (Margarita Cordova). Ruben served as the gardener of the Capwell mansion and Rosa worked as the Capwell family maid. She also served as the surrogate mother of the Capwell children as they grew up. Ruben and Rosa had four children, Gabriela and Olivia (who had not been seen on the show); and the two who were seen more often, Santana and Danny.
Santana (played by Ava Lazar; Margaret Michaels; Gina Gallego and Wanda de Jesus) was an interior designer who had been pregnant by her lover, Channing Capwell, Jr. She gave birth to a son, but was forced to give up the child by the wicked C.C, who did not approve of a relationship between his son and the daughter of his domestics!
A man named Stockton DeMott and his wife, Gina (Linda Gibboney; Robin Mattson) adopted the child and named him Brandon. C.C. would later marry Gina, thereby keeping Brandon under the Capwell fold. After various attempts to get him from Gina, she finally succeeded in bonding with her son. However, she would leave town in 1992.
The show started slowly, but later gained a cult following for its mix of soap opera intrigue as well as its comedic style and offbeat writing. One of the show's most remembered moments was the death of one Mary Duvall McCormick (Harley Jane Kozak), who met her end while standing on the roof of the Capwell Hotel, where the large letter C of the sign fell on top of her, crushing her. Despite a fan campaign wanting her to return and an offer by the show to have her return, Ms. Kozak had decided that she would never work in a soap opera again.
Another quite offbeat character was a mobster named Bunny Tagliatti. He was a mobster who had a crush on Gina Timmons but had one quirk......he loved to dress in women's clothes, a la Corporal Klinger from M*A*S*H!
Many actors have worked with the show and they include Lane Davies; Gordin Thomson; Robin Wright Penn; Marcy Walker; Kim Zimmer; Dame Judith Anderson (who was the undisputed star as the sour Minx); Janis Paige (who replaced Dame Judith as Minx); Louise Sorel; Nicolas Coster; Jack Wagner; Jed Allan, among many others.
The first story of the show was the murder of Channing Capwell, Jr. Originally, it was thought that Kelly Capwell's fiance, Joe, had killed her brother, but it was later revealed that her mother, Sophia had accidentally killed him. Channing clearly had his issues. Besides being the father of Santana Andrade's son, Brandon, he was also GAY!
One of the show's supercouples was that of Eden Capwell (Marcy Walker) and Cruz Castillo.
Series history[]
In October 1992, Santa Barbara competed against newly debuted Angels and Devils in a matchup, but lost to Angels and Devils. On January 15 1993, Santa Barbara ended its run on NBC before As the World Turns replaced its 1981 opening with its 1993 opening in February 1993, The Young and the Restless marked its 20th anniversary on March 26, 1993, General Hospital replaced its 1976 opening with its 1993 opening and marked its 30th anniversary on April 1, 1993, and Days of Our Lives replaced its 1972 opening with its 1993 opening in September 1993, two years before Loving, which premiered on June 26, 1983, ended November 10, 1995 after 12 years on ABC.