Insight star trek : Why TV's best actors flock to Santa Barbara
By Roberta Caploe, Soap Opera Update, 1990	Home   Cette page en Français

Santa Barbara's mediocre ratings have never reflected the show's enormous popularity in the entertainment industry. Ever since Augusta served her daughter Laken's pet pigeon as an appetizer in the show's first season, insiders have lauded the show as innovative, quirky and often hilarious. Although those qualities may not have attracted hordes of viewers, they have earned the show a reputation as the hippest place to work in daytime. And this high regard has enticed popular stars who could have had their pick of much higherrated shows. The phenomenon of Santa Barbara suggests that quality doesn't necessarily lead to ratings glory. As Terry Lester, who left the top-rated The Young and the Restless to join Santa Barbara as Mason Capwell, says : "If being the best means that you're also not the most popular, I don't care. That has ceased to be important to me."

It all started with Marcy Walker, who left her Emmy-nominated role as Liza on the established All my Children to join Santa Barbara. Since then, proven soap superstars like Robin Mattson (ex-Heather, General Hospital), Frank Runyeon (ex-Steve, As the World Turns) and the aforementioned Terry Lester (ex-Jack, The Young and the Restless), have been lured by the irreverent writing that only Santa Barbara supplies. And the soap's reputation extends outside daytime, as Santa Barbara found when it courted actors unfamiliar with soap territory.

"Santa Barbara has a great reputation," confirms Christopher Norris (ex-Laura), whose credits include a role on prime time's Trapper John, M.D.. "When they called me (about joining the show), I asked a lot of people I know in the business - producers, directors, lots of people, 'cause I really didn't know that many actors on daytime. And all I kept getting was how wonderful it is, how different it is from any other soap, and how good they were about working around your schedule if you get a film or a TV movie. If they accommodate you, you're obviously going to get the best actors, because every actor wants to work."

John O'Hurley, a daytime veteran who has appeared on The Young and the Restless, Loving and All my Children, heard the same remarks about Santa Barbara from one of his colleagues - Nicolas Coster, who plays Lionel Lockridge. "I was on All my Children during the writer's strike," says O'Hurley. "They had brought Nick Coster and me in for a quickie storyline. Nick said that Santa Barbara was the only network show to be on. He said that it was the best writing he'd ever seen. Within actors' circles, this is the show that's known to take chances."

When O'Hurley finally found himself on Santa Barbara turf, he says that the differences were evident. "The words are better," he notes. "If daytime suffers from one fault, it's the writing, because basically what you get are first drafts; you don't get finished product. It ain't Shakespeare, but some of the (Santa Barbara) scripts that I've read are so much better."

O'Hurley isn't the only daytime actor who caught a whiff of Santa Barbara's aroma and wanted more. Terry Lester used to sit in his Young and the Restless dressing room and watch Santa Barbara. "The writing," he agrees, "is some of the best you'll find anywhere on television. And that's what all actors are looking for. The dialogue is always much more in character than on other shows, where you tend to get a lot of characters sounding the same. Playing this role has allowed, called upon, and sometimes forced me to dig deep into my bag of tricks," Lester happily admits. "I've had to use everything I know about doing daytime television."

John Conboy, Santa Barbara's supervising executive producer, acknowledges that the writing gives the show's actors a big boost - but it's the show's rhythm that sets it apart as well. "Santa Barbara has more of an edge," he remarks. "I think the actors feel the movement and drive of the show. Also, they get - and please, God, let it continue - wonderful dialogue to say. And that's unusual, because when you're covering eighty-six pages a day, five days a week, you really have to keep that writing staff - and everyone else - honed to a fine edge so they keep creating that great stuff."

There must be more, though, that draws good actors to one of the lowest-rated shows in daytime. Insiders say that one of the most tantalising aspects of Santa Barbara is the noticeable absence of a rigid star system. Frank Runyeon, who plays Michael Donnelly and was a soap heartthrob as As the World Turns's Steve Andropoulos, elaborates. "There's an old-pro feeling to the cast and a very relaxed atmosphere. There isn't the petty competition that happens on so many shows, where there's a king, and then it keeps on going down. Here, it's more of a Swiss model : no kings, everybody just sort of working together in one democracy. Nobody lords it over anybody else."

And low ratings bring secret delights of their own, it seems. "When you are at the top," Runyeon notes, "people get extremely conservative. There's much more of a feeling that "We have to defend the fort." It becomes a command structure, whether it's by the writer or producer. It's well known from that it's not a cozy or democratic atmosphere. People tend to come here because, what do we have to lose ? Of all the hour shows, why shouldn't we take the risks ? It's much more playful. Low ratings give you that. And a lot of people want to come to this show to be among the group of actors who took Santa Barbara the bottom to the top. They've all said it to me." Perhaps, then, what makes this show so attractive to actors is the same ingredient that may be alienating the average soap viewer. Appearing on Santa Barbara, according to Runyeon, "is almost like doing a different genre. It's jazz versus Rodgers and Hammerstein. You get riffs instead of long, sustained melodies." Bridging the gap between these two points of view is presumably John Conboy's mission as supervising executive producer. But regardless of the ratings, it's clear that Santa Barbara helps its performers, and they, in turn, reinforce the shows positive image. "It's perceived in the industry as being a real class show," says Christopher Norris. "Being on Santa Barbara is almost like a coup."