Dateline Santa Barbara : Parting is such sweet sorrow

 By Rick Rose, Soap Opera Weekly, 1993

When Santa Barbara closes its final chapter Friday, January 15, the last entry in the history of the 8 and a half year-old soap will officially read : B.J. and Warren (Sydney Penny and Jack Wagner) decide to get away from Santa Barbara to focus on their writing. They head down the cost Laguna, where they check into a beautiful seaside resort hotel. While roaming around the hotel, B.J. is captivated by a beautiful antique dress that was worn by a former starlet. B.J. and Warren return to their rooms and resume their writing. When Warren suffers from writer's block, he goes out for a walk. He reappears with the dress and a proposal of marriage. B.J. accepts. The newly engaged couple call virtually everybody in Santa Barbara, who travel down for an impromptu wedding... and everybody lives happily even after !

While the story itself ends happily and without mass executions, taping the wedding on location was a less than blissful experience. The rigorous two-days shoot at Laguna Niguel's (California) Ritz Carlton, began Thursday, Dec, 10, at 4 a.m. and concluded the following afternoon at 5 p.m. Thursday's schedule included close-up and reaction shots for the wedding, which was being played as a beautiful day outdoors. The weather held on Thursday, but a cold front with gusts of wind moved in on Friday, creating problems with continuity. Forry Smith (Reese) explains, "The first day was sunny and calm; then on Friday came the wind and rain. I hadn't even walked B.J. down the aisle, nor had she and Warren said theirs vows. To match the shots from the previous day, we couldn't wear coats on-screen, so the wardrobe people would sprint in between takes with jackets and blankets. Whenever we had a chance, we would all rush into associate producer Eric Preven's room (which served as the production office) to get some heat. At one point Kim Zimmer (Jodie) noticed her hair. She blurted out to the crew, "You let me look like this ! I've got a major Mohawk going on ! How are you ever going to match up shots from yesterday with those of today ?"

During the taping of the reception, crew members ran around securing floral arrangements, topiaries and tablecloths, which were being buffeted by the wind. Several takes were needed to make key shots consistent. Additional interference came from the roar of fighter planes, which began circling overhead and hindered communication between director Rick Bennewitz and the cast.

As the first tape day drew to a close - 12 hours after it began - Jed Allan (C.C.) muses, "At one point I wished I was one of those planes flying over the area. I don't know how anyone can do those Alaskan shoots. This is my fifth or sixth remote on Santa Barbara, and don't be fooled - they are a lot of work. But it's been a fun day for us all to be together at one last remote. We've had the chance to play some wonderful scenes, Judith (McConnell) and I shared a lovely scene where C.C. and Sophia are united for a final time and affirm our love. I think we would have come together eventually, but maybe not this quickly. Judith has been great to work with, and hopefully she feels the same. We had a good seven years. And now Santa Barbara is history. The day after January 8 (the final tape day at the studio) I'm another person again."

McConnell agrees : "All the stories have been neatly resolved. As for me, I regret that the Ken / Andi / Sophia (Mark McCoy, Krista Tesreau) storyline was nipped in the bud. Just when I get into a good story, like when Eden (Marcy Walker) was trying to kill me last year, they're ended abruptly. First it was because of Marcy's exit from the show, now it's the cancellation," she smiles. "But I'm still honored to be back with Mr. Capwell."

McConnell describes the last days of Santa Barbara as a shock, she does not know what her next role will be. "I'm planning a break because nothing is happening : it's kind of a forced break," she says. McConnell, single mother of a 2-year-old adopted daughter, Gwendolyn, confesses, "I met a terrific guy down here in Laguna, and I'm looking forward to where that will lead us."

Many in the Santa Barbara cast extended the remote into a long weekend vacation. "It's such a perfect setting to be filming this remote and to spend a long weekend," says Janis Paige (Minx). "I'm not sure it was that great for other guests, though."

Robin Mattson (Gina) likes the fat that the episode was taped in two parts. "It was a little easier. If this really was the final episode, we'd be more emotional, more upset about doing it. I will miss everybody." Paige agrees : "I'm not looking forward to the last day at the studio" she says. "The party afterward will not make it easier. I'm looking around, and I've learned through all my years in this business that this whole gang will never be together in the same way ever again. Those special friendships you make and those special laughs you share will never be relived. It's like e final curtain on Broadway."

Like Bennewitz, who directed the first and the last episodes of Santa Barbara, Margarita Cordova (Rosa) is the only Santa Barbara cast member to appear in both those shows. A contract player for 3 and a half years, Cordova reminisces, "I feel like the anchor for the show. There were so many Hispanics who appeared on Santa Barbara and that is one of my greatest sadness with seeing it end. We never have to have an accent, dress down or act stupid. We could just be people. It makes me so sad that a show that has given Hispanics so many opportunities has to end. You can already feel the sadness. I don't even like to think about it. It's devastating that Rosa Andrade isn't any more, and there's no more Santana, Danny, Carmen, Rafe, Rafael, and no more Cruz. None of them were here to keep me company on the final episode, so it was a bit lonely."

Penny, a relative newcomer to Santa Barbara despite being featured prominently in the soap's final months admits, "I will be the first to say that goodbyes are difficult. I am not looking forward to saying mine. I will miss everyone." On a brighter note, Penny says she learned a valuable lesson doing the remote. "I know that this whole experience has persuaded me to postpone my own plans for a wedding for at least 10 years ! There's so much work that goes into one, whether it's real or imaginary. It was quite the experience - one I'll never forget."

What might have happened

Head writer Pam Long planned to end Santa Barbara on a comedic note, but executive producer Paul Rauch wanted something more dramatic. They compromised, and concocted a plot in which a crazed Andi (Krista Tesreau) turned up at B.J. and Warren's (Sydney Penny and Jack Wagner) wedding. She should have wave a rifle from a balcony during the ceremony, and shoot a few people. The victims would be undisclosed until the last episode aired January 15. "A "Who shot B.J. ?" ending was considered," says a source close to Long, "and Jodie (Kim Zimmer) topped of the list of potential casualties, but the network never went for the idea."

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