Santa Barbara : NBC is hoping for a winner in this new daytime drama
By R.J. Johnson, 1984	Home   Cette page en Français

"Gloria Monty (Producer General Hospital) should buy stock in a sleeping pill company. She's going to need a lot of them. Hopefully, she will be losing some sleep at night" says Jerry Dobson with a grin. "And tell the people at the Guiding Light they should start losing a little sleep too !"

Just what is it that Guiding Light and General Hospital have to worry about ? They are both facing a strong, energetic, well-financed and dedicated competitor... NBC's new daytime drama, Santa Barbara. And they'd better stay on their toes ! "There is no show on the air that can't be beaten" says Jerry, co-creator of Santa Barbara along with his wife, Bridget. Jerry and Bridget Dobson are also the executive producers. "We fought hard to not be on the air opposite General Hospital, but given that we are, we are going to fight them tooth and nail", he adds.

Bridget has the highest regard for Gloria Monty. "She's a great talent and we are good friends. But I would also tell her to watch out !" says Bridget. "And don't get too confident, lady. I want to win." This friendly but healthy competitive attitude is shared by Jerry as well. "Those two other shows have gobbled up most of the available audience for that time slot. We will have to steal away their viewers. But we offer enough of an alternative to do that."

NBC has spared no expense to give Bridget and Jerry the edge they will obviously need. "We have the largest and most exciting studio with sets that are unequaled," says Bridget. "The network is totally behind us." In fact, NBC has invested $12 million into the biggest and newest videotape production facility in the US, designed specifically for a daytime drama. They have also invested in a complex audio system which will someday broadcast sound in stereo.

But it takes more than just expensive sets and equipment to succeed on daytime television. "Well, there are a thousand reasons why Santa Barbara is going to be more exciting to watch. The most modest reason I can think of is that it is better written. And the second most modest reason is that it is better produced", says Bridget, laughing at her playful immodesty. "But after that, I truly believe that we have a cast that is unequaled in daytime or nighttime television !"

Jerry agrees that the caliber of acting is second to none, especially for a new company of actors. And he adds, "Santa Barbara is another generation of soaps. There is a level of intensity, a look, a sense of humor and reality in emotion and stories that are not on General Hospital or The Guiding Light."

There is something else which makes Santa Barbara different from all other daytime drama, it will be the first show specifically located in California. "The real city of Santa Barbara has a special aura. It is the best, most beautiful place in California", says Bridget. "There are so many fantastic locations to use there. I hope in every episode there is some true feelings of this city."

Also, Bridget and Jerry have lived in Santa Barbara for eight years. They know the city and its interesting residents well. Their experience there obviously helped them in creating the show. "There are some eccentrics lurking about and they will be captured in our scripts. Of course our characters will be composites of people actually living in Santa Barbara. I don't want to get sued!" says Bridget. "But I'm afraid all my friends will recognize their illicit romances and know that I'm writing about them," she adds with a laugh.

To gain higher ratings, many daytime dramas are becoming sexier and turning to the bedroom to hold their audience. "Jerry and I happen to love the bedroom. It is very basic to our relationship, and it seems to spill over to our show," says Bridget. "Sometimes I see sex on television which I don't enjoy watching. The sex on Santa Barbara is not ugly sex. It is playful and delightful... and NBC watches us like a hawk !"

"In most relationships in the real world there is an undercurrent sexuality," says Jerry. "I think some shows miss this with certain characters.  They don't go for the sexual heat that exists. Most shows get too blatant about sex, a little too obvious. We play that sexual tension as very, very real... which makes it much sexier."

Bridget and Jerry first came up with the concept for Santa Barbara about two years ago. They were writing for As the World Turns at the time, but they knew they were retiring at the end of their contract. "Alle of the networks approached us after our contract expired," says Bridget. "We had a concept of all the families and characters defined, and we had a rough idea of the stories. They've been honed and changed a lot since them."

The show is made up of four core families. The Capwells, headed by C.C. Capwell, are the wealthiest and most aristocratic. The Lockridge family finds their immense fortune on the wane. Minx Lockridge (Dame Judith Anderson) is the feisty matriarch of this family. The Perkins family sees all the great wealth around them, but as a blue-collar family, they cannot afford the luxuries so many other residents seem to enjoy. And the four family is the Andrades, a closely-knit Mexican-American family, who believe in hard work and prayer, but they encounter many obstacles to success because of their position in society.

"Santa Barbara is the first daytime drama to feature a Mexican-American family. "You couldn't do a show set in Santa Barbara without a Mexican-American family", says Bridget. "They are an integral part of all the lives of people living there. I like it because the Mexican-American family has very strong moral values and strong family ties... girls are not supposed to wear short skirts and sex before marriage is a no-no."

Margarita Cordova portrays Rosa Andrade, the mother in this family. And she loves the idea of a Mexican-American family playing an important part in daytime television. "It opens all kinds of opportunities for Latin actors to get work. And they are staying away from the Mexican-American stereotypes.... Like the big, fat momma and daddy," she says. "I've met with Bridget and she assured me that they would do all they could to not make our family a cliché."

Other actors on Santa Barbara express a similar upbeat attitude about working on this show. Many viewers will recognize Lane Davies (formerly Dr. Evan Whyland on Days of Our Lives). He now plays Mason Capwell, the eldest son in this family. His character is a conniving, ambitious lawyer. "The money spent, care and underlying excitement will give this show a real brightness and life," says Lane. "We are putting in some awfully long hours and everyone is being very calm. In a situation where tempers normally would be flaring, very good feelings prevail."

Valorie Armstrong is known to daytime fans as Minna on One Life to Live. On Santa Barbara she portrays Marisa Perkins, a strong caring woman torn between the love for her son and her husband. "The newness is so exciting," she comments. "The building is so new that they don't even have numbers on the doors, yet ! You have to leave bread crumbs on the floor to find your way back to your dressing room," says Valorie, laughing.

Julie Ronnie is cast as 17-year-old Laken Lockridge. And though she is a newcomer to daytime television, her attitude best sums up the overall feeling of her fellow actors when she says, "there is truly a positive atmosphere here. It is so exciting for everybody! I believe that people are ready for something new !"

With all that Santa Barbara has going for it, is there anything the producers are afraid of ? "I'm terribly afraid of failure !" says Bridget. "We've not failed before, but there is always a first time, you know. But we will work until we drop before we fail. I know the competition is gunning for us, and you can bet there will be murder and rapes and big story climaxes on those shows as we premiere."

Besides just the producers' reputations at stake, there are other considerations as well. "You start with a few pieces of paper," says Bridget. "And all of sudden you have 150 people working for you, people whose lives and families are depending on this show being a success because they are working on the production."

Bridget may be concerned about the possibility of failing, but considering her family background, all indications are that she has a good chance of succeeding. For starters, her parents (Frank and Doris Hursley) created General Hospital. "I started out writing for my parents years ago, but I had to beg ma way in. They were afraid that they might have to fire me if I wasn't good enough... and how do you fire your own daughter ?" says Bridget. "Finally, they gave me one scene to write for General Hospital..., one scene grew into a script and one script grew into five scripts. Then I was writing five scripts a week for three years !"

Later, Bridget knew she had to move on. "I wanted to get away, to think about other characters. I also wanted to get out from under my parents and their very brilliant view of General Hospital," she says. Before she was able to convince her parents that she could write for them, Bridget attended Stanford University. It was there that she met her husband. "The most important thing that ever happened to me was meeting Bridget", says Jerry. This marriage created one of the most respected writing teams in television. Between them they have 27 years of experience that includes head writer assignments on General Hospital, Guiding Light and As The World Turns. They have been honored with several Emmy nominations and a writers Guild Award in 1979.

Being married to your writing partner means spending almost all of your time with each other. In some cases the stress of working and living together can hurt a marriage. But this is not the situation with Bridget and Jerry. "It's been great" says Bridget. "Any problems Jerry and I have are simply domestic. They are not professional problems. Oh, we argue but there is a mutual respect. We have fun." Bridget wants that seems of fun to also spill over into their show. "I guarantee that viewers will go away with a smile. Every day there will be a sprinkle of humor. Of course, drama and romance are the heart of any serial. However, some of our characters, are just that - character, full of fun and mischief !"

 Though the Capwells are the central family, does Bridget have any favorite characters on the show? "My favorites will probably evolve with the show. Right now, it would be hard to pinpoint. It'll take six months. You'll have to watch and see who is moving the stories." And those stories on Santa Barbara will not imitate the competition, especially if the competition goes into such areas as science-fiction. "No way !" says Bridget. "When you get real characters facing real problems with energy, then the screen explodes !"

Jerry agrees that they do not want to do stories which appear to be something out of The Twilight Zone or space-age stories. "The presence of our show is going to improve the quality of General Hospital and Guiding Light. They are going to find themselves having to do better shows, even if their ratings are initially better than ours," says Jerry. "As a result, the daytime audience are going to get some fabulous shows. It's going to be a dogfight !"

And what do the folks at General Hospital have to say about that ? "Let me tell you one thing; Gloria Monty thrives on competition", says Marlena Laird (Director, General Hospital). "She is at her absolute best with a challenge. And being a true competitor, she plays fair. Now all of us on General Hospital have a reason to work even harder !"

It is obvious that the producers and a cast of Santa Barbara are enthusiastic and dedicated to furnishing their viewers with one of the finest new shows ever to hit daytime television. "But the proof is in the product," admits Bridget. "We are all talking big nom. We'll have to see if it works." "We are going to have to be twice as good as the other shows if we expect viewers to leave them," says Jerry. And if their statements here are any indication of just how serious they are about furnishing quality episodes on Santa Barbara, they should give the competition a real run for its money. We wish them the best of luck and success.