Dobsons come home to Santa Barbara
By Connie Passalacqua, Soap Opera Weekly, 1991	Home   Cette page en Français

In what only can be described as a stunning conclusion to a long-running real-life storyline, Bridget and Jerome Dobson, the creators, writers and original producers of NBC's Santa Barbara, have triumphantly returned to the show.

The Dobson shad been literally locked out of the studio in September 1988 by NBC and the show's co-owners, New World Productions, after they fired Anne Howard Bailey as head writer. The Dobsons sued New World for $120 million and arrived at an unspecified out-of-court settlement with them in November 1988. On December 5, the Dobsons settled with NBC (whom they had sued for $52 million), and they were reinstated.

Part of both settlement agreement sis that the Dobsons not disclose the financial awards, although an Santa Barbara insider does say, "They're in fat city."

"No one rolls over the Dobsons," says Bridget Dobson with her trademark panache. The Dobsons can't take back one of their original titles, Executive Producers, as that presently belongs to John Conboy (The Young and the Restless and Capitol). He joined the show last spring and is noted for his strong management style. "We've never been afraid of strength," say Jerry Dobson. "Strong people can result in strong drama. We don't have any monopoly in strong ideas and we need all the help we can get. In conversations we had with John, he's been very supportive. We think it'll make a strong team."

While the Dobsons were out of commission, Santa Barbara did win three consecutive Best Show Daytime Emmys. (Note : Bridget did personally accept the first Emmy statuette for the qualifying year 1987-1988 at the award ceremony in 1988. Also accepting the award at the ceremony was the show's subsequent producer Jill Farren Phelps.)

Yet, today, Santa Barbara's rating remain lackluster. Did the timing of the settlement have anything to do with the continued poor rating ?  "They needed us back," says Jerry. "This is a young show," notes Bridget (it made its debut July 30, 1984), "and it took a lot of years to establish itself before (what they consider to be) our audience went away. I don't know if they'll be as interested in watching again as if it had been a show that was on for 20 years."

Says Jerry, "I think we had a strong core of people who felt a little bit betrayed after we left. When we were writing the show, we knew, at least, the audience was fanatically loyal."

Under the Dobsons, Santa Barbara did indeed become both critical and cult hit. The characters they created sparkled with wit (Mason, now played by Gordon Thompson), sophistication (Lionel and Augusta, played by Nicolas Coster and Louise Sorel) and intelligence (Julia, played by Nancy Grahn).

The Dobsons say they didn't watch the show after they were locked out. "It was too painful to watch what was happening to the characters we love," says Jerry. "It's like watching your child be tortured," says Bridget. Since they say they haven't watched the show, the Dobsons insist they are not in position to say right now what they will do with specific characters. "We've just begun to watch tapes of the show. Our first priority is to write long-term storylines," says Jerry, who notes that their scripts won't air until, at least February. Bridget says she had occasionally been updated on what was happening during their absence by the show's actors who had become the couple's friends.

During what they call their "hiatus", the Dobsons spent most of their time conferring with their lawyers. "Our attorneys weren't as well versed in soap operas as we are," says Jerry. They also took several long trips, one to the Far East, and Bridget wrote two musicals, Jerry worked on screenplays. "We also has some rest," says Bridget, « and made some friends, who are not on the show, who became very dear to us. We wouldn't have had the opportunity to meet them otherwise, because we had always been so busy. We read books. And we talked to each other." The Dobsons also say all the pain caused by the experience had a positive end, it helped them to become even closer personally.

"The best humor in the world comes from pain," says Jerry, who promises that Santa Barbara will again have the wit and comedy it was once noted for. Certainly the Dobsons are all smiles after their twin David vs. Goliath victories with NBC and New World. "We've got a lot of work to do, don't we Bridgie ?," says Jerry exuberantly.