Santa Barbara, new daytime serial
By John Corry, The New York Times, 1984	Home   Cette page en Français

Santa Barbara has good trashy fun and Dame Judith Anderson, too. Let dramaturgists record that the first words by the distinguished actress on NBC's new daytime serial, which makes its debut at 3 p.m. on Channel 4 today, are : "Ambrose, why have we stopped ?" Then, on being told by Ambrose, her chauffeur, that some "news people" are blocking the road at the Capwell house, Dame Judith, tapping Ambrose lightly on the shoulder with a riding crop, says : "The Capwells are mad about the headlines. Ambrose, home."

Now either you like this kind of thing or you do not, but certainly any soap opera that can put Dame Judith in the back seat of a Rolls playing someone with a name like Minx Lockridge can't be all bad. For that matter, this viewer admired the names of all the women in Santa Barbara - Marisa, Jade, Santana, Rosa, Laken, Augusta and Kelly. Mostly they are rich, and mostly they have honey-blond hair.

Meanwhile, a good soap opera has plot, plot and more plot, and in this, Santa Barbara also shows promise. Joe Perkins (Dane Witherspoon), accused of killing a Capwell in 1979, is paroled from San Quentin in 1984, determined to clear his name. Perkins is distinctly working class. The Capwells wear black ties and long dresses even in the afternoon. Already there is a strong hint here of ideological/societal warfare. We are certain there will be bitterness along the blue collar versus country club divide.

Santa Barbara also has a mystery woman, employing strong-arm men to keep Joe Perkins out of town. We see her in a steamy bath, breaking her false fingernails in vexation when she hears he has been sprung. Perkins's old girlfriend, incidentally, is a Capwell, the sister of the man he supposedly killed. On the day Perkins is paroled ("This guy is different," the warden says. "There's just something about him."), C.C. Capwell (Peter Mark Richman) is giving her an engagement party.

"If you can show me you have the strength and the drive," C.C. says to his daughter's fiance at the party, "then you can be an important part of this." C.C. means the family business. Its nature is unidentified in the opening episode, but clearly it is a powerful dynastic enterprise.

Obviously, the dramatic possibilities here are endless. At the same time, even though the opening episode has one murder, one shotgun blast and one beating, Santa Barbara, as measured against other daytime soaps, has a distinctly conservative flavor. There are, as yet, no suggestions of incest, drugs, infidelity, alcoholism or much else in the way of prominent social pathologies. Even sex doesn't get much of a play. This viewer counted one soul kiss and not much else.

Thus, it is possible that Bridget and Jerome Dobson, who created, as they say in television, Santa Barbara, are a couple of old sentimentalists. It may also be that they did not want to offend the people who live in the real Santa Babara. Traditionally, it has been home to retired admirals and generals whiling away time in their gardens and on the beach.

The television Santa Barbara, meanwhile, is a little more small- town than the real Santa Barbara. This viewer doesn't believe for one moment that real Santa Barbarans would ever hold a demonstration at the bus depot, carrying signs and telling Joe Perkins to keep on going to Los Angeles.

On the other hand, the scene does have merit. When Joe looks up from the bus depot and sees a helicopter going by, he knows, just knows, that his old love is aboard and his eyes mist over. Up in the helicopter, his old love looks down, and her eyes mist over, too. This is pretty good stuff, and one wonders how Dame Judith, flicking her riding crop, is going to involve herself in what comes next. It is probable that any number of viewers will tune in tomorrow to find out.