Who's who : a guide to soap families
Soap Opera Digest, 1990	Home   Cette page en Français

As the saying goes, you can pick your friends but not your relatives. Family members are stuck with each other, whether they like it or not. But their distinct personalities often make for spicy clashes.

Taking a look at a core family from each soap, we find this to be very true. Some families, like the Capwells of Santa Barbara, have a black sheep and a candidate for sainthood. Others, like the Abbotts of The Young and the Restless, have a seemingly normal child (Ashley can always be counted on to give sound advice), as well as someone likely to worm her way back into the fold (Jill hasn't been a happy camper since John divorced her). And some, like the Buchanans of One Life to Live, have a moral relative (it's a miracle Bo turned out so well in that brood), in addition to a stubborn bull (a toss-up between Asa and his other son, Clint).

In this special section, we offer guides to these and other soap families. We've highlighted the most colorful members, and tell you what irks us about them, too. We're sure you'll agree - these families are nothing like the Brady Bunch of the Cleavers.

The Capwells, Santa Barbara

Family members : Patriarch C.C.; matriarch Sophia; their children, Eden and Kelly; C.C.'s sons Mason (by his first marriage to Pamela), and Greg (from his affair with Megan Richardson)

The Black Sheep : Mason. In his ongoing attempt to live up to C.C.'s expectations, Mason keeps falling short. If he would stop giving a damn about what his overbearing father thought, Mason would never have a reason to return to the bottle (he's recovering alcoholic) or turn into Sonny Sprocket (his split personality) again.

Candidate for sainthood : Eden. No matter what the trauma (being pushed into a tank full of sharks, going blind, becoming paralyzed, getting amnesia), Eden sails through with flying colors.

Family phantom : For all we know, Greg is one of those potted plants sitting in the Capwell atrium - that's how often we see him. And, now that we think about it, we never see Greg's wife, Emily, either. Maybe they're in the kitchen with Rosa, whipping up one of the culinary treats that C.C. is always raving about (Rosa's another one we never see anymore or maybe they're over in Europe with the never-mentioned Ted (another Capwell son).

We hate to be picky, but... Why is there still only one family in Santa Barbara ? The Capwells simply can't carry the entire show. If we've said it once, we‘ve said it a thousand times : Bring back the Lockridges !