The soap star of television
By Alena Prime, Télé Star, 1990	Home   Cette page en Français

To start the writing of Santa Barbara, it was better not to be a beginner. Jerome and Bridget Dobson, the two creators of the show, were not at their beginnings, far from there. Bridget comes from a family of scenario writers, authors between others of one of the veterans among the daytime soaps : General Hospital. Started in 1963, it still exists. As of her teenage years, she took part in the development of scripts (In the United States, the soaps are written most of the time by very organized teams, which is only seldom the case in France.). So, when Bridget marries Jerome, him a scenario writer, they naturally begin to work together. They collaborate in all the popular shows of the moment, then end by thinking that they could finally create one.

Thats is when the network NBC, which appreciates their work, asked them an idea for the daytime. "We had had a particularly hard week, and we had decided to go to spend three days in Santa Barbara (a town located at 180 km in the north of Los Angeles), to rest a little, tells Bridget. Jerome did not have a precise idea. We were in a hotel room and our windows dominated the city. I remember to have approached to look in the street. "Here it is", I exclaimed. "What do you think a show where the action would occur in Santa Barbara, and which would oppose two powerful families ?""

Back in Los Angeles, the Dobsons work on an outline of story and imagine the main characters. Favorable reception of the network which orders twenty-six episodes with an option for five years in case of success. Innovation of Santa Barbara : NBC airs one hour episodes whereas all the other daytime soaps last only half an hour. At the end of July 1984, the fiction begins. "You should not be believe that the game was won, Bridget Dobson recalls. We were programmed at the same schedule as General Hospital and Guiding Light, two soaps which had a faithful public, one since 1963, the other since 1952 ! It is very difficult "to steal" the high ratings to soaps which last since a so long time."

Indeed, the first year of Santa Barbara is far from being a success. The authors are obliged to unceasingly invent new adventures to attract the public without much result. At the end of six months, the network decides, with the agreement of the authors, to imagine an earthquake which would make disappear the three quarters of the cast. This radical solution could make it possible to set out again on new bases. But, suddenly, the success is coming. The producers reconsider their decision and choose to make disappear only one of the actors. Since, they are most than that to have disppeared due to the scenario. At the origin, the Dobson husbands had created two families, the Capwells and the Lockridges. Today, the story was considerably centred on the Capwell clan.

Last July, the show celebrated its sixth anniversary. Since that, it has been repurchased by an important production society. The Dobsons are thus not part of it any more, but the story continues despite everything its own of way. Santa Barbara continues to be regularly nominated at the Emmy awards and has even won several awards. From the original cast remain only today Marcy Walker, A Martinez, Nancy Grahn, and Judith McConnell. Louise Sorel and Nicolas Coster had left the show; they made their appearance. Lane Davis and Todd McKee definitively left it (McKee, for The Bold and the Beautiful). Some characters have been suppressed; others saw their interpreter change several times. Kelly, in particular, took three different faces since the departure of Robin Wright. All these adventures do not disturb more than that the televiewers who make their favorite soap of it. In the United States, it is on the way to become number 1.