Carrier pigeons slaughtered and served as hors d’ oeuvres alongside an afternoon aperitif. A wicked step-mother strutting out the door naked as a Jaybird after reading her in-laws for filth. A former nun crushed to death by a falling hotel letter. A heroine impregnated with royal sperm while anesthetized at the dentist’s office.
Suffice it to say Santa Barbara was not your average soap opera. July 30th marked what would have been this magnificent serial’s 35th anniversary so Soap Hub invites you to revisit this absolutely one of a kind classic.
From its humble beginnings to its first troubled year and its final episode nearly a decade later, this is the story of Santa Barbara.
Airdates
July 30, 1984 – January 15, 1993
Master and Creator
Santa Barbara was created by Bridget and Jerome Dobson, a husband and wife writing team that had worked wonders at Guiding Light and As the World Turns, two ailing Proctor & Gamble soap operas.
In an ironic twist of fate, their new series occupied the same time-slot as Guiding Light and General Hospital (the ABC daytime sudsers created by Bridget’s parents).
Founding Families
The initial stories revolved around four intertwined families: the waring and WASPy Capwell and Lockridge clans, the working middle-class Perkins and the much poorer Andrades.
Introduction
The serial began with the release of inmate Joe Perkins, a Santa Barbara native who had spent the previous five years imprisoned for the murder of his would-be brother-in-law Channing Capwell, Jr. Newly freed, Joe has two items on his agenda — clear his name and win back the heart of his former fiancé Kelly.
Teething Trouble
Reaction to the new and very expensive series was largely negative. One reviewer even went as far as declaring Santa Barbara, “the worst program on television…maybe ever.” Leaping into the action the Dobson’s adopted two tried and true soap opera clichés guaranteed to intrigue new viewers: a natural disaster and a serial killer.
In short order, a massive earthquake …continue reading on the next page —>
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