Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara was never merely a soap opera. From the beautifully-acted, well-written stories, to the flawless lighting, make-up and set designs -- it was a show that raised the bar for daytime television to a standard that is rarely (if at all) equaled.

I'll always be thankful to QVC (the home-shopping television channel) for offering a payment plan that must have sounded good enough to my Mom to purchase our first VCR when I was about 13. Finally, I'd be able to TAPE Santa Barbara! As an only child with a busy and tired single Mom at home, the characters became my extended family -- their adventures and stories were my entertainment, my heartbreak . . . my inspiration.

It was the wonderful, exciting chemistry between A Martinez and Marcy Walker as Cruz and Eden that attracted me to the show. Much more that a super-couple -- Martinez and Walker chose to personally invest in the history and depth of their characters, which resulted in pure magic on-screen. My love and support for their extraordinary talents will always be strong.

I salute everyone that contributed (in a positive way) to that wonderful show.

Santa Barbara got me through a tough period in the late 1980s. For a while there it was the only thing i really looked forward to. Mason's rich sarcasm, Gina I's uncontrollable facial expressions, Gina II's bone structure, Eden's dreamy egotism, Kelly's bad luck, the coincidences, the overheard conversations, the misunderstandings that went on for weeks at a time, the laughter, the tears, the sorrow and the pity, the daily dose of hyperbole, hysteria and melodrama, the little bit of insanity in a sanitized world, that was Santa Barbara. It's been gone from our screens for years, in Australia at least, where i used to watch it. But it lives on in the backwaters of my mind, often resurfacing, at odd times, giving me solace in times of extreme absurdity. Thank you, Santa Barbara, I will never forget you.

I have good memories of this daytime serial, which debuted in Australia in 1987, when I was in high school. Even though the later years of the show were unwatchable, when the head writers in the early years were Bridget and Jerome Dobson, it was simply magical. I remember well the beautiful romances of Kelly and Joe (Robin Wright and Dane Witherspoon), the high-camp aristocratic antics of Augusta and Lionel (Louise Sorel and Nicolas Coster) and, and best of all, the heavenly romance between ex-nun Mary and the hard-bitten, cynical Mason (Harley Kozak and Lane Davies). This storyline in particular was brilliantly acted, movingly written, and thoroughly touching. Mason's transformation into a more sympathetic character through his love affair with Mary was wonderfully handled.

It is a shame that the programme is no longer on the air, but if it had firmer handling, it may have caught on and built a substantial audience. All it needed was more story consistency, and some more appealing love stories to hook the audience. SANTA BARBARA's penchant for the quick fix, and inability to give its actors stable storylines may have contributed to its undoing. Anyway, I hope that the show one day either turns up again on TV, if not in its full run, but even in 'best of' shows. I rate it as one of the best shows on TV, then, now, and everafter.

Usually, I don't like soap operas, and I rarely watch them. But I was impressed by how enormously popular it was in Russia. It is a real cult there, and a big percentage of people watched it and talked about it. So, I watched it, too, when I was in Petersburg for some weeks, and I would say it was worth it. The stories are quite complex, and most of the various threads of the action are very interesting.

It is interesting how popular such a series can become abroad. In Russia, it is certainly much better-known than in the US. When I was in Russia, some liked it and others disliked it, but I don't think there is anyone who does not know it or has no opinion about it - which is just the more remarkable because the series is so sophisticated that watching several pieces is necessary for fully understanding it.

Santa Barbara remains the highlight not just of daytime TV, but of American television. Never before or since has such a plethora of extraordinary actors appeared on a series: Dame Judith Anderson, Robin Wright, Marcy Walker, A Martinez, Sydney Penny, Eric Close, Robin Mattson, Ally Walker, Kim Zimmer, Joseph Bottoms, John O' Hurley, Judith McConnell, Lane Davies, Harley Jane Kozak, Justin Deas. But besides the acting, Santa Barbara featured superlative writing and direction. Never before had there been a daytime comedy. Nor has there since. Totally unique in daytime history, SB was beyond brilliant.