Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara became the longest-running television series in Russia, airing there continuously from 1992 to 2002, and it was the first American program to air in Russia and Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Stage legend and Oscar nominee Dame Judith Anderson headlined the original cast as Lockridge matriarch Minx, generating significant publicity for the series.

Deaf actress Phyllis Frelich played the character Sister Sarah for 31 episodes, a rarity for television roles at the time.

A young Leonardo DiCaprio received a Best Young Actor in a Daytime Series nomination at the 12th Youth in Film Awards in 1990 for playing a young Mason Capwell.

Robin Wright left her four-year run as the original Kelly Capwell in 1988 to focus on her film career following the success of The Princess Bride.

In October 1987, creators and executive producers Bridget and Jerome Dobson were locked out of the NBC studios after repeated attempts to fire head writer Anne Howard Bailey; they sued and were only allowed to return to the show in 1991, by which point ratings never recovered.

Louise Sorel, who played villainess Augusta Lockridge, was written out in 1991 because she did not want her character to have a romance with Dash Nichols, the man who had raped Augusta's sister Julia.

In a memorably offbeat 1986 episode, former nun Mary Duvall McCormick was killed when a giant neon letter 'C' (for 'Capwell') atop the Capwell Hotel toppled onto her; this death was later referenced in an episode of the animated series American Dad!.

Actor Leigh McCloskey said he was uncomfortable playing gynecologist Zack Kelton in a storyline where the character was revealed to be the rapist of a patient he had examined, feeling it played on women's real concerns about visiting gynecologists.

In Cameroon, where the show aired in both French and English from 1990 to 1993, a neighbourhood in the capital city was named after the series.

The show was known for its contemporary musical style, featuring original pop songs written specifically for each character couple rather than using stock music cues, starting with Peabo Bryson's 'If Ever You're in My Arms Again' as the love theme for Joe Perkins and Kelly Capwell from the very first episode.

The series finale in January 1993 ended with a roll call of cast and crew, followed by a final shot of executive producer Paul Rauch standing before the camera, smashing a cigar under his shoe, and walking away.