Falcon Crest Praise and Criticisms

Some of the most unattractive actresses of all the prime time soaps. Except for Susan Sullivan and Ana Alicia.

Funny I had a dream about this show last night, the Lana Turner guest appearances. I guess if they couldn't get Angela to hire them for "Murder She Wrote", they could join Jane in the Tuscany Valley. Lana, Gina Lollobrigida and Kim Novak were the most successful, although I did enjoy Jane Greer too as Maggie's long lost mother with the gambling problem. A subtle wink at Jane's film noir credits. Eve Arden in her last acting appearance was very touching, especially since she was dealing with the loss of her beloved husband. None of the typical Eve wise-cracks, just a straight forward performance that showed that she could be good in dramatic parts and not the little bit of comedy relief when on the rare occasion movie producers cast her in a dramatic film.

R2 - I think Celeste Holm was also a guest star on Falcon Crest.

R1- I really like Nicollette Sheridan in Falcon Crest or was she in Knots Landing.?

She was in Knots Landing r3.

Celeste Holm played a crazy bitch with impeccable diction on FC. Her kids were played by Anne Archer and Jonathan Frakes.

I hated Ana Alicia.

Reagan's ex-wife looked like a witch or something.

Lorenzo was hot and that was it.

I did not last long with this show.

Falcon Crest was great campy fun, until the last season when it turned into something bizarre and unrecognizable (and neither suspenseful nor fun). I could never understand why they did that to the show. Also, the end-of-season cliffhangers in the penultimate season were never resolved...not a nice way to treat your audience. Finally, Cole....how dreamy was he? His jeans always fit just right.

Jane Wyman was a sexless actress. Always too prim and starchy onscreen. I loved ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS with Rock Hudson, but for the life of me could not see the two of them in love.

Jane was hilarious as Angela - down to her Nancy Reagan red suits. Jane's put down of Apollonia -'Babylonia' was a riot.

Loved Terry, Maggie's hooker sister, they would unusually give her zingers over Angie.

Helen Lawson has a guest role in season but was abruptly written out halfway through what was supposed to be a twelve episode story arc.

Rumour has it she and Jane didn’t get along. Jane apparently overheard her saying, ‘Gee, I’m gonna need something stronger than wine to get through a scene with this broad’.

I've been watching Season 4 on Amazon and that Nazi gold plot was a misstep. Boring and too long. Also, Kate Vernon was boring. But Seasons 5, 6 and 7 were great. I wish those were on Amazon.

I loved Chao Li.

Lorenzo was in a speedo a lot, right ?

Ronald Reagan pretty much allowed "mother" Nancy to run his life except on Friday nights when he would disappear into a locked room with a TV and watch "Dallas" followed by "Falcon Crest". It was the only time he could have away from the White House china thief during his time at the White House. Ironically, Jane went on sabbatical from the show around the same time Ronnie left Washington.

Things I remember about Falcon Crest (I watched it as a kid) ...

Melissa and Lorenzo Lamas were super hot. I think it was this show that made me realise that Italians were my type. Or, people trying to portray them (I just googled Melissa and she's Mexican-American). Although, the one Melissa married was hot too (Greg? he was blonde and I think Susan Sullivan's son?).

The series had Kim Novak, which was a huge get. And then they made all of the Vertigo references, which I loved. It was also set near San Francisco, which was a huge bonus (because I adored the city back in the 1980s).

I remember Lorraine being pregnant and miscarrying after she fell off the ladder (?) outside of a building.

I remember the plane crash. Now, THAT was a cliffhanger (although, it ended up that no one of any importance died).

I remember Anne Archer doing the show (pre-Fatal Attraction I think?).

One thing I never understood was the Richard Selby/Susan Sullivan/bomb cliffhanger. I didn't understand what the bomber did to the grandfather clock to make the house blow up. I had recorded it on videotape and watched it repeatedly. I mean, obviously, the bomb was planted in the clock. But, all I saw was the perp's gloved hand looking like it was stroking the pendulum and didn't get what it had to do with the bomb. Still don't lol. I remember the kiss between the characters of Richard and Susan though. That was Dramatic!

It was nice to see her years later in Dharma & Greg (also set in San Francisco!) and My Best Friend's Wedding.

I loved Cha Lee, the butler! In fact I would call my friend, Charlie "Cha lee" for years

There was a big guy who played someone's husband (near the end of the series) who was literally the worst actor on TV

The show had some of the worst character exits that I can remember. Nick and Ben Agreti just dissapear at the end of one season with no explanation the next season. Morgan Fairchild and Simon Mccorkindale we are told just decided to keep driving to wherever they were going and wouldn't be back. Kim Novaks character just sort of dropped out of the picture drip by drip.

Sorry, I really fucked up the names.

I wrote "Greg" but meant "Cole."

David Selby played "Richard" and Sullivan played "Maggie." Lamas played "Lance."

I always thought Chase was a sexy daddy.

Was Morgan Fairchild considered a "get" for the show? I know they loved getting all the old Hollywood stars, Cesar Romero included. I can see Joan Crawford having made an appearance if she had still be alive.

Frankly, I always thought it was trash. The only reason I'd watch for a while if I was flipping channels was to see Angela's car...the Mercedes 600 Pullman. A pretty fender always turns my head.

r18, Morgan and Simon didn't keep driving--they were killed by Jeff Wainwright when they stopped to investigate the prison vehicle overturned by the earthquake.

It was a waste getting rid of Simon, but I guess they decided Angie didn't need a full-time lawyer.

r15, Melissa's other husband was Cole Agretti (Billy Moses), Maggie and Chase's son. She did bang Simon's Greg Reardon character (come to think of it, didn't Melissa eventually hook up with every male at some point, save Chase?).

Cole Gioberti, not Agretti.

Thanks, r24. Eldermoment.

I hated Jane Wyman's Eva Gabor Collections wigs. Why didn't she wear her own hair?

[quote] I really like Nicollette Sheridan in Falcon Crest or was she in Knots Landing.?

She got an "introducing" credit for the TV soap Paper Dolls starring Morgan Fairchild.

[quote] Morgan and Simon didn't keep driving--they were killed by Jeff Wainwright when they stopped to investigate the prison vehicle overturned by the earthquake.

They were not killed. They were being held hostage. Their storyline was resolved with a single scene where Simon's character called Angela to quit his job and decided to leave with Morgan's character after they escaped Maggie's crazy stalker which all happened off camera.

[quote] Melissa's other husband was Cole Agretti (Billy Moses), Maggie and Chase's son. She did bang Simon's Greg Reardon character (come to think of it, didn't Melissa eventually hook up with every male at some point, save Chase?).

For a brief time Greg also fucked Pamela Lynch (Sarah Douglas), Richard's assistant. Later that season it resulted in the great line of hers: Compared to you I lie a lot.

Link leads to the, at least for me, iconic opening credits for Paper Dolls. God, I loved that show as a little gayling. I was gutted when I found out it got canceled.

Season Two closing one of the best cliffhangers of all time. Julia Cumson (Abby Dalton) may have had her issues, but nobody expected the basically sweet woman controlled by her mother to be a psychopathic killer. Lana Turner, so Norma Desmond like in her turban, conveniently enters, setting up Jane Wyman for the boardroom "thumbs down" as to whether or not Jacqueline will return and revealing in the first episode of season three who is in that coffin.

PAPER DOLLS had too many straight people in it to be believable.

Like THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL.

To many gays in the fashion industry for these shows to ignore them. Not even a token bisexual.

The funny thing was that they kind of redeemed Julia's character by saying "well, Jaqueline was deadly ill, so she would've died shortly anyway!".

Loved that scene where Emma meets her presumed dead sister at night behind some grape vines. Off topic: Margaret Ladd has brief cameo in a recent episode of At Home With Amy Sedaris, The Travel episode.

[quote] PAPER DOLLS had too many straight people in it to be believable.

Well, duh. It's from the 80s. Gays were still a taboo back then.

Jane Wyman killed a plot where Jane Badler's character was supposed to be a lesbian with her lesbian lover showing up later to take revenge.

Of course she did because she was the first Mrs. Reagan.

Revenge is always a dish best served up lez.

I went to the real Falcon Crest winery in 2018. Wine tasting while sitting at a table in the house! Then a tour of the premises. So awesome. I also went to the Dynasty house the same week. '80s forever!

R27 - Theresa "Terry" Farrell was also in Paper Dolls. Terry also played Jadzia Dax in the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

[quote] I remember the plane crash. Now, THAT was a cliffhanger (although, it ended up that no one of any importance died).

I think of all the weekly soaps FC ended up with the largest death toll. There is hardly a season cliff hanger where no-one died. Both Gioberti parents, Melissa, Terry, all three (!) of Emma's husbands/fiancés.

From what I read, Terry was not supposed to die in the earthquake. She was supposed to survive but leave Richard after six episodes into the new season. They couldn't get a contract for these six episodes, so Terry just got purged. I think Maggie mourned in one scene and then moved on.

[quote] I remember the plane crash. Now, THAT was a cliffhanger (although, it ended up that no one of any importance died).

IMO Michael Ranson (Cliff Robertson), Terri's husband, and Phillip (Mel Ferrer) were a pretty big deal on the show. Terri inherted his "fuck all" money and that scene of her with a sly smile on her lips while driving after the reading of the will was quite something.

Wow, r23, I don't remember it that way at all--I thought the sheriff notified Angela that they found them dead, and everyone in earshot expressed horror, and then they were forgotten about. Your way would be far better (they'd still have been available to come back).

Even worse, I can't find a damned thing about this online! Damn, Warner, for not releasing all seasons!

Billy Moses was way more attractive than Lorenzo Lamas.

Lorenzo Lamas was super attractive in the first couple of seasons, but that's when his character was also the least interesting.

Lorenzo was never a decent actor and was only eye candy

The earthquake scene is on YouTube and it’s hysterical. These people have presumably all lived in California for their entire lives and yet none of them appear to have any idea of what to do during an earthquake. Several of them seem to have no idea what’s even happening.

All I remember of Anne Archer were her lines in the final scene of a season finale-she said something to Angela like “I’ll make you suffer. Like you made us suffer.”

Thank you R43!

My favourite bits:

-"You should have consulted me first before hiring that sexy nanny."

-Emma: "We're all going to die!" LOL!

[quote] Melissa and Lorenzo Lamas were super hot. I think it was this show that made me realise that Italians were my type. Or, people trying to portray them (I just googled Melissa and she's Mexican-American).

So is Lorenzo Lamas. Apparently you have a thing for Mexican-Americans pretending to be Italian-Americans.

Was Maggie’s death the most gruesome thing on Prime Time television? I remember being absolutely horrified. If I recall correctly, they showed her struggling at the bottom of the pool the entire time until she just stopped moving. I couldn’t believe it.

Loved all but the last two seasons when new creative teams took over. Season 8 was all about the boring Mexican immigrant family and Season 9 took a totally different, dark direction. If you were a fan of the show, you might like this video that takes us inside the actual house in St. Helena, CA.

r47 It was abominable.

As big a fan as I was I can't remember all the different people who owned Falcon Crest or parts of it are various points. Billy Moses was in a Hallmark movie recently and looked pretty good. I loved when they brought back Melissa as her doppelganger. To be first season you can really tell how strung out on cocaine Lorenzo was and he admits it.

I wanted Chase Gioberti and Richard Channing to double penetrate me.

R47 Yeah, that was really obnoxious killing off a beloved character by having her giant diamond ring get stuck in the pool drain and she drowns in a gruesome way. It set the tone for that bizarre final season with pretty much all new characters, none of whom were interesting or likeable.

One of the things I remembered was it was some big deal when Lana Turner guest starred, but the tabloids were printing stories about some Jane Wyman/Lana Turner feud. Why were those two old bitches feuding?

I tuned out after the earthquake cliffhanger when Kim Novak took over the show. I thought it was ridiculous that she would play some low rent scam artist taking on the identity of a ship magnate's daughter and get away with it for so long while being chased by criminals. That role required someone much, much younger, more cunning and more perky. Mariska Hargitay should've played that one instead of the Sidney-esque character (from Melrose Place).

I liked the idea of introducing a family of immigrants into the show and potentially put the focus back on wine making and make stories about that rather than go with ANOTHER secret criminal organisation that needs to be taken down.

It should've ended before killing off Maggie. Hell, even before they killed off Melissa.

What ingredients or dynamics did it lack that meant it wasn't as successful as Dallas and Dynasty?

That's a good question, R55. I'll spitball.

I'd argue its success was "comparable" SOMEWHAT to Knot's Landing (not a great amount), both of which had 10:00 PM time-slots on Thursday (Knot's)/Friday (Falcon), where the more popular Dallas/Dynasty were 9:00 PM time-slots (for the most part). Knot's had the longevity of Dallas (13 seasons), where Falcon lasted 9 seasons (like Dynasty). Falcon was at or near the Top 10 for 4 seasons (so almost half its life), where Knot's was at/near Top 10 for two seasons. Granted, Knot's consistency was admirable and was more impressive than Falcon or Dallas/Dynasty.

Knot's was also more "relatable" to women. The regular characters were more suburban where on Dallas/Dynasty they were larger than life, and I'd argue Falcon to some extent as well (Angela and Richard for sure). But, if you look at the "big" characters, in Dynasty, there was Alexis and Crystal with the man Blake caught in the middle. With Dallas, you had J.R.--a man--leading the show. With Knot's, the cast was more of an ensemble led by women. Yet, with Falcon, the big character really was Angela and she had no man that was her "equal."

So, it may have to do with timeslots, as well as sex, and Angela not being "on the level" of J.R./Blake/Alexis/Crystal. I'm not sure. Just spitballing.

I left out that part of Falcon Crest's success was having Dallas as a lead-in.

Also, I'd wager oil was regarded as a "greater" industry than wine as far as power, etc.

Lance takes Chao Li's daughter out for a date; the show was set near San Francisco.

They come back to the house; Melissa's having dinner with Angela, Eric and Stavros...

Melissa's still pining for Lance.

Chao Li's daughter said: We went into the city for our date.

Melissa (looking right at Lance): "Oh? Chinatown?"

Falcon Crest was also the only one of the major weekly soaps featuring Latino characters and actors like Lorenzo Lamas. The closest Dallas came was hiring Barbara Carrera as a villain in one season (their "it was all a dream!" season).

I remember FRESNO - Carol Burnett's satire on FC. Gregory Harrison at his hottest, 'The Shirtless Stranger'.

[quite]I hated Ana Alicia.

I did too. She was annoying.

[quote]Falcon Crest was also the only one of the major weekly soaps featuring Latino characters and actors like Lorenzo Lamas.

LL is half white and looks completely white. Not exactly groundbreaking.

Great post r56 thanks for such a detailed reply.

In the UK Falcon Crest was aired in the afternoon so it was more a smaller cult viewership as opposed to primetime scheduling of Dallas and Dynasty here in the evening.

Hey, I drowned in a pool in my fucking wedding dress.

Knots was never a huge ratings juggernaut. It was solid (until right near the end), but I think it consistently lost to LA Law. In many ways, that freed up Knots to stick to its own vision most of the time (the Pat/Gary aborted story being one of the few times the showrunners were told to not do a story, and that one really screwed up the pacing of that season).

Dallas and Dynasty were both massive hits, and that put pressure on them to keep it up. For Dynasty, the class dynamics and dialogue of Season 1 were long gone, but it kept it pretty great right up until Moldavia (which was a disaster on many levels, not the least of which was only killing Ali MacGraw and Billy Campbell). For Dallas, the dream season was a real problem, because you saw the female characters have serious growth (Linda Gray and resident DL cunt Susan Howard had great dramatic arcs that season). Bringing Patrick back might have felt satisfying to a lot of people, but Pam suddenly became a cranky wife for that whole season, and you undid a lot of good story, with limited airtime then available to those characters with Patrick back.

Bringing it back to Falcon Crest: not being a massive hit, but not having the same cred as KL, allowed them to really do the humor as a way to differentiate. By season 4, the show had its identity (splashy guest stars, slightly OTT stories, humor). There was some move away from the vineyard with Richard's intrigues, but the Valley was always there. Even with turning Julia into a killer at the end of Season 2, she still existed as a full character for two more seasons (and arguably still should have been thereafter, before they wrote her off to the convent so randomly).

I'll ask another question: could any other show could have had Emma?

Better than Dynasty OP? Dynasty played the show completely for laughs . It was utter camp. When you have Cesar Romero, Jane Wyman and Lorenzo Lamas on the same show said camp factor should have been ratcheted up demonstrably.

The good thing is that this was the only Prime Time Soap that had the contrast rich/middle class families - The Channing's & Gioberti's

But the families were not fleshed out well - Angela only had two daughters - both crazy and no male son. They had to do revisionist history to make Richard the son of Angela. But that was going into season 8

But by that time the Gioberti family was history, and it just centered on the Channings. I had the same complaints with Dynasty as they too had to do revisionist history and create offspings of Alexis & Blake's out of thin air

Gary Jacobs created an excellent template on Dallas with the Ewings, The family dynamics were so strong, it lasted seven strong years.

Only quibble I had with Jacobs was making Ray the illegitimate child of Jock. They should've had Gary from the start be the foreman of the ranch.

That is Just my opinion.

Why is Susan Howard considered a cunt? Is it because of her fundamental Christianity?

I think that was the reason. And also for the fact she didn’t become the kind of star/leading lady she felt she deserved to be.

[quote] Why is Susan Howard considered a cunt? Is it because of her fundamental Christianity?

She kept her political views to herself - until 1985 season. At the time the writers were planning to have her character have an abortions, because child was going to have downs syndrome. Susan Howard pitched a fit behind the scenes and wouldn't have any of it. Being a Christian and pro-lifer she complained vigorously "Why can't we ever show the pro-life point of view" - So the writers compromised, they would have the character have a miscarriage

But then that was during the dream year, and her whole years work dealing with down syndrome kids, was trashed and the character was once again pregnant

I don't know if her conservatism led to her firing, but she was let-go as the writers felt a Ray/Jenna coupling would be better moving forward. But then budget cuts took hold and both characters were written out a year later.

What was ironic was that Susan Howard was a HARD-RIGHT Conservative. The character she was playing was a Democratic political strategist - so her character was also spouting off Liberal ideology - which was counter to her personal Conservative beliefs. But she is an actress and went with the flow

But she drew the line at the proposed abortion storyline, and that might have led to her downfall.

After "Dallas" she went off to be the co-host of the 700 Club, and whatever remaining cache she might of had in Hollywood casting circles, was now finished after she did that.

For his part Steve Kanaly was glad they broke up Ray & Donna - it has nothing to do with Susan Howard. He really liked her and to this day they remain good friends.

His complaint was that Ray & Donna were like one character - he had nothing to act with other than "Ray & Donna against the world" - and it was usually Donna doing something political and Ray being the supportive husband.

Kanaly said his favorite storyline (outside of anything to do with the late Jim Davis) was the Ray/Jenna love story. He felt finally got out of the shadow of being just Donna's husband.

And Lucy’s fuck buddy!

I also like FLAMINGO ROAD, but it barely lasted three years. It was worth it to see John Beck and Woody Brown.

I don't know what went down between TPTB on Dallas and Susan Howard but her final year they were giving her less and less to do. Some shows she only had 3 minute scene.

Her final scene on the show was in baby's nursery, where she is being told that the Justice department is going after the Ewings. After that we never saw her again, no wrap-up, no fond farewell, no good-bye. She just left the room never to be seen again

The next season it gets explained by Ray that he has talked to Donna and that their divorce has been finalized. And from that point on, we never hear from Donna again

And that has frustrated Susan Howard over the years, as she has felt there was no closure for her or the character.

I think they mentioned Donna a few times after that. I seem to remember someone (Ray? Miss Ellie?) talking to her on the phone. Of course, she wasn’t seen or heard. She married that senator (Andrew something), or it was implied that she did, or was going to. And I guess they raised her daughter Margaret.

Donna wasn't on the "new" Dallas (reboot). Wow, was that show a mess! 3 seasons. Final season was particularly odious.

The best theme for night soaps. Susan turning her head.

I didn’t think new Dallas was a mess, exactly. It certainly could’ve been better, and I thought Jesse Metcalfe was terribly miscast.

They had all the ingredients to make the new Dallas a smash like the old Dallas - but it was a complete mess

Didn't watch the reboot, but didn't if fall apart after Larry Hagman died? People basically tuned in to see J.R. and didn't care about the new additions.

Jesse Metcalfe was so miscast; the coloring was all wrong.

Did Cidre even know that the two -- John Ross and Christopher -- were biological cousins.

Judith Light was amazing in season three; it was erotic when her character Judith Ryland (?) taunted John Ross with going to prison and what would happen to him there; she took such delight in it.

Falcon Crest was a huge hit.

Lorenzo Lamas and Billy R Moses were fucking gorgeous.

“Chao-Li, get the car!”

[quote] Falcon Crest was a huge hit.

Because it followed Dallas

Both Jesse Metcalfe and the guy who played John Ross were also way too young looking for those adult chaacters-both were man-children. At least Billy Moses and Lorenzo Lamas were MEN.

The guy who played John Ross is allegedly family. Haven’t seen him much since Dallas was canceled. He has a bad nose job too.

You mean Josh Henderson? Didn't really get a gay vibe from him, but my gaydar is broken. He still mourns the cancellation of Dallas.

In a way Emma was an ideal character to write for. She had the vulnerability of a child, but she could also have a sex life. She was quick witted, eccentric, and throughout the show lived through a pretty wide range of emotions. I found it hilarious that she turned out to be the stronger and more stable daughter. Her zings at Angela were excellent. Emma was the only one who was never afraid of Angela. It must have been great fun to play that character.

Oh, r89?

[quote] could any other show could have had Emma?

Characters like Emma were what made FC great. I always loved how Emma would say to Angela "How's Trix, Mother?" Conservative old Angela acted sort of perturbed that Emma wasn't a proper lady, but liked her spunk and sass at the same time.

When Lorenzo started showing up on set strung out on cocaine in the first season Jane took him aside and berated him. She told him how ashamed his father the late Fernando Llamas would have been. That really hit him where it hurt.

R93 and he cleaned up his act after that

Another Lorenzo story. He was a teenager living with his father and his stepmother Esther Williams. She caught him masturbating in or around their pool at home in Hollywood. She was not happy. I would have been. Read this somewhere or it might have been from an interview he did.

These days it would've been revealed that Emma, as a kid, was molested by her uncle, Chase's dad. And Angela would be ashamed about it and keep her away from the public so the dirty family secret never comes out.

I adored all these shows and Falcon Crest was right at the top. David Selby and Lorenzo Lamas were so hot. Jane Wyman as Angela was hilarious.

The nighttime soaps - Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest, BH90210, Melrose Place, Models, Inc - were great. The only one I didn't like was Knot's Landing. I especially loved Central Park West, which you can see on Daily Motion.

What is their current equivalent?

Scandal (is that still on?) and How to Get Away With Murder (which is ending or has just ended) are probably the closest things now.

Don't forget about "new" Dynasty.

Lorenzo Lamas in black speedos!

there is no equivalent to them now.

it was a golden age never to be repeated

Maybe REVENGE on ABC came close; in fact, yes, I'd put Victoria Grayson up there with Angela, Alexis, JR and Abby.

JR belongs in his own category, actually.

Watch Dallas 2012, R102. I loved it and was so sorry it was cancelled after Larry Hagman died. Judith Light and Mitch Pileggi were great and so was Josh Henderson.

[quote] Don't forget about "new" Dynasty.

I actually try to do exactly that.

[quote]Maybe REVENGE on ABC came close

I'd say Melrose Place did, as it came about when the others had already exited or were on their way out.

Desperate Housewives (the first season in particular) put a new spin on things in maybe a "smaller" environment.

Revenge certainly came the closest to capturing the spirit of the formula. But, the formula had been played out and required being reinvented.

I don't think they could do a new FC but if they did there would the entire generation that were only babies and kids when the show ran with which to work. You would have Lance's daughter with PIllar and Maggie's two boys with Chase and Richard. Also Lance and Emma each were expecting another child when the show ended. And you of course would have Joseph. Oh and I forgot about Cole's child with Robin Agreti. Am I missing anyone?

There is nothing that comes close to Falcon Crest these days, because no show bothers with pulling that many old movie guest star stunts. Our TV culture is incredibly youth oriented. If you think about it that era ended with Aaron Spelling and the start of Darren Star's BH90210 / Melrose Place teen show popularity.

[quote] I don't think they could do a new FC but

actually a reboot is being developed - and David Selby & Billy Moses are attached

Aren’t the original actors who are still alive 100 years old? A remake would be more interesting. The show is almost forgotten anyway.

Was there ever any homosex on Falcon Crest?

[quote] actually a reboot is being developed - and David Selby & Billy Moses are attached

That would be awesome. But is that a serious effort?

I thought the reboot is an old story, around the time of the Dallas reboot taking off. Unless they've revived the concept. David Selby must be getting up there age-wise, I would guess he's pushing 80, if not well into the 80s.

[quote] David Selby must be getting up there age-wise, I would guess he's pushing 80, if not well into the 80s.

His character would be the "Angela Channing" of Falcon Crest

R113 I know, but do we really need to see a sad, elderly retread from the 80s? I mean, Larry Hagman died during the Dallas reboot. Maybe they should just let some things lie or just not include those old characters. Or if they only included his character intermittently, not as a main element of the series.

Selby is 79.

Here is what I learned from Dallas (2012): They planned the shoe around the young generation with the original stars being just decoration. Linda Gray - again - was relegated as a guest star at first. Then they noticed that the older cast were the real stars, the ones that people wanted to see. So they were utilized more. And then Hagman died. I thought that Josh Henderson received good enough stories in the third season to carry the show along with the young ones, but I think at that point, that wasn't what the audience wanted to see. (The show also had some huge mis-steps in all three seasons). So for FC that tells me: Either use Selby and Moses as the main characters with a strong supporting cast, or don't use them at all, and bring an entire new cast. Having former main characters but not utilizing them could be a big distraction.

I liked Josh Henderson as John Ross a lot. But the rest of the younger actors just paled in comparison to the likes of Gray, Duffy, and Hagman. Hagman was half dead and he still took over every scene he was in.

Henderson worked, as did the actress who played Rebecca, but the other younger actors were as dull as dishwater.

I couldn't stand the guy who played Christopher Ewing. He was always whining and crying.

Also, there were a few characters who would’ve been young adults that should’ve been utilized. Bobby and Jenna’s son Lucas being the main one.

Jesse Metcalfe as Christopher was more of a miscast than Lucille Ball as Mame. And he’s a terrible actor.

And yet Metcalfe moved on almost immediately to the Hallmark Show Chesapeak Shores as the male lead which has released its fourth season and will very likely be renewed. Allthough yeah, it's Hallmark.

Will "new" Falcon Crest be like "new" Dynasty?

The lady who played Emma aged terribly!

I never liked the actress who played Maggie. She always had a bitchface.

Melissa was one crazy cunt. Her fights with Angela were hilarious.

Ana Alicia would be great as an older, wiser, less trampy Melissa. Of course they would have to bring the character back from the dead. As much as I love Lorenzo Llamas the character of Lance is really nothing without Angela. So he would be useless even though as a daddy he still fills out a speedo quite well. Billy Moses could come back as Cole who returns from Australia at the request of his younger brother to help run FC. Cole could also have some regrets about ever leaving FC in the first place. Really they just need Melissa and Cole. Any old fans returning to the new show would have no problem acting like her death never happened. If they wanted an Angela in the making it could be Lance and Pillars daughter. She was the only female heir of Angela's. The male heirs/partners could always be plotting against her with various temporary alliances.

R124 Didn't Melissa die when FC burned down? Although that's never stopped them before when bringing back a dead character.

r124, I think Emma named her daughter Angela.

I forgot. Did we ever see Emma's baby? I thought Emma just left the show pregnant. What would Emma's daughter be like? How and where would she have been raised? Whatever the answer Emma's baby got screwed out of her share of FC. Lance's kids each got a quarter and Richards kids each got a quarter. Also Angela's son the priest Ken Olin also got screwed out of his share.

Cindy Cidre, the showrunner of the Dallas reboot, didn't even like Dallas. That's why by the third season, the series focused on non-Ewings, as well as on dark and violent plots. (Cidre would brag, "I used to write very, very violent movies for Michael Mann and other dark directors.") Christopher was killed off in the finale, so that would have meant one less Ewing had the series returned for another season.

I remember David Jacobs, who Cidre tried to cheat out of his rightful "created by" credit, said he would have made John Ross the good one and Christopher the bad one.

[quote] I remember David Jacobs, who Cidre tried to cheat out of his rightful "created by" credit, said he would have made John Ross the good one and Christopher the bad one.

That would make sense

So did Jesse Metcalfe want to quit Dallas or was he fired? Wow, kill off the Christopher character. Dumb. That third season was the worst thing ever, all that emphasis on Mexican drug cartels. The final scene of the series had John Ross on the phone saying he had located JR's daughter. I wonder who would have played her...and where had she been for the past 25 years!

JR can suck my strap on!!

Maggie didn't have two little boys; one was Chase and Maggie's; the other was Richard and Anne Archer's (I think the boys are cousins as Chase's dad and Richard's mother were brother and sister)

If there IS a Falcon Crest reboot coming, I'd resurrect Maggie faster than Susan Sullivan can turn and throw her hair.

Jesse Metcalfe has a history of quitting shows or not renewing his deals; he left Passions; he quit Desperate Housewives....they were probably going to recast him.

Christopher's car exploded in the final episide of new/bad Dallas. Would he have survived? Had miraculous and quick plastic surgery (like Steven Carrington)? New actor playing Christopher?

R132 he quit Passions, but leaving Desperate Housewives was not his choice. He was written out as there was nowhere to go with his story

Aren't there rumors that Metcalfe put out for Marc Cherry (yuck!) to get the role in Desperate Housewives?

Jesse should be in the new Falcon Crest as Cole's little brother.

R130, he was let go.

R133 Pam Ewing drove her Mercedes into a gas tanker truck, then came back as a scarred up different actress. That plot has been done before on Dallas.

[quote]Falcon Crest was great campy fun, until the last season when it turned into something bizarre and unrecognizable (and neither suspenseful nor fun). I could never understand why they did that to the show.

It started off on a bad note with Maggie's gruesome death, and then, Angela was suffocated by a pillow in the following episode. Worst of all, they fucked up the opening theme. I liked the addition of Gregory Harrison (just because I think he's a hot piece of ass), but what an awful final season.

It's funny that Dynasty was always the weakest creatively of the 80s primetime soaps, yet managed to have the strongest final season out of the four.

Dynasty One was never really able to get its mojo back after the Moldavia massacre. Plus Diahann Carroll’s character was misused-criminally. Supposedly she was going to be revealed as Kirby’s mother, but the Shapiros wussed out at the last minute. Then they brought the interestingly named but dull as dishwater Troy Beyer to play Carroll’s daughter.

It would have made a great IMITATION OF LIFE kind of storyline.

They hired Diahann and then thought about what they'd do with her after the fact.

That hardly EVER works out.

Dynasty and Falcon Crest had the same problem -both shows would hire old movie stars, or have a dramatic cliffhanger , without any real thought put into what to do with the character or the aftermath of the cliffhanger. That was the never the problem with Knots Landing , and it really wasn’t for Dallas with the big exceptions of Bobby’s death and the dream season/shower scene.

Bobby should have been kidnapped by Katherine and presumed dead after a car accident or something, it would have been a better story, especially if we saw the various Ewings running around trying to get him back.

Cidre would have brought him back; no Christopher meant fewer Bobby scenes.

They may have brought in Lucas Krebbs, Bobby's other son. And he could have been the resentful evil off-spring, like a Young Richard Channing.

About Cynthia Cidre, I remember she said that they had planned a CGI-created addition to the Southfork house after they had the fire. Such abomination.

What's the deal with Cynthia Cidre? She was part of that Don Johnson soap Oil that crashed and burned after one short season. She was a co-executive producer but left either before the pilot or sometime mid-season.

[quote] Cindy Cidre, the showrunner of the Dallas reboot, didn't even like Dallas.

That is something I don't understand. If you are going to the trouble of resurrecting a beloved show, why would you choose a person who didn't like or care about the original. One of the reasons that Star Trek TNG, probably the best tv sequel/continuation series ever, worked so well, was because it was filled with Trek fans behind the scenes.

The worse thing she did was to create this whole new Hispanic family on Southfork, that we were supposed to pretend had been there all along. When all she had to do was make them Raoul and/or Teresa's family, and fans might have cared. It would be like making an Asian family a central part of a Falcon Crest reboot, but having them not be connected to Chao-Li, but pretending they had been around during the original.

They turned the Ewing housekeeper Carmen into a treacherous cunt. That really pissed me off.

r145, my money is on TNT. They were happy to get a male oriented TV show for their male oriented channel. The show played in Texas, so they saw a chance to also serve the Hispanic demographic. Cidre coming from a no-soap background may support my assumptions. Generally, the channel and the studio take great influence in the development of a show, so I'm hesitant to blame just Cidre for the lackluster revival. I'd say somebody at TNT had a vision for the show and found a suitable executor in Cidre.

I doubt anyone put out for a part on DH; better to go commercial and not dip the pen in company ink.

Cherry was asked once in a press conference if story for John (Metcalf), a gardner, was wrapping up once his fling with Gaby was public; Cherry quipped that he could always have John go 'mow Felicity Huffman's lawn'

Has anyone watched the unaired first pilot of Falcon Crest? Different actors play Maggie and Chase, Angela has white hair, Julia is named Dorcas, and there is a Richard Channing (not David Selby) who is Angela's son. It's on dailymotion.com and titled "The Vintage Years".

[quote]Lorenzo was hot and that was it.

Looking at his Twitter, he’s a big Trumper. Big turnoff.

I don't blame Cidre for all the DALLAS inconsistencies. Jamey Giddens (ex-journalist who created AMBITIONS on OWN) said once if the GAME OF THRONE producers were going to walk and HBO hired people who said they didn't know the show at all, well, then that's on HBO.

I'm paraphrasing him. And he's right 100% of course.

If Cidre came in with a DALLAS pilot and said she wanted to revive it, if I were a TNT exec, I would have asked question 1: Do you know the show? And if not, how do you propose to satisfy the die hard fans?

If she didn't know the history, then they just should have changed the names and called it A Family in Texas or Capricorn Crude.

Capricorn Crude? LOL. Well done, Valene Ewing!

That was the publisher's idea!

I wanted A Family in Texas!

Did I ever say what the title of my movie, that had JR shaking in his boots, was?

r93 Is that the guy who was married to million dollar mermaid Esther Williams at one point?

That was such a dumb plot for Sue Ellen’s final season, r154. What should have happened is they brought Mandy Winget back, who tries to get JR (now married to Cally) back. Because Sue Ellen hated Mandy so much, she plays Henry Higgins to Cally’s Eliza Doolittle, making her into a proper Texas oil wife and stepmom to John.

The movie plot didn’t make sense, she didn’t get that much out of JR In the divorce.

R156 I thought the money came more from her business dealings like her lingerie business and weststar shares.

If JR, Angela, Alexis, Richard, Bobby , Greg, Blake and Abbey all were competing in a business deal who would win?

The Jeff Wainwright storyline on FALCON CREST was ridiculous.

Abby and Greg would have teamed up and destroyed the others

I loved Emma. She stole every scene she was in. And her interactions with Angela were priceless.

Was not Billy Moses in Mystic Pizza or am I getting him mixed up with some other actor?

Yes, Billy Boy was in Mystic Pizza.

Abby would have won. She would have used sex in a way Angela and Alexis could not have.

With that horse face? Doubtful.

With that horse face? Doubtful.

I love this question. I suspect Angela and Richard (and they would have teamed up if they were behind) would be much more competitive than Abby & Greg, mostly because Angela and Richard both hated losing so much. Abby and Greg both were capable of pivoting when they lost something, usually to salvage (sometimes to something better). Angela and Richard were both so ruthless about end goals. Mind you, each was capable of screwing the other over, but my gut here says Angela/Richard win, and possibly one dicks over the other.

Alexis and JR, Bobby and Blake, notsomuch. Fun, yes, but none were in the same business stratosphere as the FC and KL business foxes.

[quote] If JR, Angela, Alexis, Richard, Bobby , Greg, Blake and Abbey all were competing in a business deal who would win?

Who'd be their sidekick helping them to execute their schemes? None of them ever really pulled off a scheme on their own.

Abby didn't have a horseface.

One of the most memorable scenes in FC was when they were having a bachelor party for someone who was marrying Melissa. One of the guests comments to the groom "Hey. I'm the only one here who hasn't slept with your fiance!" I felt so bad for Melissa and she wasn't even there!

Abby had buck teeth.

There was a scene in a later season where Angela owned Melissa and humiliated her by releasing a song with an unflattering picture of Melissa on the cover and each release supposedly came with a free comb. That was pretty funny.

So what if Julia had buck teeth?! She was one of the best put wine in a beaker wear a lab coat and write things on a clipboard type wine scientist in the world.

Abby Dalton had a horseface on a par with Victoria Wyndham’s. Both attractive ladies but with horsefaces, nevertheless.

We interrupt this thread for a moment of 80's beauty.

Abby understood Gary's value: money and a huge dong. In that order.

Vicki Gioberti #1 vs. Vicki Gioberti #2. Discuss!

R177 I thought the Vicki dating the middle aged married guy storyline was interesting, kind of a comment on the dynamics of the Gioberti father-daughter relationship.

New Vicki was just kind of a brat. Jamie Rose was a better actress. I always felt like the writers never knew what to do with that character, she was sort of tangential to the wine business storylines.

If forced to adulate, Jamie Rose was a better actress than Dana Sparks, but her storylines sucked.

Dana Sparks was annoying as fuck, but she did fit the tapestry better at that time (her being sold into white slavery is unintentionally hysterical), and she had very 80s looks and clothes.

I wonder why Vicki #1 left. Vicki #2 married some hot guy on the show. Eric? How were they written off the show?

Eric was brainwashed and tried to kill Richard. Then his dad (Peter Stavros) picked him up and dragged him out of the country. While back in the US for a split second he asked Vicky to join him and help Eric to get better. And so she left.

I liked Dana Sparks, but her character was utterly botched. In her first season she started out as the heir presumptive of Angela. They had those really nice scenes between Angela and Vickie about family and the land. But then in the second half of that season, she just became that pain in the ass, partying with Eric for weeks. She pretty much was a character with zero redeeming qualities. In her second season she was off-screen for many episodes (possibly for budget reasons), so there wasn't really much opportunity to develop her character. By then, the season before Pilar came and Melissa died, FC was already a mess, imo.

I liked the Kim Novak season. The show got messy after that, right? Why? Many different writers? No more top-notch guest stars to hire?

Vickie number one fit the overall theme of the first few seasons. They moved from NYC. She was just out of high school and didn't want to live in the country. She wanted to have fun and be a "grown-up " Her bad decisions were understandable. Vicki number two just didn't get great writing. All her storylines with Eric were meh. She played best as an accessory to her parents. I thought they were both good actresses.

Maggie was (is) like only 17 years older than her son, Cole. It was so obvious. Should've stuck with the original Maggie, played by Samantha Eggar. Susan Sullivan should've stayed put on "It's a Living"!

Falcon Crest was pretty ahead of its time if you consider Angela wielded a huge power base that she didn't get via sexuality (see Alexis and Abby)

R158, easy.

Bobby would have won.

It all would have come down to who gets the tundra torque.

Pam would give it to Bobby.

And then Bobby would give it to Pam.

Pre-Falcon Crest, Dana played a model on Cover Up.

She and the other models got to hang out with Jon-Erik Hexum.

What a loss he was.

Dana Sparks was also a lead on PASSIONS.

Billy Moses had a nice role in the last season of HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER.

Tomato Soup Cake for the win.

Lorenzo Lamas was the only cast member to appear in every episode, Make of that what you will.

Is Lamas still a cokehead?

Vicky number one has her own acting school. Vicky number two sells real estate.

Eric died recently. Emma had the cheesiest boyfriends. How did the show explain why baby Richard was taken away from Angela? She was told the infant had died? Why would anyone do that to her? Lame.

r193, didn't they say that Jaqueline stole the baby for some reason and paid the doctor to say the baby was born dead?

But then who told Angela the truth some 50 years later? How was it proven? DNA test? I think that was FC's worst plot twist.

r195, Peter Stavros had PIs investigating Richard, Jacqueline, et al, for reasons unclear, and uncovered that Richard was the baby Angela believed had been born stillborn (which they gave us flashbacks to an old Jane Wyman film showing her being told about the baby's death).

I find it preposterous that she wouldn't have discovered Richard had the same birth date as her dead baby, but maybe they falsified his birth certificate data when they falsified Jacqueline as his mother.

I don't believe they ever formally proved it, though--does someone recall some pre-DNA scene that proved it?

(It also meant Richard banged his aunt when Gina Lollabrigida was in town)

I also read that Chase was supposed to return from the dead and that Angie Dickinson was going to play Angela's long-lost daughter. WTF? The show wanted to invent long-lost children like Dynasty did. Lame.

Chase was presumed drowned in the bay so his return was viable.

Maggie's would have been a stretch.

But I never cared for Chase; he could have given Mike Bauer lessons in being pompous.

I remember Chase's body "was never found". Even as a 13 year old watching that back in the day, I remember thinking YEAH, RIGHT!

Who impregnated Emma at the end of the show? She would have been so old by then. I mean, think of Julia being pregnant at that time. LOL.

[quote] Susan Sullivan should've stayed put on "It's a Living"!

she was fired from "It's a Living"!

Fired? Why?

[quote] Fired? Why?

Same reason 3 members of the facts of life were fired - they wanted reduce the show to a quartet

Should also be said Susan Sullivan was also fired from Falcon Crest (budget cuts) and Wendy Phillips was hired to be David Selby's new leading lady,

Have you watched the unaired pilot?

For the few of us who were around for the last season the guy who played Michael Sharpe's son was HAWT.

Angela's son on the unaired pilot was hot.

There was a discussion also to have it revealed that Angela was an ex-mistress of Jock Ewing's and to do a Dallas crossover.

R207 They should have done a Dallas crossover, where it is revealed Angela's father and Miss Ellie's mother, or vice versa, had an affair, and they have to determine if they are sisters. JR would manipulate the tests to try to get his hands on Falcon Crest. It would have made sense because one thing that Angela and Ellie shared was a devotion to the land.

They had a character named JULIA CUMSON? How could you watch it with a straight face.

And Lance Cumson. Cum, son. Good boy.

I don't know where the hell they came up with the last name Cumson. Everyone else had very nice sounding last names. I always wished that he would change his name to Gioberti or Channing. I liked the Richard is Angela's real son storyline. I thought they explained it well the Gina Lollabrigida affair aside. I also liked how even after the reveal they never called each other son or mother. They were still just Richard and Angela to eachother as coequals.

Wendy Phillips? Seriously? The chick from Wilson Phillips?

no NOT Chynna Phillips

Wendy Phillips. she is a well-regarded actress.

The Michael Sharpe year was a mess, and unpleasant, but he was so fucking hot. I almost didn't mind.

Cole and Vicki did not return for their mother's funeral? That is stone cold.

[quote] Morgan and Simon didn't keep driving--they were killed by Jeff Wainwright when they stopped to investigate the prison vehicle overturned by the earthquake. It was a waste getting rid of Simon, but I guess they decided Angie didn't need a full-time lawyer.

They did NOT get killed off - Angela received a letter from Greg (Simon's character) saying that he and Jordan had eloped and decided to make a fresh start somewhere else.

I just saw Marjoe Gortner on a "Barnaby Jones" rerun. He was also on FC but I don't remember him on that show. Was he one of Emma's cheesy boyfriends?

r217, I think he was Karlotti, some con she nearly married. I think it was the Kim Novak season (and the reason she was on the roof, suicidal, in the cliffhanger, which resulted in Chao Li's heart attack).

[quote] Everyone else had very nice sounding last names.

According to IMDB Trivia page of Falcon Crest:

The character of Dan Fixx was originally named Ben Quick, but Brett Cullen hated the name so much, he asked to change it.

What did Dan Fixx bring to the show? How was he written off? Dumb character.

Brett went on to play a patriarch of two hot sons and a hot adopted son who probably would have turned out to be his as the adopted one looked the most like him.

This was all on a UPN show titled Legacy.

It had Grayson McCouch and other hotties; set in turn of the century, it was like Bonanza meets Melrose Place.

No, silly, what about Brett on FC? Who was Dan Fixx? What were his storylines? How was he written off the show?

Stopped watching when they killed off Terry. She was fun.

Ben Quick was a character on "The Long Hot Summer"---long lost bastard son, I think.

But LANCE CUMSON? I guess the writers room had a sense of humor.

[quote]Who was Dan Fixx? What were his storylines? How was he written off the show?

He showed up in Tuscany Valley one day. Don't remember why, but it was Angela who asked him to stay. I think it was alluded to Angela owing the mother, so taking care of Dan was paying back a debt. She wanted to mentor him, and of course fucked it up. He didn't want a mentor, preferred staying independent. Later that season it was uncovered that he had been in prison even though he was not guilty. (figuring this all out was one of Chase's last good deeds) Eventually he left the valley to take care of his ex wife who just had woken up out of a coma.

Never really connected to the character. He was a token lover to all the women and the token dude-friend, dialogue sparring partner for the male characters. Lots of viewers found him hot, but he just wasn't my type.

He was supposed to be the new Cole Gioberti (William R. Moses) who left.

Brett Cullen sister was played by none other than Mariska Hargitay who made her TV debut on Falcon Crest

Interesting Brett Cullen has never appeared on SVU

Are you insinuating something, R227?

I didn't understand the Dan Fixx character, nor Angela's great affinity for him (at the expense of her relationship with Lance). He was cute in a blond, trying-to-fill-Billy's shoes way, but it didn't work for me.

Mariska as Carly Fixx was messy. She was raw. Beautiful and there was promise there, but I can only wonder if the character would have become a resident spitfire if Mariska had previous experience (like 6 months on a soap to learn more craft).

Dan was a good character. Not as hot as Lance and Cole but at any given time on the show they needed a minimum number of men on the show who could fist fight . They also had to keep bringing in new young studs since Melissa went through men so fast. Someone please answer this for me. Did Lance with all his karate ever win a single fist fight against Cole or Chase. I don't think so. Why was this?

r230, I think the show was implying that Lance never followed through on anything (until later seasons). Chao Li always seemed slightly exasperated with him. The gist would be that the blond fist fighters were scrappier and fought "with heart" while Lance was half-hearted and disinterested in putting himself into all.

That's a really good analysis. Lance was shallow and didn't really stand for anything in those seasons. Chase and Cole were "the good guys" in the white hats.

DORCAS CUMSON would have been even funnier than JULIA CUMSON and at least as funny as LANCE CUMSON.

i think FC and KL have the best cliffhangers.

Abby Dalton as Dorcas. Hilarious. What an awful name. Thank goodness the show changed the character's name to Julia.

Who was Emma's baby daddy?

I had heard they were trying to get Laura Johnson back for the last season as Terry; she'd have been miraculously brought back to life.

that didn't work out so we got Genele (Andrea Thompson) instead.

Most everyone I know hated the last season of FC; I didn't hate the new theme; it was almost like saying, 'hey; we're still here.'

Michael Sharp's son, who was really Richard's? I forget - he was a cutie.

I give Angela's speech an A+

I would have done something to bring Maggie back. It would have been cheesy. but her death ruined the show for me.

So Terry would've faked her death from the earthquake? LMAO!

[quote] I didn't hate the new theme

I hated it. They took one of the best and most beautiful theme songs in the history of TV and butchered it. Also, having Michael Sharpe getting the car window shot in the opening was sickening, that was Angela's thing, and she was and always will be the STAR of Falcon Crest.

I did the Maggie turn-around from the opening credits in front of the mirror for weeks as a kid. Why, yes, I am gay. How did you know?

Not full-on topic (Falcon Crest) but this page about title cards from a variety of TV soaps is interesting and hilarious.

[quote] The opening credits for Bare Essence are a hoot. There's two face slaps before the title card even appears. Ava's title card is my favourite and makes me long for the day that the show will finally show up online or on DVD (wishful thinking I know) so I can finally watch it in it's entirety. Here Jessica Walter combines funeral chic, turban chic and cigarette chic like only the best soap bitches can.

R238, I think Richard was going to wake up and walk into the bathroom and there's Terry taking a shower.

R239, the last season of FC was like the first season of the DALLAS revival; totally different. I took it as a whole new show so the new theme didn't piss me off.

I was surprised they got rid of something so iconic.

But this was the show that threw away Cole, Melissa and Maggie. So dumb.

The brought back Ana Alicia as some Melissa look-a-like. I don't think FC ever pulled the long-lost identical twin stunt which could've been the thing they could've used for Laura Johnson.

[quote] I don't think FC ever pulled the long-lost identical twin stunt which could've been the thing they could've used for Laura Johnson.

With the tagline: ... and Terry was the nice one!

R240 to this day, I feel like Angela Channing whenever I roll down my car window.

I heard that Terry rumor too and it Terry had brain damage from the beam hitting her. Richard went to tell Maggie - who assumed Terry was dead from Richard's face before he actually told her. Richard wanted control of Terry's finances. assuming he would have been her heir. Turned out she left it all to Maggie and he left her in an institution because she would never recover from the brain damage.

That bland easy listening theme from the final season, or seasons, was atrocious. The show utterly failed to re-invent itself and appeal to a younger demographic, which I presume was what they were going for.

Lance Cumson was probably the most useless character ever. The only time he got interesting was when he fell in love with Richard's daughter Lorraine Prescott, played by Kate Vernon, and they did the whole Romeo and Juliet drama with him standing up to Angela and Lorraine dying when she tried to leave the country with Lance who was framed for a murder, he didn't do, or something like that.

Lamas is a horrible actor.

I admired/respected the last season's producer's guts to go with a completely new show. It really felt like a spin-off. And considering that the major stars of the show would no longer be available, what would you have done. The penultimate season, run by a soap producer, was considered a major failure already, and now Wyman and Sullivan were both gone. It was like: You have no chance, so take it.

Having said that, the last season started truly atrociously. Killing Maggie, especially this way, was a slap in the face. Michael Sharpe had no relations to wine. Genele Erickson was totally out of place, especially being the retconn'ed backstory of Frank Agretti. For all of this: Just no.

I do believe the show tried to backtrack in its last ten episodes though. They changed the title cards one last time. Genele redeemed herself and became human. They added back the soap elements, like the love story Richard/Lauren which I thought worked very well. I thought Lauren was distinctive enough from Maggie. They also added the my son/your son story without resolving it in a soap way. So some things were done right in the last season, at least at the very end.

The murder mystery episode is still one of my favorites.

I've never gotten over the fact that they did not resolve one season's cliffhangers (I think it was the penultimate season). That's thumbing your nose at the audience. Whoever did the casting of young men had great taste: Cole and Lance were both hot, as was Dan Fixx. Even one of Emma's boyfriends was hot. Among the older set, Lance's father was hot, as was Chase (go, daddy).

R251, which cliffhanger was unresolved?

R249 I think I remember them trying to introduce quasi-supernatural elements into the plot in Season 9, like Richard having a psychic episode when Maggie died or Genele being a witch. They probably should have just continued with that format, it probably would've been more interesting. Except then they tried to backtrack at the end of the season but the damage was already done. Like having Genele be a crazy bitch who murdered her sister, kept the bones in a safety deposit box, and set Frank up for her murder, but then at the end she was somehow a good character? Kind of the same thing with Michael Sharpe, he was a murderous bastard in the beginning of the season but then they try and humanize him at the end. It really was all over the place at that point and needed cancellation.

r253, David Selby played a villain who dabbled in black magic in Flamingo Road. Not to mention he was in Dark Shadows.

I wished they had give FLAMINGO ROAD another chance. It was like the writers gave up after the second season.

Holy cow! I forgot Danny ended up being Richard's son. I need to add that to my Channing family tree on ancestry.com. Saw Dan Fixx in a small role on Narcos the other night. What are the unresolved issues people keep talking about in the second to last season cliffhangers? I had to look up penultimate.

I think one unresolved topic is Nick Aggretti and his son. What happened to them? The son's mother had died of assisted suicide, I think. And Nick had to answer what had happened to all the meds/narcotics. And then the next episode, they were not heard or seen of again.

Nick Aggretti and his son Ben where hottie David Beecroft and Brandon Douglas

it was annoying to seeing that dropped

Angie's final speech was great; I would have brought back Maggie, Cole and Melissa for finale somehow

I have a recollection of Pilar and Lance at a lake and Pilar going under, which was not never explicitly resolved. But it could be my faulty memory.

I think the lake scene was Tommy (?), the Hispanic son who was in love with Maggie. It was insinuated that he drowned his annoying girlfriend. And the next season, Pilar's entire family was gone, including everybody's memory of them.

Simon McCorkindale did it for me. His British accent rendered him asexual, but he had a great body, as did most of the males on the show -- who was the casting director?

[quote] His British accent rendered him asexual

Why? A posh British accent makes me automatically horny.

A working class cockney accent makes me even more horny. Those guys tend to have beer can thick cocks.

This was a show full of Republicans. No thanks.

Just think, Jane Wyman could been First Lady.

R265 What would Ronald Reagan's first wife have thought of Melania's titty and lezzie photoshoots?

Jane Baby would have rolled her eyes at Melanoma, just like she did at Appolonia.

And then she would have returned to the business at hand.

a great crossover with Dallas and Falcon Crest would have been JR thinking there was oil on Falcon Crest land; he tries to buy; He Angie double double cross one another (both would have to win to make it all work).

Other pairings: Lucy uses Lance to make Mitch Jealous; Chase's kindness shows Sue Ellen there are options out there; Terry and JR hit the sheets; Pam rebuffs Richard's advances. Maggie and Ray (Another World!); Melissa and Cliff put some deal together; Emma falls in love with Bobby. and, of course, Raul and Teresa finally get some lines in a scene with Chao Li!

Jane Wyman and her withered hatchet face were no draw, for me. So I never saw it.

Jane was doing Nancy Reagan on FC. Fun fact: Patti Davis was considered for a role on FC as Lance's latest conquest and whether Jane - or Nancy- put the kibosh on it, It might have been Terry she was considered for. Sela Ward got the part, then chose to decline it to take a larger role on the doomed Emerald Point, NAS.

Jane could have been the first First Lady with an Oscar!

Nick and Frank Agreti were good characters. It was a good idea to bring them in to let the Agreti name live on. What they eventually did to them was a disservice. Ben Agreti was annoying and not good looking enough.

Carlo Agretti was murdered in season 2. Where were all these other Agrettis then and why the F did they show 6 seasons later?

Frank had a fall out with the family, so he was never spoken off. Nick blamed him for not being available for him either. But there was also Robin Agretti, the little tramp who eventually getting Cole's baby. Her father's name was "Phil". Melissa called him Uncle Phil", so he may have been another brother.

Oh yeah, that Robin surrogette mother storyline was terrible.

I ADORE Bill Conti's work, & not every theme can be the best, but the "Falcon Crest" theme always sounded like it was trying too hard to be rich, grand, & sweeping. Even in the 1980s era of excess, Conti's music for "Falcon Crest" was simultaneously too much, and not enough.

One reason the revised theme in the last season didn't bother me, in addition to the reasons R277 posted, is the show wasn't grand enough to carry that kind of theme anymore.

No Maggie. No Chase. No Cole. No Melissa. No Terry. No. Greg. Very little Emma or Chao Li. (was he on the full season?)

It was like a whittled down version of the show's original group. And deserved a milder version of its grand opening theme.

What kids were on the show that could fill out a revival?

Richard's three sons, two of whom are biological.

Lance and Pilar's daughter (son?)

Emma had a child?

Joseph (Cole and Melissa's kid).

Selby is, I think 80, but could maybe do a few shows.

I'd revive Melissa and play her Cole and Lance.

And SOMEHOW bring back Maggie, too, and reunite her and Richard.

I really give credit to Dynasty for doing that reunion movie with a happy ending.

Season 9 was "Falcon Crest: The New Generation" but it sucked.

How about a Falcon Crest and Knots Landing mash-up? Northern *and* southern California!

Jane, so sexless.

Sexless Jane, yet she got Rock in two 1950s films...and married twice on FC! Married Phillip and Peter!

Yes, because they were real life romances, sure...🙄

Some of Wyman's wigs looked like they were from her old movies.

Some of the wigs were from the Marx Brothers.

One of my favorite episodes is when there was a flood and all the major characters at the time got stuck at FC and had to stay the night. Then they all had to help sandbag the winery to protect it.

That's one of the best episodes ever, R287.

I know the Spring Mountain winery is in St. Helena in the Napa Valley but does anybody know where Chase and Maggie's house is located?

Stags' Leap Winery R298 , also in Napa.

I LOVED the Gioberti castle home, until they stupidly decided to blow it up in one of the later seasons.

I'm with you, r291, little gay me always considered that house the perfect home. I still think that house would be my ideal home for retirement.

R292 I always loved the big porches and use of the outdoors on Falcon Crest. Dallas had that too with the pool, except someone always got pushed into it. ;)

Billy Moses had such a great fucking ass. I recently bought the box set of the Perry Mason TV movies, and I was excited when Billy replaced William Katt in them.

In his first appearance ("The Case of the Lethal Lesson"), there is a scene in which Billy is just wearing a pair of thin white athletic pants, and his ass is just...stupendous.

I'm sure it made poor Raymond Burr have palpitations.

Thank you, R294. I had forgotten how wonderful Billy Moses' ass was. Gotta go back and re-watch FC.

FC really made good use of location shooting.

Tuscany Valley must have been closer to SF than real-life Napa as everybody was just going in and out of San Francisco all the time when it's actually a two hour drive.

r297, it's not like they drove on their own.

I think they mentioned several times that it took them 45 mins to get to and from San Francisco.

I loved Chao Li.

Anyone know where the exterior was shot for The New Globe? As the show progressed we learned that Angela not only ran the Tuscany Valley but San Francisco as well and the entire state of California!

Jane Wyman was such a turn off for me in this series. I loved David Selby from Dark Shadows but when they started going all supernatural I couldn’t watch anymore.

My fave night time soap is Paper Dolls or Flamingo Road. Both should have been given more time.

I loved Jane Wyman in Falcon Crest. Not just the character, but also her acting. So precise and nuanced - in every scene.

Sarah Douglas (Ursa from Superman) recently did a Q & A about her time as Pamela Lynch on Falcon Crest.

Who replaced Sarah Douglas when she left FC? Was it with an American actress?

Nobody replaced Sarah.

Martine Beswick played Pamela Lynch for one episode.

What about Ken Olin on the show? How/why did he leave the show? That season is/was a blur to me.

Ken Olin's priest character sort of played itself out. He left to do missionary work somewhere. This reminds me. I love the episodes where Melissa kept running to Father Bob for help and at one point he tells her it's her own fault for being a whore! Father Bob was a real priest!

I loved it when Melissa said to Lance, after he took Chao Li's daughter on a date, into the city: "Oh? Chinatown?"

I agree about Angie; Wyman played every scene like Angie was CONSTIPATED.

Imagine her and Jason Cobly trying to iron out a business deal?

Jason: "You MUST let me drill for oil on Falcon Crest!!"

Angela: "I will NOT let you drill for oil on Falcon Crest! Over my dead body!"

I would like to have seen Lance lance Cole

I used to get William Moses and Dean Butler(Almanzo on Little House) mixed up. Did they ever appear in anything together?

There are only two films that I can tolerate Wyman in; JOHNNY BELINDA and ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS. She was a capable actress, as the first film proves. But Rock Hudson was the best thing about ATHA.

Even in 'softer' moments with Phillip and Stavros, Angie never seemed warm.

No wonder Julia went off the deep end.

My favorite characters were Terry, Maggie, Cole, Richard, and Melissa and Laurel, actually, and I suppose Angie, Chao-Li, too. Neither Vicky did it for me. Chase could give Mike Bauer a run for most Pompous Soap Character. Lance was okay.

It's funny; did the show ever have a huge memorable storyline like Val's twins being stolen or Who Shot JR or the fight for Ewing Oil?

Jane Elliott was born to play Angela Channing in a Falcon Crest reboot.

[quote] Did the show ever have a huge memorable story line like Val's twins being stolen or Who Shot JR or the fight for Ewing Oil?

That would probably be the search for Carlo Aggretti's killer. I would extend this story line to Julia in prison, on the run and ultimately 'dying' in the fire. That was FC at its best.

I wish they'd put more seasons on Amazon. Season 4 is a rather slow, dull season and I know there was better stuff ahead.

I want the seasons when Melissa goes crazy, Emma tries to jump off the roof, Kim Novak appears, etc.

Was there a political subtext with the Channings and Giobertis?

Angela Channing was a conservative Republican and had two daughters with issues--Julia, the alcoholic murderess and Emma, the one with emotional trauma. And a lazy, spoiled grandson Lance.

Chase and Maggie were more liberal Democrats and their children were more well adjusted, hard working, and normal (at least in the early seasons)

Was this some sort of subversive commentary on Reagan conservatism and family values? Or am I reading too much into it? Jane Wyman was married to Reagan after all.

Jane Wyman was a Republican and a Catholic but probably not as crazy as the kind we have nowadays.

I gotta know more about the Melissa lookalike. Who the F was she? Knots Landing did the same thing with Ciji/Cathy. Dallas SHOULD have done the same thing and given (dead) Bobby a lookalike instead of giving us "Pam's dream" (season 9).

"Ken Olin's priest character sort of played itself out."

R309- The same Ken Olin from "30 Something"?

The one and the same.

Melissa's double was named Samantha Ross. She was brought on to fuck with Angela's head to make her think Melissa was still alive. She was eventually revealed and it looked like she and Lance may have a thing but she was dropped for the final season like every story was except for Richard going to jail.

ABC is planning to reboot "Thirty Something" with the original cast.

I guess the "Thirty Something" will be the kids of the original characters.

I read somewhere that toward the end of the series, they would fit a rod down Wyman's back to allow her to stand up straight.

I remember seeing it my parent’s house sometimes — my mother watched it. I seem to recall Jane Wyman’s character waiting at church for a wedding to take place, and snapping, “I should have brought a book!” Then a scuffle broke out, maybe between Mariska Hargitay’s and Ana Alicia’s characters, if memory serves?

Speaking of Hargitay, I remember an interview where she talked about how she got on the show: she’d auditioned for the part ultimately played by Tahnee Welch. The producers thought she was a little young for the Welch character, but created the role of Dan’s sister with her in mind.

R327, yes. That was the botched wedding ceremony for Richard and Maggie. They married an episode later. The fight between Melissa and Carly was hilarious as it was going on while they were trying to have the vows said.

I never liked Maggie and Richard as a couple. I loved them being platonic friends, but once they married you already knew he would screw it up. So the failing was way too obvious to be interesting. I would have preferred Maggie staying single for a while, continue Chase's winery and fight Angela and Richard on every corner. And that alcoholism story line... so out of character.

I liked the alcoholism story with Maggie, It was brief but fairly gritty and having an alcoholic in wine country was interesting.

Did anyone ever drink a beer on this show???

Even though it was speculated Susan Sullivan and Robert Foxworth didn't get along, I always bought Chase and Maggie as THE couple.

I thought so, too. They certainly had lots of good chemistry - in an admittedly very asexual way, imo. To me they were like your parents who you could never imagine having sex ever.

When the show ended, were all the storylines wrapped up?

If I remember correctly Susan suggested the idea of alcoholism to those in charge and they agreed. The storyline lasted just three or four episodes and made very little sense since it was never mentioned again. But she got what she wanted.

R334, if I remember correctly yes. They had unresolved stories from season 8. But the series ending was planned ahead and ended the show in a dignified way. I think Angela coming back from the dead and cleaning house satisfied a lot of fans who were at odds with the show.

They really set it up well for a continuation of the show at some point with the last episode having Lance getting half of FC and Richard Maggie Chase's kids getting a quarter share each. The lawyer drawing up the paper warns Angela that the arrangement will cause family conflict in the future. She says she won't care because she will be dead.

I recall that, R337.

How smart -- setting up a new series that could ahve been done 5 to 10 years later: Falcon Crest: the Next Generation

It's too bad they never did that.

I don't know what Susan Sullivan was up to in the spring of 1990, but it would have been nice if a) the show had left her demise open - a plane crash, perhaps b) Maggie came back in the last few episodes; Richard breaks Laurel's heart and we get a happy reunion.

Hell, Sullivan today could helm a FC reunion.

I am watching David Selby's first movie, Night of Dark Shadows (1971). He's married to Kate Jackson in it.

that opening music was beautiful; Quentin's theme? not sure of the name.

So haunting.

I think it was a mistake to cast Grayson Hall as Carlotta Drake; she was Julia, that's how we knew her. Same with Nancy Barrett and John Karlen. They were Carolyn and Willie.

Plus, horrific ending. But I love Kate so I'll watch it.

Anybody been to the actual Spring Mountain winery and been inside the manor house? What's it look like on the inside?

R341, yes,me, in December 2018. I went inside the house, looks as it did in the show. To tour the house and property, you need to sign up for a wine tasting (there are no non-tasting tours). I don't drink alcohol but I paid for the tasting ONLY to see the house and property! I also recommend visiting the Dynasty mansion (Filoli Historic House and Garden) south of San Francisco. Awesome! And, yes, I've been to Southfork (Dallas) twice!

I'm usually not an ass man, but Cole's ass always seemed a work of art to me. And I subliminally got off on Robert Foxworth's daddy vibe.

William Moses had a better body than Lorenzo Lamas.

I was so obsessed with the show and the house that I tried diagramming the first floor. They were fairly consistent for the most part as to where each room/area was in relation to the other.

What was the point of Robin Agretti? I am watching Season 4 and she is brought on and before they can even develop her, she's seducing Cole.

She was just a disturbance. And once she was done disturbing they couldn't get rid of her fast enough. I think the main problem was that she wasn't developed to a full character. She needed to be a slut® and nothing else. And the actress brought no nuance. Today I play just horny, tomorrow I'll play just remorseful or whatever the script calls for. At least Robin was able to trigger Melissa to the fullest extent. That was fun to watch.

I seem to remember Angela outing Cole as being Robin's baby daddy at some party in front of all of Tuscany. I loved those kind of scenes, great drama and Melissa's reactions were hilarious.

Brenda Dickson as Angela in the FC reboot is the way to go!

Anyone know why only the first two seasons of Falcon Crest were released on DVD whilst the other big glitzy soaps like Dynasty released all of their series?

Not exactly sure. The usual explanation is that the royalty payments coming with a DVD release would not be recouped through anticipated DVD sales. Not sure if that's true. For Knots Landing for example I heard that Ciji's songs and composers' royalties attached to those seasons made it prohibitive to sell DVDs of those seasons.

Ok thank you r351

It seems a real shame

R350, Season 3 is on DVD. But do you notice that seasons 2 and 3 are really expensive? I hate that. I see sellers on ebay, etsy, etc. selling the entire series (and Knots Landing). They probably recorded the epidodes from the SOAPNET channel.

I wish they could release post-CiJi Cathy seasons on DVD if that's the case.

Singers and composers shouldn't get screwed over though; if nobody wants to pay them what they're worth then we all lose out, sadly.

I'm working on my ancestry.com Channing Family Tree. It's a grape vine. Someone help me. Did they ever actually show Emma's baby on camera or mention it's birth. Or was she just pregnant when the show ended. I know she named or was going to name it Angela. Likewise at the end PIllar was pregnant. Did the mention if that was going to be a girl or boy? I can't find the answers online. May have to rewatch.

Who got Emma pregnant?

It may have had a better taste, but Falcon Crest was no Owl Topol.

Those mice really stain your teeth.

[quote] Who got Emma pregnant?

Charley St. James, the husband she shot. After she shot him, she left Falcon Crest. Her daughter Angela was born somewhere else and not shown.

[quote] The usual explanation is that the royalty payments coming with a DVD release would not be recouped through anticipated DVD sales.

Unfortunately there are many good shows with this problem. I'm currently watching someone's blurry VHS tapes of The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd on youtube. That show was fucking brilliant and Blair Brown was awesome, unfortunately the producers didn't want to pay for the song rights, so it'll never show up on a streaming service or DVD.

as much as I want to see all those old KNOTS episodes, I don't think singers and musicians, song writers, etc. should get screwed.

Everyone wants everything for free in show biz. Not fair.

I'd rather:

A) Distributors cut out the song performances altogether (we all know they happened)

or

B) Rally the Knots fans via GoFundMe to pony up the money to pay the royalties.

(Sorry, I do remember that this is a FC thread)

R361, I'm up for either, preferably the latter.

So this is my final census of the generation that were children on the show that could be the basis for a reboot as adults. From oldest to youngest there's Lisa Vargas Cumson, Joseph Gioberti, Hope Gioberti, Kevin Gioberti, Michael Channing, Angela Channing, and Lance and Pillars then unborn child. Four of them could be partial FC owners based on the last episode and the other three could be really pissed that they aren't.

Worthless trivia: when we toured Spring Mountain Vineyard, the guide told us when filming on location they used to dye the swimming pool water blue because the pool is actually pretty shallow.

I once read that they also spray painted the wine stocks green when they looked too brown.

r363 I LOVE the idea of a Falcon Crest reboot!! But what do we think the chances are that it will happen?

... and what are the chances they would get it right? Just consider: The original show couldn't even get it right in its last two seasons. They followed two different approaches, and both failed miserably. Some people prefer the first couple of seasons (me), others prefer the 'tongue-in-cheek' seasons of Jeff Freilich (the seasons where Chase and Maggie split and Richard and Maggie get together). If viewers cannot even agree on which style they prefer, it will be tough for any, even the most capable show runner, to produce a sequel. People have expectations. And you cannot meet them all.

Let's be the new show runner. What do you want to see in the new show? What don't you care for?

Millennium Falcon Crest

r367 A strong older matriarch to play Angela Channing.No dumbing the role down to chase the youth audience.

R369 - Sharon Stone as the matriarch?

Could Angela Lansbury still do it? I'd love her to play a character so different from her iconic one from Murder, She Wrote. Even when it's just a one off and then she hands FC over to one of the new generation.

Oooohhh r370 that is actually a good shout!You've got my attention now!.I think sharon Stone may well be perfect for the role.

R372 - Would also love to see a role for Phoebe Cates in this reboot.

Ladies, please. It's 2020.

r374 Sharon Stone is still my first choice!

r374, I'm sure you propose her to take the role of non-binary Chase Gioberti, right? If you want to be woke, be really woke.

As much as I would love a reboot there would be a lot of things to address to make it work. The show originally made the land a vitally important character. The fighting over and struggles surrounding the land were both gothic and Steinbeck-esq. Do audiences today even care about or have any interest in such things today?

Judith Light as the new fierce matriarch!

R378 - Judith Light versus Sharon Stone sounds like a great SmackDown Challenge.

Things I want in a reboot: Get both, Channing and Giobertis back, including their respective houses. Lots of outdoor scenes in the vineyard. I am fine to call the last season a dream season. Make the stories about Family and the Land again.

What I could see as an option: Emma Channing being a coocoo matriarch, with her daughter being the Jr of the show. Cole is going back to his house (where he essentially really just lived for a month and a half) fighting young Angela about family rights and ethics. The rest will fall into place. Imagine Cole dealing with his much younger millennium brother Kevin or son Joseph. I rather not rely too much on legacy actors as they may be too frail to carry the show. And they may be too "retro" to produce a modern soap.

And since this all is near SF, a bit of high tech business is very welcome.

I expect more wine drinking.

R378 She was the best addition to the "New" Dallas. Her character made Angela Channing look like Miss Ellie.

Because it is near San Francisco, add a lot of gay themes and of course some leather. Lance could come out as a leather daddy.

Keep the ideas coming. I'm going to write someone at Warner Brothers. If they won't reboot it then I'll offer to buy the rights. I can only afford $2,000. Ok so we have the next generation. Be careful with the legacy characters. Mention them or have them on with brief appearances. This means Richard, Lance and Julia. Cole, Melissa and Emma possibly could be regulars. Silicon Valley replaces the New Globe. The pacing of course will have to be faster like with all shows today. And yes the writers can take liberties and write out anything they want from the last couple of seasons and Melissa's death. If there's going to be a gay character it has to be something different than we are used to seeing. The leather thing might work. He even has his own leather shop in the Castro.

R384 can only afford $2000. LMAO! How poor!

So, in other words R383 , Folsom Crest?

I wonder what the rights to FC are even worth? It's not like they've made WB any money

I wish Amazon prime would add seasons 5-7. I just finished Season 4 and want to continue.