Chris B

Okay I have a few minutes, so I'm going to drop some more tidbits! - Originally, the character of Cassandra was meant to remain for the entire 5th season and marry Richard. All of her storylines were instead given to Terry. - Despite Ken Olin hating his time on the show, his exit was always meant to be the way it was. He was contracted for 17 episodes with the option for more, but the network didn't like him so he was out. - I think this is commonly known, but when Ana Alicia was written off her contract had already been picked up, so they had to pay her out for it, which is why she later returned. - Originally, Chao-Li's daughter was meant to join earlier in season 5 and be a love interest for Lance. - Instead of Richard being Angela's secret child, they were looking at making it a daughter and Angie Dickinson is who they wanted for the role. - Chase was meant to return as a villain in season 7. There was also a focus group for season 7 and the people liked that the show had guest stars, but preferred when they were brought on to enhance the story of the core characters and they hated when they took over the show. They also preferred stories about the vinyards to the business storylines. They felt that Angela and Richard were the most important characters. With Maggie they criticized Susan Sullivan's acting and said the character was an "emotional seesaw" and no longer important to the core stories. Vicki, Eric, Dan and Carly were all hated, which doesn't surprise me. Another thing I noticed across the focus groups listed is that the fans seemed to love Emma due to her comic relief and scenes with Angela.

I'll go back and dig up some interesting story nuggets, but the casting info was what really interested me. One big writing change I noticed, is had the writers not been replaced in season 5, Julia would've returned full time, along with Tony, which explains his odd return with her quickly being written off. As for casting, for the role of Cole, Laurence Lau, Michael O'Leary and Ethan Wayne were the other three finalists. For Lance, Christian LeBlanc was one of the finalists. LeBlanc also auditioned for RIchard Channing (which almost went to Michael Zaslow). The most interesting casting tidbit was for Vicky. We got to see two actresses in the role, but neither was very interesting. The other finalists were Julia Duffy, Heather Locklear, Janine Turner and Catherine Mary Stewart. How Jamie Rose got the part is beyond me. Another random, but interesting tidbit is that one of the producers had suggested they create a role for Susan Flannery. Based on the timing I imagine the role might have been Pamala Lynch.

Here's the thing with New Jersey: Yes they need better production and a cast overhaul, but the ratings stay high and consistant, so it seems Bravo simply doesn't try for them. Casting? Why bother when the ratings have stayed high with this cast? Cast photo? Just use the old one. Same intro for six seasons? Why refresh it? Ratings are still high! Cast trip? Just do something cheap! People will watch anyway! It's a shame because they deserve better based on ratings, but the network seems to complacent with them. As long as people are willing to tune in to watch Teresa's life and everybody talk about Teresa, nothing will change.

Falcon Crest was entertaining, but it did always have an indentity crisis, which is why I feel I'm not as critical of it as I am when a show like Dallas or Knots Landing messed up. I do think the timeslot is how it was able to weather all of the creative upheavals. I bought three volumes of behind the scenes info from falconcrest.org and they have many of the story bibles included in it and it's interesting because even with the writing shifts, there are many attempts throughout to tell stories in a way that would be more character driven or explain character motivations better, but these scenes and stories were often cut. I wonder if that was because of the timeslot and the desire to keep up with Dallas, so they focused more on action instead of developing the characters.

Kristen is such a ruined character I don't know that I'd touch her now, but you could at least have regular (a couple times a year at least) appearances to deal with Zende's mess. Now Felicia? Lesli Kay was so successful in the role that it makes absolutely no sense that she doesn't pop up at all. I still hate her Y&R crossover didn't work out.

I like Tracy Melchoir as an actress, but I would've cast a name as Kristen. I find it so odd Kristen and Felicia remained gone for so long considering they were core characters. Seeing these early episodes, it's even more shocking Kristen never returned sooner when you consider how complicated her relationship was with Stephanie and her deep connection with Eric. Everything they've done with her character since the 2001 return is a disgrace and a waste of a potentially fiery character that could've shaken the canvas up.

Everything about this new season looks good, especially Marlo getting her peach. It looks very fresh and different. I feel like the peach is going to make a big difference since we will get to see more of her life.

I'd rank it like this: Top 5: 1. 4 2. 3 3. 9 4. 2 5. 1 Season 6 I'd say is watchable and the three seasons I find horrific are 5, 7 and 8 with 5 being the worst simply because it was so boring and had nothing to offer.

The crazy thing is, had Freilich not been fired, his plan was to bring Chase back, but as a full on villain. I do like the writing for Richard and Maggie in season six, but her didn't understand Vicky, Chase or Cole at all. I also agree with you about Julia. It's weird that they brought Tony back, but wrote her off. I bought some of the books they have with FC secrets on falconcrest.org and they mention in season 8 they had budgeted 5 episodes for Julia to return, but it never happened. I wish we'd seen her at least once more.

I finished season six and am about 10 episodes into season seven. This is a weird time for the show. I believe ratings were good with Jeff Freilich, but his writing was so awful. It's weird, hardcore FC fans seem to praise his seasons, but are upset about the changes in season nine. I feel like he made more changes than anybody. He literally made Chase an angry bastard who is furious and left his wife because she was raped. In general, it became a more male-dominated show as the women were either abused (Vicky) or made insane (Melissa). I can see why ratings were good though. It's the perfect popcorn tv. Scenes are super short and the story moves fast, with lots of action. Unfortunately, that hurt them later on because they blew the budget. Season six was decent, but season seven is almost unwatchable. They've started to take a short term story arc format where everything rotates every 3-4 episodes with new characters brought in constantly to shift the plot. I don't think one story is landing, the worst being Vicky literally being punched out and body slammed by John Callahan's character Eric. Angela becoming Richard's mother is an odd desperate move. I don't see the point of it and it completely re-writes the type of man Douglas was during season one.

I read the article on Straight From the A (https://straightfromthea.com/2022/04/21/exclusive-nene-leakes-lawsuit-breaks-down-years-of-racism-at-bravo-legal-docs/#more-245932) and it makes it clear the lawsuit (which is 97 pages long) is about a lot more than Kim. I believe the Kim stuff is being used in the media to discredit her. We know Bravo has a history of racism, so you can't convince me Nene is the only person lying about it. Now on the subject of Kim, the most shocking thing is that she apparently called someone the N word during season 5 and the entire cast complained to the network and refused to work with Kim. They responded by giving Kim a spin off and doing nothing to reprimand her. That is going to be damning in court, especially since Nene wasn't the only one to complain. As for why Nene stayed or why she wants to come back, I get it. Look at the NFL, they players are most Black, but they're mistreated and racism is RAMPANT. Why do they stay? Because of the money and because it's what they love to do. Black people face racism every day in corporate America. If you quit every job where you're mistreated, you're going to end up on the streets. Look at Victoria Rowell. She lost so much money and credibility speaking out about her issues, but was called crazy and blacklisted. Now everybody acknowledges she was telling the truth and we see the issue is MUCH larger than we thought. I'd be curious to read the entire lawsuit. I have a feeling it is more credible that the media is giving her credit for.

After maybe the third season, you can’t even convince me that was a real person playing Krystle and not a robot. I don’t think anybody gave up as much as Linda lol.

I’m not far into it, but I finally started the mini series and this is *so* good. I feel like I’m going to regret it because this will make me want to find the series even more. It’s so odd seeing Linda Evans outside of the static acting and perfection of Krystle Carrington.

Christine and Michael and Paul raping Christine ruined her character. It’s sad to see what’s become of what was such a popular character.

I have a random question, are any of the videos on the vault with Abby Dalton as Phyllis’ mother? I’ve always wanted to see that but have never come across it.

Thanks for posting Paper Dolls! I always wanted to see the movie and just finished it. It was okay, not great. I enjoyed Alexandra Paul. The best thing is, the channel that uploaded it has tons of TV movies and mini series I’d wanted to see. I will be busy on there for awhile.

If the show was good prior to her return, this Diane return would be a huge flop. The way they’re presenting her as a dangerous super villain doesn’t fit any of the previous portrayals of Diane and that includes all three actors. The only reason this somewhat works is because the show was so damn boring and needed a character like this. It’s just a shame they can’t seem to get the character right.

I'm sorry for derailing things by mentioning the rumored estrangement. I have never heard anything negative about Susan Lucci (beyond the untrue SMG stuff) or Liza Huber and both have led very respectable public lives, so my intent wasn't to make either of them the villain. I just was hopeful it wasn't as it appeared to be or that they had mended fences. It's sad to see they haven't reconciled, but hopeful someway they can in the future.

I plan to have fun with these final four seasons, which I know will be different due to new staff and their various changes. Starting with season six, this is very fun to watch and I see why it worked at the time. On one hand it is extremely cheesy and dated with the synthesizer and ultra 80s fashion. I now get the Miami Vice reference. It’s very style over substance. All of the characters are written paper thin and whatever characteristic they’re going to show is dependent on the storyline. Melissa and Lance are soulless whores, Chase is a hot head bastard, Vicki pouts and Angela quips. With that said, it moves fast and is very amusing. I also really enjoy the Kim Novak mystery. It has no business working, but it’s fun for me as a big Hitchcock fan.

She is the reason I became an ATWT fan. As a child, she had such a striking look that I’d always be glued to the screen. Once I became a full time viewer I was still in love. Bob and Kim were one of the greatest soap couples and they never bored me.

@DRW50 I loved when Lilimae got put in a choke hold! My favorite thing is that we got rare interaction between Valene and Greg Sumner. William Devante and Jon Van Ark were *so* good the few times we got to see them together. I was devastated she left in season 14, right as a big story was beginning for them. I will say, I agree about the Cathy/Ben affair. It was sad to see Cathy burn out in that way. I wish she’d held on a little longer and she could’ve been integrated into stories with Paige.

They dumped Finn like he was a recurring day player, which is odd when you consider he’s dead and everybody is doing the bare minimum over Steffy because they know she’s gonna live. There are absolutely no stakes to this story. Even the Sheila element can only last so long because it should quickly become obvious she shot them.

I’m just glad she gave up the pretense that she doesn’t care and is somehow innocent. Lean into reality, Erika!

Y’all not gone lie on Miss Angela! I have been loving her fashions. I think she looks great most of the time and I’ve noticed she always has a nice pair of heels, which I’ve been noticing lately. I expected her to be in some old lady kitten heels, but she dresses great for her age. I also think Angela looks like old money, as opposed to the Dynasty try hards.

For a major character to be near death, the drama seems awfully mellow so far. I compare it to Storm’s death (which I consider some of the greatest soap episodes of all time) and this feels different. The acting for one is largely terrible. I believed they thought Katie was gonna die. Now I just see standard soap tears from Taylor and the typical shrug from Ridge.