Chris 2

It’s also a function of having a large number of showrunners (Earl Hamner for season 1, Bob McCullough for seasons 2 and 3, Rod Peterson and Claire Whittaker for seasons 4 and 5, Jeff Frielich for seasons 6 and 7, Michael FIlerman for season 8, and Jerry Thorpe for season 9). Each new showrunner wasn’t necessarily invested in the previous showrunner’s cast additions.

I remember reading at the time that it was kind of an unwritten rule among the various executive producers that no one was going to change the intro. I agree with the poster who said they should have just re-recorded Autumn Breeze and filmed/taped a new shot of the ambulance approaching the USC medical center.

The problem with Empty Nest was that Dinah Manoff’s character, Carol, was pretty annoying, but it was ok with Barbara (Kristy McNichol) around to balance her out and spar with her. But once Kristy was gone, it was all Carol all the time. The third daughter was played by this actress that casting directors kept trying to foist upon us in the 90s, to no avail (she also played on King of Queens, as another sister who also quickly disappeared). Empty Nest kept adding all these extraneous characters to make up for the loss of Kristy, to no avail. It reminds a bit of One Day at a Time - another show where one sister crucial to the dynamic of the show was written out, and then just kept adding all these other people to make up for the loss.

The challenge with a family-centered show like Dallas is that once you’ve exhausted the main plots about the family, where do you go from there? Bobby being killed off should have provided a new direction for the show, but it wasn’t executed well, so they went back to the tried and true. Which worked well for about a season, but that setup was already running out of steam when Patrick Duffy left. Someone on another board suggested that the last few seasons should have been about JR’s redemption. Not that he would have turned into a goody two shoes. He could have still been a cunning, clever business man. But one with more of a moral compass. Larry Hagman had talent to make that characterization interesting. Then, they could have created a new villain to help drive the show. Lorimar actually considered a similar setup for the 1988-89 season. JR would have chilled out and ex-wife Sue Ellen would have turned evil (I suppose inspired by the Blake-Alexis setup on “Dynasty”). Not sure Linda Gray would have had the range to pull that off, but interesting to think about.

It felt like a cop out at the time - you just knew they wouldn’t have any of the main, opening-credit characters - as the culprit. But as j swift mentioned, it set up the pregnancy and Christopher, which powered storylines for years to come.

I think Abby Dalton was playing younger than she was at the time (in her early 50s IRL). I think Julia was in her early to mid 40s. So I’d guess Emma was in her late 30s.

Or a daytime version of Berenger’s.

Slightly off topic, but I always love hearing Lee Majors and Linda Evans talk about Stanwyck and how she mentored them. A real down-to-earth, no-nonsense but caring person from the way they describe her. I read a story about Charlton Heston trying to get his Colbys costars back from lunch on time because if they were late, “Barbara will be mad.” LOL.

Yep - agreed. It was still watchable and recognizable in season 4, but a step down from its peak during seasons 2 and 3.

GH: Robert and Holly DOOL: Doug and Julie (back in the 70s); Tom and Alice Y&R: Katherine and Jill (Brenda Dickson) AW: Rachel and Ada RH: Jack and Mary (Kate Mulgrew, though I don’t think I need to specify that); Jack and Siobhan (Sarah Felder)

I can’t imagine Faith Caitlin or Karen Morris Gowdy in the whale movie instead of Hicks. 😃

Barbara Stanwyck was a good 10 years older than Jane Wyman and looked it. One thing about Jane Wyman’s portrayal is that Angela seemed pretty robust and up to a good fight during most of her years on the show. Stanwyck would have played a more aged, frailer Angela. Not sure it would have worked as well.

Tony was played by John Saxon in all but one of his appearances, when he was played (strangely) by Robert Loggia. He had abandoned Julia and Lance years earlier because he couldn’t stand Angela’s influence over her.

Daniel Hugh Kelly (Frank Ryan #3) appeared in “Star Trek: Insurrection”, the third TNG movie.

I’d argue that the ratings for Frielich’s first season only stabilized because it was no longer facing Miami Vice. And the ratings were a bit lower than the season that came before, despite having no real competition (though the overall ranking was higher). I suspect the ratings wouldn’t have been any lower had Earl Hamner and his team stayed another year.

I never thought about that, but you’re probably right.

Yep - agreed on season 3. I think 2 and 3 are the strongest of the series. Bob McCullough was there running things and it showed. He left after season 3, and his guidance was missing in season 4, which is still fun but veers a little too far off course from the original premise. I also love Emma, a breath of fresh air when it comes to soap opera characters. And I like how Emma is the one who Angela really has a soft spot for. She’s never vicious to Emma the way she is to Lance and Julia.

Herb was Cassie’s stepfather? Who was her father?

LOL. I think we can be friends then. Yeah, fall numbers are generally higher than those in the spring, when daylight savings and warm weather kick in. What’s interesting is that the “Dallas” episode where Bobby died aired several days after the official television season ended in the middle of May. So the rating for that episode wasn’t counted toward Dallas’ 1984-85 average. Had it been, Dallas would have topped Dynasty for the season by the slimmest of margins.

Falcon Crest was never critically acclaimed to begin with, but certainly not the Jeff Frielich years, which were campy and over-the-top, filled with stunt casting. And most of the stunt casting didn’t exactly involve genuine stars like Lana Turner. More like Buck Henry and Ed Mariano from “Sisters”. Bob McCullough was long gone by Frielich’s tenure; Frielich essentially had McCullough’s old job. Frielich had his defenders, but calling his work critically acclaimed is a stretch. 🙂 I remember that quote from Jane Wyman saying that the show had never been better, but I think she was just happy that Foxworth was off the show and she could be the sole focus. Frielich was shown the door not only because of the budget but also because the ratings plummeted under his watch - the show shed over 20% of its viewers during his tenure, and more during his last year. Frielich went on the produce Lorimar’s syndicated “Freddy’s Nightmares” series, a job more suited to his style. I get what Michael Filerman was trying to do - return the show to its roots: a father moves his family back to the valley (Ben Agretti rather than Chase) and a family that works the vineyards (the Ortegas instead of the Nunezs). But it was awfully slow moving, and too different from what immediately came before it.

Kathryn Leigh Scott posted about him on Twitter, including some pictures of the two of them. Not sure how recent those pictures are, but she seems to have aged like a fine wine.

If it wasn’t OK for Italian-American Kristian Alfonso to play a Mexican-American, then was it OK for Mexican-American Ana Alicia to play an Italian-American? 😁

Did Lilimae pay any kind of price for running over Chip?I recall she got off easy.

Diana reminded me of Julie (Mackenzie Phillips) on One Day at a Time. The rebellious, antagonistic daughter who was irritating.

Now, Lilimae, I know you meant well, but that wasn’t the right thing to do. That said, if you had aimed for Diana, that I could get behind.