Jump to content

Falcon Crest


Soapsuds

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 1.1k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

  • Members

I was surprised 1985 was Most Improved. Seasons 2 and 3 were the peak. Season 4 was still enjoyable, but signs of tanking were showing after the war crimes storyline was abruptly ended. The remaining 10 or so episodes after felt like so much of the momentum that had been built over the run of the series was gone. Season 5 is when the tanking started (keeping it real, all the primetime soaps tanked in 1985/86) plus being head-to-head w/ the new hotness that was Miami Vice didn't help matters either.

You must mean the 1987 Best Love Story write up. That was a surprise choice for the time. Back then popular soap romances were mostly young and beautiful star-crossed lovers. These were middle-aged adults with a more emotional connection (I never sensed any longing fueled by passion and heat that the 1985 write up described) that had formed unexpectedly a few years earlier and over time that connection slowly grew into a love that neither one was prepared for and both were a little scared of facing.

Perhaps your mother was a fan of Golden Age Hollywood and liked the guest stars in short arcs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • Members

CBS had two drama series in the 1980s that starred Golden Age Hollywood actresses yet one actress was allegedly quite the diva while the other actress was by all accounts loved by everyone.

Check out the promo starting at 0:36. The contrasts could not be more apparent.

Please register in order to view this content

 

Edited by kalbir
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • Members

We know Falcon Crest was big on casting Golden Age Hollywood stars for short arcs, but this YT video I came across points out some influences from classic films. The influences for Falcon Crest are mostly new to me as I don't think they've been discussed here before (most of the classic film influences for Dallas and Knots Landing have been discussed in their respective threads).

Falcon Crest took elements from James Bond movies (international crime group, henchwomen, war criminals) but I can't pinpoint a specific James Bond movie that influenced any of the storylines. I think it was mentioned here that the season four war crimes storyline might have influenced by Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Edited by kalbir
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • Members

So, I made it to Maggie’s death and all can I say is why the F**K did they write it like that???

That was terrifying. Seriously, something like that happening is one of my greatest fears. I got chills up my spine while I was watching it. 

Edited by AbcNbc247
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I am so glad I did not see that episode when it was originally broadcast. I probably would have had nightmares the entire weekend and been traumatized the entire school year. It wasn't long after the school year ended that another CBS soap had their heroine from its first episode die onscreen and I cried so much after that episode (thankfully there was still a few weeks left of summer break). Two CBS soap heroines with sad onscreen deaths 10 months apart, yikes. (Side note, when going through SOD best/worst, I was surprised this death was not chosen as the worst of 1989 yet the other death was chosen as worst of 1990.)

Edited by kalbir
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I didn't know you were watching. I think I stopped on the 1985-1986 season. I got sidetracked watching Knots Landing and now Dallas. I need to pick it back up.

I'm hoping Falcon Crest gets the HD treatment. I heard it was.

As for Maggie....I remember how she passed but I haven't rewatched it since it originally aired. I might have seen on Soapnet but don't recall. I remember at the time fans saying how vicious she was killed off.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • I know some of y'all really like Brooke Kerr, and so I've tried to give her a shot, despite her frequent flat line readings and distracted "did I leave the front door unlocked?" facial expressions. But lord, she is so bad at playing a tough-talking badass that I was actually rooting for Brad today to spill the beans to Drew. 
    • Googling does tend to ruin it.  For those of us who were teens in the late 1970s and early 1980s, you can't imagine how much fun it was to watch the show in the afternoons.  (It came on right after school.)  There weren't any "spoilers" at the time.  We would always try to anticipate how each crime and each mystery would be resolved, and we were ALWAYS wrong, because the stories are filled with so many weird twists and turns.   The head writer (Henry Slesar) and his dialogue writer (Steve Lehrman) invariably toss genuine clues directly into your face in the most unlikely ways, but then they provide a host of "red herrings" to completely confuse you and send you off on the wrong path.  Once the story reaches its conclusion, all you can think is Why didn't I figure that out weeks ago?  lol
    • Does the vault have the original scene and not the short flashback?
    • I appreciate that you are using AI with the knowledge of it's limitations. Some posters take everything it produces as fact.
    • And of course Mama Ru herself appeared on All My Children.
    • The Saturday 8pm slot usually had the lowest rating of the NBC 4 sitcom lineup for some reason. NBC let Saturday night fizzle, They used 9.30 pm to launch 227 and Amen, both of which moved to earlier in the evening but they  kept Empty Nest following GG for several seasons.  Empty Nest should have moved to 8pm with their strongest new sitcom at 9.30, anticipating that GG would eventually falter. Instead they left them there and stretching the sitcom pool too thinly on other nights. When Grand talk over at 9.30 Thurs maybe Night Court and Wings could have been used on Saturday.
    • @Maxim Great to see your mini-reviews again. There are a number of clips on Youtube of Janice's slow mental breakdown, especially as we go into January 1980. Christine Jones is just superb. She played the hell out of that role. Something which isn't referenced as much later on is how Mitch pushed Janice's doubts and mental instability for his own ends...until suddenly he didn't want to anymore (I guess he caught on with the audience and the show became wary). I don't want to post a bunch of clips, but this one has a very good confrontation between Rachel and Janice.

      Please register in order to view this content

      This has a good scene around 7 minutes in where you can see Janice struggling internally with her need to identify herself so much by the men around her, all of which helps lead to her crackup.  
    • It really made Oscar the Doorman seem like an imbecile.   I think the show's unusual format & subject manner is what makes EON often seem less "dated" and "old-fashioned" than other shows from that time period.  It never attempted to be especially "trendy" or "modern" -- and its film noir style is pretty timeless.  
    • Dallas, Dynasty, Knots and Falcon Crest all had good runs but by 85 they had seen better days. I think they were a victim of the format. After several seasons seeing the same characters front and center viewers were bored. What was once fascinating grew predictable. JR, Alexis etc had to be front and center and after a while their schemes and shtick grew repetitive. JR remarrying Sue Ellen, Alexis constantly trying to get he better of Blake etc Unlike daytime, there wasn't the flexibility to bring in other stories and characters and maybe let the likes JR go backburner. That same mentality also invaded daytime with characters like  Sonny and Victor still peddling the same stuff after decades. I guess the same could be said for MSW eg every week Jessica encounters a crime and solves it,but I think viewers come to that format with a different mindset.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy