Falcon Crest

[Khan]

 

I agree.

Then, in season 8, you saw FC getting back to basics, but in re-assuming control of the show, Michael Filerman made the biggest, most fatal error: he allowed Melissa to be killed off, just as she was poised to be Angela's greatest threat yet.

[te.]

Season 6 was refreshing after the soap opera drabness of season 5. It's funny that the season ended with one of the most memorable cliffhangers, the earthquake, when overall season five just isn't very good. Season six works because it's brighter, faster paced and slightly unhinged. It doesn't work quite as well on subsequent rewatches, but the first time it *is* quite a thrilling ride as long as you just let yourself go with the flow.

Season 7 took all the worst tendencies from season 6 and amphiphiled them to the max. Too many guest stars, no real story arcs and just moving incredibly quickly. Maggie's alcoholism storyline where she acts a bit sleepy for a few episodes sure is something. 

And yeah, season 8 is an attempt to ground the show again, but they just went too far with it. Filerman hadn't been actively involved with the show since the early days and had no feeling for what worked and what didn't. 

[kalbir]

I can't pinpoint the exact moment season 7 went off the rails, but the core families shrunk and the supporting characters and guest stars in short arcs didn't really work.

 

Seasons 8 and 9 were the off the rails plus budget mode seasons. Season 8 was a chore to get through and season 9 had a darkness and sadness surrounding it that made it painful to get through. The final two seasons were not necessary and I feel they only happened because CBS was in their third place primetime mess era.

[Khan]

ICAM!!

I still crack up over Terry's last words - "Richard, what about MEEEEEEEE!?" - and the shot of the back of her stunt double's head in the next season's premiere, confirming she had died.

Edited April 19 by Khan

[kalbir]

@Khan Keeping it real here, after watching Falcon Crest episodes I was surprised it made it past season 5 and season 7 should have been the end.

Falcon Crest may not have been a pop culture phenomenon, but it's place in television history is that of being Jane Wyman's late career comeback which pretty much overlapped with her ex-husband's presidency. It's also notable that Falcon Crest had the longest run of a CBS primetime drama series that premiered in the 1980s which was not named Murder, She Wrote.

 

[Khan]

Of course, that could be attributed at least partly to the fact that CBS itself was in terrible shape throughout the mid- and late-'80's; but I think Jane Wyman and Angela Lansbury, along with the cast of NBC's "The Golden Girls," helped to reshape the image of older people on TV.

[kalbir]

Look at the list of CBS primetime dramas that premiered in the 1980s which were not named Murder, She Wrote and had 5+ season runs: Falcon Crest; Magnum, P.I.; Simon & Simon, Cagney & Lacey, Jake and the Fatman. They all lasted as long as they did because CBS was in their third place primetime mess era.

Remember that episode of The Golden Girls where Sophia referred to Jane Wyman as "that old crow from Falcon Crest"? Funny thing is Jane Wyman was only 6 years older than Estelle Getty.

[Khan]

Wow.  And from that list, I'd say only one show, "Cagney & Lacey," still holds up okay.

At the moment, I'm trying to plough through season 6 on the Primetime Soaps channel; and I'm having the same issue with it (and with the show in general) that I always have: the scenes are shorter, the dialogue is crisper, but it's all just wallpaper.  Otherwise, it's the same old, same old: Angela vs. Chase vs. Richard, with Melissa trying to assert herself as a major player but shooting herself in the foot every time.  (How she walked right into getting Agretti-Stavros Vineyards shut down the previous season has to be one of the boneheaded things I've ever seen anyone do in soaps, lol).

Edited April 20 by Khan

[soapfan770]

I personally like Season 6, it’s probably my favorite season outside of Seasons 1-first half of 4. I really appreciate Mark Snow’s score of the show making it feel more updated for the late 80’s and having an engaging umbrella storyline makes it work. I do have my issues with the season, like maybe Chase should have just died at the end of Season 5 lol.

(They did convince Foxworth to return one more season with Foxworth proposing for Chase to become a villain—he apparently had the idea of Chase attending anger mgmt classes and failing but it never occurred on screen lol)

But you’re right about Melissa, her whole storyline is messy. She just never recovered from the mess that her helping frame Lance in Season 4 and the whole incredulous & obnoxious Cole/Melissa/Chris/Robin quad in Season 5.

Her going off the rails crazy in Season 6 was just a cumulation of all the times she went crazy the past 2 season beforehand. 

I remember us talking about this LOL. I don’t know what was funnier, Terry getting the ultimate comeuppance or Emma’s “WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIIIIIEEEEE!” scream lol. 
 

I pinpoint at a few episodes in once Leslie Caron’s arc ends so abruptly and we’re onto  the next. Not to Dina’s story is basically rehash of what happened to Lorraine except the murder part. Cole returns for a few eps and then is gone again when really I would have convinced Moses to return again full time. By the time Lauren Hutton as a ninja occurs it had indeed goes off the rails until the Key to Angela story begins along with Frank’s arrival.

I do wonder what would have happened if Freilich had stayed another season and had succeeded in his plans to coax Foxworth and Dalton back. 

Killing off Melissa right after such a major game changing twist was such a boneheaded egregious mistake. I know Filerman apologized years later after the fact but how he fumbled this is a mystery. Even Stern & Black should have said something as they had written for Melissa back in S2 & S3. He didn’t learn from his mistakes as his hands on involvement in Knots’ Season 13 a couple years later was just as bad.

Agree to all of this, well said. 

Yes LOL!  Funny enough Cesar Romero also appeared as a love interest for Sophia as well. 

[Khan]

I wouldn't have been opposed to that, lol.

For me, the issues actually began in Season 2, with the arrival of Richard Channing.  FC is supposed to be about the constant tug-of-war between Angela and Chase.  IMO, Richard's arrival just muddies the waters.

Also, I'm not happy with how they resolved the Carlo Agretti murder mystery.  Naming Julia as the killer was a huge mistake, as I think she played an important role in the family dynamics, especially between Angela and Lance.  Abby Dalton wasn't much of an actress, but she was needed on that show.  More so than Margaret Ladd's Emma, whom I would've exposed as the culprit instead.

Edited April 21 by Khan

[soapfan770]

In hindsight since the Richard character was in the pilot just already have Richard be a character on the show as Angela’s son…working at his father’s newspaper  and at Angela’s beck and call but annoyed and never being close…until the revelation in Season 2 that Richard wasn’t Angela’s bio son at all but Jacquline’s. Angela bought him from Jacqueline and went to so far to forge a pregnancy to cover up Douglas & Jacquline’s illicit affair. 
 

This way I could see Chase trying to be in unison with Angela but willing to share with Richard much to Angela’s dismay…or Richard going all out war on Angela with Chase having to play gatekeeper or something.

Re Carlo’s murder Out of all the suspects I can see the show taking the easy route and blaming Carlo’s murder on someone like Ericson or the Diana Hunter character. Julia makes too much sense lol, and no way could Emma do that to Carlo. 

 

[j swift]

The funny thing about Richard at the newspaper is that we were never given an indication that he was good at his job.  He wasn't known to be a talented writer or editor.  He fails as a journalist because he is willing to keep so many secrets from his readers.  He's not very curious, as evidenced by the fact that the truth about his maternity just falls into his proverbial lap, it's not like he went out and investigated.

David Selby seems smart as Richard because of his turn of phrase.  But, we're really given no evidence to back up if he was any better at running the paper than Lance, or anyone else.  The only thing he created was the failed racetrack, so there's nothing to support why Angela should have trusted him with anything at Falcon Crest. 

[Chris 2]

Revealing Julia as the murderer was one of the best cliffhangers of the 80s primetime soaps, because it was so unexpected. The other shows never did that with main characters. But it did cause problems with the family dynamics.

I agree about Richard muddying the waters of the Angela/Chase battle. I think the writers got bored with the Chase/Angela battles fairly quickly. And perhaps they wouldn’t have if they had had a more dynamic, likable Chase. Robert Foxworth was such an odd choice to play the protagonist in a nighttime serial. I think it would have been better if Chase and Angela had had a grudging respect for each other and teamed up once in a while.

[kalbir]

 

 

 

I think Richard Channing intro as the new villain in season 2 was exactly what Falcon Crest needed to reach the next level.

To me the first meeting of Angela and Richard is a pivotal scene that sets everything in motion for the rest of the series.

The original villainess is a business-minded messy matriarch that attempts to control the lives of her daughters and grandson and takes down her enemies with words and not bitch slaps. The new villain is dangerous and mean yet wounded from a childhood devoid of love with a longing to be part of a family and that inner woundedness and longing is in conflict with the dangerous and mean exterior.

In that first meeting, each knows they have met their match. After all, game recognizes game.

When I saw that unfold, I was like "I am totally down for this."

Edited April 21 by kalbir

[Khan]

I agree!!

As @kalbir points out, Richard was exactly what the show needed.  But like you said, @Chris 2, it's probably because the weekly battles between Chase and Angela had grown stale already (and not helped at all by questionable casting, something that always plagued FC, IMO).