3 minutes ago, kalbir said:

She talks about that storyline in this interview

Susan Sullivan talks playing Maggie Gioberti on FALCON CREST as well as her role on ABC's CASTLE.

Ah, okay. Yeah, ladies. Take it from Ms. Sullivan: if you try and redeem the bad guy, you only wind up drowning in the pool, lol!

Thanks, @kalbir !

Gannett Westchester Newspapers Entertainment Friday. September 17, 1982

Falcon Crest' mixes Waltons sugar with Dallas spice by Fred Rothenberg

NEW YORK - If .a television show blends the wickedness of "Dallas" and the wholesomeness of "The Waltons," it's bound to Interest viewers on both sides of television's picket fence. Indeed, CBS' "Falcon Crest" is the most popular survivor from the 1981-82 season. But it had a lot more going than a mixed marriage from two disparate families. It also had "Dallas" as a lead-in program on Friday nights, the best life insurance policy in the business. And from an artistic standpoint, its executive producer is Earl Haraner Jr., a soft-spoken Southern storyteller who contributed scripts to "The Twilight Zone" before gaining widespread fame as creator of The Waltons."

"Every TV script should begin with 'Once upon a time,'" says Hamner. "It should have a beginning, middle and an end. 'Falcon Crest' is like a book with different chapters, with satisfying experiences within each chapter." Hamner resists suggestions that "Falcon Crest," with Jane Wyman playing Angela Channing, the scheming matriarch of a sprawling California vineyard, is just a more refined vintage of "Dallas" and its villainous J.R. Ewing. "Some people say that Earl Hamner has betrayed his commitment, as if 'Falcon Crest' is something shabby," Hamner says. "I think it's a valid exploration of human characters and family situations. The public gets vicarious thrills from watching the rich take pratfalls and suffer. Richness seems to magnify drama."

Despite the similar tax brackets of the Ewings and Channings, Hamner says "Falcon Crest" is actually more country cousin to the Waltons, a close-knit family from Virginia during the Depression. Hamner was also the narrator of that long-running hit, which drew on recollections from his childhood. "I never intended 'Falcon Crest' to be seamy, nor has it been. We do human drama that seems to please big audiences because of legitimate conflicts: traditional family vs. fractured family, power vs. weak, wealth vs. poor. A lot of'Dallas' comes right from the groin. I've always written from the heart" Hamner says his intention was to bridge Tennessee Williams and Lillian Hellman. "Angela (Miss Wyman) is like Big Daddy from 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.' Her passion for land and that way of life is akin to* plantation owners before the Civil War."

Angela was not created as a female J.R., says Hamner. "My thinking was that there haven't been many good roles for women on television.

Traditionally this Machiavellian role would have been filled by a man, Angelo, and it would have been rather ordinary." Hamner's interest in wine has strong family roots. His ancestors were Italian vintners who were brought to the United States by Thomas Jefferson. But the Virginia soil wasn't kind to the grapes, and three of his relatives returned to Italy. "One stayed and married into a restrained Baptist family," he says. Hamner began peddling a TV series about wine in 1976 after taking a trip to the champagne district in France. His concept was to have families from California and French vineyards swap homes. CBS rejected the idea because the idea had already been done — without much success — in "Fair Exchange." "But they thought a series with the wine industry as a background would work," he says. Hamner himself owns vineyards near Sacramento,, although he's never seen the property. "It's a good, investment," he says. But not as good as having a second-year series that combines elements of two successful CBS shows and is positioned strategically to follow television's biggest series ever.

I remember when the other shows had their retrospective reunions, there was a blurb somewhere where Jane was asked if the FC cast would be interested in doing one, and her answer was a very Angelian and simple, "No." Some of them ended up reuniting at the Paley Center a few years after her death, and it seemed like they had a good time, so it's sad a proper lookback never happened.

More and more, I wish Earl Hamner had been allowed to produce FC as he had envisioned. Maybe it wouldn't have been as outrageous as DALLAS, or as decadent as DYNASTY, but it would've been a fine alternative for those who enjoyed the "family saga" aspects of the other two shows, but who also wanted something that had a little more heft to its' storytelling.

1 minute ago, All My Shadows said:

I remember when the other shows had their retrospective reunions, there was a blurb somewhere where Jane was asked if the FC cast would be interested in doing one, and her answer was a very Angelian and simple, "No."

I guess Miss Wyman had not forgotten how much CBS and Lorimar had tinkered with the show in its' last 2-3 seasons? I can't say that I blame her. Seeing how TPTB virtually destroyed a once-promising series is bound to leave a bitter taste in many people's mouths.

1 hour ago, Khan said:

Ah, okay. Yeah, ladies. Take it from Ms. Sullivan: if you try and redeem the bad guy, you only wind up drowning in the pool, lol!

Thanks, @kalbir !

You're welcome @Khan

When she talked about how she pitched the story, I'm like "yeah girl, of course you did" and then she goes on about the bad guy being attracted to the perfect woman, I'm like "girl please, you knew full well that's a tale as old as time".

1 hour ago, All My Shadows said:

I remember when the other shows had their retrospective reunions, there was a blurb somewhere where Jane was asked if the FC cast would be interested in doing one, and her answer was a very Angelian and simple, "No." Some of them ended up reuniting at the Paley Center a few years after her death, and it seemed like they had a good time, so it's sad a proper lookback never happened.

Dallas Return to Southfork was in 2004 and Knots Landing Together Again was in 2005 so that seemed like an ideal time for a Falcon Crest cast retrospective. Jane Wyman passed away in 2007 and her health issues are documented so she might not have been well enough to participate in a cast retrospective at that time. From what I've found online, the last time Jane Wyman was photographed in public was in 2001 at her daughter's funeral service.

Greenfield Recorder, Tuesday, July 24,1984

Susan Sullivan She wants to avoid being perfect on Falcon Crest' by JERRY BUCK

Associated Press LOS ANGELES - The soap opera is the devils playground, where the villains have all the fun and the good guys are miserable. But you'll never persuade Susan Sullivan of that. Miss Sullivan stars in CBS' hit opera "Falcon Crest" as Maggie Gioberti, who is good but certainly not goody-goody. That would be carrying goodness too far.

"Maggie and her husband Chase have a unique love going for television," she says. "It's certainly unique for this kind of show. It's much harder to write for the good guys, but I think that would take away something fundamental if we changed. Still, I'd love to see us have a knock-down, drag-out fight, the kind of fight where you make up and go to bed."

The series is about a large family in California's ' Napa Valley, where many of the diverse family members spend as much time plotting intrigue as they do producing wine for the Falcon Crest label. The essential difference, however, comes from the fact that "Falcon Crest" was created by executive producer Earl Hamper, a novelist turned screenwriter who brings to the show the values that made "The Waltons" a family favorite in the 1970s. "I think Earl's influence is such, his integrity, that even the bad guys have a vulnerable side," said Miss Sullivan. "It gives them a reality. So if you're cast as a good guy the first thing you have to do is find your bad guy side. "I think the audience is more sophisticated than people give them credit for. I think people will turn-off a character who is too perfect to be believable."

This Is not the first soap opera for the blonde actress, who worked part-time as a Playboy Club bunny while attending college in New York. First she was in ABCs "A World Apart" and then spent four years in NBC's "Another World." "In 'A World Apart' I played a naive character who* constantly fought with her father," she said. "I would leave the studio with residual anger. And now I play a nice character and some of her — this sounds woowoo." After a silence she added, "Her values are not that different from mine." This past season Maggie had a brain tumor, and Miss Sullivan said she drew heavily on her own experiences during her father's fatal illness three years ago. "He died of cancer and he spent part of his time in a hospice connected to a hospital," she said. "A hospice loosens the hospital visiting restrictions. For instance, you "can even bring pets. My father died at home, which the hospice arranged. I was drawn to the. hospice program and I've become a spokesman for the movement. "So when Maggie had a brain tumor I went to Earl and suggested using a hospice. But they felt that would make it look too grim. So I had a brain tumor, an operation and recovered in four shows."

Many changes are in store for "Falcon Crest" in the new season — after a May ciiffhanger in which the entire cast went down in a plane. It's already well known that Mel Ferrer's character won't survive the crash. In fact he's now at work on a movie for CBS called "Seduced." Cliff Robertson's character is obviously another casualty since Robertson flies to New Zealand this month to work on a movie and in September goes to Tunisia for another film. Maggie, who already has a sister who's a former prostitute, gets a father this fall. "They're looking for someone now," said Miss Sullivan. "I want a very young father. It's disconcerting to play a grandmother at my age, so I need a young father."

Miss Sullivan, who graduated from college in 1966, said she thinks any changes in the fall will be for the best. "You have to have new story lines each year and in order to do that you have to juggle people. It seems cruel, but sometimes it works out best." She herself was juggled out of the ABC comedy "It's a Living" and replaced by Louise Lasser. "ABC felt I was too straight," she said. "That was originally what they wanted, then they felt they needed a more offbeat character. But that wasn't the answer, either." Last April Miss Sullivan played a lesbian dying of cancer on the stage in "Last Summer at Bluefish Cove." Before Miss Sullivan, who is single, left for San Francisco to do the play she had a talk with her costar, Jane Wyman. "Jane told me romance would come when I least expected it," she said. "That's an old cliche. Twenty years ago if anyone had told me I'd be this age and unmarried and with no children I wouldn't have believed them. . "But on the plane I was reading my lines from the play script, and like all actors I'd underlined all my dialogue. Behind me someone said, 'If you underline all the lines you won't know where the "ah has" are.' I turned around to see this handsome, interesting man and we sat together the rest of the trip." She now regularly dates the man, whom she identifies as "Tony, a criminal lawyer." Miss Sullivan has a history of saying- "no" three times to various projects she's done. She turned down a regular role in the ABC series "Rich Man, Poor Man, Book II" three times. She said no to "It's a Living" three times and she said no to "Falcon Crest" three times.. She laughed and said, "It's amazing the way I've turned down things three times before doing them. Tony'd better start asking me to marry him so I can turn him down three times.''

12 hours ago, Khan said:

More and more, I wish Earl Hamner had been allowed to produce FC as he had envisioned. Maybe it wouldn't have been as outrageous as DALLAS, or as decadent as DYNASTY, but it would've been a fine alternative for those who enjoyed the "family saga" aspects of the other two shows, but who also wanted something that had a little more heft to its' storytelling.

The first season felt like wealthy Waltons in modern day California wine country. Perhaps Earl Hamner did not want to go Dallas with grapes/James Bond hybrid but for all we know that could have been CBS mandated.

12 hours ago, Khan said:

I guess Miss Wyman had not forgotten how much CBS and Lorimar had tinkered with the show in its' last 2-3 seasons? I can't say that I blame her. Seeing how TPTB virtually destroyed a once-promising series is bound to leave a bitter taste in many people's mouths.

Apparently someone at CBS did not like the war crimes storyline and that lead to its abrupt ending, which derailed all the momentum that was built during the course of the series and signs of tanking starting showing. The final five seasons we saw so many changes in direction, going from Dallas with grapes/Miami Vice hybrid (if you can't beat the new hotness might as well join it) to a high octane action-packed thrill ride and then off the rails. There's also the factors of Dallas weakening as a lead in, CBS being in their third place primetime mess era, and budget mode.

Edited 42 minutes ago42 min by kalbir