2 hours ago, Chris 2 said:

I always found it odd that CBS called the season finales “the season climax”.

I guess it's the idea that everything that's happened in the season has built up to that cliffhanger, which of course wasn't true in most cases.

I think it's because they were afraid if they were to say "finale," viewers would assume that the show(s) wouldn't come back next fall? I dunno, it's a good question!

5 hours ago, Khan said:

I think it's because they were afraid if they were to say "finale," viewers would assume that the show(s) wouldn't come back next fall? I dunno, it's a good question!

It's too bad it wasn't the finale when they offed Pam. They decided to drag that rotting corpse of a show around for another 4 years.

Patrick & Larry kept getting smarmier and smarmier. They may have had their big salary and behind the scenes boys club, but they killed the show with their stupid antics.

54 minutes ago, SoapDope78 said:

It's too bad it wasn't the finale when they offed Pam. They decided to drag that rotting corpse of a show around for another 4 years.

Patrick & Larry kept getting smarmier and smarmier. They may have had their big salary and behind the scenes boys club, but they killed the show with their stupid antics.

Dallas goes off the rails in the aftermath of Pamela disappearance and was effectively over with Sue Ellen departure. The final two seasons were a waste of time and they only happened because CBS was in their third place primetime mess era.

Remember too that budget mode kicked in about 1987. We saw budget mode lead to the salary dumpings of the long-time female cast members and sweet young things hired on the cheap.

In the grand scheme of things, Victoria Principal and Linda Gray were smart to walk away when they did. In theory getting Victoria Principal and Linda Gray expensive contracts off the books should have freed up cash but budget mode probably lead to a salary cap and I think the bulk of the salary budget at that point was probably going to Larry Hagman and Patrick Duffy.