Falcon Crest's height was pretty much from the moment Ana Alicia appears as Melissa to about half-way through season 4 when they suddenly got cold feet about the nazi storyline. Nixing that storyline just destabilized the show and obviously from there on it seemed like CBS couldn't stop tinkering with it, probably thinking they were doing so in order for it to retain more of Dallas's audience.
I can't help to wonder if Falcon Crest wouldn't have been better off moving to a new night circa season 3. It probably wouldn't have put up the impressive numbers it did post-Dallas, but I could see it being a nice mid-level performer. Maybe it wouldn't have gone on until season 9, but on the other hand I could've seen it being able to chug along and end on its own terms without the pressure to retain Dallas's massive audience.
By
te. ·
