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.
By
Paul Raven ·
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