Whoever passed on the details about the cliffhanger to the “National Enquirer” was probably not part of the inner circle of the production team and did not know all the details because the decision to make Richard Angela’s son was not a last-minute change, but devised during season 6, using Earl's original bibles for "The Vintage Years" and season 1.
Although we have no proof, it seems that the decision to explain that Richard was Angela’s son was already made during the development of # 146 <6.19> “Dance of Deception” when Peter returns from Europe and tells Eric during the International Wine Show at the Del Oro that he found a secret that will destroy Richard; he shows Eric an envelope. We have reason to believe that this was already in preparation for revealing that Richard is Angela’s son. The revised final draft of script # 146 <6.19> is from November 26, 1986 already.
What we definitely know is that the scene in # 150 <6.23> “Cold Hands” when Angela finds out Richard switched her wines and she begs him to give the real ones back to her was written as a preparation for their mother – son relationship. That is why Angela’s ironic line was added: “If you’d been my child I’d have drowned you at birth.” The final draft is from January 20, 1987.
We do not know, however, why Jeff did not add any reference to a child’s grave in the scene with Vickie and Angie at the Gioberti Family Cemetery. Maybe he didn’t want to add a hint in that scene because he was afraid it might spoil the surprise in the cliffhanger. Just a thought, but I think that is probably the reason.
The idea about Angie Dickinson was discussed earlier. We have no documentation other than an undated unit production manager’s note that she should be contacted as a possible cast addition for Angela’s “lost daughter”. There is no documentation that the actress was actually ever contacted and offered the rôle. It was one of the ideas the staff played around with, but it never got to a detailed stage in story outlines or scriptwriting, as far as I can tell.
I personally think that Angie Dickinson, being just 14 years older than Jane, would not have been believable for a daughter. Even Abby Dalton was a difficult casting choice in my opinion (as great as Abby was). Abby was ten years older than her character, Julia. However, Abby looked rather young, more like the generation Earl had in mind — Maggie and Chase. In contrast, Angie Dickinson did look like in her late 50’s in the mid-1980’s while Jane still looked younger than her real age in season 6, so it would certainly have been difficult to sell them as mother and daughter on screen.
I also looked through the shooting schedules and other production documents. The scenes from # 155 <6.28> “Desperation” with Peter’s letter (revealing Richard's identity) were filmed on March 6, 1987.
If the publication date of the “National Enquirer” article is from March 10, 1987, the scene with revealing Richard as Angela’s son was already in the can. Either the “National Enquirer” deliberately presented the staff’s previous ideas or they were just misinformed.
Also, the scenes at and around the pier were filmed on March 17 (streets to pier) and 18 (pier scenes), 1987, which is why the “National Enquirer” on March 10 apparently just made wild guesses who would survive and who would not. The decision who would return was made during lunch break on March 18. That is also the reason why the “National Enquirer” used some stock footage of a generic car in the water — it is not the Volvo driven by Melissa, the picture car from the show. The photo of the car was probably some random stock shot they got from a stock photo agency.
