Falcon Crest - S8

GMA

GMA

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I'm currently binge watching all of Falcon Crest (I'm midway S8) and I'm amazed at how much damage is done to the series in season 8. I think when you binge watch something it's really obvious what writer/tone/character changes are in the show.

For me S2-4 are faultless, I really like S5 but it's OTT/camp/80s and then S6/7 gives the show a new thriller edge/new era/new spark......and then we get to S8! Oh my days...where do I start.

Sacking Ana Alicia, slowing the pace of storylines down and the Ortegas are the biggest S8 crimes for me.

I always try to look for the positive in things and I am enjoy the Agretti family being built up, I really liked Nick and Ben and I'm glad we at least got goodbye scenes from Vicki and Carly.

Jane Wyman looks terribly thin this season - it's especially obvious when you watch straight from S7 into S8.

Such a shame so much damage has been done to this great show ....and I've not even got to S9 yet!

Falcon Crest Season 8 makes Knots Landing S13 and Dynasty S8 look positively faultless!

I'm thinking S4-S5 versions of the theme tune are my favourite.
 
Snarky Oracle!

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Soap Opera Digest called S8 the "most ruined show."

I found S7 to be too camp and too frenetic. S8 tried to go straight again, but FC no longer knew how.
 
Angela Channing

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I agree with you regarding season 8. I've always thought season 1-6 were great and the decline began in season 7 but it was turbo charged in season 8. By this stage there were too many characters that I didn't care about. In these kind of shows you have to love or hate a character but too many of them were uninspiring. The Ortegas were not only forced onto viewers but the focus of attention of the show shifted too heavily towards them and I had very little interest in them.
 
GillesDenver

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Contrary to the 9th season in which I find almost nothing to save, I think seasons 7 and 8, despite their many flaws, still have great storylines. In particular, I like really much the love story of Maggie and Richard and its inevitable destruction. I also like Pilar, which is certainly better to me than Wacko Melissa, and the Thirteen whose concept reminds me of the shady gangsters from the early seasons.

The main problem of season 8 to me is the tone : too gloomy if not dismal. The boring music did not help, nor that the absence of the Falcon Crest mansion for several episodes.
And of course the main problem of season 7, at least its first part, is that it's completely nuts.
 
Jock Og

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Season 8 started with such promise. However we all knew at some point sooner or later Angela would be back in the study but it was the goings-on around the main character and how things happened which didn't sit well, with long term followers. In the space of three episodes it was if there was a withering of the vines. Giving Ana Alicia the boot was one of the biggest blunders, in eighties prime time television. There is no doubt about Melissa and her demons just as there is no doubt then / now about her importance to the show.

Of course Ana had the last laugh getting paid for Melissa despite not being there and then towards the end of the season she steps into Samantha's shoes. Michael Filerman (R.I.P.) was left red faced at the time. Emma's storyline with the reclusive writer R.D. Young / Daniel Cabot was a bit mundane. The breakup of Richard and Maggie's marriage was hard to watch. I thought Nick Agretti was a civil fellow and his teenage son Ben a good kid, at heart.

Michael Filerman's controlled season was more pedestrian, compared to Jeff Freilich's octane rollercoaster seventh year interpretation. Imho 1987 - '88 was collectively more entertaining. Although I wouldn't have let the ninjas and special effects through the door. I would sum up Michael's eighth season as Pilar here, Pilar there and Pilar everywhere. Too much of her too quickly!




Angela talks with Pilar about the link between Troilus and Glenbraddoch, 'The Consortium.' Lance joins them in the study, to whisk away his new spouse. Angela's faithful sidekick Chao-Li has the same idea, albeit with a pot of tea, (a scene from season 8, 1988 - '89):

Angela: "Oh Chao-Li she's very pretty but I just can't imagine what he sees in her?"

Chao-Li: "At Lance's age that's enough and at my age too!"

Angela and Chao-Li chat over tea.

Angela: "Really Chao-Li!"
 
Richard Denault

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The problem was the Ortegas
Pilar so smart and ready made Lance seem more useless
Tommy Ortega could have been a Cliff Barnes, a Hispanic politician, but turning him into a little hooligan who HAS A LOVE STORY WITH MAGGIE is nonsense
Alicia's thing has no name
Excuse me, my English is very bad and although I know your comments quite well. The google translator seems to do very poorly when translating them from Spanish to English
 
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Brian Kinney

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Too many new characters, the Ortegas had one lead (Pilar) and three supporting players (her father and two brothers) and the three new Agrettis (Nick's family). Suddenly they had a teen storyline (with one Ortega and one Agretti) and they still had Eric and Vicky who behaved like teens too. The Emma storyline had potential but I thought the actor was extremely uninteresting. And the racial tension/ crime element was added with the attacks on the one Ortega who worked for Maggie. If the Ortegas had been the Nunouz family of Season 1 that might have been worked but they failed like the Ewing cousins or Dominique's extended family or the Ramos clan in TNT Dallas. The music was terrible too, after Snow's elegant but modern sounding S6-7 seasons.
 
Chase Gioberti

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GillesDenver said:
Contrary to the 9th season in which I find almost nothing to save, I think seasons 7 and 8, despite their many flaws, still have great storylines. In particular, I like really much the love story of Maggie and Richard and its inevitable destruction. I also like Pilar, which is certainly better to me than Wacko Melissa, and the Thirteen whose concept reminds me of the shady gangsters from the early seasons.

The main problem of season 8 to me is the tone : too gloomy if not dismal. The boring music did not help, nor that the absence of the Falcon Crest mansion for several episodes.
And of course the main problem of season 7, at least its first part, is that it's completely nuts.
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I agree with most of this.

There is nothing good about season 9, save Gregory Harrison.

I hated seasons 6-7. I at least appreciated season eight ditching a lot of the music and stupidity from the prior two seasons (Richard teaching the Giants how to hit, Channing NV, a ninja who can’t catch a silly woman, Angela doesn’t remember giving birth to Richard but a doofus like Valene Ewing does remember).

I hate the Ortega’s. I hated killing Melissa. I liked Nick and Frank.

It tried to recapture it’s roots at least.
 
Angela Channing

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juschill said:
Angela doesn’t remember giving birth to Richard but a doofus like Valene Ewing does remember
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But Angela did remember giving birth to Richard but the doctor told her her baby died shortly after. Valene was different because she was told her babies were still born but she remembered hearing them cry so she always suspected the doctor lied to her.

 
auhin4

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I was sad about Melissa. I already knew in advance what was going to happen to her (younger fan here). I ended up liking Pilar more than I thought I would.

I actually enjoyed the Ortega plots mostly. I thought it was funny when Tommy liked Maggie. Maggie finding out about Richard's scheme to overhaul the valley by accident on the kid's paper was riveting. Lol. Felt real. Richard needed to be taken down a peg at that point.
 
C Rose

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I have been binge watching starting from last episode of season 1 so I have picking up on the cadences and tones of each season. I finished season 8 yesterday. When I watched this season during its original run I lost interest after a handful of episodes since I didn’t like the tone so the intricacies of the plot were new to me.

Season 8 definitely turned dark and inward in regards to the core characters for the Glenbraddoch plot. The first part of the season dragged caused it featured the Channings getting along and being domestic even with a holiday celebration. Once the plot was discovered all kinds of emotional cruelty took place. It was interesting to see it unfold as they all tried to destroy each other. The cliffhanger illustrated the consequences of the family collectively taking the battle of modernization vs tradition and the pursuit of power too far and out on each other. They all lost.

I have been reading up on season 9 and plan to dive in later this week. I am keeping an open mind about it with the lens that this is a disruptive season. The writer and producer were behind 24 so it should be interesting.
 
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aframe2

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Season 8 is a regress of character development and it showed really bad between Richard Maggie and Angela.

The storylines weren't believable in comparison to the previous season

Tommy's like the most annoying character ever.
 
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GillesDenver said:
Less believable than ninjas and white slaves trade ?
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I really liked season 7. The continuity was there. The 13 storyline was fantastic and Richards redemption was evident. He saved his family from certain death and the writers blamed him in S8.
I think susan sullivan was unhappy. Especially in the opener of 9. I know there were creative differences. You see that in 8 and her haircut was also evident that she was ready to depart the show. Also I dont think the woman cracked a smile the whole season.
 
Snarky Oracle!

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aframe2 said:
I really liked season 7. The continuity was there. The 13 storyline was fantastic and Richards redemption was evident. He saved his family from certain death and the writers blamed him in S8.
I think susan sullivan was unhappy. Especially in the opener of 9. I know there were creative differences. You see that in 8 and her haircut was also evident that she was ready to depart the show. Also I dont think the woman cracked a smile the whole season.
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Season 7 was the most ridiculous year of the show (and that's saying a lot). Season 8 was merely tired.

Susan was cut due to Lorimar's budget issues (although she didn't mind). They paid her a ton to do the first couple of episodes of Season 9 because her contract wasn't renewed.
 
Matthew Blaisdel

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I wish she was in the opening credits for the first 2 episodes of season 9. :confused:
 
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