Finding (the rest of) Falcon Crest - Seasons 7, 8, and 9

[Gioberti84]

Season #7 was FC on steroids. Wild and fun, with all those guest stars. Season #8 was an attempt at normality but it was boring. Season #9 is bat crazy and too much of a deviation from recognisable FC.

 

[tommie]

I could say the same about Skylar Kimball. What did she have to do with Tuscany Valley?

With a name like Skylar Kimball you'd expect her to drop in on every prime time soap.

Like, whooosh, here's Skylar!

 

[JROG]

Michael arranging for his estranged sister to adopt Richard's children is a great story. I'm having a little difficulty accepting Wendy Phillips and Gregory Harrison as siblings, but they act the hell out of quite the emotional situation.

I love Genele so far - quite a lot. What a treacherous, murderous, fascinating bitch. Love her. I am so intrigued by how they expanded Frank into this more fleshed out version. The show didn't bother much with him except he's virtuous Frank. I love how his new backstory seems to contradict that version of Frank but actually fits in quite nicely - Genele called him stupid, but his virtuousness and honesty would definitely appear like that to her, wouldn't it?

Kinda bizarre, however, how Nick and Ben disappeared without an explanation. Pilar gave us a quick update to that bizarre lake accident with Tommy and Kelly, but nothing about the Agrettis?

Every episode up to 5 has advanced the story in such surprising, often shocking ways. Now Emma is given control of FALCON CREST just as she marries Charley.

 

[Toni]

Michael arranging for his estranged sister to adopt Richard's children is a great story. I'm having a little difficulty accepting Wendy Phillips and Gregory Harrison as siblings, but they act the hell out of quite the emotional situation.

I love Genele so far - quite a lot. What a treacherous, murderous, fascinating bitch. Love her.

Oh, just wait for her to start eating...Ooops, spoiler alert!!!

Spoiler

 

[TJP]

Why on Earth would anyone want to get rid of her? Sounds like a personal thing. Terrible to hear about how she was treated when she returned.

It wasn't a personal thing (unless you regard ignorance and total disintrest in the actress and the character as something personal). Mike Filerman was just ignorant — and everyone who knew him will know what I mean. I've hardly met anyone in the entertainment business who had more mood swings and who was more self-righteous and conceited than him. He didn't know Ana Alicia and her character because Lorimar took him off the show after # 012 <1.12> since he and Earl were like oil and water. It is common knowledge these days, though, that his smart contract guaranteed him $ 25,000 exec producer's salary for every single episode produced even though he discontinued actually working on the show. The fact that Lorimar assigned "Falcon Crest" back to him in season 8 was a mere business decision. Earl had left the show two years earlier, so they did not expect the same conflicts as during season 1, and since they had to pay Filerman anyway, they thought it was a smart decision to bring him back as showrunner. But Filerman was too ignorant to watch the episodes he had missed or at least read the seasonal bibles to catch up. He never cared about Melissa because he didn't really know who she was. He would have done the same with any other actress portraying a character he wasn't familiar with. It's a horrific way to run a show though. For season 8, he made a few strict demands for certain points in the plot, like the mandatory introduction of a Hispanic family, but left the rest of the bible to Camille Marchetta to devise and write.

 

[JROG]

Up to episode 10 and I just don't want it to end. It's so good.

The arrival of another, but very different, St. James brother (with teenage wife in tow) is such a great addition to an already fascinating storyline. Emma's pregnancy received a genuine gasp from me and the whole story culminates so nicely with the brilliant "Merry Christmas, Charley" episode (despite the hilarious image of Frank commando-ing himself through the Falcon Crest window). I mean, it's quite a memorable Christmas. I loved that the whole thing spun off into a fight for Falcon Crest with Michael. And, of course, I'm looking forward to Charley's eventual return.

Genele is just a hilarious bitch. She milked Frank for all his worth (no pun intended), tried to get it on with Richard (in that hilarious scene in which she's waiting to seduce him in his living room unaware an assassin is hiding just two feet away from her), and eventually found her way to Michael. Now that's an unholly alliance. It can't possible go well - and I can't wait to see it!

Chris is a bit of a non-entity, more a plot point than anything else, but I somehow don't find myself minding.

I LOVE the idea of Richard and Lauren slowly falling in love with each other. She's basically a Maggie replacement but the show is taking its time establishing her, and building their chemistry. It works.

The arrival of Michael's son, Danny, is sudden and yet, looking back, you sort of expect it. It's a great opportunity to add more humane levels to an intriguing villain. I really enjoyed Danny's struggling with presenting the proof he found or not. A shame he can't quite match "dad" Harrison's acting chops but he did just show up.

I simply cannot wait to see where things go next!

 

[JROG]

I'm four episodes away from completing the final season.

There are many fascinating things about this last season, but the fact you can never quite predict how the next episode will unfold its storylines has got to be one of its most thrilling aspects.

Will we get a tense hostage episode where one of the supporting characters ends up blowing himself up? Or a sickening, yet totally captivating exploration of a brother's near-incestuous feelings for his sister? It just never rests, or lets the viewer rest.

I loved the concept of "Four Women" which explored where the four ladies of the show - Genele, Lauren, Sydney, and Pilar - stood by this point in the season. Sydney quickly developed into a very interesting young woman, and of course Genele and Lauren are very complex and I wish they were around sooner. The way they managed to expand Genele and add sensitive layers to her without losing what made her so interesting is top notch writing. And I thought exploring Lauren's mini breakdown and attempt to find herself were lovely.

The show is also investing time in making Sharpe multidimensional. Harrison did excellent work with Danny's accident (which he inadvertently caused) and managed to make me feel sympathy for him.

Using Lance and Pilar as 'undercover' agents (Lance in that skintight t-shirt and jeans muscle outfit and Pilar as a street girl) was ingenuous.

I will make one small concession to the "it doesn't feel like Falcon Crest" crowd: At this point, the only longterm, recognizable faces are Lance and Richard. If one hadn't followed the season, and tuned into one of the episodes that focus mostly on Lauren, Sharpe, Sydney, Pilar, etc., they might have trouble guessing which show they're watching.

I never got the different tone as a good excuse, since the FC I know varied wildly in tone and execution practically every season. The FC of Season 1 is NOT the FC of Seasons 2, 3, and 4a, which is NOT the FC of 4b and 5, which is definitely not the FC of 6, or 7, or 8....

I think perhaps the lack of more longterm characters being around makes it harder to recognize the show as FC.

One has to wonder: If we kept the same, strong direction and writing but included more characters like Melissa, Maggie, Cole, Angela, and Peter, would it be more widely accepted? Is that why a season like seven is more palatable to some?

All I know is, I wish more people accepted Season 9 because they're missing out on topnotch soap opera....

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

One has to wonder: If we kept the same, strong direction and writing but included more characters like Melissa, Maggie, Cole, Angela, and Peter, would it be more widely accepted? Is that why a season like seven is more palatable to some?

All I know is, I wish more people accepted Season 9 because they're missing out on topnotch soap opera....

Leonard Katzman once pointed out that even good writing won't work if the audience doesn't like the cast. And given what little of the cast was left (and the lack of appeal of the new ones) it mostly didn't work for the audience.

 

[James from London]

you can never quite predict how the next episode will unfold its storylines

Yes!

It just never rests, or lets the viewer rest.

Yes! It's the opposite of the televisual equivalent of easy-listening music, i.e., something you can have on in the background and not really pay much attention to, yet still expect to follow what's going on. It demands you pay attention. It respects your intelligence ... at the same time as being completely bonkers.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Leonard Katzman once pointed out that even good writing won't work if the audience doesn't like the cast. And given what little of the cast was left (and the lack of appeal of the new ones) it mostly didn't work for the audience.

Which reminds me of Peyton Place's last "season" which also got a big fat make-over, and I loved all of it.

If Lance Cumson is the character you're supposed to root for then it says a lot about the other characters.
I think many FC viewers have experienced season 9 as a double whammy: the familiarity was gone and there was nobody to like. Pilar? She had done nothing to deserve my love.
Familiarity says nothing about the quality of a soap (and FC is a good example of that) but at the same time I have to ask myself "why did I keep watching this in the first place?" And I think those familiar faces had a lot to do with it. Because I watched it without reviewing it or thinking about it, and waiting for the next episode is the essence of being hooked.

I just really really wish Robert Foxworth had returned, if only for a few episodes. To conclude his journey - perhaps with a soliloquy - and upstage the FC villains Richard and Angela.

 

[Jock Og]

You're entitled to your opinion @JROG. I never have nor ever will really like 9 as a complete FC season. The show was going to be cancelled before Jane Wyman and Chao-Li Chi reappeared. The only way I can appreciate the final season is in a standalone spin-off manner. IMHO that's the way 9 should be interpreted. Say what you like about the Freilich seasons but they were more like FC than the Sharpe season ever could've dreamed of being. It's a closed shop, in my book.

The curtain had to come down but not without these two old faces.


Angela is standing on the veranda of her mansion, looking over her vineyards. She reminisces and in doing so the final scene happens. The cast and crew have a party, once the cameras stop rolling. Main actor Jane Wyman speaks about the show concluding; ('behind the scenes' from season 9, 1989 - '90):

Chao-Li Chi gives her a peck on the cheek and then Jane continues;

"It's a funny feeling because you wake up and you say that I'm not going to see my friends again. You know because I've never done anything this long. I just wanted to say thank you and offer you all the gratitude in the world."

 

[JROG]

I'm saving the last three episodes for tomorrow, but in the meantime, how great was "Crimes of the Past"? Sharpe setting up an accident that inadvertently almost got his son killed, trying to keep it a secret, and the fallout from that (giving back Falcon Crest) was such a great story, but I wasn't prepared for the great twist of having Anne tell Sharpe, just as he's finally made the right decision and chosen love and family, that Danny is Richard's son. It's one of the few times such a reveal has made me genuinely gasp -- and, if you look back, they had set it up all along. Fabulous!

 

[Willie Oleson]

Anne tell Sharpe, just as he's finally made the right decision and chosen love and family, that Danny is Richard's son

I remembered that twist but not the whole context, or the payback at this most unfortunate and very dramatic timing.

 

[JROG]

Leonard Katzman once pointed out that even good writing won't work if the audience doesn't like the cast. And given what little of the cast was left (and the lack of appeal of the new ones) it mostly didn't work for the audience.

And that's fair enough! It never would've worked for the general audience without the usual cast - I'm just happy I love the new additions.

Yes! It's the opposite of the televisual equivalent of easy-listening music, i.e., something you can have on in the background and not really pay much attention to, yet still expect to follow what's going on. It demands you pay attention. It respects your intelligence ... at the same time as being completely bonkers.

And what a pleasant change from what was mostly being served by the primetime soaps for a few years at that point - actual storytelling! Soapy stories that don't require you to turn your brain off to accept!

If Lance Cumson is the character you're supposed to root for then it says a lot about the other characters.
I think many FC viewers have experienced season 9 as a double whammy: the familiarity was gone and there was nobody to like. Pilar? She had done nothing to deserve my love.
Familiarity says nothing about the quality of a soap (and FC is a good example of that) but at the same time I have to ask myself "why did I keep watching this in the first place?" And I think those familiar faces had a lot to do with it. Because I watched it without reviewing it or thinking about it, and waiting for the next episode is the essence of being hooked.

Speaking of Lance as someone to root for, that is something I noticed starting in Season 8. Suddenly, he started functioning like Cole or Dan used to: The dashing man we are supposed to root for. Not that he was without fault - like getting Cookie pregnant and telling her to just abort it - but all of a sudden he was a hero. It's a very bizarre direction for spoiled playboy Lance.

I think you are correct about having nobody to like: I love Genele and Sharpe, but they're not really likable people, are they? Perhaps Lauren could fit that bill. That being said, when I'm done with an episode, I can't wait to see what's next!

I remembered that twist but not the whole context, or the payback at this most unfortunate and very dramatic timing.

They sure did time it for maximum effect!

 

[Chase Gioberti]

And just like that... Season 7 is done with. Phew.

Overall, I think it was a destructive season for the show, in a far greater extent than Season 6 was. While I appreciated Chase's codicils, Richard and Maggie, and Carly (mostly thanks to Hargitay), the rest was a collection of random plot points that managed to be outrageous and boring at the same time. When the final episode of the season started with Eric being brainwashed by Rosemont, I very seriously considered hitting Home on my remote and never watching again.

While earlier FALCON CREST could be outrageous, it somehow managed to ground it and make it worth it (like Julia's long kidnapping by the Nazi while he watched her through a mirror). I never took FC too seriously because it never took itself seriously either -- anything could be undone and rewritten as needed. But to a point. And the last couple of seasons have decimated that to the point where nothing matters anymore.

Melissa is the MVP of the season -- Ana Alicia has given the performance of a lifetime, making every single utterly insane thing Melissa says or does work. Somehow. Magically. A bit too much giggling perhaps, but I'll forgive her. How else would you survive all this craziness, as an actor, if not laugh? And I've always adored Sullivan and Selby.

I just don't have much to say. Except perhaps the really quick storylines and incredible turnover of characters was a blessing in disguise: It was so frenetic, at least it helped me tolerate the terrible plots slightly. Once we settled into a much slower pace, it's just a slog.... People have always trash talked Season 5 but it was Shakespeare compared to what followed. Honestly, Apollonia was the worst thing... and I'd take it over what we got in Season 7. At least the cliffhanger was fun!

Please tell me I can expect something better in Season 8? It's the only season from which I've never seen anything.

I’m the biggest defender of season 8 on these boards. I think season 8 is a noble attempt to get Falcon Crest back to sanity. The damage was done but I enjoyed season 8 and feel season 9 cheated us out of more.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Speaking of Lance as someone to root for, that is something I noticed starting in Season 8. Suddenly, he started functioning like Cole or Dan used to: The dashing man we are supposed to root for

Of course there's nothing wrong with a character getting a little older and wiser, and perhaps it even classifies as that precious "character development" that many soap fans seem to crave.
At the same time it cannot be ignored that the originally likeable characters were gone, except for Maggie, therefore it seems like a matter of logistics that former baddies Richard and Lance (and to a certain extent even Angela) became the likeable characters in a scenario with new baddies.
A villains-only model doesn't work in soap opera, I think.

I love Genele and Sharpe, but they're not really likable people, are they?

From what I've read on this Falcon Crest forum many fans like them despite their disdain for season 9.
But while a soap can suffer from losing likeable characters (or suddenly played by other characters) it doesn't take a lot to be entertained by villainous characters.
The dramatic impact of their dastardly behaviour doesn't always need to be earned, it's more self-explanatory.
Likeable characters have to make more effort to earn that love and respect, and sometimes even by showing that they're not so perfect at all.
Chase became more unlikeable as the series went on, but to me it seemed like a natural result of his somewhat misguided optimism that brought him to the Valley in the first place. It's a tale of tragedy and that's why I never stopped liking him.

There was a time that I despised season 9, and when I joined this forum many many years ago I immediately got involved in a season 9 discussion (yeah, like Dallas' dream season it goes on forever!).
At that time I behaved like the typically obnoxious fanboy from hell who ignored all the reasonable arguments that FC season 9 had indeed some merit - in other words: I simply didn't want to like it.
Many years have passed and, more importantly, many other TV series have been watched since then. Eventually I had to acknowledge the fact that the things I enjoyed in post-Falcon Crest series had already been done in that very season 9.
When Charlie attacks Angela he looks like a character who could have worked in One-Eyed Jacks in TWIN PEAKS, and combined with the deliciously misplaced sexual reference it also has a whiff of NIP/TUCK.
The hostage/bombing scene is pure THE SOPRANOS, and even the dogfood eating scene is kinda similar to the infamous vomit scene by Soprano's Adriana.
EMPIRE had quite a few of these late Falcon Crest stunts so no matter how cliché it sounds, it was ahead of its time.

That didn't immediately made me switch from hating it to loving it, but at least I had come to appreciate it. And the more I read about it, the more I like it - which makes it such a joy to read about your experience of Falcon Crest's controversial last season. Hopefully one day I'll get the chance to re-rewatch it (I've seen it twice on television).
Lastly I want to say that your unspoilt opinion reminds me of how I watched New Dallas and enjoyed the heck out of it.

 

[James from London]

I think you are correct about having nobody to like: I love Genele and Sharpe, but they're not really likable people, are they?

I'd sooner watch characters who are compelling than likeable. I mean, every character in Succession is genuinely horrible, but that doesn't stop it being a brilliantly gripping and hugely entertaining show, and the tiny glimpses you get of people's humanity are all the more powerful for being so rare.

That said, I found Danny Sharpe a surprisingly touching character in Season 9. And I guess Richard moves into a more traditionally sympathetic role after Maggie dies and he loses his kids. And because they're so three-dimensionally written and acted, it's not hard to empathise with or feel moved by Michael, Genele, Walker, Sidney and Pilar at different times, even if they're not conventionally "nice" in a dependable, Maggie Gioberti sort of way. I think it's great when I find my sympathies continually shifting throughout a drama rather than having everyone clearly labelled either "good" or "bad" from the outset. That's one of the things I loved about New Dallas: nobody was just one thing.

 

[James from London]

Lastly I want to say that your unspoilt opinion reminds me of how I watched New Dallas and enjoyed the heck out of it.

That's funny -- we posted at the same time and both ended up talking about New Dallas!

 

[Willie Oleson]

I'd sooner watch characters who are compelling than likeable. I mean, every character in Succession is genuinely horrible, but that doesn't stop it being a brilliantly gripping and hugely entertaining show, and the tiny glimpses you get of people's humanity are all the more powerful for being so rare.

Yes. But I think it can work both ways i.e. when an established nice character does something questionable (e.g. Krystle's sales pitch to Matthew in Dynasty's first season, Steven's resentment of Adam for all the wrong reasons, he wasn't even aware of the good reasons).

I think it's great when I find my sympathies continually shifting throughout a drama rather than having everyone clearly labelled either "good" or "bad" from the outset.

The closest we got to that kind of 1980s narrative happened in THE COLBYS (and I guess FLAMINGO ROAD before that) but overall, for many years, we had been conditioned by the more traditional and archetypal scenarios. And Falcon Crest's last season pulled the rug from under our feet.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

That's funny -- we posted at the same time and both ended up talking about New Dallas!

It's almost uncanny!