FC's cast swells, in the mid eighties.

[Jock Og]

I think season 4 and 7 just might have been the most extensive, as regards payroll. So who was your favourite cast addition in 1984 - '85 (season 4)? This was the year Bobby died, Jamie and Jack (the long lost Ewing cousins) arrived and there was a different thespian as Ellie. Then down the road there was a new Carrington and then there was an apparent shaking (shooting) up. There was the storyline of Val's babies, Alec Baldwin and the Empire Valley battle.

The top of the poll for FC newbies, in season 4 is?


Emma appears from the 2nd storey of the Falcon Crest mansion. Angela is lying on the couch in the living room, gazing into the fire and convalescing after the ‘hit and run’ incident which implicates Lance, (a scene from season 4, 1984 – ‘85):

Emma: “Mother!”

Angela: “Oh Emma! I thought you’d gone to bed long ago.”

Emma: “I did but I couldn’t help thinking about the upstairs hall.”

Angela: “What’s wrong with it? We just painted and papered up there.”

Emma: “Oh no mother! There’s your door and mine and then there’s Julia’s old room. And now the room since Lance lived in since he was a little boy. Mother it’s so empty now. It’s so sad!”

Angela: “The most constant thing in life Emma is change.”

Emma: “I know but our changes have been so chaotic.”

Angela: “Especially poor Julia. As for Lance I’m glad I found out his true nature before he inherited Falcon Crest. I know who I can trust now. You’re all I have left.”

Emma: “Oh mother I’ll never leave you!”

Mother and daughter hug, as Angela says, “I know darling, I know!”

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I think season 4 and 7 just might have been the most extensive, as regards payroll. So who was your favourite cast addition in 1984 - '85 (season 4)? This was the year Bobby died, Jamie and Jack (the long lost Ewing cousins) arrived and there was a different thespian as Ellie. Then down the road there was a new Carrington and then there was an apparent shaking (shooting) up. There was the storyline of Val's babies, Alec Baldwin and the Empire Valley battle.

To me, only DYNASTY (if the writing didn't mostly reek) was the only one where a bloated cast, at least in its peak years, seemed to fit the show -- after all, even the name is "Dynasty." And for roughly the same reason DYNASTY seemed like the right show for casting Old Hollywood icons for story arcs (even though the series almost never did that).

Of all the '80s soaps, FALCON CREST had the most parallels with DYNASTY, but the burgeoning cast of FC became, for me, a problem. I always wanted the show to get back to the organic, simple gothic tone of the first three seasons (but Bob McCullough was gone, so forget about that ever happening) with a minimalist cast. The Tuscany Valley being overpopulated doesn't work.

DALLAS, too, was stronger when it focused primarily on the core group, with the occasional guest character wandering onto Southfork. Minor roles, like those of the cartel, could spread out across Texas forever in all directions, but that was a different thing.

KNOTS was different, too, largely because it was about a community. So the rules aren't the same.

Despite the above, DYNASTY was the one that felt the most coldly isolated, the Carringtons living in a crowded bubble yet there were few interconnections between them, each other, or the outside world... The Channing/Gioberti universe was mysterious, and the viewer felt the family roots could lead almost anywhere creepy and appropriately vile... DALLAS' horizons were as big as Texas, a fictional city of Dallas existing within the real-life city of Dallas, the mythologies of Texas and the show itself enhancing each other.

So, once again, DYNASTY has the most potential yet does the least with it.

But, yeah, I always felt less-is-more was the correct approach for FALCON CREST. Just because we assume there are nazis hiding between every rock doesn't mean we have to see all of them all the time. Just as the annual arrival of that year's newest cartel, all unrelated to each other, became very tiresome very quickly.

In the mid-'80s/Season 4, I liked the addition of Paul Freeman and Gina Lollobrigida and, to a lesser degree, Simon McCorkindale. I didn't hate the others, but was apathetic too them. (Season 5 was cluttered and drab, and I often stopped watching).