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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 3818" data-attributes="member: 22">10/Feb/81: FLAMINGO ROAD: The Election v. 12/Feb/81: KNOTS LANDING: Players v. 13/Feb/81: DALLAS: The QuestDALLAS finally sheds the generic background music … only for it to resurface on FLAMINGO ROAD. "The Election" is a crucial FL'INGO RD ep which at long last reveals who will be the new soap senator: Field Carlyle or Jeb Ames. (It's also the first, but certainly not the last, instance of a previously used episode title being recycled from one soap to another.)Bobby Ewing also enters the political fray this week, abandoning his new-found devotion to solar energy after only a fortnight for a shot at Dave Culver's senate seat. Field and Bobby's respective other halves, Constance and Pam, both come under scrutiny regarding their suitability as senatorial wives. When asked by a pushy TV reporter (played by Garrison Southworth's nurse from DALLAS Season 1) how she will cope with all those "political groupies" her husband will have to contend with, Constance plays the devoted wife to the hilt, insisting it won't be a problem. On DALLAS, Pam is called into question for her lack of wifely devotion. "A senator's wife should be beyond reproach," JR reminds his little brother before informing him that Pam has staying at the same Port Aransas hotel as Alex Ward.Bobby confronts Pam upon her return home, they have a heart to heart, and agree to put their problems behind them. In this respect, their behaviour mirrors that of the Averys in this week's KNOTS. Richard also has a new job, and like Bobby and Pam, he and Laura hope they can paper over the cracks in their marriage at the same time.No DYNASTY this week, but echoes of Matthew and Krystle's story-line recur throughout "The Election". When Eudora Weldon meets with old flame Elmo Tyson to ask him to endorse Field, her son-in-law, as a political candidate in his newspaper, Elmo's reaction is similar to Matthew's when his old flame Krystle tried to persuade him to sell Blake his oil leases. Then when Constance steps outside during the Weldons' election party, she is as surprised to see Field kissing Lane as Fallon was to overhear Matthew declaring his love to Krystle on the Carrington terrace at their family party - except where Fallon was delighted, Constance is devastated. And Matthew and Krystle's situation is itself mirrored by Field and Lane's. Despite their mutual declarations of love, they realise their commitments lie elsewhere and so after their smooch, agree to put their relationship behind them.DYNASTY might have been the first of the '80s soaps to mention black people, but this week FLAMINGO ROAD becomes the first (and only) one to introduce black characters who actually refer to themselves as black. The characters are construction worker Carl Turner (who will later operate on Karen MacKenzie after her shooting, but let's not worry about that now) and his college kid George, and they live "somewhere" in Truro (the geography of the town is vague to say the least). George is surprised that a "bigoted sheriff" like Titus would recommend Carl for the foreman's job on Sam Curtis's land development project thingy. Titus stirs the melting pot further when he tries to persuade Carl to employ a bunch of inexperienced (and presumably illegal) Cuban immigrants as his construction crew. When Carl refuses, Titus has George picked up on an armed robbery charge. "How many other blacks have come up against his brand of justice?" George later ponders. "Rousted one day, turned loose the next day - no explanation, no rights." "What happened to you had nothing to do with you being black," replies Carl flatly. "His brand of prejudice crosses all colour lines." In other words, Titus is an equal opportunities bigot.It's an interesting decision, in 1981, for a prime time TV series to create specifically black characters, evoke a racially-charged situation, (the scene where George is stopped and arrested has all the markings of anti-black police harassment, even down to Titus's deputy calling him "boy") and then sidestep the issue so neatly. Yet it feels true to Titus's character - he has no interest in racism for racism's sake; where's the profit in that? There's a vague parallel here with Cecil Colby's dismissal of gender considerations in the opening episode of DYNASTY: "I'm not a feminist, I'm not a masculinist either. If somebody can put a dollar in my pocket … I'll hire them."There's a great exchange towards the end of the episode where Elmo asks Titus what motivates him: "You don't live big, you don't travel. You're rooted to this town like a tree. Why the money? Why the need for power?" Titus laughs. "Because it's there," he replies. Like JR and Jock and Blake and Abby, Titus gets off on the game, the chase, the "taking" of power. Like JR and Jock, but unlike Blake, he's parochial. But unlike the Ewings, he isn't motivated by anything so quaint as family. He has no principles at all, not even the distorted ones of a racist.Field having won his senate seat, "The Election" concludes with what must be Soap Land's coolest use of a freeze frame thus far. The picture freezes on a shot of Constance and Field, the victorious couple. She's holding onto his arm, her eyes looking possessively up at him while he gazes off in the direction that Sam and Lane took when they left the party. Over this image, we hear the voice of the TV reporter from earlier announcing Field's win: "Youth, intelligence, good looks, a beautiful wife. And now the state senate on his first try. The newly elected senator from Truro is off and running." Slowly, the camera starts to move in on the image of Field, kind of following Constance's gaze, until his unmoving face is in close-up. "The only question now would seem to be - how far will he go?" asks the voice-over. The ambivalent expression of Field's frozen face gives nothing away.I'm not quite sure who the "players" of this week's KNOTS episode title are, but the central focus of the ep is Linda the Lady Mechanic's infatuation with Sid, and Karen's response to same. We've been there before with Sid and his neurotic ex-wife and we'll go there again with Karen's next husband and Paula the Forest Ranger (even down to Mack and Paula getting stranded together overnight the same way Sid and Linda are here), but for some reason those other stories both feel more substantial than this one. (Perhaps it's because Linda, as sweet as she is, isn't as well-developed a character as either Susan Philby or Paula Vertosick.)The peripheral stuff on "Players" is more interesting: Val confiding in Karen about Gary's affair ("I died"), Richard pretending not to mind that Laura's latest commission is more than his annual salary, and even Ginger telling Kenny about her pregnancy. There are also some small but notable relationship shifts: Abby might be back to smirking mischievously on the sidelines, but she and Karen are openly antagonistic to each other in a way than they never were before the events of last week's episode. Meanwhile, Karen turning to Val in her hour of need would seem to mark the beginning of their special "let's go get a pizza" friendship-to-end-all-friendships.Over on DALLAS, any episode that sends Sue Ellen on a stakeout has to be a bit nutty bonkers, and indeed an air of free-floating stupidity, reminiscent of mid-period DYNASTY, hangs over much of "The Quest". Having discreetly observed Sue Ellen about to enter a restaurant, the detective following her then gets out of his car for no other reason than to render himself completely visible to her. And even after staring at him staring at her, Sue Ellen continues to insist that she can't be sure who's following her, that it's "just a feeling". Meanwhile, Lucy invites her in-laws round for dinner. As she issues Afton with a not-very-cryptic-at-all warning against embarrassing Mitch by behaving a massive slut, Ma Cooper looks on proudly, completely oblivious to what Lucy's talking about. And in Port Aransas, Jackie dreamily laments Pam's decision not to openly commit adultery with Alex. "You, dear heart, are an incurable romantic," coos Pam fondly, instead of punching her in the face.However, it's all worth it for the wonderfully bitter break up scene between Donna and Cliff. And the sight of Sue Ellen raging against the world in Dr. Elby's office. Plus, what a ridiculously fun cliff-hanger: "Dear God, it can't be!" Sue Ellen gasps. I know how she feels: the Farlow house in Denton, Rebecca's house in Season 5, the Weldon house in FLAMINGO ROAD - they all look exactly the same, but … it's just not possible.And the winner is … Dear God, it can't be … FLAMINGO ROAD!2nd: DALLAS.3rd: KNOTS LANDING</blockquote>

Verification: Who played Sue Ellen in Dallas?