Postponing Julia's return.

Arlene Halloran

Arlene Halloran

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Would storylines have been better or more dramatic for the Channing family if Julia's return had been postponed, from season 4 to 6. With Chase and Cole gone in the sixth, Melissa in the eigth and Maggie in the ninth surely Julia around could only have benefited the show.
 
Snarky Oracle!

Snarky Oracle!

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First of all, they brought Julia back too soon in Season 4 -- it was just too soon, especially given the dramatic way she succumbed (almost) on screen). I would have brought her back somewhere in Season 5, a year that needed a new murder mystery -- and Julia is suspected.

Even if they sent her away as they did in early-Season 6, I'd have her back for Seasons 7 & 8 (she and Emma have brain tumors, which is why they'd been so troubled for so long in their lives -- poor saintly Angela unfairly-blamed for her sternness; Melissa probably has developed one, too, but refuses to get checked-out, nor will she have the surgery that Emma & Julia have agreed to undergo.... It all stems from that nuclear waste Jacqueline buried under the vineyards back in the '50s which had been seeping into the chardonnay -- and the family's brains -- causing customers to explode in Spontaneous Human Combustion, which promises to cause a scandal).

I'd have Tony back for Seasons 7 & 8 as well. Probably attracted to Maggie.

And Season 9? The show was so different that year, it's hard to know. Cole should never have been sent off to work for Perry Mason just to bring in Dan Fixx in Season 7. I accept Chase's exit. Even Melissa's exit as long as we could surmise her twin Samantha was actually Melissa pulling a scam of some sort. Maggie's death was also quite dramatic, but I'd have her behind the desk of Falcon Crest for a couple of episodes before drowning in the pool.

But, you know new producers: they always just want the best for all of us.
 
Willie Oleson

Willie Oleson

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Snarky Oracle! said:
they brought Julia back too soon in Season 4 -- it was just too soon, especially given the dramatic way she succumbed (almost) on screen
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Yeah. Big soap retcons are fine, but not when "the snot is still wet", as it were. Retcons need to be pompous and sensational, and in fact it has to be a storyline.
Julia's return looked like an apology.
Father Christopher would have been a good reason to bring her back in a spooky "who's-that-shadow-in-the-convent" sort of way.
 
Jock Og

Jock Og

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I can see the merit, in postponing Julia's return. However had she not reappeared until let's say the autumn of '86 then we would've been deprived of all those one to one 4th season scenes, with Riebmann (in the guise of Dr. deBercy). I liked their interactions and how he had poor Julia fooled. He was a bad egg. Interesting ideas @Snarky Oracle!


Abby-Dalton-Als-Julia-Cumson-In-Falcon-Crest-w-970.jpg.jpg


You'd better watch out! Julia's about.


Abby Dalton is being interviewed about her time on Falcon Crest; (‘behind the scenes’, from season 1 – 6, 1981 – ’86):

“I found my return story to be far fetched, after the earth quake. It was supposed to be some sort of psychological blindness. The scenes in jail were the most demand, satisfying stuff for me to do. Playing an insane person is wonderful because you don't have to qualify any of the writers' writing. You get to chew the scenery. I enjoyed doing the nun with the gun. That's what Jane used to call me. I used to zip over on lunch hour to our country club in the habit, sweeping past the members. I remember one man who glanced up at me and I winked at him. I thought he was going to have a cardiac arrest on the spot."
 
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