Falcon Crest
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Falcon Crest was an American primetime television soap opera; it aired 227 episodes from December 4, 1981 to May 17, 1990.
The show was created by Earl Hamner, famous for his work on The Waltons. Hamner wanted to create a family drama involving the wine industry. CBS ordered him to make the show more sensational, along the lines of Dallas (The show was created so CBS could easily win Friday night in the Nielsen ratings. Falcon Crest was scheduled at 10PM, with top-rated Dallas scheduled immediately before it).
Hamner proceeded to deliberately script what he viewed as trashy, turgid melodrama. It starred Oscar winner Jane Wyman as Angela Channing, a despotic woman who ruled with an iron fist over her vineyards in the fictional Tuscany Valley region of California (modeled after the Napa Valley). Robert Foxworth also starred as Chase Gioberti, a man new to the area, having inherited a portion of the Falcon Crest vineyards and winery from his father, Angela's brother Jason who died after a fall in the winery during the premiere episode. The rivalry between the established professional and the newcomer, who both happened to be tied together by blood relations, set the tone for much of the serial. The Dallas-Falcon Crest one-two punch proved lucrative for CBS and Falcon Crest was a Top 20 show in the Nielsens for many years. Despite its success, Falcon Crest usually lost about three to five million viewers from the previous hour and was never as dependable as Dallas had proven itself to be.
Other characters included Angela's grandson, playboy Lance Cumson, played by Lorenzo Lamas, her winemaker daughter Julia (Lance's mother, played by Abby Dalton), and Angela's emotionally troubled daughter Emma (Margaret Ladd). Lance would rather womanize than work an honest day in his life, and Angela liked being able to control him. Susan Sullivan played Maggie Gioberti, Chase's wife. Toward the second half of the series, Maggie fell in love with Richard Channing, played by David Selby. Originally a newspaper editor, Richard got into the business of running the wine fields when he wished to take control from Angela (Richard was the love child of Angela's late husband, and Angela despised him).
The biggest schemer in Tuscany Valley was Melissa Agretti, played by Ana Alicia. She did what she wanted with little regard for others. In 1987, Melissa kidnapped Maggie's newborn baby and rode in a car that flew into San Francisco Bay. Chase jumped in to save the baby, succeeded, and out of the goodness of his heart, went back down for Melissa. Melissa survived but Chase did not (this was in tune with Robert Foxworth's decision to leave the show).
In later years, key cast members left, which caused the ratings to drop. In 1988, Melissa perished in a house fire. In 1989, Maggie's wedding ring was caught in a pool drain, and she drowned at the Falcon Crest estate. For most of the final season, Angela, who had been the pivotal character since day one, lay unconscious in a coma (this was not due to any contract negotiations as is widely believed, but due to actress Jane Wyman's health problems; she appeared for the final three episodes of the series against her doctor's wishes).
The show would take on a darker tone for its final season. Shifting the show to newer cast members who weren't as popular, coupled with a smaller fanbase for nighttime soaps as a whole, moved CBS executives to end the show with the 1989-90 season.
The show had a stirring, heraldic theme composed by Bill Conti, who had also composed the theme to Dynasty.
At times the backstage feuding was more interesting than anything onscreen. Jane Wyman had a running feud with Robert Foxworth, to the point where they measured each other's trailers just to make sure they were equal in size. When Foxworth became a director for the show, Wyman demanded CBS add a clause to her contract making her a director. Although she never directed an episode, Wyman was pleased that she had the same designation as Foxworth. Wyman had a long-running feud with fellow movie star Lana Turner which dated back to their Hollywood years. The two legends quickly refused to speak to each other and the producers had to film their confrontational scenes separately and then splice them together. Turner was written out of the show soon after. Years after she appeared on the program, Turner noted that she believed Wyman was negative in demeanor due to the fact that her ex-husband, Ronald Reagan, was president during the 1980s, something that Turner believed Wyman could not reconcile within herself. Mel Ferrer and Simon MacCorkindale also accused Wyman of running them off the show.
Contents |
Starring Cast
Angela Channing - Jane Wyman
Chase Gioberti - Robert Foxworth (Seasons 1-6)
Maggie Gioberti/Channing - Susan Sullivan
Richard Channing - David Selby (Seasons 2-9)
Lance Cumson - Lorenzo Lamas
Melissa Agretti/Cumson/Gioberti - Ana Alicia (Seasons 1-8)
Cole Gioberti - Billy R. Moses (Seasons 1-7)
Emma Channing - Margaret Ladd
Chao-Li - Chao-Li Chi
Vickie Gioberti/Hogan/Stavros - Jamie Rose (Seasons 1-3), Dana Sparks (Seasons 6-8)
Julia Cumson - Abby Dalton (Seasons 1-6)
Philip Erickson - Mel Ferrer (Seasons 1-3)
Terry Hartford/Ranson/Channing - Laura Johnson (Seasons 3-5)
Pamela Lynch - Sarah Douglas (Seasons 3-4), Martine Beswick (Season 5)
Greg Reardon - Simon McCorkindale (Seasons 4-5)
Gustav Riebmann - Paul Freeman (Season 4)
Father Christopher - Ken Olin (Season 5)
Peter Stavros - Cesar Romero (Seasons 5-8)
Eric Stavros - John Callahan (Seasons 5-7)
Dan Fixx - Brett Cullen (Seasons 6-7)
Frank Agretti - Rod Taylor (Seasons 7-9)
Nick Agretti - David Beecroft (Season 8)
Pilar Ortega/Cumson - Kristian Alfonso (Seasons 8-9)
Lauren Daniels - Wendy Phillips (Season 9)
Michael Sharpe - Gregory Harrison (Season 9)
Genele Ericson - Andrea Thompson (Season 9)
Special Guest Stars
Jacqueline Perrault - Lana Turner (Seasons 1-2)
Dr. Michael Ranson - Cliff Robertson (Season 3)
Francesca Gioberti - Gina Lollobrigida (Season 4)
Anna Rossini - Celeste Holm (Seasons 4-5)
Jordan Roberts - Morgan Fairchild (Season 5)
Kit Marlowe - Kim Novak (Season 6)
Roland Saunders - Robert Stack (Season 6)
Vince Karlotti - Marjoe Gortner (Season 6)
Nicole Sauget - Leslie Caron (Season 7)
Liz McDowell - Lauren Hutton (Season 7)
Carlton Travis - Eddie Albert (Season 7)
Madame Malec - Ursula Andress (Season 7)
Lillian Nash - Eve Arden (Season 7)
Samantha Ross - Ana Alicia (Season 8)
Other Recurring Cast
Gus Nunouz - Nick Ramus (Season 1)
Douglas Channing - Stephen Elliott (Season 1)
Tony Cumson - John Saxon (Seasons 1, 6-7), Robert Loggia (Season 2)
Father Bob - Bob Curtis
Carlo Agretti - Carlos Romero (Seasons 1-3)
Mario Nunouz - Mario Marcelino (Seasons 1-2)
Alicia Nunouz - Silvana Gallardo (Seasons 1-2)
Nick Hogan - Roy Thinnes (Season 2-3)
Diana Hunter - Shannon Tweed (Season 2)
Darryl Clayton - Bradford Dillman (Season 2)
Katherine Demery - Joanna Cassidy (Season 2)
Sheila Hogan - Katherine Justice (Seasons 2-3)
Linda Caproni/Gioberti - Mary Kate McGeehan (Seasons 2-4)
Vince Caproni - Harry Basch (Seasons 2-4)
Joel McCarthy - Parker Stevenson (Season 4)
Lorraine Prescott - Kate Vernon (Season 4)
Cassandra Wilder - Anne Archer (Seasons 4-5)
Charlotte Pershing - Jane Greer (Season 4)
Connie Giannini - Carla Borelli (Seasons 4-5)
Damon Ross - Jonathan Frakes (Seasons 4-5)
Robin Agretti - Barbara Howard (Seasons 4-5)
Apollonia - Apollonia Kotero (Season 5)
Dwayne Cooley - Daniel Greene (Season 5)
Jeff Wainwright - Edward Albert (Seasons 5-6)
Li-Ying Chi - Rosalind Chao (Season 5)
Erin Jones - Jill Jacobson (Seasons 5-6)
Meredith Braxton - Jane Badler (Season 6)
Guy Stafford - Jeff Kober (Season 6)
Francine Hope - Melba Moore (Season 6)
Gabrielle Short - Cindy Morgan (Seasons 6-7)
Dina Wells - Robin Greer (Seasons 6-7)
Garth - Carl Held (Seasons 6-8)
John Remick - Ed Marinaro (Season 7)
Carly Fixx - Mariska Hargitay (Seasons 7-8)
Ben Agretti - Brandon Douglas (Season 8)
Cesar Ortega - Castulo Guerra (Season 8)
Tommy Ortega - Dan Ferro (Season 8)
Gabriel Ortega - Danny Nucci (Season 8)
Anna Cellini - Assumpta Serna (Season 8)
Charley St. James - Mark Lindsay Chapman (Season 9)
Ian St. James - David Hunt (Season 9)
Sydney St. James - Carla Gugino (Season 9)
Danny Sharpe - David Sheinkopf (Season 9)
Walker Daniels - Robert Ginty (Season 9)
Anne Bowen - Susan Blakely (Season 9)
Trivia
Jane Wyman, Chao-Li Chi and Lorenzo Lamas were the only cast members to stay throughout its entire run.
Jane Wyman had appeared in almost every episode from 1981-89, and missed 3 episodes prior to the season because of health problems, and missed 16 episodes in Season 9, before she came back (against her doctor's advice) to appear in the final three shows, for a total of 208 episodes, and in real-life, she wrote the soliloquy for the series finale.
Lorenzo Lamas was the only actor to appear in all 227 episodes of the series.
Emma Channing's usual greeting whenever she saw her mother Angela was "How's tricks?"
