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Post by galacticgirrrl on Jan 19, 2023 3:57:54 GMT
The flip side to this thread is the dreaded TV characters who didn't change. That is great to hear Jan Smithers tried to add depth to Bailey Quarters. I'm sorry to see this on her wiki page - Karin Jan Smithers is an American former actress. I had no idea she retired once she had a baby. I can't find much on what her daughter Molly Brolin is up to of late on the imdb.
This reminds me of how hard Robert Reed fought to make the characters in The Brady Bunch worthwhile. His influence must have worked because I can watch repeats to this day. The really dumb episodes like Greg's green hair are painful.
I never watched Falcon Crest but I am wondering if Abby Dalton ever spoke about what they did to her character? There are a couple of terrible-yet-amusing TV movies about Aaron Spelling. The Unauthorized Melrose Place Story (2015) was on recently. After a season or two the writers and producers give up all hope of having a decent show and instead push each one of the characters to the limits of ridiculousness. They tried to imply the actors just took it all in stride and looked for the fun in the situation but somehow I doubt it.
Totally forgot about Wonder Woman 1.0. What a change that was!
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Post by marysara1 on Jan 19, 2023 8:02:49 GMT
Did Archie Bunker ever become "enlightened", either on the original series or on Archie's Place? I was too young to understand much of his original persona, and after my parents moved away from the show, I never went back myself. On Archie's Place he did. He had a Jewish business partner, and his niece was Jewish. So, for her sake he softened on matters.
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Post by topbilled on Jan 19, 2023 15:57:05 GMT
The flip side to this thread is the dreaded TV characters who didn't change. That is great to hear Jan Smithers tried to add depth to Bailey Quarters. I'm sorry to see this on her wiki page - Karin Jan Smithers is an American former actress. I had no idea she retired once she had a baby. I can't find much on what her daughter Molly Brolin is up to of late on the imdb. This reminds me of how hard Robert Reed fought to make the characters in The Brady Bunch worthwhile. His influence must have worked because I can watch repeats to this day. The really dumb episodes like Greg's green hair are painful. I never watched Falcon Crest but I am wondering if Abby Dalton ever spoke about what they did to her character? There are a couple of terrible-yet-amusing TV movies about Aaron Spelling. The Unauthorized Melrose Place Story (2015) was on recently. After a season or two the writers and producers give up all hope of having a decent show and instead push each one of the characters to the limits of ridiculousness. They tried to imply the actors just took it all in stride and looked for the fun in the situation but somehow I doubt it. Totally forgot about Wonder Woman 1.0. What a change that was! I agree that the characters on Melrose Place and later the characters on Desperate Housewives had become increasingly outlandish.
With Abby Dalton's character on Falcon Crest I don't think the goal was to make Julia outlandish per se...I think the writing team, led by Earl Hamner, had a specific approach in mind. That Angela Channing (Jane Wyman) might have all the money and power in the world, but she had a somewhat demented daughter whose crimes became more uncontainable and thus she was an Achilles heel. The irony is that Wyman and Dalton were very close off screen, so their goal as actresses was to still convey a strong mother-daughter bond on camera, despite the various plot elements they were given to play on screen.
After Julia was written out, the writers focused on Angela's bond with her younger daughter Emma (Margaret Ladd) who was much more naive and experienced many emotional problems but was never demented. And then at the end of season six, it was revealed that David Selby's character Richard was Angela's long-lost son...so the final seasons had Angela at war with Richard, finding herself occasionally undermined by him. In season eight, Richard had Angela committed to a mental institution. So all of Angela's children were meant to be huge vulnerabilities for her...but what happens in those early seasons with Julia is quite extreme.
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Post by Newbie on Jan 19, 2023 17:05:08 GMT
My wife has just started researching Falcon Crest. She mid way thru season 2. I mentioned this thread to her and she remarked that so Julia has very little to do. In the first season she is seen often in her laboratory in the vineyard concocting wine, an oenologist. We met her ex husband in one show but she seemed pretty meek, under the thumb of her powerful mother. Emma, in the other hand, is a pain in the neck. I wonder if Abby Dalton wanted more to do than to pretend to mix wine in the lab?
As with Robert Reed on Brady Bunch, there must be times when an actor is sick of playing a role, no matter how successful the show is.
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Post by topbilled on Jan 19, 2023 19:00:37 GMT
My wife has just started researching Falcon Crest. She mid way thru season 2. I mentioned this thread to her and she remarked that so Julia has very little to do. In the first season she is seen often in her laboratory in the vineyard concocting wine, an oenologist. We met her ex husband in one show but she seemed pretty meek, under the thumb of her powerful mother. Emma, in the other hand, is a pain in the neck. I wonder if Abby Dalton wanted more to do than to pretend to mix wine in the lab? As with Robert Reed on Brady Bunch, there must be times when an actor is sick of playing a role, no matter how successful the show is. Tell your wife to stick with it...the season 2 cliffhanger is when Julia is unmasked as a murderess.
The ex-husband returns to the show several times, and he is played by John Saxon.
Emma is often used as comic relief, a bit flighty, not dangerous as Julia becomes.
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Post by jamesjazzguitar on Jan 19, 2023 19:25:14 GMT
I never watched Falcon Crest but I am wondering if Abby Dalton ever spoke about what they did to her character? There are a couple of terrible-yet-amusing TV movies about Aaron Spelling. The Unauthorized Melrose Place Story (2015) was on recently. After a season or two the writers and producers give up all hope of having a decent show and instead push each one of the characters to the limits of ridiculousness. They tried to imply the actors just took it all in stride and looked for the fun in the situation but somehow I doubt it. I'm a friend of Gloria Fickling, who, with husband Forrest wrote the Honey West books. Spelling launched the T.V. Show Honey West in 1965. According to Gloria Spelling didn't wish to pay for the rights to the character and stories, so he canceled the show, and years later developed his own show based on female detectives; Charlie's Angels. The Ficklings sued but lost. If one ever wishes to see a 90s year old lady drop F bombs, just mention Spelling to Gloria. Gloria was still friend with Anne Francis until Anne passed in 2011, but I was never able to have Gloria introduce me to Anne. Also, Miramax was thinking of creating a Honey West movie and securing the rights to the character from Gloria, with Charlize Theron as Honey. Gloria had forgotten to renew her copywrite which was taken over by a crossdressing performer (E.g. Bette Davis is a common character for these performer and he used Honey West in his act). The performer ended up giving Gloria back the rights but Miramax didn't wish to get involved in any legal rights mess and decided to drop the project and Theron ended up making Atomic Blonde. Gloria's mission the last 30 years has been to get a Honey West movie made but sadly I don't think that will happen.
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Post by jinsinna13 on Jan 19, 2023 20:50:04 GMT
As with Robert Reed on Brady Bunch, there must be times when an actor is sick of playing a role, no matter how successful the show is. And some actors leave their respective shows as a result. Angus T. Jones on Two and a Half Men, James MacArthur on the original Hawaii Five-O, Tim Considine on My Three Sons, etc.
I didn't watch much of The Brady Bunch, but I have heard that if it was renewed for a sixth season, Robert Reed would not be on it. Reed constantly butted heads with series creator Sherwood Schwartz, and Schwartz would've either used a new actor for Reed's role or killed the character off.
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Post by Newbie on Jan 19, 2023 23:00:43 GMT
As with Robert Reed on Brady Bunch, there must be times when an actor is sick of playing a role, no matter how successful the show is. And some actors leave their respective shows as a result. Angus T. Jones on Two and a Half Men, James MacArthur on the original Hawaii Five-O, Tim Considine on My Three Sons, etc.
I didn't watch much of The Brady Bunch, but I have heard that if it was renewed for a sixth season, Robert Reed would not be on it. Reed constantly butted heads with series creator Sherwood Schwartz, and Schwartz would've either used a new actor for Reed's role or killed the character off.
The did that to Valerie Harper on her show, Valerie. She was fired over a salary dispute at the end of the 2nd season. They killed off her character. The show was renamed The Hogan show.
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Post by Newbie on Jan 19, 2023 23:08:47 GMT
My wife has just started researching Falcon Crest. She mid way thru season 2. I mentioned this thread to her and she remarked that so Julia has very little to do. In the first season she is seen often in her laboratory in the vineyard concocting wine, an oenologist. We met her ex husband in one show but she seemed pretty meek, under the thumb of her powerful mother. Emma, in the other hand, is a pain in the neck. I wonder if Abby Dalton wanted more to do than to pretend to mix wine in the lab? As with Robert Reed on Brady Bunch, there must be times when an actor is sick of playing a role, no matter how successful the show is. Tell your wife to stick with it...the season 2 cliffhanger is when Julia is unmasked as a murderess.
The ex-husband returns to the show several times, and he is played by John Saxon.
Emma is often used as comic relief, a bit flighty, not dangerous as Julia becomes. She watched it when it originally aired but she doesn't remember the specifics. She does remember all the classic movie actors who make cameos over the years. In season 2 Lana Turner is playing someone's glamorous mom. Mel Ferrer is a supporting character. My wife says Kim Novak and Cesar Romero also show up at some point. From what I've seen it's a high end show: Lush music by Bill Conti, the locations and clothes are all very glamourous.
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Post by topbilled on Jan 19, 2023 23:28:01 GMT
Tell your wife to stick with it...the season 2 cliffhanger is when Julia is unmasked as a murderess.
The ex-husband returns to the show several times, and he is played by John Saxon.
Emma is often used as comic relief, a bit flighty, not dangerous as Julia becomes. She watched it when it originally aired but she doesn't remember the specifics. She does remember all the classic movie actors who make cameos over the years. In season 2 Lana Turner is playing someone's glamorous mom. Mel Ferrer is a supporting character. My wife says Kim Novak and Cesar Romero also show up at some point. From what I've seen it's a high end show: Lush music by Bill Conti, the locations and clothes are all very glamourous. Cesar Romero plays an old friend of Jane Wyman's character who marries her, after her previous marriage to Mel Ferrer ends (Ferrer's character dies in a plane crash). A short time later, Romero's stepdaughter turns up, and she's played by Kim Novak.
I felt the storyline with Novak was a bit convoluted, and it lasts all of season 6. She turns out to be an imposter, and the real stepdaughter was murdered. But in the end Romero forgives her for her deception and they end up leaving the valley together, when he divorces Wyman. It is almost implied that this woman he thought was his daughter becomes his lover, since they jet off to Europe together. Romero returns for a few special guest appearances later, but Novak is never seen again on the show.
Other big name guest stars over the years included Cliff Robertson, Celeste Holm, Anne Archer, Gina Lollobrigida, Roscoe Lee Browne, Ursula Andress, Robert Stack, Leslie Caron and Lana Turner, whom you already mentioned.
Turner's character appears in season 1 & 2 (she is murdered by Abby Dalton's character in the season 2 cliffhanger). She plays Robert Foxworth's mother, and she has another son played by David Selby. But at the end of season 6, we learn that a child that Wyman thought had been stillborn was actually stolen at birth, and that was Selby, whom Lana Turner raised as her own. In fact this big revelation at the end of season 6 is probably one of the show's best cliffhanger episodes. And Falcon Crest went up in the ratings that year, after having slid a bit in season 5.
Season 7 & 8 primarily focuses on the war between Wyman and Selby, because Foxworth had quit the series in a dispute with the producers over the direction of his storyline.
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Post by Newbie on Jan 19, 2023 23:32:17 GMT
I'm a friend of Gloria Fickling, who, with husband Forrest wrote the Honey West books. Spelling launched the T.V. Show Honey West in 1965. According to Gloria Spelling didn't wish to pay for the rights to the character and stories, so he canceled the show, and years later developed his own show based on female detectives; Charlie's Angels. The Ficklings sued but lost. If one ever wishes to see a 90s year old lady drop F bombs, just mention Spelling to Gloria. Gloria was still friend with Anne Francis until Anne passed in 2011, but I was never able to have Gloria introduce me to Anne. Also, Miramax was thinking of creating a Honey West movie and securing the rights to the character from Gloria, with Charlize Theron as Honey. Gloria had forgotten to renew her copywrite which was taken over by a crossdressing performer (E.g. Bette Davis is a common character for these performer and he used Honey West in his act). The performer ended up giving Gloria back the rights but Miramax didn't wish to get involved in any legal rights mess and decided to drop the project and Theron ended up making Atomic Blonde. Gloria's mission the last 30 years has been to get a Honey West movie made but sadly I don't think that will happen. That's interesting piece of history. I can certainly see Theron as Honey West, complete with Anne Francis' beauty mark. Seems like everything eventually gets reboot. Maybe it'll happen yet. There are so many channels now with streaming, perhaps it could turned into a limited tv series.
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Post by Newbie on Jan 19, 2023 23:41:16 GMT
She watched it when it originally aired but she doesn't remember the specifics. She does remember all the classic movie actors who make cameos over the years. In season 2 Lana Turner is playing someone's glamorous mom. Mel Ferrer is a supporting character. My wife says Kim Novak and Cesar Romero also show up at some point. From what I've seen it's a high end show: Lush music by Bill Conti, the locations and clothes are all very glamourous. Cesar Romero plays an old friend of Jane Wyman's character who marries her, after her previous marriage to Mel Ferrer ends (Ferrer's character dies in a plane crash). A short time later, Romero's stepdaughter turns up, and she's played by Kim Novak.
I felt the storyline with Novak was a bit convoluted, and it lasts all of season 6. She turns out to be an imposter, and the real stepdaughter was murdered. But in the end Romero forgives her for her deception and they end up leaving the valley together, when he divorces Wyman. It is almost implied that this woman he thought was his daughter becomes his lover, since they jet off to Europe together. Romero returns for a few special guest appearances later, but Novak is never seen again on the show.
Other big name guest stars over the years included Cliff Robertson, Celeste Holm, Anne Archer, Gina Lollobrigida, Roscoe Lee Browne, Ursula Andress, Robert Stack, Leslie Caron and Lana Turner, whom you already mentioned.
Turner's character appears in season 1 & 2 (she is murdered by Abby Dalton's character in the season 2 cliffhanger). She plays Robert Foxworth's mother, and she has another son played by David Selby. But at the end of season 6, we learn that a child that Wyman thought had been stillborn was actually stolen at birth, and that was Selby, whom Lana Turner raised as her own. In fact this big revelation at the end of season 6 is probably one of the show's best cliffhanger episodes. And Falcon Crest went up in the ratings that year, after having slid a bit in season 5.
Season 7 & 8 primarily focuses on the war between Wyman and Selby, because Foxworth had quit the series in a dispute with the producers over the direction of his storyline.Ursula Andress, Leslie Caron, Anne Archer and Gina Lollabrigida? Hmm.Maybe I'll start watching too!
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Post by topbilled on Jan 20, 2023 2:43:08 GMT
Ursula Andress, Leslie Caron, Anne Archer and Gina Lollabrigida? Hmm.Maybe I'll start watching too! I forgot that Eddie Albert guest-starred in a few episodes. And Eve Arden also turns up. So do Jane Greer and Theodore Bikel.
Mariska Hargitay had a recurring role during one of the later seasons, I think it was her first major role on a television series.
This video shows all the important guest stars in alphabetical order. Nearly 100 of them.
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ericj
New Member
Posts: 25
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Post by ericj on Jan 20, 2023 9:12:38 GMT
Homer Simpson on The Simpsons was never a genius, but he becomes dumber as the show goes on. Ned Flanders on The Simpsons was introduced as a kind-hearted neighbor and family man who was religious. As the show goes on, however, the religious part of his personality becomes overly exaggerated. Hence why Flanderization is named after Ned Flanders.
In the original Tracey Ullman Show shorts, Bart & Lisa were the main characters, Homer was named "Dad", worked at no identified location, and was no dumber than anybody else's frustratingly clueless dad growing up.
And yes, Flanders' gimmick was just supposed to be irritatingly cheerful, until we get references that he was (gasp!) religious, and then misanthropic paranoid-atheist Matt Groening made sure he was the whipping-boy for every single fundamentalist Religious-Right joke.
Similarly, Sherwood Schwartz did that to Elliott Gould, on the sitcom "Together We Stand" (which was originally supposed to be a revival of Schwartz's Brady Bunch spinoff pilot where Ken Berry adopts three kids)-- Gould didn't want to come back for another season, so Schwartz killed off his character, retitled the show "Nothing is Easy", and turned the premise into a sitcom about the widowed wife getting by.
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Post by Newbie on Jan 20, 2023 12:20:13 GMT
That's an impressive list of guest stars. One of these is not like the other: Buck Henry. Hard to imagine how he'd fit in Falcon Crest.
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