"Today storytelling," one commentator remarked, "has often seems just another tile in a massive cyber mosaic of contents. Art is often evaluated on whether it meets our daily cultural requirement for edginess and attitude. Against this backdrop, the world created by writer Earl Hamner, jr. seems to exist in a parallel universe." The 9 seasons between 1981 and 1990, Earl created 'Falcon Crest' for television.
"There were some comparisons to 'The Waltons'," Earl recalled. "Love of the land, the family rituals, the insistent on following family rituals, a basic decency. (Then) there are obligatory things that you just have to do: the workmen are usually Mexicans, everybody is in the farming industry, they raise grapes, everybody make wine, the good restaurant, lots of them are Italian background."
It was noted agriculture had evolved roughly 12,000 years ago compared with man's 'hunter-gatherer' ancestors. In February 1994, it was reported a genetically engineered growth hormone had been developed to increase milk production in dairy cows. By the end of the 1985-86 season, Earl expressed, "...I was beginning to tire the series. Eventually I left it at the end of the 5th year because I just felt I had just contributed as much as I could.
"After that I think it sort of became a cult thing to look at and I know some of the people look at it to laugh because it became totally ridiculous." One insider told the press at the time, "This is make-or-break time for 'Falcon Crest'. And everyone connected with the show knows it. Ratings began to slip last season...'Falcon Crest' producers know they’ve got to come up with something really good to grab the limelight – and it looks like they have found the right ingredients.
"Melissa falls in love with the priest...She falls madly in love with this man of God, who has helped her through her problems...The shocking thing is he feels the same way – torn between Melissa and God. The interaction between these 2 characters is explosive and will make compulsive viewing." Ana-Alicia offered, "To her, he poses no threat. She reveals herself to him. And then she discovers that she is falling in love. That's a real problem because Melissa holds religion very dear. Her feelings are torture.
"I felt weird about doing all the sensuality. I’m a conservative Catholic. I don’t take drugs and I don’t have a lot of boyfriends. The Father (her priest) told me that the better I played evil, the better good would look. He pleaded that someone has always played these bad-girl roles on stage from ancient times on. So he told me to take it but warned me that I should beware of compromising myself personally. This show doesn’t encourage people to be wicked or promiscuous, so I’m not doing that.”
"There were some comparisons to 'The Waltons'," Earl recalled. "Love of the land, the family rituals, the insistent on following family rituals, a basic decency. (Then) there are obligatory things that you just have to do: the workmen are usually Mexicans, everybody is in the farming industry, they raise grapes, everybody make wine, the good restaurant, lots of them are Italian background."
It was noted agriculture had evolved roughly 12,000 years ago compared with man's 'hunter-gatherer' ancestors. In February 1994, it was reported a genetically engineered growth hormone had been developed to increase milk production in dairy cows. By the end of the 1985-86 season, Earl expressed, "...I was beginning to tire the series. Eventually I left it at the end of the 5th year because I just felt I had just contributed as much as I could.
"After that I think it sort of became a cult thing to look at and I know some of the people look at it to laugh because it became totally ridiculous." One insider told the press at the time, "This is make-or-break time for 'Falcon Crest'. And everyone connected with the show knows it. Ratings began to slip last season...'Falcon Crest' producers know they’ve got to come up with something really good to grab the limelight – and it looks like they have found the right ingredients.
"Melissa falls in love with the priest...She falls madly in love with this man of God, who has helped her through her problems...The shocking thing is he feels the same way – torn between Melissa and God. The interaction between these 2 characters is explosive and will make compulsive viewing." Ana-Alicia offered, "To her, he poses no threat. She reveals herself to him. And then she discovers that she is falling in love. That's a real problem because Melissa holds religion very dear. Her feelings are torture.
"I felt weird about doing all the sensuality. I’m a conservative Catholic. I don’t take drugs and I don’t have a lot of boyfriends. The Father (her priest) told me that the better I played evil, the better good would look. He pleaded that someone has always played these bad-girl roles on stage from ancient times on. So he told me to take it but warned me that I should beware of compromising myself personally. This show doesn’t encourage people to be wicked or promiscuous, so I’m not doing that.”
"Acting and driving are very similar. Both take tremendous concentration and discipline," Lorenzo Lamas believed. "(In 1985-86) I started finding bits of humor in the mundane dialog we have to use. I began to see a little humor in the fact that Lance, the character I play, is completely unaware of everything around him. He’s in his own little world and nothing touches him. I found humor in that and played on it."
By the end of the 1986-87 season, Ana-Alicia admitted, "It was our worst time. I can honestly say the scripts did not make sense. They went through 6 or 7 different hands and when all the tinkering was finished and we, the actors, got our copies we'd simply throw our hands up. We did our best but it was mush." In spite of the lack of interesting storylines, that season cliffhanger which left viewers breathless when Bob Foxworth's character disappeared under the San Francisco Bay attracted 33% audience share (meaning of the TV sets turned on at that hour, 33% were watching 'Falcon Crest'; 'Dallas' won 37% audience share).
"Ana-Alicia is a combination of my mother's and grandmother's names," she shared. "I took it as a stage name so people would always call me by my right name. Secondly, I would always get top billing alphabetically. I love it! It's a combination of my mother’s name, Ana, and my grandmother’s name, Alicia. It’s really my first name. I dropped my last name, Ortiz, when I was 18. I later has to add the hyphen because people thought Alicia was my last name."
Laura Johnson observed, "Evil characters have so much more dimension. So I don’t want Terry to become a one-dimensional vamp. She is what she is because she has been wounded inside. She's very jealous of her sister. She didn’t get the love from her father that her sister got. So she's devoted her life to manipulating men to get that love. Knowing that helps me to play Terry. Terry’s an exciting character to play and a departure for me. She’s vicious, manipulative and oversexed. She’s just a bad, bad girl. I’m playing a former call girl."
Laura Johnson observed, "Evil characters have so much more dimension. So I don’t want Terry to become a one-dimensional vamp. She is what she is because she has been wounded inside. She's very jealous of her sister. She didn’t get the love from her father that her sister got. So she's devoted her life to manipulating men to get that love. Knowing that helps me to play Terry. Terry’s an exciting character to play and a departure for me. She’s vicious, manipulative and oversexed. She’s just a bad, bad girl. I’m playing a former call girl."
Of her part, Laura remembered, "The producers had 2 other women lined up for the role, but both deals fell through. That's something you have to accept in Hollywood. You are seldom the first person to be offered a role....In my haste to get down to the studio, I forgot to eat. I went in and sat down in the reception area of the main office where this secretary was eating her lunch. I just sat there and watched her, and maybe I was salivating.
"My eyes were following every morsel of food as she lifted it to her mouth. Finally, she said: 'Would you like some?' Almost before the words fell out of her mouth, I was standing in front of her desk nodding and saying: 'Yes. Yes. Yes.' So she gave me some potato chips. There I am, trying to be very together and cool, and all the time I'm jamming potato chips into my mouth because I had to get rid of them.
"I tried to be very regal then, but regal and potato chips simply don't go together. So I gave up and started laughing. My attitude impressed the producers because my next stop was Napa Valley and the set of 'Falcon Crest.'" Laura confessed she also liked fudge, "I get up and start eating fudge. By 10:00 o’clock, I could put away 3 or 4 pieces. I’ve got to get it out of the house! But I’m going to hang onto the potato chips."
"My eyes were following every morsel of food as she lifted it to her mouth. Finally, she said: 'Would you like some?' Almost before the words fell out of her mouth, I was standing in front of her desk nodding and saying: 'Yes. Yes. Yes.' So she gave me some potato chips. There I am, trying to be very together and cool, and all the time I'm jamming potato chips into my mouth because I had to get rid of them.
"I tried to be very regal then, but regal and potato chips simply don't go together. So I gave up and started laughing. My attitude impressed the producers because my next stop was Napa Valley and the set of 'Falcon Crest.'" Laura confessed she also liked fudge, "I get up and start eating fudge. By 10:00 o’clock, I could put away 3 or 4 pieces. I’ve got to get it out of the house! But I’m going to hang onto the potato chips."
