Lee Rich "was a very innovative programmer, very savvy, always jolly. He could be abrasive, but that's not bad in the television industry," Earl Hamner told 'The Los Angeles Times' in 2012. Fred Silverman added, "It's difficult to go from a buying position to a seller, and he made that transition very well. He was that very unusual executive who had great business sense but also great creative instincts."
The son of a banker, Lee Rich had served in the navy as a lieutenant in World War II. Fred Silverman continued, "He probably had more influence on what the networks programmed than maybe 99% of the program executives that were at the networks during the period that he was actively employed." Lee Rich stated in 1987, "Advertising is the best background I could have ever had for this business. I learned the business, and that's a major problem with people out here - they don't know the business."
In 1980, public interest were whipped into a frenzy over the soap opera mystery of the year: Who shot J.R.? on 'Dallas'. For eight months (from March to November) covering spring, summer and the fall, 'United Press International' reported,
CBS and Lorimar Productions tantalized viewers by prolonging the suspense over the shooting of a fictional character with media stories (in magazines, newspapers and on TV) and a plethora of buttons, T-shirts, bumper stickers and other gimmicks addressing the question of 'Who Shot J.R.?'.
When the puzzle was finally resolved and the burning question answered, CBS cheerfully claimed, "It is also possible that when the national Nielsen figures are tallied, 'Dallas' may turn out to be the highest rated program of any category, a distinction formerly held by (the 1977 mini-series) 'Roots'." As pointed out, not since network television started in 1947 had a prime time series captured the imagination of so many viewers as the 'Who Shot J.R.?' controversy.
"My daddy would have been tickled to death," Bing Crosby's daughter, Mary remarked. Four alternative endings were reportedly filmed. As understood, over 150 members of the cast, producers and network officials associated with 'Dallas', the No. 1-rated show at the time, celebrated the solving of the mystery at Chasen's (in West Hollywood). Larry Hagman conceded, "I didn't know who it was myself."
A statement from CBS read, "Based on the overnight national ratings it appears certain that the Friday night episode of 'Dallas' is now the highest rated episode of a regularly scheduled series." 'The Washington Post' described "the long, long-awaited episode of 'Dallas' in which J.R.'s assailant was revealed" as the "single hour of closely watched television." David Sims of 'The Atlantic' noted in 2015, "As with many classic TV cliffhangers, the show's writers went into things with no particular idea of how to resolve the mystery, arriving at the conclusion just by a logical process of elimination."
Soap operas were popular during bad economic times (such as the Great Depression of the 1930s). In the early 1980s, the prime time dramas 'Dallas', 'Dynasty' and 'Falcon Crest' were all big Nielsen rating winners. Leigh Taylor-Young of 'The Hamptons' explained to 'United Press International', "In the '80s people are interested in human behavior, especially of the very rich, and by their responses the viewers are able to define who they are.
"I don't believe today's (1983) audiences want to escape into the fantasies of the rich like they did in the 1930s. But they are fascinated by the fact that even the enormously wealthy have human problems like everyone else. Soaps about powerful, financially independent people demonstrate the rich hurt as much as anybody and that money doesn’t necessarily bring happiness."
In 1981, 'Falcon Crest', another Warner Communications' Lorimar series went on air. Set in California's Napa Valley, CBS was convinced the series starring President Reagan's first wife, Jane Wyman as the matriarch of Falcon Crest was a sure winner, particularly since 'Falcon Crest' (about the wine industry) was teamed up on Friday nights with 'The Dukes of Hazzard' and 'Dallas'.
In the 1984-85 TV season, NBC counterprogrammed against CBS with 'Miami Vice' (going for a younger audience) aired opposite 'Falcon Crest' (watched mostly by women over 35). Discussing the ratings trend, Earl Hamner told the 'Chicago Tribune' in 1986, ''I can only speak for 'Falcon Crest', but I do not think its death is imminent. We have been told to go ahead with the 'bible' (story line) for next season (1986-87) and to start setting directors, which is a healthy sign of life. In 'Miami Vice', we're up against the steamroller of all time, yet we've been able to maintain a very decent audience.
"We still get 30, 33 shares (percentage of those TVs in use), which is damn good. In general, we are also kind of tied to the apron strings of 'Dallas' because we inherit the audience from their timeslot. But when you spot the ratings going down, you examine it and see what you can do. For instance, later this month (March 1986) we'll be introducing a new character, which I think will raise the temperature a bit.
"The daughter of Chao Li (Lee Fong in the pilot), the major domo at Falcon Crest, who arrives from Communist China and gets involved in an uncharacteristically uncomplicated love story. Then, too, since we have superb actors, we can more fully explore their characters' emotions. Now, most of the time, I will admit, we explore them on the bed, but our shows aren't totally written from the groin.''
In the 1986-87 TV season, NBC decided to move 'Miami Vice' up an hour from Fridays at 10pm to 9pm to compete directly against 'Dallas'. Of the head-to-head, Leonard Katzman told the press, "I do think that we appeal to different audiences. Secondly, I would think the move to 9 o'clock might not be totally beneficial to 'Miami Vice', not only because they're up against 'Dallas' but because they might suffer the same thing when we moved from 10 to 9 (to make way for 'Falcon Crest'). The people who go out to dinner or whatever and return expecting to see the show won't be able to do so. We found our ratings dropped a little when we moved to 9."
David Poltrack, then vice president for research at CBS, told the 'Chicago Tribune', ''The soaps may slip a little, but I don't see them dropping beneath the acceptable level of performance - about a 17 rating - which 'The Colbys' is just about making (in the second half of the 1985-86 season). Perhaps they (ABC) chose to spin it off at an inopportune time - 'Dynasty' itself was struggling (with the Moldavia story and the key character Krystle Carrington's doppelgänger) - and they (ABC) also put it against 'Cheers' and 'Simon & Simon'.
"'Knots Landing' (in its 7th season) is the show that's really holding up strong. The characters are right out of middle-class America and are a little more believable than those in the bigger-than-life fantasies. 'Dynasty', with the whole Moldavian thing, may have stretched the fantasy a little too far, and the readjustment of the whole protagonist-antagonist relationship on 'Dallas' since the death of Bobby Ewing is perhaps its particular problem.
"There really hasn't emerged a counterpart to J.R. with the power of Bobby, which is critical to the show. 'Falcon Crest', from the qualitative point of view, probably has gotten inherently stronger this season (1985-86). And it's lost only two rating points since last year (1984-85 season) despite being up against 'Miami Vice'. As for new night-time soaps, none is on drawing boards for the fall season (1986-87).
"You have to look at where you'd put one. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights are covered, people don't stay home every Saturday night and on Sundays and Mondays you have an established pattern of mini-series and major films that pull people away. For example, when CBS had 'Emerald Point N.A.S.' on Monday nights, NBC had one big movie after another. So Tuesday is the only night that has the potential.''
In creating 'Falcon Crest', Earl Hamner made known, "My family first came to Virginia because Thomas Jefferson wanted to start a wine industry. His neighbor, Philip Mazzei, imported four Italian grape growers from a town called Lucca in Tuscany. When the vines wouldn't grow, three of the Italians went back, but the one that stayed, Giannini, became my forbearer."
In his 2009 book, 'Prime Time Soap Operas', Douglas Snauffer informed, "One summer day in 1981, while driving along Mulholland Drive above Los Angeles, Hamner passed a residence called ‘Falcon’s Lair’, and found it an interesting name. So instead of 'The Vintage Years' (name of movie pilot), which CBS thought was about older generations, his new series became 'Falcon Crest'."
When the puzzle was finally resolved and the burning question answered, CBS cheerfully claimed, "It is also possible that when the national Nielsen figures are tallied, 'Dallas' may turn out to be the highest rated program of any category, a distinction formerly held by (the 1977 mini-series) 'Roots'." As pointed out, not since network television started in 1947 had a prime time series captured the imagination of so many viewers as the 'Who Shot J.R.?' controversy.
"My daddy would have been tickled to death," Bing Crosby's daughter, Mary remarked. Four alternative endings were reportedly filmed. As understood, over 150 members of the cast, producers and network officials associated with 'Dallas', the No. 1-rated show at the time, celebrated the solving of the mystery at Chasen's (in West Hollywood). Larry Hagman conceded, "I didn't know who it was myself."
A statement from CBS read, "Based on the overnight national ratings it appears certain that the Friday night episode of 'Dallas' is now the highest rated episode of a regularly scheduled series." 'The Washington Post' described "the long, long-awaited episode of 'Dallas' in which J.R.'s assailant was revealed" as the "single hour of closely watched television." David Sims of 'The Atlantic' noted in 2015, "As with many classic TV cliffhangers, the show's writers went into things with no particular idea of how to resolve the mystery, arriving at the conclusion just by a logical process of elimination."
Soap operas were popular during bad economic times (such as the Great Depression of the 1930s). In the early 1980s, the prime time dramas 'Dallas', 'Dynasty' and 'Falcon Crest' were all big Nielsen rating winners. Leigh Taylor-Young of 'The Hamptons' explained to 'United Press International', "In the '80s people are interested in human behavior, especially of the very rich, and by their responses the viewers are able to define who they are.
"I don't believe today's (1983) audiences want to escape into the fantasies of the rich like they did in the 1930s. But they are fascinated by the fact that even the enormously wealthy have human problems like everyone else. Soaps about powerful, financially independent people demonstrate the rich hurt as much as anybody and that money doesn’t necessarily bring happiness."
In 1981, 'Falcon Crest', another Warner Communications' Lorimar series went on air. Set in California's Napa Valley, CBS was convinced the series starring President Reagan's first wife, Jane Wyman as the matriarch of Falcon Crest was a sure winner, particularly since 'Falcon Crest' (about the wine industry) was teamed up on Friday nights with 'The Dukes of Hazzard' and 'Dallas'.
In the 1984-85 TV season, NBC counterprogrammed against CBS with 'Miami Vice' (going for a younger audience) aired opposite 'Falcon Crest' (watched mostly by women over 35). Discussing the ratings trend, Earl Hamner told the 'Chicago Tribune' in 1986, ''I can only speak for 'Falcon Crest', but I do not think its death is imminent. We have been told to go ahead with the 'bible' (story line) for next season (1986-87) and to start setting directors, which is a healthy sign of life. In 'Miami Vice', we're up against the steamroller of all time, yet we've been able to maintain a very decent audience.
"We still get 30, 33 shares (percentage of those TVs in use), which is damn good. In general, we are also kind of tied to the apron strings of 'Dallas' because we inherit the audience from their timeslot. But when you spot the ratings going down, you examine it and see what you can do. For instance, later this month (March 1986) we'll be introducing a new character, which I think will raise the temperature a bit.
"The daughter of Chao Li (Lee Fong in the pilot), the major domo at Falcon Crest, who arrives from Communist China and gets involved in an uncharacteristically uncomplicated love story. Then, too, since we have superb actors, we can more fully explore their characters' emotions. Now, most of the time, I will admit, we explore them on the bed, but our shows aren't totally written from the groin.''
In the 1986-87 TV season, NBC decided to move 'Miami Vice' up an hour from Fridays at 10pm to 9pm to compete directly against 'Dallas'. Of the head-to-head, Leonard Katzman told the press, "I do think that we appeal to different audiences. Secondly, I would think the move to 9 o'clock might not be totally beneficial to 'Miami Vice', not only because they're up against 'Dallas' but because they might suffer the same thing when we moved from 10 to 9 (to make way for 'Falcon Crest'). The people who go out to dinner or whatever and return expecting to see the show won't be able to do so. We found our ratings dropped a little when we moved to 9."
David Poltrack, then vice president for research at CBS, told the 'Chicago Tribune', ''The soaps may slip a little, but I don't see them dropping beneath the acceptable level of performance - about a 17 rating - which 'The Colbys' is just about making (in the second half of the 1985-86 season). Perhaps they (ABC) chose to spin it off at an inopportune time - 'Dynasty' itself was struggling (with the Moldavia story and the key character Krystle Carrington's doppelgänger) - and they (ABC) also put it against 'Cheers' and 'Simon & Simon'.
"'Knots Landing' (in its 7th season) is the show that's really holding up strong. The characters are right out of middle-class America and are a little more believable than those in the bigger-than-life fantasies. 'Dynasty', with the whole Moldavian thing, may have stretched the fantasy a little too far, and the readjustment of the whole protagonist-antagonist relationship on 'Dallas' since the death of Bobby Ewing is perhaps its particular problem.
"There really hasn't emerged a counterpart to J.R. with the power of Bobby, which is critical to the show. 'Falcon Crest', from the qualitative point of view, probably has gotten inherently stronger this season (1985-86). And it's lost only two rating points since last year (1984-85 season) despite being up against 'Miami Vice'. As for new night-time soaps, none is on drawing boards for the fall season (1986-87).
"You have to look at where you'd put one. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights are covered, people don't stay home every Saturday night and on Sundays and Mondays you have an established pattern of mini-series and major films that pull people away. For example, when CBS had 'Emerald Point N.A.S.' on Monday nights, NBC had one big movie after another. So Tuesday is the only night that has the potential.''
In creating 'Falcon Crest', Earl Hamner made known, "My family first came to Virginia because Thomas Jefferson wanted to start a wine industry. His neighbor, Philip Mazzei, imported four Italian grape growers from a town called Lucca in Tuscany. When the vines wouldn't grow, three of the Italians went back, but the one that stayed, Giannini, became my forbearer."
In his 2009 book, 'Prime Time Soap Operas', Douglas Snauffer informed, "One summer day in 1981, while driving along Mulholland Drive above Los Angeles, Hamner passed a residence called ‘Falcon’s Lair’, and found it an interesting name. So instead of 'The Vintage Years' (name of movie pilot), which CBS thought was about older generations, his new series became 'Falcon Crest'."
