"Everything happens for a reason," Albert Schweitzer maintained. "Eventually all things fall into place. Until then, laugh at the confusion, live for the moments, and know everything happens for a reason." Marilyn Monroe added, "I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."
In 1984, Sophia Loren was in negotiations to guest star in a 13-episode arc on 'Falcon Crest' as Jane Wyman's on-screen half-sister from Italy. However Sophia decided to spend more time with her family so the role of Francesca Gioberti, the "European visitor" went to Gina Lollobrigida. Speaking to the press at the time, Gina Lollobrigida made known, "'Falcon Crest' is a new experience, and I always like to find other experiences in my life. Today (in 1984) television is so powerful … it's unbelievable. Before it was the movie that was more important. Now (in 1984) television has it over movies."
In the first week of the 1984-85 TV season, 'Dallas' and 'Falcon Crest' "grabbed the top two spots of the Nielsen ratings. Millions of viewers tuned in to watch the nighttime soap operas returned with solutions to the summer-long suspense engendered by their cliffhanger plots." 'Falcon Crest finished the season tied for 10th spot with a 19.9% households ratings.
At the Golden Globe Awards in 1985, Gina Lollobrigida was nominated for best performance by an actress in a supporting role. 'Falcon Crest' marked Gina Lollobrigida's comeback to acting since changing her career in 1973 to become a professional photographer. Of the five episodes Gina Lollobrigida appeared in, story editor William Schmidt told fans in an interview with Thomas J. Pucher in 2006, "We talked about a lot of different stars, but the only one I remember particularly is Sophia Loren.
"(Executive producer) Earl (Hamner), Ernie (supervising producer E.F. Wallengren), (executive supervising producer) Rod (Peterson) and (executive script consultant) Claire (Whitaker) were kind enough to let me join the meeting with Carlo Ponti, Sophia’s husband, to discuss her coming on the show. I think she was pretty interested, but eventually turned us down.
"The funny part was when we met with Gina Lollobrigida. We kept the meeting with Ponti a secret and since neither Gina or her people asked, she did not know that we first contacted Sophia. In that first meeting, Gina exclaimed, 'I am so happy! I am so sick and tired of always being offered Sophia Loren's leftovers!' All of us around the room assiduously avoided each other's eye contact."
At the start of the 1988-89 TV season, Dalia Baligh reported for the Associated Press from Cairo, in Egypt, "Life comes to a near standstill Monday nights as millions of Egyptians sit riveted before their television sets to watch Angela Channing's melodramatic malevolence on 'Falcon Crest'. However, Jane Wyman’s character and the others in the series have few counterparts in Egyptian society ... Yet the show is a fabulous hit.
"Whether rich and educated or poor peasants reading Arabic subtitles on the screen, 'Falcon Crest' fanatics consider the characters a part of their extended families. Their fortunes and disasters are eagerly followed and discussed everywhere. The American series also has proved lucrative for state-owned Egyptian Television. Channel Two buys an episode for around $1,000, and on a recent Monday sales of commercials brought in almost 20 times that.
"Early episodes of 'Falcon Crest' began appearing on Egyptian screens several years ago. Because of finances, Egyptian Television bought only a few 26-episode seasons at a time, showing them daily and then stopping for months until money was found for succeeding episodes. Despite the gaps in transmission, 'Falcon Crest' fans remained true, and for two consecutive months last summer (in 1988), the fifth and sixth seasons were aired every night from 9:15pm to 10pm.
"The show was so popular that all over Cairo appointments were made before or after 'Falcon Crest'. TV parties with friends were common, and Cairo’s congested streets emptied as each episode was shown. At the end of August (1988), Sohair el-Etriby, head of Egyptian Television’s second channel, which airs the series, changed the schedule, showing two episodes every Monday night."
In an interview, Sohair el-Etriby told the Associated Press her office immediately was swamped with hundreds of calls and letters demanding that the series be shown daily again, "I had only a few episodes from the seventh part, and the eighth is now (in October 1988) running in the United States. Either I could have stopped it for several months and then shown the seventh part in its entirety, or I could have shown it once a week like television in America and Europe do all the time … Egyptians have become addicted to 'Falcon Crest'. They've become very attached to it."
Dalia Baligh continued, "In 1982, Egyptian Television began showing 'Dallas', which quickly became almost as popular as 'Falcon Crest' would become later. 'Dallas' was stopped, however, after a member of parliament complained that it was corrupting the morals of Egyptian youth. The morality of 'Falcon Crest' would not seem to be much different, with Angela's scheming against her own son, and the characters' frequent exchanges of bed partners.
"But the serial has escaped unscathed so far, except for Egyptian Television’s routine censorship which unskillfully scissors about five minutes of what the censors consider passionate lovemaking from each 50-minute episode. So 'Falcon Crest', giving Egyptians a glimpse of a completely different and glittering world, easily captures its audience. Viewers have different reasons for appreciating the series.
"One government official, who declined to be identified, said he finds nothing special about 'Falcon Crest'. He complained that his wife and 5-year-old daughter cannot be distracted from the screen when the show was on. And some Americans worry that Egyptians might think all Americans are the glittery Hollywood types of 'Falcon Crest'."
Mandy Hale wrote the 2013 book, 'The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass', insisted, "Realize that if a door closed, it's because what was behind it wasn't meant for you."
At the Golden Globe Awards in 1985, Gina Lollobrigida was nominated for best performance by an actress in a supporting role. 'Falcon Crest' marked Gina Lollobrigida's comeback to acting since changing her career in 1973 to become a professional photographer. Of the five episodes Gina Lollobrigida appeared in, story editor William Schmidt told fans in an interview with Thomas J. Pucher in 2006, "We talked about a lot of different stars, but the only one I remember particularly is Sophia Loren.
"(Executive producer) Earl (Hamner), Ernie (supervising producer E.F. Wallengren), (executive supervising producer) Rod (Peterson) and (executive script consultant) Claire (Whitaker) were kind enough to let me join the meeting with Carlo Ponti, Sophia’s husband, to discuss her coming on the show. I think she was pretty interested, but eventually turned us down.
"The funny part was when we met with Gina Lollobrigida. We kept the meeting with Ponti a secret and since neither Gina or her people asked, she did not know that we first contacted Sophia. In that first meeting, Gina exclaimed, 'I am so happy! I am so sick and tired of always being offered Sophia Loren's leftovers!' All of us around the room assiduously avoided each other's eye contact."
At the start of the 1988-89 TV season, Dalia Baligh reported for the Associated Press from Cairo, in Egypt, "Life comes to a near standstill Monday nights as millions of Egyptians sit riveted before their television sets to watch Angela Channing's melodramatic malevolence on 'Falcon Crest'. However, Jane Wyman’s character and the others in the series have few counterparts in Egyptian society ... Yet the show is a fabulous hit.
"Whether rich and educated or poor peasants reading Arabic subtitles on the screen, 'Falcon Crest' fanatics consider the characters a part of their extended families. Their fortunes and disasters are eagerly followed and discussed everywhere. The American series also has proved lucrative for state-owned Egyptian Television. Channel Two buys an episode for around $1,000, and on a recent Monday sales of commercials brought in almost 20 times that.
"Early episodes of 'Falcon Crest' began appearing on Egyptian screens several years ago. Because of finances, Egyptian Television bought only a few 26-episode seasons at a time, showing them daily and then stopping for months until money was found for succeeding episodes. Despite the gaps in transmission, 'Falcon Crest' fans remained true, and for two consecutive months last summer (in 1988), the fifth and sixth seasons were aired every night from 9:15pm to 10pm.
"The show was so popular that all over Cairo appointments were made before or after 'Falcon Crest'. TV parties with friends were common, and Cairo’s congested streets emptied as each episode was shown. At the end of August (1988), Sohair el-Etriby, head of Egyptian Television’s second channel, which airs the series, changed the schedule, showing two episodes every Monday night."
In an interview, Sohair el-Etriby told the Associated Press her office immediately was swamped with hundreds of calls and letters demanding that the series be shown daily again, "I had only a few episodes from the seventh part, and the eighth is now (in October 1988) running in the United States. Either I could have stopped it for several months and then shown the seventh part in its entirety, or I could have shown it once a week like television in America and Europe do all the time … Egyptians have become addicted to 'Falcon Crest'. They've become very attached to it."
Dalia Baligh continued, "In 1982, Egyptian Television began showing 'Dallas', which quickly became almost as popular as 'Falcon Crest' would become later. 'Dallas' was stopped, however, after a member of parliament complained that it was corrupting the morals of Egyptian youth. The morality of 'Falcon Crest' would not seem to be much different, with Angela's scheming against her own son, and the characters' frequent exchanges of bed partners.
"But the serial has escaped unscathed so far, except for Egyptian Television’s routine censorship which unskillfully scissors about five minutes of what the censors consider passionate lovemaking from each 50-minute episode. So 'Falcon Crest', giving Egyptians a glimpse of a completely different and glittering world, easily captures its audience. Viewers have different reasons for appreciating the series.
"One government official, who declined to be identified, said he finds nothing special about 'Falcon Crest'. He complained that his wife and 5-year-old daughter cannot be distracted from the screen when the show was on. And some Americans worry that Egyptians might think all Americans are the glittery Hollywood types of 'Falcon Crest'."
Mandy Hale wrote the 2013 book, 'The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass', insisted, "Realize that if a door closed, it's because what was behind it wasn't meant for you."
