Greg Reardon: I sometime wonder, which is more painful for you - winning or losing?
Angela Gioberti: In my next life, I'm coming back as a clinging vine (a woman who showed excessive emotional dependence on a man).
By the start of the 1986-87 TV season, Jaclyn Fierman of 'Fortune' magazine reported, "Americans drank 6.5% less table wine in 1985 than in 1984 and will probably cut consumption 5% more this year (in 1986), according to 'Impact', an industry newsletter. The wine industry's smartest response to the new abstinence is coolers, fruity beverages with a splash of wine and roughly the alcohol content of beer. Americans are demanding better quality than ever before, and premium wines have raised their share of the $8.3-billion-a-year business from 8% in 1980 to 20% today (in 1986)."
Angela: Well you have to learn to accept this duty gracefully because I expect you to carry on with it after I die. That is, if I ever decide to die.
Lance: Just how will you know what I do after you are gone?
Angela: I'll know!
On television, "Even if 'Falcon Crest' loses 30% of the 'Dallas' viewers, the show still can draw enough 'accidental customers' to win the time period and be a hit. But the TV audience is growing increasingly sophisticated. No longer do most folks simply sit in a stuffed chair, allowing program after program on the same network to wash over them like waves at the beach.
"Furthermore, the popularity of remote-control units allows tens of millions of people to switch channels without even lifting their backsides off the sofa. Look for it to happen this coming season (1985-86) based on the Nielsen inroads being made by 'Miami Vice' reruns during summertime. Since hitting the air last fall (1984-85), 'Miami Vice' has been starting from ground-zero every week (or starting from scratch each Friday), battling 'Falcon Crest' with almost non-existent audience 'lead-ins' from the programs that have preceded it (or no help from a popular or at least compatible program in front of it)."
In one scene on 'Falcon Crest', Angela made a lucrative offer to buy a vineyard from Terry Ranson.
Terry: My, what a lot of zeros! But I can get with that much money and still keep my land. Bank loans Angela, ever hear of them?
Angela: The only reason to go into debt is to have something to go into debt for.
"It's the escapist mentality," Michael Filerman explained its popularity. "People form emotional ties to characters on continuing dramas. You never know what will happen to them. You know, what will happen at the end of it." After watching 'Dynasty', Andrea Payne of 'Soap Opera Digest' remarked, "'Dynasty' uses more soap opera conventions than any other nighttime serial.
"On 'Dynasty', plots and characters go out the window in favor of the quick fix. Alliances change as often as the costumes with characters going from point A to point Z with no explanation as to how they got there. A typical scene on 'Dynasty' begins with a calm encounter between two characters and ends 3 to 4 minutes later with at least one party storming out of the room in a huff following a verbal blowout."
In Sumatra, Indonesia, Blake Carrington, Dominique Devereaux (formerly Millie Cox) and Alexis Morrell attended the reading of Thomas Fitzsimmons Carrington's will. Tom bequeathed $5,000 to each of his 4 household staff with the bulk of his estate which estimated at $500 million consisting of primarily oil, timber, rubber and the precious holdings in Sumatra to be divided equally between his son, his former daughter-in-law and Blake's half-sister. Dominique was appointed the executor of the will.
Alexis: You! Executor of the legacy that Blake and I were going to leave our children? I'll fight this travesty in every possible court and I'll break it. (Storming off.)
Dominique: Just a moment Alexis. Now you loathe me and I despise you. But it is time for us to face the fact - we're all one big family now!
Andrea Payne continued, "Organ music, long associated with daytime serials, is a thing of the past; however, 'Dynasty' has replaced it with musical scores which direct scenes instead of enhancing them. If you haven't figured out how you're supposed to feel, you can take your cue from the music. 'Dynasty's' music reflects the show's approach to storyline. The more removed from reality the better. 'Dynasty's' one redeeming grace is the show's willingness to open its doors to other ethnic groups. 'Dynasty's' Dominique Devereaux was the first, and remains the only black character on any nighttime soap (until about 1988)."
Bill Conti composed the TV themes for 'Dynasty' and 'Falcon Crest' and coordinating the music to the visuals on the screen to give it dramatic force. "It's a constant challenge that requires a great dramatic sense; knowing a lot of music is not necessarily the answer," Bill Conti confessed. "Each job is different." In 'Dynasty', "the producers wanted scope, something that would convey the class and sophistication of the story." Hence "a big, lush theme with a trumpet carrying the melody." In 'Falcon Crest', "it was to suggest a big, powerful family, certainly not underprivileged, as you can tell by scenes of the mansion. I gave the theme a lot of rhythm, with strings carrying a long melodic line and horns providing the energy."
