SOAP WARS:
Episode IV: Shoot Him Again, Sam



Spring of ´84. The rivalry between the supersoaps gets to one of its highpoints. To beat the Texan series, the producers from the DARK SIDE attract stars about to disappear thru offering them the secret of the eternal youth, thanks to plastic surgery and NOLAN MILLER gowns. The menace still is on...

- DYNASTY: At CARRINGTON´s, they begin to run away: after AL CORLEY, PAMELA SUE MARTIN quits and ends the season with a mysterious car accident of her character FALLON, who´s just seen crying out before to supposedly crash into a truck. This end would obviously inspire the DALLAS writers for killing PAM out. Other cliffhanger subplots were ALEXIS being jailed for having killed her ex lover MARK JENNINGS, KIRBY leaving after divorcing ADAM and glamorous DOMINIQUE (D. CARROLL) making her entrance, the only major black character in supersoap history...(along with KL´s FRANK).

- FALCON CREST: As the only way to renew or die, the series took the whole cast to the edge of death, as a way to write them out, especially those unbearable and hard to take (as lawyer PHILLIP (M. FERRER), CHASE´s cousin, MICHAEL (C. ROBERTSON) or COLE´s wife, LINDA (M.K. MCGEEHAN), all of them boring to death and with no substance). Therefore, they Were put in an plane and got it crashed...near DENVER! Even ANGELA´s little baby grandson (the one who looked like butler CHAO-LI) was on it...(Sadistic writers!)

- KNOTS LANDING: On one of its best and most embroiled cliffhangers, KL presented GARY´s planned shot, ending up with KAREN as a victim by mistake...ABBY was a witness, incapable to do anything, kept hostage by hood ST.CLAIR, as LAURA broke her engagement to GREG (W. DEVANE) thanks to ABBY´s efforts. Writers got close to delirium but always going back to the Californian cul-de-sac presumed daily life, a mere alibi to commit the same crimes than the other series, but all done with the best possssible taste!!!!

- DALLAS: The EWINGS ended their year 6 recycling Who Shot JR: this time BOBBY is the victim, about to marry JENNA (P. PRESLEY), and apart from PAM by a letter poisoned by wicked KATHERINE. ELLIE & CLAYTON finally get married after surviving CLAY´s psychosister, JESSICA MONTFORD (great ALEXIS SMITH). PAM leaves DALLAS with her son after losing sick MARK in a plane crash, a presumed suicide... Other suspects for having shot BOBBY were CLIFF, once again ruined by JR, his business rivals VAUGHN LELAND & EDGAR RANDOLPH, SUE ELLEN, blackmailed by JR when he found about her affaire with PETER RICHARDS (C. ATKINS), and others with fewer possibilities but equally fed up with JR, as AFTON, HOLLY or KATHERINE. The question is...did anyone really doubt about who shot BOBBY...?

This was the last year DALLAS reigned at the season´s end. Next year, it would be beaten by DYNASTY. The show was touched but not sunk: on that ending episode, BBG said goodbye to miss ELLIE for a health problem, letting out a dilemma for the producers: What to do with miss ELLIE, to kill her or change her face instead? To counteract the negative effects of the situation, LORIMAR renewed its look with a new art director and a famed costume designer: TRAVILLA. But was that enough? Next year, DYNASTY would hire R. HUDSON & A. MCGRAW, and F. CREST, G. LOLLOBRIGIDA, A. ARCHER & C. HOLM, as KL would rescue fine AVA GARDNER...But who would become new miss ELLIE...?

SOAP WARS 5

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