Spring of ´89. The Ewing Empire started to
obviously decline as spin-off began to sink down as white
hot DONNA MILLS quit. Trying to appeal different
minorities of USA audience, and also the European countries
who used to devour DALLAS and co., producers hired
actors of other nationalities and introduced characters
of other races, posing as realistic drama (!!), and
shooting in cities like Moscow, Salzburg or
Vienna.
- DYNASTY: THE END. Yes. The end, but we couldn´t
help a Reunion Miniseries a couple of years later. On
that first supersoap "real" end, BLAKE was shot down
by a corrupt policeman at the staircase of his
mansion. ALEXIS & DEX fell down a rail pushed away by
ADAM, with SABLE & MONICA as eyewitnesses, as FALLON
and sis KRYSTINA get locked in an underground passage
in a killer´s company and KRYSTLE languished in a
Swiss clinic. This plot was the one that made the
Reunion possible, since the fans considered there were
too many loose ends on this last episode...
-
FALCON CREST: RICHARD is formally accused of several
crimes, among them his mother ANGELA´s kidnap and
MELISSA´s impersonation by top call-girl SAMANTHA
(ANA-ALICIA, again). MAGGIE stays alone and abandoned one more
time, in the middle of the divorce process, as Chicano
TOMMY lets his girlfriend get drown in the lake. At the
same time, the police gets NICK AGRETTI arrested for
letting his son´s mother ANNA (A. SERNA) die.
Falcon
was the name of the bore that year...but at least the
race diversity was defended: wasps, chicanos,
italian-americans, chinese...
- KNOTS LANDING: PAIGE is torn
between her ambiguous lover GREG and presumed assassin
T. MELCHER (R. DESIDERIO) in a rainy night...Not long before,
ABBY and son BRIAN moved out to Japan, after her
divorce from GREG and OLIVIA´s being disinherited for
marrying hustler HAROLD (P. CARAFOTES). VAL starts to date
double-faced DANNY (S. BEHRENS) as GARY begins a long-distance
relationship with AMANDA (P. PEYSER), DANNY´s actual wife. KL
loses power with this cliffhanger and will last to
recover...but there are less competitors now...
-
DALLAS: SUE ELLEN says goodbye to the show and JR after
shooting a movie about him along with her lover DON
LOCKWOOD (I. McSHANE). BOBBY decides to take APRIL to Southfork in order to protect her from violent
drugaddict TOMMY McKAY (J.E. PECK). JR´s new young wife CALLY
(C. PODEWELL) has replaced SUE ELLEN, as CLIFF falls into a
trap set by AFTON´s ex husband when trying to find out
the truth about her daughter PAMELA REBECCA, maybe also
his...CARTER (G. KENNEDY) reaffirms as the EWINGS´ new
archrival, now that CLIFF has become part of E.OIL (!!), and
Miss ELLIE receives a mysterious letter to
JOCK...LUCY´s still wandering around...
Weak farewell
plot for L.GRAY, in spite of showing her as a winning
independent woman, who also has the right mate. Female
characters let a lot to desire, and producers will attack by
this side, with K. FOSTER, L.A. DOWN, A. LANDERS,
A. SMITH and a deadringer of PAM who looks like M. MICHAELS
again...VP´s specific weight at the show was too big and
underrated by producers...Decline continued, already
unstoppable.
Next season, FC would try to come back from the
dead before to expire through a change of look and
cast, including S. SULLIVAN, tragically dead in a pool
at the rentrée. KL would turn to great supporting
actors like M. PHILLIPS, C. LEMMON & L.P. LINCOLN to fill
in the empty space left by D. MILLS...