General Information
 
 
(revised 05/15/2023)
 
 
Nielsen Ratings: number 58 (of 106) on the TV series hit list.
 
This season is produced by an almost entirely new crew. Although JOANNE BROUGH stays with the show as executive producer, she is joined by CAMILLE MARCHETTA, who had been responsible for "Dynasty's" most unbelievable "Moldavia massacre", and MICHAEL FILERMAN, who had left the "Falcon Crest" crew at the end of season 1.
FILERMAN — more a businessman than a creative guy — drastically changes the style of the program, which will lead to the series' decline & fall.
PHILIP L. PARSLOW, who previously worked on "Dynasty" (season 1), replaces producer JOHN F. PERRY this season.
 
Original storyline plans:

• LORIMAR executives had the idea to create a "Falcon Crest" and "Dallas" cross-over with special appearances by JANE WYMAN and LARRY HAGMAN on each other's show. They wanted to try out the wickedest woman (Angela Gioberti Channing) confronting the most sophisticated man (J.R. Ewing) on television. According to the National Enquirer, the producers were rumored to have thought about the ultimate shock — the illegitimate son Jock Ewing and Angela Channing had; a son who might have been put up for adoption and would come back to claim his share of both the Ewing and Channing fortunes. Due to JANE WYMAN's state of health in those days, however, these plans did not materialize.
  
• Actress LILLIAN GISH (1893 – 1993) was rumored to have been approached by the producers for a special guest appearance to play Angela's mother. While Lily Travers was referenced in dialog for the first time in # 004, her grave was first shown in # 147 and continually featured in all later scenes at the Gioberti Family Cemetery. It has not been determined yet if the season 8 producing staff had simply overlooked this fact or if they had plans to rewrite the show's history with the possible explanation that Lily was just presumed dead. The first draft of CAMILLE MARCHETTA's season 8 bible, however, did not mention a single word about any storyline for Lily.
  
• Per budgeting of 09/15/1988, ABBY DALTON was projected for five episodes whereas the season 8 bible (drafts until 09/09/1988) did not mention any concrete plans to bring back her character. In the end, Julia Cumson did not return.
  
• MARGARET LADD was originally supposed to appear in ten episodes of this season, commencing with # 186. In the final version, she appears right in the season première and will end up doing eleven episodes.