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# 018 <1.18> Ultimate Answers Tentative titles:
In early script drafts, the episode opener was a daylight scene of Douglas' funeral at a cemetery in San Francisco. The scene included the same characters and was pretty much identical with the final version, except for the setting. In the episode itself, it became a night scene with a wake for Douglas held inside the Falcon Crest Victorian Mansion; instead of delivering a eulogy at Douglas' grave during the funeral, Father Bob holds a speech in the living room next to Doug's casket, the wording being practically identical with the earlier draft. There were several reasons for the change in the setting: From the standpoint of production, it was simply easier and cheaper to use the Mansion set on the sound stage instead of going on location to an actual cemetery; as far as the storyline is concerned, Emma not being in attendance even at the wake in the Mansion created all the more reasonable ground for suspicious circumstances. By the way, the original draft is particularly interesting insofar that it set the scene at a cemetery in San Francisco rather than at the Gioberti Family Cemetery on the Falcon Crest grounds. This gives evidence of the writing and producing staff's idea of a Gioberti family habit that — besides Gioberti family members — the only people to be buried at the Family Cemtery are those, who married into the family and fathered or gave birth to another Gioberti, but only if the deceased was still married to a Gioberti family member at the time of his or her death. Due to the change in the setting of this scene, # 069 will be the first episode when this habit actually transpires (compare there). Considering the early script drafts and that the final version of the episode features just the wake at Falcon Crest, but does not show Douglas' funeral, the logical conclusion is that, later, Douglas was actually buried off screen in San Francisco, which confirms the aforementioned Gioberti habit for their Family Cemetery because no headstone for Douglas will ever be seen there. In the early script drafts that still suggested the funeral as the opening scene, there was even more hostility between Angie on the one side and Chase and Maggie on the other side: When Chase expresses his condolences and asks if there is anything he and Maggie can do, Angela snaps at him: "The irony is that poor Douglas thought your were his friend." While Chase decides not to rebut the accusation, Maggie tells her that, in their last conversation, Douglas told her that nothing is as important as family. Maggie continues compassionately: "It's a shame you never learned that because you have so little..." When Angie and Lance turn to her Mercedes-Benz 600, she reacts with an imperial smile, saying that she does have Falcon Crest, and that her daughters will soon inherit the newspaper, adding: "We'll see who has nothing..." These parts of the dialog were eliminated because they would have drawn a much too dark picture of Angie's character. Season time frame: One week has gone by since the end of # 017 when the coroner's inquest continues after a recess.
 The newly filmed parts of Angela's "memories" — the segments that are not a real flashback, but a visualization of her lies on the witness stand — contain a third picture car used as Jason's pickup (on the right in the screen grab). For the first and second picture cars, compare # 001 and 017 respectively. Since the 1962 Chevrolet C-10 from the series première was no longer available for filming, it was substituted by a 1964 – 66 model (like the remains of the truck in the previous episode). The difference between the model years is visible in the frame around the headlights and the grille.
Early script drafts suggested a different setting for the scene when Melissa tricks Lance into confirming that Emma killed Jason. It was originally staged in the vat room at the Falcon Crest Winery Building instead of in the foyer and living room of the Victorian Mansion. The change in the setting avoided going on location — at that time, LORIMAR had not built a vat room set yet. Edited scene: The aforementioned scene contained a discussion between Lance and Melissa about her secrets, including whose baby she is carrying. Before Lance mentions Cole's name, he asks about two more possible candidates in the director's cut: "Danny Como? Tom Myerling?" These names were cut from his line in post-production. Danny Como was seen dating Melissa in # 014, but Tom Myerling must have been an apparent off-screen admirer of Melissa's.   The wallpaper in the corner of the Falcon Crest Victorian Mansion stairway is damaged, the reason being unknown at this time. In the previous episode (screen capture 1), the set was not damaged. The Tuscany Valley bar where Jason usually hung out was the Cold Duck.The filming location was an exterior set in the Doonevan Flats area at THE BURBANK STUDIOS (WARNER BROS. STUDIOS). Inside joke: The exterior set was previously used on EARL HAMNER's old show, "The Waltons", as Ike Godsey's store. It used to be the gas station north of the lagoon on the WARNER BROS. STUDIOS backlot, but was torn down in the 1990's. Early script drafts suggested the Hideaway as Jason's favorite hangout, but production changed the setting to the Cold Duck. Like with the other aforementioned cases in this episode, avoiding a location outside the studio helped trim down production costs. Early script drafts contained a night scene in Emma's rooftop studio in the Falcon Crest Victorian Mansion with her current physician, Dr. Harcroft (that name was already mentioned in # 016), who administers an injection to Emma while Angela and Julia are present. The doctor leaves a bottle of pills which Angie takes immediately control of. One pill every four hours will keep Emma resting comfortably, as he says. That scene was omitted during rewrites already, elimintaing Dr. Harcroft from being cast. Labeling name: EARL HAMNER's choice of the first name for Richard Channing symbolizes Channing's power and strength as Richard (French origin) means "strong and hardy power". The character is mentioned for the first time this episode in lines of dialog foreshadowing his power and will appear in person in the following season première.   Cameraman's mistake: In the wide angle shot of Emma's studio in the attic of the Falcon Crest Victorian Mansion, the camera is pulled too far back from the set. For that reason, it becomes apparent that both the headboard of Emma's bed and the wall behind it are missing. The set has movable walls to accommodate any production requirements.Giving respect to the height of the Falcon Crest Victorian Mansion main tower, it is pretty unrealistic that Emma could easily climb down from the rooftop studio window — especially because she is suffering from acrophobia, as she will later mention in # 105. Turner Bates was imprisoned in the Corwin County Jail (a fictional county) for a while as it is mentioned during the inquest concerning Jason's death. Deke Johanson, Turner's former fellow cell inmate at Corwin County Jail, is now serving time at Folsom State Prison (a real penitentiary in California).   Strange: Shortly before Lance goes upstairs to see after Emma, Chao-Li wears a light blue sports coat in the Falcon Crest Victorian Mansion foyer. When Lance comes down the stairs again only minutes later, Chao-Li suddenly wears a black sports coat. Did he change that quickly?The script suggested as the original setting for the scene with Lance asking Chao-Li and Melissa about Emma's whereabouts (after he finds her room empty) the upstairs hallway in the Falcon Crest Victorian Mansion, which had been seen in # 001, 002, 004, 005 and 013. It remains unclear at this time why the scene was moved to the staircase and foyer, particularly since the upstairs hallway was also a permanent set on stage 1 at THE BURBANK STUDIOS (now WARNER BROS. STUDIOS) — it actually remained underutilized in the later episodes of this season. When, after Lance and Chao-Li left the house, Melissa answers the phone, she picks up the receiver in the living room while the script originally staged this in the study.
  Mistake: In the long shot at the beginning of Emma's testimony in court, Emma's notebook is already open. In the subsequent close-up, however, it is closed, and she has her right thumb between the pages like a marker in the book.Again, this is the typical mistake caused by the particular close-up filming technique — check # 001 (Chase and Maggie at the Gioberti Family Cemetery) for details. Edited scene: The scene with Phillip and Angela in the foyer of the Commissioners Building of the Tuscany County Courthouse, while they are waiting for the verdict, was initially longer. It began on Angie, being torn between fear, hatred and relief, saying to Phillip he should have gotten to that jury. He replies that would have been the worst thing they could have done. Julia, standing nearby, does not share his view, reminding him that things hardly could be any worse since they stand to lose everything at Falcon Crest at this point. These lines were cut in post-production.   Mistake: When Chase is shaking hands with Angela in the foyer of the Commissioners Building of the Tuscany County Courthouse, his position is different in the long shot versus his close-up: In the wide angle shot, his body is not turned while his right side, particularly his shoulder, is turned towards Angela in the close-up.Again, this is the typical mistake caused by the particular close-up filming technique — check # 001 (Chase and Maggie at the Gioberti Family Cemetery) for details. Season time frame: The dates mentioned over the entire run of this season are more than confusing. In the coroner's inquest about Jason Gioberti's death, the speaker of the jury says he died on "December 12, 1981". Inconsistency: Considering the weather conditions and the harvest taking place in # 004, the plot of the première (# 001) must have been a lot earlier, probably in the summer of 1981. Explanation: Giving respect to Gus' testimony in court this episode that Jason died on a Friday, and on the provision that at least the "12th" was correct, Jason's death must have occurred on June 12, 1981 since this was the only Friday in 1981 that was the 12th day of a month. There might have been an error when the speaker of the jury referred to December. Provided there was a time gap of approximately two months in the plot of # 001 between Jason's funeral and the Giobertis' move from New York to Tuscany, which — giving respect to Chase terminating his job and the family getting ready for the new life — only seems logical, # 002 (according to Chase, shortly before the harvest) and # 004 (the harvest) most likely depict the events around the beginning of September 1981, which would match perfectly with the grape harvest, indeed. This seems to be early for the harvest, but the summer of 1981 was unusually hot, as Maggie will explain in # 127. This would also be in accordance with Julia's statement in # 006 that Jason has been dead for almost three months and the weather conditions — apparently still warm and sunny (Lance in the pool) — in that episode. All that would also match with Carl's congratulations on Chase's first six months in the valley in # 015, which means # 015 depicts the events around the mid-February 1982; this would be in accordance with the time of the year depicted therein (obviously spring with the vines not in bloom). Angela mentioning in that episode that it has been almost a year since Jason died, is extremely inaccurate because only about eight months have gone by since then. Strangely enough, HARRY TOWNES (Jason Gioberti) receives no on-screen credit for the newly filmed flashback scenes and imaginary sequences (i.e. all scenes including him, which are not reused footage) in this episode. ← Previous episode... → General Information (Season 2) → Next episode... |
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