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WHEN SOAPS RULED NIGHTTIME

LOOKING BACK AT EVENING SOAPS' GOLDEN AGE
The War of the Ewings! The Battle of the Carringtons! The Fight for Tuscany Valley! Remember these familiar cries? If so, you were no doubt glued to the tube in the 1980s, when primetime soaps reigned supreme. These shows -DALLAS, DYNASTY, KNOTS LANDING, FALCON CREST - were so popular that even a decade later, fans everywhere still talk about them.

PEYTON Was The PLACE
The primetime soap was born not in the '80s, though, but in the late 1960s. That's when ABC's PEYTON PLACE, the continuing saga of a New England town ripped apart by secrets and affairs, took viewers by storm. It became the first primetime-soap success story, airing up to three times a week.

But this success wouldn't be repeated until 1978, when DALLAS premiered on CBS. Centered around the Ewings, a wealthy oil family headed by larger-than-life villain J.R. (played by Larry Hagman), the series singlehandedly led television into the opulent, money-mad Reagan Era.

DALIAS' popularity - and the power of the primetime soap - was sealed with 1980's famous "Who Shot J.R.?" cliffhanger. The episode revealing that Kristin was the shooter was seen by a record-breaking 80 percent of all TV viewers. Following hot on DALLAS' heels was the 1979 spinoff KNOTS LANDING, which had Gary and Val Ewing settling into a suburban cul-de-sac.

A Fashion DYNASTY
Meanwhile, in 1981, rival network ABC capitalized on the popularity of DALLAS by launching DYNASTY, Aaron Spelling's version of the DALLAS formula. Much of DYNASTY revolved around wealthy oil magnate Blake Carrington (played by John Forsythe) and the ongoing conflict between his wife, Krystle (Linda Evans), and his schemitig ex, Alexis (Joan Collins). With its winning combination of sex, catfights, big hair and designer dresses, DYNASTY soon also became must-see-TV.

Later that year, CBS added FALCON CREST - which was set not in the oil fields of the west, but in the vineyards of the fictional Tuscany Valley. There, evil Angela Charming (Jane Wyman) battled her good-guy nephew Chase Gioberti (Robert Foxworth) for control of the grapes.

These four soaps reigned the airwaves for years, repeatedly landing in the ratings top 10. But as the Reagan Era came to an end, so did interest in shows about the super-rich.

The series themselves didn't help matters by straining their own credibility. DYNASTY's "Moldavia Massacre" season finale in 1985 had the entire cast machine gunned down at a wedding.

Meanwhile, FALCON CREST was attempting to add more crime and punishment to its formula with assorted bombings and assassinations. In 1986, with ratings continuing to slide, the season ended with everyone running for cover from a major earthquake. Many felt that the show had reached its peak with this extremely unrealistic plot.

But it was DALLAS that ended up committing one of the most notorious copouts in TV history. In 1986, the soap resurrected the dead-for-a-year Bobby Ewing, explaining to the audience that Bobby's wife Pam had dreamed the entire 1985-86 season.

Audiences had had enough. By 1990, FALCON CREST and DYNASTY were gone; DALLAS and KNOTS followed a couple of years later.

Today, primetime soaps are still around - but with a '90s twist. Modern serials, like DAWSON'S CREEK and PARTY OF FIVE, have downplayed big business and wealth; shows like MELROSE PLACE and ALLY MCBEAL emphasize the relationship of friends over family.

But as popular as these shows are, they don't come close to reaching the number of viewers that DALLAS and DYNASTY did during their heyday.

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A NEW ESTATE ON NAPA'S SPRING MOUNTAIN BREAKS SILENCE

Once the site of fictional intrigues during "Falcon Crest," the 1980s television drama, Napa Valley's Spring Mountain Vineyard has had almost as convoluted a recent history.

Spring Mountain Vineyard president Thomas Ferrell revealed the identity of the sole owner of the estate: Jacob Safra. He is the nephew of prominent Swiss banker Edmond Safra. The revelation followed Ferrell's attempted acquisition of a half interest in the 385-acre Draper Vineyard near the winery.

Ferrell had kept neighbors and the press guessing while negotiating to buy nearby property. Ferrell said he wanted to avoid escalating prices if Safra's banking connections were known. But that strategy fell apart after a federal Freedom of Information Act request was filed to reveal the mystery owner's name.

Ferrell has quite a collection of properties to show for his efforts. In 1992, he negotiated the purchase of Spring Mountain, which made some very good Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1993, the adjacent Chateau Chevalier and Streblow properties were purchased. The goal was to build "a great red wine property," according to Ferrell, who heads what was called, until recently, the Good Wine Co.

The result is an estate with 110 acres of vineyards, planted mostly to Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Ferrell said he has spent most of the last two years replanting the vineyards and rehabilitating the wineries. The first estate wines, probably from the 1994 vintage, won't be released until 1996, according to Ferrell.

The Draper Vineyard acquisition is on hold while co-owners Jerry Draper and Jane Keresey, who are brother and sister, decide in court who can sell what, according to Ferrell. Keresey wants to sell to Spring Mountain, but Draper doesn't, claiming he has a right of first refusal.

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LET THE GOOD WINES ROLL

By the time Mike Robbins packed his bags and departed from Spring Mountain Vineyards, he had run this once-prestigious Napa Valley winery into a ditch. Whether his years of mismanagement and neglect have destroyed its image for all time remains to be seen. Tom Ferrell, the former president of Sterling Vineyards, believes it can be rejuvenated. He has assembled a group of investors, The Good Wine Co., that bought Spring Mountain in 1992 for $6 million, and he intends to restore the property and winery's name--no small undertaking. Already they've spent several million dollars replanting vineyards, rebuilding the winery and adding dozens of new French oak barrels. The success of the born-again Spring Mountain Vineyards will ride on the quality and character of its new wines.

Robbins fancied himself as a shrewd businessman and for a time he was. In 1968, he began making Cabernet Sauvignon and had the good fortune to come across a substantial quantity of Heitz's 1969 Cabernet Sauvignon, part of which included wine from Martha's Vineyard. Heitz needed cash and sold the wine to Robbins, who blended it with his own. It was magnificent and Spring Mountain emerged as the new darling of California wine. That was the best Cabernet Robbins ever sold.

Thereafter Spring Mountain made good Cabernets and well-crafted Chardonnays when Chuck Ortman was winemaker. But clearly, quality started slipping as Robbins' finances slowly eroded. In many of the Cabernets from the early 1980s, for instance, there were signs of trouble: They were often brutally tannic and bitter. The 1984 to 1986 vintages were improvements, but by that time Robbins' interest in wine had waned. He had turned his sights to tourism, attempting to capitalize on the popularity of the "Falcon Crest" TV show, which used his Spring Mountain winery for location shots.

Then he be sold off his vineyards. His best property, the Wildwood vineyard near Caymus, was a fine source of Cabernet. Sterling bought most of that property, where it built its Mumm Napa Valley winery. When "Falcon Crest" faded from popular memory, Robbins was deep in debt and listed Spring Mountain for sale at $25 million, including the winery, a Victorian mansion and 250 acres, 40 of them under vines. When there were no buyers, Robbins dropped the price until he was finally forced to consider any offer. Eventually the bank foreclosed on Spring Mountain, selling it to Ferrell's investors for half of what Ferrell had offered Robbins a year earlier.

Ferrell didn't stop there. In 1993, his group bought two other nearby wineries on Spring Mountain. The first was Château Chevalier ($3.5 million), a century-old wine estate, owned by Gil and John Nickel of Far Niente. The Nickels bought the property in 1984, intending to refurbish the winery and brand, but the costs proved prohibitive. Ferrell then bought Streblow Vineyards ($1.5 million), which had been struggling financially. Now the three properties are in effect connected and the Good Wine Co. owns three wineries, two wine brands and nearly 400 acres on Spring Mountain, including 100 with vines, largely phylloxera free.

Greg Vita, a winemaker at Spring Mountain for 14 years, is a link to the past, but he and Ferrell plan to overhaul the entire winemaking operation. With the 1993 vintage, their first, they produced some 50 different lots of Cabernet from which they'll choose the best lots to bottle under the Spring Mountain label. The vineyards offer a myriad of different soil types and exposures, so it will take years to sort out which are best suited for different grapes. At Château Chevalier, for instance, Ferrell is toying with making a line of Rhône-style wines.

Though its reputation has been battered, Spring Mountain Vineyards is in position to make a run of it. It carries the magic of an historic name along with the new appellation of Spring Mountain district, which Ferrell considers a plus. But he knows the key to its success will be high-quality, distinctive wines. The Good Wine Co. will simply have to live up to its name.

James Laube is a senior editor of Wine Spectator and author of two books on California wine.

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1990 - THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Outside forces and non-Channings took the vineyard away from Angela and her family in the show's last season. Things got off to a bad start when Emma's husband, Charley St. James, tried to suffocate Angela, sending the vineyard matriarch into a coma. Charley was arrested [note: Charlie was shot but escaped the police]. Emma received her mother's power of attorney and unwittingly sold the winery to Richard's adversary, Michael Sharpe. Sharpe's son, Danny, came to town and soon started doing his father's dirty work. He pilfered documents bearing Emma's signature that showed she had ordered bad wine for sale. A pregnant Emma left town in shame.

The Channings united to get the winery back, with Richard going against Sharpe tit for tat. This battle was complicated by Richard's attraction to Michael's sister, Lauren. She and her husband, Walker, were raising Richard's sons. Michael was busy having an empty affair with Genele Ericson, a degenerate blond who was involved with Frank Agretti and had even murdered her sister, Agretti's wife, Renee, to get her out of the picture. Agretti turned his wife's bones over to the authorities to get even with Genele. She was arrested for Renee's murder, but was released due to lack of evidence.

Lauren was annoyed by Richard's vendetta against Michael and vice versa; but after husband Walker blew himself up, she turned to Richard for comfort.

Realizing how unattractive her moral bankruptcy made her appear, Genele decided she would try to convince Richard Channing she was a good girl. It didn't work. She returned to Michael, but stole a bond from him and asked Channing to sell it. He kept the money. Sharpe thought that Danny's girlfriend, Sydney, was responsible. He arranged for her to have a little car accident, but Danny ended up behind the wheel and nearly died. His mother, Michael's ex-wife, Anne, came to Tuscany. Disgusted by Michael's role in the accident, Anne told Michael that while they were married she had an affair with Richard Channing. Danny is Richard's son. Sharpe spurned Danny and eventually the convalescent had to be told the truth. Richard didn't want Danny either, and the young man almost committed suicide.

Channing blackmailed Michael Sharpe into signing over Falcon Crest, just in time for Angela to wake from her coma and return to the vineyard. She immediately conspired with Lance to keep Richard from marrying Lauren, but their plans went nowhere. Then Angela fought to share Falcon Crest with her son. He didn't want to share at first, but running the winery proved too demanding for the new groom, and he surrendered control to his knowledgeable mama. Michael Sharpe repented for his life of corruption and had an uneasy reconciliation with Danny. Angela once again assumed control of Falcon Crest. She was finally back where she belonged.

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1989 - THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Angela Channing lost her vineyard to Melissa Cumson by way of an ancient deed proving that it belonged to the Agretti family all along. Melissa couldn't run Falcon Crest, had a breakdown, doused Falcon Crest in gasoline and torched it. She died in the hospital, naming Frank Agretti's son, Nick, executor of her estate. Nick argued about the deed with Angela, and eventually it was revealed to be a fraud.

Richard came back from the dead and explained his absence to a furious Maggie: the US government had protected him in Switzerland until they'd divested the Thirteen of all its business holdings.

Bank Vice President Pilar Ortega returned to the Tuscany Valley. She'd played with Lance as a child; she'd had sex with him as a teenager. But there was always that class problem: he the upper, she the lower. After they had sex that one night after a party, Pilar went into hiding for ten years, giving birth to a baby girl, Lisa, who was raised and adopted by Pilar's Aunt Mercedes in Peru. Pilar established a consortium of Hispanic businessmen, backed by Richard Channing. In time, she renewed her romance with Lance, which Angela opposed. Pilar eventually told him about Lisa, and father and daughter met before Lisa went to South America.

Emma Channing married mystery novelist R.D. Young. He later committed suicide. Emma's next husband was Charley St. James, who beat her up and put Angela into a coma after trying to suffocate her.

Angela eventually discovered that Richard was behind the company, Troilus, Inc., that was funding the Consortium. Maggie left Richard when she found out, because he lied to her again. Richard used Maggie's history of alcoholism to wrest custody of the boys away from her. Richard got Angela out of his hair by kidnapping her and holding her in a San Francisco penthouse to prevent her from foiling his plans to turn the Tuscany Valley into a corporate monster. Next, he brought Angela a dead ringer for Melissa Cumson, a courtesan named Samantha Ross, who helped Angela escape. Then, Richard had his mother committed to a mental institution. Angela couldn't prove she had seen Melissa, and everyone thought she was off her rocker. When a judge declared her mentally incompetent, Angela quickly arranged a marriage with Frank Agretti to ensure that he, and not Richard, would be appointed conservator of her affairs. Frank sprung her. With Samantha's help, Angela helped get Richard convicted of stock fraud and kidnapping. Richard sent Maggie a four-carat diamond ring from prison. Reluctantly, she wore it - into the pool where her sons had thrown some toys. Maggie put her finger through the drain and the ring got stuck. She drowned. An adversary of Richard's named Michael Sharpe bribed a judge to have Richard's sons taken away frorn him and put in the custody of Michaei's sister, Lauren.

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IT'S NO PIECE OF CAKE!

Soap courtships are never simple, as a recent spate of trips to the altar demonstrates.

THE STORY: Spinsterish Emma Channing wanted a change of pace in her job at her brother's newspaper, The New Globe. She gave up her advice column, "Dear Emma," and took on a new assignment masquerading as a manuscript typist to the reclusive mystery novelist R.D. Young. Although she didn't meet Young, whose wife had died in a boating accident, she had contact with his assistant, a man named Cabot. He asked Emma for a date and ascertained that she was more than a typist. When he uncovered her scam, Emma thought she had lost another new boyfriend and a job. Until she realized that this Cabot was R.D. Young himself. R.D. could not suppress his attraction for Emma and when she declared that she would abandon her feature story on him, he proposed marriage.

Choosing a ceremony that would fit everyone's personality created some problems. Angela Channing wanted a big wedding; R.D. didn't want to exchange vows before a crowd. The wedding was off and on and finally, with a slew of guests waiting patiently for the bride and groom to appear, Emma and R.D. eloped.

THE DRESS: FC Costume Designer Rachel Manderino purchased Emma's Victorian wedding gown at Country Elegance in Toluca Lake, California. The dress is almost all lace, with taffeta underneath.

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THE WRITE STUFF: FALCON CREST'S SHERI ANDERSON: FROM DAYS TO NIGHTTIME

At a time when the success of nighttime soaps is shaky, Shri Anderson, former headwriter for DAYS OF OUR LIVES, ANOTHER WORLD, GUIDING LIGHT and GENERAL HOSPITAL, makes the jump to the evening format with some new ideas to help strengthen the CBS California vineyard based soap opera FALCON CREST.

"FALCON CREST is going to have a differnet tone that it never had before," headwriter Sheri Anderson explains. "The people that I am working with are kind of an interesting mix. The executive producer, Joel Surnow, did the first years of MIAMI VICE and THE EQUALIZER. Bob Cochran, a Harvard MBA, and Cyrus Nowrasteh, who has done a number of features, are story editors. I am co-porducer, with a history in daytime, so we are a real different mix. We all kind of balance each other out in different ways. I am sort of the emotional side (coming from daytime) and they are more the gritty side."

A lack of focus is what Sheri attributes to FALCON CREST's problems the last few seasons. "No one seemed to knwo that the characters' motivations were. Pilar was a real good example. No one seemed to know what she wanted. This season it is clear that Pilar wants Lance. That is really her dream and goal to keep Lance. She will do anything to do that. She will be making some sacrifices this season that really jeopardize her relationship with Lance."

While Pilar's character may be strongly in place, Maggie's is not. How will the show restructure in light of Maggie's drowning? "We are not trying to replace her, but we are adding another kind of strong heroine character. That character is Laruen Daniels. She's very earthy; married to a construction worker. Lauren is the sister of Michael Sharp, Gregory Harrison's new character.

"Michael is an extremely powerful adversary to Richard Channing. He will be more cynical than Richard and less emotionally motivated. For Michael it is all power and money. The audience will be more sympathetic toward Richard. He will be going through hell," Sheri reveals with doom in her voice, "...Paying for his past sins."

The complete opposite of Richard or Michael's intensity is the the new character of Charlie St. James. "Charlie is every woman's foolish choice," Sheri character sketches. "He's kind of indescribable; charismatic, totally unpredictable, charming, unnerving. He's coming in as a love interest for Emma. He will be the first man to make Emma feel like a woman. She's really not victimized by him...she's addicted to him. Charlie's presence will make her a little less flakey this season."

But Emma is not the only one in store for major personality changes, also in the categroy is Frank. "We are bringing back somebody from his past," Sheri reveals, "there will be a great secret that will come to light." Speaking of characters from the past, are there any Sheri would like to return? "Everyone is fond of Ana-Alicia in her original role. At this point we don't have any plans to bring her back because we have some other character that are going to take the forefront."

And if one thing is going to remain the same, it will be what Sheri recognizes as the theme of FALCON CREST. "Quest for control of Falcon Crest. We have people trying to take control, and they are all taking it for different reasons. Some are emotioanl, some are revenge, but they each have a different reason for which they want Falcon Crest. And that is really the pivotal center. It is very earthy."

Keeping the core of the show intact is not the only thing nighttime shows have to do to stay interesting and arresting, according to Sheri. "I don't think nighttime shows hav ekept paces with changes in the viewing audience," Sheri answers by analyzing what exactly is primetime soaps' problem. "In datyime, you do. OVer the years the shows stay on, but you are adapting to what people are accepting: faster-paced, or slower, or adding more comedy, depending on the audience, and what they are buying. I don't think some of these shows in primetime have done that.

"We are trying to make the show as much episodic as it is continuing. We are cutting down the number of scenes in each act to get the audience more involved. But some of the shows, and this happens in daytime also, don't let the characters really grow."

Sheri certainly made chracters develop during her daytime career, but especially on DAYS OF OUR LIVES, which is the source for her favourite stories of her career. "When Victor came to Salem and revealed tha the was really Bo's father, it caused such a ripple effect for Kim, Shane, Roman, Bo, Hope, Caroline and Sean. I also liked bringing Kayla back for Patch." Having written for Kristian Alfonso's Hope (DAYS) and now Pilar on FC, Sheri distinguishes between the two characters.

"Pilar is a woman, but Hope was growing up. Hope was more innocent and Pilar is not. Pilar has an intelligent strength where Hope did all the wrong things for all the right reasons." Pilar will be the only one returning from her family, while Angela Channing's appearances will be limited (per Jane Wyman's contract). "But Richard will be taking a very strong role which is very similar to Angela's. Angela's presence will be felt in every episode," Sheri informs.

"A lot of people complained about the women of FALCON CREST bein wishy-washy. They certainly aren't this season," Sheri emphasizes. "Lauren will be strong, especially after her brother Michael steals Richard's children and places them with her. Frnak's step daughter will be very devious, indicateive of Kathleen Turner in 'Body Heat.' And Gregory Harrison is fabulous," Sheri reports with joy. "He is so different from his character on TRAPPER JOHN, M.D. He is very similar to Michael Douglas in the film 'Wall Street'. FALCON CREST viewers will find a much richer textrue, getting away from the glamour and really going to substance and style." Sheri concludes, "it will be a show to watch. We are trying to bring in a new audience, and at the same time, respect our past audience."

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1988 - THE YEAR IN REVIEW

After it was determined that Chase's disappearance into San Francisco Bay rendered him legally dead, the executor to his estate appeared - John Remick, a mercenary who knew Chase in Vietnam. Richard Channing, romancing Maggie at this point, contacted a sinister group of businessmen known as The Thirteen to fund the North African junta Remick was fighting before he came to Tuscany. With Remick insinuating that Channing had a hand in Chase's disappearance, Richard wanted him out of the picture. Remick was summoned to fight the North African rebels. Channing was pleased, but a few problems remained. Eric Stavros, married to Maggie's daughter Vickie, was a compulsive gambler who frittered away his own money and was cut off by his father, a shipping magnate. He couldn't wait to start gambling Vickie's inheritance from Chase. Eric challenged Richard to a poker game and Richard arranged to lose so badly that Eric offered him the last thing he owned land in Nevada - because he felt he won too easily. Richard won the Silver State property, which he named Channing, Nevada. It was a Gold Rush ghost town.

Eric left for Monte Carlo. Vickie went after him. Richard arranged - with the help of The Thirteen, whose head was an amusingly evil man named Rosemont - to have Eric lose again to Mr. Dimitrov. What he did not count on was Dimitrov's kidnapping of Vickie to Yugoslavia as a prize catch in his white slave trade. Richard went to The Thirteen. They pressed him for membership and he demanded their help in getting Vickie away from Dimitrov. Richard sought out the help of the local Communist party leader, Madame Malec, to get to Dimitrov, but she refused to help him. Richard succeeded by blackmailing her. He rescued Vickie and everyone at home thought he was a big hero. Meanwhile, Rosemont pressed him to join The Thirteen. They promised him anything he wanted. He wanted to destroy Angela. Richard proposed to Maggie. After her usual hemming and hawing, she accepted. Chase's will stipulated that the second of the three codicils be read in the event of the couple's marriage. Richard asked The Thirteen to forge a document saying that the second codicil was null and void. For that service, he joined them. The second codicil said that Angela Channing would inherit the Gioberti vineyards if Maggie married Richard. And so she did.

The Thirteen began to buy Richard presents. Newspapers. A movie studio. Emma's friend Curtis Estabrook, a reporter on Richard's paper, did some investigating on a tip from Eric that Richard was involved in something awful, and found out that Channing funded the North African rebels and arranged the Dimitrov affair. The Thirteen tailed Curtis and murdered him before he could blow the story. Lance took up the investigation of Curtis's death and discovered that John Remick was alive, but most likely a prisoner of war. At the same time, Vickie and Eric were caught trying to rob Richard's Swiss bank account and imprisoned. Richard wouldn't tell Maggie where Vickie was, but he had postcards forged from European cities to convince her that Vickie was on holiday. In jail, Eric and Vickie smuggled a letter to Emma, telling of their plight, and Emma delivered it to Maggie. Maggie left Richard and moved into Falcon Crest.

Richard decided to spill his guts about The Thirteen to the FBI. The group was plotting to destroy the stock market and forced him to publish a story saying that three foreign-owned banks were shutting down, creating a panic among investors, who withdrew their money and sent stock prices plummeting. The Thirteen bought devalued stocks under the banner of one of the companies they bought for Richard, making it seem like the stock market plot was Richard's machination. The FBI knew, of The Thirteen's existence, but they wanted Richard to prove it. But there was no record of them. Richard's files were gone, his videotapes erased, his secretary replaced. The Thirteen's headquarters were occupied by salespeople selling wind-up toys.

Three months had passed since Richard married Maggie and it was time to open the third and final codicil to Chase's will. All it contained was a key - the key to destroy Angela, according to Chase - and it was left to Melissa, Angela's nemesis from the rival Agretti family. Melissa found out that the key belonged to a Wells Fargo safe deposit box that passed through a California Gold Rush town called Hobart. Angela had gotten wind of this town from Melissa's Uncle Frank, who came back to Tuscany to tell his niece that her heirloom lay in Hobart. Melissa couldn't get into Hobart because Angela had bought the town and built a fence around it. Melissa and Lance went into Hobart by digging a tunnel from the neighboring town - Channing, Nevada - and found an underground bank vault full of safe deposit boxes. One of them fit her key ... and in the box was a deed to Falcon Crest, made out to the Agretti family, not the Giobertis (Angela's maiden name) or the Channings. Falcon Crest, as far as Melissa could tell, belonged to her. She screamed in ecstasy and the walls caved in on her and Lance. They were rescued by Melissa's ex, Dan Fixx, who had also discovered that his sister Carly was not really his sister and was also romantically attracted to him.

Melissa wasted no time proving that the deed was legal, and Rosemont wasted no time in getting revenge on Richard. After Richard testified against the Thirteen at a Senate hearing in Washington, Rosemont wanted Channing dead. The Thirteen tried to wipe out his family and Richard offered his life so that theirs would be spared. Rosemont agreed to the deal. The Thirteen pumped Eric Stavros with enough chemicals to turn him into a killing machine. He almost killed Angela, but Richard saved her, bringing about a long-overdue reconciliation. He awoke before dawn one day and went out to meet his killer, Eric, who shot him on the lawn. Maggie was angry at the funeral, but Angela stood quietly looking at the grave. Two months later she was relieved of Falcon Crest. Knowing she would lose the love of Lance and her uncle Frank, but having finally won the battle against Angela, Melissa moved into Falcon Crest. Richard's right-hand man, Garth, followed Mr. Rosemont to Bangkok and abducted him. In a dimly lit church, Angela lit thirteen candies and turned to a bearded man sitting in a pew.

"Haven't you waited long enough?" she asked him. "When are you going to tell Maggie you're alive?"

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CONNIVING YOUNG LOVERS HELP FALCON CREST SOAR, BUT WHO RULES THE ROOST? JANE WYMAN

Flashback: Actor Fernando Lamas was rehearsing for NBCīs live "Jane Wyman Theater", when the hospital phoned to say that his wife, actress Arlene Dahl, was about to give birth. Lamas sprinted from the set, leaving star Wyman complaining that it was almost show time and she had no second act.

Cut to: A Burbank studio 23 years later, where handsome Lorenzo Lamas, Fernandoīs now grown-up son, is being introduced to the woman with whom heīll co-star on CBSī "Falcon Crest". Jane Wyman said, "Iīm pleased to meet you-I hope you wonīt leave me without a second act." Reports Lorenzo: "I assured her I would not."

He hasnīt. With Wyman, 68, as the scheming matriarch of a thriving California winery and Lamas as her grasping grandson, "Falcon Crest" became the only new show last fall to break into the Nielsen Top 10. This season "Falcon Crest" producers will create yet another bird of prey-actress Ana-Alicia, 26, who joined the cast as Lamasī clawing wife last spring. Although Lamasī Latin-lover looks and fine pectoral muscles have no doubt pumped the showīs popularity, he claims he keeps things in perspective. "Iīm not too secure about my looks," says Lamas. "They can always change. I was heavy and overweight as a teenager, so itīs hard to be cocky or egotistical." What he is sure about, he says, is that the reclusive Wyman is the force behind "Falcon Crest"-on and offscreen. Says Lamas: "She never actually pressures changes, but people on the set feel compelled to listen."

For the most part, cast and crew speak of Wyman, and her power, in awestruck tones. A veteran of 40 years in showbiz-including such films as "Johnny Belinda" and "Magnificent Obsession"-and the only ex-wife of a President in U.S. history (she was married to Ronald Reagan from 1940 to 1948), Wyman treats the press guardedly. "I`ve seen her walk away from an interview when Reaganīs name is mentioned," says one observer. "She feels that all ended 34 years ago and has no relevance to her life now."

On the set she is on time, on cue and, say observers, a tough cookie. Once, when a director complimented her on a take, she shot back, "Of course it was good!" The air fairly crackled when another screen legend, Lana Turner, 62, came on the set for a guest shot last spring. Reportedly, neither of the women would cross the stage to break the ice. Later Wyman cracked of Turner`s pampered ways: "Well, I did think it was a bit much when she took a limo to go to the loo." When Turnerīs appearance rocketed the showīs ratings to No. 3 for the week, Wyman acceded to the producerīs request that Turner be brought aboard for five more episodes this season. But, says one crew member of the "Falcon Crest" First Lady, "Itīs still her set."

Although Lamas lacks that sort of power, he has been allowed to add some subtlety, and even humor, to his reptilian character, Lance Cumson, who originally came equipped with little more than a Corvette and a sneer. "He had no redeeming qualities whatsoever," explains Lorenzo. "Now Lance is showing some vulnerability."

So is Lamas, who last August separated from his wife of 10 months, model Victoria Hilbert, 36. He insists their 12-year age difference was not the issue. "The marriage didnīt work because I tried to force it to work," says Lamas. "The separation is still at a very early stage, and Iīm still working it out and we remain friends. I still believe in marriage," adds Lamas. "But Iīm not ready to dive into another full relationship straightaway." Meanwhile, he admits, "There are a couple of girlfriends."

Despite the romantic uncertainties, Lamas says he feels "older than my years in the way I take responsibility and the way I handle my career." His parents divorced in 1960 (his father married aquamaid Esther Williams nine years after), and Lorenzo recalls that at 12 he "couldnīt handle going back and forth from parent to parent" and asked to be sent to New Jerseyīs Admiral Farragut Military Academy. "Iīd been a lousy student, and there was that inner radar telling me I had to get things together. It worked. I became an officer with 250 cadets in my charge. If I had been at home, it would have been me, me, me." Nowadays, he stays relatively close to both parents: Fernando, now 67, directed on "Falcon Crest" last year and will do another episode this season; Arlene, 54, has a new book, "Beyond Beauty," which sits prominently on a shelf in her sonīs two-story wood house in Laurel Canyon. Dahl is proud of having such a dutiful son, but admits she was a bit thrown when he opted for career over education at 17. "He phoned and said, "I want to be a star. . . ah, I mean actor." I said, "I heard you the first time," she laughs.

His best friends may be his Harley-Davidson cycles-a stock 1340 cc Super Glide and a behemoth 1750 cc he customized himself. "Iīm young on my bikes," says Lamas, who found refuge on them after his 1980 TV show, "The Secrets of Midland Heights," flopped. "This business is very transitory, and if you take things like that personally, youī re in big trouble." At the time, Lamas dropped out for six months to ride with other bikers. "They didnīt know what I did for a living, because I didnīt tell them. We didnīt create any disturbances or anything-we just liked to ride."

Although he says that period is past-"Iīm relaxed now, because I have a job, and I feel secure in it"-Lorenzo admits he is not always as smooth as he appears onscreen. "I can be brutally honest, which can be hard on others, but Iīm a good friend," he says, "and good friends have always been my cocaine."

Newcomer Ana Alicia is a convincing argument that you canīt tell a falcon by its feathers. On camera, sheīs an elegant, conniving bitch. Offscreen, "I have trouble even saying that word," says Ana, a "Catholic and conservative" girl from El Paso. "At first I worried about the overt sexuality of the role," she says. "And I wasnīt comfortable about the prospect of wearing low-cut dresses." She confessed her fears to Wyman, who referred her to Father Bob Curtis, a Catholic priest who occasionally plays that role on the show. "He told me that drama started in the church, and that someone had to play evil," says Ana. "The better you played evil, the better it made the good things look." Later, after doing a vicious scene, Wyman quipped to Ana, "Oh, honey, Father Bob will love this." Anaīs own definition of the good things apparently has little to do with Rodeo Drive. She lives in an unchic $300-a-month West Hollywood apartment, favors blue jeans and still dreams of finishing the law degree she started four years ago. "As it is, I run my own corporation and read my own contracts," says Ana, who did guest shots on series like "B.J. and the Bear" and "Quincy" before alighting on "Falcon Crest." She has never married nor lived with anyone, and after four years in Los Angeles, she is "just beginning to find people I like here," she says. "Iīm naive because I choose to be. Iīm not saying I havenīt stuck my toes into the water a few times, but never the whole leg. Iīm not sheltered or anything. I go riding with the roughest cowboys, and they use every word in the book, and it doesnīt bother me."

Born Ana Alicia Ortiz in Mexico City to a clothing exec mother and an entrepreneur father, Ana and three siblings moved to El Paso with their American mother after their Mexican father died when Ana was 4. A bright kid and a ham, she accepted a scholarship to Wellesley College but dropped out after a year to work in an El Paso theater while earning a dramatic arts degree at the University of Texas. She turned down law school scholarships to move to New York and work on the soap "Ryanīs Hope" (she played "a 17-year-old virgin type"), then moved to L.A. in 1978 to become a contract player for Universal, attending law school at Southwestern U at night. She dropped out, she says, "when I came to realize that I couldnīt do both well."

She also dropped out of a serious relationship with an El Paso accountant last year. "I felt that if I gave up acting, I might always regret it-and he was as aware of it as I was." Nowadays she lives with Chica, a 5-year-old Pekingese-poodle, rides horses at a stable north of L.A. and tries "to imagine what Iīll be like when Iīm 80." Well? "Iīll want someone to love," she says, "something to do and something to dream of." So far no romance has developed with her handsome co-star, but Lorenzoīs teasing retort is pure "Falcon Crest": "I could get very fond of that lady."

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