The disintegration of Richard and Maggie's marriage (sigh)

[Richard Denault]

Richard was totally evil and devilish in a delicious way. Agreed - I don’t think any other actor could have pulled off this character as well as David Shelby. He had a lot of practice playing Quentin Collins on Dark Shadows. He had Michael’s kidnappers killed in season 6, rightfully as a warning so it wouldn’t happen again. It was implied by Chase’s friend in season 4 that Richard had people killed when he worked for the Cartel.

At the end of season 8 Richard finally gets what’s coming to him for all his evil deeds - a prison term. He was fortunate he didn’t end up dead with all attempts on his life over the years. In season 9, at least Richard softens a bit and is no longer the main villain. He still relies on his criminal wits which is a lot of fun to watch.

But if the villain of Falcon Crest was Angela.
According to Soap Digest
We named FALCON CREST Best Primetime Soap in 1987 and 1988 for good reasons.
But Then they wiped out the long-planned reconciliation between Richard and Angela Channing, which hadprovided many volatile and moving moments in the previous two seasons.
Then they wiped out the long-planned reconciliation between Richard and Angela Channing, which had provided many volatile and moving moments in the previous two seasons.
So we named it Most Ruined Show - Primetime
Because ?
I have always thought that since the seventh the objective was to eliminate Richard it had become very expensive and Jane bothered him
At the end of the seventh they killed him and in the eighth they gave him three stories as unpleasant as putting Angela in an asylum having an affair with a prostitute like Samantha as well as destroying her marriage with Maggie and ending up putting him in jail
But it was useless because the group of fans who evaluated the episodes considered that
While Angela was still very popular, she was no longer seen as "the key to the show."
Richard was described as “the single most important element [… due to his] sexy, dynamic, intriguing, unpredictable personality.”
Reactions to Maggie improved since the previous evaluation; the audience wanted “her to get back with him”.
I guess the displeasure of the producers and Jane.
This photo from the last episode of Falcon Crest the last scene where Richard and Angela are alone Richard doesn't turn around and turns his back on Jane
Jane looks disgusted as she blackmails him to get Falcon Crest back.

 

[Richard Denault]

Woderfull Video Susan David

 

[Jock Og]

A couple of years ago, I re-discovered Falcon Crest after having watched it as a kid with my grand aunt. It has now become my comfort show by now, and I am currently on another rewatch and just discovered this board.

I am in the middle of s8 now (and almost done with the rewatch, as I never watch s9 beyond Maggie’s funeral). And every time it causes me almost physical pain to watch Richard’s and Maggie’s marriage disintegrate. I mean, at one level this is what happens all the time, partners being in love but not managing to work things out.

But then, they’ve already been through so much, always reassuring each other they’d do better next time. Like Richard promising Maggie to respect her wishes, and to not keep things from her. Why can’t he be honest with her and tell her about his plans with Glenbraddoch? I mean, it isn’t some secret business deal which she will never even notice, but one that is supposed to change the entire valley, and so she’s going to see it eventually?

And Maggie, telling her friend that she knows she should leave Richard, because he will not change. But she doesn’t, and loses her kids in the process (though if she had left him before, he’d probably tried to get custody, too).

Ugh, just had to blow off some steam; though I am interested in other people’s opinion. Should Richard have told Maggie about his plans? Didn’t he do it because he just is like he is and always has to have something secret up his sleeve? Or was he afraid that Maggie might side with Angela against him? (Which would have been so much more interesting than the stupid doppelganger plot).

Did he feel invincible after having come out winner in the fight against the Thirteen? (Which was another plot I hated; btw.).

Welcome to the forum @Pina! Richard and Maggie had some terrific scenes; during season 6 and 7, on the road to becoming Mr. and Mrs. Channing. Of course it was Susan Sullivan's idea for her character Maggie to be paired with Richard. Despite a seemingly complete turnaround in her choice of male companion; their togetherness worked, albeit for a short while. Alas Richard and his variables surfaced again.

Season 8 was sadly a ripping apart wake up call. During the Paley Center reunion 'A Look Back' (2010) Susan spoke about how Maggie tried to redeem Richard but ended up dead in the swimming pool anyhow, albeit accidentally. Maggie and Richard had this great love for each other. However this love was never going to result in a Golden Wedding Anniversary.


Richard is sitting on his bed, reading a magazine. Maggie joins him and sits down quietly on the bed, (a scene from season 7, 1987 – ‘88):

Maggie: “I haven’t been very good company, have I?”

Richard: “Oh I don’t know, nothing wrong with people having dinner in silence!”

Maggie: “I read John’s dossier on you, scared me Richard.”

Richard: “You still here?”

Maggie: “Talk to me.”

Richard: “Oh, Maggie, Maggie……..”

Richard puts the magazine down and covers his face with his hands.

Richard: “I don’t know if you have any idea why I came out here to Tuscany?”

Maggie: “Running?”

Richard: “Running, yes. I was trying to save my life. I was involved with evil, the worst kind of evil. They wouldn’t let me go, they wanted to take my soul and it took every damned trick I know to escape my old life and settle here.”

Maggie: “Richard…….”

Richard: “I am what I am and either you accept me or you don’t. I guess I am tired of running away from myself.”

Maggie: “I love you! Sometimes….sometimes you frighten me. Sometimes I feel that we’re….that we don’t have a chance and then when I’m with you I just so swept away by you.”

Richard: “I’m not gonna hurt you! Will you trust me?”

Maggie moves closer to Richard. They start to kiss passionately.

Maggie: “I can’t spend the night without you.”

 

[Richard Denault]

However this love was never going to result in a Golden Wedding Anniversary.

Writers do miracles
We already saw that according to them Richard fell madly in love with Lauren and had become so domestic that he folded sheets and made lettuce salads
By the way a beautiful scene

 

[Chloe-Fusco]

Did Richard say to Chase that he envied what he had i.e. the gentleman's family with Maggie as the stunning looking mother? I believe he did. I suppose Richard not having a close family until later in life made him very jealous of Chase. However this didn't stop him from being a sinister b**t**d and ruining what he had with Maggie. Despite this they did look good together as a couple, even if Maggie was often blinkered.

 

[Richard Denault]

Did Richard say to Chase that he envied what he had i.e. the gentleman's family with Maggie as the stunning looking mother? I believe he did. I suppose Richard not having a close family until later in life made him very jealous of Chase. However this didn't stop him from being a sinister b**t**d and ruining what he had with Maggie. Despite this they did look good together as a couple, even if Maggie was often blinkered.

In one of David's autobiographical books he wrote a wonderful phrase that Richard could never say about Maggie
"There is nothing more certain in my life than my wife's love."
David went on to say in an interview that Richard idolized Maggie, but Maggie's character didn't love Richard the same way.
Reflection of the actors:
David has been married to his wife for 60 years and a video also says some very nice phrases
·After lunch i put my feet upi put my headphones on and I listen to my classical music while my wife reclines on the couchpulls the blanket up and reads her book then after a while I remove my headphones and my wife puts down her book and we just enjoy the gift of each other's being ah you hear it the quietthe silenceof our love·
However Susan has never been married although she has a partner That's why at the wedding with Richard Susan cried because she had never had such a wonderful moment in real life but in an interview she admitted
In my mid-40s,I suddenly didn't have the job I'd had for 20 years _When she got fired from Falcon Crest,_ and I had to reinvent myself, but at the same time, I had real, deep, adult first love. of my life. "

 

[Arlene Halloran]

Their scene in Richard's house at the end of season four was off the charts hot. I liked how it was so gradual and you could tell Richard was just in awe of Maggie, even in the previous season when she had her op. Initially the feelings were a bit one sided but with Chase behaving the way he did in his last year then Maggie gave into temptation and became so smitten with Dicky.

 

[Richard Denault]

In one of David's autobiographical books he wrote a wonderful phrase that Richard could never say about Maggie
"There is nothing more certain in my life than my wife's love."
David went on to say in an interview that Richard idolized Maggie, but Maggie's character didn't love Richard the same way.
Reflection of the actors:
David has been married to his wife for 60 years and a video also says some very nice phrases
·After lunch i put my feet upi put my headphones on and I listen to my classical music while my wife reclines on the couchpulls the blanket up and reads her book then after a while I remove my headphones and my wife puts down her book and we just enjoy the gift of each other's being ah you hear it the quietthe silenceof our love·
However Susan has never been married although she has a partner That's why at the wedding with Richard Susan cried because she had never had such a wonderful moment in real life but in an interview she admitted
In my mid-40s,I suddenly didn't have the job I'd had for 20 years _When she got fired from Falcon Crest,_ and I had to reinvent myself, but at the same time, I had real, deep, adult first love. of my life. "

 

[Richard Denault]

In one of David's autobiographical books he wrote a wonderful phrase that Richard could never say about Maggie
"There is nothing more certain in my life than my wife's love."
David went on to say in an interview that Richard idolized Maggie, but Maggie's character didn't love Richard the same way.
Reflection of the actors:
David has been married to his wife for 60 years and a video also says some very nice phrases
·After lunch i put my feet upi put my headphones on and I listen to my classical music while my wife reclines on the couchpulls the blanket up and reads her book then after a while I remove my headphones and my wife puts down her book and we just enjoy the gift of each other's being ah you hear it the quietthe silenceof our love·
However Susan has never been married although she has a partner That's why at the wedding with Richard Susan cried because she had never had such a wonderful moment in real life but in an interview she admitted
In my mid-40s,I suddenly didn't have the job I'd had for 20 years _When she got fired from Falcon Crest,_ and I had to reinvent myself, but at the same time, I had real, deep, adult first love. of my life. "

 

[Richard Denault]

This is a bad way to get rid of her. But, sadly, I still feel the writers (and producers) sort of didn't really know what to do with Maggie - given Richard was the man he was he wouldn't have let her go with the children, so instead of having another "Maggie leaves Richard and he wants her back" season, they probably decided to kill her off. It's sad, because Susan Sullivan is such a good actress, that Maggie never really became a character of her own, but always needed to be someone's other half. It would be nice for her to have some kind of an emancipation story. But along came the pool...

Susan's contract was not renewed due to money issues with her salary, they hired Gregory Harrison and Lauren
Since they insisted that he have a passionate affair with Lauren, she had to be killed.
Nobody believed this love story

 

[Richard Denault]

I haven't watched s9 so far, never dared to because I hate the Michael Sharpe character so much. Maybe I should give it a try for the Richard scenes then...

Don't even think about it, there was a very emotional scene where Maggie visits Richard that was cut.
There was no chemistry between Lauren and Richard.
We see Richard folding sheets and making lettuce salad
Esta en una parejja enamorada

 

[aframe2]

A couple of years ago, I re-discovered Falcon Crest after having watched it as a kid with my grand aunt. It has now become my comfort show by now, and I am currently on another rewatch and just discovered this board.

I am in the middle of s8 now (and almost done with the rewatch, as I never watch s9 beyond Maggie’s funeral). And every time it causes me almost physical pain to watch Richard’s and Maggie’s marriage disintegrate. I mean, at one level this is what happens all the time, partners being in love but not managing to work things out.

But then, they’ve already been through so much, always reassuring each other they’d do better next time. Like Richard promising Maggie to respect her wishes, and to not keep things from her. Why can’t he be honest with her and tell her about his plans with Glenbraddoch? I mean, it isn’t some secret business deal which she will never even notice, but one that is supposed to change the entire valley, and so she’s going to see it eventually?

And Maggie, telling her friend that she knows she should leave Richard, because he will not change. But she doesn’t, and loses her kids in the process (though if she had left him before, he’d probably tried to get custody, too).

Ugh, just had to blow off some steam; though I am interested in other people’s opinion. Should Richard have told Maggie about his plans? Didn’t he do it because he just is like he is and always has to have something secret up his sleeve? Or was he afraid that Maggie might side with Angela against him? (Which would have been so much more interesting than the stupid doppelganger plot).

Did he feel invincible after having come out winner in the fight against the Thirteen? (Which was another plot I hated; btw.).

I really loved Maggie but I can't say I was unhappy her leaving in season 9. I thought she was a pain in the butt in season 8. She was so ungrateful after his very clear heroism. He was up against a very bad organization that was going to kill his entire family and she's pouting about him telling garth and Angela. Yeah, well if you don't want him Maggie, I'll take him!
Now, about mid season, when I started to "tolerate" Maggie, then I started getting upset with Richard, even though half of the plots I didn't think he would even do after season 7's storylines.
I mean kidnap Angela? He was doing well with Angela!
Also, with Maggie taking the kids, you don't think Richard's gonna fight that? It's like the writers were on purposely trying to make Richard be the bad guy, even though, somehow it's okay for Maggie to take them.
She even said to him she didn't want the children around him and for some sick reason she loves him. Huh?
yeah, rest in peace Maggie, Lauren was a breath of fresh air!