And for the late William Bast :
[About his contribution in the conception of the show]:
We created the characters, except those that crossed over from Dynasty.
[About what was imposed by Esther & Richard Shapiro]:
They « imposed » nothing on us; in fact, they were a tremendous help, with advice and guidance, as this was our first experience with the concept of nighttime soap opera. We were in charge of our show, but we all worked together to make the show the best we could.
[About the ideas which materialized and the ideas that never did]:
Your guess is as good as mine. Too long ago to recall and too many to keep track of. But, generally we held sway when we wanted something enough.
[About the atmosphere between the actors, writers, and producers]:
Between actors and producers, the best! Both producers and writers were on the same team. As for actors, only Mr. Heston and Ms Stanwyck required some patience. We were in charge of the writers for our show; being writers ourselves, we handled them as we would have wanted to be handled.
[About the work with legendary stars Barbara Stanwyck and Charlton Heston]:
Heston was often quite helpful, while Stanwyck was surprisingly cooperative, as well. Sometimes surprising how stars manage to control their egos and cooperate, especially if there's a prospect of a long run and a lot of loot, or a fear of not getting the best lines.
[About the performance of Stephanie Beacham]:
Ms Beecham is a splendid actress in my eyes. Stephanie is always a superior actress, which is why I wanted her for the part.
[About the Nielsen Ratings and the reasons that could explain the show never became a hit]:
Combination of time-slot and the heavy dose of Dynasty as a recent comparison, though not at all like The Colbys. It would have been idiotic to try to compete with Dynasty. We wanted our own special style and voice. Fortunately, our executive producers were our good friends and we all got along well, because they trusted us and respected our opinions. That doesn't always happen in our business. Too much one-upmanship goes on. We did our best and enjoyed.
[About the reasons of Barbara Stanwyck's departure after only one season]:
Probably mostly money, but somewhat also her behavior. Network pressure made it necessary, but I felt it a stupid move. Sorry to see her character go, but relieved that Ms Stanwyck herself left the show. As you must have heard by now, some actors bring magic, some bring headaches. Once a star, always a star...at least that's the presumption, regardless of reality. Often, especially with older successful actors and actresses, some artists cling to their past glory and assume they're still « the star of the show » (even if they're not) and behave so, which often creates problems for the rest of the cast, especially the leading characters, who are in fact the stars and don't usually appreciate being superceded by actors playing lesser parts, former stars included.
[About his memories of Barbara Stanwyck's possible return in season 2]:
Only vague...
[About Emma Samms and how she played her role as a victim]:
In fact, her role was meant to be that of a victim, and she fulfilled that requirement perfectly, I thought. That's what good acting is all about; you play the character you've been hired, which is mercifully not always the same old, same old.
[About the ultimate episode and the abduction of Fallon - your idea?]:
(Not our idea) By that time, I wished I was on another planet myself, and wanted out. (Come back next season and find Fallon on a distant planet???)
[About the way the abduction would have been approached next season]:
Your guess is as good as mine. Redundant. Never got to address the issue, show dropped from net schedule next season.
[About the original ideas for the next season]:
Too long ago to recall details. Wouldn't have put that much work into next season, as there might not have been one...which there wasn't.
[About the rumor that Diahann Carroll was supposed to join the cast as a regular in the season 3]:
Don't recall.
[About the rumor that Ricardo Montalban was about to leave the show before it was cancelled]:
Not to my knowledge. He is a saint and would never have abandoned ship, not unless we cut his part down too much, of course, which we weren't about to do. One of the best actors on the show, so why lose him?
[About Elizabeth Taylor being considered for a role]:
Proposed the idea, but it was shot down by Aaron, who may have had a previously disappointing experience working with Ms Taylor, though I do not know if that is true or not. Some things in our business remain mysteries. The final casting was out of my hands, though I would have loved having her come aboard. It might have saved the show in the end.
[About his best souvenir of those days]:
My best souvenir is the People's Choice Award that we won, not to mention the fun we had working with our friends, the Shapiros, executive producers on both Dynasty and our show.
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« Paul Huson, my sometime writing partner, and I were hired to create a « spin-off » of Dynasty by its creators/producers, Esther and Richard Shapiro, who were already too busy writing and producing their series to take on the major task of creating another series simultaneously. So, The Colbys was all ours to create with their guidance, but sans interference, which we did. Having never dealt with the challenging task of creating and writing a continuing saga, especially in the shadow of Dynasty, the highest rated show on TV at the time, we bit the bullet and wrote the pilot script, which the Shapiros submitted and promptly got a go-ahead from the network. From the start, the show was ours to run, though the Shapiros were there to keep us on course, should we stray too far. We did get away with some material that the network was shy of, but the Shapiros had faith in us and supported everything we wanted. The show performed well, considering the time slot ABC grave us, but it never quite matched the popularity of Dynasty, though it pleased ABC enough to pick it up for a second season. The rest is history.
As for dealing with the likes of both Stanwyck and Heston week after week...,let's just say it took a lot of...skill. Nonetheless, we had a great time doing it, thanks mainly to our dear friends, the Shapiros, who were there to run interference...
Paul Huson gets the credit for the sci-fi stuff, though we ultimately went the route of believability, so Fallon was spared her trip to outer space. It was never our intention to sacrifice drama for fantasy; Fallon's abduction was intended to be all in her mind. The end result was entirely network. By the end of that first year, we were almost relieved that the show wasn't being picked up. As for what might have happened, that's entirely up to you.
As for Ricardo, I have no idea what his thinking was, and never got a chance to find out. He was certainly a pleasure to work with; would that all actors were as amenable.
It was rather sad that the show didn't get picked up, but, frankly, it was also a major relief. Fun while it lasted, but too much of a grind finally. As for the atmosphere, the cast couldn't have been more respectful, though working with Heston was largely up-hill - he's quite brilliant, but equally demanding. »
