Falcon Crest

Creator Earl Hamner Jr., who had previously created The Waltons, originally conceived the show as a family drama about the wine industry titled The Vintage Years, envisioning it as the flip side of The Waltons—a family corrupted by wealth rather than threatened by poverty.

After the original pilot was shot, CBS requested that Hamner make the show more like Dallas, its biggest hit at the time, leading to a rewritten script, a reshot pilot, and several cast changes before it became Falcon Crest.

Jane Wyman was offered the lead role of Angela Channing directly, despite rumors that Barbara Stanwyck had turned it down; Hamner denied the role was ever offered to Stanwyck.

Hamner insisted that Wyman's casting had nothing to do with her being the ex-wife of President Ronald Reagan, but rather that her 'nice-lady' image would add sympathy and dimension to the harsh character of Angela.

In the unaired original pilot, Jane Wyman wore a grey wig as Angela, and several characters differed from the final show: Julia was named Dorcas, Richard Channing (played by Michael Swan) was Angela's biological son rather than her ex-husband's illegitimate son, Chase was played by Clu Gulager, and Maggie was played by Samantha Eggar.

Sophia Loren was originally set in 1984 to play Francesca Gioberti, Angela's secret half-sister, for 13 episodes, but negotiations fell through at the last minute and the role went to her longtime rival Gina Lollobrigida, who signed for only five episodes and earned a Golden Globe nomination for it.

Sophia Loren had also been Aaron Spelling's first choice for Alexis Carrington on Dynasty three years earlier, but was passed over when she demanded too much money, and the role went to Joan Collins instead.

Robert Foxworth reportedly turned down the role of J. R. Ewing on Dallas before auditioning for Falcon Crest because he did not want to play such an unsympathetic character; the role went to Larry Hagman instead.

Jane Wyman and fellow star Lana Turner reportedly had a long-running feud so severe that producers had to film their confrontation scenes separately and edit them together, though Turner publicly denied the feud existed on The Phil Donahue Show in 1982.

The exterior of the Falcon Crest mansion was filmed at Villa Miravalle, an 1884 Victorian mansion located at Spring Mountain Vineyard in St. Helena in California's Napa Valley, and the winery also produced a tie-in 'Falcon Crest' wine during the show's run.

The theme tune was composed by Bill Conti, who also scored Dynasty, The Colbys, and Cagney & Lacey; the final season's theme was reworked in a synthetic, new-age style by musician Patrick O'Hearn.

Mark Snow, who would later compose the iconic theme for The X-Files, served as the main composer for Falcon Crest's electronic synclavier-based incidental music from 1986 to 1988.

During its eighth season, Soap Opera Digest gave Falcon Crest the title of 'Most Ruined Show,' the same season it finished 52nd in the annual ratings.

The unaired original pilot, titled The Vintage Years, was never broadcast or released on DVD but was made available for download on AOL's In2TV video-on-demand service in 2007.