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# 063 <3.23> Final Countdown
 
 
(revised 01/15/2024)
 
 


 
 
Shortcuts to this episode's
 
Script | Credits | Filming Locations
 
 

 
 
The two pictures hanging in the hallways at the Tuscany Valley Hospital in this episode are the same props that used to be in Chase's hospital room at the beginning of this season. The picture marked red was also seen in another hospital corridor in # 059, the one marked yellow in the Falcon Crest accounting office in # 053.
In a later scene in this episode (Terry visits Maggie; screen grab 3), the picture with the red mark is replaced with another one while the picture with the yellow mark is still hanging in the same spot. The redress was done to create the illusion of a different corridor.
For LORIMAR's further use of this picture, check out the Beyond the Show – Props – Set Dressing – Decoration section.
 
Uncredited stand-in MARTHA MANOR appears as an extra again — as the same Tuscany Valley Hospital nurse as in # 062, again in that blond wig. For another appearance in this episode, see below.
Compare # 202 for a list of appearances throughout the series.
For details about MARTHA MANOR, compare # 001.
 

The establishing clip of San Francisco features an aerial view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the city in the background (filmed towards east). It is previously unused footage, which was taken during the season 1 filming in San Francisco.

 
Inside joke: Lucas Crosby's home (screen capture from # 064) is the exterior set previously built for EARL HAMNER's old show, "The Waltons", on THE BURBANK STUDIOS (WARNER BROS. STUDIOS) backlot — with a modified roof and upper floor. It portrayed the Walton Home on that series based on EARL's childhood memories. In 1991, the set burnt down when a serial arsonist set fire to it. First, it was rebuilt on the same site, partly made from elements that were not destroyed, but partly made from new parts. Rebuilding went well; the house was almost identical. Slight differences, however, can be noticed in the wooden décor around the dormers (different width in the wooden elements) and in the banisters around the porch (fewer balusters, different width). For the later reunions of "The Waltons", the exterior set was moved to the nearby WARNER BROS. RANCH because the space on the original site of the studio lot (the Doonevan Flats) was needed for a new parking structure.
 
The establishing shot of San Francisco is a view from Coit Tower towards west, zooming in on the apartment house Pamela lives in. It is located at the corner of Green and Taylor Street on Russian Hill in San Francisco. It is a luxury apartment house called Royal Towers in real life. Phillip lives there, too (compare # 031).
This clip was not specifically filmed for the series, but is stock footage from a film library and was already taken in the early 1970's.
 
The filming location for the interiors of Pamela's apartment as well as the corridor leading to the apartment is on the second floor of The Mirabella, a luxurious condominium building on Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood in Los Angeles.
 
Another room in the same apartment is used as the guest bedroom in the McKay House where Michael puts up Dr. Heller.
 
Fictional entity: Lance booked a cruise to Bora Bora and Tahiti with Transoceanic S.S. Lines travel agents (screen grab of the ticket below).
Product placement: The cruise will be on board the S.S. Amerikanis owned by Costa Lines. The cruise liner is an actual ship owned by the real Costa company in those days; the passenger liner was scrapped in 2001.
The prop is kind of confusing though because the brochure mentions the Bahamas as the destination (from Florida).
 
Mistake: In the scene in the Falcon Crest Victorian Mansion nursery, Lance holds the cruise tickets on the lower part of the papers in the wide angle shot whereas he holds them on the upper part in the subsequent close-up.
This is a mistake caused by the particular close-up filming technique — check # 001 (Chase and Maggie at the Gioberti Family Cemetery) for details.
 
Once again, the red Volvo 242 DL sedan (compare # 055 for details) is used as a prop; it drives past Linda and Cole's house this time.
Later, it is parked on Main Street in Tuscany in the scene with Pamela and Spheeris.
License plate number of the red Volvo: 400 ZPD.
 

Further back on the street of Linda and Cole's home, the usual brown Volkswagen Rabbit, a well known picture car, is parked (yellow arrows; see # 001 for details).

 
Early script drafts contained a scene with Chase unsuccessfully trying to call Vickie on her tour with the dancing company in Europe to let her know about Maggie's operation. This scene was omitted.
 
Product placement: Melissa reads "The Ugly Duckling" fairytale from the book "Animal Nursery" by RICHARD SCARRY to Joseph.
 
Product placement: Joseph wears a Snoopy outfit.
 

Further back on the street of Linda and Cole's home, the usual light yellow Ford Pinto Runabout, a well known picture car, is parked (yellow arrows; see # 001 for details). For a second appearance of this car, see below.

 
In the sneak preview, a close-up of Cole pulling back from Melissa when Linda arrives is shown. In the scene in the episode itself, however, only a wide angle shot from a different point of view of that moment is shown.
 
New license plate number of Linda's blue-gray 1983 Ford Mustang: 1GXM873. Previously, it had a different number (compare # 044.)
 
Uncredited extra JACK DOUGLASS appears in this episode again. First, he plays a waiter at Albion's Bistro where Angela and Carter run into Phillip. Shortly after, he appears as a passerby on Main Street in Tuscany in the scene with Pamela and Spheeris.
Compare # 130 for a list of appearances throughout the series.
For details about the extra, compare # 032.
 
Uncredited extra KEVIN G. TRACEY appears as the thick-eyebrowed Tuscany Valley gentleman again — this time as a patron at Albion's Bistro in San Francisco where Angela and Carter are having dinner.
Compare # 185 for a list of all his appearances throughout the series.
For details about the extra, compare # 001.
 
This episode marks the first appearance of uncredited tall, black-haired and mustached extra DAVID "GUNNER" GUST. He is an American background actor, who appeared in many TV series and movies in the 1980's.
First, he is a patron at Albion's Bistro in San Francsico where Angela and Carter are having dinner in this episode. For his second appearance in this episode, see below. He will play various rôles in many following episodes; he will be best known as the assistant district attorney sitting next to D.A. Caroline Earle in Lance's trial (# 091, 092) and next to D.A. Fred Wilkinson in Tony's trial (# 154).
Compare # 187 for list of all appearances throughout the series.
 
The filming location for Albion's Bistro in San Francisco where Angela and Carter are having dinner is the former real eatery by the same name in Sherman Oaks, CA. It closed in 1988, and the place has been occupied by the Mistral, a new restaurant, since. That restaurant was already used as a filming location in # 028 (see there), but the room was photographed from across at that time.
 
Pamela drives a red 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am sports car, a rental car, in this episode. The script originally called for a red Chevrolet Camaro, but the prop department went for the other car.
 
The scene with Pamela and Spheeris is filmed on French Street on THE BURBANK STUDIOS (WARNER BROS. STUDIOS) backlot.
 
The light yellow Ford Pinto Runabout is parked at the corner in the background (screen grab 2 — behind Spheeris). For details about this heavily used picture car, see above and # 001.
 
A Tuscany store named Skipper Ward Surplus can be seen in the background (screen grab 2).
Like many other stores in downtown Tuscany (compare # 030), this locale has actually been dressed for the ongoing use on the TV series "The Dukes of Hazzard"; the sign was simply not exchanged, nor was the place redressed when "Falcon Crest" filmed here.
Inside joke from the "Dukes of Hazzard": The shop owner's name was "borrowed" from that show's (associate) producer, SKIP WARD.
 
Uncredited tall, black-haired and mustached extra DAVID GUST, who will be best remembered for his rôle as an assistant district attorney in # 091, 092 and 154, but who will also play different characters in the series, makes his second appearance in this episode on Main Street in downtown Tuscany. For his earlier appearance in this episode, see above.
Compare # 187 for list of all appearances throughout the series.
 
Uncredited stand-in MARTHA MANOR appears as an extra for a second time in this episode — this time in a dark curly wig on Main Street besides GORDON HODGINS (see below), hardly visible in the background. For her earlier appearance in a different rôle in this episode, see above.
Compare # 202 for a list of appearances throughout the series.
For details about MARTHA MANOR, compare # 001.
 
Uncredited stand-in GORDON HODGINS appears as an extra again — first in this episode, in his usual rôle as a Tuscany Valley gentleman on Main Street in Tuscany. See below for his later appearance in this episode in a different rôle.
Compare # 182 for a list of appearances throughout the series.
For details about GORDON HODGINS, compare # 001.
 
Early script drafts contained a scene in front of Linda and Cole's home in which she talks to him about all the trouble with Melissa and about her wish to have a baby of their own, something Cole wants to wait with until Joseph feels more comfortable with them in his new surroundings. This scene was omitted.
 
The interior set of Phillip's winery in this and the following episode is the same as the one used as the cellar in the Falcon Crest Winery Building where Lance usually works out. It is only filmed from different angles and propped slightly differently — an easy way to trim down costs in the set construction.
 
License plate number of Norton Crane's black stretched 1977 Cadillac Fleetwood Limousine: New York 656 RLV.
License plate number of Richard Channing's gray stretched 1979 Cadillac Fleetwood Limousine (rental car): New York 656 RLV.
This prop policy is ridiculous: Not only is the license plate number the same on both vehicles; this number was also on Terry's Pontiac Firebird Trans Am (compare # 048).
 
The filming location for the junkyard where Richard and Norton meet is what used to be the scene dock area at THE BURBANK STUDIOS (now WARNER BROS. STUDIOS) in those days. It was located south of the backlot's Midwest Street quite near the lot's border at the Los Angeles River. The camera was facing west. The structure with the barrel roof in the background is what used to be building 50 in those days, the Set Lighting Hangar. That building was replaced by sound stage 29 in the 1990's. The scene dock area was also removed; nowadays, a parking garage, which also houses the costume department, sits in its place.
The script, by the way, suggested a sculpture garden in New York as the place for Richard and Norton to meet. This idea was changed on short notice to reduce production cost though.
 
After his earlier appearance in this episode in Tuscany (see above), uncredited stand-in GORDON HODGINS plays another part as an extra in this episode again — now as Norton Crane's chauffeur in New York.
Compare # 182 for a list of appearances throughout the series.
For details about GORDON HODGINS, compare # 001.
 
Real-life allusion: Norton talks about the sinking of the Titanic.
 
The interior set of the upper floor of the Falcon Crest Victorian Mansion, which was built specially for this season, is different from the upstairs hallways shown in # 001, 002, 004, 005 and 013 as well as 031 and 046. It must be a different part of the house. The most striking thing, however, is the same stained glass window as known from # 005 and 031, which is used in many different places in the Mansion sets (see yellow arrow); the same prop window is also regularly used in the hallway to Joseph's bedroom (compare # 028) and will be seen again in various other hallways.
LORIMAR's original blueprints of this set and many others are available for DFCF members in the Show – Production Office – Filming Locations – Movie Studios – Interior Sets section.
Drawings of the Mansion (floor plans and architectural views amalgamating the sets and the real location) are available here.
 
The interior set of Emma's bedroom in the Falcon Crest Victorian Mansion is the same as the set of the guest bedroom (compare # 001 — basic information), of Angela's (# 002 and 005), of Julia's (# 005) and of Lance's (# 008 and 014) bedrooms in the Falcon Crest Victorian Mansion in season 1 as well as the set of Lance and Melissa's bedroom (compare # 023 for details; screen capture from # 034) and of the nursery (check # 021 and 028 for details) — an easy way to cut down production costs again. Only minor changes are made and different furniture is brought in to make the same set look like various bedrooms. Compare # 001, 021 and 023 for more details.
LORIMAR's original blueprints of this set and many others are available for DFCF members in the Show – Production Office – Filming Locations – Movie Studios – Interior Sets section.
 
The bed that is used in Emma's bedroom in the Falcon Crest Victorian Mansion exclusively in this episode is the same prop that was used in # 026 (only) in Julia's bedroom in the Falcon Crest Victorian Mansion.
 

Sturdevant General Store where Lucas is shopping is — with slight changes — the same exterior set as Charlie's General Store in # 061 and the Cold Duck in # 018. Check there for details.

 
License plate number of Lucas' blue-white 1970 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ55: FD29L6.
 

In the sneak preview, a wide angle shot shows how Angela grabs at the phone receiver when Julia calls. In the scene in the episode itself, however, close-ups of Angela and Lance are shown.

 
 
The picture in the waiting area at the Tuscany Valley Hospital is the same prop that was previously used in the California State Hospital for the Criminally Insane (compare screen capture 1 from # 058).
 
The establishing clip of the Falcon Crest Winery Building is previously unused footage shot in 1981. The fact that this is from season 1 becomes apparent when the camera zooms in on the stained glass window, which read "Falcon Crest Winery" in those days. The current prop sign, however, says just "Falcon Crest", as seen in # 046 (compare there).
 
The scene with the winery foreman in the Falcon Crest Winery Building was originally scripted with Paul Espinoza instead of Ben Thompson.
Obviously to avoid another recast (compare # 045 for Paul Espionza), Paul was replaced by the Ben character. This also explains why J. VICTOR LOPEZ, who plays Ben, was called Paul in the scene at the warehouse in # 057 — apparently, the writers forgot to change the name in time.
 
 

 
 
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