Flamingo Road (TV series)

For other uses, see Flamingo Road (disambiguation).

as Howard Du, Stella Stevens, Cristina Raines, and

Barbara Rush.

Flamingo Road is an American prime time television

soap opera that aired on NBC. It was rst seen as a TV
movie on May 12, 1980, and as a series on January 6,
1981, after a rebroadcast of the pilot on December 30,
1980. The show is based on the 1949 movie starring Joan
Crawford, which is, in turn, based on the novel by Robert
Wilder. Flamingo Road was created to compete against
CBS's Dallas and Knots Landing, nighttime dramas that
were inspired by the daily afternoon soap operas that had
been a staple of TV for years.

As the 198182 season ranked No. 68 out of 105 shows,

NBC executives planned a daytime version of the primetime series to debut in September 1982, but this never
came to pass [2] despite the fact a bible for a third season
had been drafted by producer Je Freilich.

3 Plot Summaries

The character of Constance Weldon ranked at #16 on E!'s

list of The 50 Most Wicked Women in Primetime.[1]

3.1 Pilot (May 12, 1980, 2 hrs)

Synopsis

In the rst part of the TV movie, we learn about how Lane

Ballou, a singer with Coynes Traveling Circus, was left
behind when the circus was run out of Truro, Florida. She
is found by Deputy Fielding Carlyle, and they begin to
bond over time. The sheri, Titus Semple, is dismayed
at this, because he wants Fielding to someday become
a Senator, and he believes that he must marry the rich
bitch socialite Constance Weldon. Lane stays in town
and she and Field embark on a secret aair. Lane also
takes a job at the Eagle Cafe, alongside Annabelle Troy,
a middle-class young woman who is dating Constances
brother Skipper. Constance starts planning her wedding,
and begins to worry about Fields whereabouts when he
would be with Lane. Lute-Mae Sanders, a local bordello
owner, starts worrying about Constance, who does not
know that Lute-Mae is her biological mother. At the end
of the hour, Lane is falsely picked up for solicitation.

The series took place in the ctional town of Truro,

Florida, which was situated on the inside of a corner of
the panhandle. Action revolved around the various characters of the show, most of whom had ties to the very
wealthy Weldon family, who resided on ritzy Flamingo
Road: Claude, who gained his fortune through the paper industry; Eudora, his naive wife; Constance, their
believed to be adopted daughter, and Skipper, their son
who was in his early 20s. Fielding Carlyle was Constances husband, whilst Lane Ballou was his frequent
mistress. Lane worked for bar owner Lute-Mae Sanders,
Constances biological mother (Claude was her biological father, but no one knew it). At Lute-Maes Lane became good friends with Sam Curtis, a construction magnate, whom she later married. Other important members
in the cast were Titus Semple, the ruthless sheri, and In the second hour, Lane comes back to town and gets
Elmo Tyson, editor of the Truro Clarion and Eudoras a job at Lute-Maes, angering Titus, who thought he had
nally gotten rid of her. Lute-Mae is confronted by the
high school sweetheart.
sheri, but has the upper hand in the situation and Lane
stays. Field and Constance are married in the Weldons
backyard, and much of the town is in attendance. Those
2 Reception
who are not, though, are partying at Lute-Maes, where
Lane is miserable over Fields nuptials. Lute-Mae steps
Though the show was initially popular, it soon succumbed out and heads over to the reception to have a quick chat
to being scheduled against ABC's hit romance/mystery with Claude, Constances father. Claude comforts her,
Hart to Hart. NBC pulled the plug on the show in Spring much to the dismay of an observant Eudora Weldon,
1982, though reruns aired in the timeslot until mid sum- Claudes wife. She gets even and gets comforted by
mer of that year. Several of its stars went on to become fa- Elmo Tyson, claiming that its hard to watch my little
mous for other works, including Morgan Fairchild, Mark girl get married. Annabelle dies in a re set at the WelHarmon, John Beck, and Woody Brown. Others were don Paper Mill & Company, where Skipper planned to
already relatively known when the series debuted, such meet her.
1

3.2

PLOT SUMMARIES

Season One (January 6, 1981 April 2, 3.3 Season Two (November 3, 1981 May
1981, 15 episodes)
4, 1982, 22 episodes)

The series began with a steady start. Field and Constance

honeymoon in the Bahamas, yet most of the time out
there, Field is thinking of Lane. They are abducted by
a couple hired by a drug dealer that received a bad deal
from Titus. When they return, however, the drama continues. Field keeps his relationship up with Lane, including taking her with him on a business trip to Tallahassee. Constance gets wind of Fields deception and conspires with Titus to get Lane sent out of town, but they
prove unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Mary Troy, Annabelles
mother, comes to town upon learning of her daughters
violent death. She, Skipper, and Lane, come to the conclusion that the Weldon re was an arson, though they
are never quite sure who set it up. It is discovered that
Annabelle was Sheri Titus Semples illegitimate daughter from years before after he forced himself on her
mother Mary.Field goes back to drinking and is drunk
on the day of an important campaign function, resulting
in Constance blabbing unconrmed information about his
opponent. In the end, however, Field wins the election is
made a Senator of Florida. After various ghts and arguments, the Carlyles separate. Skipper, on the other hand,
begins a relationship with new girl in town Christie Kovacs, who moved to Truro to live with her overbearing sister Alice who worked at the Weldon Paper Mill and who
was secretly in love with Claude.Christie leaves Truro for
good after being paid o for having a brief aair and then
surviving a car accident with Field. Not long after Alice
resigns and also leaves Truro after realizing Claude would
never return her feelings. Skipper also prepares to leave
town to accept a job in New Orleans, but decides to stay
after Claude is seriously injured in an accident at the mill.
Lane becomes frightened when she realizes that a murderer is after her, because she has inside information
about a killing that went on several years earlier. Her
friend from the circus, Beth McDonald, is killed, and
within weeks, Lane is secretly kidnapped. While she
is gone, Field and Constance nally divorce. Hurricane
Michelle storms towards town and leaves most of the
main cast stuck at Lute-Maes, with the exception of
Elmo and Eudora who have dinner at the Clarions headquarters. The hurricane sends Lanes kidnappers back to
Lute-Maes as well, and try to play on the act that they
all entered the bar separately. Soon, though, hell breaks
loose and one of the men is shot, while they are all arrested. Field comforts Lane, but Constance breaks them
up, claiming that the divorce papers she had drawn were
fakes and that she and Field were still married. In a rage,
Field sent Constance over the railing at the top of the
stairs and onto the oor.

Constance survives her fall, but is paralyzed indenitely

from the waist down as a result. Claude is ready to press
charges on (and kill) Field for pushing down his little girl,
but Constance agrees to keep him quiet if Field continues
their farce of a marriage. He agrees to her terms. While
in the hospital, Lute-Mae and Claude have a candid talk
about Constance, not knowing that Eudora is in the chapel
with them. She soon learns that Lute-Mae and Claude are
Constances biological parents. Lute-Mae faces her own
problems, though, when she is raped by a delivery boy
who works for the grocery store she shops at. Since the
boy is part of an auent Flamingo Road family, Titus
refuses to press charges against him, but Lane and LuteMae soon get their justice. Field, acting as Senator, tries
to x a Cuban barrio in town, but then discovers that
Claude Weldon owns it, though it is signed in Eudoras
name.
Michael Tyronne makes his rst appearance in town, bidding against Sam for a piece of waterfront property. Sam
also becomes closer to Lane as the two slowly start to fall
in love. After winning the bidding war with Sam, Michael
also wants to buy the Cuban barrio, but Eudora does not
want to sell, despite Claudes eorts to make her think
otherwise. Eudora becomes addicted to painkillers and
is sent to live in a mental sanitarium eventually to recover
and return to Flamingo Road.
Constance regains the use of her legs, but realizes that
while she was in her wheelchair, Field felt softer to her
and that a reconciliation might happen. She pretends to
still be paralyzed, but the truth comes out when Eudora
has a t for pills and Constance hops out of her chair to
help her. Field happens to pass by the open door to Eudoras room and sees Constance out of her chair, running
frantically around Eudora.
While Eudora is away, Claude forges her signature to sign
over the barrio property to Tyronne. Tyronne has Titus
evict the Cubans who live there, which includes two early
20 somethings who have ties to the Weldon family: Julio
Sanchez, who starts a sexual relationship with Constance,
and his sister Alicia, who falls in love with Skipper. Skipper and Alicias relationship seemed doomed. They were
working late at the Clarion oce one night when an explosion went o. They both survived, but Skipper lost his
sight in the accident. Soon they eloped and moved into
the Weldon mansion together.
Michael Tyronne nally gets the barrio property and
wants to build a casino resort on it. The problem is that
gambling is illegal in Florida. He tries all he can to make
Field rock the vote in the Senate to legalize gambling.
Tyronne buys the bank that Claude has the Weldon Mills
trust at and forecloses on it, making Field the new owner.
As much as this pleases Field, he still goes against Tyronnes plans. Tyronne loses the barrio, however, when

4.2

Also starring

Eudora gets wind of her name being forged.

3
Weldons rst cousin, but this plotline was scrapped
before production began on the pilot.

Fielding begins to stray away from Constance again,

but not with Lane (who had gotten married to Sam Howard Du as Titus Semple. Corrupt sheri of
in a beautiful ceremony). He meets a reporter named
Truro County. Has done many dirty deeds, such
Sandy Swanson and they fell in love. Unknown to Field,
as setting Lane Ballou up as a prostitute and
though, Sandy was Michael Tyronnes sister. Tyronne
orchestrating the Weldon Mill re. Sheri Semple
had vengeance on his mind when he came to Truro. Over
was originally to have been the long-lost father
20 years ago, Tyronnes father had lived in Truro. He
of Lane, but this plotline was dropped before the
was convicted of a murder and Fieldings father, Judge
series made it to air.
Andrew Carlyle, and Titus, who was still the sheri back
then, had him receive the death penalty. Tyronne rmly Morgan Fairchild as Constance Weldon Carlyle.
Wealthy, spoiled daughter of Claude and Eudora.
believed that his father was innocent, despite the endless
Married to Field, yet sleeps with everyone but him.
evidence that pointed to his guilt. Still, Tyronne wanted
Rival of Lane.
everyone connected to Titus and Judge Carlyle to suer.
His method of destruction was voodoo. He kills Sandy Mark Harmon as Fielding 'Field' Carlyle.
by having her car go o a cli, because she was sleeping
Constances husband and high school sweetwith Field.
heart. Started as a deputy but became a Senator.
Lover of Lane and Sandy and one-time ally of
After Tyronne beds most of the women on the show, and
Michael.
Constance beds most of the men, they nd each other, but
only for a while. Tyronne leaves her for a few rendezvous
Kevin McCarthy as Claude Weldon. Overly nervous
with Lute-Mae, after nding out that she is Constances
paper mill owner and ally of Titus. Secretly famother. Lane is shocked that Lute-Mae would date a man
thered Constance with Lute-Mae.
like Tyronne, and it drives a wedge between the longtime
friends. Lane also has good news. She and Sam are ex- Cristina Raines as Lane Ballou Curtis. Streetwise
pecting a baby.
singer who works for Lute-Mae at her bar. Carried
on a relationship with Field before marrying Sam.
Field nally cuts his ties with Tyronne when he decides to
resign from the Senate, making him useless in Tyronnes
urge to make gambling legal in Florida. This angers Tyronne much more, and leads him to get his job done
faster. He plots to drive Titus insane and reveals to Constance her true parentage. Soon after, though, someone
gets the guts to kill him. After he dies, many people are
suspected in the crime, everyone from Lute-Mae to Constance to Eudora to Claude. Lute-Mae is revealed as the
killer, however, in the series last scene was of Michaels
spirit rising from a burning barn and later being seen hidden away in a monastery, revealing to the audience that
he was not dead.

Cast and characters

Barbara Rush as Eudora Flowers Weldon. Claudes

long suering wife . She befriends Lute-Mae.
Stella Stevens as Lute-Mae Sanders. Kind, friendly
ex-madam who owns a bar/brothel. Mother gure
for Lane and Sam.

4.2 Also starring

Fernando Allende as Julio Sanchez (Season 2 only).
Bitter son of one of Sams workers, and one of
Constances many lovers.
Joel Bailey as Tony. Handyman at Lute-Maes who
ends up blackmailing her.

Denise Galik as Christie Kovacs (Season 1 only).

Skippers devious girlfriend in the rst season
4.1 Starring
who beds Fielding Caryle and leaves town after
surviving a car accident with Fielding.
John Beck as Sam Curtis. Proprietor of Sam Curtis
Construction. Bedfellow of Constance and later, de- Gina Gallego as Alicia Sanchez Weldon (Season 2 only).
voted husband to Lane. Fields campaign manager.
Julios younger sister who eventually marries Skipper.
Woody Brown as Skipper Weldon. Claude and Eudora Weldons son. Soon goes blind and marries the Alice Hirson as Mary Troy (Season 1 only).
poor Alicia Sanchez.
Annabelle Troys mother, who comes to Truro
to investigate her daughters death.
Peter Donat as Elmo Tyson. Editor of the towns
newspaper, The Truro Clarion and secret admirer Dianne Kay as Annabelle Troy (Pilot only) Young
woman who is Skippers girlfriend and Sheri Titus
of Eudora. Candidate for Sheri. Elmo was played
Semples illegitimate daughter. She dies in the
by Mason Adams in the pilot. Elmo (originally
named Elmo Weldon) was to have been Claude
Weldon mill re.

10

Sandra Kearns as Beth McDonald (Season 1 only).

Old friend of Lanes who is killed.

EXTERNAL LINKS

In France, the show was shown on the now defunct channel La Cinq, then owned by former Italian Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi.

Marcia Rodd as Alice Kovacs (Season 1 only).

Christies stern older sister who was secretly in love The show was aired in Turkey on the state-owned netwith Claude Weldon and leaves Truro not long after work TRT from 1981-1982. Its popularity ended up
with many establishments, particularly patisseries, to be
her sister does
named "Flamingo Yolu" (Turkish literal translation) afEsther Rolle as Julia (Season 2 only). Michaels mys- ter the series, and even some municipalities throughout
terious voodoo high priestess.
Turkey named parks and promenades as that.
David Selby as Michael Tyronne (Season 2 only).
Cunning and debonair businessman who is out for
revenge.
John Shearin as Deputy Tyler (Season 1 only). The
deputy that replaces Field upon his arrival in the
Senate.
Cynthia Sikes as Sandy Swanson (Season 2 only).
Michaels reporter sister who falls for Field and is
killed by voodoo.
Carmen Zapata as Lupe Sanchez (Season 2 only).
Julio and Alicias Puerto Rican mother.

4.3

Recurring

Glenn Robards as Jasper (entire run) The

familys trusty butler.

Weldon

Charlie Robinson as Phil (Season 1 only) The main

bartender at Lute-Maes.

8 See also
List of Flamingo Road episodes

9 References
[1] http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.tv/
browse_thread/thread/5c311ac581970a8e/
36c12ae288d8a8bb%3Fq%3D%2522Jane%
2BApplebee%2522%2336c12ae288d8a8bb&
ei=iGwTS6eaOpW8Qpmqic0O&sa=
t&ct=res&cd=1&source=groups&usg=
AFQjCNGxXv-k8FMt8wTuLPfgEXP6MdoFiA
[2] http://destinedtodenver.blogspot.fr/search?
updated-max=2010-08-21T06:41:00-04:00&
max-results=7&start=336&by-date=false

10 External links

Main Crew

Flamingo Road (Pilot movie) at the Internet Movie

Database

Dierences from 1949 lm

Flamingo Road at the Internet Movie Database

In the 1949 movie that inspired the series, Joan Crawford's Lane was much older and more hard-edged. Other
notable dierences with the show were the names of
Constance Weldon and Sam Curtis, who were called
Annabelle Weldon and Dan Reynolds, respectively.
Given the constraints on the 1940s lm industry, the
movie had departed in some ways from the original novel,
toning down the sexual subject matter and changing the
location from Florida to an unnamed Southern state. The
series restored some of the frankness and again explicitly
identied Florida as the setting, as the novel had done.

Broadcast

The show aired in the United Kingdom from 1981 to

1983 on BBC One. It also was rerun in the United States
on the Goodlife TV Network from June 2003 to September 2004.

Flamingo Road at TV.com

11
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