Why did Abby Dalton leave the show?
I began watching the show mainly for Abby Dalton and was stunned when they made her character a murderess.
So did the actress want to leave or what exactly happened?
From what I understand she wanted to stay on the show but they wrote her into a corner when they made her a killer.
shareYep, she was pretty vocal during season 3 that she was worried her future on the show would end once it was revealed she was the one who killed Carlo. However, the show did try a few times to bring her back... in fact, at one time she was supposed to take over the Cartel (or whatever it was called, the organization Jacquelin Perrault ran) but I think the producers realized the audience wouldn't buy her as a ruthless business person, so they tried to bring her back as a nun but again, that limited her storyline potential. I did like her character and always wished the show would have included some closure with her relationship to Chase and Maggie, whom she betrayed so horribly by trying to first frame Cole for murder then trying to kill him.
shareI think the worst thing they did to the character was make her blind. That limits a character a lot...especially on a soap. I remember them bringing her back for the earthquake and I figured they were setting her up form a big story only to make her blind and write her out soon into the next season. But...with that in mind...with how Falcon Crest killing off so many pivotal characters...she was lucky she wasn't just killed off. (to this point I still refuse to believe Melissa is dead...I think Angela somehow faked her death and Melissa is still to this day locked up in some sanitarium.) I know that last part was off the subject but Melissa's death is one I will never forgive the powers-that-be for doing...
shareI agree that Melissa's death was a total waste- not sure what the producers were thinking when they killed the character off but still had to pay the actress her full salary, because she was on contract. Then when they brought her back, they had to pay her a separate salary because she was playing a different character- talk about karma!
As for your theroy about Melissa still being alive, I totally agree. Seems to me it would have been easy for her Uncle Frank to have helped Melissa stage her death and then ship her off for treatment somewhere, unbeknowst to the rest of the characters.