Flamingo Road was a lot like Peyton Place, in that it took place in a small Florida town and was dependent on a paper mill run by Claude Weldon. This soap had the best names. . . Constance, Eudora, Skipper, Fielding, Lane, Lute Mae, Julio, Elmo, and Titus, for starters. How these great actors kept from going over the top was a miracle, as the material could easily have gone in that direction. The first season focused on the triangle of Lane/Field/Constance, and Sheriff Titus's efforts to get Lane Ballou out of town permanently so she wouldn't affect Field's up and coming political career. However, due to Morgan Fairchild's popularity as the very self-absorbed and spoiled Constance, she became the focus of season two and slept with virtually every man but her father and brother! Throw in the arrival of Michael Tyrone as a man intent on destroying everyone on Flamingo Road through blackmail, murder, voodoo, and black magic, and the series was at it's peak. Unfortunately, the series ended with a few unanswered questions and cliffhangers, but it was still one of the best nighttime soap operas ever. Featuring a very sexy cast, including Woody Brown, John Beck, Fernando Allende, and Mark Harmon, plus the aforementioned Fairchild, Christina Raines, and Stella Stevens for the few straight men in the audience, this series had it all.
Review of Flamingo Road
