‘Dallas’ star Patrick Duffy returns to ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ with Linda Purl for show’s 36th season
Cheryl Boone Isaak | The Tennessean
Show producers say it’s more than just Patrick Duffy’s return.
In the end, it was just business as usual at long-running “Dallas.”
“We thought he was in a coma for eight months,” executive producer Richard Schiff tells The Tennessean. “We had no idea he was living in the U.K. or was still in the U.S. We just wanted to know when he was coming back — and that’s why we picked this time to do the finale.”
The finale is set to air on CBS on May 6 and to return for a fourth season in September.
After the show last aired in 2015, Schiff called Duffy back to “a sense of relief” and brought him on board for his own spinoff.
“We wanted him to do it because there was not a lot of demand for him at the time and the cast was not on the verge of needing a comeback,” Schiff says. “It needed some breathing room to be a new show with some new storylines.
“Duffy has had the most incredible career imaginable and he is very deserving of a place among the greats of this business.”
While fans may not know how Duffy’s storyline played out, CBS says they “are taking advantage of time-shifting technology to air the finale in the evening, in order to provide viewers with an emotional finish to ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ and the start of another season.”
The drama, which revolves around the world of entertainment and a few of the most prominent stars in America, will be seen on Thursdays.
Schiff says the show had its ups and downs. The last several seasons were focused on storylines that would eventually lead to Duffy’s heartbreak.
“We knew Duffy was going to find out when the time was right,” Schiff says. “Now, we need everyone’s help to figure out how to save his life — and who he is and what he’s become.”
In the season finale, which airs March 30, a new storyline begins with a baby in the hospital and Duffy’s friend, actor Richard Hatch, back in town.
But first, there will be