te.

I assume that Nicolette wasn't ever going to return to the role of Alexis, so why not send her off in such a spectacular way as shoving her face in a fire place? In all honestly, it's one of the best things nuDynasty has done that actually is "gasp" worthy! As bad/cheesy as Fallexis was, Gillies actually pulled it somewhat off, thanks in part to her voice acting experience I guess. She did mimick Nicolette well. NuNuAlexis is actually well cast with that in mind - Hendrix sort of looks like a cross between Gillies and Sheridan, so while obviously there's no plastic surgery that can make you look like that, I guess in this fantasy world it makes sense.

Or Alexis's years of exile in Europe, banging pool boys, being an artist model, harassing Jackie Onassis etc. Though it might end up being similar to The Bitch and The Stud.

I'm pretty sure that Blake's upcoming trial for murder will serve as the re-introduction of Alexis, especially since she's indirectly involved with Mac's death being that she was the one who shot Mark and all, thus triggering Blake killing Mac. There are some rumours that Elaine Hendrix, who starred with Elizabeth Gillies in Sex & Drugs & Rock'n'Roll, has been recast as Alexis, but who knows.

On the other hand, in the season seven premiere she was unconscious in the lobby of a burning La Mirage (I suppose we were to believe she and Sammy Jo had gotten out of the pool and was knocked out by someone) and saved by a mysteriously re-appearing Michael. In all honesty, they could've just used Karen as a body double for Catherine, shown her stumbling over from behind and being left to burn in the hotel while panicked guests were fleeing to the outside. Or just paid Oxenburg that extra $2k a week she asked for. The Colby's wasn't cancelled until the season after and Fallon only returned in season 8 (bar the brief visit in season 7). Leslie was the official Amanda replacement - suddenly appearing as Ben's daughter/Blake's niece after Amanda mysteriously went to London never to be ever mentioned again on the show.

Why is he allowed to make so many mediocre shows and why are people watching them?

Oh wow, that seems like a mismatch. I could potentially see it as a part of CBS's Friday night line up, but I can't imagine how on earth they'd promote this on The CW besides having that guy from Supernatural on it.

IIRC, I think it was Camille Marchetta that claimed that the other writers objected to the Lucy / Ray affair in season 1 because they wanted to make Ray a Ewing even back then when Jacobs was running the show. So the idea was there from the beginning, but snuffed out as long as David Jacobs was with the show.

Honestly, the ratings aren't bad for a summer show (yet at least) - it adjusted up to a 1.0 in the demographic and actually grew from Masterchef. It's still in renewal territory, but of course can't fall much from here on. I get the feeling that the lack of Shannen is down to her only agreeing to do it at the last minute, so likely they had a couple of scripts ready and then added her in. Hence the randomness of Brian Austin Green calling her, despite there never being indication that they're close.

I know I'll sound like a horrible person for saying this out loud - but remember the episode where Donna was almost raped and she cries out "bUt I'M a VIRGeeEEEn" - was I the only one who laughed? I think I'm going to hell.

Remember the day Donna Martin ended racism?

I believe it was in the Jenny McCarthy interview that Tori mentioned that she first suggested doing a proper reboot to Jennie on the phone and she said "[!@#$%^&*] no" and hung up - apparently she was not amused at the thought of playing another Kell-Me The Victim storyline I enjoyed it. But I enjoyed So noTORIous and Grosse Pointe too, so... I suspect Shannen's so-called animal sanctuary project will turn out to be a huge scam and all the money goes directly to her.

The new ABC president re: bringing back AMC and OLTL:

I think there should be a new Cristal each season tbh.

😂 Poor Kell-Me... That's Aaron Spelling for you! Dynasty, Melrose Place and countless of his other shows had this "problem". We'd just call him Mike.

I agree that Eve would've been a psycho no matter what, however I could see them wanting to clear both Amanda and Eve of the murder and the obvious route would've been to have someone else put in the final blow so to speak. I always found it a bit suspicious that they ended up hiring a famous soap actor like Jerry Douglas and Julie Adams, known for Creature from the Black Lagoon, for what seemingly was two very small parts. I could've seen there being turned out to be a cover up between the Damarrs/Woodwards to keep Amanda and whoever really killed Kent (probably mrs Damarr, because you know, famous horror actress). It would've kept present day Amanda out of jail (since she had no idea) and Eve would've been allowed to stay on the show as the new resident nutcase with a continued axe to grind against her.

You're right - I remembered wrong: http://www.geocities.ws/Hollywood/4616/sod0413a.html I assume she would've been toast then as I can't imagine them allowing her to live through that car crash for whatever they had planned.

Yeah, I was pretty surprised by that but it did seem that in the soap press that she was going to become a regular. I just assumed she was going to snuff it in the original finale in the car crash and that they didn't want to have to do any sort of funeral or memorial service for her character once it was decided that the show was ending. Either that or she was going to slip away with Sarah to keep kids off the show. I also kind of assume Jane would've managed to run away to accomodate Josie Bissett possibly having a maternity leave. If they wanted to re-introduce Taylor, they always could've had her staying with her since the characters bounded a bit before Taylor left. There likely would've been some kind of final twist in the Amanda / Eve story - possibly Sleazy Jock Boyfriend being alive after being pushed off (and killed by someone else? Amanda's step-mother?), hence freeing both characters from the murder charge?

I definitively wouldn't have gotten rid of Megan and Ryan - yes, they weren't exciting, but I do think one of the biggest mistakes on these shows is that they go all out campy with everyone trying to out-do everyone. I thought they provided a nice balance, especially Kelly Rutherford. From what I recall from before they announced the show was ending it seemed set that Alexandra Paul was going to become a cast member, so I assume that would've been a huge part of their storyline for season 8. IIRC, they had basically written two endings to the show - one that would lead into season 8 written by Carol Mendelsohn and then the "meh" kind of series finale that Chuck Pratt wrote. It's not the worst series finale ever, but you can definitively tell that there are threads meant to be potentially picked up and that they just hastily wrap up.

... his abs? ... his Shakespearean acting abilities? ... the fact that the character is written like Brandon where he ends up learning lessons like "racism is bad", except Brandon is 16 and Billy is supposed to be 23?

Oh yeah, the last half of season six is definitively one of the peak periods of the show, even if Alexis's sudden realisation that she's in love with Blake comes a bit out of nowhere. It's too bad that the squandered it in season seven as Alexis taking control of the mansion could've been a fantastic storyline but you know... it's Dynasty.

I don't hate the Rita storyline either, but from people I've talked to who watched it way back then, it's worth remembering this was dragged out for three or so months on the show (and it's worth remembering that this plot was supposed to last all season in the original bible!). So yeah... it probably got frustrating for those viewers - as someone who watched the show in reruns on weekdays, it was rather exciting if ridiculous!

I love the picture of Meg with her laptop on the beach. This was pre-wifi and internet everywhere! I agree it was dumb to drop them, but I assume they wanted to bring in Meg's parents and needed to clear the canvas, hence Elaine and Paula gone.

Shannen was added to the cast after Luke Perry died, so I imagine they re-wrote it quite a bit. I think they start filming next week.

Yup - while it sucks that soaps, DAYS in particular, has no budget these days, they really need to stop trying to pull off plots that takes any budget. Hell, they can't even afford to hire extras to make Jack's ridiculous mayoral rallies believable at this point, so why even trying (not saying that they should've even attempted that particular storyline but still...). Soaps did after all originate from radio to begin with and even today some of those are still running.

I think it just had to do with their infatuation with James E. Reilly. Plus, Spelling himself wasn't a patient man going by his prime time record - Models, Inc had three retoolings within one season; Dynasty (post-season 5) and Melrose Place (post-season 3) had several "save the show" type of reboots, sometimes twice per season and so on. He sometimes got it right, but a lot of the times his impatience led to unnecessary changes...