Dynasty Discussion Thread

[DaytimeFan]

That's the interesting part. Joan's reduced role in the final season of 'Dynasty' was not her doing. She was FURIOUS about it. The show's budget had exploded and the Shapiro's felt that Alexis' role could be downsized. Joan didn't appear in 9 episodes that season. At the time, Joan was the highest paid actress on television at $120,000 an episode, so those 9 episodes had to hurt.

Joan is a worker. That said, she had told Spelling she wouldn't return if there was a tenth season because she felt the network had slapped her in the face.

Yes, they lived in the same building on Shoreham Drive. Aaron especially enjoyed the shine Joan took to his daughter Tori. Joan and Tori are apparently quite friendly all these years later.

[SFK]

The other night when I was rattling off my list of Briton babes to play the mothers of Alexis and Caress/Sable and Frankie, I thought of Susannah York and Glenda Jackson from The Maids. I ruled out Susannah due to her blonde tresses, but that didn't stop me from doing a Google search and admiring her looks and resume. RIP Miss York, you were on my mind, rest in perfect peace.

[DaytimeFan]

Tough day for Joan, Susannah York was a very good friend of hers since the 1970s when the two starred in a televised adaptation of the Noel Coward play 'Fallen Angels'...Susannah said this of Joan: "Joan is a superb light comedienne, it is a pity that through her career producers tend to think of her as a sultry sex symbol."

Not for nothing, but Susannah auditioned for the role of Sable Colby with Joan backing her. Rest in peace Miss York.

[SFK]

Yes indeed, Stephanie Beacham has talked about her audition in London with all the "big names" there. Thank you for sharing that DaytimeFan!

[DRW50]

How do you think Susannah would have been as Sable? I wish they could have cast her in the role boring Katharine Ross played.

That's a beautiful photo. It must be tough for Joan, as she's lost so many of those she cares about in recent years. Susannah was thinking of others to the end - there's a Daily Mail photo of her from December, about Christmas trees, and she asks that money be donated to cancer charities.

I didn't know she was forced not to appear in 9 episodes of the last season. I always assumed that was her choice. Did they also push Linda Evans out?

If they'd put Alexis front and center then they might have gotten some revived interest, since Alexis/Sable were a fun rivalry.

[DaytimeFan]

I think Susannah York would have been marvellous, but very different, as Sable. I think Beacham was the best possible casting but York would have made the character into her own creation. She would have played the hell out of Francesca Colby, a role that Katharine Ross just destroyed.

Linda Evans chose to leave the show, she was not pushed out like Joan was.

'Dynasty' was just on a total downward spiral. Robert Iger wanted the show gone, he didn't think it was the right fit for NBC anymore.

[lovely_m]

Mattel is releasing Krystal and Alexis dolls. Now you can stage all their fights with the dolls.

http://popwatch.ew.c...krystle-alexis/

[SFK]

The hair on that Krystle doll is amazing. It would be too perfect if Alexis' hair was removable revealing thin, flowing brown hair under a wig cap.

These definitely look more Barbie in the face but less creepy than the Alexis and Krystle dolls released in the '80s.

[KateW]

Maria Arena Bell seems to have modeled Y&R's Adam Newman after Adam Carrington, and it looks like the rest of the Newmans over the last couple years after Dynasty circa 1982-1985, ie. Victor/Blake, Nikki/Alexis, Ashley/Krystle, Victoria/Fallon, Nicholas/Steven, Abby/Amanda, JT (whose full name is Jeffrey Todd)/Jeff, Phyllis/Sammy Jo, Sharon/Claudia.

Also Bill Bell named Sally Spectra's first husband/Macy's father on B&B Adam Alexander. As we all know, Adam Carrington's middle name was Alexander.

Maybe the Bells were fans of Dynasty back in the day.

Edited February 15, 2011 by KateW

[DRW50]

Some scans someone made of an old Dynasty book.

http://awfullibrarybooks.net/?p=10044

[dm.]

I've just started Season 4, and it has been pretty go so far.

The revelation that Joseph was the one behind Alexis' attack was a good one, it might have been better if I didn't know of it already. I hate how many surprises were ruined by spoilers and my own curiosity.

Kirby has been moody all the way through the season (I'm on episode 13 now) which I don't really care for; but I like how Jeff is standing up for whatever he feels is right. I love that Adam has been put in this place.

The introduction of new characters was decent enough... A 2/3 score, I'd say. Tracy seems very intriguing, and Deborah is a stunning actress; Dex also seems to be quite a good character. However, Peter is just disgusting in every sense of the word. I can barely go through a scene with that man.

Also, I'm kinda on the fence as to what I want Fallon to be. I want Fallon to be the same one in season one that was sleeping around with the chauffeur, yet I like how she has personally grown up now that she and Jeff shared that one night together. It was hilarious when earlier in this season Fallon saw the stable boy Tony shirtless on a horse and told him to put a shirt on... She soooooo should would have done a different thing if it were the earlier years.

Oh and yeah... I'm happy Claudia is back.

[All My Shadows]

I'm in season four as well, the very beginning of it. I just watched The Hearing two-parter over the weekend. Some thoughts:

~ Kirby is finally more interesting now that she's starting to spiral out of control a bit. She was boring as hell all through season three, but I'm starting to not groan whenever she shows up now. Her trying to strangle Alexis was hilarious.

~ Jeff/Fallon...eh. I miss bitchy Fallon from the first two seasons, and if it was that Fallon and Jeff getting back together, fine, but this Fallon and Jeff, not so much. I can't believe how easily Jeff cheated on Kirby.

~ Krystle/Blake. They did a really good job of showing that Blake cares about Krystle, I was truly surprised that he didn't allow Andrew to cross examine her at the hearing, but it makes total sense. For the first time in the series, I'm rooting for them. They're really starting to paint Blake in a more positive light, and I like that.

~ Adam. His obsession with Kirby has turned me off of him a little bit, but he's still my favorite male character on the show. I can't wait to see how he handles Jeff and Fallon snooping around in Billings, Montana (because they never just say Billings).

~ Alexis. LOVED her reactions throughout the hearing. And then when she got up on the stand, she didn't even try to pretend to care about court procedure. Just did her damn thing. I'm guessing it was Kirby who trashed her apartment.

~ Steven. You know, I've only ever watched up to this point in the show, but I really think Dynasty gets a bad rap as far as Steven is concerned. Steven is bisexual, not gay, and I wish the world was ready for that in the early 80s so that the scripts could have just said it that way. He has relationships with men, and no one seems to think it's strange that he also has relationships with women. That's a bisexual. If the writers had just owned that, I think the show would be celebrated for breaking that ground, especially considering how rare it is to find bisexual males on television today, on both scripted and unscripted shows.

~ The custody battle. I love a good soapy custody battle, and this one is no different. I don't care about realistic the court proceedings are or if Chris has a conflict of interest or whatever. This thing is delivering the drama, and I'm eating it up. Definitely my favorite storyline so far.

[quartermainefan]

Interesting essay on the show

http://www.slate.com/id/2293600

[All My Shadows]

Give me campy, over-the-top, escapist Dynasty any day of the week. Sometimes you just don't need or want "gritty realism," and one of the biggest crimes of entertainment is that people should feel guilty for ever wanting to merely be entertained.

[Cheap21]

I thought Kirby was boring from beginning to end. She was such a mess of a character and one of its worse.

Its too bad for you that you arent liking how Fallon is beign written. Sadly she will remain like this for the remainder of PSM's run in the role and wont get her bitchy attitude back till the final season when Emma Samms is playing her.

Anyways, I didnt care for season 4. I didnt find it all that interesting and I dindt think the show got good again till season 5 with Fallon out and Amanda and Dominique in. Dom shows up towards the end of season 4, but 5 is where she is a regular character. She and Alexis have some good bitch moments

Edited May 31, 2011 by Cheap21