Dynasty Discussion Thread

[Broderick]

lol.  Every soap writer -- even the good ones -- have a misstep here and there.  But it's almost as though they didn't even TRY sometimes.  At the very peak of their popularity, how hard would've it have been to find one good story editor who'd say, "Okay, folks, if you throw in this Princess Diana, you're consistently stuck with her.  Remember that now!  And by the way, Richard, Esther -- let's decide once and for all, is Steven gay, straight, or bi? And let's talk a minute about this Poison Paint before we apply any more coats on the walls, okay."    

[kalbir]

Lets be real here, we don't watch an Aaron Spelling show for high quality writing and acting. When watching one of his shows you have to go in with the mindset that you are not going to get high emotional stakes character driven storytelling.

[Liberty City]

I feel like Amanda was the fix-it to losing Pamela Martin as Fallon, and when Emma Samms returned post-The Colbys cancelation, they felt Amanda was not needed any longer.

[j swift]

but according to their mother they were totally different girls...

And you can trust her because she is wearing her very serious beaded turd hat

Edited May 16, 2023 by j swift

[te.]

Well, yes and no, I mean they invented Leslie to replace her because they stupidly fired Oxenburg over a salary dispute and Cellini ended up being the proto-Charity Rahmer; so they pretended she didn't exist about half a season before they got Fallon back. 

 

But I think her creation just shows the issue with creating a soap centered around families - once actors / actresses leave you're either stuck with recasting (which rarely works well in prime time) or creating a new unknown child or introducing never-seen-before cousins (which rarely has the same stakes as an actual child / sibling) and there's only so many times you can pull that before completely stretching the credibility on shows. I think that's why shows like Peyton Place and Knots Landing had easier times to re-invent themselves (and in theory Melrose Place should've had if they had left it in competent hands post-Darren Star leaving) - you can just have people move in without having to give them a convulted backstory to justify them being on the show.

I do laugh at the notion that Michael Culhane was the one that seduced poor innocent Fallon. I know we can probably take it as Blake having rose-coloured glasses when it comes to his darling daughter (who slept with his entire football team), but I think the writers were seriously re-writing history here because it fits with how Fallon had started being written as at that point.

[Broderick]

Exactly, or you can just leave a certain aspect of the family "open-ended" that you can fill-in later.  

On Y&R, they introduced a Dynasty-type character named Marc Mergeron, who purred and batted his eyes like a Dynasty cad.  He was filing a lawsuit regarding his father's estate, and he stated 1,000 times that he was filing on behalf of "myself and my sister Danielle."  That opened the door for Danielle to pop-in later.  Well, the writers got tired of Marc Mergeron and sent him back to France with no Danielle in sight.  We never met her.  But if he'd worked-out on the show, the stage was set to bring Danielle on in.  And if both Marc and Danielle had caught-on with the audience like lightning, yet another sibling could've popped-in who simply wasn't named in the lawsuit because he/she was estranged from Marc and Danielle.  Marc never specifically said there were only TWO of them, just that the two of them were contesting their father's will.  

It's always a good idea to have an escape hatch to leap through when you get boxed in.    

[Khan]

DYNASTY had already played the "long-lost child" card with Adam, so bringing on Amanda as yet another long-lost Carrington was redundant.

[kalbir]

Another Dynasty/90210 parallel a decade apart, replacement characters Amanda/Valerie.

The biggest Dynasty/90210 parallel were the departures of Pamela Sue Martin and Shannen Doherty. I felt the cast dynamics were off on both shows after their respective departures and both shows weren't really the same after, despite Dynasty lasting 5 more seasons and reaching #1 in 1984/85, and 90210 lasting 6 more seasons.

The two big Dynasty/Melrose parallels were Joan Collins arrival/Heather Locklear arrival which was when both shows became the shows as we know them, and Royal Wedding Shootout/Melrose Place bombing, where both shows tanked in the aftermath but still lasted 4 more seasons.

Edited May 18, 2023 by kalbir

[Paul Raven]

Pamela Sue Martin didn't seem a happy camper. She left Nancy Drew when they decided to combine the show with Hardy Boys and left Dynasty unhappy also.

Did she break her contract with Dynasty and if so did they agree to release her? What were the circumstances?

Same with Al Corley. To have 2 young castmembers wanting to quit seems to speak to some BTS goings on.

Anyone have more details?

[Liberty City]

During the E! True Hollywood Story, Pamela Sue Martin admitted fame was a factor for her decision to exit the role of Fallon; she remarked and I quote (as best as I can): “Fame was a factor for me, because for me, that was this defining the sailing of point that was showing me I didn't have my life. It was somebody else's life and it disturbed me.” So Aaron Spelling, while heartbroken, released her to keep her happy. Joan Collins, on the other hand (in the episode), called her "stupid" and that she made a "big mistake".

Al Corley quit because he felt he had done all he could with the role, and was also unhappy they were attempting to move Steven from a gay character to a more bisexual character, and that did not sit well with him as he wanted the Shapiros & co. to explore Steven as a gay man in a relationship with a man, so he opted to exit.

[Dion]

That's one of the things I vividly remember from that E! True Hollywood Story - Joan Collins exclaiming "I thought she was stupid!" before giggling away.

That and the prediction that there would never be anything like the Moldavian Massacre on TV ever again because of 9/11, which seems silly in light of the Red Wedding on Game of Thrones. OK, that was over a decade later and on Cable but even the Daytime Soaps were venturing back into that sort of territory within a few years.

[Khan]

I have to give Al Corley credit for possessing that much bravery.  Even today, many actors are afraid of "playing gay" out of fear of what that could do to their careers.  God knows Jack Coleman never appeared comfortable with it, lol.

[Liberty City]

Mhmm, and then stating she thought she made a mistake, but I don't think Martin did at all.

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And it shows as much when Corley returned for the two-part reunion special instead of Coleman.

[Khan]

I don't think Pamela Sue Martin made a mistake by leaving either.  Fallon was so watered down by the time she left.  She became almost insufferable to me.

[te.]

PSM was on top of everything having health issues with stress and had her hair start falling out (which is why she wears obvious hair pieces). I don't think anyone can blame someone for prioritising their health over staying on the #1 show, especially since she was apparently also unhappy with the direction they were pulling Fallon in.

I also think it says a lot about her that they kept asking her to come back but she turned them down, even as late as season 9.