Maybe not always to the degree that DALLAS was
Even Dynasty's finest season (1) shows that this was not going to be another DALLAS.
There was definitely a sense of business, mostly thanks to Matthew Blaisdel and Walter Lankershim, but Blake - unlike Jock and JR - was not a typical oil man.
But the social-economic references (Fallon & Jeff) and Blake's attitude towards Blaisdel & Co merely showed the
perception of the oil industry, and what it's like to be an oil tycoon.
Blake Carrington was more of a Martin Peyton - someone who owned people, the man with the big house on the hill.
The emphasis was on tyranny and control, rather than greed.
And DALLAS was very, very greedy. And FALCON CREST was both.
I wouldn't say that this was a flaw because DYNASTY had other qualities, and the title actually suggests that this story focusses on family.
Unlike Ewing Oil and it's competitors (especially Cliff Barnes when he decided to get a piece of the action), DYNASTY hardly invested in a corporate rivalry.
Cecil Colby was a rat but it
was possible for both companies to co-exist, until they started the Logan Rhinewood story.
There was even less business rivalry when Alexis took over, and it made perfect sense that the two companies would merge. But of course there was a catch.
And then we have Alexis as a business woman. What's wrong with that - well, everything. They bring in this glamorous, theatrical soap-bitch only to waste all that wicked fabulosity in boring offices.
So they decided to have their cake and eat it, hence the ongoing entrances and ridiculous threats in big fur and big hats.
It wasn't intense enough to create big drama, and not clever enough to create a fascinating business atmosphere. So it kind of ended up being
nothing.
But a soap with big companies doesn't mean that they
have to talk business all the time (and Dallas did it a little bit too much sometimes).
We didn't really see what KNOTS LANDING's Galveston Industries and the Sumner Group was all about, but we did see how they were involved with other companies and projects (Oakman Industries, Empire Valley and also Claudia Whitaker's foundation...thing).
And we also saw how the tv station put Abby in a position to manipulate Joshua.
The Sumner Group was always very vibrant, sometimes all you have to do is "playing busy" to make it look like a real company.
It's not like all and sundry had to walk in and out of in Blake's office, but did we ever see D-C and ColbyCo's main entrance?
In what way could DYNASTY's companies have been more involved with the storylines, apart from the Carrington sons moving offices, to and fro?
Apart from stealing tankers and international oil leases? Apart from the endless and empty "I'll destroy you!" threats?
The best thing they did (ironically) was the fire at La Mirage because Blake owned it.
The Moldavia storyline should have been connected with D-C or ColbyCo, or both.
Heck, they should have started the Bank Of Moldavia plot
before they were not-massacred. And then, back in America, being blamed by a
third party for funding/being involved with the Moldavian revolution.
The financial world demands a scapegoat, but who is it going to be? Blake or Alexis? To watch them both clutching at straws, hating eachother more than ever, a Dynasty divided. It looks as if Alexis is going to lose everything and then - bam! - unexpected support from Ben Carrington who turns the whole situation upside down.
They knew how to create drama that was linked to a business storyline: the emerald necklace.
But the D-C/ColbyCo "feud" became too isolated too soon. Blake had never met Nick Toscanni's brother, there was no connection. So...who cares?
Reminds me of what they originally planned for Fallon in Season 3, that a mafia member wanted to become the supplier for the hotel, and Fallon ends up butting heads with the manager about hiring a black singer. Would have been interesting foreshadowing for Dominique!
