Dynasty II The Colbys Aftershow: Why Didn't It Succeed?!

Snarky Oracle!

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I remember someone saying in the fall of 1985, "the '80s are over." And you knew immediately what they meant -- the "'80s" had only existed for about 4 years by then (and the uber-'80s for two) but there was a depletion of energy by the latter-half of 1985 that was also reflected in the soaps themselves: all four of the "big" ones felt beige-y and cluttered for the 85/86 season.

And the '80s were so self-conscious as a decade that everybody referred endlessly, giddily, to it as "the '80s," as if the decade was still brand new, all the way up to 31 December 1989. It was weird, actually. Most decades just aren't that way.

Esther says they'd wanted to do a DYNASTY II for a couple of years before it happened. (And I'm glad, too, that PSM refused to do the hotelier spin-off -- her absence would have further robbed DYNASTY of what it still had in S3 and S4). But there seemed no real appetite for a THE COLBYS before it started in 1985 (and who knows how an earlier start-date might've extended its run?).

I would have been fine with it starting when it did. And a better timeslot might have helped it eke out another couple of seasons.... But then, I always wanted the Colbys characters to pepper DYNASTY for several months before it spun off -- which might've encouraged the DYNASTY audience to follow the Californians back to Los Angeles more than they did.

But I wouldn't want anything to get in the way of Sable returning to Denver for Season 9 in 1988.

6cc8486dfd7aa7c5525a07b77fb95efe--sable.jpg
 

GillesDenver

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I just got the first version of the bible for the 1st season of "The Colbys" and it's very different from the final product. Monica is more feisty (like in season 9), Bliss does not exist, Sable and Jason has 3 sons rather than 1 (and one is missing !), Jason has a mistress (called Bliss !!), Francesca does not show up before mid-season...

I will try to find some time to post every detail but it's obvious that Bast & Huson were asked to revise their work, probably to get the right "Dynasty"'s tone.
 

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tommie

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I just got the first version of the bible for the 1st season of "The Colbys" and it's very different from the final product. Monica is more feisty (like in season 9), Bliss does not exist, Sable and Jason has 3 sons rather than 1 (and one is missing !), Jason has a mistress (called Bliss !!), Francesca does not show up before mid-season...
Why does this sound more intriguing than what the show became? Sigh...
 

GillesDenver

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Why does this sound more intriguing than what the show became? Sigh...
Well, it's more different that "Dynasty". For instance, there is less love stories since Hutch, Wayne, Neil and Sean do not exist in this version.

Constance is single, just like Christopher.
Monica has an affair with Garrett and then with a mysterious guy who saved her life (his identity is not revealed, maybe it's her long-lost brother ??) but her storylines sound more diversified in the bible.
Jason is a less moral figure in this version.
Fallon sleeps a last time with Miles (just before marying Jeff) and get pregnant of him, he does not rape her. That sounds more like the Fallon we used to know.

If it had been produced without the changes that were made in the 2nd draft of the bible, "The Colbys" would have not been called a "carbon copy".
 

tommie

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If it had been produced without the changes that were made in the 2nd draft of the bible, "The Colbys" would have not been called a "carbon copy".
From what you've said I honestly don't see what was wrong with this proposed version - I guess at a stretch I probably would've turned Christopher into a female character to balance things out a bit, but the only thing the Pollocks influencing the show seems to have done was essentially taking Dynasty plots and sticking them in the show. Bizarre.
 

GillesDenver

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I won't cut and copy here the whole bible but there is the summary of the plot developments (beware that Max is actually Miles and Anthea is Francesca) :

* Jeff pursues Fallon to California, where he finds the Colbys bitterly resentful over Constance's bequest to him and determined to break his stranglehold on the Colby empire. Max turns up unexpectedly with Fallon -- and introduces her as Randall COlby, his new wife!

* Consulting a psychiatrist, Jeff and the Colbys agree to maintain the fiction of "Randall" until Fallon recovers her memory naturally -- if ever. But when Max catches Jeff innocently trying to jog her memory, the two men come to blows. Only at Jason's insistence do they strike an uneasy truce.

* Sable discovers a way to revoke Jeff's legacy: prove that Constance is mentally incompetent. To this end, she sets in motion an ingenious scheme to "gaslight" Constance.

* Jeff takes control of his half of Colby Enterprises, but Jason lets him know who's boss. Rival shipping magnate, Zach Powers, tries to muscle in on the Denver- Carrington deal, but Jason turns him down. Blake flies in to change Jason's mind and is shattered by a heart-rending confrontation with Fallon, who fails to recognize him.

* Dominique returns to Los Angeles to open a posh nightclub
-- "Dominique's." When the mob threatens to move in on her, she turns to Garrett for help. Though they resume their passionate affair of yesteryear with discretion, they still manage to arouse Monica's suspicions [Monica is actually Garrett's ex lover].

* Aspiring young fashion designer, Bliss Welles, sets her sights on Jason and catches him in a vulnerable moment. A man of principles, however, Jason quickly nips the affair in the bud, after one sizzling night of love. As a generous parting gesture, however, he sets her up in her own boutique on Rodeo Drive.

* Sable's scruples prove less durable than Jason's. When Zach comes on to her, she resists only till she feels her hold on Jason slipping, then, though still torn, plunges into a torrid affair with Zach.

* Jeff sends for Little Blake in hopes that her son will jolt Fallon's memory. But he is anguished when neither boy nor mother remember each other, and the encounter ends with Little Blake informing "Randall" that his mommy is dead.

* Little Blake innocently leads his new friend "Randall" to his Daddy's hidden family album, in which she is astounded to find pictures of herself -- as Fallon Carrington. But despite the disclosure of her true identity, Fallon still can't remember her past. She decides to work with the psychiatrist to put the pieces together, but to go on as "Randall Colby."

* Her attempts to gaslight Constance having failed to persuade Jason of his sister's incompetency, Sable swaps powerful sedatives for Constance's blood pressure pills in a desperate move to make her appear addled. The plan misfires when, drugged, Constance falls asleep while smoking and sets herself on fire.

* Threatened with senility tests after her narrow escape from the fire, Constance fears she might be proved incompetent. In a move to prevent Sable and Jason from using her "condition" to revoke Jeff's legacy, she tells Jeff to send for the one person who can help them now -- Alexis!

* Alexis arrives and saves the day for Jeff by producing Cecil's "Confidential File" which contains a document proving that Constance always intended to leave her estate to Jeff Colby, thus destroying Sable's "senility" gambit. However, the same file contains a bombshell -- a letter from Jeff's father to Cecil, claiming that Jeff is not his son. Alarmed by the implications, Constance tries to burn the letter, but suffers a stroke first.

* Having discovered the unburned letter, Sable persuades Jason that they finally have the means to revoke Jeff's legacy -- proof that he isn't even a Colby!

* Not satisfied that he has forced Jason to take him in as a partner in the Denver-Carrington deal, Zach Powers conspires to take over completely. Bribing one of Jason's tanker captains to create an oil spill, Zach gets Jason's whole fleet put out of commission by the EPA, pending an investigation -- thus obliging Jason to rely solely on Zach's supertankers.

* Jeff flies to Rome and hunts down his mother, Anthea. Despite her initial reluctance, he wrests from her a promise to return with him to Los Angeles and testify at the court hearing, swearing that he is, in fact, a Colby. But at the last minute she fails to turn up at the airport and vanishes.

* Fallon undergoes hypnosis to recover her memory and recalls the trauma that triggered her hysterical amnesia -- she was raped on the night of the wedding. But the rapist's identity stubbornly remains shrouded in the recesses of her subconscious.

* When Adam Carrington shows up on business, Fallon instantly recognizes him as her rapist -- and immediately regains her full memory.

* In the tense court hearing, Garrett produces overwhelming evidence that Phillip Colby could not possibly have been Jeff's father. But just when all seems lost, Anthea turns up as a surprise witness. However, to Jeff's dismay, she only confirms that Phillip wasn't his father, though in a shocking twist goes on to swear that another Colby was -- Jason !

* Over Sable's vehement objections, Jason invites Anthea to stay on at the mansion to get to know her son and grandson. Jeff's bitterness toward Anthea and Jason is banished, when Constance absolves them and confesses that she was behind the whole scheme -- to persuade Anthea to let her raise Jeff a Colby, she promised to make Jeff her sole heir.

* When Jason refuses to stop Garrett from marrying Dominique, and gives them his blessings instead, Monica feels betrayed. Defiantly and recklessly, she takes off alone in one of the balloons at the Palm Springs International Balloon Race. An inexperienced balloonist, she loses control of the aircraft and is swept away into the high Sierras by powerful air currents. The ensuing air search has to be called off because of bad weather.

* Torn between Max and Jeff, Fallon opts for Jeff. But before she can ask him for an annulment, Max is rushed to a hospital with kidney failure. The doctors announce that Max's only chance of survival is a kidney transplant -- but the only acceptable donor, his twin sister Monica, is still missing.

* After she is found and returned at the eleventh hour by a mysterious stranger, Monica agrees to give up one of her kidneys to save Max's life, despite the dangers to her own.

* Jason's love for Anthea is rekindled, and he asks her to marry him. They will adopt Jeff formally and become a proper family. Sable informs him that she'll give him a divorce when hell freezes over.

* Having stuck by Max until he has fully recovered, Fallon sleeps with him one last time, then leaves him a note informing him of her intention to seek an annulment and
marry Jeff.

* No sooner has she returned from the church that Fallon gets a nervously anticipated phone call from her gynecologist, informing her of the good news -- she's pregnant. But for Fallon the news couldn't be worse -- the child is Max's, not Jeff's.
 

Willie Oleson

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Tony

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Fascinating stuff. I actually prefer what ended up on screen than what was in the season bible.

Francesca arriving at the beginning made sense so she could battle with Sable.

I guess Monica’s balloon ride later turned into her crashing her plane.
 

GillesDenver

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Francesca arriving at the beginning made sense so she could battle with Sable.
I do agree with you. However, Having half a season without Katherine Ross does not seem so bad.

Concerning the plans that were not kept and that I like there is : Jason having a mistress (making him less "moral" than Blake Carrington), Connie setting fire to the mansion (I guess this plan was discarded because Barbara Stanwyck experienced a fire in her own house prior to joining the cast of "The Colbys"), Fallon sleeping with Miles before marrying Jeff (so much Fallon's style -- also the rape was unnecessary), and Monica being involved in a love triangle with Dominique and Garrett (not for the whole season but in the first episodes, before joining Titania Records).
 

Willie Oleson

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Since the writers of THE COLBYS were only interested in two seasons, and since the soap achieved exactly that, I think THE COLBYS did succeed - and more than any of the other soaps.
 
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