Happy 40th to THE COLBYS!

[Carrie Fairchild]

Was The Colbys a well thought out series or was it simply created to nab Charlton Heston, Barbara Stanwyck etc.

I get the impression that it was not a carefully developed concept - they made The Colbys because they could.

The Colbys was created because the network were desperate for a new hit. ABC had an established lineup of shows like Benson, The Fall Guy, TJ Hooker and of course, Dynasty. The problem was that most of the established shows were nearing the end of their lives, and season after season, ABC were struggling to commission new hits to backfill the shows that were due to expire. Out of around 50 new shows that ABC launched between the 1982, 1983 and 1984 seasons, only 6 shows got beyond their first season (Matt Houston, Hardcastle & McCormick, Hotel, Webster, Moonlighting, Who’s The Boss). And even with their established shows, in the 1984-85 season, only 4 scripted ABC series were in the end of season Top 30, versus 12 from CBS and 9 from NBC.

Despite being well aware that the bloom had gone off the primetime soap rose, with Emerald Point NAS, Berrenger’s, The Yellow Rose and ABC’s own Paper Dolls, all failing in the two seasons prior, ABC ignored all signs and in an act of ratings desperation, decided to replicate their, and all of TV’s, number one show.

The Colbys found its groove - a slightly more old-fashioned melodramatic version of Dynasty that could use the Dynasty tropes without necessarily having to rely on it.

It certainly did. I’ve said it on here before but I preferred the chaotic mess of season one, over the more ordered season two.