Season 6 - The Year of Doppelgangers

[Ked]

There was the Krystle/Rita storyline, yes. But here's what also could have happened during that same year:

-I'm gonna go ahead and steal @Snarky's Ghost 's idea about Al Corley returning thanks to being involved in the attack on Moldavia, and revealing Jack Coleman as a fraud.

-Fallon returning could be seen as a doppelganger story, in that she has amnesia and could end up battling a split persona, going back and forth between Fallon and "Randall Adams." Course, then there's the contributing factor of whether or not Fallon will be played by PSM or ES (the latter would make things more interestingly ironic).

-Karen Cellini is hired a year earlier, but NOT to replace Catherine Oxenberg. Instead, Karen plays Kate Burrows, Amanda's friend, who has always been jealous of her. And when Amanda, thanks to some backing from Auntie Dominique, starts a career as a pop singer (I'm stealing this idea from... someone else, sorry that I can't remember whose idea this was), Kate decides she'd like to trade lives with Amanda. What's more, whenever Catherine Oxenberg sings, its actually Karen Cellini's voice dubbing her (supposedly, Cellini was a great singer and thus it'd be a chance for her to show off; plus it'd add some great ironic atmosphere to the whole plot). So instead of Amanda trying to commit suicide, Kate tries to stab her, and we get a very deadly catfight, ending with Amanda being forced to kill her friend... or Kate dies by accident. Whichever.

-The season ends when Robin Sachs appears at the Carrington door, and announces himself as the real Adam Carrington, that Gordon Thomson has been an impostor this whole time.

Who's next?

 

[ArchieLucasCarringtonEwing1989]

There was the Krystle/Rita storyline, yes. But here's what also could have happened during that same year:

-I'm gonna go ahead and steal @Snarky's Ghost 's idea about Al Corley returning thanks to being involved in the attack on Moldavia, and revealing Jack Coleman as a fraud.

-Fallon returning could be seen as a doppelganger story, in that she has amnesia and could end up battling a split persona, going back and forth between Fallon and "Randall Adams." Course, then there's the contributing factor of whether or not Fallon will be played by PSM or ES (the latter would make things more interestingly ironic).

-Karen Cellini is hired a year earlier, but NOT to replace Catherine Oxenberg. Instead, Karen plays Kate Burrows, Amanda's friend, who has always been jealous of her. And when Amanda, thanks to some backing from Auntie Dominique, starts a career as a pop singer (I'm stealing this idea from... someone else, sorry that I can't remember whose idea this was), Kate decides she'd like to trade lives with Amanda. What's more, whenever Catherine Oxenberg sings, its actually Karen Cellini's voice dubbing her (supposedly, Cellini was a great singer and thus it'd be a chance for her to show off; plus it'd add some great ironic atmosphere to the whole plot). So instead of Amanda trying to commit suicide, Kate tries to stab her, and we get a very deadly catfight, ending with Amanda being forced to kill her friend... or Kate dies by accident. Whichever.

-The season ends when Robin Sachs appears at the Carrington door, and announces himself as the real Adam Carrington, that Gordon Thomson has been an impostor this whole time.

Who's next?

Rita also having a niece like Krystle named; Cassie Mae, only she's refined and very upper class, she too has done some modelling but rather than cheap porn mags she's modeled for Tatler, Vogue and Harpers Bazaar, however Rita is envious since Cassie Mae has lived a life of privilege and luxury with expensive European boarding schools, jet setting all over the globe, Cassie Mae however is fed up with her stuffy life and wants to be free to do her own thing, so she enlists Sammy Jo to impersonate her while she ducks out of society.

As for the Adam doppelganger, could Robin Sachs be the fake Adam since only Gordon Thomson can play Adam.

 

[Michael Torrance]

-The season ends when Robin Sachs appears at the Carrington door, and announces himself as the real Adam Carrington, that Gordon Thomson has been an impostor this whole time.

I'll go on record and say that I love you. But I must also warn you--people have been locked up in the attic for less.

since only Gordon Thomson can play Adam.

Testify, testify!

Who's next?

Could they have gone bigger than having a whole DYNASTY II?

 

[Spooky Owl!]

Oddly enough, I actually think Robin Sachs was the most convincing re-cast of the bunch.

Not that I condone it, you understand.

 

[Ked]

As for the Adam doppelganger, could Robin Sachs be the fake Adam since only Gordon Thomson can play Adam.

Of course Robin Sachs would be the actual impostor. It'd be a scheme by Ben to drive Adam away to get him to stop interfering with his plans for Alexis.

I'll go on record and say that I love you.

Wow. You're the second person on this site who's said that to me. I must have a more charming personality than I give myself credit for.

But I must also warn you--people have been locked up in the attic for less.

Good to know. X)

Could they have gone bigger than having a whole DYNASTY II?

I would have loved it if they redid the scene of the Colby family entering La Mirage by having them be greeted by almost the entire Carrington clan, so that each available family member has a "mirror" image:

Blake - Jason
Krystle - Sable
Adam - Monica (the lawyers)
Amanda - Bliss
???? - Garrett (I would have had Andrew Laird, except I always kill him off in the Moldavian Massacre in an attempt to up the causalities; perhaps Prince Michael could be in this category, as they both outsiders to the main families, and will soon be killed off in the La Mirage fire)
Dominique - Constance

Oddly enough, I actually think Robin Sachs was the most convincing re-cast of the bunch.

Not that I condone it, you understand.

I do remember, upon the first few viewings, thinking that Sachs' voice sounded identical to Gordon Thomson's. ^^

 

[The Eyes of Laurie Marr]

Nobody could smoulder like Thomson. Primarily because no sentient being ever could. Thomson’s smouldering out-camped every tired old cliche that la Collins could muster. All that was missing was the Eartha Kit styled feline drawl.

 

[Ked]

You know something, I just realized about my original post: the Carrington sons deal with impostors, while the Carrington sisters deal more with identity issues. ^^

 

[Michael Torrance]

Wow. You're the second person on this site who's said that to me. [/quote]
What????? Who is my rival? I'll see them in court.

I do remember, upon the first few viewings, thinking that Sachs' voice sounded identical to Gordon Thomson's. ^^

Oddly enough, I actually think Robin Sachs was the most convincing re-cast of the bunch.
Not that I condone it, you understand.

It was so insane to recast a role for the reunion, especially when you bring in Kirby just for the connection of the role to the past. For me he was a Karen Cellini type casting--not that he was so awful (nobody could ever be)--but that he was cast just because he resembled the original actor--which made him even more of an impostor.

 

[Ked]

What????? Who is my rival? I'll see them in court.

I wish I could come up with a Dynasty quote for this... but I can't.

It was so insane to recast a role for the reunion, especially when you bring in Kirby just for the connection of the role to the past. For me he was a Karen Cellini type casting--not that he was so awful (nobody could ever be)--but that he was cast just because he resembled the original actor--which made him even more of an impostor.

Exactly. I remember reading that Gordon Thomson knew about the Reunion project and let them know that he was interested in returning. Sure, he was already working on something else, I forget what, but surely they could have filmed scenes around Gordon's schedule? Could they just simply NOT be bothered?!

Personally, I think recasting Adam was the worst of all the Carrington child recasts:

-Al Corley left on his own because he didn't like where they were going with his character, and Steven was too important to simply stop using, so recasting him wasn't such a bad choice. Plus, they at least came up with an explanation for why he looked different.

-PSM also left on her own for pretty much the same reasons, and didn't want to come back. And like Steven, Fallon's just too important not to have around, so recasting her isn't much of a travesty either. They didn't re-introduce the character or the new actress very well, so that's minus a few points. But at least Fallon got better in Seasons 8 and especially 9.

-Catherine Oxenberg was fired over petty reasons and recast out of spite and desperation. There really wasn't much hope for Karen Cellini from the start. Plus from what I read, they didn't bother working with Karen to try and make the character work, being far more concerned with getting her hair right and getting her to stop smiling so much. The showrunners had gone from being careless and clumsy to outright stupid and vindictive.

-Gordon Thomson was never fired like Oxenberg; he wanted to come back, unlike Martin; and yet, just because he was momentarily unavailable, he was recast. And that's rock-bottom terms of awfulness. I'm glad he won that lawsuit!

 

[Michael Torrance]

Exactly. I remember reading that Gordon Thomson knew about the Reunion project and let them know that he was interested in returning. Sure, he was already working on something else, I forget what, but surely they could have filmed scenes around Gordon's schedule? Could they just simply NOT be bothered?!

He played Mason Capwell on Santa Barbara, and I had even seen some episodes (although he wasn't my favorite actor in that role, he was decent). SB was happy to let him be on the Reunion because they liked the publicity they would get. But the production company gave no advance notice and expected SB to just reschedule everything around them--which was ludicrous, because a soap films for 20-22 hours a month worth of episodes and all the Reunion had to shoot was 3 hours worth.

I hated how Robert Iger cancelled DYNASTY just to show it was his own network; every single one of the programs he green-lit tanked of course. At least 2 years later ABC admitted how utterly disrespectful they had been to the viewers who at one point had made them be the talk of the world. Yet to have a second chance and to blow it with a bad script and all around screw-ups like that, it reminds you of why DYNASTY faltered in the first place.

 

[Ked]

He played Mason Capwell on Santa Barbara, and I had even seen some episodes (although he wasn't my favorite actor in that role, he was decent). SB was happy to let him be on the Reunion because they liked the publicity they would get. But the production company gave no advance notice and expected SB to just reschedule everything around them--which was ludicrous, because a soap films for 20-22 hours a month worth of episodes and all the Reunion had to shoot was 3 hours worth.

Who did they think they were? The DYNASTY of '85? Those glory days were long gone, they no right to make any demands or expect any entitlement like that! They were trying to rise from the ashes, they should have made every careful move to ensure their own success, even if that mean rescheduling themselves - especially if that meant they'd have the right actor for an important character!

I hated how Robert Iger cancelled DYNASTY just to show it was his own network; every single one of the programs he green-lit tanked of course. At least 2 years later ABC admitted how utterly disrespectful they had been to the viewers who at one point had made them be the talk of the world.

And to think, all DYNASTY really needed was a 10th season, and then it could have bowed out gracefully on a relatively high note.

Yet to have a second chance and to blow it with a bad script and all around screw-ups like that, it reminds you of why DYNASTY faltered in the first place.

Blow it once, shame on you. Blow it twice, TOTAL HUMILIATION on you.

 

[Spooky Owl!]

He played Mason Capwell on Santa Barbara, and I had even seen some episodes (although he wasn't my favorite actor in that role, he was decent). SB was happy to let him be on the Reunion because they liked the publicity they would get. But the production company gave no advance notice and expected SB to just reschedule everything around them--which was ludicrous, because a soap films for 20-22 hours a month worth of episodes and all the Reunion had to shoot was 3 hours worth.

I hated how Robert Iger cancelled DYNASTY just to show it was his own network; every single one of the programs he green-lit tanked of course. At least 2 years later ABC admitted how utterly disrespectful they had been to the viewers who at one point had made them be the talk of the world. Yet to have a second chance and to blow it with a bad script and all around screw-ups like that, it reminds you of why DYNASTY faltered in the first place.

Thomson even had it written into his SB contract that he could have time off if DYNASTY ever did a reunion. But the DYNASTY brass always seemed so resentful and contemptuous of its actors, probably because they needed them. And their constant recasting efforts involving the secondary actors always seemed like an attempt just to prove they could do it.

But despite 2 1/2 years to write it, the original team, now back in the saddle for the REUNION, still couldn't pull it off, the script seemingly pasted together by children.

And to think, all DYNASTY really needed was a 10th season, and then it could have bowed out gracefully on a relatively high note.

Well, actually it did --- Season 9 was definitely a high note. But, yes, they need just one more season so Paulsen (and not the Pollocks) could wrap it all up.

 

[Ked]

Well, actually it did --- Season 9 was definitely a high note.

It may have gone out on a high note, but it didn't get to bow out gracefully - it was *kicked* out!

But, yes, they need just one more season so Paulsen (and not the Pollocks) could wrap it all up.

Yes. Just a proper wrap up so it could lay itself to rest, knowing that it at least had a strong beginning and a strong ending, despite a... "meh" middle part.

 

[Spooky Owl!]

Funny, but I'm watching Season 6 in its entirety and in context now...

Despite doing so in a marathon capacity, Fake Krystle does go on forever. I can almost remember what kind of Ming water torture it was to undergo this experience when the show was only airing once a week in prime time (and, in the UK, went on even longer as they were apparently airing COLBYS episodes interspersed with DYNASTY) in 1985/86.

Now, of course, although still bad and quite stupid, the impact is different. I'm actually finding the other plots of 6-A relaxed and almost-focused. So I find myself thinking how decent the first half of S6 might have been had the Two Krystles plot never happened -- or at least been shrunken and delayed until mid-season and occurring simultaneously to Alexis' four episode tenure on the Moldavian throne which never happened.

Anyway, now that I'm removed by a third of a century and my sense of overall disappointment in DYNASTY has adjusted, I can see why some people think the storyline is entertaining and that Linda Evans' dual performance is pretty funny. And, in a weird way, she's actually doing more acting as Rita than she had, or had been allowed, for the last few years as Krystle... Not that it's all that good, mind you, and her trailer park inflection isn't exactly convincing, but it gives Linda something to play against, even if that thing is logic or borderline credibility.

And, as I said in the Season Three thread, in retrospect the period elements now overwhelm the narrative flaws and problems in tone so that the great moments and the lousy stuff just kind of mix together into an '80 soup..

The inspired doesn't seem so inspired; the dumb doesn't seem so dumb.

Krystle? Rita? …. Rita? Krystle?.... Doesn't really make much difference now, does it?

 

[Tony]

I think that Dynasty episodes 608 To 615 when Krystle is finally released from the attic is the worse that Dynasty has to offer. Even Season 7 is better than this stretch of episodes in my opinion.

6A post Colbys departure nothing happens; it crawls along at a snail’s pace and all the characters go through the same scenes, especially Amanda, Michael, Adam and Claudia. Didn’t Aaron Spelling make a statement saying Dynasty wasn’t worth watching? It appeared in the British press at the time.

And yes it was torture watching it every second week with the Colbys in the UK, which highlighted just how good Colbys was in comparison.

Things only liven with the introduction of Caress in 613. If only she had arrived sooner as was the original plan, but they had to wait for Kate to finish her play.

 

[Michael Torrance]

Funny, but I'm watching Season 6 in its entirety and in context now...

Despite doing so in a marathon capacity, Fake Krystle does go on forever. I can almost remember what kind of Ming water torture it was to undergo this experience when the show was only airing once a week in prime time (and, in the UK, went on even longer as they were apparently airing COLBYS episodes interspersed with DYNASTY) in 1985/86.

Now, of course, although still bad and quite stupid, the impact is different. I'm actually finding the other plots of 6-A relaxed and almost-focused. So I find myself thinking how decent the first half of S6 might have been had the Two Krystles plot never happened -- or at least been shrunken and delayed until mid-season and occurring simultaneously to Alexis' four episode tenure on the Moldavian throne which never happened.

Anyway, now that I'm removed by a third of a century and my sense of overall disappointment in DYNASTY has adjusted, I can see why some people think the storyline is entertaining and that Linda Evans' dual performance is pretty funny. And, in a weird way, she's actually doing more acting as Rita than she had, or had been allowed, for the last few years as Krystle... Not that it's all that good, mind you, and her trailer park inflection isn't exactly convincing, but it gives Linda something to play against, even if that thing is logic or borderline credibility.

Krystle? Rita? …. Rita? Krystle?.... Doesn't really make much difference now, does it?

All of us here, like parents of a child that we thought he/she would become the next great scientist or athlete or musician and we watched them become a street corner weed mule, our expectations of once upon a time have been beaten and demolished by the unfolded reality.

To be honest, I have watched the first five seasons of DYNASTY a lot more than the final four. While season 4 (especially after the merger is over) is a rapidly disintegrating mess and season 5 is a complete circus with ridiculous storylines that have nothing to do with DYNASTY (Daniel Reece, Nicole Simpson, Lady Ashley, Moldavia), they are intermingled with my viewer memories of the show up until 1985, which were those of an adoring teen rather than a demanding viewer of later life. Considering how much I loved all things DYNASTY up until 1985, I realize now how awful season 6 was since it started opening my eyes. But what really woke me up was season 6B, when I realized that if they wanted, the brass could still deliver an exciting story like before--it's just that they didn't care any more. When last I watched DYNASTY on CBS Drama while I was in Europe, I watched until the episode where Krystle is knocked unconscious, and then it was just impossible for me to sit through it. I just waited until both Joel and Galen were out of the picture to pick up again.

I think that Dynasty episodes 608 To 615 when Krystle is finally released from the attic is the worse that Dynasty has to offer. Even Season 7 is better than this stretch of episodes in my opinion.

I think we had this discussion before, over whether this stretch is worse than the Sarah Curtis stretch in 7B, aka would I rather lose my right or my left leg.

 

[ArchieLucasCarringtonEwing1989]

Nothing can beat season 7B in terms of rock bottom, toilet basin, sewage waste awfulness,
Season 6A was boring yes but at least then we still had characters that were at times interesting, 6A we had Claudia, Amanda and Prince Michael, by 7B we were left with their carbon copies or characters without purpose; Sarah Curtis, Leslie and Michael Culhane.
There is no comparison

 

[Werewillie Oleson]

6A we had Claudia, Amanda and Prince Michael, by 7B we were left with their carbon copies or characters without purpose; Sarah Curtis, Leslie and Michael Culhane.

I think Terri Garber is a good actress, she has a great sense of comedy which works very well in soap, as long as they don't write it as comedy.
To be honest I think Leslie Carrington had more potential than Amanda ever had.

It's funny to read all the hatred for Sarah Curtis, since that storyline looks carefully plotted from start to finish (by late-Dynasty standards anyway).

 

[Tony]

7B did much better in the ratings than 7A. After the Love Remembered plot, the ratings jumped from No 34 to No 17, and started beating Magnum in its time slot.

Despite the Sarah Curtis plot being drab, the Adam identity plot helped Dynasty nudge Dallas in the ratings in 7B.

Still not as good as 6A however which bottomed out at Number 18, though by Season 7, Dynasty had lost a percentage of its audience.

 

[Spooky Owl!]

and all the characters go through the same scenes

Of course, that was a habitual problem for DYNASTY: endlessly repeated scenes going nowhere, the characters eternally chattering on, identifying and re-identifying their relationship to one another, usually to absolutely no avail, the emptiest kind of filler... "You are my son," "you are my daughter," "we love each other," "I'm your husband.," "I'm your wife," "why don't you share your pain?," "but I need more, to feel free, can't you understand that...?"

On and on and on and on...

Anything but discussing the details of the actual plotlines at hand.