Why did DYNASTY writing go bad?

[Jock's Ghost]

I think when DYNASTY forgot what it was, high gloss trash, it failed to be fun. I enjoyed all of the seasons except for S8 which was boring as hell.
Bounced back in S9. The handling of some of thd female characters was not good. Recasting Fallon with the beautiful but awful Emma Samms. The ugly, fumble with Amanda's recast. Blah. Claudia's continual door mat Schick. She should have taken some cues from Alexis. Also, the wodst character for me was always Sammy Jo. Locklear had the talents to be a baddie but man she was annoying as F. Still not sure why.
Dominique should have been the good girl to Alexis bad girl, but wasted. And Kystal. That goddamn Krystal. Knots Landing proved you could write a good girl and she didn't have to be stupid, annoying, haranging harpie.
Thd only time Krystal was interesting was when Alexis was messing with her.
I think the only female character that came out ok was alexis. I never liked her being called a bitch. She was the villain but one of the few honest characters about her behaviors dishonest or not.
It's too bad bad we didn't get two or three more reunion movies in the 90s. Seems like there was life left in the old dames.
That remake on the CW scares me. Ugh

 

[Jock's Ghost]

I love Linda Evans, but the more I watch and re watch Dynasty the more I find Krystle useless!!!!

Yes. Annoying as hell. I love it when Alexis screws with her.

 

[Jock's Ghost]

I dont think it was ABC involved with Steven's he went back to gay by the time he thankfully left.

 

[Jock's Ghost]

Here are my thoughts about season 4 in general, from discussing "Carousel."

Always thought it would have been more interesting for Adam to be given freedom since he was a long lost sibling, son, parents give him free reign over his behaviors. It never felt right that blake would scold him on anything out of guilt etc.

 

[Zara]

Wrong.

 

[Zara]

@Jock's Ghost:

Exactly. K never realized just how much she needed Alexis, not Blake. LOL.

I would have loved more movies in the 90's.

I thought about it the other day; Alexis didn't do enough bitchy deeds to be a real bitch. She was more a stirrer in the somewhat overfilled glas. Sometimes half-empty. Love Alexis/Joan, though.
I have written this before: the only thing Alexis wasn't willing to own, was the miscarriage. Other than that Alexis was very honest about herself and her actions. It added to the non-bitch about her and in fact made her more interesting, as she had "a motive" not just doing evil things like a robot, the way JR kind of did.

 

[Jock's Ghost]

@Jock's Ghost:

Exactly. K never realized just how much she needed Alexis, not Blake. LOL.

I would have loved more movies in the 90's.

I thought about it the other day; Alexis didn't do enough bitchy deeds to be a real bitch. She was more a stirrer in the somewhat overfilled glas. Sometimes half-empty. Love Alexis/Joan, though.
I have written this before: the only thing Alexis wasn't willing to own, was the miscarriage. Other than that Alexis was very honest about herself and her actions. It added to the non-bitch about her and in fact made her more interesting, as she had "a motive" not just doing evil things like a robot, the way JR kind of did.

Alexis would have been a bitch if she did her things and denied it. But always said her intentions. Being still in love with Blake was thd first and the rest were just meddlesome junk. She was not a bitch. Id say Krystal was more so as she acted holier than thou and never acknowledged her glitches only everyond else's.

 

[Zara]

Alexis would have been a bitch if she did her things and denied it. But always said her intentions. Being still in love with Blake was thd first and the rest were just meddlesome junk. She was not a bitch. Id say Krystal was more so as she acted holier than thou and never acknowledged her glitches only everyond else's.

The scene where Alexis is praying in church shows Alexis how well she knows herself. Can you imagining JR in a similar scene?
Alexis had real depth and much of her behavior stemmed from the lessons life had involved her in and not from some compulsive need to do evil. Alexis could be vulnerable as well as true to her more evil intentions. That made it work in the Dynasty-world and she never felt out of style.

Well, Krystle had a bit of her own praying-moment, but not as honest as Alexis. In the scene in Blake's office where she tells Blake she is going to work with Daniel and his horses and she wanting to do something with her life beside being "holier than thou", as she is tired to her loving-advice dispenser's roll.
You never knew she analyzed herself in that way and just how dull and stagnated that persona is. "Passive", as K labels it. Making space for eyeing others glitches. In fact, the only interested thing left. LOL.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Krystle needed to develop super powers. It's the only thing awaiting her.

 

[colbyco]

Yeah, I know eventually it was rarer to see well-written seasons than bad ones, but I am trying to see if we can do a post-mortem. I do think the writer inconsistency @GillesDenver mentioned is one of the problems. I also wonder if perhaps penny-pinching Spelling's company was not the best for this kind of show. I mean, Lorimar had three in production and while there were problems there too, it was never as pronounced as DYNASTY's later years. But writing is not a budget issue, come to think of it.

- Spelling´s company was the best for this kind of glamour show - no other show did spent so much money on sets, clothes and diamonds ... but the writing got lost under all the big shoulderpads ...

I don't really think so, except for Steven who was indeed straightened at the orders of the network. The network had the same objections in season 1, and Esther Shapiro did not budge, though she did say she eventually had him hook up with Claudia because as a gay man his storyline options were limited.

But I have not heard any other interference by the network in terms of writing or story.

- Yeah, I think the only thing the network ordered was Steven´s "behaviour" and while S6´s re-tooling they had some influence ...

I did not want her to be some idealist who does not care for money. But it is possible to care for your work and seek to make money in the field. Look at Steven Bochco in the 80s. Or really, look at David Jacobs.
Based on how superb season 1 of DYNASTY was, I never would have guessed the mess it would end up being. More than that, that its creator would not care.

- That´s what Forsythe said "Esther didn´t work active on the show ..." she just traveled around the country to sell more and more Dynasty items + creating other shows.

Esther Shapiro said in THE DYNASTY YEARS that feedback from the network and focus groups came too late for her to change anything and at any rate she had to trust her instinct. Then in the SOAPNET marathon commentary she said the audience did not care for the Blaisdels so they were written off. So I guess it depends on what she was smoking.

I tend to believe that thanks to Spelling and Shapiro, DYNASTY had quite the artistic freedom in its first five years, Steven's homosexuality aside. There was more pressure from Spelling on the writers/execs to keep the cast number the same, thus the ridiculous edicts that Cecil had to die if they were to bring Adam (which is why he was not cast in late season 2 per the Pollocks' plan), Nick had to go for them to bring Mark, etc. It is possible to have someone be a recurring character, as the show itself showed with Heather Locklear, who was quite successful as an occasional guest star.

- To write off the Blaisdels she had the summer break and she had time to read response from the viewers ...

When Alexis came in, at first it was awesome tv. But then they decided to shift the focus from family to business.
Among it Krystle lost big on this.

The first three seasons have a closer feeling and Krystle is really integrated in her struggle and we follow this understanding. We learn a lot about her and Blake (and Alexis). Then business takes over and scenes are more of a repeating nature, especially at home. In a way we needed Blake to be a little asshole. But at the same time it didn't fit with the persona created for K.

Alexis' potential was more than we got, even what we got was pretty iconic.

- I don´t think there was so much business focus ... Dallas had a lot more of this. For 2 fighting oil companies the business part was really small ... here and there but most of the time there was family drama ... a new son, a new face, a new marriage, a new rape, a lost baby, a crazy woman, a catfight ....

 

[Zara]

- Spelling´s company was the best for this kind of glamour show - no other show did spent so much money on sets, clothes and diamonds ... but the writing got lost under all the big shoulderpads ...

- Yeah, I think the only thing the network ordered was Steven´s "behaviour" and while S6´s re-tooling they had some influence ...

- That´s what Forsythe said "Esther didn´t work active on the show ..." she just traveled around the country to sell more and more Dynasty items + creating other shows.


- To write off the Blaisdels she had the summer break and she had time to read response from the viewers ...

- I don´t think there was so much business focus ... Dallas had a lot more of this. For 2 fighting oil companies the business part was really small ... here and there but most of the time there was family drama ... a new son, a new face, a new marriage, a new rape, a lost baby, a crazy woman, a catfight ....

Family drama that felt coerced. The first seasons were more like you would expect.
Alexis left the family side and then she and Blake interacted mostly in business. Maybe the natural progression if you don't intend to let them reminisce sex/love-wise. I'm not sure.
Strange was, Blake was depicted as totally uninterested of Alexis in business, also. So Alexis kind of lost sense after season 4A.
It seems much time was spent on Alexis walking in and out of Blake's office or Krystle walking the mansion halls. LOL. When I think about it, they showed us insanely much walking indoors on Dynasty.

 

[colbyco]

(.....)
It seems much time was spent on Alexis walking in and out of Blake's office or Krystle walking the mansion halls. LOL. When I think about it, they showed us insanely much walking indoors on Dynasty.

- That´s not normal but normal for every soap .... comming all the way just to say "you bi*ch" and to leave after 3 minutes ...

 

[Jock's Ghost]

Krystal with suoerpowers. Yep. Holy Woman to the rescue. I can't think of another soap counterpart to Krystal. Pam on Dallas was never so snooty. She was interesting to me and she had Cliff to tame. Blake was too good as well. I think had Krystal been Blake's conscious instead... instead of each others cheerleader. Pam checked bobby when he went astray and Karen checked sid/mack and they her when ran astray... cheering in a vacum is boring.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

If you ask me, Krystle could have stood to be a little more snooty -- with all that trashy riff-raff she had to live with. Snooty but holy.

 

[colbyco]

Krystal with suoerpowers. Yep. Holy Woman to the rescue. I can't think of another soap counterpart to Krystal. Pam on Dallas was never so snooty. She was interesting to me and she had Cliff to tame. Blake was too good as well. I think had Krystal been Blake's conscious instead... instead of each others cheerleader. Pam checked bobby when he went astray and Karen checked sid/mack and they her when ran astray... cheering in a vacum is boring.

- it was this way a lot / too long ... but in the beginning they had their hard times (Matthew, rape, ex-wife, Toscanni, Steven vs Blake in court, Krystle leaving the mansion with Krystina ... ) even in S5 Krystle had to say "it´s ok to have an old friend" (Daniel) - after that they became the super love couple everybody remembers. When she wanted to go after Alexis in S8 she shouldn´t have stoped when Blake told her to ...

 

[Jock's Ghost]

If you ask me, Krystle could have stood to be a little more snooty -- with all that trashy riff-raff she had to live with. Snooty but holy.

Good point.

 

[Jock's Ghost]

It would have been more authentic and fun to have Krystal jealous of Alexis as well. The mother of his children. She should have been unable to have kids so she tries too hard to mother Blakes children and attempts to outdo Alexis. It always felt their hate was one sided with Alexis appearing she was picking on *poor little Krystal. *sarcasm

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

It would have been more authentic and fun to have Krystal jealous of Alexis as well. The mother of his children. She should have been unable to have kids so she tries too hard to mother Blakes children and attempts to outdo Alexis. It always felt their hate was one sided with Alexis appearing she was picking on *poor little Krystal. *sarcasm

I don't think they needed to have equal sins. The writers just lost interest in Krystle because they weren't very good. Linda even had conversations with the producers about letting Krystle do more stuff and be stronger, but they told her that the character needed to stay exactly as she became: nicey-nice with little backbone.

 

[Willie Oleson]

It always felt their hate was one sided

It was a biblical hatred. Alexis hated Krystle because of everything she achieved by being lovely, genuine and selfless. She clutched at straws to "expose" or discredit Krystle but it only darkened her own soul. And naturally she blamed Krystle for that too.
It's a vicious circle caused by....by...patriarchy?

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Each of these nighttime soaps needed a creative mentor -- a guiding producer who not only understood character and the series' flavor, but who could bring an annual sense of renewed scandal that befit the show in question, a yearly sense of structure, rinse and repeat. It's a distinct and unique skill.

Paulsen had it. Robert McCullough had it. David Jacobs presumably had it.

Katzman did not -- at least not by himself. Esther Shapiro didn't bother with it. Most producers and show-runners just didn't know how to do this.