New posts

A little forum update...We're planning an upgrade.

Find out more about what's planned and how you can help support the forum
Click here for the details

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Snarky Oracle!" data-source="post: 383139" data-attributes="member: 57984">Of course, the very term "dynasty" means a large intergenerational family of rulers, so I'm okay with DYNASTY having a larger cast of characters who come and go. And DYNASTY's conceit of having an Old Hollywood vibe with Old Hollywood guest stars was fine -- except that the show didn't really do that (unless Ali Mac Graw qualifies). It did have ailing Rock Hudson, and Charlton Heston & Barbara Stanwyck were barely even there, brought in for the spin-off, THE COLBYS (which was never going to survive its terrible time slot).DYNASTY's regular cast was damn near perfect -- as was the case with all four of the big '80s nighttime soaps -- but the DYNASTY writers got bored quickly with their characters and didn't write for them properly. So the revolving heads dynamic was their way of compensating.DYNASTY was indeed "desperate" but that had more to do with an ambitious but insecure production team that fervently wanted the show to be important, yet seemed to become apathetic towards their characters and their stories as early as the fourth season.John Forsythe once said the producers "didn't know what they wanted" for the show, while Kate O'Mara quoted one of the producers admitting that "we make it up as we go along" -- both of which points became painfully obvious. Karen Cellini (Amanda #2 for all of five minutes) observed that "all anybody wants to see is Joan and Linda" and yet the producers all-but-dropped the Krystle & Alexis aspect very quickly. And circa 1987 DALLAS creator David Jacobs lamented that on the rival series "Joan and Linda don't even seem like the stars of the show anymore."   DALLAS' writers, in contrast, maintained an obvious interest in their core characters for a decade, only stumbling in the closing years.So DYNASTY may have desired to compete with DALLAS, and in the minds of the press and the public they did. But DYNASTY's main weakness was internal.There was room for both shows, and millions of viewers watched each of them, not necessarily wanting them to be identical. But it was readily apparent that the DYNASTY brass soon became more interested in the profile and "success" of their program than anything else. And that's just no way to run a television series.DYNASTY didn't just have a PR campaign, it was a PR campaign. And that's a shame.But Seasons 1, 2 and 9 were terrific, DYNASTY then living up to its potential, however briefly.<img src="https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.t7WocGcKvltoJZQbBWCORAHaLJ?pid=ImgDet&w=182&h=273&c=7" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 511px" /></blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?