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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Spooky Owl!" data-source="post: 445600" data-attributes="member: 57984">You're both right.All four of the '80s nighttime soaps were better than each other depending on the season and who was writing/producing them at any given period.DYNASTY was well-written during Seasons 1, 2 and 9. But in between, the dialogue became more florid and "soapy," far too many scenes wound up veering off into dialogue lazily reaffirming the characters' relationships ("You're my father/mother/sister/brother/lover and I love/hate you!") when the writers were too bored with their own plotlines to have those characters converse naturally or logically. (Made more obvious by the introduction of the static acting directive beginning with Season 3, which caused decently-written scenes to feel unnecessarily stupid). Most years, the DYNASTY writers didn't know what story they wanted to tell, how to tell it, or how to effectively wrap up cliffhangers, large or small (the Moldavia Massacre's pathetic aftermath a metaphor for the series' problems as a whole). So DYNASTY just became about "events" -- parties, catfights, time-killing bedroom scenes -- and as any competent television writer will tell you: events are not story; events are only an enhancement to the story. FALCON CREST was often more frenetic yet more competent in its storytelling. Especially during its first three seasons when Robert McCullough ran the narrative -- he knew what he was doing. And even when there were holes in the writing, sheer chutzpah pulled it off. Season 4 was acceptable until CBS demanded the nazi treasure storyline, the year's main plotline, be dropped 10 episodes before the end of that season... For me, FC just never recovered... Season 5 was drab and cluttered. Seasons 6, under Jeff Freilich, reenergized the series yet offered up too much silliness. Season 7 was too frenetic, while remaining too silly. Season 8 tried to go straight again but the show no longer knew how (bring back McCullough, not Stern & Black!). And Season 9 was a different show entirely, which may or may not have appealed to the viewer -- depending on that viewer.At the end of the day, I'd have to say FALCON CREST was the better-written -- even though both shows had tons of crap mixed in. The difference being that, good or bad -- successful or unsuccessful, FC was actually trying to tell a story. Mostly, DYNASTY was not, and seemed to have little genuine interest in their characters (S.A.D. just making that harder to obscure, rendering the characters somehow lobotomized and more artificial than all the sequins).DYNASTY may have had the most potential of any of the four '80s primetime serials, but did the least with whatever it had, the show constantly suppressed and suffocated by "not really proper writers" (as the Pollocks were described). But FALCON CREST at least tried -- sometimes even trying perhaps a little too hard.   Otherwise, the parallels between the two shows, as we've discussed in another thread, are uncanny.[MEDIA=youtube]G3jgsbx9wlc[/MEDIA]</blockquote>

Verification: What month follows July?