Dynasty (1981-1989)

My mistake. It’s Krystle Carrington

Dih-nuh-stee.

Die-nasty

John James is a total honk and he shouldn’t have been allowed to wear any clothes for the show. I’m sure he would rock a speedo quite nicely.

Honk?

This shouldn’t have been a poll. Given that this is a site predominantly for gay males, the obvious choice is Alexis.

Forced me to locate Moldova on and this was before world wide web!

The storylines involving Claudia Blaisdel were my favorite. I love her plotting to kill the Carringtons.

Moldavia!

A minor character, but I DROOLED at Ray Abruzzo as Lt. John Zorelli, who dated Fallon.

And I loved Stephanie Beacham, who made the last season worth watching after the show had gone to hell.

Dorothy Zbornak, Constance Colby's lesbian lover.

Ray Abruzzo back in the day. Good God.

Steven & Luke of course!

For some reason, Dynasty was banned at our house but the Lorimar soaps were fine.

[quote] For some reason

Do you have any idea why?

No, R16. I wish I did. My parents were so arbitrary. FWIW, I just ended up watching it on a TV in my room. This was around the time of the Two Krystles.

The last words spoken (in the mini-series) was Blake's when he said "I love you, Krystle."

[quote]Honk?

Great honk!

I *loved* John James and Jeff Colby. I think they should have figured out how to reconfigure the show to accommodate him as lead but Alexis’ popularity prevented that; in the end, it was probably the right choice but I hated how little he had to do in multiple seasons.

[quote]The last words spoken (in the mini-series) was Blake's when he said "I love you, Krystle."

Or maybe it was "Krystle, I love you."

I’m watching this from the beginning on Prime right now. Episode 1

John as Blake

Linda as Krystal

Pamela Sue as Fallon the rich slut

Fallon got bucked off her horse and is now walking her horse naked wearing her dad’s suit jacket while walking her horse back to the mansion. She’s calling the chauffeur from her cell phone to alert him she’s horny

Blake “My daughter Fallon is some sort of born-again Lady Godiva”.

It was certainly not essential viewing.

It absolutely was essential viewing and the #1 show in America (for a single season).

I would answer but Pamela Fallon and Emma Fallon are virtually two different characters. It was a tie between real Fallon and Claudia.

Mee Maws fave. She died 10 years ago.

John James WAS a total hunk (er, honk) before he (a) got old (b) got fat and (c) became a MAGAt.

I cared less and less for it after the end of season two. But the pilot season and season two were so terrific and gripping. It felt must see. Joan Collins' and Pamela Sue Martin's characters were a delight. The dialogue was often very funny.

Collins honestly acted her pants off... that character was hilarious, scheming her way through the show. She was much better as a displaced first wife than as a business woman. They shouldn't have killed Cecil Colby but rather had he and Alexis battling Blake, and Dominique upon her arrival as Cecil's Alexis - long lost, pissed off first wife.

But what I'm describing was a show closer to a drama stronger on character than a melodrama stronger on plotting. It was good when it was good but was generally downhill every season after that. The last season captured the essence of the first two. Scripts were better. Fallon seemed a little more Fallon and Stephanie Beacham was the kind of foil for Alexis that Dominique could have been had she been written better/differently.

Dynasty started as a show with a concept and turned into a case study for how success kills a golden goose. They kept trying to top themselves rather than doing what worked, well.

I stopped watching this after Diahann left the show. Criminally underused. They toyed with the idea of making Dominique Kirby’s mother but the network and the Shapiros didn’t want to offend their frau fanbase. So they brought in Troy Beyer to play her daughter. Pussies, the lot of them.

[quote] started as a show with a concept and turned into a case study for how success kills a golden goose. They kept trying to top themselves rather than doing what worked, well.

Huh, you don't say.

I cannot watch “Dynasty” now without remembering that Joan Collins told Andy Cohen that John Forsythe had the worst breath of any actor she ever worked with.

For those who don't have Prime, Pluto has a Dynasty channel.

Probably his dentures. A friend of mine told me the same thing about Charlton Heston. He and his sister went on one of those classic film cruises. Charlton was a guest speaker. He wore a horrific toupee and had nasty denture breath.

Ray Abruzzo was active on social media during the Trump years. Happy to say he's a big lefty who hates Trump. He also posted pictures of his coastal California ranch and said he's happiest at home with his horses and dogs. Seems like a very sweet guy who's done well for himself and is still close with Emma Samms.

I have to say I thought this was one thread that couldn't be turned into a Trump thread. Oh well. At least it took 36 posts and not the usual nine. In your derangement syndrome does Trump get a turn? Maybe while tightening his tie? Or should it only be Fallon that gets a turn?

“Dynasty” fan Donald Trump contacted Aaron Spelling and proposed that Aaron cast him as one of Alexis’ lovers.

Fallon does not have a "turn."

Fallon has a PIVOT.

And the meaning of "Trump derangement syndrome" clearly has eluded you. That's MAGA.

Fallon what a name

Fuck you.

I watched the first 3 episodes on Prime today. I’m surprised how beautiful Linda Evans was early in the series. She was always attractive but a really attractive in 1980 when the first few episodes were shot and aired in January 1981 after the strike ended.

John Derek liked Linda Evans and Bo Derek because they looked so much alike. They could have been sisters. At times they could have been twins circa 1980.

[quote]Fallon what a name

For me it was a tossup between "Caress" and "Bliss."

Fallon…. My neighbor named her daughter Felony.

Circa 1985, the show had too many characters, and the writing was pathetic. The royal wedding and the Moldavian massacre was so over the top, even for “Dynasty.”

The show jumped the shark when they cast Diahann Carroll as Blake’s long lost sister.

John James sure was cute.

R47, “was”.

The show jumped the shark with the Moldavian Massacre. All of that shooting and the only people who died were the fringe characters. Totally stupid.

Long lost sistah if you please.

John James is MAGA and played President Biden in the cheapo MY SON HUNTER movie.

Jack Coleman is very anti-MAGA.

Do you nuts keep a list or something? What about Felicia? Is she MAGA? Why can't you Pol Pot types leave threads alone.? Oh. Wait. Before you go. What about Urkele?

They weren't on Dynasty, stupid.

Blake always seemed so ooooold.

Which smelled worse, John Forsythe’s breath or Joan Collins’ pussy?

Pat Nixon was once asked who should play her husband if there were ever a movie made and her response was John Forsythe because there was such a strong resemblance.

R9, Claudia never plotted to kill the Carringtons. She plotted to kill Cecil. Kirby plotted to kill Alexis.

I remember watching reruns on FX when I was 13. During season 4, I was conflicted about whether I wanted Jeff to be with Kirby or Fallon. I felt so sorry for Kirby, having been raped by Adam, getting sick with toxemia, losing her baby.

After Fallon disappeared, I kept watching wondering, “Is Fallon alive??”

Die-nasty

youtube recommended some clips and it got me interested and now I'm in the middle of season 4. Alexis was a bitch and Sammy Jo is a hoot. I definitely prefer the 1st Steven and Alexis always had hot and seemingly gay assistants. Not a big fan of Kirby but did enjoy bitchy Joseph... what did he do to piss off Aaron Spelling?

I never watched Dynasty when it was on, we were a Dallas/Falcon Crest family

Did you smell these in the 80s???

Forever Krystal

Forever Blake

The most unrealistic thing to happen on the show, more unrealistic than Sammy Jo swapping Krystle with Rita, was how the Carringtons welcomed Sammy Jo back into their good graces after Sammy Jo had kept Krystle in captivity for months.

Refresh my memory--when there were two Krystles, was one a robot or a woman who happened to look exactly like the real Krystle?

[quote] The most unrealistic thing to happen on the show

Wasn't there a UFO abduction plot or was that on The Colbys?

Sadly, there was no fembot Krystle, though if the show had dragged on any longer, that was probably inevitable.

Krystle did have a doppelgänger, however: the carbon-based, low-class Rita, who got a dye job and replaced the real Krystle, who was being held prisoner in a boarded up attic by oily George Hamilton, who was in leagues with both Rita and Sammy Jo, who had a change of heart and eventually rescued Krystle, who, if memory serves, had to pose as Rita to get away.

That storyline was ridiculed for being a tired evil twin soap trope, but I loved every frame of it.

Link is to a catfight between Rita and Krystle, wherein not one, but two, stunt performers get to don the blonde poodle wig for a knockdown dragout.

Forever Krystal smelled like piss

Forever Blake was ok but way too strong for a teen like I was at the time

People talk a lot of shit about the industry, but they also forget that this was an era where an older actress could get a very lucrative and successful gig for a prime time series on one of the 3 big networks, outside of soap operas and stage work.

R59 Lee Bergere, who played Joseph, wanted more to do on the show, so they killed his character off.

R63 it was the last episodes of the Colbys. James and Samms were invited back to Dynasty the next season after the Colbys was cancelled. I imagine they probably tried to get Pamela back again, but she said no, so we were stuck with Samms another two seasons.

Mom and I would watch Dynasty together when she came home from Wednesday night Bible study. I’d popcorn and we’d have caffeine free soda due to the 9 pm hour and me having school the next day. We’d laugh and make comments during every episode. If the story got too lurid my mom would say give me the clicker and she’d change the channel until the sex scene was over. I was like 10yrs old at the time.

My sweet mom, who was my lifelong best friend, died on May 25, 2024 at 79 yrs of age. I miss her so much. Thinking about that Dynasty memory has me crying my eyes out right now. I miss her so much. God please help me get through this. Sorry guys.

It was a great show, R68.

It had everyone tuning in, from teens to geezers.

You be aight, R69.

After Amanda appeared, I gradually lost interest. The writing tanked with the cliche ridden "royal wedding" and the "Moldavian Massacre". I liked Lady Ashley (Ali MacGraw) and Luke (Steven's boyfriend, played by Billy Campbell), but they were killed off. Also, the producers lost interest in Diahann Carroll; that was pathetic. The show became a cariacture of itself, with the same tired scenarios after the Sable character arrived. I stopped watching it. I wish Al Corely would've stayed, but it was wonderful seeing him in the reunion movie.

Karen Cellini as Amanda. Did she even have any acting jobs outside that replacement role?

[quote]A minor character, but I DROOLED at Ray Abruzzo as Lt. John Zorelli, who dated Fallon.

Ray was also Markie Post's love interest/father of her child on Night Court, and I agree he was delectable.

This show was populated by non-actors overacting, with a few excellent actors thrown in to give it at least some grounding.

Pamela Bellwood still talks like she just got finished with a season at the RSC when it looks more like she hasn't worked in over a decade other than interviews and autograph shows.

[quote]The show jumped the shark when they cast Diahann Carroll as Blake’s long lost sister.

Carroll had said that she worked closely with the Shapiros on who 'Dominique' would be. Her suggestion was to be Blake's former secretary whom he had a brief affair with in the early 60s, got her pregnant and she left Denver to have his child (without his knowledge). So she shows up with 'their daughter' 20 years later, demands he accept her as 'his daughter' and that she be included in the will. Now THAT made a lot of sense and would've been juicy. However, it was Aaron Spelling who nixed the idea - they had just introduced 'Amanda' as the daughter he never knew he had, and they didn't want another 'unknown daughter' entering the family. Spelling was afraid viewers wouldn't be interested in both as they would 'cancel each other out'. They kept Dominique and her biracial daughter intact, but the focus was now on her as his sister.

They introduced the character of 'Rita', Krystle's evil twin, not to lose Evans. Her contract was up for renewal and she was complaining that she didn't have much to do as Blake's wife - so she was considering leaving. Spelling didn't want her to go, so he worked with her on developing this role - for her to play someone opposite the virtuous Krystle. She liked it, and renewed her contract.

Though it was the #1 show at the time (1984-85), ABC ordered Spelling to cut expenses as it was becoming too expensive to produce each season. Cut expenses meant 'cut the cast down' - but how could they end each storyline by the end of the fifth season ? They came up with the 'Moldavian Massacre' at the end of the season, and killed all the 'excess cast off' without worrying about storylines.

DIahann Carroll said she was called in the Spring of 1989 to come back for the tenth and final season of 'Dynasty' (1989-90), since Linda Evans had left, and Collins said she would leave mid-season. She and her agent were negotiating a contract, with a clause that said she would be paid a full season even if the series was canceled early on in Season 10 (she was well aware of the ratings taking a dive). Towards the end of the season (I think the final show) we do see a limo pull up and the silhouette of a woman in the back seat - the door opens, and a leg is extended but we don't know who the woman is at the end of the show. Surprise - it would be Carroll in season 10. However, ABC canceled the show before she signed the contract - so she lost a lot of money she never actually had.

GAY BAR, SOMETIME IN 1985, 8:58 PM

The Billy Idol video on all the TV sets suddenly stops and the TVs are simultaneously tuned to ABC. We sit through half a Cover Girl commercial and an ad for the Movie of the Week as the crowd hushes. At the bar, there's a rush to get in orders of Sea Breezes before the action starts. Cigarettes are nervously lighted. A group of boisterous queens that didn't get the message is angrily shushed.

THEN the first thrilling trumpets of the Dynasty theme sound as the camera zooms over the majestic Carrington mansion, and all is reverently quiet.

Church has begun for the week.

I'm still puzzled how a show with so little regard for its writing and the stories was able to be successful for so many years. It was deliberately so unambitious. And I cannot figure out why.

In the 80's, it was said that gay bars and clubs stopped the music two times at night during the week. Once during "Dynasty" and the other during "Golden Girls".

[quote] John James is a total honk

People often say I'm a total honk, but it's a reference to my singing.

John James is also a major MAGAt. He played Biden in that right wing piece of shit "My Son, Hunter."

[quote] People often say I'm a total honk, but it's a reference to my singing.

And your nose, Patti.

R78 What it lacked in writing and acting it made up for in visuals: namely glamour. This was the 80s - The Reagan era, and the Royal Family era. Spelling jumped on this right away (the frugal 'Carter years' and the 70s decade was a thing of the past). Everyone wanted to be rich or at least pretend to be rich. Boomers were hitting middle-age, and they lived vicariously through the Carringtons.

While Madonna belted 'Material Girl' over the radio, TV viewers were enthralled with glamour and how 'the rich people lived'. They loved wealthy Americans (introducing 'The Trumps') and the wealthy Brits (Charles and Di). While the conservative doting wife Nancy Reagan was photographed in the latest glamour by James Galanos and Carolina Herrera, the doting conservative wife Krystle Carrington was on TV wearing Nolan Milller. On the other side of the pond, doting wife Princess Diana was photographed wearing Catherine Walker and Bruce Oldfield. Every young woman wanted to dress like the Princess. It was all about glamour and money - and the 80s had plenty of it (and that all died out once 'frugal' Barbara Bush moved into the White House).

And that's how DYNASTY survived.

Dynasty, The Golden Girls, and Trump. All in one post. That's the Datalounge hat trick.

R84 You mean 'all in one decade'. That's the 80s for you.

I’m just sayin-John James was beautiful in his day and he’s still kinda ok but he’s a fuckin Trump ass licker. Fallen stars always go Trump.

R77 - you’re fun. You can stay for a while longer.

With the 2 unknown children, they actually foreshadowed both Adam and Amanda and set it up well... Alexis and Blake had a conversation about how Blake never let her grieve or talk about their 1st born and Alexis let it slip that she was pregnant 4 times when Krystal told her that she was pregnant. Alexis told Krystal that she had a miscarriage when questioned.

In season 5 now, Amanda just showed up and god is Catherine Oxenberg a horrible actress but she is great in the role

Good god, Is Ali McGraw always such a bad actress or is she just bad in this?

Honestly, my favorite was Claudia. I really liked her and i really Pamela Bellwood. I know I'm very much in the minority with Dynasty fans but I really loved Catherine Oxenburg as Amanda. I liked her Amanda a lot. Then the original Steven. NuSteven sucked

Linda Evans's shoulder pads are so big and wide in the video at the top she looks like she's wearing a football uniform.

[quote]she looks like she's wearing a football uniform.

Somewhat suitable since she reportedly wore a jockstrap and cup underneath, as well.

Claudia really was the town bicycle but her affect annoys me. Real Amanda and Real Steven were the best. I haven't got to fake Fallon yet

Oh my God. you are in for a shock on how bad a recast can be. NuFallon is even worse than NuDerwood on Bewitched. We could have had Jane Badler as NuFallon, which probably would have been fantastic. However that little bitch Tori Spelling stuck her nose in.

What ever happened to Leslie Carrington? She was completely forgotten about after Sean Rowan beat her up. As a kid, I thought she had died from her injuries. But nobody ever talked about her.

She’s just a WHORE r96! A company WHORE!

Joan Collins as Alexis was everything on that show. I also loved Heather Locklear as Sammy Jo. There was a gay bar on Long Island that had an Alexis impersonator who was a hoot; a group of us (including “Alexis”) would close out the bar then go to the nearby diner for breakfast. Good times.

I love when Alexis tells Sammy Jo she has an “ice cream parlor face.”

[quote] Is Ali McGraw always such a bad actress or is she just bad in this?

Always. She is known as one of the worst famous American actresses of the late 20th century.

There was indeed a "Forever Krystle" perfume, but the Dynasty perfume for men wasn't called "Forever Blake"--it was called "Carrington."

"Dynasty's Greatest Fights" from SNL, starring hist Pamela Sue Martin (in enormous football-player shoulderpads) as Linda Evans, and Pamela Stephenson as Joan Collins.

Ridiculous except for the outfits it feels like a scene from a women's prison film

Ciao....for now

Loved the first gay son, not the replacement.

I loved when crazy Claudia got on meds, married that homo Steven, then smacked the shit out of Sammy Jo.

Or when crazy Cllaudia threw a doll off the roof of the building and everyone thought it was Fallon’s baby.

Who's the bitch that tried to set everyone on fire?

[quote]Who's the bitch that tried to set everyone on fire?

The fabulous Claudia Blaisdel Carrington! Seeking revenge at that most glamorous of Denver retreats, La Mirage.

ALSO Claudia....lol....she WAS a crazy bitch!

I couldn't remember if the fire bug was Claudia or that Shelley Duvall looking bitch.

Crazy Claudia setting LaMirage on fire with the cast inside.

The fire was so traumatic it turned Catherine Oxenberg into Karen Cellini!

The fabulous scene where crazy Claudia sets the hotel on fire.

"Liars ... all of them ... liars ... "

I love how the fire doesn't spread in any natural pattern: "Gus! Turn on da gas when da candle tips ovah!"

Sammy Jo dancing lewdly , appalling that old whore Alexis.

One of my fave moments: Sammy Jo does a sexy dance at Alexis' party.

"Would you please try to act like a LADY, as IMPOSSIBLE as that may SEEM?"

R97, I think it was SLUT, the company SLUT.

Oh it was company whore after all!

And then Leslie was never seen again.

The women’s hair gets increasingly frosted as the eighties wore on.

As did their jeans.

You have to admit nobody did frosting better than Claudia. Her coloring was perfect for it.

Kirby!

That was the Shelley Duvall lookalike. I couldn't remember her name yesterday.

Kirby was such a pillowcase. So meek and wimpy and annoying.

Kirby had all the vibrancy of a used dishrag.

I love that Kirby strangles Alexis here-and Instead of being concerned about Alexis, Blake and Jeanette the maid are concerned about Kirby.

Among the many, many disastrous decisions that went into the reunion movie, the biggest would have to be bringing back Kirby as a main character. Who asked for that?

Runners-up would be recasting Adam rather than writing him out when Gordon Thomson wasn't available, and using some random hotel to stand in for the Carrington mansion as if we wouldn't notice.

I used to love Kirby. I found her a very sympathetic character… her unrequited love for Jeff, getting raped by Adam, believing she was pregnant with Jeff’s baby when it turns out to be Adam’s, her father committing suicide, Jeff cheating on her, her getting toxemia and losing her baby.

I hated how they handled her character though.

Completely agree R126. I don't know what they could have done with her though.

[quote] I know I'm very much in the minority with Dynasty fans but I really loved Catherine Oxenburg as Amanda

To me she felt like a pale imitation of TruFallon. She was having her own mind and fought with Alexis, just like Fallon in her good old days. But TrueFallon had charm, spunk, was brave and maybe even charismatic. Amanda (both) was just a spoiled brat whose sass did not extend beyond pouting. She was all brat, no fun. In all fairness, that still better than NuFallon who had nothing at all from TruFallon.

Is this the only kind exchange Alexis and Krystle had?

I get clips on Insta. Diahann Carroll was a terrible actress.

R130 serves burnt champagne.

[quote]The royal wedding and the Moldavian massacre was so over the top, even for “Dynasty.”

Many people cite the Moldavian massacre as the "jump the shark" moment for "Dynasty." It was over the top, of course, but actually well staged, for the most part. I always thought the true shark-jumping plot line for the series was Krystle being held prisoner in the attic while the dark-haired Krystle pretended to be the blond Krystle. It was preposterous and dreary at the same time. It seemed to go on and on and on. Plus, you had a truly terrible actor, George Hamilton, sneering like a villain in a Grade Z melodrama. Possibly the worst plot in the entire series. I couldn't wait for it to end.

Dominique Deveraux was a terribly written character. She was supposed to be this fabulously wealthy rich and successful singer/tycoon, but nobody in the Carrington family had ever heard of her. And she gave it all up to hang out with Blake and Krystle; to cunt off on Alexis a few times a year; and to sing in the lounge at La Mirage. It didn’t make sense.

[quote] She was supposed to be this fabulously wealthy rich and successful singer/tycoon

Wasn't she just a lounge singer?

R125 they made a deliberate attempt to go with actors associated with the heyday of the show. I actually liked Kirby, even though she wasn’t much of a character. They turned Fallon, played by Samms, into Kirby on the Colbys, complete with getting raped, who’s the father of the baby, and being victimized and dependent on men, unlike the Pamela Sue early days Fallon, where she could have stepped in and run Denver Carrington.

R132 they actually paused the show midway through the season to rewrite scripts, when the ratings took a nosedive. I remember the TV Guide article about it, and one of the ABC executives told producers you need to figure out a way to get her the hell out of that attic. Dynasty became a victim of its own excesses. First the massacre when only a couple people die but everyone gets shot at, and then Evans having to a cat fight with her own twin.

Dominique bought a share of Denver Carrington for $70 million, before she inherited money from her father. She also owned a record label.

R135 having to do^

R133 I’m surprised Carroll lasted as long as she did on the show. She had high hopes to be, in her words, the first black bitch on a series, but making her Blake’s half sister was a mistake. She really should’ve been a common enemy for both Blake and Alexis.

“Game of Thrones” had its own Moldavian Massacre, but it did it more effectively because nobody survived.

[quote]This was essential primetime viewing during most of the decade.

Not if you had an active social and professional life.

[quote] She really should’ve been a common enemy for both Blake and Alexis.

In terms of drama, yes. I agree. The show often lacked the third/disruptor who goes against both big players. But I don't think they could have done that with a person of color in a White show in the 80s that was revered by conservative voters. Just like the Gays in the 90s (up to now really) it is hard to find a minority character in an outstanding villainous position. Dominique needed to be sympathetic. So she was on Blake's side against the real bitch of the show.

Steven Carrington and Luke Fuller Gay Storyline: