Elder gays, did you like Dynasty when it was on?

It was fun, but also so stupid. The fact that it took place in Denver (of all places) made it all the more unreal.

When they replaced Pamela Sue Martin with Emma Samms, that ended the allure for me. And they underused Diahann Carroll. The Shapiros chickened out on several storylines that she would be the main character.

Of course. It was high camp, especially after the first season, once Alexis was on board.

I didn't watch it. I had better things to do in those days. Like hitting the clubs.

The first few seasons, before the show went way over the top with the fashion and the recasting, were enjoyable and pretty well-written: like a 1940s noir, where any character could turn out to be the killer. Long before their characters became one-dimensional, the three leads (Forsythe, Evans, Collins) played some nice ambiguities and got to show complexity in their characters (I particularly liked how the first season made no excuses for Blake's ruthlessness; he also raped Krystle when he found her birth control pills). And Pamela Sue Martin, Al Corley, Pamela Bellwood: the show's original cast killed it. Then Forsythe and Evans seemed determined (or had no other choice with the scripts they were given) to play Blake and Krystle as a Stepford Couple, and Collins looked impatient with the repetitive material she was handed (cat fights, venomous exits, etc.). When the show's casting department made no secret of their contempt for the audience and the characters--replacing British actors with American, and vice versa--the show swiftly reached the point-of-no-return. An exception would be the final season, which was smartly scripted and had a good murder mystery storyline, and which also benefited greatly from the arrival of Stephanie Beacham. Hot take: I loved the spin-off The Colbys and wish it would've continued. It played all the camp without taking itself too seriously, as Dynasty did in its atrocious middle years.

Lots of people loved Dynasty, not just the Elder Gays. As said before, Alexis pushed it to a phenomenon with her wicked feud with sweet Crystal. It had glamour, fashion and a cute gay character. It was great.

Cocktails with the Carringtons...

^ Jack Coleman looks the best.

Fucking loved it! The zenith was the hysterical rooftop scene with the baby doll.

Agree that the replacement of the Carrington kids’ actors was deadly. Pamela Sue Martin and Al Corley were unmatched! Even Catherine Oxenburg was leagues better than the sad Amanda that followed.

I loved it in Season One and Two. As soon as Adam came it started the slide toward the stupidity fest it became. (It got some of the spark back in the scripts in the last season, but it was a total plot show by then and nobody could come up with any good ones. Nazi treasure in the basement of the house? Sure, why not?) But that house, the scoring of the episodes, the smart ass Fallon lines... man, it was fun and quite different than anything else on television, even Dallas, which always looked cheap in terms of production values.

Agree with all of R5 except The Colbys. Bar Stephanie Beacham, it was derivative, repetitive and played out. If there was a show there it had the misfortune of being last in a long line, or too close to last.

Fallon and I have the same personality

The end of the scene from r9.

What was your imagined storyline for Dynasty? I wanted a cliffhanger where Alexis was kidnapped and taken to a Carribbean island. Only Alexis sees her kidnapper, the audience only sees her reaction. In the fall, Cecil Colby is alive... his death was faked in exchange for information about another mobster from his days as Logan Rhinewood. With that mobster dead, it's safe to come out, come back and resume his war against Blake, with Alexis riding sidesaddle. What can I say, I wanted another mansion set.

My imaginary life was that of Fallons

I was Fallon. Spoiled to the hilt.

Fallon fucked her father’s entire football team.

There’s your identification with her.

When I was 14, I was in love with Al Corley.

[quote]My imaginary life was that of Fallons

In that imaginary life, did you manage a hotel that had guests carrying tennis rackets back and forth endlessly through the liobby?

No.

My mom and I would watch Dynasty on TV lyin on our couch and just cry. We wanted that life so fucking bad.

^ The Reagan Era in a nutshell.

I watched the early years because of Al Corley and Pamela Sue Martin. Loved both of them. After that, it was the occasional view.

Seeing Krystal go from secretary to marrying Blake and his wealth was so exhilarating.

I hated the way they dressed. Was Lorenzo lomas on it? Then it’s appealing

Omg I forgot about Linda evans frosted hair! Visual pollution!

Jack Coleman's casting was a major disappointment. He was nowhere near as beautiful as Al. Emma Samms was downright atrocious as Fallon, with that mutant American accent of hers. I think that the AIDS epidemic made them hold back more on gay storylines. It started making impact around the same time as the show.

Agree with R5. I watched faithfully up until Pamela Sue hit the bricks (rather than the brakes, stupid Fallon). I would watch sporadically after that, usually their crazy-ass cliffhanger nonsense, but if I wanted to watch a cartoon I'd stick to Bugs Bunny.

I thought it was insipid when I was in college and then I moved to The Castro where it was shown in some bars that advertised "Dynasty Nights" with drink specials. There I learned what "camp" is and had a blast listening to all the commentary from drunken gay men in the early 1980's.

Sammy Joe, best character ever. Loved Heather Locklear

Every girl I met back then wanted that hairstyle...I called it "dyed tramp hair"

R28 is repeating herself again.

OP here. I'm on season 2. I've seen later seasons years ago on FX, but I don't remember Alexis being a painter which seems to be her thing in season two. When was that jettisoned?

Also Pamela Bellwood's storyline was so boring.

Season One was deliberately paced and thoughtful. Season Two was faster but very enjoyable. I agree it started to falter when Adam showed up.

Good article about Season One.

[quote] I don't remember Alexis being a painter which seems to be her thing in season two. When was that jettisoned?

As soon as she inherited the entirety of Colbyco from Cecil and went from being a dabbler in oils to the hard-driving owner of a Fortune 500 corporation (with absolutely no training).

And, let's not forget also that she was also the publisher of the Denver Mirror, where her sole work seemed to involve ensuring that Dominique Devereaux received nasty reviews for her nightclub performances at La Mirage.

The weird thing is that although Adam's sudden appearance was absolutely ridiculous ("Wait! This has all happened before... Blake and I had another child kidnapped twenty-five years ago, but for some reason no one ever mentioned him the first two seasons!"), I really did enjoy Gordon Thomson in the role. He was good at being Machiavellian and depraved.

And he also brought something really sexy to the role, I think because the actor is gay in real life. I thought he wanted to hatefuck the shit out of Jeff Colby, and I kept hoping we'd get to see it.

In terms of 80s TV, even Nancy McKeon did not bring such incredibly raw hatefuck energy towards Lisa Whelchel... which is really saying something.

R37 run along now.

No. I watched a couple episodes.and saw bits of others but it was never my thing. The house (Filoli, near San Francisco) was the only star in my mind, but that used only for the exteriors in the opening credits; the rest was very much of its greedy, showy, self-satisfied time but too hysterical and campy for me.

I think the biggest disappointment was really the producers' and writers' deliberate choice to keep the writing on the lowest level. It wasn't even that they couldn't do better. It was really a choice to please 'don't even try to write anything engaging'. Everything was limited to keep the show as superficial as possible. This seemed to start after 1st Fallon left and only ended after season 8.

Even though Dallas was more plot- than character driven, they found ways to write better characters. Same for Falcon Crests first five seasons. Knots Landing was character driven all the way, which I think why it holds up best today.

I watched until the Moldavian bullshit.

Shooting everyone was so over the top - years later I lost interest in a similar way with Scandal.....because if you keep going over the top, more and more outrageous....eventually it caves in on itself.

Also, doing the Colbys really took some creative juice (which wasn't exactly overflowing) from the main Dynasty and really sucked out some of the energy. Sable made the last season bearable but by then it really was running on fumes.

It wasn’t as much fun once Alexis moved out of her studio and into the penthouse. Having her on the grounds, always popping in to cause trouble was great. The original fight between Krystle and Alexis was after a buildup of tensions for months and had a very serious issue- the gun startling the horse-at its center.

Though the lily pond fight gets all the credit, it wasn’t really based on anything between Alexis and Krystle as they rarely saw one another anymore. It was just Alexis insulting Krystle and an excuse to have them fight again.

I actually found Season 6 to be more enjoyable than Season 5. The whole Moldavian buildup bored me that climax? Yuck. Yes this was the Krystle/Rita story but I still liked season 6. Remember those outer space like shoulder pads Alexis has in one scene? They were like wings.

But I stopped with season 7. Claudia’s death barely gets mentioned. And the scene where Alexis opens a door at the worksite trailer and there’s a flag of lightning and thunder and she collapses in Dex’s arms was too silly.

I lost interest after the first couple of seasons.

[quote] I don't remember Alexis being a painter which seems to be her thing in season two. When was that jettisoned?

I may be wrong, but I seem to recall the painting thing seemed like a plot device that allowed Alexsis to move back onto the Carrington Estate, and thereby stir up more trouble in close proximity. I believe they said there was something within the original divorce agreement with Blake that assigned the art studio cottage on the property to her, so her painting-sculpting hobby was something she apparently did when she was married to Blake.

It was silly entertainment and in its way it pushed the TV envelope- gay characters, powerful women etc. mostly it was a guilty pleasure.

“Gay” characters. Steven was the straightest gay man on TV.

The biggest inconsistency was Dominique Devereaux. She arrived as an International Woman of Mystery (leading to the classic burnt Champagne scene) but later we discover she's a very famous recording star on several continents. Then she becomes the lounge act at La Mirage (?) and we haven't even gotten to her being Blake Carrington's sister.

The Shapiros originally planned for Dominique not just to be Blake's sister, but Kirby's mother - the product of a liasion between Joseph and Dominique. They backed out, either because they were afraid to generate controversy or alienating advertisers. So they brought in Ken Howard as Dominique's flame and the uber dull Troy Beyer as their daughter. Then Dominique became less and less important to the show - just her and Alexis shading each other and excuses to put her in love scenes with Billy Dee Williams (though they did look good together). The Shapiros chickened out and took the paychecks instead. It would have been fascinating, sort of like a version of IMITATION OF LIFE. And that shit about Krystle losing her mind was just shit. The writing had really deteriorated. And the colognes and perfumes "inspired" by the show - how fucking corny was that?

We use to go to Dynasty night at watch the show at the old Revolver on Santa Monica Blvd. It was packed with queens wearing linebacker padded shoulders. Every time old John Forsythe would bellow "Alexis!" we'd down a shot. Fun times.

Heather Locklear was very adenoidal sounding when she started in Season 2. Her acting sucked too.

[quote]And the colognes and perfumes "inspired" by the show - how fucking corny was that?

The weird thing is that the fragrances inspired by the show, Forever Krystle and Carrington for Men, are well regarded in the perfume community, as is even more so Joan Collins's subsequent fragrance named for her while she did the show, Spectacular by Joan Collins. (The pre-existing perfume she shilled when she started the show, Scoundrel, is disappointingly not as highly regarded, even though it had the campiest advertising campaign.)

Dynasty came on at 9 and my bedtime was 9 and my parents were very strict about, so I missed most of the early seasons, but would catch it from time to time in summer repeats. When I stopped having a bed time, I was more of a Knots Landing gay.

It was a classic campy POS tailored for gay audiences. When they lost interest, the whole thing crashed.

Steven & Bart's camptastic battle over "Who's the top? Who's the bottom?"

Still corny r52.

R34, thanks for posting. I wholeheartedly agree with that article — the first season resonated in such a different way than the rest of the series.

[quote]I wholeheartedly agree with that article — the first season resonated in such a different way than the rest of the series.

Same with Melrose Place. Amy Locane was the "star" of season 1, Michael and Jane were a nice married couple, etc. At the top of season 2 Aaron Spelling let Locane go and convinced Heather Locklear to be a "special guest star" for a few episodes. She never left and the show turned into a Gen X camp drama.

Who was the really hot actor in it who was also in the Bold and the Beautiful?

It was extremely hyped. People mainly watched for Alexis.

So any of elder gays have Adam, IRL? ... since Gordon Thomson is actually the gay one.

R55 - Girls, girls! So much hair-pulling! That's the horniest Lambada I've ever seen. All in all, hilarious -- especially those close-ups at the end when it looks like they're struggling with constipation.

[quote] .... especially those close-ups at the end when it looks like they're struggling with constipation.

R62 Can you imagine how funny it must have been for the the cameraman to take the place of Bart, then Steven, in those in those POV close-ups.

ABC was too chicken to have Clay's shorts tented.

R64 That's gay Bart Fallmont in the clip. .. His straight brother was Clay.

Face slapping? Hair pulling? Girls! Stop fighting!

At the time, I had a friend named Mark Jennings who loved the writers giving him a shout-out like that!

Mark Jennings? The tennis pro? Oh yes, he had a lot of balls.

Joan Collins might have been a method actress while on Dynasty. I saw in an interview wherein she said her "good friend" Esther Shapiro told her once that SHE (Esther) was Alexis. To which, Joan strongly implied that they didn't make haute couture in her size.

When they did the Dynasty Reunion, Al Corley returned to the role of Steven and Bart was then played by (gay) actor, Cameron Watson. As I recall, they are living together in Washington, D.C., and the couple take Blake in after he's released from prison.

Dynasty was on when Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous was a thing. A show where Robin Leach toured the world of rich people showing all us poor folks what it was like

"Heeyahh's Joan Collins, driving around Bevuhhly Hills in a cahh wuhhth over seventy-fahhv thousand dollahhs!"

--Robin Leach's typical talk

I'm still thinking without Joan Collins there would have been no Real Housewives franchise today. They all dress and behave like Joan Collins knock offs.

If I found out that my husband’s ex was responsible for my miscarriage, I would not swat her with a pillow. Krystle should have pummeled Alexis’s ass and stomped her head in.

It was hard to avoid prime time soaps, then. But I wasn’t a regular watcher of any of them. Dynasty was the one I watched most.

R70 - FAGS!

Nope, didn’t get into evening soaps until i got into my forties.

The Matt Damon "I'm going to jokingly shout 'fags' although I'm not really joking" troll needs to fuck all the way off.

[quote]And they underused Diahann Carroll. The Shapiros chickened out on several storylines that she would be the main character.

Agreed. The surprise half-sister of Blake was lame. No wonder the character went nowhere.

One of the storylines was that Diahann Carroll (as 'Millie') was a former secretary / mistress who left the company some 20 years earlier while pregnant to Blake's child (Blake had no idea she was pregnant). She then showed up in 1984 - 85 with 'their daughter' Jackie, wanting her daughter to stake her claim in the family fortune and be accepted by her father and half siblings. Carroll was the one who suggested this idea - but creator Esther Shapiro eventually said 'no'. They were introducing his 'mysterious daughter' Amanda (Catherine Oxenberg) to replace 'Fallon' that same season (1984-85). As John Forsythe later said, 'they didn't want Blake having children popping out of the woodwork every time he turned around during that season'.

I was a little too young for "Dynasty" in its original run, and my folks didn't watch much TV especially night time soaps, but I was definitely aware of it. By the mid-to-late '80s I would tune in occasionally, mostly because I loved the theme song and the opening credits. But I had no idea until years later that it included a (mostly) gay character.

Just a few weeks ago I watched the pilot episode on Amazon. It was fascinating but kind of dull, with long, talky scenes and lots of shadows. By today's standards it felt like an indie movie. It also clearly lacked some kind of spark that Joan Collins brought for the second season (I also watched the Season 2 premiere). Ultimately I wasn't interested enough to watch the whole thing or even attempt a full season.

[quote]The Matt Damon "I'm going to jokingly shout 'fags' although I'm not really joking" troll needs to fuck all the way off.

Right behind all of the even more tiresome "DEAD TO ME!" posters.

Happy 43, Dynasty! The show premiered on January 12, 1981 on ABC.

How many gay actors worked in Dynasty?

[quote]How many gay actors worked in Dynasty?

Gordon Thomson, the guy who played Tony the stable boy ... surely there are more.

Tony the stable boy was beautiful.

The actor, Paul Keenan, was one of the first to be open and honest about having AIDS.

[quote] How many gay actors worked in Dynasty?

[quote] Gordon Thomson, the guy who played Tony the stable boy ... surely there are more.

Don't forget Rock Hudson.

I’m sure one or two of Alexis’s handsome male assistants was gay.

Most likely all of them, R87.

Helmut Berger, who played Peter de Vilbis, was something other than straight.

Also, Fran Drescher's gay, ex-husband (now companion?), Peter Marc Jacobson, played a steward in a couple episodes. How appropriate! .. He was credited as "Peter Marc" back then.

Wasn't John James gay?

Apparently not, R90. Just campy.

John James was in that awful MY SON HUNTER. Is he a MAGAT?

(r61) Gordon had a gorgeous body and was wild in bed when we slept together in 1991. Met him at a West Hollywood party and took him home. A very memorable night.

THE MOLDAVIAN MASSACRE!!! Still haven't gotten over it.

I was much more of a Dallas fan. Dynasty was just too faggy for me.

Which is why we loved it, Mr. Butch at R95.

Nah. I was more into Knotts Landing. KL had a lot of heart throughout the entire run. Donna Mills was a fabulous villain who did horrendous things but was still strangely likeable. All of the characters were much more human than the mannequins on Dynasty and the actors were far superior. Julie Harris wouldn't have been caught dead on Dynasty.

[quote]I was much more of a Dallas fan. Dynasty was just too faggy for me.

Fuck off, Damon.

It was all about thick mascara and lustrous eyeshadow.

[quote]John James was in that awful MY SON HUNTER. Is he a MAGAT?

Yes, he is. Jack Coleman, however, is a Never Trumper.

Helmut Berger was stunningly beautiful in DYNASTY. He only appeared in 9 episodes, and he hated doing everyone. He admitted back then he was paid 'a lot of money' to guest star on the show.

Helmut and Joan were old friends - I believe there were orgies involved.

Dynasty's Gay Journey - Killer Dads, Shoulderpads, and the Kiss that Rocked Hollywood.

Dynasty was a great big hit among many demographics of television viewers. It was a great show.

And we didn't have million alternatives and dozens of streaming services.

[quote] Nope, didn’t get into evening soaps until i got into my forties.

Tell us how Peyton Place when first-run.

[quote] Helmut Berger was stunningly beautiful.... and he hated doing everyone.

He was a whore, darling.

No. I liked early Dallas, but lost patience.

The original Peyton Place was, I believe, on 2 or 3 nights a week. It was scandalous with a great looking cast and good acting. I do remember Lee Grant being head and shoulders above the rest. I think she was still getting her career back on track after the blacklist.

[quote]The original Peyton Place was, I believe, on 2 or 3 nights a week.

"Peyton Place" originally aired twice a week. It was an immediate success. At its height, it was broadcast three times a week, but cut back to twice a week when the ratings started to fall.

Lee Grant won an Emmy for her role as Stella Chernak.

Well fuck her, I played the shit out of Stella in Return to Peyton Place! Do you think that Pinko Commie bitch would do scenes with a real god damn Doberman?!

America couldn't get enough of "Rodney, Alison, Norman, and Betty. They were on all the TV magazines non-stop. O'Neal, Connelly, and Parkins had done some episodic work, but they were basically unknowns; and this was especially the case with Mia Farrow. Talk about making a splash. First ,she started seeing Frank Sinatra, then she chopped off her hair with no notice. You'd have thought an atomic bomb had been dropped on the country...lol.

I watched Dynasty with my mother when I was a gayling. She used to call Dex Dexter 'Sex Dex'

Yes. Unashamedly so until about halfway through season four (early Oxenberg) Thought losing James Farentino in '82 might impact it gravely. How wrong i was, though he was a huge part of season two, which was my favorite, before Alexis became a total cartoon. And to parrot above, Stephanie Beacham was the only saving grace by the end.

Did Nader have HIV?

Catherine Oxenberg is a terrible actress, just terrible.

R114 Yes. His daughter, Lindsay Nader, posted a tribute to her father on IG after his death (at link). The entire message is still there, but here are two parts of it:

[quote] My father, Michael Nader, passed away on Monday 8/23. He was diagnosed with an untreatable form of liver cancer on 8/13 and was given a 2 week to 2 month window to live. After diagnosed he slipped away very quickly and was only with us for 10 more days.

.....

[quote] I’ve actually been waiting my entire life to share something about him…it’s tragic that cancer was what ended up taking him because he’s one of the longest known survivors of HIV. He contracted the virus before I was born and by some miracle I was conceived without infection. He found out later he was positive and didn’t tell me until I was 16.

Heartbreaking R115.

[quote]Catherine Oxenberg is a terrible actress, just terrible.

And yet her brief replacement made her look like Judi Dench.

The producers of Dynasty should have just used mannequin stand-ins for all those replacement children. They sure did get worse as time went on, along with the writing. I assumed everyone on set was high on crack and didn't notice the decline into shit TV.

No. I preferred Knots Landing and Falcon Crest.

R118 I think the producers just assumed if they had the big three ie John, Joan and Linda no one would care or notice. I didn’t mind Coleman, but Samms and Cellini were just horrible. (Samms improved the last season, but not enough to make anyone forget Pamela Sue.) All the cast were aware of how bad the writing was post Moldavia, but they just cashed their checks and went along. The last season was decent. The writing improved and they decided to use Alexis less and focus on the other characters more. But no one was watching at this point. Dynasty really just collapsed under the weight of its own excess and should’ve ended sooner than it did.

[quote]The writing improved and they decided to use Alexis less and focus on the other characters more

I think that was a money thing. Salaries are always the killer so they cut back Collins' episodes.

I remember all the big fuss over it when it originally aired. I was in the hospital having my appendix out at age 9 and caught the episode when Blake kills Steven’s ex and I thought it was good.

But never really watched it until Season 2 came out on DVD. And I loved it until about Season 7. I even thought Season 6 was better than 5 but Alexis and Dex bored me.

R121 true. They pretty much killed two birds with one stone. Collins and Evans salaries when Evans left plus it let the show breathe more focusing on the younger cast.

Yes - I think some of you above hit the nail on the head - it was more than just a show. Let's face it - "Dallas" had massive ratings too - and that was about an oil family also. So it wasn't exactly original.

But Dallas never had glamour. Southfork ranch looked nice, but not necessarily enviable. Whereas the mansion intro on the show was something to dream about.

Then you have the clothes and the hair - the fashion was a major part of the appeal. Second, it had really strong female characters - Dallas did not.

Yes, it was campy - but they tapped into something more than that - it resembled the 80's - fashion, money, shoulder pads (!), fights, etc.

I disagree about the female characters. Krystle and Alexis were very poorly written one was good, one was scheming. Krystle was better written in the more complex first season but that was it. Miss Ellie and Sue Ellen were well-written.

R125 - I'm not talking about quality of writing. I agree with you. But that's where the camp came in for Dynasty - they made a female villain vs. a blonde 'good girl' 2nd wife tension. And then there were the women physical fights - that shit was GOLD! Dallas wouldn't stoop to that.

Imagine Miss Ellie pulling off someone's wig or pushing them into a pool? Never.

Plus you got a devoted gay following with this being one of the first shows (not the first show) to have gay characters. They knew women and gay men were the prime audience for soap opera drama like this. It was smart.

Dallas was always a bit too male-focused and the setting of Texas and a ranch just isn't that relatable or even desirable for most Americans.

I always saw that zoom in on the Southfork ranch and thought - damn, that shit is flat and in the middle of NOWHERE. It didn't scream wealth or privilege - just a large farm house IMO.

I don't think women in Dynasty were written as strong. Alexis was strong, although she was only strong with stereotypical female attributes, sex and scheming. Krystal was only strong half the time. Fallon started strong and turned a 180 when she turned into the resident victim on the Colbys. The other females on Dynasty were just plot devices. Dallas was marginal better in crafting strong women. Falcon Crest and even more so Knots Landing did much better in this regard.

[quote]Plus you got a devoted gay following with this being one of the first shows (not the first show) to have gay characters.

I think the gay following came less from the gay characters -- let's face it, Steven was mostly a bore -- and much more from the high-camp drag-queen fabulousness of Joan Collins as Alexis.

What was the story with Terri Garber? Someone at ABC must have liked her: Dynasty, the North & South miniseries, the cover of TV Guide, then she sank like a stone, never to rise again. Why?

R128 - yeah - probably true. They missed out on making Alexis also a drug addict or alcoholic - that would have been iconic.

I was around for the original run, and I will occasionally turn to it on PLUTO and it still holds true that Joan Collins was hands down the MVP. She had the right vibe from day one.

Alexis was more fun when living in her studio.

The original Southfork had stateliness but the owner tired of the disruption after the miniseries shoot and then it burned down anyway.

R129 she may have been under contract with Spelling, who produced N&S also. Stephanie Beacham was obligated to join Dynasty because of this. I barely remember Garber on the show, so it’s no surprise that nothing happened with her career. That’s how much of an impression she made, unlike Beacham who played Sable to the hilt.

I think Alexis was well written in her first full season.... vengeful for all that had been done with her... enthusiastically badly behaved, witty. The character felt new on television (when it probably wasn't.). Krystle, in the first season, had almost total disregard for Carrington's wealth. The characters were well drawn. Everything went to pot when they embraced camp and new creative teams came in. But, for a long time, that's when the ratings went through the roof.

I didn't start watching it until I got into Knots Landing viewing party with friends in the late 80's. Dynasty came on right before on ABC so we usually watched that as a warm-up.

[quote]And yet her brief replacement made her look like Judi Dench.

Poor creature was discovered at Hard Rock Cafe; after her character was written out, she went right back there. I think she has a web page...

R136, that’s funny about the timing/scheduling. I had never seen LA Law until a few years ago because it aired opposite Knots Landing.

I saw Cellini's LinkedIn page; she obviously got over being canned from the shitshow that was DYNASTY'S final moments.

[126] Was there ever a wig scene on Dynasty?

[[126]] [[140]]

I remember Dynasty being a big bore until Alexis showed up in the 2nd season. Soft-spoken Krystle was a weak-willed nanny. The Blaisdels were uninteresting, and the Joseph and Kirby storyline--zzzzzz. I only watched because the Stephen storyline intrigued little gayling me, and our tv viewing options were limited. I think Dynasty was up against Shannon and Quincy.

Steven and Luke gay storyline in Dynasty:

[quote] Dallas was always a bit too male-focused and the setting of Texas and a ranch just isn't that relatable or even desirable for most Americans.

Oh, but it did. Dallas was on the vanguard of a whole country-western vibe that hit the U.S. in the early 80s. Not to mention that "Who Shot J.R.?" was inescapable for that long summer break (a Hollywood strike delayed everything). It drew 83 million viewers, or roughly one in three people watched the reveal episode. I was in Europe that summer, and it was second only to Diana in terms of magazine covers. Dallas resurrected the nighttime soap opera genre which was last popular some 15 years earlier with Peyton Place, spawning countless imitations including Dynasty itself ("Oil" indeed). Lastly, Dallas pretty much invented soap opera merch with Dallas board games, playing cards and clothes. That's something Peyton Place apparently never thought of, and something that Dynasty copied as well.

Dallas reinvented the cliffhanger. Dynasty the long lost, vengeful first wife.

(sigh) "What do you want now, Sybil?"

(purring) "It's SABLE, dahling ... "

[quote]Soft-spoken Krystle was a weak-willed [bold]ninny[/bold]

Correcting my post at R142

R144, Dark Shadows did thd board game in 1969, so though Dallas did lots of firsts, that wasn't one of them.

[quote]Alexis was more fun when living in her studio.

She certainly had a different look from the drag-queen ensembles she would soon be wearing. She looked very Bohemian when she was in the studio, with her long hair and peasant blouses, like the struggling artist she was supposed to have been.

R148, the As the World Turns board game was introduced in 1966.

R144 - good point. Dallas definitely fit into that whole Western scene - Urban Cowboy, Kenny Rogers and other country hits that crossed over in a huge way.

No denying it - Dallas was a massive massive hit. But I still think it wasn't as glamorous and enviable living as Dynasty.

Then Dallas had that stupid double-whammy of Mary Crosby shooting JR and then having Bobbie come back and that it was only a 'dream'. That was weird.

[quote] the As the World Turns board game was introduced in 1966.

That must have been action-packed.

What “Dallas” lacked in glamor, it made up for in solid storytelling.

[quote] What “Dallas” lacked in glamor, it made up for in solid storytelling.

Well, except for a whole season wiped out by a not-so-solid dream retcon.

How did Michael Nader get HIV? Did he catch it from Rock Hudson? Was he sleeping around with men? How come his baby mama didn’t get it from him?

I think he used to shoot up…

Sure, we all did!!

[quote]Well, except for a whole season wiped out by a not-so-solid dream retcon.

I never thought there was a good way out of that one. He was so dead until he wasn't.

I liked "Dynasty" more when it wasn't on.

R151 what was wrong with Crosby shooting him? I thought she was a good choice. She had many reasons to shoot him since JR fucked her over so much. It was never going to a major character like Sue Ellen or Miss Ellie that shot him.

R160 I agree about Crosby's character being the shooter. Plus, she even looked nuts enough to be the culprit.

It was yeeeeeeeeeew, Kristin, who shot JR!

Besides, J.R. had his revenge in the following year's cliffhanger...

Die nasty

r36

sorry if I missed it in this thread but Adam did come up in the season 2 ep where Blake confronts Alexis about Krystal's miscarriage. Alexis says something about knowing that she knows what it's like to lose a children and she says Blake never let her speak about Adam

No, I didn't like it and rarely watched it. It was such a cultural phenomenon though that I did try to catch it from time to time.

No, it was shit. And I don't have much of a taste for camp nor bitchy women nor men who.look like Ken dolls.

The one good scene were the opening exterior shots of Filoli House, even if it looks nothing like a house that might be in Colorado. The interior sets (not Filoli) were bad.

Nah. I was a Knott's Landing gayling.