Dynasty, like Dallas, Knots Landing, and Falcon Crest, was one of the quintessential eighties guilty pleasure shows. You didn't watch them for great acting or smart writing. It was the drama, intrigue, cat fighting, and endless bed-hopping that kept audiences coming back for more.
Created by Richard and Esther Shapiro, Dynasty revolved around the Carringtons, a wealthy oil family living in Denver, Colorado. When the series premiered on January 12, 1981 on ABC, Blake Carrington (John Forsythe) was preparing to marry the younger Krystle Jennings (Linda Evans). Krystle was beautiful, but lacked the cultured upbringing that many in the Carrington household thought any wife of Blake should possess. The couple met when she took a job as a secretary at his large company, Denver-Carrington. Blake's daughter Fallon (Pamela Sue Martin) resented her and the household staff was openly patronizing. The only support she received was from Blake's homosexual son Steven (Al Corley), who felt adrift in the family despite his position as heir to his father's position.
While Dynasty ended its first season a respectable #19 in the Neilsen ratings, it was no indication of the phenomenon the show would later become. In what turned out to be one of the best casting coups in modern television history, British actress Joan Collins joined the series as Blake Carrington's first wife, Alexis. Collins' white-hot portrayal of Alexis blazed a trail across the nighttime soap opera landscape that hadn't been seen before. Alexis had unbridled sex appeal, possessed an understanding of the wealthy lifestyle that Krystle didn't, and she was the mother of Blake's children. The legendary rivalry between Krystle and Alexis was born.
Aside from the arrival of Joan Collins, when discussing the Dynasty phenomenon it's important not to forget the addition of writers Eileen and Robert Mason Pollock. The team that brought daytime soap opera The Doctors its highest ratings in the 1970s, they are widely credited with turning Dynasty from an also-ran into a phenomenon. According to The Soap Opera Encyclopedia, the Pollocks "soft-pedaled the business angle" of the show and "bombarded viewers with every soap opera staple in the book, presented at such a fast clip that a new tragedy seemed to befall the Carrington family every five minutes."
Certainly the Pollocks took everything they knew about writing for soap operas and transferred it to a nighttime forum. Given the late time slot, the writers were free to add more bed-hopping, fighting, and over-the-top dramatics to the pot and stir it all up. By Dynasty's third season in 1983-1984 the series was #3 in the ratings and by the next season the series would hit #1 in the Neilsen ratings.
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