Trivia / Dynasty (1981)

• Actor Leaves, Character Dies: Joseph Anders was killed off when Lee Bergere asked for more screen-time.
• Cast the Runner-Up:
  • John James (Jeff) originally tested for the role of Steven.
  • Pamela Sue Martin (the first Fallon) wanted to play the role of Krystle, but was turned down for being too young.
• Creator Backlash:
  • In an "Archive of American Television" interview John Forsythe said that the first couple of seasons were good. He said they were relevant and they had "punch". He said by the last season, though, most of the shows were bad.
  • Al Corley, Steven's original actor, left the show in season 2 partially because he disliked how the character was written (namely because he felt the character lacked a sense of humor and didn't "have any fun", while also criticizing the show's inconsistencies at portraying Steven's homosexuality). He would return for the 1991 miniseries, though.
  • Joan Collins detested her character's exit at the end of season 9 (where Alexis and Dex fall off a balcony and their fates are left unknown) to the point where she announced that she wouldn't return for the following season. Of course, the show was cancelled before that happened. Like Corley, she returned for the miniseries two years later, but later admitted she found it poorly written.
  • In the 2006 reunion special, Linda Evans openly admitted she felt the writers had no idea what to do with the characters after season five. She especially hated the Rita “Krystle look-a-like” subplot.
  • The Moldavian Massacre finale of season 5 also had mixed reactions in hindsight from the cast and crew. Gordon Thomson (Adam) thought the follow-up, but not the massacre itself, was a letdown. John James (Jeff) believed this was the moment the show "maxed out on outrageness". Series creator Esther Shapiro believed that the finale was "well-produced" but they could've done something else.
  • Helmut Berger (Peter di Vilbis) had stated that he disliked working on the show.
• Dueling Shows: With Dallas. These two were the biggest American soaps of the 1980s.
• Follow the Leader: Deconstructed: while clearly inspired by Dallas (and Alexis clearly being their attempt to create a JR-type character) the show did managed to find its niche with strong female characters and featuring a gay main character. Ironically, as Dynasty leapfrogged over Dallas in the ratings, Dallas (having lost its main show runner) tried to ape Dynasty with an Alexis-type villain and casting Donna Reed as the new Miss Ellie.
• Hide Your Pregnancy: The producers tried to conceal Pamela Bellwood (Claudia)'s real-life pregnancy in season 6 as it was not written into the script, but it was sometimes apparent on-screen that she was pregnant. Pamela also missed five episodes in mid season 6 when she had her baby.
• Hostility on the Set:
  • Joan Collins and John Forsythe didn't get along, which added a lot to their characters' volatile relationship. Collins has stated that Forsythe was a misogynist and hated the fact that an English woman practically stole the show. Ironically, she got on fine with Linda Evans and Diahann Carroll.
  • As stated in The Other Marty below, George Peppard was the original Blake Carrington, but producers found him so difficult to work with that he was replaced with John Forsythe. He would eventually end up starring on another popular 80s show and also dealt with similar issues there as well.
• Irony as She Is Cast: A retroactive example. Both the actors who played the gay Steven, Al Corley and Jack Coleman, were straight in real life. Meanwhile, Steven’s homophobic brother Adam was portrayed by Gordon Thomson, who came out as gay in 2017.
• Money, Dear Boy: Ali MacGraw admitted that she appeared on the show for this reason, as did Helmut Berger.
• The Other Darrin: All the Carrington children were eventually re-cast.
  • Al Corley left after the second season after taking issue with the network's decree that Steven's homosexuality be downplayed, and the part was re-cast the following season with Jack Coleman (after the character was in an oil rig explosion and required plastic surgery, explaining his new face). In a rare reversal, Jack Coleman was not available to do the 1991 reunion movie, and the role was re-assumed by Al Corley (even more ironic considering Steven had been the only child to have his "new" appearance explained in-universe).
  • Pamela Sue Martin left after the fourth season, with Emma Samms assuming the role of Fallon the following year. Samms also played Fallon on the Dynasty spinoff, The Colbys.
  • Catherine Oxenberg, who joined as Amanda in the fifth season, left after the sixth season due to a contract dispute, with Karen Cellini taking over for her the next year. This re-casting was not accepted with audiences and the Amanda character was dropped after 13 episodes in season 7, never to be seen again.
  • Gordon Thomson joined the cast as Adam in season 3 and remained with the show until the end. However, he was unavailable for the reunion movie two years later, and Robin Sachs replaced him. Joan Collins has said that she felt Sachs was miscast, and felt very sorry Gordon couldn't return.
• The Other Marty: George Peppard played Blake Carrington, but he was hard to work with and replaced by John Forsythe a few weeks into shooting the pilot. Peppard did, however, make one real contribution to the series - it had been his suggestion that the producers hire Bill Conti to score the pilot, because Conti had scored Five Days From Home (Peppard's only film as a director) and the two had become good friends. Result: one awesome theme tune.
• Queer Character, Queer Actor: Kevin Conroy plays Steven's love interest Bart Fallmont, although Conroy didn't come out as gay until over 30 years later.
• The Red Stapler: "Krystle" (in a myriad of invented spellings), "Alexis" and "Fallon" became popular girls' names in the 80's.
• Referenced by...: Animaniacs (2020) referenced the show and its 2017 reboot during their song about reboots.
  • The Prince song "Kiss" also references the original series:
    You don't have to watch Dynasty to have an attitude
• Romance on the Set: George Hamilton was romantically involved with Catherine Oxenberg during his stint on the show.
• Star-Making Role: For Heather Locklear.
• Wag the Director:
  • Joan Collins told writers not to make Alexis too evil because it would alienate viewers.
  • The original plans for the second part of season 7 was that Blake would develop amnesia and fall in love with Alexis. However, this was changed because John Forsythe routinely vetoed any storyline involving adultery.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Originally, the two main families (the Carringtons and the Colbys) were called the Parkhurst and Corby families, respectively.
  • Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, Jessica Walter and Raquel Welch were all considered for Alexis Carrington. Welch was also considered for Lady Ashley Marshall.
  • Richard Chamberlain was offered the role of Daniel Reece. He declined and Rock Hudson took the role instead.
  • Elizabeth Montgomery was a front runner for the role of Krystle before Linda Evans entered the picture. As was Angie Dickinson, who turned it down because she didn’t think the show would last past a season and she didn’t like the Krystle character, believing her to be weak.
  • The original plans after the infamous Moldavian Massacre were for King Galen to propose Alexis to marry him and become Queen of Moldavia. Alexis would have refused the proposal, however a dream sequence of the wedding had been shot. Because the viewer response to the entire Moldavian storyline was highly unfavorable, several scenes of three episodes were replaced by new scenes, including the royal wedding dream sequence.
  • Alexis was originally intended to be a lowkey antagonist who specialized in Passive Aggressive Combat. Joan Collins, however, though they should write Alexis as a J.R. Ewing-esque villainess. This worked to the show’s advantage.
  • Other ideas for the true identity of Dominique Devereaux that were considered by the writers included Cecil Colby's real widow and Kirby Ander's long-lost mother.
  • Diahann Carroll had planned to make some cameos during the show's eighth season, but it never happened because of budget problems. It was also rumored that she would have rejoined the cast during the tenth season, but the show was taken off the air after the ninth season.
  • Melissa Sue Anderson was considered for the role of Kirby Anders.
  • Wayne Rogers was considered for the role of Mark Jennings.
  • Apparently, there were plans for a crossover between Dynasty and Dallas late in both shows’ runs as a Ratings Stunt. It did not come to fruition.
• Working Title: Oil.

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