Dynasty

Dynasty premiered in the fall of 2017 on the CW for 5 seasons and had 108 episodes. Dynasty was a modern reboot of the original soap Dynasty that aired in the 80s. The only thing this version had in common with the other was really in name only. Some of the characters had the same names but they were completely different than the ones on the original show. The CW has had mixed results when they have done modern versions of older shows. Roswell, New Mexico found some success while Melrose Place only lasted one season. 90210 lasted for five seasons, however that one was more of a spin-off than reboot given some of the original characters appeared on the show. The CW’s Dynasty never was a ratings hit, but it came out at a time when the CW gave shows a chance. Also, Dynasty did better once it was on streaming, which happened for a lot of the CW shows. Dynasty ended the same year that Legacies, Roswell, New Mexico, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and Batwoman were all axed along with other shows. In Dynasty’s case there was time for it to craft a series finale. However, it was admitted there were plans for a season 6. The producers wanted to keep the show going for a little bit longer.

MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW

Dynasty starred Elizabeth Gillies as Fallon Carrington, Grant Show as Blake Carrington, Daniella Alonso as Crystal Carrington, Robert C. Riley as Michael Culhane, Sam Adegoke as Jeff Colby, Rafael de la Fuente as Sam Jones, Maddison Brown as Kirby Anders, Sam Underwood as Adam Carrington, Adam Huber as Liam Ridley, Eliza Bennett as Amanda Carrington, Michael Michele as Dominique Deveraux, and Elaine Hendrix as Alexis Carrington. As with many soap operas, there were cast shakeups. For starters, the show lasted 5 seasons and had three Crystals. Season 1 starred Nathalie Kelley as Crystal, Blake’s new wife. By the start of season 2, it was revealed that Crystal was really Crystal Flores and she had swapped names with the real Crystal Jennings who was played by Ana Brenda Contreras. The real Crystal showed up after hearing that Crystal Flores died. The real Crystal married Blake and became Crystal Carrington. By Season 3 Danielle Alonso took over the role as Crystal Carrington and remained on the show for the rest of its run. There was no explanation why there was another actor change. The show just went with it. Halfway through season 1 Alexis Carrington, Blake’s ex-wife and the mother of his children joined the show. Nicolette Sheridan played the role. She got promoted as a series regular in season 2. Halfway through season 2 Nicollette Sherridan left the show. Adam Carrington, the newly discovered son of Blake and Alexis who went missing as a child, reentered their lives and burned Alexis alive. She was in the hospital for the rest of the season with severe burns. For an episode Elizabeth Gillies played the role after getting a botched surgery where Alexis looked like her daughter Fallon. Alexis went off to Europe to get new surgery. In Season 3, Alexis returned with a new face played by Elaine Hendrix who remained in the role for the rest of the series. Another big shakeup was the show started off with siblings Fallon Carrington and Stephen Carrington played by James Mackay. Stephen was a huge part of the series, and he dated fake Crystal’s (Nathalie Kelly) nephew Sam. They got engaged and then got married. In the first part of season 2, Stephen was written off the show. Stephen left Sam and his family to go find himself. Part of the season was spent wondering when Stephen would return home. Stephen was officially written off when he was made to seem he was mentally unstable. He checked himself into an institution to get help and learned he was tricked by his friend who revealed himself to be Adam, the long-lost brother of Stephen and Fallon. Adam left Stephen in the institution while he went on to live with the Carrington’s. That plotline was eventually resolved in the series finale when Stephen finally returned and confronted Adam about what he had done. Alan Dale starred as Joseph Anders for four seasons. He worked for Blake’s family for years. In true Alan Dale fashion, Anders was killed off halfway through season 4. Alan Dale has a tendency to play characters who die as seen in The O.C. and Ugly Betty.

Dynasty had a lot of crazy plots throughout its run. It was fun and over the top. It was like a modern Melrose Place. It was a little toned down compared to some of the antics Melrose Place had. No one blew up the Carrington manor. However, there was a fire. There were multiple kidnappings. Tons of fistfights and catfights. There were affairs and wicked in-laws and a fair amount of deaths. One thing that kept the show grounded was the characters. When looking at the full run of the show, there was character growth for a handful of them. Michael Culhane started off as the driver for the Carringtons. He was secretly dating Fallon and then they got engaged. The engagement ended and they wound up with other people. Michael had different job ventures. The feud between Blake Carrington and Jeff Colby started to soften up by the end. Jeff’s mother Dominique was revealed to be a sister of Blake’s making the Carringtons and Colbys family. Adam was the unstable one, but he even grew up a little bit. It would have been interesting if the show had continued what they would have done with Adam. It was suggested that Stephen came back partly because it was the series finale. If the show was continuing it sounds like Stephen would have remained absent and Adam would have stayed around.  Adam was a long-lost brother to Fallon and Stephen. He was kidnapped as a child. A few seasons later Alexis revealed she never had an abortion when she was pregnant and gave that baby up for adoption. Amanda Carrington was a long-lost sister who clashed with Adam. Dynasty kept adding long lost siblings while barely acknowledging Stephen. Once Stephen left the show, there were few and far between references to Fallon having a brother.

Dynasty had a satisfying ending. I feel the show still had some life left in it. The original Dynasty lasted 9 seasons. I think the CW Dynasty could have lasted that long. I could have seen Dynasty at least make it to 8 seasons. It would have been interesting to see what else Dynasty would have done if it continued. Maybe at some point Stephen would have been brought back on the show as a main character without it being the end of the series.