Dynasty is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981 to May 1989. The series, created by Richard & Esther Shapiroand produced by Aaron Spelling, revolved around the Carringtons, a wealthy oil family living in Denver, Colorado.[2] Starring John Forsythe, Linda Evans and Joan Collins as oil magnate Blake Carrington, his new wife Krystle, and his former wife Alexis. Dynasty was ABC's competitor to CBS's prime time series Dallas.[2][3]
Ratings for the show's first season were unremarkable, but the second-season arrival of Joan Collins as Blake's scheming first wife Alexis heralded Dynasty's rise into the Top 20.[4][5] By the fall of 1982, it was a top ten show and by 1985, it was the #1 series on American television.[4][6] Dynasty was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best TV Drama Series every year from 1981 to 1986, winning in 1984.[7] Dynasty spawned a successful line of fashion and luxury products, and also a spin-off series called The Colbys. Dynasty dropped from #7 to #24 during the 1986-87 season,[4] and was ultimately canceled in May 1989 after a nine-season run.[8] A two-part mini-series, Dynasty: The Reunion, aired in October 1991.
The catfights
Over the run of the series, the rivalry between Alexis and Krystle is a primary driver for the melodrama. Alexis resents Krystle's supplanting of her position as mistress of the Carrington household and tries to undermine her at every opportunity, while Krystle makes increasingly bold efforts to keep Alexis from interfering in the lives of their mutual loved ones. The pair have numerous verbal spats, accented by slaps across the face, but on more than one occasion they have physical altercations. "Unfortunately, the thing people remember about this show is the
catfights," noted Collins in 1991.
[8] Krystle and Alexis famously brawl in Alexis' cottage
[19] and later in a lily pond,
[20] hurl mud at each other at a beauty salon,
[2] and slide down a ravine together into a puddle of mud
[21] before their final showdown in a fashion studio in the 1991
miniseries Dynasty: The Reunion.
[8] In 2008
Entertainment Weekly termed Alexis and Krystle's catfights "the gold standard of scratching and clawing."
[22]Later in the series Alexis battles Blake's half-sister
Dominique Deveraux (
Diahann Carroll)
[23] and her own cousin
Sable Colby (
Stephanie Beacham);
[24] Heather Locklear's
Sammy Jo has catfights with both
Amanda (
Catherine Oxenberg) in a swimming pool
[25] and
Fallon (
Emma Samms) in a horse trough and the mud around it
[26], as well as a slapping match with
Claudia (
Pamela Bellwood). Evans even battles with herself at the climax of a 1985–1986 storyline in which Krystle is imprisoned and replaced by a lookalike, also played by Evans.
[27]