Wow, what a shocking season finale guaranteed to bring us fans back in the fall. The spirit of the old 1930's cliffhangers was effectively coopted by the primetime soaps.
And speaking of the 1930s, what a treat to hear Diahann Carroll open the show singing the 1931 jazz standard "I'm Through with Love." I'm glad the producers gave Carroll's singing talents a stage in addition to her acting abilities. This was only her second appearance, and already she's proving a formidable presence. Dominique keeps her cards close to the vest, and we'll have to wait until fall for her to slap down the trump card. Her verbal volleys with Alexis are great fun and I'm already enthralled by her character and inhaling deeply the fresh air she's brought to the show.
The shakiest gun in Denver? I don't think even Don Knotts' gun shook, rattled, and rolled as much as Kirby's in her big (anti)climactic assassination scene with Alexis. Why Alexis would ever agree to meet alone with the unhinged Kirby again was mind boggling. Never one to let a crisis go to waste, Alexis offers not to press charges if Kirby will abandon Adam and return to Paris. But after Alexis picked up the gun and compromised the fingerprints, could she have made stick any charges?
Can't say I am sorry to see Kirby leave the show. I just feel bad that Kathleen Beller's career floundered afterwards. Her 1986-87 series THE BRONX ZOO with Ed Asner looked promising and it's a shame there wasn't a sustaining audience for what appeared to be an updated take on ROOM 222 (with Beller playing the Karen Valentine role).
So was there a crossover audience between DYNASTY and T. J. HOOKER? Anyone who followed both shows must have suffered acute cognitive dissonance. Me, I only watched the latter so Heather Locklear was imprinted on my mind and heart as squeaky-clean Stacy Sheridan until DYNASTY disabused me of my youthful naivete. Wow, what a talented actress to play two wildly contrasting roles simultaneously and so well. Of course, now I think of Locklear as that venomous cobra Sammy Jo and dutifully boo and hiss her appearances (though like lucky duck Morgan Hess, must admit she's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen).
I loved how Sammy Jo was always in the right place at the right time to witness the inexorable implosion of Adam and Kirby's ill-fated rape-spawned romance. Sammy Jo is uncouth but calculating. She's a lot like Alexis minus the veneer of class and sophistication. The eighties sure came rushing back last episode with Sammy Jo toting a ghetto blaster through the halls of the mansion and dancing to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" (a fitting anthem indeed!).
Who's That Girl? Like Locklear and Stacy Sheridan, I long thought of Pamela Sue Martin as Nancy Drew. That impression of Martin has of course been superseded after four sordid seasons of DYNASTY. I am sorry to see Martin leave the role, but probably not a fraction as sorry as Martin was. Like Beller, her career sputtered and died within a few years of departing the show.
How did Fallon go from telling Jeff she loves him from the bottom of her heart to going all runaway bride? I seriously think Snoopy atop his doghouse wrote the closing "dark and stormy night" scene with Blake yelling impotently into the deluge followed by Jeff auditioning for a Mile High City revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire." Fallon! Yeah, like she's going to hear that and turn around, right? I groaned when out literally rolled the tiredest of TV tropes: the big machine construction crew that always lets slip past the pursued and then blocks the pursuer. I mean, how many shows have you seen that used that gimmick? But to have a crew out at night during a torrential thunderstorm and presumably on a weekend? That stretched credulity to the breaking point.
Hangin' with Sgt. Cooper. I thought only Columbo waited until the most awkward and embarrassing moment to move in on his suspect? Nope. Here's Sgt. Cooper elbowing his way through the wedding guests to slap the cuffs on Alexis. For once I felt sorry for Alexis because we know she's not guilty of murdering Mark. Didn't it ever come up in all those questionings Alexis complained of that embittered ex-Congressman Neal McVane was suspiciously on the scene? And that he has proven homicidal tendencies?
What, no scene of Alexis being perp walked through the wedding party? Can't have it all, I guess. It was funny seeing Alexis locked up with the fallen women of Denver. It stirred up good memories of that time Archie Bunker got himself tossed in the clink with that kooky collection of hippie protesters. Aw geez.
Just thinking how 1983-84 was a bad season to be a mustachioed man named Mark, as rival soap DALLAS also dispatched offscreen its own character of that name. I will much miss our Mark, Geoffrey Scott, who brought an affable presence and a Magnum vibe to the show.
I won't miss Deborah Adair as crazy-eyed Kendall, however, whose jarringly abrupt departure was apparently due to producer Aaron Spelling reassigning her to his new series FINDER OF LOST LOVES, which itself went missing after a single season. And who remembers Helmut Berger as Peter DeVilbis? Another ill-conceived character and storyline that abruptly ended. I almost forgot about Peter until Andrew Laird mentioned selling Allegre, which brought back the whole horsenapping plot coupled with Fallon's star-crossed infatuation with that cokehead grifter.
Michael Nader as Dex has proven to be the real solid find of the fourth season, with a close second being Diahann Carroll as Dominique, squeaking in and making a big splash just two episodes before the curtain came down. We're not even halfway through the series yet, and in many ways DYNASTY is still building up its head of steam. Can't wait to see what happens next. See ya in Season Five!
And speaking of the 1930s, what a treat to hear Diahann Carroll open the show singing the 1931 jazz standard "I'm Through with Love." I'm glad the producers gave Carroll's singing talents a stage in addition to her acting abilities. This was only her second appearance, and already she's proving a formidable presence. Dominique keeps her cards close to the vest, and we'll have to wait until fall for her to slap down the trump card. Her verbal volleys with Alexis are great fun and I'm already enthralled by her character and inhaling deeply the fresh air she's brought to the show.
The shakiest gun in Denver? I don't think even Don Knotts' gun shook, rattled, and rolled as much as Kirby's in her big (anti)climactic assassination scene with Alexis. Why Alexis would ever agree to meet alone with the unhinged Kirby again was mind boggling. Never one to let a crisis go to waste, Alexis offers not to press charges if Kirby will abandon Adam and return to Paris. But after Alexis picked up the gun and compromised the fingerprints, could she have made stick any charges?
Can't say I am sorry to see Kirby leave the show. I just feel bad that Kathleen Beller's career floundered afterwards. Her 1986-87 series THE BRONX ZOO with Ed Asner looked promising and it's a shame there wasn't a sustaining audience for what appeared to be an updated take on ROOM 222 (with Beller playing the Karen Valentine role).
So was there a crossover audience between DYNASTY and T. J. HOOKER? Anyone who followed both shows must have suffered acute cognitive dissonance. Me, I only watched the latter so Heather Locklear was imprinted on my mind and heart as squeaky-clean Stacy Sheridan until DYNASTY disabused me of my youthful naivete. Wow, what a talented actress to play two wildly contrasting roles simultaneously and so well. Of course, now I think of Locklear as that venomous cobra Sammy Jo and dutifully boo and hiss her appearances (though like lucky duck Morgan Hess, must admit she's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen).
I loved how Sammy Jo was always in the right place at the right time to witness the inexorable implosion of Adam and Kirby's ill-fated rape-spawned romance. Sammy Jo is uncouth but calculating. She's a lot like Alexis minus the veneer of class and sophistication. The eighties sure came rushing back last episode with Sammy Jo toting a ghetto blaster through the halls of the mansion and dancing to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" (a fitting anthem indeed!).
Who's That Girl? Like Locklear and Stacy Sheridan, I long thought of Pamela Sue Martin as Nancy Drew. That impression of Martin has of course been superseded after four sordid seasons of DYNASTY. I am sorry to see Martin leave the role, but probably not a fraction as sorry as Martin was. Like Beller, her career sputtered and died within a few years of departing the show.
How did Fallon go from telling Jeff she loves him from the bottom of her heart to going all runaway bride? I seriously think Snoopy atop his doghouse wrote the closing "dark and stormy night" scene with Blake yelling impotently into the deluge followed by Jeff auditioning for a Mile High City revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire." Fallon! Yeah, like she's going to hear that and turn around, right? I groaned when out literally rolled the tiredest of TV tropes: the big machine construction crew that always lets slip past the pursued and then blocks the pursuer. I mean, how many shows have you seen that used that gimmick? But to have a crew out at night during a torrential thunderstorm and presumably on a weekend? That stretched credulity to the breaking point.
Hangin' with Sgt. Cooper. I thought only Columbo waited until the most awkward and embarrassing moment to move in on his suspect? Nope. Here's Sgt. Cooper elbowing his way through the wedding guests to slap the cuffs on Alexis. For once I felt sorry for Alexis because we know she's not guilty of murdering Mark. Didn't it ever come up in all those questionings Alexis complained of that embittered ex-Congressman Neal McVane was suspiciously on the scene? And that he has proven homicidal tendencies?
What, no scene of Alexis being perp walked through the wedding party? Can't have it all, I guess. It was funny seeing Alexis locked up with the fallen women of Denver. It stirred up good memories of that time Archie Bunker got himself tossed in the clink with that kooky collection of hippie protesters. Aw geez.
Just thinking how 1983-84 was a bad season to be a mustachioed man named Mark, as rival soap DALLAS also dispatched offscreen its own character of that name. I will much miss our Mark, Geoffrey Scott, who brought an affable presence and a Magnum vibe to the show.
I won't miss Deborah Adair as crazy-eyed Kendall, however, whose jarringly abrupt departure was apparently due to producer Aaron Spelling reassigning her to his new series FINDER OF LOST LOVES, which itself went missing after a single season. And who remembers Helmut Berger as Peter DeVilbis? Another ill-conceived character and storyline that abruptly ended. I almost forgot about Peter until Andrew Laird mentioned selling Allegre, which brought back the whole horsenapping plot coupled with Fallon's star-crossed infatuation with that cokehead grifter.
Michael Nader as Dex has proven to be the real solid find of the fourth season, with a close second being Diahann Carroll as Dominique, squeaking in and making a big splash just two episodes before the curtain came down. We're not even halfway through the series yet, and in many ways DYNASTY is still building up its head of steam. Can't wait to see what happens next. See ya in Season Five!
