Peter De Vilbis appreciation thread (zero trollerance)

[Willie Oleson]

So, for the True Fans, here's the thread to discuss the very underrated and usually intentionally misspelled Peter De Vilbis - and everything that shoulda/coulda happened.

Or maybe you liked everything exactly the way it was? That's another possibility!

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

"Zero tolerance/trollerance" ?? Has ClassyCo hacked into your account??

 

[tommie]

https://theeyeoffaith.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/e-o-f-style-idol-helmut-berger-the-eye-of-faith-vintage-style-blog-f***-you.jpg?w=658&h=438

 

[Willie Oleson]

I think this thread is all about tolerance, and at the same time it isn't because Mr De Vilbis was so….inappropriate. Exactly what Dynasty needed at that time: a sleaze-injection (or snort it!)

 

[Michael Torrance]

I think the perfect storyline includes Peter De Vilbis and Joel Abrigore having joined forces to have Rita kidnap Kristina and Allegre (because Krystle can't decide which means more to her), only to have the child need a heart transplant and then Sarah Curtis, a mere maid in Joel's mansion, is forced to give her daughter's heart. But of course the heart transplant will not go through while Sean Rowan has anything to say about it, including a whole menu of horse delicacies.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I think this thread is all about tolerance, and at the same time it isn't because Mr De Vilbis was so….inappropriate. Exactly what Dynasty needed at that time: a sleaze-injection (or snort it!)

Yes and no and maybe and of course.

Had DYNASTY been correctly produced, Mr Berger's casting would have been the perfect slice of Eurotrash (is that like the N-word on the continent, or does nobody care?) to be introduced during Season 4 -- the year the show strove for additional sophisticated but mostly failed.

And because it failed, Berger's casting simply seems like yet another tone-deaf error.

So it's weird.

 

[Michael Torrance]

Eurotrash (is that like the N-word on the continent, or does nobody care?)

We kinda think it is a cute way of Americans trying to insult us. Like when a four year old insists they may be taller than you.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

We kinda think it is a cute way of Americans trying to insult us. Like when a four year old insists they may be taller than you.

So it's an American phrase?

 

[Michael Torrance]

So it's an American phrase?

yeah, it was coined and popularized in the US

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurotrash_(term)

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

yeah, it was coined and popularized in the US

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurotrash_(term)

Oh. I'd heard Europeans use it, so I didn't know.

 

[Michael Torrance]

during Season 4 -- the year the show strove for additional sophisticated but mostly failed.

It did, didn't it? Tracy's title card has the Denver mall, Jeff and Fallon ski in Aspen and there are external shots of night skiing, and of course the Carousel ball. Plus John Saxon is wearing a towel and shows up in fake Hong Kong. It's funny that Spelling would do anything to make the show look lavish other than actually spend money on it.

 

[James from London]

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

It did, didn't it? Tracy's title card has the Denver mall, Jeff and Fallon ski in Aspen and there are external shots of night skiing, and of course the Carousel ball. Plus John Saxon is wearing a towel and shows up in fake Hong Kong. It's funny that Spelling would do anything to make the show look lavish other than actually spend money on it.

Organically, you can just feel S4 wanting to go that way, but they just couldn't keep it up, as it were. (The very first episode of S4 was incredibly sleek and polished in terms of execution, so I had high hopes that the show was about to correct the flaws of S3, but it just didn't last... not that that has much to do with sophistication per se, except perhaps in terms of sophistication of production).

 

[Toni]

The best thing I can say about him is that his secret personality was (a bit) more interesting...
​

 

[Willie Oleson]

(is that like the N-word on the continent, or does nobody care?)

I think it sounds cute.

And because it failed, Berger's casting simply seems like yet another tone-deaf error.

He was miserably underused, I agree with that, but that doesn't make him a miscast. Peter should have euro-trashed Fallon, but the writers disagreed with their own ideas.
I wanted him in the Carrington mansion, spending Fallon's money, barking orders at the staff, snorting coke, walking around in his underwear - everything the worst of the worst.
Come to think of it, kinda like Charley St. James.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

He was miserably underused, I agree with that, but that doesn't make him a miscast. Peter should have euro-trashed Fallon, but the writers disagreed with their own ideas.
I wanted him in the Carrington mansion, spending Fallon's money, barking orders at the staff, snorting coke, walking around in his underwear - everything the worst of the worst.
Come to think of it, kinda like Charley St. James.

As I say, his casting would have been perfect -- for all the reasons you state -- had the show not been in such creative disarray. But because it was, it just seems like another f***-up.

 

[Willie Oleson]

had the show not been in such creative disarray

You call it disarray, I think it was polished, American-clean eightiesness. Peter De Vilbis was ready for Dynasty, but Dynasty didn't want to get dirty anymore.
Bitchy - yes. Horrible events - yes. But after season 3 there is no longer a sense of risk, no longer that lush, seducing decadence.
Of course I like the other seasons too, Dynasty continued to entertain. But it's mostly a lot of bizarre events.

When I say "dirty" I don't mean vile, it's a prime time soap so I wouldn't expect something like Nip/Tuck.
But I think Peter could have upset those clean, 80s Carringtons a little bit more. Who cares about that horse anyway.

This was not exactly a challenge.

But that doesn't change the fact that they had him, they knew what they were doing.
It's like buying a great record and then not play it because the needle may (and will) damage the surface. That's 80s Dynasty.

 

[Toni]

I think it sounds cute.

He was miserably underused, I agree with that, but that doesn't make him a miscast. Peter should have euro-trashed Fallon, but the writers disagreed with their own ideas.
I wanted him in the Carrington mansion, spending Fallon's money, barking orders at the staff, snorting coke, walking around in his underwear - everything the worst of the worst.
Come to think of it, kinda like Charley St. James.

Willie, before reading your last paragraph I was going to post the same thing...

 

[GillesDenver]

On the paper Helmut Berger was perfect but on screen he was dull, charmless and - and that's why he was fired - not even able to show up knowing its lines !

While I agree that Peter should have introduced Fallon to cocaine (and not how to fly a plane) and also seduce Krystle rather than Claudia (in order to revive - even briefly - the animosity between those two), I think the writing was not the main responsible for that disaster. Helmut Berger himself was.

 

[Michael Torrance]

Of course I like the other seasons too, Dynasty continued to entertain. But it's mostly a lot of bizarre events.

I think of DYNASTY from 30 November 84 (not for nothing, but the episode titled "Peter de Vilbis" ) until 5 February 86 ("Souvenirs") as picaresque DYNASTY, or as you have called it the Love Boat style DYNASTY, with no arcs but various people (Peter, Tracy, Nicki, Daniel Reece, Lady Ashley, Luke Fuller, the Moldavian lot) coming in and out and doing their thing--and the people revolving in and out and doing their thing includes writers and producers. Then we get a coherent 6b/7A and then 7B is back to that, only to the Nth degree.
Then season 8 is coherent and revitalized but lacks tempo and focus, and season 9 is a separate brand of DYNASTY, same as the first two seasons were each their own brand.