Things wrong with Season 9

[Zara]

Haha, want to get this forum started, you badmouth precious season 9.

I don't care for 9 (though I like Sable), everything went its own scattered way and Nazi is so played. Why couldn't LE stay if it was the last one? There could still have been "a reunion" but in another way.

 

[tommie]

To be honest, I'm not really sure that you can blame the "lack of glamour" solely on Paulsen or even the budget being slashed - it was pretty obvious that the entire tv landscape were moving away from that sort of OTT glamourama that had been popular just a three years ago; all other soaps de-glammed in anticipation of the 90s, so it's sort of natural that Dynasty would too.

I don't care for 9 (though I like Sable), everything went its own scattered way and Nazi is so played. Why couldn't LE stay if it was the last one? There could still have been "a reunion" but in another way.

They didn't know it was the final season obviously, especially when ABC seemed to give them some sort of benefit of the doubt when they expanded season nine's order from 13 to 22. With that said - they should've given Paulsen two additional episodes to wrap up the story when they decided to cancel it; I'm sure Linda could've been lured back to do them.

 

[thomaswak]

I have just noticed an inconsistency : in "Sins of the father", Fallon tells Zorelli that she saw (in her dreams) a snake tattoo on Grimes lower back. However, in "Blasts From the Past" the tattoo is nowhere to be seen.

Maybe she didn't see a tattoo.
Maybe it wasn't Roger's back.
In that flashback, Roger was with Alexis, shirt opened... So who know what they really were doing when Fallon came uninvited.

 

[GillesDenver]

To be honest, I'm not really sure that you can blame the "lack of glamour" solely on Paulsen or even the budget being slashed - it was pretty obvious that the entire tv landscape were moving away from that sort of OTT glamourama that had been popular just a three years ago; all other soaps de-glammed in anticipation of the 90s, so it's sort of natural that Dynasty would too.

Yes and they already did that since season 7B but in season 9 it got worse with scenes in dirty streets and decrepit apartments that we did not need. That obsession to show "real" people (meaning very poor people) was unnecessary on a show like "Dynasty".
Fortunately, Joan Collins was against it and made her best to stay very glamourous (more than in seasons 7 and 8).

They didn't know it was the final season obviously, especially when ABC seemed to give them some sort of benefit of the doubt when they expanded season nine's order from 13 to 22. With that said - they should've given Paulsen two additional episodes to wrap up the story when they decided to cancel it; I'm sure Linda could've been lured back to do them.

The show was canceled in may 1989, about 3 months after the last episode was shot, so I think it was too late.

 

[tommie]

Yes and they already did that since season 7B but in season 9 it got worse with scenes in dirty streets and decrepit apartments that we did not need. That obsession to show "real" people (meaning very poor people) was unnecessary on a show like "Dynasty".
Fortunately, Joan Collins was against it and made her best to stay very glamourous (more than in seasons 7 and 8).

To be fair, Falcon Crest introduced the Ortegas and Dallas was in Haleyville, so it wasn't like Dynasty was the only soap to attempt to introduce "earthy" elements (I guess Knots was already down to earth, so they didn't do anything out of the ordinary). It's just a sign of the times I guess.

The show was canceled in may 1989, about 3 months after the last episode was shot, so I think it was too late.

I know that - still, they could've made the call in March 1989 since it had been hovering around the 10 million mark since episode three of the season. If that wasn't good enough for a season ten then they should've pulled the plug then and there.

 

[GillesDenver]

But when the production wrapped in, the new head of ABC, Bob Iger, was not there yet. It's him who cancelled "Dynasty". The previous president of entertainment, Brandon Stoddard, seemed to be ok to make a 10th season, even a short one (13 episodes).

 

[Tony]

Did we really want a Season 10? Given what was happening in season 9 I don’t think so. Not without Linda and Joan was likely to be further reduced. Stephanie as good as she was, was better on The Colbys.

I think Dynasty ended at the right time otherwise we would have even more of a detioration of quality.

Brandon Stoddard did say Dynasty had turned a bit of a corner but I think he was referring to Season 8.

 

[GillesDenver]

A season 10 was needed to end up the stories properly. And a dozen of episodes would have been perfect.

The same can be said for "The Colbys". Another season would have been great (before Sable jumped into "Dynasty").

 

[Willie Oleson]

Did we really want a Season 10?

I did. There's no such thing as too much "Dynasty".
At that time I already knew it was going to be the last episode, but still I felt completely ruined.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Did we really want a Season 10? Given what was happening in season 9 I don’t think so.

Hell, yes, we wanted a Season 10. The show had been suck-ass for years, suddenly improved markedly in Season 9, despite Linda leaving and Joan doing fewer, and the show had several plotlines hanging literally in the air.

So, yes, we needed and wanted a Season 10. Despite the occasional dirty street, or alleged reduction in glamour, during Season 9 (the most focused year since Season 2, FFS).

13 episodes would have been perfect.

 

[thomaswak]

Yes ! A 13 episode ordered by ABC, promoted as the "Finale season".
I'm sure with those circonstances, they could get Linda et Joan, for at least the last episode of season 10. Maybe more.

 

[GillesDenver]

The show had been suck-ass for years, suddenly improved markedly in Season 9,

But the quality might have been not there in season 10, though.

I mean, the producers in charge of the storylines were changed every year since season 5, we can't be sure at all that David Paulsen would have been around in season 10. And by the way, he was not in "The Reunion".

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

But the quality might have been not there in season 10, though.

I mean, the producers in charge of the storylines were changed every year since season 5, we can't be sure at all that David Paulsen would have been around in season 10. And by the way, he was not in "The Reunion".

Paulsen would have produced Season 10 -- he was on board to do so.... One can just imagine if he'd been there for the 1991 Reunion, but Esther wanted her camping buddies back. The script was so crap, Linda and John had to have their arms twisted to do it.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Look, Evans, you'll do this...or it's back to the attic!

 

[thomaswak]

Look, Evans, you'll do this...or it's back to the attic!

The attic or The Reunion... I don't know which one is the worst
Dynasty, The Attic sounds more promising...

 

[Tony]

In the UK, the final season of Dallas ended up being shown on Daytime - Sunday afternoons at 3pm. A far cry from its stranglehold on the nation during the 1981 Who Shot Jr craze ten years earlier. While Dynasty managed to keep its prime time slot throughout its run on the BBC.

I wouldn't have minded a 13 episode season to end 1989 with Linda coming back instead of the crappy reunion, but can't see it working beyond 1990. Dynasty was a product of its time and spanned the Reagan years exactly.

 

[GillesDenver]

Paulsen would have produced Season 10 -- he was on board to do so....

He was to save the show... which he did not (in terms of ratings I mean). So I don't see why Spelling and Cramer would have kept him while they get rid of every producers in seasons 6, 7 and 8 (season 5 is different since Camille Marchetta wanted to leave).

 

[thomaswak]

I wish Paulsen came earlier...

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

He was to save the show... which he did not (in terms of ratings I mean). So I don't see why Spelling and Cramer would have kept him while they get rid of every producers in seasons 6, 7 and 8 (season 5 is different since Camille Marchetta wanted to leave).

They knew the timeslot was now the problem. Paulsen was scheduled to produce Season 10.

Even TV GUIDE cited DYNASTY as the best soap that season. And had Joan not announced she was leaving (although she said she'd do some episodes for them the next year) they might have renewed it.

 

[GillesDenver]

They knew the timeslot was now the problem. Paulsen was scheduled to produce Season 10.
Even TV GUIDE cited DYNASTY as the best soap that season.

But Esther did not like his work (she found season 9 too "melodramatic" which proves how much she was paying attention...) so she could have get rid of him, like she did with Diana Gould, Laurence Heath, Rita Lakin and Jeff Ryder.

And had Joan not announced she was leaving (although she said she'd do some episodes for them the next year) they might have renewed it.

No, Bob Iger did not want "Dynasty" on his network (and probably Aaron Spelling too). His very first decision as chief of ABC was to cancel it. Joan Collins or not.