Was The Colbys a flop?

[Werewillie Oleson]

They had a vision

but everyone hated that too. Sometimes it's just impossible to please the audience.

 

[Spooky Owl!]

They had a vision

i
but everyone hated that too. Sometimes it's just impossible to please the audience.

Melissa Agretti should have seen that UFO, circa S7.

 

[Spooky Owl!]

Her role on the Thorn Birds was far more interesting, I don't think anyone is going to disagree with that, and it makes me wonder why they didn't create a similar character for Constance Colby.
Where were the hysterical outbursts that Stanwyck did so well?
I thought her role was similar to Dominique Deveraux i.e. supporting the patriarch, but without the power to be a real mover & shaker.
She created the first conflict when she gave Jeff her shares of CE and she lured Francesca back to California, but that wasn't a conflict until Sable disagreed with the situation.
But what if Constance had a hidden agenda?

Gosh, what if Phillip wasn't her brother but her son thus making Jeff her grandson (before it was revealed that Jason was the father). Of course Jason wouldn't be aware of the situation, I mean...what if Andrew Colby was the father. Good heavens! (and heavenly soap-y indeed).
And would that be reason enough to send Jeff with Cecil to Colorado?

I wanted the Colbys on DYNASTY for several weeks before spinning off, and we get to learn Constance was involved in peripherally in the planning the recent massacre in Moldavia.

And when she dies, there's a video will where she calls select persons "whores, you dirty whores!"

Because I think in both cases they cared more about luring the actress than about having a character that was going to bring a new dynamic. What both shows needed in the mid-80s was a showrunner with a vision, and the power to overrule the Shapiros' and Pollocks' misfires.

Like, totally.

 

[Werewillie Oleson]

Melissa Agretti should have seen that UFO, circa S7.

No-one, not even an alien, is going to abduct that hysterical bitch.

 

[Spooky Owl!]

No-one, not even an alien, is going to abduct that hysterical bitch.

But they just might -- if they made her that way!
mg:

 

[Werewillie Oleson]

Falcon Crest was written by aliens?

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

The Colbys: presumed dead recast shows up with amnesia married to your cousin

Shouldn’t that read, “presumed dead recast second cousin shows up with amnesia married to her second cousin who happens to be your double first cousin who is already as closely related to you as a half-sibling before he turns out to be your half-sibling?”

 

[Matthew Blaisdel]

Falcon Crest was written by aliens?

From season 7 on ... yes. And the translation to human language made it suffer even further.

 

[Michael Torrance]

They had a vision

but everyone hated that too. Sometimes it's just impossible to please the audience.

Listen, I have to give credit to the aliens: whatever the human doctors were not able to do for Fallon, the Martians delivered when they brought her back to earth on DYNASTY.

I'd say being a personal friend of Aaron Spelling's and Tori's godmother "put her on the radar" for the role and was probably the reason she ended up accepting the role despite rejecting the Angela Channing role on Falcon Crest years earlier.

Another Sophia Lauren award winner.
But I can't imagine anyone else as Angela Channing, much as I respect Stanwyck.

 

[Werewillie Oleson]

the Martians delivered when they brought her back to earth on DYNASTY

Actually this was an unexpected shocking twist, as the UFO was supposed to take Francesca.

But her plan was unintentionally sabotaged by Phillip and the alien took Fallon instead.
If that doesn't prove how magnificent The Colbys was then I don't know what does.

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Actually this was an unexpected shocking twist, as the UFO was supposed to take Francesca.

Shouldn’t that read “the UFO was supposed to take Fallon’s first cousin once removed ascending and occasional mother-in-law and former aunt (by marriage) Francesca”?

 

[Michael Torrance]

https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/the-colbys/200574/

The Colbys

• 1985
• 2 SEASONS
• ABC
• DRAMA, SPIN-OFF

A bloated `Dynasty' spin-off about members of California's wealthy Colby clan. Aaron Spelling filled the show with fading film stars and buff bods, but never captured the campy magic and majesty of the original show. On the air for only two seasons and with occasionally wacky story lines (Fallon's alien abduction, for one), fans rejoiced when, after the series' demise, much of the cast was incorporated into `Dynasty.'

 

[Ray&Donna]

The fact that it ran for two full seasons would scream notflop to me. Like having two or three episodes, and then being retooled for some airdate in the. Or a post nucler fallout Debver where Blake hides the surving relatives in his mansion..or has Sammy Jo board them at the stables

 

[Ray&Donna]

Flops are pulled after the second episode: After an hour if youre Heather graham working for ABC

 

[Zable]

A flop? I guess not in the eyes of those who made The Colbys the
People's Choice award winner in 1986 in the
Favorite New TV Dramatic Program category.

 

[Ray&Donna]

Why do my punctuation marks keep vanishing?

 

[Michael Torrance]

A flop? I guess not in the eyes of those who made The Colbys the
People's Choice award winner in 1986 in the
Favorite New TV Dramatic Program category.

These awards are based on Gallup polls (or to be accurate, they were back then). So the March 1986 award was based on polls taken by the end of 1985. Given that DYNASTY was the #1 show the previous season, it makes sense that the brand spin-off the Colbys was an eagerly anticipated show. I actually was excited when reading about it.
For the record, the other two nominees did not have brand recognition: 'The Equalizer' and 'Moonlighting.' But they both run for two more seasons than the Colbys, and Moonlighting was quite the industry and critics' darling in its first two seasons. And it made a star of Bruce Willis.

 

[Alexis]

I'd say being a personal friend of Aaron Spelling's and Tori's godmother "put her on the radar" for the role and was probably the reason she ended up accepting the role despite rejecting the Angela Channing role on Falcon Crest years earlier.

Stanwyck took the role because her house burned down the year before and she wanted to make a lot of money very quickly. Which she did.

 

[Ray&Donna]

Actually this was an unexpected shocking twist, as the UFO was supposed to take Francesca.

But her plan was unintentionally sabotaged by Phillip and the alien took Fallon instead.
If that doesn't prove how magnificent The Colbys was then I don't know what does.

Look at how this scene is perfectly staged for Sable's jewelry to almost distract from the Travilla-style chapeau

 

[thomaswak]

I think Emma Samms (lovingly called "Fat Fallon" in many publications in Europe) was horrendous on THE COLBYS. But she was better on season 8 in DYNASTY and really good in season 9, so I think the show didn't know what to do with her character--or most of the characters.

Lol, why did they call her that? She wasn't fat. It was just her boobs.

Listen, I have to give credit to the aliens: whatever the human doctors were not able to do for Fallon, the Martians delivered when they brought her back to earth on DYNASTY.

And the aliens actually tried a personality graft/transplant on her. Emma's Fallon started getting better with season 8, and was amazing with season 9 (when the transplant reached its fullest potential)

Not to mention all those horrible tv series that don't get cancelled. Does that make them great tv shows?

Stop bashing Nu Dynasty please. I am the only one allowed to trash it

Some sexy youngsters age terribly by the way. IMO, Maxwell Caulfield was blessed to be a sexy older man as well

Maxwell can do me anytime. Oh, sorry, was I thinking that out loud?

I still think he'd be a great guest in Nu Dynasty, as Ben Carrington.