Do revamps ever work?

[Jimmy Todd]

Others might not agree, but I don't categorize the changes at KL at beginning of season 13 as a revamp any more than the changes in mid-13. Unless you know to watch for it, the differences in early 13 are not pronounced enough for the casual viewer to see it as "a whole new approach" or whatever. The changes were more of the "something is wrong and I can't quite put my finger on it" variety. The revamping efforts in mid-13 were solely to correct what was wrong (or at least do the best to 'right the ship') and to me, it was very well done.

But Falcon Crest season 9? Oh, my lord that was terrible. It's been decades and I still cannot forgive Black and Decker for how they ruined a show I adored.

Would you categorize Dynasty's season 9 as a revamp?

 

[Daniel Avery]

It's been too long since I watched it, but going from memories, I'd say it was sort of like KL in season 13, which was more of a tonal change due to a fresh set of eyes, but not a purposeful effort to toss everything out and do the show differently. When I think of a revamp, I picture many characters being jettisoned, settings being shifted and/or lots of new characters in addition to the tonal change.

 

[ClassyCo]

YNASTY had several revamps and retoolings over the course of its decade long run.

Season 1 was a underrated psychological drama about the lower middle class Krystle marrying into the American Upper class family of the Carrington’s which showed Blake in a less than sympathetic light, his spoilt brat daughter; Fallon and closeted gay guy and kind hearted; Steven in addition there were the Blaisdel family, who supposed to be the Barnes family to Denver’s own Ewings; The Carrington’s, by the end of the season they brought in Alexis to testify against Blake and this really shook up show.

Alexis became the female JR, and ratings skyrocketed, the show pretty much coasted on a wave until season 6, after the previous season cliffhanger the infamous “Moldavian Massacre” left all the main characters barring two guests unscathed, it made number one in the 1984-85 year but ratings were beginning to falter, too much focus on the newer characters and the fact that the creators had decided to focus their energy on the Colby’s spinoff (which gets blamed for Dynasty’s decline which isn’t true) they ditched the Moldavian characters of Prince Michael, King Galen & Elena and replaced them with The Fallmont family, Ben Carrington and Caress Morell and got rid of the two Krystle’s storyline which had dragged on for months, and by the middle of the 1985-86 season, it was a completely different season.

It had a new energy but it wasn’t to last, ratings dropped again in the 1986-87 season and this saw show turn into Knots Landing briefly, it was too little too late as the show limped on but then we get to season 9, David Paulsen brings in Stephanie Beacham from the Colby’s as Sable Colby as a foil to her cousin Alexis, the show is completely refreshed for the first time in years then it got cancelled only to return two years later in 1991 for a miniseries reunion which was awful.

Dynasty in short was retooled several times which makes rewatching the series disjointed.

DYNASTY really is a mess.

 

[darkshadows38]

yes they do i think but it really depends who is the show runner and who are the writers, i enjoyed the x-files reboot now do i think it was as good as it was back in the day? f.. no i don't think that some of it worked and some of it didn't. one that i do love is Magum P.I. i love the 80's show but the reboot i think is far better than i thought it was going to be. it's not as good of course but you can't recreate the same show and keep everything meaning the same cast, it does happen but that doesn't mean it's going to be as good.

 

[Brian Kinney]

When I think of a revamp, I picture many characters being jettisoned, settings being shifted and/or lots of new characters in addition to the tonal change.

DC's LEGENDS OF TOMORROW is probably one of the best revamped TV series ever. The first season was awful. Then the showrunners got rid of the weakest characters and changed the storytelling from bleak boring to fast, self-aware irony with a strong new beginning at the start of Season 2. It became the most entertaining show in CW's Arrow-verse and kept the quality through their final seventh season with an ever changing cast (only one lead stayed the whole time: Caity Lotz's Sara Lance). They even revisited the much-criticized lead (Rip Hunter) and villain (Vandal Savage) of season 1 in future seasons with jokes about their doomed past. That's also the only example I can think of where the same show-runners took responsibility for their faults and were self-critical enough to change it.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Would you categorize Dynasty's season 9 as a revamp?

In that DYNASTY revamped several times. Season 9 was just unusual in that it was actually a good revamp. Which was weird.

DYNASTY really is a mess.

I see you've watched the show. I whined endlessly since the first episode of Season 3 until this very day --- and that's 40 years as of September.

 

[ClassyCo]

I see you've watched the show. I whined endlessly since the first episode of Season 3 until this very day --- and that's 40 years as of September.

I've watched all nine seasons of DYNASTY, minus the 1991 reunion, which I just don't feel the need to see. While I did enjoy the show almost the way through, it was certainly frustrating. There were so many missed opportunities, bad storylines, bad casting, and bad acting. And some of the things could've been ignored if DYNASTY was more pleasurable on the general level. I honestly don't think I could ever do a full re-watch of the show because I would see more errors and probably find it too frustratingly boring. And I don't have the patience to rewrite or re-cast a entire show in my head.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I've watched all nine seasons of DYNASTY, minus the 1991 reunion, which I just don't feel the need to see. While I did enjoy the show almost the way through, it was certainly frustrating. There were so many missed opportunities, bad storylines, bad casting, and bad acting. And some of the things could've been ignored if DYNASTY was more pleasurable on the general level. I honestly don't think I could ever do a full re-watch of the show because I would see more errors and probably find it too frustratingly boring. And I don't have the patience to rewrite or re-cast a entire show in my head.

As I've said many times over the eons, the tonal shift of DYNASTY can be clearly observed in the very first episode of Season 3 (although decades of time to acclimate to that shift makes it feel less brutal today). The new static acting directive suddenly made everyone look and feel like they'd been lobotomized since the spring cliffhanger.

I bitched and complained for six years until Paulsen mercifully --- mercifully -- took over Season 9.

The only blip in my half-a-dozen year scream-fest was the inexplicably competent first episode of Season 4 which lasted all of 49 minutes and then it was gone.

But then, I fear we've wandered from the strict "revamp" premise of this thread.


The show crested and peaked with episode 2.22:

 

[ClassyCo]

As I've said many times over the eons, the tonal shift of DYNASTY can be clearly observed in the very first episode of Season 3 (although decades of time to acclimate to that shift makes it feel less brutal today). The new static acting directive suddenly made everyone look and feel like they'd been lobotomized since the spring cliffhanger.

I bitched and complained for six years until Paulsen mercifully --- mercifully -- took over Season 9.

The only blip in my half-a-dozen year scream-fest was the inexplicably competent first episode of Season 4 which lasted all of 49 minutes and then it was gone.

But then, I fear we've wandered from the strict "revamp" premise of this thread.


The show crested and peaked with episode 2.22:
View attachment 39116

The show did become quite claustrophobic at the start of Season 3. You can watch clips and see the fluidity of the moments of said actors drained away. The characterizations became caricatures, and the writing hit the wall. It appeared as if they were just making it all up as they went along, and that worked -- when considering the high Nielsen ratings -- for a little while. But eventually the novelty wore off, and audiences lost interest in what DYNASTY was pushing out. By the time they revamped it in Season 9, the audience wasn't around to care anymore. Perhaps had the revamp taken place earlier -- maybe around the time they desperately tried to "fix" the show after Moldavia -- it might've worked better and the show might've squeeze out another season or two.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

The show did become quite claustrophobic at the start of Season 3. You can watch clips and see the fluidity of the moments of said actors drained away. The characterizations became caricatures, and the writing hit the wall. It appeared as if they were just making it all up as they went along, and that worked -- when considering the high Nielsen ratings -- for a little while. But eventually the novelty wore off, and audiences lost interest in what DYNASTY was pushing out. By the time they revamped it in Season 9, the audience wasn't around to care anymore. Perhaps had the revamp taken place earlier -- maybe around the time they desperately tried to "fix" the show after Moldavia -- it might've worked better and the show might've squeeze out another season or two.

I still attribute the Static Acting Directive as being the nail in the DYNASTY coffin. All anyone has to do is watch that stupid first episode of the third season. Regardless of how good or bad the scripts got, the actors were no longer allowed to breathe life into them anymore, creating a feeling of "they-can-t-act-or-write" dumbness to every scene, that didn't have to happen.

Just watch Fallon's "where is he??" confrontation with the nurse in the library, or Blake's "Krystle, I must get hoooome..." line as he feigns near-collapse against the hospital wall, in episode 3.01.

Well, you better get used to it, Snarky Marky -- it's all downhill from here...

 

[ClassyCo]

I still attribute the Static Acting Directive as being the nail in the DYNASTY coffin. All anyone has to do is watch that stupid first episode of the third season. Regardless of how good or bad the scripts got, the actors were no longer allowed to breathe life into them anymore, creating a feeling of "they-can-t-act-or-write" dumbness to every scene, that didn't have to happen.

Just watch Fallon's "where is he??" confrontation with the nurse in the library, or Blake's "Krystle, I must get hoooome..." line as he feigns near-collapse against the hospital wall, in episode 3.01.

Well, you better get used to it, Snarky Marky -- it's all downhill from here...

Precisely. Had the actors been given a liberty to be "free", perhaps things wouldn't have been as bad.

 

[pete lashmar]

The Dukes of Hazzard got revamped when Bo & Luke were replaced by their cousins Coy & Vance for 1 series and then Bo & Luke returned after it bombed in the ratings. I seem to recall i t was because Tom & John walked out over salary/script/merch concerns but CBS renegotiated their contracts and they returned.