I'm going in...my first ever full watch of The Colbys

colbyco

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But the ratings were really bad ... I know it has a lot to do with the timeslot. This old stars gave the show old Hollywood atmosphere and some kind of quality but they didn´t make it a must see ... maybe Liz Taylor could have had enough followers and image to give that damn comedy shows a kick in the ass ...

same thing with Rock Hudson - it was nice to have a Hollywood legend but without him the ratings probably wouldn´t have been lower ... it just brought the show publicity but I think the show would have become number 1 with or without Hudson & MacGraw (mabye even had bigger ratings especially without her who wasn´t a fan favoite...)
 

Tony

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I think most viewers were happy to have Barbara Stanwyck and Charlton Heston as apart of the show. Even at a very young age when the show debuted I knew they were both Hollywood legends. I think they gave the show class and credibility.

I agree Heston, Stanwyck and Beacham were the acting standouts.

I think the series suffered in the second season when they shifted the focus to the Colby kids and their love interests.

It only picked up again in the latter half when Philip joined and there was a fascinating quadrangle between Jason, Phillip, Frankie and Sable.
 

Monzo

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Andrew Colby's will claimed only blood-related would get parts of Colby Enterprises, which means no shares for Miles and Monica after that not-so-great Dynasty rewrite. Does anybody remember if Miles was broke in the reunion?

Andrew disinherited Cecil, so he wouldn't get shares from Colby Enterprises. Was his motive ever mentioned? Philip died before Andrew, but Andrew didn't care about Jeff or was Jeff off-radar, because Francesca gave him to Cecil?
 

colbyco

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Andrew Colby's will claimed only blood-related would get parts of Colby Enterprises, which means no shares for Miles and Monica after that not-so-great Dynasty rewrite. Does anybody remember if Miles was broke in the reunion?

Andrew disinherited Cecil, so he wouldn't get shares from Colby Enterprises. Was his motive ever mentioned? Philip died before Andrew, but Andrew didn't care about Jeff or was Jeff off-radar, because Francesca gave him to Cecil?
- Do you really think the people who came up with Krystle is brainwashed and a lot of unanswered S9 cliffhanger questions had any clue what happened durring S9 not to talk about what happened on "Dynasty"´s spin-off 4 years earlier?
 

Monzo

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So what did Miles do for living in the reunion, Chris K.?
 

Brian Kinney

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I find it interesting that here we are still talking about that UFO almost 35 years later! It definitely had its impact for a scene most people don’t like.

Because it was also well made. The effects by John Dykstra (post-production) and others who built the UFO and the alien were really decent. It's also interesting that after Fallon's interrupted attempt to speak in her car with the phone operator no one is talking or crying - in a season finale cliffhanger! It's just visuals and Ken Harrison's excellent score. It's one of the most poetic scenes in a TV show of that era. Nevertheless a strange idea. But one that could've easily made forgotten if Fallon had a breakdown. It was just a dream - without erasing anything at all. And when she returned to Dynasty I was okay with their explanation.
 

Willie Oleson

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But one that could've easily made forgotten if Fallon had a breakdown. It was just a dream - without erasing anything at all
Oh I'd hate that. True, it wouldn't be as devastating as Dallas' dream, but it would be as lame as the Moldavia aftermath.
If you do it, do it - but it can't happen in a soap opera, except as a final and never-ending mystery.
And Fallon's already had so many breakdowns and Dynasty headaches so that would have been a very lame and corny cop-out.
 

Alison Carr

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Poor Richard, his thinking was give them a cliffhanger ending to series 2 that they couldn't possibly leave open to guarantee a 3rd season...guess that one backfired!
 

J. R.'s Piece

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Andrew Colby's will claimed only blood-related would get parts of Colby Enterprises, which means no shares for Miles and Monica after that not-so-great Dynasty rewrite. Does anybody remember if Miles was broke in the reunion?

Andrew disinherited Cecil, so he wouldn't get shares from Colby Enterprises. Was his motive ever mentioned? Philip died before Andrew, but Andrew didn't care about Jeff or was Jeff off-radar, because Francesca gave him to Cecil?
In The Reunion, Miles and Jeff are said to be brothers a few times. Both Jeff and Miles say it. Jeff says it to Fallon. Miles sees a couple of people and it comes up. Afterwards, when Miles is asking about Jeff, to find him, they were even said to have some resemblance, when Miles shows a photo of Jeff in Geneva. Moments later, Miles mentions being Jeff’s brother to Adam.
 
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J. R.'s Piece

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I agree Heston, Stanwyck and Beacham were the acting standouts.

I think the series suffered in the second season when they shifted the focus to the Colby kids and their love interests.

It only picked up again in the latter half when Philip joined and there was a fascinating quadrangle between Jason, Phillip, Frankie and Sable.
You mean when Philip delayed Frankie from becoming his sister-in-law by seducing his widow?
 

Monzo

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I can remember clearly that finale episode of The Colbys going out on BBC1 in 1987.
So The Colbys aired on BBC1?!? It must have been big in the UK... When and where did Dynasty air in the UK? Were both soaps in sync when it comes to crossovers?
 
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Mel O'Drama

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So The Colbys aired on BBC1?!? It must have been big in the UK... When and where did Dynasty air in the UK? Were both soaps in sync when it comes to crossovers?

@Carrie Fairchild has helpfully supplied a definitive UK timeslot guide in post #16 of this thread which you may find useful.
 

Carrie Fairchild

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So I completed my first proper rewatch of season one recently, without missing episodes or watching them out of sequence. My thoughts are mostly the same as when I watched them originally.

The opening episodes are still a mess. A lot of the characters are unlikeable (Miles being most notable) and the plot is unfocused, so it's easy to see why the show struggled when that was the kind of opening it had.

Things start to come together in the middle part of the season with Sable vs Connie and the trial and it's fallout. Even in the latter part of the season, Miles, Jason and Zack tone down the creepiness a bit however the sudden arrival of Moretti to ruin them all just felt a bit hackneyed and crowbarred in. Compared to the nuance of say, Knots Landing's season long plotting at the time, The Colbys just felt a bit "let's throw this sh*t at the wall and see what sticks".

Connie's trajectory was interesting to watch, knowing now what Paul Huson told us in his interview. She was good but she noticeably appeared less and less as the season wore on, dropping in sometimes once an episode to prop up Jason in his bid to get rid of Sable. After Hutch (who I was surprised to see actually appeared so infrequently) and the trial, she really had no storyline of her own.

Overall though, it's an exciting season to watch once it wades out of the swamp that is the opening episodes. I'm halfway through season two now and while it's good, it seems to have lost some of the energy of season one. The stakes don't seem as high now and after a period of rehabilitation, Miles has resumed his role as resident supercreep.
 

Monzo

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I'm still watching season one and what surprised me is nobody seems to care how Jason's daughters are feeling, it's only about Miles. After Jeff turned out to be Jason's son there was a short scene between Jason and Monica (she was fine with it) and none with Bliss. Also, I never felt love between Jason & Sable, not even on Dynasty. She might have loved him, even though I don't know why. Jason said Sable has changed, but we never saw how she was before the show started, so this was a miss.
 

Carrie Fairchild

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I'm still watching season one and what surprised me is nobody seems to care how Jason's daughters are feeling, it's only about Miles. After Jeff turned out to be Jason's son there was a short scene between Jason and Monica (she was fine with it) and none with Bliss. Also, I never felt love between Jason & Sable, not even on Dynasty. She might have loved him, even though I don't know why. Jason said Sable has changed, but we never saw how she was before the show started, so this was a miss.
The Colby daughters (particularly Bliss) are woefully underused in season one. This is thankfully remedied somewhat in season two.

The disintegration of Sable and Jason's relationship is part of the mess that is the opening of season one. Jason references how things haven't been good for years but there's no history explaining this. It feels like the first time he and Sable cross each other is when she attacks Connie. Had it opened with them keeping up appearances while battling behind the scenes, you could have bought into it a bit more. Instead it's all bubble bath romance and declarations of love. I know they try to present Jason's "near death experience" as the catalyst for reviewing his life but the collapse of the marriage all seems very sudden.
 

Monzo

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I had totally forgotten how incompetent Monica was in season 1, because she was my favorite Colbys character back then. I hope she's going to improve in season 2.

Towards the end of first season there were cliffhangers of some episodes with any further impact like Jeff falling over the cliff or LB missing. IMO writing in season 1 got weaker and weaker. There are episodes I feel really sorry for Barbara Stanwyck because she's so underused.
 
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Carrie Fairchild

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So I completed my first proper rewatch of season one recently, without missing episodes or watching them out of sequence. My thoughts are mostly the same as when I watched them originally.

The opening episodes are still a mess. A lot of the characters are unlikeable (Miles being most notable) and the plot is unfocused, so it's easy to see why the show struggled when that was the kind of opening it had.

Things start to come together in the middle part of the season with Sable vs Connie and the trial and it's fallout. Even in the latter part of the season, Miles, Jason and Zack tone down the creepiness a bit however the sudden arrival of Moretti to ruin them all just felt a bit hackneyed and crowbarred in. Compared to the nuance of say, Knots Landing's season long plotting at the time, The Colbys just felt a bit "let's throw this sh*t at the wall and see what sticks".

Connie's trajectory was interesting to watch, knowing now what Paul Huson told us in his interview. She was good but she noticeably appeared less and less as the season wore on, dropping in sometimes once an episode to prop up Jason in his bid to get rid of Sable. After Hutch (who I was surprised to see actually appeared so infrequently) and the trial, she really had no storyline of her own.

Overall though, it's an exciting season to watch once it wades out of the swamp that is the opening episodes. I'm halfway through season two now and while it's good, it seems to have lost some of the energy of season one. The stakes don't seem as high now and after a period of rehabilitation, Miles has resumed his role as resident supercreep.
I've completed my season two rewatch. I'd obviously seen a lot of it before because the suspense factor was missing. I enjoyed it though but as I mentioned before, some of the energy of season one was missing. Which is strange because it feels like the show found it's rhythm structurally after the uneven season one but the excitement isn't really there.

My main surprise with season two is the neglect of Sable. She's the best character on the show but it never really feels like she has her own story. She bounces around everyone else's storylines, sticking her nose in and causing trouble but her own main storyline is just the will they marry, won't they marry thing with Zack. Even the divorce proceedings, which should have been prime ground for her to raise hell, feels underplayed. I can understand why Stephanie was happy that the show was cancelled and why Ricardo felt the show was tiresome. Their storyline just went around in circles.

For some reason, I thought Phillip only returned in the wedding episode, so it was good to see him show up earlier than I'd remembered. He was another underused character in the Dynasty universe. He had great potential but they quickly went the "Phillip is psycho" route with him.

I enjoyed the emergence of Bliss after her fleeting appearances in season one. Her and Kolya are my favourite couple on the show.

The UFO cliffhanger is hilarious and so tacked on. Fallon only starts to feel strange in the last couple of episodes and then suddenly there's a spaceship dropping out of the sky.
 

tommie

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I dunno
I've completed my season two rewatch. I'd obviously seen a lot of it before because the suspense factor was missing. I enjoyed it though but as I mentioned before, some of the energy of season one was missing. Which is strange because it feels like the show found it's rhythm structurally after the uneven season one but the excitement isn't really there.
Interesting. I remember thinking season 2 was better because it felt less like stunts-after-stunts that they did in season 1 (like Fallon screeching that Adam raped her and then... fainting). I might have to rewatch the series one day, but I did never mind Sable mainly meddling in other people's affairs rather than having a major storyline of her own since that seemed to be her main character trait.

I do tend to think Dynasty fans overrate The Colby's a bit though, probably because Dynasty itself was so awful during this period bar season 6B (even though I have a soft spot for season 6A and Rita).
 
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