nuDynasty Episode Chat S01E01: I Hardly Recognized You

[Ome]

That exchange that she has with Aynders in the kitchen were she says she'd rather have Bowie on a sound system and wildflowers rather than a string quartet in the ballroom was awful and made me dislike her

I loved that part.

Everyone speaks in the same way, there are no stand out personalities.

Yes.

 

[Michael Torrance]

With all the stuff the producers "want to do," I fear "character moments" will be far down on that list. When producers live in fear of early cancellation (as all do these days), they cram all the plot-plot-plot into the shows and leave characterization for later on, when they get a mid-season pickup.

For fairness' sake, we can compare two products on the exact same network. So, if we compare CW's nuDYNASTY to the same network's Riverdale, nuDYNASTY comes out a big loser even from the first episode--and that is saying something since Riverdale's first couple of episodes were a parade of stereotypes as characters. The last show that did all plot trying to capture the audience was BLOOD & OIL, which was cancelled after 10 episodes. Plus, the ratings bar is so low in the CW for cancellation, they had not that much to fear.

That special effect where Matthew got "blasted" by the exploding truck was unintentionally funny. The gruesome bit with the wind-turbine blade was more effective and we didn't even see the results. Sometimes less is more--even on Dynasty.

Completely

I like Grant Show and he's I think, the perfect casting for Blake in this reboot. I had suggested him before in remake threads. He's classically good looking but wearing on a bit in years and that's just right for Blake. Fallon isn't as vapid as the promos made her out to be.

And Steven is gay, so I don't want any hints of Jack Coleman and his uptight clenched anus, sexuality flip flopping here.

I think Blake whoring his gay son out was brilliant--this is the ruthless Blake they wanted the original to be and Forsythe kept watering down. Now if only they had gotten the dinner scene right--that had wasted potential written all over it. Maybe a hidden nod to the original

 

[Alexis]

I loved that part.

Likely as you are a Bowie fan, maybe I would feel differently if it was someone I was a major fan of. To me it felt grasping. Is Cristal Flores a Bowie fan or are Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage? I know the shows they make, I know that pop culture references are big in those shows. I don't need that in Dynasty. This isn't Gossip Girl or The O.C.
Forcing music references and songs down our throats is a thing that Schwartz and Savage do. It was cute on their more teeny soap things and I even enjoyed it on The O.C in what 2003? but I don't think it will work for Dynasty.

 

[Matthew Blaisdel]

But to be fair, the original did it as well, Sammy Jo was coming into the mansion with "Thriller" of Michael Jackson on her ghettoblaster, and later on "The Colbys"-Pilot Bliss talks to Jason about Madonna.

 

[Ome]

Likely as you are a Bowie fan

Actually yeah and thinking about it, I would have hated it if she had said Kanye West.

I know the shows they make, I know that pop culture references are big in those shows.

I like it, but then again I guess it depends on the show. THE FLASH is constantly plugging Sci-Fi references and it makes the episodes more fun to watch.

This isn't the kind of show I would normally like, it reminds me of REVENGE, DIRTY SEXY MONEY and EMPIRE and these are shows I try and fail with.

I don't need that in Dynasty.

I do get this from you and all fans of the show, but I've only seen it once and that was pretty fast going to do it all within 12 months. So while I am enjoying this reboot (so far) I'm not attached like the majority of fans.

 

[Alexis]

But to be fair, the original did it as well, Sammy Jo was coming into the mansion with "Thriller" of Michael Jackson on her ghettoblaster, and later on "The Colbys"-Pilot Bliss talks to Jason about Madonna.

So if we get only one other music reference in the next nine seasons and a spin off I'll be happy.

 

[Soaplover]

Thinking about it, I think it was short sighted to kill Matthew off in the pilot. I think it curtailed some possible plotlines, but I noted some chemistry between him and Cristal during that good bye scene.

Plus, we hardly saw him and Claudia together so I didn't feel anything when Claudia crashed the wedding at the end of the episode. Perhaps if we'd seen them as a couple together more with her knowing he had an affair with Cristal...it would have made the impact of her outburst better.

I also think the show needs a soap writer on staff because I few the show will burn through plot too quickly. Balance is key.

 

[Alexis]

I also think the show needs a soap writer on staff because I few the show will burn through plot too quickly. Balance is key.

Are the Pollocks still around?

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

How BAD! The intro with Trumps and Kadashians was awful just awful and Fallon´s voice over made it look like a reality show ... a bad reality show. I´m sad what they´ve done to it ....they even talk about Kim Kadashian. The originial would have talk about the Kennedys or Rockefellers at least about some people with style. The backround music is like the mansion updated in the ugliest way.

Even in 1949, Norma Desmond was going on about "all this new Hollywood trash!" and that sort of commentary still goes on today.

Still, oldDYNASTY's early pretentions of class and stature and taste (derailed as that soon was by mere sequins and slaps and sarcasm -- not that I'm against those things) offered viewers a peek into the world of the very privileged, a world with secrets -- or, as someone once described Season 1, "all mahogany and dark chocolates and cabernet" (although that's a slight exaggeration).

What we have now with nuDYNASTY, as most of us expected, is not a glimpse into a privileged world we never see, but yet another glare at, and from, a low brow, crass, albeit glittery world which we see all the time be it on reality shows and whatever.

There were sordid things going on in upper class environments as well, but the veneer of sophistication was important.

But nobody has any veneer now. That makes it less interesting, because the affectations and the lies are right out there in front of our faces. So all they can do now, with a nuDYNASTY or anything along those lines, is just swagger like a hooker with a tiara just a little more absurdly than occurred in the previous scene. There's nowhere to go.

It's all bragging and nothing else. Not that the old show didn't have plenty of that -- in fact, too much of that. And too much bragging reveals that the characters, and the shows themselves, are dilettante-esque.

 

[JROG]

I'll echo most of everyone's thoughts: It was much more decent than I expected it to be, except for that opening narration. Although I am not sure about this ambiguous direction they're taking Cristal, I think in a few episodes' time, when all is revealed, they'll have positioned her as good by revealing the 'secret' is not really her fault or there's a good explanation or something. I just want the actress to not play her as catty. The catfight with Fallon was actually fun, and the feud with Anders was great.

Grant Show fit in perfectly for the Blake of 2017, and it seems like they won't be shying away from his ruthless side.

Fallon: I enjoyed her. They can't possibly make her worse than the original show did.

Steven was funny and a cutie. I thought he had great chemistry with Sammy Jo. The story of Steve's gayness was groundbreaking in 1981 but I'm glad they're not continuing that now. Besides, the show DID allude to issues between Blake and Steven because of his gayness.

I loved all the little callbacks to the pilot (the pool playing, Blake saying he won't send a parade of flowers) and then mentions of Alexis, which are setting everything up nicely for when she does show up (Season 1 cliffhanger?).

The explosion and Matthew's death caught me by surprise. The moment the windwill broke off was especially strong. I think a whodunit on his death is a great idea. Hope they handle it well.

The most surprising thing was that moment with Michael, after Jeff thought he was a waiter. I really felt his disappointment, that look he gave after Fallon left. That was an unexpected move and handled very well.

Overall, I'm actually interested to see how they develop this. Looking forward to the next episode. I can't believe "DYNASTY" is back on TV!

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Are the Pollocks still around?

Both dead. Pity.

 

[Alexis]

I think we are so used to seeing this trashy pimp swag money thing now with the likes of the Kardashians and those Real Housewives of Everywhere shows. It doesn't leave us in awe. It's just empty, we are desensitized now. We see it all the time and it's not a world we don't know about or really even aspire to, honestly. With old Dynasty there were all those feelings from insecurity, to uncomfortableness, to ravenous hunger that we sensed from people on the periphery of the Dynasty world. Krystle coming in, Steven not entirely happy being there, Claudia an alien in that word, and Sammy Jo desperate to embed herself there, literally.
You the viewer had those feelings too, as that world wasn't one that you belonged in. And you wanted that world, that fantasy but you felt it was so drastically different from the one you lived in. You were Krystle, Steven, Claudia and even Sammy Jo. And look how totally different all those characters were, but yet you empathised with all of them.

This new show fails in that regard doesn't it? Or the pilot -at least. I really hope we get more character bits.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I think we are so used to seeing this trashy pimp swag money thing now with the likes of the Kardashians and those Real Housewives of Everywhere shows. It doesn't leave us in awe. It's just empty, we are desensitized now. We see it all the time and it's not a world we don't know about or really even aspire too, honestly. With old Dynasty there were all those feelings from insecurity, to uncomfortableness, to ravenous hunger that we sensed from people on the periphery of the Dynasty world. Krystle coming in, Steven not entirely happy being there, Claudia an alien in that word, and Sammy Jo desperate to embed herself there, literally.
You the viewer had those feelings too, as that world wasn't one that you belonged in. And you wanted that world, that fantasy but you felt it was so drastically different for the one you lived in. You were Krystle, Steven, Claudia and even Sammy Jo. And look how totally different all those characters were, but yet you empathised with all of them.

This new show fails in that regard doesn't it? Or the pilot -at least. I really hope we get more character bits.

Correct. Although a show could still do it. The vulgar Karsdashian/RealHouswives stuff is, naturally, not the real world of the very, very rich. It's just the silly one they've been selling us for the last twenty years or so. And no one knows, or even thinks, to do it differently nowadays.

Shadowed, contemporary wealth could still be done. But somebody has to rediscover taking that approach. And remakes aren't usually going to be the project to do that.

Flawed as EMPIRE is, and as drab and dour as it quickly became -- and Holy Jesus, it did! --- is still doing a better job.

That said, most of us are pleased that nuDYNASTY isn't even worse than it was.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Shadowed, contemporary wealth could still be done. But somebody has to rediscover taking that approach

And I'll say it again, without a sense of sorrow and the somber -- like Krystle and Steven and Claudia originally gave the old show -- you can't quite convince us of the bigness they'd like to impress us with.

Today, all these wealth-focused programs seen designed to make women viewers smirk and snipe at the people on screen and to want things that they see and to buy stuff. Which is likely the intention.

But you can't have grandeur without the small stuff. You can't have the sordid without the sadness. And you can't have secrets without, well, without those secrets being secret.

 

[Alexis]

Can anyone tell me if they filmed more than just the pilot at the Tyler Perry house and grounds in Atlanta? Or do they know if they will be using any other real homes as stand ins the way the original show used Arden Villa and that other place later on after they couldn't film at FiLoLi. I think a show like this really needs some outdoor filming now and again and to me DYNASTY needs to have stables and gardens and lily ponds and all that jazz.

 

[Michael Torrance]

Can anyone tell me if they filmed more than just the pilot at the Tyler Perry house and grounds in Atlanta? Or do they know if they will be using any other real homes as stand ins the way the original show used Arden Villa and that other place later on after they couldn't film at FiLoLi. I think a show like this really needs some outdoor filming now and again and to me DYNASTY needs to have stables and gardens and lily ponds and all that jazz.

I agree. I know they have been shooting in Atlanta a lot so who knows, maybe they will use more footage of the actual house for the show. There is a charity ball coming up in episode 3. I am curious to see how they handle that also.

 

[Alexis]

Ahhh.... Are we going to get the iconic "Last time on Dynasty..." voiceovers?

 

[Michael Torrance]

Today, all these wealth-focused programs seen designed to make women viewers smirk and snipe at the people on screen

What was the point of Fallon acting like a teenager in front of her father when she is going for the COO position? Also, the original Fallon would have not instantly sniped at Cristal because she was smarter than that. Sadly scenes like these make me thing anyone no longer using acne products is not their target audience.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Ahhh.... Are we going to get the iconic "Last time on Dynasty..." voiceovers?

Although during the first two seasons it was "previously on Dynasty" and even those recaps were better.

 

[Alexis]

Although during the first two seasons it was "previously on Dynasty" and even those recaps were better.

Previously is more Dynasty than last time. I'm all for that.