Season 7: The Fallmonts? Extended Carringtons?

[DeviousPeep]

I just finished watching 7x10 for the first time, and I'm just left wondering what everyone else thinks of the Fallmont family. They've been around since the latter half of Season 6 but seemed to have just popped up out of no where and I must admit I'm not a fan of the amount of screentime their family has taken up. Granted, they've done a decent job connecting them to more central characters (Emily with Blake/Ben, Clay with Sammy Jo and Amanda, Bart with Steven), but I'm sitting here watching their scenes and thinking "who the hell cares?!" I don't know, maybe that's just my personal opinion. And it seems like their storyline is wrapping up soon anyway (Emily's dead, Bart is gone) but I'm just curious as to what everyone else thought about them.

Also, maybe it's a mixture of the new characters, the constant recasts, and Claudia's death (the only remaining character/actor apart from Blake & Krystle that's been there since the beginning) but it's really hitting me just how much the cast has changed. I know that's to be expected since we're on Season 7--people come and go, gotta keep storylines fresh--but damn it's kinda sad, I miss Claudia, PSM's Fallon, CO's Amanda, etc. I'm also not sure how I feel about the expansion of the Carrington family. The show used to just revolve around Blake, Krystle, Alexis, and the kids, but now you've got Blake's brother and sister, Alexis' sister, Steven's ex-wife/Krystle's niece all with their own subplots. Granted, I love Sammy Jo, I love Caress, and I like Dominique, but it's just a lot going on.

Just curious as to what everyone else here thinks.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Welcome to Season 7.

The show used to just revolve around Blake, Krystle, Alexis, and the kids, but now you've got Blake's brother and sister, Alexis' sister, Steven's ex-wife/Krystle's niece all with their own subplots. Granted, I love Sammy Jo, I love Caress, and I like Dominique, but it's just a lot going on.

Just curious as to what everyone else here thinks

About 1986 or 1987, David Jacobs (who created DALLAS and KNOTS) lamented that Joan and Linda don't even seem like the stars of the show anymore (while Esther Shapiro later said she would concentrate even less on the older characters were she to do the later years all over again) while even little Karen Cellini opined that the audience "only wants to see Joan and Linda".

Season 7 is likely the most drably discombobulated DYNASTY ever gets, and that's a lot.

 

[Ray&Donna]

I think the Falmonts were a symptom of cast bloat, and the show trying to ground itself in some kind ogreality after going so far overboard in Moldavia , it's weird how Bsrt was pivotal to his family's introduction but ultimately didn't hang around that long

 

[Michael Torrance]

I just finished watching 7x10 for the first time, and I'm just left wondering what everyone else thinks of the Fallmont family. They've been around since the latter half of Season 6 but seemed to have just popped up out of no where and I must admit I'm not a fan of the amount of screentime their family has taken up. Granted, they've done a decent job connecting them to more central characters (Emily with Blake/Ben, Clay with Sammy Jo and Amanda, Bart with Steven), but I'm sitting here watching their scenes and thinking "who the hell cares?!"

There were always new characters showing up on Dynasty, and I don't just mean Alexis and Adam, who after all were introduced during the first two formative years (Adam is mentioned by Alexis in the studio and was scheduled to appear in season 2). Amanda was so popular, she became emblematic of the show's best ratings. Dominique's initial intriguing entrance captivated the audience's imagination. The show should never lose sight of its core three, but three characters are not enough to sustain any show.

So, I think we should care, but the show had to make us care. Bart's connection to Steven and the potential for blackmail was great, but Adam outing Bart ruined that as soon as it was introduced. This was in season 6B, which really picked up with fast and coherent plots (as opposed to the lethargic and scattered ones of 6A) but even in 6B, characters are painted in very broad strokes: the vindictive brother Ben, the victimized Caress with a grudge, etc. When Dynasty used to work, a person was not just their love connection. Jeff was not simply connected to Fallon. He was important because he was also the heir to Cecil's empire, and he was also a pawn for both Fallon and Cecil. Clay, on the other hand, lacked any more layers than looking run-of-the-mill hunky and being caught between two women on the show. As for Emily and Buck: talk about a missed opportunity. This is a senator--so, did he replace McVane? Is he the other senator from Colorado, and thus an enemy of Blake who had Neil in his pocket? Could Emily have suspected Clay was not Buck's all these years? But the couple was miserable for no good reason other than Buck looking like he had constant indigestion. Thus we did not as viewers feel that Ben's secret was the only reason their happiness would not last, and so that secret was only important for Blake's case: in short, their story again lacked any layers.

Introducing new characters is hard. Through the years, not that many of those introduced later caught on: as far as I can tell, only Dex. And if later Dynasty could not make core characters tied to the show (three siblings came and went for Blake and Alexis), what chance did the poor Fallmonts have?

 

[Willie Oleson]

and the show trying to ground itself in some kind ogreality after going so far overboard in Moldavia

I think the Fallmonts could have worked as being friends of the Carringtons - a wholesome, perfect American political family - because destruction needs a good starting point.
Instead of Buck hating Blake in that typical cliché fashion, and the problem with Bart's homosexuality, they could have welcomed Sammy Jo with open arms and celebrate the Carrington-Fallmont fusion.
Enter bitch vixen Leslie (with a different name) to cause trouble and a secret affair between Steven and Bart complicated by Adam's blackmail, instigating the public suicide of Bart Fallmont.
I wonder if they should have been season 8 characters, and combine them with the gubernatorial race. Buck and Emily, blackmailed by Sean after he found out that Clay is Ben's son, can't support Blake in the race anymore - hence the fall-out between the two families, resulting in the behind-closed-doors drama for the Fallmonts.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I might have liked to see the Fallmonts portrayed as genuine upper-class bluebloods, rather than just another gauche TV version of a bourgeois, pseudo-wealthy family.

It might have been interesting for purposes of contrast.

 

[Willie Oleson]

It might have been

 

[thomaswak]

When I was a teen, I absolutely could not stand the Fallmonts. I liked Clay, but not that much. Same for Bart. But the parents were so... boring.
Writers failed big time imo. Should have called them The Failmonts.

 

[Matthew Blaisdel]

I kinda liked the Fallmonts. But then ... i seem to be the only one who didn't mind Frankie on TC, so ..
The only Dynasty character i disliked around that time was that black guy who stalked Dominique. Can't even remember his name, which is always a bad sign. He was soooo ugly and boring, ugh
Thank god they came up with hunky Nick Kimball for her later on.

 

[Alexis]

Should have called them The Failmonts.

I like The Failmosts.

 

[Alexis]

The only Dynasty character i disliked around that time was that black guy who stalked Dominique. Can't even remember his name, which is always a bad sign. He was soooo ugly and boring, ugh

I cant remember his name either. All I remember was that he mentions to Dominique that he was about to throw himself in the Sienne and then he heard her voice and it saved him. I mean... vomit. If only she didn't sing that night.
I think he also played a werewolf in some 1970's horror with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.

 

[GillesDenver]

The only Dynasty character i disliked around that time was that black guy who stalked Dominique. Can't even remember his name, which is always a bad sign. He was soooo ugly and boring, ug.

Jonathan Lake. ;-)

 

[Willie Oleson]

But wasn't that the most romantic thing that happened to her?

 

[thomaswak]

But wasn't that the most romantic thing that happened to her?

That or that alternate scene, saying she was Cecil Colby's ex wife?

I like The Failmosts.

Failmore is not bad either. Just say it out loud : Emily Failmore. It works.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Why didn't the Fallmonts live on FALLMONT CREST?

 

[thomaswak]

Why didn't the Fallmonts live on FALLMONT CREST?

Because they lived on Fallmingo Road?

 

[Willie Oleson]

And why didn't they cast FALL GUY Lee Majors as Daniel Reece?

 

[Alexis]

And why didn't they cast FALL GUY Lee Majors as Daniel Reece?

I just realised he was Lee Majors.

 

[Willie Oleson]

I just realised he was Lee Majors.

He looks a lot like his brother Levi. I guessed/hoped it was the right picture.

 

[Monzo]

I had a soft spot for the Fallmonts when Dynasty orignal aired. I liked Clay and Emily, but I remember I wasn't a fan of Bart's. I'm currently into season 6 again, just watched the episode when Bart left town, so I wondered if he was written out because he wasn't popular. I think there was more storyline for him and Steven. It's strange that when Clay and Emily were introduced they were missing for next two episodes, so far I don't enjoy them as much as I did back then, but as far as I remember they grew on me the frist time, so I still got hope. I like Buck more this time, but it's weird Blake giving him advice about how to treat his children in generel, not just Bart's sexuality, because at the same time Blake treated Adam and Amanda like crap.