Dynasty - Season 1

Rating:
Summary: What a real "Guilty Pleasure" is!
Review: Dynasty is what a true "Guilty Pleasure" should be like. All that glitters in this show is gold. It was delightful, funny, glamorous romantic and at times down right catty! It was great to see Krystle Carrington and Alexis Morell Carrington Colby Dexter Colby (played wonderfully by Linda Evans and Joan Collins) go at it tooth and nail, Literally! It gets really better (in my opinion) during the 9th and final season when Alexis' cousin Sable (The great Stephanie Beacham from the Dynasty spinoff The Colbys) joins the cast. She is Alexis' equal in bitchiness and gives as good as she gets. Sable is nothing like Krystle. She makes a promise to Krystle to keep Blake safe from Alexis and boy does she! Can't wait.

Rating:
Summary: Good start, even without Joan Collins!
Review: Dynasty was a show that truly epitomized the 80's.

The first season of Dynasty follows the story of Krystle Jennings (Linda Evans), a whimpy woman who marries wealthy oil tycoon Blake Carrington (John Forsythe). As she struggles adjusting to her new life of wealth dealing with insubordinate servants as well as her new jealous stepdaughter Fallon (Pamela Sue Martin), Krystle is torn between loyalty to Blake and a lingering love for her ex-lover Matthew Blaisdel (Bo Hopkins), former employee and now business rival to Blake.

Dynasty was also one of the first television shows in history to feature a gay character as a series regular. Blake's son Steven (Al Corley) gets caught up in his own struggles as he gets a job working for his father's business competitor Matthew, as well as secretly getting romantically involved with Matthew's wife Claudia (Pamela Bellwood) while trying to forget his lover from college.

But the real highlight of the first season is Pamela Sue Martin, who plays Blake's spoiled daughter Fallon. Krystle is such a whimpy character, and it is always entertaining to see Fallon being mean to her. Fallon sleeps with her father's chauffer Michael (Wayne Northrop) and makes a deal with wealthy oil tycoon Cecil Colby (Lloyd Bochner) to marry his nephew Jeff (John James) in exchange that Cecil bail Blake's company out from having to file bankruptcy.

Without Joan Collins and Heather Locklear, who didn't show up until the second season, the first season of Dynasty was hardly the show everybody remembers and loves. It was more of a Dallas imitation. Blake was like J.R. Ewing, the antagonist of the show, Krystle was a boring, whimpy version of Pamela Barnes, marrying into a wealthy family while having torn loyalties, and Fallon was a more conniving Lucy Ewing, sleeping with the chauffer/ranch hand and not getting along with the new lady in the house. But once Joan Collins showed up to play Blake's scheming ex-wife Alexis, the show really started to come into its own and became one of the signature shows of the 80's.