CBS' Dallas had already been on the air a couple of years when ABC called on Aaron Spelling to develop a similar primetime soap.
Dynasty was a mid-season replacement, launching in January 1981, and running for 9 seasons in all. Set in Denver, the show was built around the Carrington family, which, like the Ewings of Dallas, were in the oil business. In fact, the show was originally meant to be christened Oil, but had that remained, it wouldn't have lasted very long.
John Forsythe was in his final season as the titular voice of Charlie's Angels when he was cast as Blake Carrington. As the series begins, Carrington is about to remarry, and, as the series unfolds, the family is more dysfunctional than the average daytime soap family. Linda Evans (ex-The Big Valley) hadn't done much TV in years before Dynasty made her a household name all over again. Joan Collins joined the series at the start of season 2 as Blake's ex-wife, Alexis, and if I'm not mistaken, this was Collins' 1st foray into a regular American series role. She'd guest-starred on Batman during the 3rd season of that series, and did other guest work in the interim, and I'm not sure about any TV work in England.
Daytime fans will spot Wayne Northrop (Days of Our Lives) as the Carrington family chauffeur during the first season. After signing with Days, Northrop would not return to Dynasty until either season 6 or 7. To list everyone who'd appear on the show would require a multi-part post, and that's not happening here.
Here's the 1st season intro:
Dynasty enjoyed a pretty healthy cable run on FX during that network's formative years. There would be a reunion miniseries, but that would be the end of the series on ABC. A brand new Dynasty launches tomorrow on CW, with Evans' former character having been rebooted as a Latina. Typical 21st century breaking what isn't broken just for the sake of it.
I'm not a soap guy per se, so there ain't a rating.
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