Original subtitles

[narrator] The golden age of television.

I Love Lucy didn't just change American television,

it invented American television.

[narrator] Back when one screen

brought everyone together.

Watching television was a family event.

[narrator] The shows that shaped us.

[Gary Cole] The Brady Bunch was part of the American soul.

-It's timeless. -[narrator] The familiar faces.

[Bob Costas] Ralph Kramden was loved on The Honeymooners.

-Pow! Right in the kisser. -He was a presence.

[narrator] The unforgettable moments.

Dynasty captured the essence

of what the 1980s were about in America.

[narrator] These are their stories.

[Jeff Zucker] Cheers is the pinnacle

of how great the sitcom can be.

[narrator] This is TV We Love.

[retro piano playing]

[narrator] It's 1981, Reagan is sworn into office

and ushers in a whole new era for America.

This decade, it's called interruption,

was probably epitomized by Dynasty.

[Jim Colucci] Dynasty could not have been more perfectly timed.

[narrator] Bigger, bolder, brasher,

and unapologetically '80s.

I require one bedroom for my wardrobe

and one for myself.

Dynasty also starred powerful women.

They looked great and they dressed great.

[narrator] The country becomes Dynasty obsessed...

[announcer] Joan Collins is one of the most photographed

and written about people in the world.

[narrator] ...as it morphs into a cultural phenomenon.

[Catherine Oxenberg] 100 million people a week

globally watch the show.

[Gordon Thomson] The world was Dynasty mad.

[Jim] The early '80s were an interesting time.

Primetime soaps were a relatively new phenomenon.

Dallas is an enormous breakthrough

in that it brings the idea of the continuing storyline

to primetime television in a hit show.

All the other networks, the two other networks,

I should say, NBC and ABC,

wanted their own version of Dallas.

Where do we get one of those?

ABC went to Aaron Spelling and said,

"Give me a Dallas."

Aaron Spelling was a mega hit producer

who worked on shows like Charlie's Angels,

Fantasy Island.

He really figured out the formula

for nighttime soap operas.

ABC knew how important Aaron Spelling was.

And certainly, he was

one of the most important producers of that era.

Esther Shapiro and her husband

brought a script to Aaron and he said,

"I think we can really work with this."

Dallas was already on the air.

They were on a ranch, they wore ranch clothes.

But Aaron wanted this totally elegant.

We began thinking of a series that had everything

that you're not supposed to put on television.

Rich people, the Midwest,

older women particularly,

strong, powerful, lots of business,

entrepreneur, greed, opulence.

At one time, the title of the show was "Oil".

We talked about that a lot.

Lo and behold, the Shapiros came up

with a title called Dynasty that I just loved.

I think that said everything.

They did a tremendous job.

We worked together,

but I give full credit for Dynasty to them.

When Dynasty premiered, I really remarked

on quite how different it was from Dallas.

It really was this upstairs-downstairs drama

focusing on the ultra-wealthy Carringtons

who were led by Blake Carrington,

an oil tycoon.

[Jim] The storytelling, which I found,

was so ratcheted up on Dynasty.

It's more verbal, it's more visual,

it just was more catchy.

[Dynasty theme song playing]

[Pamela Sue Martin] My agent sent me the script

for the pilot.

I said, well, "I don't really want to do television."

I envisioned myself as having a film career at that time.

And he said, "Oh, it's just a pilot,

just do it, it won't be any big deal.

And sell me into the harem of a sheep

for three barrels of crude and a box of cigars.

[Al Corley] The audition was like a film audition.

They had it at a soundstage, they had a real film camera,

they had a director, it was a big deal.

Got a call late that day and said,

"You got the part, playing Steven Carrington."

I also said, you know, "I'm rich," you know,

because I was making, like, I don't know,

300 bucks a week doing theater.

It's like, wow, okay.

I can eat better.

They said, "We're picking you up for 13 shows.

And we're shooting a three-hour pilot."

It's like a three-hour pilot?

We barely shot one-hour pilots.

I show up, we shoot the whole thing

with George Peppard as my father.

[Pamela] George Peppard played my father initially.

He wasn't getting along with the producers

or maybe perhaps seemed sort of demanding.

It was nuts, it was difficult.

It was a very odd situation.

[Gordon] George Peppard was a pain in the ass.

[Candy Spelling] George was not the team player.

[John James] I introduced myself.

He looked at me and went...

[imitating blowing out cigarette smoke]

That's what he said.

And the next thing I know,

he was being replaced with John Forsythe.

You got to come back and shoot all those scenes again.

John Forsythe was certainly well-known

to the Spelling Company

and was well-known to viewers

as the voice of Charlie on Charlie's Angels.

-Good morning, angels. -[all] Good morning, Charlie.

And so, they had a relationship with John Forsythe,

who is the perfect choice.

John Forsythe, as Blake Carrington,

brought sort of an icy steel to his character

and was very much in command.

You do something about it.

And don't bother me again with this business

until it's finished.

Whereas Linda Evans as Krystle,

a little more warm, a little more embracing.

I married Blake because I love him.

And because I want to make him happy.

And together, they just were this glamorous,

iconic couple that you really enjoyed watching

and seeing the yin and the yang between the two.

I love you even more tomorrow than I did yesterday.

I love you too, darling.

Linda Evans is just such a lovely person.

She had her own personality,

she had the angelic white blonde hair.

She practically glowed with goodness.

We are introduced to this world

really through Krystle's eyes.

She was like a young employee

who fell in love with Blake.

[ceremonial tone playing]

The show begins with the marriage

of Blake and Krystle.

And their romance really is

the ultimate through-line of the whole show.

I will.

It came on in mid-season, as they called it then,

in January of 1981.

It was the week of the presidential

inauguration with Reagan.

I, Ronald Reagan, do solemnly swear

that I will faithfully execute the office

of President of the United States.

[Dynasty theme song playing]

And here comes this show that is big and bold

and over-the-top and is going to end up embodying

what we associate with Reaganism and with the '80s.

Dynasty is very much a reflection

of the Reagan era and conspicuous consumption

and, you know, Wall Street and Gordon Gekko.

Read it right.

This decade, it's called interruption,

was probably epitomized by Dynasty.

[Jeff] I love Dynasty,

and I am not afraid to admit that.

I think it captured the essence

of what the 1980s were about in America.

[Jim] Dynasty could not have been more perfectly timed.

It was a way to just escape

into this insane world

of conspicuous consumption and money.

Dynasty was not a white-hot hit when it premiered.

It did okay,

and ABC obviously was being patient with it.

Number 26 in the ratings is not the worst place to be.

It's just not the top 20 where you're really guaranteed safe.

I actually was on set a lot in the beginning.

The sets on Dynasty were incredible.

Everything had to be beautiful, opulent,

what old Hollywood was.

The caviar on set was generally real.

Mm-hmm, it's excellent caviar.

[Jack Coleman] The flowers were all real.

They'd throw a spread on camera,

which was cracked crab,

and it would all be real, and you could eat it.

And tiny new potatoes with sour cream and caviar.

I was a very new director.

I had barely directed anything.

I don't think I'd ever had caviar

before I did the show.

It was the first time I'd ever tasted caviar.

Real crystal, real chandeliers.

I have one of them in my house, by the way.

Real everything.

We had, you know, Brink's people on set

with some of the diamonds and the jewels and the furs,

and, you know, that was back when furs were real furs.

The first episode they gave me was insane

because the episode was surrounding

a huge birthday party for one of the kids.

And it was at a Pasadena estate, and there were literally

maybe 200 people there, extras, jugglers, clown people,

and I freaked out when I read the script.

"Oh, my God, how am I gonna get this?"

But John Forsythe came up to me, and he said,

"This is amazing, we love you, this is great."

And I thought, "Okay, I got through day one.

If it gets any bigger, you're going to have to rent

-the convention center downtown. -I've thought of that.

-Or my football field. -[Krystle laughing]

It was campy, it was fun, it was costumes.

Can I drop you off somewhere?

No. I have a date.

I think if you look at daytime soaps

or nighttime soaps,

they all have a little camp in them.

I married you because I made a deal with the devil.

I asked you to wear the emerald necklace tonight.

It was a big gay thing, the gay community loved it.

I'm trying to find myself, to sort out my life.

The phrase used to be, "I love you."

I love Dynasty because of the dichotomy.

Obviously, it's campy,

it's flashy, it's fabulous,

but it also is a very serious drama.

Don't try to deny it, Blake Carrington.

You had him beat up, and I know it.

If I did or I didn't, that's no concern of yours.

Some of the issues that the show tackled

were reproductive rights.

Your abortion is set for Tuesday.

A message I took for you.

Pick up the phone and cancel it!

[Derrik J. Lang] Gay rights.

I'm gay, and I want you to face it.

We pitched some very touching subject matter.

I didn't ever see a gay character

on television until then.

The character of Steven was a seminal moment

in television for gay men.

What I am is somebody who's in love with a person.

My interest was,

that's something that I haven't seen,

how am I going to do that?

I thought it was special.

If you ever really loved me the way I loved you,

you'll understand.

I think that without Steven,

without Dynasty,

their gay representation on television

would have definitely been slower.

Steven is gay.

I got a lot of fan mail from gay men

who said, you know,

"When I saw your show, finally, there was a voice."

Finally, there was someone that I could relate to."

-Take care, buddy. -You too, buddy.

At the end of the first season, Blake Carrington

attacks Steven Carrington's male lover,

Ted Dinard.

-Get your hands off my son. -Dad, we were--

I said, get your hands off him!

No, no!

[rod clanks]

[dramatic tone playing]

[Derrik] And kills him.

You've killed him.

The storyline of my father killing my lover...

which was accidental, or was it?

And that's sort of the play on it.

I think it was a way to get into a court scene.

People of the state of Colorado versus Blake Carrington.

Steven Carrington, my character, had to make a choice

to defend his father

or defend myself and my right to be gay.

Blake's kind of the villain in that story.

It made me confused as a viewer.

"Wait, am I supposed to like this guy?"

Because he's saying bad things to Steven,

and yet he's so innately likable even when he's doing it.

They wanted me to be a J.R. in Dallas figure,

and I was opposed to that.

The show needed a villain.

Uh-oh, Blake's not bad enough. Who do we get?

Your Honor, our witness has arrived.

This was going to be the villain for the '80s.

Let's find somebody really big, really good.

The hat arrived first.

[dramatic tone playing]

[whimsical tone playing]

What's she doing here, what's going on?

In the courtroom scene, when Alexis walks in

for the very first time, it's actually an extra.

My God, that's my mother.

There was going to be either

Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren,

that Aaron had wanted to play Alexis.

Sophia Loren's husband

came to meet with me in the office.

Then he heard that we shot, like,

eight pages a day.

He said, well, we don't do that in a week, so.

They turned it down, and it became Joan Collins.

[Candy] I'll tell you about Joan Collins.

The network did not want her.

He had to fight really hard for her.

She had done some, a few B movies.

Aaron really fought for Joan.

You know, and Joan comes in, and is this just absolute boss,

and I don't know that we'd ever seen the boss bitch

done quite like that on network television.

Would you state your full name, please?

Alexis Morell Carrington.

You were the first wife

of the defendant, Blake Carrington.

You're the mother of his children, is that correct?

Yes, it is.

When I saw her do the first scene,

it was just perfect.

There were threats made.

Something about how my children

might not recognize me if I tried to see them.

Joan just took that character and just ran with it.

When I need a trump card, I'm going to play it.

Joan just liked hurling barbs at people.

Still the impotent boyar.

Verbal assaults.

You double-crossing scum.

She was absolutely brilliant at it.

-You bitch! -Shh!

You're beginning to sound more and more like a fishwife.

The whole idea

of bringing Joan Collins in with that accent.

There are two Mrs. Colbys now, you know.

The way she wore clothes and that feeling she had,

it was just perfect casting.

You're even more beautiful and more ugly

than that grand English lady I vaguely remember.

Joan Collins obviously added a huge element to Dynasty

once she arrived and became

one of the best villains in television history.

I'm glad to see that your father had your teeth fixed,

if not your tongue.

And she played my real mother.

-Hello, Stephen. -Hello.

Who is that person?

Who is that character? Who is that actress?

People always went, "What's Joan Collins,

is she really a bitch?" No, she's not.

She can be, but she's fundamentally not.

Soap operas have to cheat their storytelling so often

because if you want to cast an actor,

a hot young actor, well, who's that actor going to play?

A long-lost child.

You're my son.

[Gordon] I remember doing my screen test,

and she had just emerged from the stage door.

"Hello, Miss Collins, I'm Gordon Thompson."

Thinking back on it, it's astonishing

that one of the enormous stars of this

now very successful show, series,

was going to do a screen test

with a complete unknown.

One of my lines was...

My real name...

is Adam Alexander Carrington.

It was an enormous treat.

So you'd think I would know that "You got the job."

It went very well.

It's a welcome home gift, darling.

[Mark Zunino] When I started, I was really a gopher.

I was terrified of Joan.

Before I had even met her, I was told

to go in her dressing room with sketches,

sitting in her dressing room,

and she came off set, not in the best of moods,

and I was there, and she turned around,

and she started screaming, and I'm trying to tell her,

"I'm here to show you sketches,"

but she kept screaming and screaming.

All of a sudden, the door flew open,

and it was Heather Locklear, and I said,

"I'm here to see Joan and show her sketches,"

and she said, "Honey, Joan's not here today,

it's only Alexis."

You don't love Joan.

You're kind of a little afraid of Joan,

but you're fascinated by Joan.

Dynasty was not a huge hit until Alexis showed up.

I do as I please.

I always have, and I always will.

It was interesting to see it suddenly go,

you know what, we've kind of found our lane here,

and our lane is not kitchen sink drama.

It's opera.

[Alexis grunts]

If you want a rematch, just whistle.

We have to talk about

Alexis and Krystle's big cat fight

that went right into the lily pond.

Oh, you miserable bitch!

[dramatic tone playing]

Once Dynasty established

that there would be physical cat fights between women,

that was something audiences were tuning in for.

Will this week be one of the weeks where they, you know,

Alexis and Krystle dive into the lily pond?

Oh, no, no.

They were wet constantly, like drenched,

and I know it wasn't easy for them,

but watching it was just so much fun.

Linda was very physical and loved fighting,

and Joan was not.

With the cat fights, I think they were like a drug,

and next week's cat fight has to be that much crazier.

You have to up the dosage of that drug for the audience

to make it stand out.

There were many cat fights on Dynasty.

I did one of them.

They went down a muddy hill

and then fought in mud.

You stupid bitch!

Look what you've done to this outfit!

A lot of people that watched the show,

and knowing that there were Chanel suits,

there was Nolan Miller suits, there were dresses,

but we never, never, ever

put a Nolan Miller suit in mud.

So rest assured, yes, the suits were safe.

I'd rather concentrate on your outfit.

It's rather becoming.

Nolan Miller was one of, really,

one of the superstars of Dynasty,

whether people knew his name at the time or not.

Nolan Miller had come to Hollywood in the '50s.

The most auspicious thing that happened to him

and happened to Aaron Spelling is that they met each other,

and they formed this partnership.

His dream was to be a couturier, and so I said,

"Well, if I ever get a show,

we'll do some costumes together."

Nolan and Aaron's first big,

successful collaboration was The Love Boat.

It was an excuse for Nolan

to really swing for the fences

and really design his dream gowns,

and so, by the time Dynasty came around in 1981,

The Love Boat had been on for three seasons.

They were revving at top gear right from the start of Dynasty.

When I first started with Nolan, it was crazy

because nobody ever gave a budget.

When I went fabric shopping or sourcing things,

you know, do I have a limit

of how much I can spend, no.

The budget started out,

when I first was there,

at $15,000 a week,

and then, I was always over budget,

and it was a problem, and Aaron talked to me,

so he raised it to $25,000 a week.

You don't care what they spend, it's a dream come true.

You come in, and they've got the finest everything

for you to choose what you want to wear.

Aaron, he was a master at detail.

If an extra walked by and had the same color on

as one of the principals,

he absolutely would have to reshoot this.

There's been no show

that I did before, during, or after

that has ever had a budget like that for a wardrobe.

The clothes literally became one of the stars of the show.

[dynamic music playing]

[Jim] The '80s happened to be an explosion of fashion

that Dynasty helped happen with those Nolan Miller designs.

The shoulder pads and the hair got bigger and bigger and bigger

as they tried to outdo themselves

and be more and more glam

and more and more aspirational.

They were couture, real haute couture.

I salivated over those clothes.

The clothes were sensational.

[indistinct] was so damn glamorous. [laughs]

One of the fascinations about Dynasty

that causes millions of people

to watch every week is the fashion.

[Mark] In the whole running of the show,

the clothing were the only thing that actually won an Emmy.

No actor ever won an Emmy,

but Nolan won an Emmy for wardrobe.

If you think about it, the cast of Dynasty

were basically influencers.

[woman] They'll be able to dress like the characters of Dynasty,

smell like the characters of Dynasty,

and make their homes look like it.

[announcer] Dynasty star Joan Collins

has her own jewelry collection.

Nolan was asked numerously

to create retail fashion lines.

[announcer] After the show began,

Miller started receiving thousands of letters

asking where viewers could buy

the same kind of clothes on the show.

He finally recreated a line for Bloomingdale's,

which was epic.

[announcer] He made 101 classic outfits

from the hit series available to high fashion fans everywhere.

[Mark] It was chaos at the store

when they debuted the collection.

The characters,

they had all shown up, all the actors.

It really was something.

I really think that Dynasty got it right

in that it embraced the femaleness of it all.

They wisely knew who their audience was

and who was watching.

[Al] The role of women on Dynasty

was an important issue.

Almost from the beginning, they looked great

and they dressed great.

They weren't in the kitchen

or taking the kids to school or taking them to soccer games.

It wasn't really until Dynasty that we had seen women

in very powerful roles

as CEOs of companies.

If I do not get that approval,

I shall fire you all on the spot.

Don't think that just because Blake Carrington isn't here

that I won't be keeping an eye on you.

Every one of you.

You are now working for me.

I suppose they call it a bitch because it's a woman.

If it was a man, they would call it

a very dedicated career person who's strong and forceful.

But because it's a woman, they call her a bitch.

What do you want, Miss Deveraux?

For now, not much really.

When Diahann Carroll joined Dynasty

as Dominique Deveraux...

From now on, every deal you make,

every step you take,

turn and look over your shoulder

because sooner or later, I will be standing there.

She broke the glass ceiling to some degree

in representation especially of Black wealth and opulence.

You're suing me.

Exactly.

And bringing a whole new level of storytelling to Dynasty

that we hadn't seen before

on that show or, really, in television.

Women are interested in seeing women look beautiful

and be powerful and be smart.

Joan was the first woman at age 50

that was put on the cover of Playboy magazine.

Hugh Hefner approached her.

She nervously said yes, did it,

and so, it really was a new chapter for women.

And it was about a whole resurgence of beautiful women.

[announcer] Joan Collins is one of the most photographed

and written about people in the world.

[Michael] It really morphed into a cultural phenomenon.

[Catherine Oxenberg] We loved the fact that

we were on the magazine covers

and everybody was talking about the show

and that we felt we were invincible.

100 million people a week globally watched the show.

The visibility was huge.

[Michael] The world was Dynasty mad.

Dynasty and Dallas became era-defining hits

and were alternating with, you know,

who could be number one and who could be number two

in the primetime lineup.

[announcer] ABC's soap opera Dynasty finished

on top of the Nielsen ratings last week.

Nobody ever dreamt, I think, in their wildest dreams

it was going to be as successful.

-Dynasty! -Dynasty.

Thank you very much.

I want to thank Sophia Loren for turning down the part.

[audience applauding]

-And thank you very much indeed. -Very, very grateful.

The parties they threw got fancier.

The hair got bigger, the shoulder pads got bigger,

the cars got fancier.

[reporter] Up over the mountain to Encino,

to the hot club where a big party was going on.

They had Dynasty parties on the night that Dynasty showed

and they'd all watch it together and scream at the same scenes.

What gave you the idea to throw the party?

There was this whole kind of thing going on in America

of everybody having Dynasty parties on Wednesday night.

You know, if so-and-so says a certain line,

you know, you got to chug a beer.

Everybody sort of got into this sort of Dynasty fever

and we would all go to gay bars

in West Hollywood the night of the show,

and it was great

because we sort of saw it with the fans.

I think one of the downsides

of Dynasty becoming a huge success

is that there was a lot more pressure on the show

to become more mainstream and shy away

from some of the more controversial storylines,

and as a result, they pulled back quite a bit

from some of those storylines

that were real landmarks of Dynasty early on.

Where would you like me to put the money?

Come on, don't tell me this is your first time with a hooker.

No, it wasn't.

It's interesting, the early episodes of Dynasty,

they were a lot grittier.

I wanted you to be a man.

I am a man, just not your kind.

Dynasty became a bit of a different show.

It was less about business,

it was less about the gritty storylines.

Behind the scenes,

there was always a lot of discussion

about how gay Steven could be.

They had a hard time, for whatever reason,

committing to Steven just being completely gay.

You said to me that it made you sick,

me putting my hands on another man.

Okay, I'm putting them on women.

I remember being on the set, across the table in the scene

with my gay lover,

and I reached over

and I was going to just put my hand

on his hand in the scene.

And someone from ABC came over and said,

"You can't do that."

I said, "What do you mean?"

And by the way,

"If you're going to hug him,

you have to either be saying goodbye or hello."

That was surprising to me,

it caught me off guard as an actor.

-Hi. -Hi.

How do you have an out gay character

who can only maybe, like, touch and hug his partners?

So, they started exploring

his relationships with other characters,

specifically female characters.

I'm Sammy Jo Dean, Krystle Carrington's niece.

They decided to make him bisexual,

and they made him, he got married to Sammy Jo,

Heather Locklear.

You missed a really big opportunity here.

Now it's like he's gay, he's not gay,

you know, and it's redundant as an actor.

If you're not willing to go in

and go a little bit below the surface,

even in a soap opera,

what's the point of the character?

So I was really disappointed, to be quite honest.

When I showed my unhappiness

with where the character was going,

and I think they just said, you know, "Okay, well, fine."

I said, "Okay, fine," that was it.

He didn't appreciate that, didn't think it was right,

and as a result, ultimately, left the show.

[announcer] Steven was first played by Al Corley,

but when the actor complained about the show,

he was killed off, then brought back by Jack Coleman.

Good evening, Ben.

You are trying to visualize what you will look like?

I was on the phone with my mother,

and all of a sudden,

the operator came in, said,

"We have an emergency phone call from Howard Goldberg, my agent,"

and he said, "You got it."

He was on that unfortunate rig in the China Sea

where there's the explosion,

and Steven went from Al to me.

Are you ready for a look?

Thank you, Dr. Chen,

for giving me a face I'll be able to live with.

As you do, you survive an oil rig fire,

and you come back with a new face.

The immaculate surgery,

and facial reconstruction without a scar,

and perfectly coiffed hair, I might add.

Steven!

That was maybe one of the most Dynasty things

of all Dynasty things.

You know, I thought it was pretty silly,

but under the circumstances,

the character was popular in certain areas,

so they really couldn't kill him off.

What did end up happening with Steven is he did end up

getting watered down, and I can't imagine

that it was not the case that the timing

of the HIV-AIDS epidemic had a lot to do with it.

A mystery disease known as "The Gay Plague"

has become an epidemic unprecedented

in the history of American medicine.

The first reports I ever saw, and I think that ever aired,

about something that was then called GRID,

gay-related immunodeficiency, were in 1981.

[announcer] When AIDS was first discovered

more than two years ago,

it was sometimes called "The Gay Plague".

That's because virtually all of the victims were homosexual.

GRID became named HIV-AIDS.

[reporter] It appeared a year ago

in New York's gay community.

[Jim] Suddenly, gay sex was dangerous.

Gay romance led to something dangerous,

and we had to pull back, we were all afraid.

[announcer] 70% of its victims are gay men.

[announcer 2] The deadly disease has been mostly striking

homosexual men.

Thousands of people in this country have AIDS.

This is not a political issue, this is a health issue.

This is not a gay issue, this is a human issue.

The irony is that Dynasty would eventually be at the heart

of that controversy of HIV-AIDS with its Rock Hudson storyline.

Rock Hudson was cast on the show,

and it was in the middle of AIDS.

I have a rule.

I never go after anything that can't be taken.

Does that rule hold only for companies,

or does it apply to wives as well?

Rock came on the set, and first of all,

I was thrilled to be working with him.

He was sick at the time,

and I felt very bad.

He was very thin.

We certainly knew early on in the show

that something was not right with him,

and he was very weak and very gaunt and pale.

[Michael] In Dynasty, there were scenes

where Rock Hudson's character

kisses Krystle, Linda Evans' character.

I don't think Rock Hudson had come out as gay

or that he had AIDS at the time.

Mr. Rock Hudson had acquired

immune deficiency syndrome,

which was diagnosed over a year ago.

We were told by a lot of medical people

that AIDS could be transmitted that way by kissing,

and I was just so scared for Linda.

When it came out that Rock Hudson, you know,

had AIDS and that he had kissed Linda Evans on Dynasty...

I think everybody wondered why he would do that.

In those days, no one knew a damn thing

about AIDS, and it was panic time.

I don't sense a feeling of panic on the soundstage,

but I think it's very frightening

how people are taking this.

The way she handled it in the press was

the way she handled it in private,

and she just said, "I'm not worried about that."

Linda Evans was an enormously good sport about it.

She took his side.

I think she was incredibly courageous

in showing the world how to be-- I'm tearing up,

in how to be gracious about this disease

and not be freaked out and not blame or stigmatize

someone who had the disease.

[announcer] As for Rock, his role on Dynasty

would prove to be his last.

He returned home from Paris, and in a matter of weeks,

the one-time robust and powerful screen legend was gone.

I just recently realized that he died

the same year that he was working on our show.

I think it was really important.

We were hobnobbing with high-ranking members

of the Republican Party in a way that...

you know, it couldn't be ignored.

You know, Ronald Reagan didn't mention the word AIDS

until I think year seven of his eight years in office.

We will, I will, do all that God gives us the power to do

to find a cure for AIDS.

In a way, it actually educated the public a little bit more

and brought this conversation to the forefront

as people were just learning what it meant to

both be HIV-positive and also be contracted with AIDS.

I'm very proud of the work that Dynasty accidentally did

on the HIV-AIDS front.

I'm worried about you being out in that kind of a world.

You are talking about AIDS, right?

I'm talking about a disease that kills.

Dad, I'm as aware of the problem as you are.

Dynasty stayed on top for as many years as it did

by being bigger, bolder, brasher.

[dramatic tone playing]

Oh, my God!

It was strange, it was almost like

as it started climbing into this great success,

it became a campy version of itself.

So, a storyline that might have played out

in season one, is going to be amped up

if you're doing anything like it in season six.

I knew her.

It was totally over the top, and it knew it.

Earnest in its over-the-top-ness.

Bitch!

My favourite example of this,

I think it was called "The Royal Wedding".

Sun will shine on a happy bride after all.

Amanda Carrington, brilliantly played by Catherine Oxenberg,

she's getting married to the Prince of Moldavia.

There is apparently unrest in the kingdom,

and there are terrorists who want to take down the monarchy,

and what better place to do that but at Amanda's wedding?

-I thee wed. -Let us pray in peace.

[gunshots booming]

-[guests screaming] -Protect the King!

Amanda!

[indistinct]

"Who Shot J.R." had been done five years earlier

and was celebrated

as one of the great stunts of all time.

[gunshots booming]

So "Who Shot J.R." had been a brilliant moment

in American television.

[gunshots booming]

Dynasty, we'll top that.

We're going to end the season

with who shot the entire cast of Dynasty.

Take that, Dallas.

There is almost a pyramid-like

pile of carnage.

And of course, the next season,

most of them get up and do one of these things.

No, my wife and my family are in there.

I've got to get in there.

So, lazy, pulling fast one,

cheating, all horrible things they do to the audience.

But it was so much fun while it lasted.

The scripts on Dynasty, generally speaking,

left something to be desired.

Like, Moldavia? Where is Aaron Spelling?

He's this wonderful producer, and he let all this crap happen?

A friend of mine who was an associate producer

wasn't allowed to say it, but she told me.

At the writers' meeting,

Esther and her husband Richard Shapiro,

who invented the show, writers' meeting,

Esther shows up.

"First person who laughs is fired.

'Richard has had a vision.

"Aliens."

[cosmic tone playing]

Aliens!

[Gordon] What a load of [bleep].

Pardon me, pure [bleep].

The idea was ludicrous and laughable.

I was going crazy with some of those scripts

and with some of those plot lines.

I just thought they were awful.

When we got into aliens,

that felt pretty sharky-jumpy.

-It destroyed the show. -It had competition, too.

Other shows, of course, newer, shinier shows came around.

I remember

approaching the set

for some reason with Aaron,

and he said, "Well, we're still alive."

I said, "Okay, I didn't realize we're dying."

I think two weeks later, we were canceled.

[Alexis screaming]

[gunshots booming]

Blake!

Blake.

Joan Collins was pushed off a balcony,

Linda Evans was in a coma, and John Forsythe was shot.

When the show was abruptly canceled,

angry fans demanded to know

what happened to their characters.

I thought it was very unfair to end the series

with fans, everybody up in the air.

It would be nice to end it

with some definitive thing,

to know what happened to the people,

and to do it with some kind of dignity.

The ninth season of Dynasty ended up being the last.

They didn't know that, so there were still

a lot of loose threads when the show ended

that eventually would be resolved

when they did a reunion miniseries later on.

[announcer] Yes, it's true, the family you love to watch

stab each other in the back is back.

They felt they owed it to the fans

who had watched Dynasty throughout the years.

It all eventually got resolved in that reunion special,

which wrapped it up in a nice bow around a package.

-Hi, Dad. -Hello, son.

Alexis?

Oh, my God.

Isn't it interesting that Dynasty stayed on top

for almost exactly the length of the Reagan administration?

It started in 1981 with the inauguration month,

and it ended in 1989.

The '90s were about to dawn.

I, George Herbert Walker Bush,

do solemnly swear.

Maybe we shouldn't be about greed,

and we shouldn't be about eating cake for dinner.

[Al] I look back on it now,

you know, it was a kind of a cultural thing.

It was a kind of product of the time.

It was a good show for what it was.

Richard and Esther Shapiro

made an attempt to break some ground,

and I think they did.

So, I'm really proud of that part of it.

It was so intense.

Those nine years were so amazing.

I wouldn't have given them up for anything in the world.

It was an extraordinary thing to experience.

Dynasty has become somewhat iconic,

and I think I'd quite like to be remembered

for having given a lot of people

a lot of pleasure and laughs.

It did not take anything that seriously,

and I think that's why people watch television

then and now, is to escape.

Total escapism,

and also the American dream.

Come to America, and you can be a billionaire.

The legacy of Dynasty for me,

obviously, is the fashion.

I wish Nolan could be here today,

because he would be so proud.

Having dressed Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren,

Joan Collins, is why over time

Julia Roberts, Angelina Jolie, Beyoncé,

everybody would come to me, because I was there.

And I owe that to Nolan, I owe that to Dynasty,

I owe it to Aaron Spelling, Joan Collins,

I owe it to everybody.

[Derrik] When you think about history,

there are lots of dynasties,

that's where the name comes from.

Like, look at the Kardashians.

They basically are another version of the Carringtons.

Super successful, super well-known, rich,

and don't really care what anybody thinks about them.

Being surrounded by opulence,

and a dirty martini in a crystal glass,

and fabulous [bleep] everywhere.

That is definitely leftover from Dynasty.

Dynasty made it okay to flaunt your wealth,

made the people who weren't wealthy think

that's what wealthy people do and should do.

You literally-- I will literally [bleep] you up.

The idea of the cat fight, the claws out.

-I asked you something. -Well, here's your answer.

[both screaming]

I worked with all the Kardashians,

they love Dynasty.

Kris Jenner lived for Dynasty.

So, you can see that when you look at

them dressing today

to what was happening on Dynasty,

it's pretty parallel.

Succession probably owes a little tip of the hat

to the rich, miserable people.

Money wins.

[Pamela] Every decade has had its TV shows

about how messed up rich people are.

And people love that, they love that.

Because let's face it, there's only this many rich people

and everybody else is in this group.

[Michael] I think Dynasty's greatest legacy is

when you think the '80s, you think Dynasty.

This was a show that was pure Reaganomics.

It was pure greed.

It was pure go-go, greed is good,

early '80s nonsense

that definitely doesn't hold up today.

But it's-- it's a fun snapshot

of an era that's now long past.

[jazz music playing]