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TV
Guide - April 19th, 1986
Review:
The Colbys
"The
Authoritiy of Wealth, the Passions of Love and the Intrigues of Willful
Sensuality Ignite the Interrelationships of the Dynamic, Strong-willed
Colby Family ... "
That's
how an early press release described The Colbys and by golly you've got
to admire the publicist who packed that whole ball of wackos into one
practically readable sentence.
The
Carringtons of Dynasty and the Colbys are sort of related. Best we could
figure out is that Fallon Carrington Colby (now played by Emma Samms)
was married to, divorced from, and about to remarry Jeff Colby (John
James) when she contracted a severe case of multi-episode amnesia and
wound up as the wife of Miles Colby (Maxwell Caulfield). Jeff, heir
apparent to the Colby oil holdings, is the son of Francesca Scott Colby
Hamilton Langdon (Katharine Ross), widow of Philip Colby, the nogoodnik
brother of Jason Colby. Jason is commonly referred to as the
"patriarch" of the family, and for good reason ~ he is played
by Charlton Heston, who can patriarch with the best of them.
We
haven't got all day here. Last we saw, Fallon and Jeff were getting
remarried after she and Jeff went through their young son's near-fatal
illness together and their love was rekindled ~ at very least. The heavy
in this one is Jason's wife, Sable (Stephanie Beacham), an
English-accented yenta who meddles and plots to help her three children
by Jason ~ the twins, Miles and Monica (Tracy Scoggins) and young Bliss
(Claire Yarlett). You also see a lot of Jason's sister Constance
(Barbara Stanwyck); her rugged but noble boyfriend Hutch Corrigan
(Joseph Campanella); Garrett Boydston (Ken Howard), the company lawyer
who has eyes for Dominique Devereaux (Diahann Carroll, on loan from
Dynasty); and a dastardly, smooth-talking villain out to do the Colbys
no good, Zachary Powers (Ricardo Montalban).
Since
this is a product of Richard and Esther Shapiro and Robert and Eileen
Pollock, the elite among soap-opera professionals, The Colbys is
well-written and impeccably produced. There is a tasteful lack of
ostentation about the lush sets. What acting is called for, with the
veterans noted above setting the tone, is as competent as any on
television.
Still,
there are the needs and the limitations of soap opera. A large cast must
be utilized ~ and egos satisfied. The music must be ominous. The pauses
must be pregnant. The looks must be arch, meaningful or soulful. The
stories must concern greed, lust, jealousy, hate, betrayal and other
deplorable human foibles that lead to misery. Humor, which might relieve
some of the overwhelming aura of depression that permeates these shows,
is nowhere in evidence.
In
that sense, The Colbys, like all the other nighttime ~ and daytime ~
soap operas, is not true to life. Somehow no matter how unhappy a
situation in real life, we always try to find a way to relieve the
tension by finding some humor in it. Not so the folks who inhabit these
shows. Gloom and doom hang over everything ~ meals, evenings out,
bedrooms. One wants to shout, "Enjoy something, for goodness' sake.
Cheer up!"
By
Robert MacKenzie |
