TV Review | 'Dynasty Reunion: Catfights & Caviar'
A Look Back at 'Dynasty' and the Excess of the 1980's
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
Published: May 2, 2006

There is no point in pretending that "Dynasty Reunion: Catfights & Caviar" isn't primarily a freak show. Joan Collins and Linda Evans return to the set of the Carrington mansion trussed into slinky Nolan Miller evening gowns, their hair girlishly long, their faces stretched and frozen, trying to look exactly as they did 25 years ago. Mostly the actresses look like latter-day Mrs. Skeffingtons — elderly women hoping that in the right light, with the right hairpiece and strategic tuck, they do not look as if they were falling to bits.

After the actresses exchange their first air kiss ("You look great" and "How fabulous to be back!"), tonight's hourlong CBS special settles into a brisk set of interviews with other, less memorable cast members (Heather Locklear did not participate) and a long, delicious montage of clips of Alexis and Krystle punching, scratching and mud wrestling, set to Pat Benatar's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot."

Only at the end of the show, when John Forsythe, now in his late 80's and very frail, makes his entrance, does the special have any poignancy.

But it doesn't matter. "Dynasty" wasn't just about big hair, big shoulders and catfights in the lily pond. The ABC series was the fictional libretto of the Reagan presidency — the triumph of a glittering gerontocracy. Most eras look innocent in a rearview mirror, but nowadays, especially, those bad old days of plutocrats, ladies who lunch and junk-bond buccaneers look almost sweet. Insider trading was their white-collar crime; Grenada was the closest they came to war.

While Nancy Reagan introduced her posse of thin, rich friends, decorators and hairdressers and Jerry Zipkin to Washington, Ms. Collins brought the menopausal sex symbol to television — back in the days when 50 was still 50. Even her rival, Blake Carrington's second wife, Krystle, played by Ms. Evans, wasn't exactly young. The actress was in her 40's for most of the nighttime soap's nine-season run. (The reunion show includes a clip of Ms. Evans playing a schoolgirl with a crush on Mr. Forsythe in a 1960 episode of the television series "Bachelor Father.")

Together the "Dynasty" rivals seemed like the two sides of the first lady: a ruthless backroom manipulator and also a loving, protective second wife. Sex, of course, wasn't much of an issue in the Reagan White House. (Though there was the posthumous scandal involving Alfred Bloomingdale, the husband of the first friend Betsy Bloomingdale, when his mistress, Vicki Morgan, sued the Bloomingdale estate for palimony. Ms. Morgan was murdered a year later.) But money, power and boudoir scheming were leitmotifs of the first term. Every night on "Dynasty" looked like the 1981 inaugural ball.

It's hard to remember a time when homosexuality was taboo on television, and it is even harder to think of "Dynasty" as an agent of social change, but it was the first prime-time network drama to feature an openly gay leading character, Blake Carrington's son Steven. In the first season, Blake was so horrified by his son's sexual orientation that he struck Steven's lover and accidentally killed him. Blake also had some trouble accepting his saucy, rebellious daughter Fallon.

The filial strains on "Dynasty" had echoes in Washington. Patti Davis's rebellious streak kept showing up in gossip columns. The Reagans' younger son, Ron Jr., left college to become a ballet dancer, and his father felt the need to reassure reporters that his son was "all" man. When the AIDS epidemic hit, the president's reluctance to address it became a scalding political issue.

Both actors who played Steven appear on the special: Al Corley created the role but left after the first season. The writers concocted an explosion in Indonesia that left Steven unrecognizably altered by plastic surgery, and Jack Coleman stepped into the role. There were two Fallons, Pamela Sue Martin, and later, Emma Samms, who also make cameos in "Catfights & Caviar."

CBS has made cast-reunion shows a specialty. The network has relentlessly cannibalized its own archives, including, in 2004, "Dallas Reunion: The Return to Southfork." That series focused on a male villain, Larry Hagman's J. R. Ewing. "Dynasty" showcased women and their fancy clothes and was the "Desperate Housewives" of its day.

"Dynasty" might not have changed television history, but its enormous success — it was the No. 1 show in the 1984-85 season, ahead of both "Dallas" and "The Cosby Show" — was itself a milestone. This nighttime soap would have been fun anytime, but it had a special piquancy because it so campily mirrored the extravagances and vanities of the early years of the Reagan White House.

When "The West Wing" began in 1999, it was a romantically fictionalized version of the Clinton administration. During the reign of Nancy Reagan, "Dynasty" was its own little "East Wing."

Dynasty Reunion

Catfights & Caviar

CBS, tonight at 10, Eastern and Pacific times; 9, Central time.

Michael Levitt and Henry Winkler, executive producers; Greg Sills, supervising producer; Gary Tellalian, producer; Michael Dempsey, director; Stephen Pouliot and Xaque Gruber, writers. Produced by Michael Levitt/Henry Winkler Productions.

WITH: Joan Collins, Linda Evans, John Forsythe, Pamela Bellwood, Jack Coleman, Emma Samms, Al Corley, Pamela Sue Martin, Catherine Oxenberg and Gordon Thomson.
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i would love to see what this ALESSANDRA STANLEY looks like as i know for a fact that joans face doesn't look stretched or frozen i bet this woman would love to look half as good as joan does on a bad day

Welcome to the Dynasty family! If there's anything we can do for please let us know. It's a great group and I'm sure you'll enjoy hanging around.

thankyou very much lookin forward to being part of the team xxx

Isn't that the truth - I think the writer of that aritcle should PRAY she looks HALF as good as Joan at age 72. what a loser!

Yes, you're so right Mrs. Carrington! The writers is talking so badly about the way the two catfight queens look, and God knows they both look gorgeous! And then she's referring to the fact they "weren't exactly young"! Hello lady! So what if they were in their 40's and 50's! That was one of the very important things in the show!!!

BTW - Welcome to the forum PAST IMPERFECT, hope you'll have a great time here!

Hey, is this our lady?

Alessandra Stanley

Wow! Beautiful lady!

Yeah, I know what you mean!

Thanks for the photo of Alessandra -- now we know why she was so mean to our beauties Joan and Linda, SHE'S JEALOUS!

"who let the dogs out" thats the song that comes to mind when i see the pic of alessandra has she ever looked in the mirror

TRUER WORDS WERE NEVER SPOKEN!! LOL!!