Let ‘Catfights’ begin!
By Mark A. Perigard, The Boston Herald
Tuesday, May 2, 2006

When you get together with old friends, you want to laugh about good times, not dwell onbad memories.
“Dynasty Reunion: Catfights & Caviar” takes a wrong turn on memory lane before finding its trashy self.
It starts promisingly, with the familiar Bill Conti trumpets blaring. A Rolls deposits Joan Collins at the mansion that served as the headquarters for the Carrington family. She’s greeted with faux kisses by Linda Evans (Krystle), and the two drop their wraps into the arms of two butlers without a backward glance.
At 72, Collins’ bargain with Satan is earning dividends twice over; at 63, Evans is either prepping to play Mae West or in need of a collagen intervention.
In clips to introduce the show, producer Henry Winkler errs by dwelling on first-season Blake (John Forsythe), a raging homophobe who offers to fund “The Steven Carrington Institute for the Treatment and Study of Faggotry” and kills Steven’s boyfriend.
Co-creator Richard Shapiro dismisses the murder, saying, “Those things happen.”
Way to kill a party.
The “Dynasty” most folks cherish is the one that began in the second season with the introduction of Collins as first-wife Alexis. The show found its voice as an over-the-top sendup of the Reagan era.
Evans and Collins, who seem fond of each other, laugh about their trademark shoulder pads and the show’s merchandising. They even play with dolls based on their likenesses. “Dahhling, I thought you were dead,” they laugh in unison.
They’re joined by the Carrington children, Al Corley (Steven No. 1), Pamela Sue Martin (Fallon No. 1), Gordon Thomson (Adam) and Catherine Oxenberg (Amanda No. 1).
Given the series’ revolving door, most of these people never worked together. Oxenberg and Martin meet for the first time.
Pamela Bellwood (Claudia), Emma Samms (Fallon No. 2) and Jack Coleman (Steven No. 2) appear in cameo segments taped after the reunion. (There apparently is no room at the mansion for second-hand goods.)
Collins razzes Martin for leaving the show as it was climbing to the top. Martin, still a rebel, dressed in a denim jacket to everyone else’s formalwear, smiles and says she was looking for a real life.
The clips cover the many catfights for which the show was notorious.Collins relied on a double, but Evans did her own stunts, prompting Collins to grin, “You’re such a jock, Linda.”
Forsythe makes a late appearance. At 88, he is frail yet still can model a tux. His former castmates adore him. But it’s not a reunion without trailer trash Sammy Jo. Heather Locklear seems to be caught up in her own real-life soap opera, but that’s no reason to omit even her notorious slide down the Carrington bannister.
At a hour, “Dynasty Reunion: Catfights & Caviar” is more like cheese on a Ritz cracker. Maybe ratings will warrant a thorough retrospective or an expanded DVD release.