Dynasty Season 1 on April 19 (1 Viewer)

I couldn't see this posted here, so I thought I'd steal someone's thunder. From TVShowsonDVD.com :

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=2717

Talk about your lifestyles of the rich and bitchy! Well, it's a lesser level of bitchy in the first Alexis-less season, as John Forsythe ("Blake Carrington") and Linda Evans ("Krystle Carrington") get married and rule Denver high society with all their oil-earned riches. Dynasty - Season 1 DVDs will arrive in stores on April 19th. Note that Pamela Sue Martin ("Fallon") was also in the cast at this point, among others, but "Alexis" (Joan Collins) and "Sammy Jo" (Heather Locklear) didn't join the cast of characters in this nighttime soap until the second season.

Video will be the orginal 1.33:1, and audio is in Dolby Stereo for English, French, and Spanish. SRP is $39.98 in the USA and $54.98 in Canada. Running 716 minutes, it looks like the correct episode count is "15", because the contents list provided by Fox seems to indicate that the triple-length pilot episode "Oil" (which was the original title of this show designed to steal Dallas's thunder) is spilt into three parts and broken onto two sides of a double-sided disc, and the double-length episode that orginally aired on March 2, 1981 is on the same side of the same disc, but seems to be broken into the separate episodes "Krystle's Lie" and "The Necklace", which is how it appears in syndication. Here's Fox's disc-by-disc breakdown, including extras:

Disc 1, Side 1:
"Oil" Part 1
"Oil" Part 2
Extra:
Commentary by Creator/Exec Producer Esther Shapiro
Disc 1, Side 2:
"Oil" Part 3
"The Honeymoon"
Disc 2, Side 1:
"The Dinner Party"
"Fallon's Wedding"
Disc 2, Side 2:
"The Chauffeur Tells a Secret"
"The Bordello"
Disc 3, Side 1:
"Krystle's Lie" Part 1
"The Necklace" Part 2
Disc 3, Side 2:
"The Beating"
"The Birthday Party"
Disc 4, Side 1:
"The Separation"
"Blake Goes to Jail"
Disc 4, Side 2:
"The Testimony"
Extras:
Commentary by Esther Shapiro, Al Corley (the original "Seven Carrington") and Pamela Sue Martin
Dynasty Overview
Family Tree: Pamela Sue Martin Profile
Family Tree: Al Corley Profile
Outtakes

Stay tuned for cover art!

Richard beat me to it. I asked for them to delete my thread.


I've been waiting for this show for a while. I've recorded it on VHS, but they're syndication versions and again, VHS. I actually preferred it to Dallas. I grew up in the 80's and remember watching this show every Wednesday night, even when I was too young to fully understand everything. I started watching it back in '81, and just kept watching. I'll be glad to buy it, provided that the episodes are not edited.

In my opinion, the show was at its best for the first 4-5 seasons. The whole Moldavia fiasco along with 'Jeff' and 'Fallon' leaving for 'The Colbys' blew a hole in the series. It went through two bad seasons and improved for the final two but it was never the same.

I'm a little concerned by David's article, though. He mentioned that the three-hour pilot and a two-hour episode are split episodes on the set, just like they appear in syndication. This has me worried that we might be getting edited syndication versions. That would be a shame. I hope they release it complete. It would be nice to get the "Previously, on Dynasty..." and "Next, on Dynasty" openings and closings too, but I doubt we'll see those.

Sorry, Dave. I did say I was going to steal someone's thunder...

At any rate, this is not normally something that would raise my interest, but ever since I started watching Dallas on DVD, I suddenly find myself interested in what is sure to be a highly anticipated release.

However, I too am concerned about the splitting of episodes. Not so much over this particular release - I doubt I will get it unless as a review disc - but over the possibility that this could be Fox's trend for syndicated shows here on in.

Not a problem. You might want to give this show a shot, especially the first four seasons. The first season is pretty different from the remaining seasons. If you find that you don't care for Season 1, check out some of Season 2 and 3 before forming a final opinion on it.

Season 5 was missing a pretty important character, Fallon, so the show lost something, in my opinion. It wasn't too bad, though. Seasons 6 and 7 cost the series a lot of viewers in its original run due to the stories and loss of important characters to 'The Colbys' spinoff. Seasons 8 and 9 were a nice improvement but the series was never again as good as it was the first four seasons, in my opinion.

I hope Fox doesn't axe the show after season 1, because I do think the lack of Alexis might cost some sales that will come into the latter seasons. Joan was really what seperated Dynasty from the other period prime time soaps.

Good point. They may have been better served by releasing season one and two at the same time. This would ensure that Alexis material would be available at retail to capitalize on the heavy promotional push Fox is sure to put forth to launch this box set series. The Alexis character is so strongly associated with Dynasty that many potential buyers might not realize that Alexis did not appear in the first season (until the closing moments of the season finale.) Casual fans who end up navigating to the second season first, because of Joan Collins, might be inclined to go back for the first season set (even if it is after the fact) to see how it all began. Fox will have to market this carefully or they may wind up with many unhappy returns...

Actually, that's not a bad idea. Alexis Carrington is to Dynasty what J.R. Ewing was to Dallas.

Actually Joan Collins was never in the first season. If I'm not mistaken, I think it was a supermodel stand-in.

I agree. As Gary said, it probably would have been a good idea to release seasons 1 and 2 together. Since that's not happening, they should somehow advertise, either through an insert or a trailer on disc 1, the fact that Alexis will be coming in Season 2.

Fox is making a big boo-boo here. The first season was dull compared the the second season, which is where Dynasty as we know it really begins with the arrival of Joan Collins and the intro of Heather Locklear. They should have done what Warners did with Dallas and put the first two seasons together in one package.

It's kind of like what MPI Home Video did with Dark Shadows on VHS and DVD: they started with the 1st appearance of Jonathan Frid as vampire Barnabas Collins on the show, which was actually ten months into the shows' run (April 1967) and continued until the last episode in April 1971, and then put the pre-Barnabas episodes on home video starting with Episode #1 (June 27, 1966) and up to the Barnabas episodes.

One last thought:with Fox putting "Dynasty" on DVD, can "Peyton Place" be far behind?

Check my post on that subject below:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...ghlight=Peyton

My wife is hoping this bodes well for a possible Knots Landing release. (if prime time soaps keep coming).

Hey, think positive everyone. The fact that they're putting some nice extras on the release is a sign of at least some studio support. And Fox is one of the savvier DVD studios out there. They have to know that Season Two, which has Collins and (let's not forget) the ever-popular Heather Locklear as white trash babe Sammy Jo would have greater sales potential.

And if Season Two doesn't come out quickly, there can also be lots of HTF posts asking for it. I'm sure that will do the trick!

I think the Family Tree profiles of Pamela Sue Martin and Al Corley are encouraging signs that they plan on releasing future seasons, in that the characters both actors played ended up being portrayed by someone else later in the series' run, so the season 1 release would be the one to focus on those actors. They'd have ample opportunity with later releases to focus on John Forsythe, Linda Evans, Joan Collins, Emma Samms, etc. At least that's my read on it.

Great news.
Did anyone see that god awful TV movie recently about Dynasty? The guy who played Al(Steven) kept bitching that his character was turned from gay to straight. Go Al! Silly movie but looking forward to the series.

Ah, I cannot wait! Dynasty was my favorite primetime soap, and I thought the first season was wonderful despite the lack of Joan Collins as Alexis. IMO, during the first season, the writing and acting were great, and the characters were fleshed out a lot better (Krystle wasn't nearly as much of a pushover in this season as she became later on). In particular, I loved Pamela Sue Martin in this season as bitchy Fallon.

Like you guys, I wish they had released season 1 and 2 at the same time since season 1 lacks Joan Collins, who is obviously the most recognizable part of the show.

This is great news, although I'm quite confused as to why Fox is putting only two 48-minute episodes per side -- they could easily put 4 episodes per side (3 hrs. 12 min. total running time), still have a high quality picture, AND condense the set down to 2 DVDs!!

Seasons 4-7 were 27, 29, 31(!), and 28 episodes, respectively -- are we ready for 7 and 8 disc sets???

Seriously, if they're only putting two episodes per side, just put all 4 episodes on one single-sided DVD!!

this is superb news indeed

I agree with you. I actually liked the first season too. I still think they should have released 1 and 2 together because many people think of Alexis vs. Blake when they think of Dynasty. I don't mind Season 1 being released on its own but I hope it doesn't turn off the casual buyer and hurt sales. Season 1 was good, though. You had Matthew and his family, Fallon and the chauffeur, and a stronger Krystle. Blake was darker too.

I honestly can't help but wonder if Fox themselves - or at least some of their marketing people, anyway - might be confused about the absence of Joan Collins and Heather Locklear in the first season. Their official announcement synopsis includes the following list of actors:




I wanted to point out and make it crystal-clear (not "Krystle clear" - ha ha) that Joan Collins in particular did NOT appear in the first season, that the ex-wife appeared in the last seconds of the season finale hidden behind a veil because it was some model (Maggie Wickman) dressed up to represent Blake's ex coming to tesitfy (at the time not named as "Alexis", but rather credited as "Madeline Carrington"!!! ). They originally tried to get Elizabeth Tayler, Raquel Welch, and Sophia Loren to play the role, but were turned down. Come that cliffhanger, they had noone cast so they relied on the stunt to get them past the end of the season, and then in the off-season they finally got Joan Collins cast. Then Heather Locklear as Sammy Jo showed up midway through S2.

I watched that recent telefilm...it did a pretty good job of telling the behind-the-scenes story from a layman perspective, if you ask me. It covered this stuff I talk about, too (though noticably it didn't mention that Raquel Welch, or at least her people, had been approached about her playing Blake's ex). But really, none of what I talk about above or in my news post should end up being a surprise to folks who are interested in buying this set. Old fans should know all this, and potential new fans probably watched that telefilm, don't you think?

Hi David

Great to see this coming on dvd as last week here in the UK they showed a reunion of sorts including Nolan Miller talking about the outrageous costumes they were wearing. Other actors invloved Emma Samms, Joan Collins and Jack Coleman.

Never knew that RW was approached though

Hello, Dave

Yep, us Dynasty "vets" knew about the 1st Season's "Blake's Ex" thing. BTW, thanks for the pricing info about the Bob Newhart Show Season 1. Can't wait till that one streets! Classic series for sure

Keep up the great posts

- Jeff Willis "Bionic Series" fanatic