The backstories of the Colbys

[Pat Butcher]

Given it's relatively short run, The Colbys never really had a chance to delve as deep into their characters backstories as they could have done. I know Monica revisited her secret past with her lovechild to Cash and the trial revealed Jason and Frankie's affair but I felt there was a number of characters whose pasts would have been ripe for mining for future storylines.

Francesca: like Alexis on Dynasty, she spent many years living abroad exiled from her child. Given that her character was quite boring at times, I always felt that they should have explored her years abroad in order to add some colour and layers to the character. Maybe like Alexis she could have had a secret child in the years between her leaving and returning to the US or picked up an exotic husband to add to her already extensive collection of spouses. Given the distance put between her and her son, she could have been more bitter towards the Colby clan for their treatment of Jeff prior to Connie's gift. Maybe she could have had a shared past with Zach during her years in Europe, putting her and Sable in a similar setup to the real life love affairs of sisters Jackie O and Lee Radziwill who both had flings with Onassis with Jackie eventually marrying him.

Phillip: there was so much that could have been done with him rather than the "I hate my brother and I want my wife back" angle they went for with him. He faked his own death and lived under an assumed identity in the jungles of Asia for years!! His past as a gun runner, his relationship with Maya Kumara, how Connie came to discover he was still alive, there was lots left unsaid about Phillip. I think he could have been one of the most interesting characters on the show had he been developed more.

Kolya: OK so his storyline with Bliss was one of the weak points of the series but given his background of coming from behind the Iron Curtain, there was loads of potential to cover his harsh upbringing in the USSR.

I know these are a lot of what ifs but I do think there was lots of potential to develop the characters of The Colbys in a way that they couldn't do on Dynasty given the way that every character was slotted into either being a good guy, bad guy, good girl or bitch. There was more of a complexity to the characters of The Colbys. Well to some of them anyway.

[witchboy]

Cecil treated Jeff like a son, I don't know what more Frankie could expect from the Colbys since they were much better to Jeff than she ever was. I think Frankie was given a pretty good back story, cheated on her husband with her sister's husband, abandoned her baby after lying about his paternity, then swaned around Europe for 20-30 years, picking up a title from a husband who conviently died. Pretty juciy backstory already imo, but the show just wasted it by trying to push Frankie as the heroine.
Kolya didn't really work at all imo, but then neither did Bliss.

[Pat Butcher]

Cecil treated Jeff like a son, I don't know what more Frankie could expect from the Colbys since they were much better to Jeff than she ever was. I think Frankie was given a pretty good back story, cheated on her husband with her sister's husband, abandoned her baby after lying about his paternity, then swaned around Europe for 20-30 years, picking up a title from a husband who conviently died. Pretty juciy backstory already imo, but the show just wasted it by trying to push Frankie as the heroine.
Kolya didn't really work at all imo, but then neither did Bliss.

I agree with you regarding Frankie. Her backstory was very juicy but aside from the Jason revelation I didn't feel that they utilised her past enough to add more layers to her character. She spent most of her time on The Colbys moping around pining after Jason. They only scratched the surface with her character. As you mentioned, she spent 20-30 years swanning around Europe. They should have made some sort of use of this backstory by allowing her to have a story relating to her past rather than just having her as Jason's love interest. Dynasty did it well occasionally with Alexis like the Rashid Ahmed connection, Amanda and her links to Zach Powers.

I agree about Kolya too. He just didn't work but it was a missed opportunity. He could have added some international intrigue to the show that Falcon Crest was so good at doing.

[grant jennings]

I'm crossing into fan-fiction here but I always imagined Frankie suffering from post-partum depression after giving birth to Jeff and that being compounded by the news that Philip had been killed. This would be enough to make her suffer a breakdown and become suicidal. I imagine Sable taking Frankie to the house at Malibu to cheer her up only to find Frankie wading out into the water and nearly drowning. Sable would save her of course. Connie would arrange to have Frankie commited to a sanitarium out of state, perhaps even out of the country lest she bring shame to the Colby name. Sable would want to look after baby Jeff until her sister had recovered but once again Connie would interfere and insist that Jeff go live with Cecil instead. Frankie would eventually recover and go to Cecil to claim her son only to have Cecil threaten to have her declared an unfit mother. Still very young and with her parents recently deceased, Frankie would feel powerless to fight him. She would return to Europe and hit the bottle and hit the sheets with wealthy aristrocrats (juistifying it to herself that she was looking for a man more powerful than Cecil who would help her regain custody of Jeff). Eventually she would stop deluding herself and admit that she may in fact not be the best person to raise a young child. Overcome by guilt, Frankie would do her best to avoid Jeff for more than twenty years. I can see a young Jeff attneding Frankie's wedding to Hamilton (I've forgotten his first name) and hoping for a reconciliation only to have his mother explain that she's about to go on a long honeymoon and that by the time she returns it will be time for Jeff to return to school. Her explantion would sound very logical but it would still break Jeff's heart. Jeff said he felt like pushing his new stepfather's head into the punchbowl at the reception but I think his anger was really directed at his mother.

[lbf522]

I had no use for Bliss who I saw as a mindless slut. But I do agree that they should have explored the characters more and have more outdoor scenes.