If you've seen my posts in the Dynasty thread, you will know that I am nearing the end of that series... finally! After batting around ideas as to which series I should finish next, I decided I want to finish the show that came from this show. What's there to look forward to?
What's there to look forward to? Stephanie Beacham, she's brilliant. Better art direction. More and better use of location shoots. James Houghton being used more effectively than on "Knots Landing". Just don't expect the Fallon of "The Colbys" to be anything like the Fallon of "Dynasty".
Oh yeah, Sable is a delight. That scene with her and Jason is one of soap world's finest if we're being honest - Beacham is killing it.
That scene is the stuff of grand opera arias. It manages to have both a heightened sense of drama while being completely honest emotionally. Thirty years later it still stands out as one of the most compelling scenes I've ever had the pleasure of viewing.
Okay, I'm up to the episode where Miles and Fallon sign their annulment papers and Dominique's, the club, is opening up in Los Angeles. Some of my thoughts thus far: -- I am all in this Jeff/Fallon/Miles love triangle. Initially, I wasn't too sure I'd be into it because of Emma Samms' turn as Fallon, but it's really grown on me. I'm a fairly big fan of Miles (I didn't think I would be), and I actually feel sad for his loosing out to Jeff for Fallon's love. -- I knew that Sean McCallister was a spy from the start. The minute I saw him and saw how hard he was against Jason and the Colby empire, I smelt a rat. I wasn't expecting him to be linked to Zach Powers, but I was at least half-right. -- To me, I have the feeling that the romance with Jason and Francesca is paving the way to have Sable as the vengeful ex-wife and Francesca as the ingénue step-in, therefore replicating the setup over on the parent show. I could be wrong, but that's the hunch I have. -- As for Monica, well, I like her, but I don't really know about this business with pleasure story. I smell another rat in her foe-turned-lover, and I'm also on the fence about this blind singer she's discovered and wanting to build up. -- I wish there could be more done with Bliss, but I don't really know what it could be. I like her, and I want to see more of her, but even I don't really know what her arc could necessarily be. Aside from her love affair with Sean, she hasn't brought anything else to the stories, and she's been absent from a handful of episodes. -- Then there's Connie. I've never been a mega Barbara Stanwyck fan, as many here a well aware, and this hasn't necessarily changed my thoughts. I do like the old Hollywood elegance she brings to the table, and I do like her love for this cowboy Hutch does give the show a sense of warmth. Who knows, I might emerge as a Stanwyck fan after all. That's some of thoughts this far. I'll elaborate if one wishes, and I'll come back to through in some other thoughts as I go forth.
There have been a few creative ideas suggested on this forum about what to do with Bliss. One idea was that they go all out with her by making her an out-of-control party girl who boozes and does drugs, to the point where Jason and Connie think of her as a failure, although Sable won't give up on her daughter. At one point, it's revealed that Monica had once accused Connie's husband of molesting her, which almost tore the family apart with Connie defending her husband ("That's a damned lie!"), Sable supporting her daughter ("If she said he did it, then he did it!") and Jason being forced to pick a side... ultimately siding with his sister and brother-in-law. It's then discovered that Connie's husband had either molested or raped Bliss as well, and because of the whole to-do with Monica, Bliss kept the whole thing to herself, which sent her on that downward spiral of hard partying. Of course everyone is aghast and feels beyond horrible: Monica's reaction is, "I could have - no, I *should* have been there for her!" Jason's reaction is, "I let that man live in my house!" and Sable's reaction is to rage at Connie, "YOU brought that monster into our house! YOU were the one who unleashed him on my daughters! YOU are the cause for all this misery!" The shock of the whole incident gives Connie a stroke, and she collapses as Sable vents her wrath and Jason rushes over to his sister, roaring for somebody to call an ambulance... Sadly, this never happens on the show. But it all sounded like a thrilling idea.