Dynasty (1981 TV series) season 5
| Dynasty | |
|---|---|
| Season 5 | |
_S5_DVD.jpg) | |
| No. of episodes | 29 |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Original release | September 26, 1984 – May 15, 1985 |
| Season chronology | |
The fifth season of Dynasty originally aired in the United States on ABC from September 26, 1984 through May 15, 1985. The series, created by Richard and Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, revolves around the Carringtons, a wealthy family residing in Denver, Colorado.
Season five stars John Forsythe as millionaire oil magnate Blake Carrington; Linda Evans as his wife Krystle; Jack Coleman as Blake and Alexis's earnest son Steven; Gordon Thomson as Blake and Alexis's eldest son Adam; John James as Blake's former son-in-law Jeff Colby; Pamela Bellwood as Steven's wife, Claudia; Heather Locklear as Krystle's niece and Steven's ex-wife Sammy Jo; Michael Nader as Alexis's husband Dex Dexter; Catherine Oxenberg as Blake and Alexis's youngest daughter, Amanda; Michael Praed as Amanda's fiancé Prince Michael of Moldavia; Diahann Carroll as Blake's half-sister Dominique Deveraux; Billy Dee Williams as Dominique's husband, Brady Lloyd; Rock Hudson as Sammy Jo's biological father, Daniel Reece; Ali MacGraw as photographer Lady Ashley Mitchell; and Joan Collins as Alexis Colby, Blake's ex-wife and the mother of Adam, Fallon, Steven, and Amanda. The season also introduced recast Emma Samms as Blake and Alexis's daughter Fallon.
Development
Driven by the new head writer and producer Camille Marchetta, who had devised the wildly successful "Who Shot J.R.?" scenario on Dallas five years earlier, Dynasty hit #1 in the fifth season.[1][2] During the season, Dynasty attracted controversy when Rock Hudson's real-life HIV-positive status was revealed after a romantic storyline between his character Daniel Reece and Evans's Krystle. Hudson's scenes required him to kiss Evans and, as news that he had contracted AIDS broke, there was speculation Evans would be at risk.[3] The event led to a Screen Actors Guild rule requiring the notification of performers in advance of any scenes that require open-mouth kissing.[4]
Undoubtedly the most famous Dynasty cliffhanger is the so-called "Moldavian Massacre" which occurs in the May 15, 1985 fifth-season finale. Amanda and Prince Michael's royal wedding is interrupted by terrorists during a military coup in Moldavia, riddling the chapel with bullets and leaving all of the major characters lying seemingly lifeless. Esther Shapiro later said, "It was a fairy-tale terrorist attack. It was beautifully shot, like a Goya painting."[5] It became the most talked-about episode of any TV series during the calendar year of 1985, with a viewership of 25.9 million.[6][7] In 2011, Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly named it one of the seven "Unforgettable Cliff-Hangers" of prime time dramatic television.[8]
Plot
In the story, Alexis is exonerated for Mark's murder and her secret daughter Amanda comes to Denver and discovers that Blake is her father. Steven has married Claudia but leaves her for another man, and Claudia starts an affair with Adam. The marriage of Blake and Krystle is in crisis after the birth of their daughter Krystina; Dominique struggles to be accepted as a Carrington, and loses her husband Brady Lloyd in the process; and Sammy Jo discovers she is the heiress to a huge fortune. At the end of the season, an amnesiac Fallon reappears while the rest of the family go to Europe for the wedding of Amanda and Prince Michael of Moldavia.
Cast
Main
- John Forsythe as Blake Carrington
- Linda Evans as Krystle Carrington
- Pamela Bellwood as Claudia Blaisdel
- John James as Jeff Colby
- Gordon Thomson as Adam Carrington
- Jack Coleman as Steven Carrington
- Michael Nader as Dex Dexter
- Heather Locklear as Sammy Jo Carrington[a]
- Catherine Oxenberg as Amanda Carrington[b]
- Billy Dee Williams as Brady Lloyd[c]
- Michael Praed as Prince Michael of Moldavia[d]
- Emma Samms as Fallon Carrington Colby[e]
- Rock Hudson as Daniel Reece[f]
- Ali MacGraw as Lady Ashley Mitchell[g]
- Diahann Carroll as Dominique Deveraux[h]
- Joan Collins as Alexis Carrington
Recurring
Guest
- Peter Mark Richman as Andrew Laird
- Clive Revill as Warren Ballard
- Kevin McCarthy as Billy Waite
- Bradford Dillman as Hal Lombard
- Paul Burke as Neal McVane
- Juliet Mills as Rosalind Bedford
- John Saxon as Rashid Ahmed
- Bibi Besch as Dr. Veronica Miller
- James Sutorious as Gordon Wales
- Harry Andrews as Tom Carrington
- Joel Fabiani as King Galen of Moldavia
- Hank Brandt as Morgan Hess
- Kerry Armstrong as Elena, Duchess of Branagh
- Cast notes
- ^ Locklear appears in only 8 episodes this season, and is credited in the opening credits for those episodes.
- ^ Oxenberg first appears in "Amanda".
- ^ Williams appears in "Disappearance", "The Mortgage", "Amanda", "The Avenger", and "Triangles", and is credited in the opening credits for those episodes.
- ^ Praed is credited in the opening credits from "The Ball" to "Royal Wedding", except for "The Collapse" and "Life and Death" in which he did not appear.
- ^ Samms is credited as a guest in "Kidnapped" before becoming series regular in "Royal Wedding".
- ^ Hudson is credited in the opening credits from "The Holiday Spirit" to "Sammy Jo".
- ^ MacGraw is credited in the opening credits from "Foreign Relations" to "Royal Wedding", except in "Triangles", in which she did not appear.
- ^ Carroll did not appear in seven episodes of season five, and was not credited in the opening credits for those episodes.
Episodes
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code | US viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 89 | 1 | "Disappearance" | Irving J. Moore | Story by : Camille Marchetta Teleplay by : Edward De Blasio | September 26, 1984 | DY-087 | 22.20[9] |
| 90 | 2 | "The Mortgage" | Jerome Courtland | Story by : Camille Marchetta Teleplay by : Dennis Turner | October 10, 1984 | DY-088 | 25.10[9] |
| 91 | 3 | "Fallon" | Gwen Arner | Story by : Camille Marchetta Teleplay by : Edward De Blasio | October 17, 1984 | DY-089 | 26.10[9] |
| 92 | 4 | "The Rescue" | Irving J. Moore | Story by : Camille Marchetta Teleplay by : Dennis Turner | October 24, 1984 | DY-090 | 26.30[9] |
| 93 | 5 | "The Trial" | Gwen Arner | Story by : Joel Steiger Teleplay by : Paul Savage | October 31, 1984 | DY-091 | 24.90[9] |
| 94 | 6 | "The Verdict" | Jerome Courtland | Story by : Camille Marchetta and Joel Steiger Teleplay by : Stephen and Elinor Karpf | November 7, 1984 | DY-092 | 25.70[9] |
| 95 | 7 | "Amanda" | Irving J. Moore | Story by : Camille Marchetta & Joel Steiger Teleplay by : Edward De Blasio | November 14, 1984 | DY-093 | 23.50[9] |
| 96 | 8 | "The Secret" | Jerome Courtland | Story by : Camille Marchetta Teleplay by : Dennis Turner | November 21, 1984 | DY-094 | 24.30[9] |
| 97 | 9 | "Domestic Intrigue" | Irving J. Moore | Story by : Camille Marchetta & Joel Steiger Teleplay by : Edward De Blasio | November 28, 1984 | DY-095 | 25.20[9] |
| 98 | 10 | "Krystina" | Jerome Courtland | Story by : Camille Marchetta Teleplay by : Will Lorin | December 5, 1984 | DY-096 | 25.30[9] |
| 99 | 11 | "Swept Away" | Irving J. Moore | Story by : Camille Marchetta Teleplay by : Dennis Turner | December 12, 1984 | DY-097 | 26.50[9] |
| 100 | 12 | "That Holiday Spirit" | Curtis Harrington | Story by : Camille Marchetta & Susan Baskin Teleplay by : Edward De Blasio | December 19, 1984 | DY-098 | 25.90[9] |
| 101 | 13 | "The Avenger" | Irving J. Moore | Story by : Camille Marchetta & Susan Baskin Teleplay by : Dennis Turner | January 2, 1985 | DY-099 | 26.20[9] |
| 102 | 14 | "The Will" | Nancy Malone | Story by : Camille Marchetta & Susan Baskin Teleplay by : Noreen Stone | January 9, 1985 | DY-100 | 27.70[9] |
| 103 | 15 | "The Treasure" | Curtis Harrington | Story by : Camille Marchetta & Susan Baskin Teleplay by : Stephen & Elinor Karpf | January 16, 1985 | DY-101 | 27.00[10] |
| 104 | 16 | "Foreign Relations" | Kim Friedman | Story by : Camille Marchetta & Susan Baskin Teleplay by : Edward De Blasio | January 23, 1985 | DY-102 | 25.00[10] |
| 105 | 17 | "Triangles" | Irving J. Moore | Story by : Camille Marchetta & Susan Baskin Teleplay by : Dennis Turner | January 30, 1985 | DY-103 | 27.00[10] |
| 106 | 18 | "The Ball" | Jerome Courtland | Story by : Camille Marchetta & Susan Baskin Teleplay by : John Pleshette | February 6, 1985 | DY-104 | 25.90[10] |
| 107 | 19 | "Circumstantial Evidence" | Curtis Harrington | Story by : Camille Marchetta & Donald R. Boyle Teleplay by : Edward De Blasio | February 13, 1985 | DY-105 | 23.40[10] |
| 108 | 20 | "The Collapse" | John Patterson | Story by : Camille Marchetta & Donald R. Boyle Teleplay by : Donald R. Boyle | February 20, 1985 | DY-106 | 24.60[10] |
| 109 | 21 | "Life and Death" | Irving J. Moore | Story by : Camille Marchetta & Donald R. Boyle Teleplay by : Dennis Turner | February 27, 1985 | DY-107 | 24.80[10] |
| 110 | 22 | "Parental Consent" | Kim Friedman | Story by : Camille Marchetta & Donald R. Boyle Teleplay by : Edward De Blasio | March 6, 1985 | DY-108 | 24.00[10] |
| 111 | 23 | "Photo Finish" | Robert Scheerer | Story by : Camille Marchetta & Donald R. Boyle Teleplay by : Susan Miller | March 13, 1985 | DY-109 | 24.20[10] |
| 112 | 24 | "The Crash" | Irving J. Moore | Story by : Camille Marchetta Teleplay by : Dennis Turner | March 20, 1985 | DY-110 | 22.60[10] |
| 113 | 25 | "Reconciliation" | Nancy Malone | Story by : Camille Marchetta Teleplay by : Edward De Blasio | March 27, 1985 | DY-111 | 23.10[10] |
| 114 | 26 | "Sammy Jo" | Irving J. Moore | Story by : Camille Marchetta & Susan Baskin Teleplay by : Dennis Turner | April 3, 1985 | DY-112 | 23.10[10] |
| 115 | 27 | "Kidnapped" | Jerome Courtland | Story by : Camille Marchetta & Susan Baskin Teleplay by : Dennis Turner | April 10, 1985 | DY-113 | 24.50[10] |
| 116 | 28 | "The Heiress" | Irving J. Moore | Story by : Camille Marchetta & Susan Baskin Teleplay by : Edward De Blasio | May 8, 1985 | DY-114 | 21.90[10] |
| 117 | 29 | "Royal Wedding" | Jerome Courtland | Story by : Camille Marchetta & Susan Baskin Teleplay by : Edward De Blasio | May 15, 1985 | DY-115 | 25.90[10] |
Reception
In season five, Dynasty was ranked #1 in the United States with a 25.0 Nielsen rating.[1][2]
References
- ^ a b Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (October 2007). "Top-Rated Programs by Season". The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present (9th ed.). pp. 1689–1692. ISBN 978-0-345-49773-4.
- ^ a b "TV Ratings: 1984–85". ClassicTVHits.com. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
- ^ Jarvis, Jeff (August 12, 1985). "Desperate American AIDS Victims Journey to Paris, Hoping That a New Drug Can Stave Off Death". People. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
- ^ Harmetz, Aljean (October 31, 1985). "A Rule on Kissing Scenes and AIDS". The New York Times. Hollywood. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
- ^ Klein, Joe (September 2, 1985). "The Real Star of Dynasty". New York. pp. 32–39. Retrieved June 1, 2017 – via Google Books.
- ^ "TV Listings for May 15, 1985". TV Tango. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
- ^ E! True Hollywood Story: Dynasty (2001)
- ^ Tucker, Ken (March 25, 2011). "Unforgettable Cliff-Hangers". Entertainment Weekly (1147): 12.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Episode List: Dynasty (1983–1985)". TV Tango. p. 2. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Episode List: Dynasty (1985–1986)". TV Tango. p. 3. Retrieved November 22, 2019.