Dynasty Lilypond Catfight
Dynasty is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981 to May 11, 1989. The series, created by Richard and Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, revolved around the Carringtons, a fictional wealthy family, residing in Denver, Colorado.[2] The series was ABC's competitor to CBS's prime time series Dallas, and starred John Forsythe and Linda Evans as oil magnate Blake Carrington and his new wife Krystle.[2][3]
Ratings for the show's first season were unimpressive, but a revamp for the second season that included the arrival of Joan Collins as Blake's scheming ex-wife Alexis saw ratings enter the top twenty.[2][4][5][6] By the fall of 1982, it was a top ten show, and by the spring of 1985, it was the #1 show in the United States.[5][7] Other notable cast members included Pamela Sue Martin, Lloyd Bochner, Heather Locklear, Michael Nader, Diahann Carroll, Emma Samms, Ted McGinley, Rock Hudson, Kate O'Mara and Stephanie Beacham.
Dynasty was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best TV Drama Series every year from 1981 to 1986, winning in 1984.[8] Dynasty spawned a successful line of fashion and luxury products, and also a spin-off series called The Colbys. The series declined considerably in popularity during its final two seasons,[5] and it was ultimately cancelled in the spring of 1989 after nine seasons and 220 episodes. A two-part mini-series, Dynasty: The Reunion, aired in October 1991.
Over the run of the series, the rivalry between Alexis and Krystle is a primary driver for the melodrama. Alexis resents Krystle's role as Blake's wife and as mistress of the Carrington household, and tries to undermine her at every opportunity, while Krystle makes increasingly bold efforts to keep Alexis from interfering in the lives of their mutual loved ones. The pair have numerous verbal spats that sometimes led to physical altercations. "Unfortunately, the thing people remember about this show is the catfights," noted Collins in 1991.[9]
Krystle and Alexis famously brawl for the first time in Alexis' studio[25] and then later in a lily pond.[26] They also hurl mud at each other at a beauty salon,[2] and slide down a ravine together into a puddle of mud,[27] before their final showdown brawl in a fashion studio in the 1991 miniseries Dynasty: The Reunion.[9] Later in the series, Alexis also has a catfight with Blake's half-sister Dominique Deveraux (Diahann Carroll),[28] and then fights her own cousin Sable Colby (Stephanie Beacham).[29] She even has a brawl with her on-again, off-again lover and one-time husband, Dex Dexter (Michael Nader). Heather Locklear's Sammy Jo first engages in a slap fight with Claudia (Pamela Bellwood), before taking on Amanda (Catherine Oxenberg) in a swimming pool,[30] and then later fighting Fallon (Emma Samms) in a horse trough and the mud around it.[31] Evans even battles with herself at the climax of a 1985–1986 storyline in which Krystle is imprisoned and replaced by a lookalike, also played by Evans.[32]
In 2008 Entertainment Weekly termed Alexis and Krystle's catfights "the gold standard of scratching and clawing."