The Colbys
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| The Colbys | |
|---|---|
 Main title card |
|
| Format | Soap opera |
| Created by | Richard & Esther Shapiro |
| Developed by | William Bast and Paul Huson |
| Starring | Charlton Heston John James Emma Samms Katharine Ross Stephanie Beacham Maxwell Caulfield Tracy Scoggins Claire Yarlett Ricardo Montalban Barbara Stanwyck |
| Theme music composer | Bill Conti |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 49 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Aaron Spelling Douglas S. Cramer Richard & Esther Shapiro |
| Running time | 44 Minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Original run | November 20, 1985 – March 26, 1987 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Colbys (originally titled Dynasty II: The Colbys) is an American prime time soap opera which aired on ABC from November 20, 1985 to March 26, 1987. The Aaron Spelling-produced series was a spin-off from the more successful Dynasty, which had been ranked #1 for the 1984-1985 U.S. television season. [1] Intended to surpass its predecessor in opulence, the series' producers were handed an immensely high budget,[citation needed] and cast a handful of film actors among its leads, including Charlton Heston, Katharine Ross, Barbara Stanwyck and Ricardo Montalban.
Contents |
[edit] Premise
On Dynasty, it is revealed that presumed-dead heiress Fallon Carrington Colby is in fact alive, suffering from amnesia and using the name Randall Adams. Drawn to California, she meets playboy Miles Colby, not realizing that he is the cousin of her ex-husband, Jeff Colby. A mutual business venture brings the Colbys of California to the Denver mansion of Fallon's father Blake Carrington. [2]
Set in Los Angeles, The Colbys focuses on the extended Colby family, as Jeff relocates to California to start his life anew — and comes face to face with Fallon, now married to his cousin Miles. A fierce rivalry is sparked between Jeff and Miles, and the love triangle spans the series. Miles' father, billionaire Jason Colby, has a rocky marriage to the icy Sable, in part due to his longtime attraction to Sable's sister Francesca — Jeff's estranged mother, and the former wife of Jason's deceased brother Philip. Other characters include Jason's powerful sister Constance, Miles' twin sister Monica and their third sibling Bliss.
[edit] Major characters
- Jason Colby (Charlton Heston)
- CEO of Colby Enterprises and brother of Constance, Philip and Cecil. As the series opens, Philip and Cecil are both deceased — the former in Vietnam, the latter in Denver during the third season of Dynasty. Jason is married to Sable, and their children are twins Miles and Monica and youngest daughter Bliss. Jason's affair with Francesca Langdon, his wife's sister and his brother Philip's former wife, ends his marriage; he later discovers that he is the father of Francesca's son Jeff.
- Constance Colby Patterson (Barbara Stanwyck)
- Jason Colby's strong-willed sister, who sets the stage for the series by inviting Jeff Colby to California, hoping to mend the rift between him and the rest of the family. Believing her brother Jason is dying, and in need of an heir who can run the Colby empire, Constance gifts to Jeff her 50 percent of the company's voting stock. Stanwyck left the series after the first season, with the character presumed dead in a plane crash while traveling in Asia.
- Sabella "Sable" Scott Colby (Stephanie Beacham)
- British-born art gallery owner, wife of Jason, sister of Francesca and mother of Miles, Monica and Bliss. The first cousin of Dynasty's Alexis Carrington Colby (Cecil's widow), Sable is protective of her family but vengeful when Jason casts her aside for Francesca. Sable and Alexis share a rivalry hinted at on The Colbys but further explored a number of years later in Dynasty.
- Jeff Colby (John James)
- The son of Philip and Francesca Colby, raised in Denver by his uncle Cecil Colby on the Colby estate, Nine Oaks, which neighbored the Carrington estate. He is invited to Los Angeles by Constance and soon becomes embroiled in the dynastic intrigue of the Colbys, reuniting with his presumed-dead wife Fallon and estranged mother, and eventually discovering that his uncle Jason Colby is in fact his biological father.
- Fallon Carrington Colby (Emma Samms)
- Daughter of Dynasty 's Blake Carrington, and Jeff's on-again, off-again wife; she also marries his cousin Miles. The role had been originated on Dynasty by Pamela Sue Martin, who had left in 1984 prior to the launch of The Colbys. To ease the transition, Samms re-filmed a number of Martin's early scenes for use in flashback, and a large portrait of her character, which hung in the sitting room in Dynasty's Carrington mansion, was altered to reflect the re-casting.
- Miles Colby (Maxwell Caulfield)
- Jason and Sable's playboy son, noted mainly for his bad attitude, his disastrous relationships (first, with the amnesiac Fallon, and second, with the emotionally unstable Channing Carter) and his rivalry with cousin Jeff, who is later revealed to be his half-brother.
- Monica Colby (Tracy Scoggins)
- Jason and Sable's daughter, and general counsel for Colby Enterprises until she quits to run Titania Records for Dominique Deveraux. Monica is protective of her twin brother, Miles, but also hold a high regard for his rival, and their cousin, Jeff Colby.
- Bliss Colby (Claire Yarlett)
- Jason and Sable's youngest child, a young and idealistic woman who has strong political beliefs which often put her at odds with her father, an oil and industry tycoon. She does not want to lend her "name or presence" to the launch of the Carrington-Colby pipeline in the series' opening episodes.
- Lady Francesca Scott Colby Hamilton Langdon (Katharine Ross)
- Philip Colby's widow, who returns to Los Angeles after years in "exile" as the wife of diplomat Lord Roger Langdon (David Hedison). She is Jeff's mother (though she abandoned him as an infant, bending to pressure from the boy's uncle, Cecil), but reappears at the invitation of Constance, who is anxious to make amends. Frankie, as she is known, is also Sable's estranged sister, and Jason's lover.
- Zachary Powers (Ricardo Montalban)
- European shipping tycoon, and would-be lothario, who falls in love with Sable. Born into poverty, Powers blames the Colbys for his father's suicide.
- Philip Colby (Michael Parks)
- Former husband of Francesca and the black sheep of the Colby family, presumed dead in Vietnam. Initially a mercenary using the name Hoyt Parker, Philip makes his presence known at Jason and Francesca's wedding and proceeds to disrupt the lives of the entire Colby family.
[edit] Other characters
- Hutch Corrigan (Joseph Campanella)
- A man of the West and love interest of Constance.
- Garrett Boydston (Ken Howard)
- Lawyer and friend of the Colby family, and also an old flame of Dominique Deveraux. Enjoys smoking cigars. Father of Jackie who never intended to marry Dominique.
- Channing Carter Colby (Kim Morgan Greene)
- Young woman whom Miles Colby marries on the rebound after losing Fallon to Jeff.
- Nikolai "Kolya" Rostov (Adrian Paul)
- Russian ballet dancer who falls in love with Bliss Colby.
- Cash Cassidy (James Houghton)
- Senator and former love of Monica Colby, with whom he had a son, Scott (Coleby Lombardo). Had to give up his relationship with Monica to further his own political career.
- Adrienne Cassidy (Shanna Reed)
- Unhappy wife of Cash Cassidy, resentful and suspicious of his relationship with Monica.
[edit] Storylines
- See also List of The Colbys episodes
The show's storylines included the construction of an oil pipeline, the return of Jeff's father Philip (like Fallon, believed to be dead), the romance between Jason and his sister-in-law Francesca, the subsequent collapse of Jason's marriage to Sable and eventually the revelation that Jason, not Philip, is in fact Jeff's father. There were initially a number of cross-overs featuring members of the Dynasty cast, most notably Blake Carrington, his sons Adam and Steven, and half-sister Dominique Deveraux.
At the end of the first season, Fallon learns that Miles could be the father of her unborn child, Monica is in a plane crash, and Sable has Jason arrested for assault and battery (she had fallen down a flight of stairs but then claims the injuries are caused by him). The show's most infamous cliffhanger was at the end of the series' second year; the season finale ends with Fallon's abduction by aliens. Although it stimulated media interest in the show, the stunt was not enough to save the series. Ironically, what turned out to be the series final episode was in fact its most-watched.
[edit] Main crew members
Writers: Esther Shapiro, William Bast, Oliver Clark, Rick Edelstein, Frank Furino, Paul Huson, Mary Ann Kasica, Eileen Pollock, Robert Pollock, Charles Pratt Jr., Don Roos, Michael Scheff, Richard Shapiro, Doris Silverton, E. Jeffrey Smith, Dennis Turner
Directors: Gwen Arner, Gabrielle Beaumont, Bruce Bilson, Roy Campanella Jr., Jerome Courtland, Harry Falk, Kim Friedman, Curtis Harrington, Richard Kinon, Nancy Malone, Don Medford, Irving J. Moore, Robert Scheerer
[edit] Criticism
Although much hyped in 1985, The Colbys was ultimately a ratings disaster, finishing in 43rd place for season 1 and 76th place for season 2.[3] According to television historians Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh in their Directory To Primetime TV Shows, it was considered to be "too close a copy"[4] of its parent series, Dynasty, yet managed to be even more over the top. Expectations of it being a successful offshoot of Dynasty with a life of its own, as Knots Landing had been to Dallas, were short-lived and The Colbys was cancelled after only two seasons.
[edit] Aftermath
Following the cancellation of The Colbys, the characters of Jeff and Fallon returned to Denver and to Dynasty, with the UFO storyline being the only one from The Colbys to get a resolution of sorts on Dynasty. Later, the final season of Dynasty reintroduced the characters of divorced Sable Colby and her daughter Monica.
One of the final episodes reveals that Monica and twin Miles might have been products of rape, and not actually Jason's children. Miles later appears in Dynasty: The Reunion, reunited with Fallon. Jeff refers to Miles as his brother, and Miles participates in Jeff's rescue from the Consortium. The Jeff-Fallon-Miles love triangle is finally resolved, as Fallon leaves Miles for Jeff.
[edit] References
- ^ 1984-1985 Ratings - ClassicTVhits.com
- ^ Jason (Charlton Heston) and Constance (Barbara Stanwyck) are first seen in the Dynasty sixth season episode "The Californians" (9 October 1985) and the rest of the Colby family are introduced a special two-part Dynasty episode called "The Titans" (13 November 1985).
- ^ Morris, Bruce B. Prime Time Network Serials: Episode Guides, Casts and Credits for 37 Continuing Television Dramas 1964-1993, MacFarland & Company, 1997.
- ^ Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle. The Directory To Prime Time TV Shows - 8th Edition, Ballantine Books, 2003.
