Happy Easter, everyone! Posting will be light over the next few days, but I will try to add a few items. First, here's a large picture of the cast of the 1991 Reunion mini-series.
Esther Shapiro said at the time the producers wanted to focus on the core family which is why some of the popular characters (like Diahann Carroll's Dominique) were not a part of "The Reunion."
That certainly made the return of Kathleen Beller as Kirby and Maxwell Caulfied as Miles surprising. More astonishing however was the casting of Robin Sachs as Gordon Thomson's replacement.
Allegedly, Thomson's working schedule clashed with the filming dates for "The Reunion" and Aaron Spelling was not willing to accommodate the actor.
Similar attitude of course led to the re-casting of Catherine Oxenberg several years before that and we all know how that ended.
Finally, though it was great to see Al Corley back in the role of Steven Carrington, his return made little sense, since the character's recasting in 1982 was originally explained with plastic surgery.
If only they didn't bother to go through all that trouble (like years later with Fallon, who simply re-appeared in Emma Samms' body).
Check out DYNASTY REUNION article from People Magazine I posted previously.
Honestly, I found this reunion somewhat weird... For all the reasons you mentionned, LB. It seems they made sure who was ready to join the cast and wrote the script afterward... Who needed Miles and Kirby? I did miss Dominique and Dex. Well Al Corley used to be a familiar face, so why not...? (Even if he seemed to have a second plastic surgery to look like himself again...) But Robin Sachs as Adam (no offense to the actor) was a most raving idea... Knowing that the audience need some time to accept a new actor in a character (especially our tough and tormented Adam, who had been present for 7 years) was it worth re-casting Adam? He had only 4 hours to introduce "his" Adam... By the time we started to get used to his face, it was The End...
ReplyDeleteI really like the scenes between Joan Collins and Heather Locklear, it was really great. Too bad the catfight wasn't between those two because the catfight between with Linda and Joan was surely funny but not related to anything in the plot!
ReplyDeleteConcerning "the Reunion", I've found an old article where it is said that the ratings were not so bad after all: http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/newsday/access/102858185.html?dids=102858185:102858185&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+28%2C+1991&author=LIZ+SMITH&pub=Newsday+(Combined+editions)&desc=The+%60Private'+Joan+Collins&pqatl=google