"What shows did Hitler watch?" one actress was heard pondering in 1970. "And what's his name? Genghis Khan?" Whatever shows, it wasn't 'Dynasty'. From the outset, creator Esther Shapiro emphasized, "'Dynasty' isn't 'Roots' or 'Masada.'" Aaron Spelling explained, "Every recession needs an escape. Look how well Charlie Chaplin did during the Depression...I remember, when my sister used to take me to the movies, she would come home and try and make herself up the way Ginger Rogers made herself up for Fred Astaire. (In the '80s), millions of the people have the same fantasy with the 'Dynasty' characters."
By 1991, one commentator remarked, "Looking over the last decade, there was perhaps no television series that better reflected the free-spending Reagan era than 'Dynasty.'" Esther then pointed out, "We're now out of the age of greed and glitz and into the '90s." Linda Evans observed, "I suppose 'Dynasty' was a sign of the times and how our country was growing." Esther added, "When I wonder if something is too outrageous I look at people we all know, and it seems pale." Pamela Sue Martin voiced, "I don't think I grew up in an environment that was unbelievably wealthy, but I was not an underprivileged child - let's put it that way."
"I always thought I was born at the wrong time," Nolan Miller expressed. "I wanted to be a costume designer in the '30s and '40s. 'Dynasty' fulfils that fantasy for me...I probably design 70% of the women's clothes on 'Dynasty'...We had an original concept for the 3 starring women. Alexis was overly dramatic, overdressed, overjeweled with too many hats and too many sables. Fallon was the spoiled little rich kid who always wore the latest avant-garde fashions. And Krystle was quiet with simple tastes and classic styles." Nolan also made the comment, "For 5 years I did 'Charlie's Angels'...They wore blue jeans, turtleneck sweaters and leather jackets - and even then everybody felt they were overdressed."
"We have 48 minutes, and we like to tell a lot of stories", Esther made known. "We're using the same serial form Dickens used in 'Nicholas Nickleby'. It's basic Shakespeare and 'I, Claudius' where the Romans would poison each other and tell each other off."
Of her character, Linda believed, "Part of my excitement in doing the show, was that I had been through so much of what Krystle was going through. I knew I could show that to women because I had been there...I've learned to understand that you just can't rush everything in your life...If you want to be a beautiful flower, first you have to be a seed in the ground, then you have to be a stem and then you have to sprout leaves." Esther made the point,
"We have longer scenes than normal prime time programs. Every scene should have conflict for good drama."
