"Remember people enjoy living through writers so give them a life they can relate to and yet fantasize about," Harold Robbins said. In the 1980s, 'Dallas' and 'Dynasty' were 2 of commercial television most popular American cultural exports, "watched and analyzed around the world." 'Dallas' and 'Dynasty' attracted the mass audience because "their fictions are grounded in fact."
In an interview in 1986, Harold Robbins told readers, "Power gets everybody turned on. There was a great sexual attraction to Franklin Delano Roosevelt that projected from his voice and emitted from his stature as a world leader. Sexual drive has often (been transformed) into other kinds of power because the sex act is too brief and too quickly forgotten."
Esther Shapiro expressed, "I'm not sure money brings happiness but it does bring control." Phil Capice voiced, "I've always said, there is a vicarious pleasure in participating in these rich peoples' lives and finding out their wealth is not intimidating, seeing that despite their wealth and power, these people are never happy." Harold maintained, "You must remember that there are no rich and famous people in the world. There are only poor people who found some money.
"I think shows like 'Dallas' and 'Dynasty' are successful because they portray middle-class families put into wealthy environments. If they portrayed real rich people as they are, nobody would tune in because these people are basically very boring and insecure. How many times can you talk about money to someone who wishes they had more?"
It was noted 'Dallas' and 'Dynasty' performed poorly in summer reruns. One analyst believed, "That's primarily because people who watch these shows have made their emotional commitment during the year. They prefer not to re-live participation in the summer months. They know what's going to happen." David Jacobs recognized, "You are there not only to watch this week but next week and the week after that." In short, soaps depended on returning audiences and word of mouth.
"It 's the story that counts," David insisted. Harold added, "I basically find a story that will interest me and then I try to tell it in a way that will interest the reader...Most of the things I write are out of my own life and observations." However "every television show reaches a point where it experiences audience decline, usually after 5 or 7 years…You sort of run into dry spells as far as storytelling avenues are concerned. There are only so many stories about the oil or wine industries."
David recounted in 1985, "When I did 'Dallas', there were 7 characters and a couple of little stories and we were able to watch them and develop what worked as we went along...'Knots Landing' was done the same way 6 years ago (in 1979)...What I like best about 'Knots' is the reality of its characters, even though the plots are unrealistic...I like to start things in the middle so you can ask yourself, 'How did this happen? Where did these people come from? How did they get here?' Then we answer those questions as we go along."
Kathleen Beller won the part of Kirby Colby on 'Dynasty' after she read a scene with John James. She recalled, "The producers didn't really know who Kirby would be. I knew her to be a fairly classy girl…It was a strange experience being on the No. 1 show in the world and going to South America 2 years later (in 1986), and I'm like a star! Just mob scenes. The heights of teen idoldom! At the time I found it very scary."
Harold argued, "The only real stars are television stars. They are the only people the public recognizes. Harrison Ford could walk into a restaurant outside of Hollywood and nobody would recognize him. Joan Collins would have the busboy recognize her in the same situation. Hollywood is actually a very small town. It's not an immoral place. If Joan Collins or any other star who plays a rich bitch on television were to act that way socializing in Hollywood, nobody would like or accept her. The problem with today's (in 1986) Hollywood is by the time you discover who has the real power – be they a film star or a studio head – they've already lost it."
In 1988, Larry Riley and Lynne Moody joined the cast of 'Knots Landing' as Frank and Patricia. David disclosed, "We decided to write it colorblind. It's just a new couple coming to Knots Landing, and here are their problems, We're not doing it this way because it's safe – we're doing it because it's good."
Lynne stressed, "She's a bright lady, but she has a lot of problems. She has problems with her family, with her career and with her neighbors. But she has no problems because she's black. They're all human problems." Confessing "I like the soap opera formula," Lynne observed, "When they first talked about bringing in a new family, I don't know if they were to be white or black. I don't know what the talk was before they decided on us. I know they were losing some important characters and there was a house available in the cul-de-sac."
Kathleen mentioned in 1985, "The idea of making Diahann Carroll my mother was the original plan and when Diahann joined the show, she was told she'd be playing my mom. They usually keep these things very secret, and the only way I even found out about it was when I had lunch with Diahann and she told me she was going to be revealed as my mom. We spoke about it at some length and both agreed that it was the sort of storyline that would probably get some people upset. Right about that time the writers who had been on our show for a number of years left, and the new writers came in with a different set of ideas."
Lynne stressed, "She's a bright lady, but she has a lot of problems. She has problems with her family, with her career and with her neighbors. But she has no problems because she's black. They're all human problems." Confessing "I like the soap opera formula," Lynne observed, "When they first talked about bringing in a new family, I don't know if they were to be white or black. I don't know what the talk was before they decided on us. I know they were losing some important characters and there was a house available in the cul-de-sac."
Kathleen mentioned in 1985, "The idea of making Diahann Carroll my mother was the original plan and when Diahann joined the show, she was told she'd be playing my mom. They usually keep these things very secret, and the only way I even found out about it was when I had lunch with Diahann and she told me she was going to be revealed as my mom. We spoke about it at some length and both agreed that it was the sort of storyline that would probably get some people upset. Right about that time the writers who had been on our show for a number of years left, and the new writers came in with a different set of ideas."
