20151228

THE COLBYS

"'The Colbys' was in the works for 2 years," John James told 'United Press International' in 1985. "I agreed to 'The Colbys' if Aaron Spelling, Douglas Cramer and Esther Shapiro would let me see what was planned for the show . . . 'The Colbys' has its own style and feeling. At this time (in November 1985) it is a little more male dominated than 'Dynasty'. We also have a more cinematic look."

"In some ways, I became my own fantasy, heading up a whole empire like this," Esther Shapiro told 'The Los Angeles Times' in 1988. "I didn't want to be Alexis - I really wanted to be Blake. I've said it before, but it's true. We sort of anticipated the Reagan era, viscerally. We picked up on the glitz and glamor of it, we predicted what would happen with the stock market years before it happened. The pomp and circumstance, the new wealth - all of that was reflected." Richard Shapiro added, "We do tend to be of a liberal persuasion, personally and politically. But our daughter accuses us of being the world's primary disseminators of capitalist propaganda."

Robert Pollock observed, "She (Esther) has a very good story instinct; she's not as good at story creation. She knows what is going to turn on audiences, what is going to light up the skies, what is contemporary, what is current - and what is going to be dreary on television." It was reported, "Profits from about 25 licensees have kept 'Dynasty' from having to be produced at a deficit cost to the production company."

William Bast remembered, "(Charlton) Heston's big problem with the show was Sable, Stephanie Beacham's character. He felt Jason Colby would not put up with her, and he wanted to throttle her. Every time he was in doubt and felt that Jason would get rid of Sable, we would write in a bathroom scene where Sable was naked. Then all would be quiet for a few weeks, because Chuck could understand why Jason was still interested in Sable."

In one scene:

Sable: You're right Zach. Power is the greatest height of all.

Zach: Power in general or powers in particular?

Sable: Both.

"It is basically not only a women's power fantasy, but the fantasy of a woman (Krystle) who is married to a man of power and very comfortable with that," Esther emphasized. "We did not want to send out the message that all women have to be the same thing."

Charlton Heston made known, "I'm no snob, and I don't object to television just because it's TV. I've done quite a bit of it over the years. The problem with a series is that often people start with something that's bad or wrong, and are satisfied if they can just get it right, whereas in movies, you begin with something right and work to make it the best that it can be. Sure, there are bad movies but TV these days (in 1985) is done in a rush, and I didn't want to be a part of that.

"It's a policy in shows of this type for the actors to be told the bare minimum about what's going to happen to their characters in the coming months, and I could not live with that. Esther made an exception in my case. I largely invented Jason Colby. I wrote a short biography of him before we did the script. Primarily, I am the custodian of Jason Colby. Creative control is a condition I’ve had in all my work for 25 years (since 1962). That doesn't mean veto power. It means I look at early drafts of the scripts, the rough cut, and I have involvement in casting and writing."

Composer Ben Lanzarone shared of his experience in 2010, "The 'Dynasty' episode was a challenge because it was my first one-hour dramatic score. Aaron Spelling was producing 7 or 8 series at that time. I was one of a stable of composers that went from show to show. It was a matter of who was available to do the next show. Mostly the style of music for each series is obvious, usually dictated by the main title theme.

"The first step in the scoring process is a spotting session. This is usually, but not always, with the producer, composer and the music editor. We view the episode together and decide where the music will start and stop. Then the music editor supplies the composer with notes of the precise timings of the on-screen action for each cue. Then the writing and sometimes panic starts. In television there isn't a lot of time to do a score. We often had to compose and orchestrate as many as 3-4 minutes of music a day, sometimes more, always allowing time for the copyists to do their work. The final step is the live recording session with wonderful musicians. That was the most fun. Television music is usually done differently now, mostly in the composers' home studios with synthesisers."

''Everybody thinks I have so much clout with ABC. If I did, I'd pick my own time slots,'' Aaron Spelling made the point. ''A serial at 9 o'clock is tough. No serial has ever made it at 9 o'clock before.'' Adrian Paul got his first big acting break on 'The Colbys' in the 1986-87 season. He played a Russian ballet dancer named Koyla Rostov who had decided to defect to the United States. 

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