The Colbys

I liked the Colbys maybe because it had a stellar cast including Charlton Heston, Stephanie Beacham, Barbara Stanwyk, Maxwell Caulfield, Tracy Scoggins, Emma Samms in their cast. The writing if I remember was not as good as it's sister show, Dynasty, but it still had spunk. It was set in Los Angeles, California as opposed to Denver, Colorado. It had a similar theme like Dynasty and the Colbys were supposedly richer than the Carringtons. I can't forget Katharine Ross better known as the original Stepford Wife. This show introduced great actors and actresses like her to a new generation. It may not have been as good as Dynasty but it still had style, class, and cat fights if I remember maybe they were more subtle than Krystle and Alexis but they were worth watching on a weekly basis.

...this is by far the best of the primetime soap operas of the 80's and terribly underrated to this day...splendid acting...great locations, even the scripts seemed relatively rational in comparison to the other struggling nighttime dramas at this point...(and) miss stephanie beacham steals the whole show in every scene she's in...even the cliffhanging ufo remains one of the most preposterous but, truth be told,breathtaking and courageous season/series endings in soap opera history...this comes highly recommend and there's no possible explanation why this show tanked...besides the fact that it ran opposite "Knots Landing" on CBS during it's second and therefore final season..this series definitely played in a very league of it's own...!

The year that Dynasty rose to be the number one rated show in the U.S., this spin-off was created. Original Dynasty character Jeff Colby was invited to Los Angeles and soon found he had a whole family he hadn't gotten to know previously. And what a family! The cast was made up of some very heavy hitters like Charlton Heston, Barbara Stanwyck and Ricardo Montalban. In a twist that can only happen in TV soap opera, Jeff also found that his presumed dead first wife was now an amnesiac, married to his cousin Miles! Small world! (And this was only the beginning......) The plots on this series were more than a little contrived and far-fetched and the producers/writers apparently wanted there to be some sort of violent scuffle between Miles and Jeff in almost every episode. The show is so fever-pitched at times that it's unintentionally funny. Still, the trappings (the clothes, the sets, the jewelry, the cars...) were so glamorous and there was enough drama mixed in with the hilarity that I became an instant fan. In fact, I grew to love The Colbys more than I did Dynasty which was seemingly impossible. The primary reason for this was the tour de force, monumental performance of Stephanie Beacham as Sable. Seemingly tossed in with all the "stars" as a sort of trophy wife character, she soon emerged as the only real reason to watch the show! Her character was so intriguing and her delivery of all those delicious lines was so captivating that she mopped the floor with almost everyone on the show! Every look she gave, every breath she took was calculated to knock viewers' socks off. Katharine Ross barely registered in her drab part, but when she and Beacham went at it, sparks flew. Stanwyck and Beacham created a fascinating enmity as well and when Stanwyck abruptly quit the series, things were never the same. I had recalled, from the original run, the scene in which Beacham begs Heston not to marry Ross. The first time I saw it it blew me away. Fifteen years later when the show re-emerged on SoapNet (something I will be forever grateful for as I thought I'd never see the thing again!), I waited for that scene and once again.....Beacham killed me. She is without question, the most underrated actress TV has ever seen. There were times (and yes, this is embarrassing to admit) when I actually cheered at the screen during her scenes the way most men would cheer a football game. She was that amazing to behold. Small wonder that when she turned up years later on Dynasty, I had to take her side against former favorite Alexis. Those fireworks are even greater! The Colbys is a mesmerizing time capsule of '80's excess. It is uneven and unbelievable at times, but, throughout, Stephanie Beacham held it all together. Another very fine performance came along later in Shanna Reed as an alcoholic senator's wife. Unfortunately, it all just got too out of hand and viewers were tiring of that type of show. Cheers began to beat it to death in the ratings. Thankfully, it has been rescued from the vaults so that new fans can discover it's hidden treasures. The opening credits and sweeping theme song only add to the fun.

This show was a direct spin-off from one of the hottest prime-time soaps in the 1980's, "DYNASTY". "DALLAS" found success with its spin-off, "KNOTS LANDING", so why not "DYNASTY"? Unfortunately, this show traipsed in all-too familiar territory that the viewer found this to be just like every other prime-time soap that was on at the time.

The big draw-card for this show was enlisting big one-time movie stars such as Charlton Heston, Barbara Stanwyck, Katharine Ross and Ricardo Montalban. I confess that I'm glad this show was cancelled after two seasons because it was painful to see the above four actors stooping so low as to sign on to and appear in this trash, and especially one as bad as this. Just like Ava Gardner was to "Knots Landing", Jane Wyman to "Falcon's Crest" and even Anne Baxter to "Hotel", their talent was above par for them to star in shows like this.

If you get the Soap Network Channel, you can actually catch re-runs of The Colbys. Stick to "Dynasty" folks - at least the cat-fights were better!

I remember this show begin on opposite Dynasty on Wednesday nights back in the 80's! It was also that when this show was created,Dynasty rose to number one in the Neilsons,beating out arch-rival Dallas for the top spot since The Colbys only ran for two seasons on ABC. Its based on the original Dynasty character Jeff Colby and his wife Fallon. The show had some very heavy hitters here as the characters which consisted of Charlton Heston,Barbara Stanwyck,Ricardo Montalban,Diahann Carroll, David Hedison,and Ken Howard not to mention Stephanie Beacham(as the intriguing Sable Colby). This was one show that had more twist then any other I've seen and it can happen only in a prime-time TV soap opera and a whole lot more. Catch the episodes on SoapNet!