1980s soap opera Dynasty returning to TV screens
NEW YORK — Dynasty is returning to TV, nearly 30 years after the prime-time soap opera aired its last hair-pulling fight.
The rebooted drama will be one of four new series joining the CW’s schedule in its 2017-18 season, the network said Thursday.
The Dynasty remake will put a fresh twist on the show for a new generation of viewers and has the blessing of the original drama’s creators, Esther and Richard Alan Shapiro, CW president Mark Pedowitz said.
“To us it was a no-brainer,” he said. The network is open to including cast members from the 1980s ABC series but that will be up to the new show’s producers, Pedowitz said.
Joan Collins and Linda Evans starred as duelling and fabulously wealthy divas. Other original co-stars included Diahann Carroll and Heather Locklear.
CW’s Dynasty will debut in the fall, along with the freshman military drama Valor. Midseason additions to the CW lineup will include the comedy Life Sentence and the DC Comics-based Black Lightning.
Two freshman shows from last season, No Tomorrow and Frequency, were cancelled. It was previously announced that The Vampire Diaries and Reign were wrapping their runs this season.
The CW touted its mix of dramas, action shows and comedies as offering something for everyone, but the schedule is heavy on superhero series, including returning shows The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl.
With other networks getting into the comic book-based series, including ABC’s new Marvel’s Inhumans, Pedowitz was asked if TV is overdoing it with the genre.
“This programming will last as long as people want to watch it,” he said. “It’s lasted my whole lifetime, so it will keep going.”
CW’s presentation concluded the broadcasting networks’ presentations to advertisers this week of their upcoming schedules. They included several Dynasty-type reboots, among them a new Roseanne and S.W.A.T.