Downscaled ‘Dynasty’

To get a clear picture of just how far the nation’s economy has sunk, one need only look at the dramatic changes that were made to turn the ABC series “Dynasty,” that 1980s paean to the glory of wealth, into a likable miniseries for today’s budget-minded viewers.

Gone is Blake Carrington’s plush, 48-room mansion. Gone is his vast oil empire. Even his family is gone, spread out across the globe.

“We’re now out of the age of greed and glitz, and into the ‘90s, which is the buying up of America,” executive producer and co-writer Esther Shapiro said of “Dynasty: The Reunion,” which airs this week.

“A TV show has to reflect, even in a fantasy way, the times,” Shapiro said. “And this was a show of the feel-good generation, the Reagan years. We were doing episodes on green-mailing and corporate takeovers in the early ‘80s before they became popular on Wall Street.”

Looking over the last decade, there was perhaps no TV series that better reflected the free-spending Reagan era than “Dynasty,” which turned a generation of yuppies into nighttime soap opera addicts. “Dynasty” premiered on Jan. 12, 1981, nine days before Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as president of the United States; the final episode aired May 11, 1989, about four months after he left office.

“I don’t think that was intentional,” said Joan Collins, who reprises her role as the vixen Alexis. Collins spoke from her trailer on the miniseries set at the rented Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles; the original $1 million-plus “Dynasty” set with its authentic antiques has long since been dismantled.

“But certainly I went to the White House when the Reagans were there, and it was opulent beyond belief,” Collins said. “I went to a state dinner, and it was just incredible with the layers of food, the decoration of the White House, the elegance of the women, the chic of the men. I mean, it was very much like an 18th-Century court.”

She tossed her head and laughed. “It was very much like ‘Dynasty.’ ”

In one 1983 episode that took place at Denver’s grand Carousel Ball, ex-President Gerald Ford and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger played on-screen roles.

“I suppose ‘Dynasty’ was a sign of the times, and how our country was growing,” suggested Linda Evans, whose character Krystle emerges from her coma for the miniseries in time to square off with Alexis in yet another nail-scratching, hair-pulling catfight.

“People were fascinated by the rich,” Evans said. “Because how many people do you know who are terribly rich, and can live out these fantasies that we all have? People were curious: What do you do when you’re that rich, and what are the problems?”

Of course, most of the problems in “Dynasty,” which was even a bigger hit worldwide than it was in the United States, were filtered through ground-diamond lenses. Because they were rich, the characters played by a different set of rules and often got away with murder--literally.

“The trick to doing ‘Dynasty’ was to present a realistic world with a fairy-tale icing,” said John Forsythe, who patterned Blake after one of the most powerful men in Hollywood. “(MCA Chairman) Lew Wasserman was my model for the character, strong and tough, but a man of great integrity,” Forsythe said. “When he said something was going to happen, it did happen.”

“Dynasty” also was perfect for the fashion-conscious ‘80s. In the lavish world of the Carringtons, everything--and everybody--had a price tag or brand name, and Nolan Miller was appropriate attire for backyard barbecues.

Veteran TV producer Aaron Spelling, who was behind the glitz of “Charlie’s Angels,” “The Love Boat” and “Fantasy Island,” called “Dynasty” a dramatic complement to the decade of such real-life fantasy television as “The Big Spin,” “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” and the local “Eye on L.A.”

“I think it was a time that people loved to laugh at the rich,” Spelling said. “They wanted to say, ‘My God, no matter how rich they are, look at the problems they have.’ ”

“Dynasty: The Reunion “ airs today and Tuesday at 9 p.m. on ABC.