Television series

Dynasty

Name: Dynasty
Genre: Drama, Romance
Released: 1981
Cast: John Forsythe, Linda Evans, Al Corley, Jack Coleman, Joan Collins

The original glossy prime-time soap about oil money, backstabbing, and shoulder pads you could land a plane on. Blake Carrington rules Denver-Carrington like a kingdom, and his ex-wife Alexis exists purely to burn it down. It's ridiculous, gorgeously overdressed, and completely sincere about its own melodrama — comfort food for anyone who wants their drama loud, their catfights literal, and their moral universe uncomplicated by subtlety.

TVMaze rating

7.6

If you liked this

Dallas1978

The show Dynasty was built to compete with — another oil-rich Texas family, another patriarch, another web of betrayals. If you want the sibling rivalry to this exact genre, start here.

But Slower and grubbier than Dynasty's glamour; the Ewings feel like landowners, not jet-setters.

Falcon Crest1981no page yet

Swap oil for wine and Denver for Napa Valley, keep the scheming matriarch and family boardroom warfare. Jane Wyman's Angela is every bit Alexis's equal in ruthlessness.

But Less international jet-set spectacle, more regional grit — the stakes feel smaller even when the plots aren't.

Knots Landing1979no page yet

A Dallas spinoff that traded mansions for cul-de-sacs, proving the soap formula works just as well among the merely upper-middle-class and neurotic.

But Deliberately more grounded and domestic — if you're here for shoulder pads and empire-building, this feels almost quaint.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Written on the Wind1956

This is the direct ancestor: a glossy 1950s melodrama about an oil family imploding from within, the template Dynasty inflated for television twenty-five years later.

Douglas Sirk's Technicolor fever dream about a self-destructing Texas oil dynasty is where Dynasty's whole aesthetic — lush interiors, moral rot under wealth, operatic close-ups — actually comes from.

But Studio-era pacing and censorship-era restraint mean the scandal is implied, not screamed, which can feel tame after decades of soap excess.

Revenge2011

Hamptons mansions, old money villains, and a heroine plotting ruin from the inside — it's Dynasty's DNA filtered through a glossier, more conspiratorial 2010s lens.

But Tighter serialized mystery plotting means less room for the sprawling, anything-goes chaos Dynasty thrives on.

Empire2015

A music mogul's family tears itself apart over the company he built — the same Shakespearean boardroom-and-bedroom collision, just with better music and sharper suits.

But More contemporary and issue-aware; it doesn't wallow in the pure decadent silliness Dynasty embraces without apology.

Melrose Place1992no page yet

Younger, trashier, and gleefully aware of it — an apartment complex full of beautiful liars instead of a mansion, but the same appetite for scandal per square foot.

But Smaller-scale and soapier in a pulpier way — less corporate empire, more roommate drama with explosions.

Yellowstone2018

Trade the boardroom for a ranch and oil money for land, but keep the aging patriarch, the warring heirs, and the empire nobody's willing to let go of.

But Far more macho and violent in tone — the camp and glamour are gone, replaced by dust and gunfights.

Gossip Girl2007

Manhattan's version of the Carringtons — a younger generation of the obscenely wealthy scheming, cheating, and narrating their own downfall with delicious relish.

But High school setting keeps stakes smaller and cattier rather than corporate; less empire, more social hierarchy.

The Bold and the Beautiful1987no page yet

A fashion-house dynasty that's basically never stopped running since the '80s — proof the Carrington formula, love triangles and boardroom coups included, still airs daily.

But Daytime pacing and budget are a huge step down; it's the same appetite on a fraction of the spectacle.

Penthouse: War in Life2020

Same engine — class warfare, backstabbing matriarchs, generational schemes — cranked past Dynasty's ceiling and delivered in another language entirely, proving the format is universal.

A South Korean melodrama about ultra-wealthy families at a luxury tower, so relentlessly over-the-top with betrayals, catfights, and murder plots that it makes Dynasty look restrained.

But Subtitled and genuinely deranged in its plotting — commitment to soap logic at maximum volume isn't for everyone.

The Kingmaker2019

Alexis Carrington is a delicious fantasy of the ruthless matriarch; this is the real-world version, unglamorized, and far more unsettling for being true.

A documentary about Imelda Marcos, still glamorous, still unrepentant, revealing how real dynastic wealth and power actually behave when the cameras of fiction are switched off.

But There's no catharsis here, no villain getting her comeuppance — just real consequences and a chillingly unbothered subject.