ENDORA YOUR ENTHUSIASM (2)

By: Catherine Christman
July 8, 2025

One in a series of enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, on the topic of our favorite sympathetic villains. Series edited by Heather Quinlan.

ALEXIS CARRINGTON

Looking back it was a set-up right from the start.

The creators of that TV powerhouse Dynasty stacked the deck against Alexis Carrington, played by the inimitable Joan Collins.

After all, the first time we see Alexis’ rival — the saintly Krystle (Linda Evans) — we’re at Krystle’s modest bridal shower, in her equally modest domicile, as the perky blonde prepares to wed Denver oil tycoon Blake Carrington.

Viewers are treated to saintly Krystle surrounded by her co-workers, all bubbly and gushing because their girl made it out of the secretarial pool. Sweet. Warm. Happy.

Contrast that with the first time we see Alexis (or rather don’t see her because her face is virtually obscured by a strategically positioned hat).

Think Melania at the inauguration.

In that initial shot, the camera captures Alexis’ figure marching determinedly to the witness stand. That girl’s ready to sing like a canary about her former hubby Blake.

And yet, despite the veritable choir of angels who greeted Krystle in each and every scene, the Dynasty writers’ attempt to stack the deck against Alexis ultimately backfired.

Because when all was said and done, who didn’t want to punch the ever-simpering Krystle in the kisser while thrashing about in the lily pond?

In fact, it was none other than Alexis who valiantly took on that annoying, shoulder-padded being on our behalf.

Remember, we’re talking about Krystle — who after yawning once in boredom while traipsing through the mansion — was immediately named head of Communications at the Denver Carrington conglomerate — by none other than her overly-solicitous husband.

The result just a few weeks after Krystle’s coronation? The cover of Time for her silver fox hubby.

Huh?

As a PR exec myself in the 1980s, who toiled away at NBC, just getting a regular blurb in the NY Daily News from their Scrooge-like editor not only took hours of my time but never became an established feature until after I’d attended his mother’s wake in New Jersey.

Meanwhile back in Denver, you had poor Alexis slogging along solo, doggedly fighting the good fight for her company. True, she enjoyed some spotty male support, but as her cousin Sable noted, regarding Alexis’ much-married, often-widowed fate, “(For her) death is always a simpler solution than divorce.”

Ultimately Alexis should be celebrated because she proved a worthy successor to Popeye. Not since the vaunted sailor uttered the immortal words, “I yam what I yam,” had there been such a dynamic TV role model so confident in their raison d’être.

Still, what might be most worthy of our devotion is that Alexis was the original television champion of self-care long before the Kardashians sashayed across our screens.

For has there ever been a television character who luxuriated in a bubble bath more often—with omnipresent champagne in hand?

Perhaps for that reason alone, Alexis deserves our admiration — since upon closer examination it becomes clear that Alexis Morrell Carrington Colby Dexter Rowan is indeed the Patron Saint of Self-Care, albeit with a penchant for saying things like, “Damn you, Blake — you and those South China Sea oil leases!”

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ENDORA YOUR ENTHUSIASM (2)

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