When I was nine years old, nothing made me feel more like a grown-up than Dynasty and Dallas. My parents would let me stay up until ten on Wednesdays and Fridays, and I basked in the sordid adult world. Business deals, chronic infidelity, blackmail, betrayal, the odd murder/kidnapping, lavish lifestyles and a quota of two divas pushed in the pool per season. Dallas was more about power, and it may have been the better show, but its Colorado counterpart was the better fantasy. Dynasty tapped into America’s fascination with "the upper half of one percent" in a raw, direct way because its star was cold, hard cash.

The 13 episodes of season one follow two main threads. The first is Blake Carrington (John Forsythe), the steely-eyed oil tycoon who runs his empire with an iron fist, but has problems with his new wife, Krystle (Linda Evans), and his children, spoiled Fallon (Pamela Sue Martin) and troubled Steven (Al Corley). Krystle is new to the super-rich world, and adjusting badly. Fallon is an over- brat who schemes and leaves scandal in her wake. Steven is coming to terms with his bisexuality and his father’s harsh love. Countering the rich folks is the working-class thread: Matthew Blaisdel (Bo Hopkins), former employee of Blake’s, now his rival in the oil business, whose wife Claudia (Pamela Bellwood) has just been released from a mental hospital. Matthew must juggle Claudia, his daughter Lindsay (Katy Kurtzman) and his new oil well, not to mention his former lover…Krystle.

Each character is woven into the Carrington web in typically soapish ways. That doesn’t mean they’re shallow; Steven, for example, was the most complex gay character television had yet seen. This is an adult drama that came before the ADD shows of today, and its slow pace gives emotional depth to the syrupy scenes.

Co-creator Esther Shapiro speaks lovingly over four episodes (two with Al Corley), providing the philosophy of Dynasty, some background and some insider notes. The comments sound like essays and often don’t relate to the action. But the lady knows TV culture and she acknowledges failure, such as the middle-class family plot.

The behind-the-scenes feature and short character profiles of the Carrington children are well-made, but contain nothing you wouldn’t learn from the commentaries. The digital transfer seems sharper in the three-part pilot than any others. Generally the image, halo effects and diamond twinkles stand up, with a touch of grain. Audio is mono. Too bad, because nobody does sweeping glissando like Bill Conti.