Expert: Crystal - 1/30/2008

Question
QUESTION: This is more of a hypothetical question.  It's been frustrating me and many other Brandon/Kelly fans.  I figured you would have some very good insights about this.

If Jason stayed on the show till the end, would they still have brought Dylan back in Season 9?  If so, how do you think the show would have ended?  Would they have Brandon/Kelly end up together or would it be Dylan/Kelly?  I have always believed it would be Brandon/Kelly had Jason stayed and considered Dylan/Kelly to basically have been a default ending.  I know both couples have a lot of fans, but it seems Dylan/Kelly also receive a lot of hate and negativity, so I assumed that was never the preferred ending.

I realize that no one will have a guaranteed correct answer for this, since it is a hypothetical situation.  But any help you can provide on this will be appreciated.  Thank you.

ANSWER: Hello Amanda,

Don't know if I added much insight, but this is what I think:

If Jason had stayed until the end of the series, that Kelly & Brandon would have gotten married at the end of Season 8. After all, it seems the only reason that Kelly & Brandon decided that they hadn't had their moment and weren't ready to take that step was simply because Jason was leaving the show early in the next season.

Jason made his decision to leave thinking that Season 8 would be the last season. It seems that the show was renewed for Season 9 at the last minute. Jason decided to stick to his decision of leaving even though he had said in interviews that he would stay with the show until the end. When he heard that the show was finally ending in 2000, he made it known that he wanted to take part somehow. The only reason that he appeared by videotape is that he was in London appearing in a play, that was the only way he could take part.

If Jason had stayed until the end, I don't know if Aaron Spelling would have necessarily tried to get Luke/Dylan back on the show. Luke was always welcome at the show, with that being independent from who was still with the show. Aaron even made it known that he had been trying to talk Luke into returning every season until Luke actually did decide to take him up on the offer to return. His return was decided last minute as well. It could have just as easily went with Luke deciding to pass on returning as Dylan.

I think if the show ended with both Brandon and Dylan present, that Kelly would have ended up with Brandon or possibly choosing herself again. I see nothing to suggest that Dylan/Kelly was anything other than the default ending with both being available at the end of the series.

John Eisendrath claimed that when the show was wrapped up that he was giving the fans what they wanted: this fan was not given that. I didn't want Dylan/Kelly together. I wanted the Walsh family to take part. If the show had ended in Season 8 with slight tweaks, it would have been a great ending to me.

Take care,
Crystal


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Crystal.  Thank you for your response.  Your comments were very good.

When John Eisendrath claimed he was giving the fans what they wanted, do you interpret that as meaning he thinks most people wanted Dylan/Kelly to end up together rather than Brandon/Kelly or Dylan/Brenda?  Or is he just saying that Dylan/Kelly was the best option available given the cast they had?  I think Matt/Kelly instead of Dylan/Kelly could have been worse for a lot of viewers, since Matt/Kelly doesn't have many fans, so maybe that's why John Eisendrath said that?  If Brandon or Brenda did show up for the finale, would it still have been Dylan/Kelly because of the previous storylines or could they have changed the ending?  

Thanks once again.

ANSWER: Hello again,

I don't think he was saying that more fans wanted Dylan/Kelly over Brandon/Kelly and Dylan/Brenda. I do think he was saying that it was the best option given the cast available. It seems like he was suggesting more fans wanted Dylan/Kelly than Matt/Kelly though.

The only reason I think fans would have seen Matt/Kelly as worse than Dylan/Kelly is that Dylan was available and an original cast member where Matt was brought in at the end.

It appears that some fans began supporting Dylan/Kelly when their preferred couple (be it Brandon/Kelly or Dylan/Brenda) was no longer an option and they knew that the show was going to go that road once more after Dylan returned to the show, but Brandon and Brenda were gone.

If Brandon and/or Brenda had been present in the finale, I would like to think that the ending would have been different. It seems like a writer always has the option of changing what they had been working towards if options change. Sometimes they are even forced to make last minute changes, such as the show gets cancelled when they thought it would be renewed. However, changing storylines at the last minute could upset fans too, so it's possible that the ending would have stayed the same even with Brandon and/or Brenda being present.

However, knowing that Brandon/Kelly and Dylan/Brenda seem to have much larger fan bases than Dylan/Kelly, I think the writers would have risked upsetting fans that don't like last minute changes and risked previous storylines to give fans an ending they would have really supported. After all, some fans do not care if it doesn't make sense or not completely believable if their preferred couple ends up together.

Take care,
Crystal

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hey Crystal.  Thanks for your responses and sorry to bombard you with another follow-up.

You mentioned Jason decided to leave the show last minute because it was renewed for a 9th season.  Does that mean the Emma storyline would have taken place regardless of whether he stayed or left?  As a B/K fan, I really HATED that storyline.  It just seemed so inconsistent with Brandon's character.  I figured that storyline was done to ultimately break up B/K for good, so that Jason could leave the show.  But that was mid-season 8, so was that storyline independent of Jason's desire to leave?

Also, I've only watched Seasons 9-10 once, so I don't remember everything clearly.  Was the reason for the B/K non-marriage only because of not having their "moment"?  I remember Brandon saying something about "feeling more like brother and sister," and someone said a comment having to do with "chandeliers."  I remember thinking they were really stupid reasons, but I can't remember what was said exactly.  It just seemed so forced and difficult to believe.

Thanks again.  I appreciate you taking the time to answer these questions.

Answer
Hello again,

Actually, I said the show was renewed last minute. My understanding is that everyone went into Season 8 knowing that Jason wanted to exit at the end of that season. The show being renewed for Season 9 made it where Jason decided to stick to his original decision to exit even though the show was going to continue.

Using that, I don't know if the Emma storyline would have happened regardless if Jason stayed or left. However, it seems like there would have been no need for it if Jason was not going to leave at the end of the season.

I've only seen Seasons 9-10 once or twice myself, so my memory probably isn't much better than yours. What I do remember is...

When Brandon & Kelly decided not to marry, they claimed it was due to not having their moment that showed they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together as husband and wife. They also made reference to how they were only getting married because everyone else expected them to, in other words, taking the next obvious step in their relationship.

Yes, Brandon also claimed the closer the wedding date came, the more it felt like they were brother and sister. However, this did not stop him from having sex with Kelly after all the guests went home.

The chandeliers comment is how either Brandon or Kelly told someone how they (B/K) always walked under chandeliers, they never thought to swing from them. This seems like it was a reference to how wild and hot their sex life was. That "chandeliers" comment bothered me that Brandon & Kelly's relationship was being reduced to what their sex life was like. What about everything else they had, everything that said they would have a good chance of being happily married until the day they died? If the only thing a relationship has going for it is the sex, there is no relationship.

Take care,
Crystal