Dallas (TV series)
 |
The Southfork Ranch, home of the Ewing family |
Dallas was a popular, long-running primetime
television soap opera about the Ewings, a very wealthy
Texas oil family. It aired on the
CBS network for 14 seasons, from
April 2,
1978 to
May 3,
1991. It was broadcast around the world and is still considered as the most successful American soap opera outside the United States.
The series is probably best-known for the central character of
J.R. Ewing, the vain, greedy, scheming, crass oil baron played by
Fort Worth native
Larry Hagman for the show's entire run. Ironically, J.R. was only meant to be a supporting character when the show premiered (the show was to be based around Bobby and Pam); however, the popularity of J.R. took off and he became the focus of the series.
Creator
David Jacobs originally created and pitched
Knots Landing, but CBS wanted a more glamorous show. Jacobs therefore created
Dallas around a wealthy oil family. When
Dallas proved to be a hit, CBS again turned to Jacobs to create a show, and
Knots Landing was aired as a spinoff of
Dallas.
Larry Hagman as John Ross "J.R." Ewing, Jr.:Eldest son of Jock and Miss Ellie.
Patrick Duffy as Bobby James Ewing (1978-1985, 1986-1991):Youngest son of Jock and Miss Ellie.
Barbara Bel Geddes (1978-1984, 1985-1990) and Donna Reed (1984-1985) as Eleanor "Ellie" Southworth Ewing Farlow :Jock's wife, whose family owned Southfork Ranch originally.
Jim Davis as John Ross "Jock" Ewing, Sr. (1978-1981):Founder of Ewing Oil and head of the Ewing family.
Linda Gray as Sue Ellen Shephard Ewing (1978-1989):J.R.'s long-suffering wife.
Charlene Tilton as Lucy Ewing Cooper (1978-1985, 1988-1990),:Saucy granddaughter.
Victoria Principal as Pamela Barnes Ewing (1978-1987):Bobby's wife, who is forced to act as a buffer between the two feuding families.
Ken Kercheval as Clifford "Cliff" Barnes:Pam's brother, whose schemes are aimed directly against the Ewings.
Steve Kanaly as Ray Krebbs (1978-1988):Ranch foreman; Jock's illegitimate son.
Susan Howard as Donna Culver Krebbs (1979-1987):Political woman who marries Ray.
Howard Keel as Clayton Farlow (1981-1991):Miss Ellie's second husband, after the death of Jock.
Dack Rambo as Jack Ewing (1985-1987):A wandering cousin.
Sheree J. Wilson as April Stevens Ewing (1986-1991):Jack's ex-wife who eventually marries Bobby.
George Kennedy as Carter McKay (1988-1991):Becomes the head of WestStar oil and the adversary of J.R.
Cathy Podewell as Cally Harper Ewing (1988-1991):J.R.'s second wife.
Sasha Mitchell as James Richard Beaumont (1989-1991):J.R.'s illegitimate son.
Kimberly Foster as Michelle Stevens Beaumont Barnes (1989-1991):April's sister.
Barbara Stock as Liz Adams (1990-1991):Cliff's girlfriend.
Morgan Fairchild (1978), Francine Tacker (1980) and Priscilla Beaulieu Presley (1983-1988) as Jenna Wade:Bobby's first true love, before Pam.
David Ackroyd (1978-1979) and Ted Shackleford (1979-1981) as Garrison Arthur "Gary" Ewing:Alcoholic black sheep of the Ewing family and Lucy's father, who moves away to California to star in the spin-off series
Knots Landing.
Joan Van Ark as Valene Ewing (1978-1981):Gary's wife and Lucy's mother.
David Wayne (1978-1979) and Keenan Wynn (1979-1980) as Willard "Digger" Barnes:Cliff and Pam's father, former partner and sworn enemy of Jock Ewing.
Tina Louise as Julie Grey (1978 - 1979):J.R.'s secretary and mistress.
Don Starr as Jordan Lee (1978-1990):A member of the cartel.
Fern Fitzgerald as Marilee Stone (1978-1990):Promiscuous female member of the cartel, whose husband committed suicide after losing money in a deal with J.R.
Barbara Babcock as Liz Craig (1978-1982):Pam's boss at The Store.
George O. Petrie as Harv Smithfield (1979-1991):The Ewing family's attorney.
Colleen Camp (1978-1979) and Mary Crosby (1979-1981) as Kristin Shepard Farraday :Sue Ellen's scheming sister, who has an affair with J.R. and then shoots him in the famous cliffhanger.
Tom Fuccello as Dave Culver (1979-1991):Donna's stepson.
Jared Martin as Steven "Dusty" Farlow (1979-1982, 1985, 1991):Clayton's son and Sue Ellen's one-time lover.
Randolph Powell as Alan Beam (1979-1980):Smooth-talking, ambitious lawyer who works for J.R. and was briefly engaged to Lucy.
Martha Scott as Patricia Shepherd (1979-1985):Sue Ellen and Kristin's mother.
Leigh McCloskey as Mitch Cooper (1980-1982, 1985, 1988):Lucy's husband .
Morgan Woodward as Punk Anderson (1980-1988):Oil executive and good friend to Jock and Miss Ellie.
Joanna Cassidy as Sally Bullock (1980-1981):Shipping magnate who sleeps with J.R.
Morgan Brittany as Katherine Wentworth (1981-1984, 1985, 1987):Wicked half-sister of Pam and Cliff, who shot Bobby.
Priscilla Pointer as Rebecca Wentworth (1981-1983):Mother of Pam, Cliff and Katherine.
William Smithers as Jeremy Wendell (1980-1981, 1984-1989):Head of WestStar and proverbial thorn in J.R.'s side.
Audrey Landers as Afton Cooper (1981-1984, 1989):Mitch's sister and aspiring singer who becomes Cliff's girlfriend.
Susan Flannery as Leslie Stewart (1981):A PR agent who works with Ewing Oil .
Deborah Rennard as Sylvia "Sly" Lovegren (1981-1991):J.R.'s secretary .
Deborah Tranelli as Phyllis (1981-1991):Bobby's secretary.
Sherill Lynn Rettino as Jackie Dugan:Cliff's secretary.
Alice Hirson as Mavis Anderson (1982-1987):Punk's wife.
John Beck as Mark Graison (1983-1984, 1985-1986):Pam's one-time fiancé.
Lois Chiles as Holly Harwood (1982-1983):Oil heiress who becomes involved in a complex scheme with J.R.
Timothy Patrick Murphy as Mickey Trotter (1982-1983):Ray's rebellious cousin.
Christopher Atkins as Peter Richards (1983-1984):Young lover of Sue Ellen.
Omri Katz as John Ross Ewing III (1983-1991):J.R. and Sue Ellen's son.
Shalane McCall as Charlie Wade (1983-1988):Jenna's daughter.
Alexis Smith as Lady Jessica Farlow Montford (1984, 1990):Clayton's criminally insane sister.
Daniel Pilon as Renaldo Marchetta (1984-1985):Jenna's ex-husband and Charlie's father.
Jenilee Harrison as Jamie Ewing Barnes (1984-1986):Cousin to the Southfork Ewings who marries Cliff.
Deborah Shelton as Mandy Winger (1984-1987):One of J.R.'s many mistresses.
Joshua Harris as Christopher Ewing (1985-1991):Bobby and Pam's adopted son, biological son of Kristin Shepard.
Barbara Carrera as Angelica Nero (1985-1986):Exotic businesswoman who dangerously tangles with J.R.
Steve Forrest as Ben Stivers/Wes Parmalee (1986):Ranch hand who claims to be Jock.
Jack Scalia as Nicholas Pearce (1987-1988, 1991):Stock broker who becomes infatuated with Sue Ellen.
Andrew Stevens as Casey Denault (1987-1989):Young hustler who works for J.R.
Leigh Taylor-Young as Kimberly Cryder (1987-1989):Daughter of the largest owner of WestStar stock, whom J.R. tries to marry in order to gain control of the company.
Beth Toussaint as Tracy McKay Lawton (1988-1989):Carter McKay's daughter who becomes involved with Bobby.
J. Eddie Peck as Tommy McKay (1989):Son of Carter McKay, a drug dealer.
Jeri Gaile as Rose Daniels McKay (1989-1991):Carter's young wife.
Ian McShane as Don Lockwood (1989):Film director who directs Sue Ellen's idea for an unflattering film about J.R.
Gayle Hunnicutt as Vanessa Beaumont (1989-1991):Old flame of J.R.'s and James' mother.
Lesley-Anne Down as Stephanie Rogers (1990):PR woman who plots to make Cliff a powerful political figure.
Susan Lucci as Sheila Foley (1990-1991):Psychotic kidnapper.
Barbara Eden as LeeAnn de La Vega (1990-1991):Old girlfriend of J.R. who plots revenge against him.
Dallas is also known for a number of famous episodes that made TV history:
*
"A House Divided" and
"Who Done It?" — The
1979-
1980 season ended with the show's anti-hero, J.R. Ewing, being shot (in the episode "A House Divided"). Viewers had to wait all summer (and most of the fall due to a Hollywood actors' strike) to learn whether J.R. would survive, and which of his many enemies was responsible. "Who Done It?" aired on
November 21,
1980, with the revelation that Sue Ellen's sister Kristin, shot him in a fit of anger. It was one of the
highest-rated episodes of a TV show ever aired. A session of the
Turkish parliament was even suspended to allow legislators a chance to get home in time to view the episode. The great success of this stunt helped usher in the practice of ending a television season with a big
cliffhanger. This entered into United States
popular culture, with
t-shirts printed with such references as "Who Shot J.R.?" and "I Shot J.R.!" being common over the summer.
*
"The Fourth Son" —
Steve Kanaly, who played the role of ranch foreman Ray Krebbs, was growing frustrated with the direction of his character and was heavily considering leaving Dallas altogether. In 1980, while playing
racquetball with
Larry Hagman, Kanaly was convinced in a conversation that if any of the actors on the set resembled a son of Jock Ewing it would be him. Hagman dreamt up a storyline that Ray Krebbs would be the illegitimate son of Jock. With some convincing, Hagman then persuaded
Leonard Katzman that the idea would work. However, previous episodes portrayed Kanaly having an affair with Jock's granddaughter, Lucy Ewing, so Katzman let the on-screen affair die-off and be forgotten before they utilized the storyline. It was originally slated to develop in the episode, "Dove Hunt," with Jock revealing the surprise in confidence to J.R., but this idea was nixed. Instead, the storyline unfolded on
December 12,
1980. Ray's supposed father, Amos Krebbs, who left him as a small boy, would show up on Ray's doorstep (with Ray wanting nothing to do with him). Amos Krebbs would later meet Jock and produce a diary belonging to his wife, Margaret Krebbs, Ray's mother, in which she admitted having an affair with Jock during the end of World War II. Margaret writes of Ray's first birthday and wishing his father (Jock) could be there. This was a landmark episode because it elevated Ray's status with the entire Ewing clan and also served as a basis for future storylines where Ray, J.R., and Bobby would unite as brothers and fight as Ewings.
*
"Swan Song" — In the 1984-85 season ending cliffhanger, Jenna Wade, Bobby Ewing's fiancee is released from prison. (She was in it earlier in the season for a false accusation of murder against her ex-husband.) J.R.'s wife Sue Ellen has started drinking again, and thinks that she has seen her ex-lover Dusty Farlow. Bobby Ewing is unsure if he wants to marry Jenna, because he has started to have feelings for his ex-wife Pam. Lucy Ewing decides to marry her ex-husband Mitch Cooper, and the wedding is held at Southfork. Jenna can see at the wedding that Bobby is acting different, and she figures out that he is in love with Pam. After the wedding Bobby goes and proposes to Pam. She accepts! The next day, when Bobby is leaving to go tell Jenna that it's over, he gets hit by a car driven by his ex-sister-in-law Katherine Wentworth. He is then taken to the hospital and dies.
*
"Blast From The Past" — One of the show's stars,
Patrick Duffy, left the program in the spring of
1985. His character, Bobby, was plowed down by a car and died, on camera, on
May 17,
1985. With ratings falling, and Duffy's career at a standstill, he agreed to return to the show for the 86-87 season. With Duffy in tow, the producers ended the 1985-1986 season (on
May 16,
1986) with an episode in which a series of spectacular, improbable events take place (including an explosion in J.R.'s office which kills Sue Ellen), culminating in a scene where Pam wakes up in bed, to be greeted by Duffy emerging from a shower. In the closing credits for that episode, there was the bizarre credit of "Also Starring Patrick Duffy as ", leaving doubt as to exactly whom Duffy was portraying. Fans had to wait until
September 26 to learn how the writers would explain his return. Most were disappointed with the solution, a pure
deus ex machina: Pam had dreamt the entire previous season, including Bobby's death (an example of retroactive continuity, or a
retcon). This caused a conflict elsewhere, as references to Bobby's death were made in the spin-off TV show,
Knots Landing. After this,
Dallas and
Knots Landing effectively cut ties as they then took place in different universes. Many fans and TV critics consider this the moment when the show
jumped the shark, one of the few shows for which such consensus is overwhelming (In fact, it is probably the most frequently-cited case after the
Happy Days episode that gives the phenomenon its name).
*
"Fall of The House of Ewing" — This cliffhanger marked the end of a Contract player, as
Victoria Principal had decided to leave the show after 10 seasons. The storyline had Pam returning to Southfork after phoning Bobby telling him after all their struggles to conceive a baby, she could finally be pregnant. Suddenly, an oil truck comes out of nowhere and a distracted Pam crashes into it, igniting a huge fireball. Pam survives the accident but is left with third degree burns. While in the hospital, she is suddenly whisked away, leaving no trace. Later in the season, she divorces (by mail) Bobby, giving him custody of their adopted son, Christopher. In subsequent seasons it is revealed that Pam was dying and chose to let her family believe that she had left, thus sparing them the trauma of watching her deteriorate.
*
"Conundrum" — This, the series finale, saw a despondent and drunk J.R., having lost almost everything with meaning to him, roaming around Southfork with a gun, contemplating killing himself. In a sequence reminiscent of "
It's a Wonderful Life", an angel (played by
Joel Grey) visits J.R. and shows him what life would be like if he had never been born. In this
alternate reality, Gary had taken over Ewing Oil, and had eventually run it into the ground. The stress of seeing his beloved company ruined had killed Jock, and Ellie had soon followed. Among the things J.R. sees are the selling (and demolition) of Southfork, on which tract houses were built (by Jason Ewing, who would have been J.R.'s replacement in the family); Gary Ewing as a successful divorce lawyer (who never married); Bobby Ewing as a down-and-out divorcee struggling to make alimony payments to his wife and pay off his gambling debts to Carter McKay (who owns a casino); Sue Ellen as a successful actress who never had a drinking problem; Cliff Barnes as Vice President of the United States; Ray as an ordinary ranch hand (who had never learned of his Ewing ancestry); Cally (J.R.'s second wife) as a battered spouse; and Kristin Shepard (who never was killed at the end of the 1980-81 season) as a successful con artist. J.R. doesn't like any of this, and the angel is revealed to be a minion of Satan...at which point J.R. wakes up, thinking it's a dream. The minion reappears in J.R.'s mirror, egging him on to pull the trigger, which he does—just as Bobby walks into the house. He runs into J.R.'s room, sees the damage, and says "Oh, my God"—at which point the episode ends, as well as the series. (This was later resolved in the TV movie "JR Returns.")
A spin-off series,
Knots Landing, ran from 1979 to 1993.
Produced by
Leonard Katzman, the television series was one of the first to be distributed globally.
Dallas was eventually translated and
dubbed into 90 languages in over 67 countries, a record that to this day still stands for an American television series.
The "Who Done It?" episode of Dallas that revealed "Who Shot J.R.?", the famous cliffhanger, received the highest domestic ratings at that point with over 90 million American viewers tuning in for the answer. The last episode of
M*A*S*H in 1983 finally beat the ratings; however, internationally
Dallas still holds the record for the highest rated episode with nearly 360 million viewers tuning in to see who shot J.R.
The show's seasonal rankings were as follows.
* #44 (Miniseries, 1978)
* #40 (1978-79)
* #6 (1979-80)
* #1 (1980-81)
* #1 (1981-82)
* #2 (1982-83)
* #1 (1983-84)
* #2 (1984-85)
* #6 (1985-86)
* #11 (1986-87)
* #22 (1987-88)
* #30 (1988-89)
* #55 (1989-90)
* #61 (1990-91)
If there was any show in the history of television that loved using cliffhangers to keep viewers interested,
Dallas was it. Throughout the series' run, every season ended with some sort of cliffhanging ending designed to drive ratings up for the season premiere the following year.
Miniseries (Season One) cliffhanger: Although this really wasn't a cliffhanger, the end of the fifth episode of this pilot miniseries saw J.R. go up to the loft of the barn to talk to Pam, who had gone up there to escape the wild time at the barbecue that was going on during the episode. J.R., intoxicated, tries to convince her to tell Bobby not to leave the ranch. However, she doesn't want to be bothered, and in trying to escape J.R. she falls off the loft, landing square on her stomach.
Resolution: Pam, who was pregnant with Bobby's child at the time, lost the baby and had her ability to conceive afterwards called into question.
Season Two cliffhanger: Sue Ellen's drinking problem has landed her in a sanitarium, where she is pregnant with a child she believes is Cliff Barnes' (although this would later be proven false). She escapes from the sanitarium, gets drunk, and then gets into a severe car accident, putting her life and the baby's life in danger. The doctors deliver the baby, named John Ross Ewing III (after his father and grandfather), but he is very small on delivery and isn't out of the woods yet. Neither is his mother, who as the episode ends is clinging to life. A very distraught J.R. is watching his wife at the end of the episode in tears, saying that she's "just gotta live."
Resolution: After a two part season premiere in which the child was kidnapped, John Ross is returned to the hospital and Sue Ellen recovers, although the doubt surrounding her newborn son's paternity lingers for a while afterwards (DNA testing finally puts the paternity question to rest).
Season Three cliffhanger: To cap off a season where J.R. has angered nearly everyone in the state of Texas, someone comes into his office late at night and shoots him three times.
Resolution: As a result of the shooting, J.R. is temporarily paralyzed from the waist down and faces a long recovery. An investigation into the crime is conducted, and eventually Sue Ellen (who was the prime suspect) confronts Kristin, her sister about the shooting...and the mystery is solved. However, Kristin is pregnant with J.R.'s baby, so he refuses to have her prosecuted, fearing another scandal. It is later revealed that after leaving Dallas, Kristin almost immediately miscarries J.R.'s child. Wishing to be able to blackmail J.R. at a later date, Kristin quickly becomes pregnant again with boyfriend Jeff Farraday (
Art Hindle), and later gives birth to a boy, Christopher, who she claims is J.R.'s child.
Season Four cliffhanger: On his way to a late night business meeting with Bobby, Cliff notices a female body in the pool. He goes into the pool to see who it is (we are never told in this part who it is), then looks up to find J.R. standing on the balcony over the pool, right near a broken area where the person fell. Cliff, thinking J.R. did it, said, "She's dead. You bastard."
Resolution: The body was revealed to be that of Kristin Shepard, who earlier that year was revealed to have shot J.R. Her cause of death was ruled to be a combination of drowning and a PCP overdose. In the months that follow, Kristin's boyfriend Jeff Farraday, desperate for money to repay various drug dealers and other lowlifes, "sells" the infant Christopher Shepard to Bobby and Pam, and he is raised as Christopher Ewing.
Season Five cliffhanger: Cliff Barnes had been having a rotten year. First of all, his relationship with Sue Ellen (which had been rekindled that year) came to an end when Sue Ellen and J.R. decided to remarry after divorcing the previous season. To top it all off, thanks to J.R., Cliff nearly drove his mother's tool company into bankruptcy, causing him to lose his job. He ends up attempting suicide, and while he lays in a hospital bed, comatose, Sue Ellen tells J.R. that if Cliff dies they will not remarry.
Resolution: Cliff emerges from his coma in the second episode of the season, and Sue Ellen and J.R. remarry later on, with Cliff humiliating himself during the ceremony.
Season Six cliffhanger: Thanks to a hit-and-run accident involving a man out to kill J.R., Ray Krebbs' cousin is in the hospital, paralyzed and in a coma. Ray comes over to Southfork to confront J.R., blaming him for what happened. J.R. asks, "Are you drunk?" Ray replies, "No, I'm stone cold sober, and now I'm going to kill you." They fight, and during the course of the fight J.R. accidentally starts a fire. J.R. knocks Ray out and tries to get upstairs to Sue Ellen and John Ross, who are asleep (passed-out drunk, in Sue Ellen's case) and unaware of the fire creeping up to the second floor. Unfortunately, a falling beam knocks him down as Southfork burns around him.
Resolution: J.R. was able to get to John Ross and they jumped out of his bedroom window together into the pool. Bobby saved Sue Ellen. Ray's cousin, after awaking, became despondent over his paralysis and relapsed into another coma, at which point Ray illegally pulled the plug on him. Ray was found guilty of manslaughter, but was given a suspended sentence by a compassionate judge.
Season Seven cliffhanger: Just like in season two, J.R. was crossing people left and right. And just like in season two, one night someone broke into his office at Ewing Oil and shot the man in J.R.'s office (who was sitting with his back to the assassin) three times. However, Bobby, sitting in the chair, takes the bullets and falls to the floor.
Resolution: Bobby was revealed to be the target. It turned out that the obsessive Katherine decided if she couldn't have him no one will. Bobby survives, and she is eventually caught.
Season Eight cliffhanger: Bobby and Pam have been divorced for some time now at this point. However, during a wedding later in the episode, Bobby reveals that he wants to remarry Pam, and they agree to do so. The following morning, Bobby is set to leave and return to Southfork to relay the news to his fiancee Jenna Wade, but is hit by a car trying to save Pam from being struck (by an escaped Katherine) and immediately goes into convulsions. He is rushed to the hospital, where after saying his final goodbyes to everyone, sheds one tear and dies.
Resolution: see "Famous Episodes."
Season Nine cliffhanger: As stated before, Pam wakes up to find someone in her shower. She opens the door to find her husband, alive and well.
Resolution: see "Famous Episodes."
Season Ten cliffhanger: Pam, on her way home from the doctor's after finding out she can conceive a baby, crashes into an oil tanker, which bursts into flames and engulfs the car, in which she is trapped.
Resolution: see "Famous Episodes."
Season Eleven cliffhanger: After another Ewing divorce, J.R. and Sue Ellen's beau, Nicholas Pearce, get into a huge fight in J.R.'s high-rise condo, with Pearce falling off the balcony to his death. Sue Ellen, believing J.R. to have murdered Nicholas, shoots her husband three times.
Resolution: J.R. recovers (in true Dallas fashion, he had been shot three times in chest, but not seriously wounded!), and they mutally agree not to press charges against each other. However, later that season, J.R. finds himself in hot water with another woman.
Season Twelve cliffhanger: Sue Ellen, tired of being mentally beaten down by J.R., gives him a preview of what could happen if she got her revenge on him, showing him her biographical movie that would make him "the laughing stock of Texas," and threatening to release it if he ever displeases her again. She then, triumphantly, walks out his life forever (or until the reunion movie, at least).
Resolution: This never really was resolved, as no mention was made of the movie ever again.
Season Thirteen cliffhanger: After committing himself to a sanitarium in order to get a voting majority in Weststar Oil, J.R.'s plan backfires when Cally Harper, his latest scorned woman, and his illegitimate son James Beaumont coerce HIM into signing a property waiver, and ends with James tearing up J.R.'s release papers, forcing him to stay in the asylum.
Resolution: After being placed in solitary confinement in the sanitarium and being diagnosed with paranoia, J.R. ends up leaving the sanitarium after bargaining with Cally.
Season Fourteen cliffhanger: After being shown what life would be like without him and being egged on by the devil to kill himself, J.R. fires a gun in his room. Bobby enters looks down, exclaims "Oh my God!", and we are led to believe that J.R. Ewing has committed suicide.
Resolution: J.R. shot the mirror, where the devil was appearing to him, and left Southfork that night for a stay in Europe, where he remained for five years.
|
Dallas Seasons 1 & 2 DVD. |
*Seasons 1 and 2 were released on
Region 1 DVD on
August 8,
2004, and on
Region 2 DVD on
November 1,
2004.
*Season 3 was released on Region 1 DVD on
August 9,
2005 and on Region 2 DVD on
September 26,
2005.
*Season 4 was released on Region 1 DVD on
January 24,
2006, and on Region 2 DVD on
May 22,
2006.
*Season 5 will be released on Region 1 DVD on
August 1,
2006Some fans dispute the naming of the DVD "seasons". What is released as Season 1 on DVD was technically the original mini-series. When the show went to formal production as regular weekly series, what is on DVD referred to as Season 2 was really Season 1. If all of the series are eventually released on DVD, the final one will be referred to with this naming system as Season 14, when there was only 13 series produced, plus a mini-series.
*In the
Family Guy episode "
Da Boom" (
1999), the
Y2K virus changes civilization for the worse. In a parody of "the return of Bobby Ewing" climax, Victoria Principal and Patrick Duffy reprise their roles in a live-action segment at the end of the episode, when Pam wakes up and tells Bobby, who is in the shower, that she just dreamt about the strangest episode of
Family Guy. They pause, then ask, "What's
Family Guy?"
*On the TV series
Father Ted, a character named Tom wears a shirt that says "I shot J.R.".
*Introducing
Saturday Night Live's 1986-1987 season,
Madonna, who hosted the first episode of the dismally
rated 1985-1986 season, read a statement from NBC that claimed the previous season of
SNL was "all a dream, a horrible, horrible dream." Coincidentally, on another ill-fated
SNL season (1980-1981), Charlene Tilton hosted an episode (which Larry Hagman had turned down) centered around the "shooting" of
Charles Rocket, a parody of the
Who Shot J.R. story arc, in which Rocket says "I'd like to know who the fuck did it." For his use of the
profanity, he was fired.
*On
That '70s Show when Donna is caught drinking, Eric notes that she was "like Sue Ellen on
Dallas".
*A couple of scenes on
The Simpsons episode entitled "
Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)" has Smithers' dream at the start of the show similar to Pam waking up and realizing Bobby's death was all a dream. Also, Smithers, thinking he shot Burns because he was drunk and he had a fired weapon on him, was similar to Sue Ellen during the Who Shot J.R.? mystery. In another episode, entitled (
I Married Marge), Homer can also be seen wearing an "I shot J.R." T-shirt.
*In
The Young Ones episode
Time, the opening sequence and credits parody
Dallas.
*On the sixth season of
Married... with Children, an episode entitled
Al Bundy, Shoe Dick mirrored Dallas' elimination of storylines via a dream. In real life,
Katey Sagal (Peg Bundy) had gotten pregnant and it was written into the series. Ms. Sagal later had a miscarriage, and to write all of the baby events out of the show, that entire season up to that point was made a dream by
Al Bundy.
*On an episode of
Duck Tales,
Scrooge McDuck meets up with a
cow-
cowboy named
J. R. Mooing, which would be a parody of J. R. Ewing.
*In the last two seasons of
The Drew Carey Show one of the opening montages is an homage to the opening of Dallas, containing Cleveland references.
*During a scene in
The Wedding Singer, Frank Sivero, who plays Andy, refuses to leave the living room and says, "Hang on! I'm watching Dallas! I think J.R. might be dead or something! They shot him!"
*Initially,
Dallas was an extended pilot composed of five 60-minute episodes. The pilot generated enough popularity that the network decided to produce a standard weekly TV series. The pilot season is now referred to as season one officially by the DVD release on Warner Home Video.
*The series' 13 year span was able to delve into the history of the Southworth/Ewing family a total of six generations. It included Enoch Southworth - Great,Great,Great Grandfather, Aaron Southworth - Great, Great Grandfather, Eleanor Southworth Ewing Farlow - Great Grandmother, J.R. Ewing-Grandfather, James Richard Beaumont- Father, and Jimmy Beaumont - Son.
*Exterior locations were shot at the
Southfork Ranch, which is now a tourist attraction and a convention center. Formerly known as Duncan Acres, it is located in
Plano, a suburb north of
Dallas. Many of the show's exteriors, including shots of each protagonist's respective skyscraper offices, were also shot in the Dallas area. The majority of the series' dramatic action was filmed in California at the
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios. The series was produced by
Lorimar. Only once was interior shooting done at the real
Southfork Ranch for dramatic purposes, that was for the
1998 TV movie, "War of the Ewings". The 2004 "Return to Southfork" reunion was also filmed inside, but that was a documentary, not an actual dramatic "episode" as such.
* When the "Who Shot J.R.?" media frenzy began,
Larry Hagman tried to renegotiate his contract. Producers
Philip Capice and
Leonard Katzman thought of firing him and replacing him with
Robert Culp (J.R.'s ambulance was to have crashed and caught fire, necessitating extensive plastic surgery). However, Hagman announced that he may be leaving the series on an appearance on a British chat show (
Wogan) during a promotional tour in the
United Kingdom. The ensuing outcry led to the producers agreeing to Hagman's terms, increasing his salary and offering him a degree of creative input in the storylines.
*
Larry Hagman and
Ken Kercheval were the only cast members to stay with the series throughout its entire run. Kercheval, however, was not credited in the opening credits until the beginning of the third season.
*The Ewing's mansion shown in the pilot season was substantially larger than the one viewers were familiar with in the later TV series' episodes.
*Similarly, the interior of the Ewing mansion (with a seemingly endless supply of bedrooms for new cast additions) was much bigger than the exterior.
*
Larry Hagman is the only actor to appear in all 356 episodes of the series, plus the two reunion movies.
*
Larry Hagman,
Patrick Duffy,
Ken Kercheval,
Linda Gray, and
Steve Kanaly are the only actors to appear in both the first and last episodes of the series.
*The
communist government of
Nicolae Ceauşescu's
Romania ran episodes of
Dallas in the
1980s hoping that it would convince people that capitalism was corrupt and decadent. Instead it sowed discontent within the communist system, as viewers looked past the characters to the portrayal of American lifestyles. Soon after the government fell, a Romanian businessman created a
Dallas-themed attraction complete with a replica of the Southfork Ranch, to celebrate the show's role in bringing down communism.
*The original Southfork ranch location (The
Cloyce Box Ranch) where the initial five episodes of season 1 were filmed no longer exists, having been destroyed by fire. The series left that location at the end of the first season due to a request by the property owner, and moved to the ranch (
Duncan Acres) where the series was filmed for the rest of its run. However, due to the expense of filming part of the season in Texas and part in California, exterior shooting at the Texas location ceased in the fall of 1989, and would not return there until the reunion movie
Dallas: J.R. Returns in 1996. The frame still stands to this day of the original Southfork that was used in the pilot season in Frisco, Texas.
*There was also a 1980s computer game based on this TV series called
Dallas Quest.
*Most of the buildings seen throughout the series in the show really exist in the Dallas skyline. For example, the original Ewing Oil building was a building called the
Renaissance Tower. Later on, through plot developments, JRE Enterprises operated out of a building called
Fountain Place (to which Ewing Oil itself later moved to, and remained through the end of the series). In the TV movies, Ewing Oil operated out of the
Bank of America Plaza. Likewise, Cliff Barnes' Barnes/Wentworth Oil operated out of a pair of buildings called "
Campbell Centre I & II", which for a time in the 1990's were where the Belgian oil company
Petrofina operated from in the Dallas area. Several episodes include shots of an abstract piece of sculpture on the grounds of the complex that features the Fina shield-shaped logo.
*One year into the production of "Dallas" the swarthy actor
David Ackroyd was replaced by the blonde actor
Ted Shackelford playing Gary Ewing. This was one of the typical
Hollywood actor replacements in which the new actor doesn't even remotely resemble the initial one he or she replaces. However, Shackelford is much better known as Gary Ewing because of the long-running series
Knots Landing.
*In Spring 2004, a primetime special was taped in which actors reminisced about their work on the series. It aired on November 7, 2004 on CBS, though it was delayed due to football. Sadly, actor Howard Keel (Clayton Farlow) had died earlier that same day.
*After
Dallas ended, co-stars
Patrick Duffy and
Sasha Mitchell starred in a successful
ABC sitcom,
Step By Step. This was years after Duffy agreed to renegotiate his contract from
Lorimar.
Dallas probably inspired
reality show The Will, which was infamous for being cancelled after a single episode.
*During the fourteenth and final season,
Larry Hagman was reunited with former
I Dream of Jeannie co-star
Barbara Eden to play J.R.'s conniving ex-girlfriend, Lee Ann de la Vega. Subtly referencing the duo's former history on
I Dream of Jeannie, Lee Ann revealed that her maiden name was Nelson, which was Hagman's last name on the sitcom.
A feature length motion picture based on the
Dallas story is presently in development. Actors signed on include:
John Travolta as J.R. and
Katie Cassidy as Lucy.
Luke Wilson will play the role of Bobby Ewing..[
1] Also rumored are Sam Elliot as Jock Ewing,
Shirley MacLaine as Miss Ellie and
Julianne Moore as JR's long-suffering wife, Sue Ellen.
Director
Robert Luketic was once attached to helm the project but has now moved on. The media reported he was unhappy with some casting choices, but did not specify which ones. Both
Betty Thomas (
I Spy) and
British director
Gurinder Chadha (
Bend It Like Beckham) have subsequently been reported to be in negotiations to direct the film.[
2][
3]
In a BBC Radio
Five Live interview on 21st April 2006,
Gurinder Chadha confirmed her involvement in a movie version of
Dallas. She claimed the script would be more "global" and that action would not necessarily be confined to the city of Dallas. Also, perhaps hinting at a more irreverent theme to the film, that one scene would show Miss Ellie hosting a charity event in aid of
victims of the tsunami - by this meaning families who lost their oil rigs in the disaster!
Thankfully,
Jennifer Lopez who was terribly miscast as Sue Ellen, the alcoholic wife of (John Travolta's no doubt deliciously devilish) J.R. Ewing, has jumped ship from the film. There has been no current explanation as to her departure, aside from rumours that she felt Travolta was not manly enough to play her husband. [
4] In August, 2006
Paris Hilton announced she was offered the role of Lucy Ewing, but believes she isn't ready for such a "demanding" role. No one else has been able to verify that she was actually offered the part, so for the time being consider it the rantings of a spoiled rich kid with a very slim grasp on reality.
*
List of Dallas episodes *
Dallas: The Early Years*
Dallas: J.R. Returns *
Dallas: War of the Ewings*
Dallas: Official Guide to the series*
Dallas: Official Fans Discussion Forum*
Dallas Universe*
Encyclopedia of Television*
SOAPnet Dallas Page*
Ewings' Dallas Home Page with full episode guide*
"The Ultimate Cliffhanger, Who Shot J.R.?"*
"Black For President" Dallas Fan Page with Ultimate Casting Tips
