SoapDope

Carol mentioned Natalie (Judith Chapman) to Kim. I would love to have seen her in this clip.

Thank You for finding that. Kim did have that same hairstyle for years. I noticed Larry Wilcox from CHIPS in the Pringles ad. Doris Roberts in the Safeguard ad.

I still say Shannen Doherty could have played J.R.s daughter if she had been cast before the series Our House. I can picture her tormenting Charlie.

Thanks for the info. I didn't know they were already writing scripts for the following season while Jim was still alive. Yes, it would have been better if they had him pass away from heart issues abroad instead of the helicopter crash nonsense. The new kitchen appeared when he passed and his den was no longer seen.

I always found Dack Rambo kind of schmaltzy and hammy in the same mold as Lyle Waggoner, William Shatner, and George Hamilton. Dack was also interchangeable with Ben Murphy. Dallas made many mistakes in their writing that I felt was just plain stupid. A few examples. Christopher not being J.R.'s son by Kristin. This would have created excellent conflict with Bobby & Pam with J.R.. Maybe kept the secret they were raising his son for years till J.R. discovers the truth. Killing off Kristin quickly. Making Pam not a true Barnes. That was the whole premise of the show. Making Bobby's death a dream. Killing KL crossovers. I hated the way they handled Jock's death. They should have had Miss Ellie find him passed away in his sleep at Southfork. No, instead they drug out his death with the helicopter crash and search. The man was clearly sick in his last appearance and we are supposed to believe he went off on a trip ? Then they cooked up that Wes Parmalee story to the insult of Jim Davis memory and to the insult of the audience. Lucy's marriage to Mitch was totally blah. They married them and couldn't write for them. Leigh McCloskey always spoke like he was ready to start spouting Shakespeare any minute. Charlene just wasn't a strong actress.

I remember seeing that photo. I'm glad she still keeps in touch with the Cassidy family even if it's occasional. Shirley says she still talks to Susan.

I agree. He could fund his projects if he would open the vault and allow access. He needs to post better samples of soaps, game shows etc...and create an index that lists this stuff and how much he would charge to view, download, copy etc...

Dallas suddenly became a flash in the pan with the whole "Who Shot J.R." hoopla. People who had not watched the show jumped on board by then. The show started to decline after a few seasons which Victoria Principal has pointed out and she started to make plans to leave. 1978-1985 were the best years of Dallas in my opinion. Everything after was Meh. 1987-1991 they were scraping the bottom of the barrel to keep the show going. Here's a unpopular opinion of mine....I preferred the kid that played Christopher (Eric Farlow) to the recast. Some people slam him as ugly etc..., but he had more personality and chemistry with VP & PD than Joshua Harris. I found this hilarious post on Telly Talk I thought I would share. The switch to Joshua Harris in 1985 was much more problematic. Despite Victoria's assertions that her Eric Farlow was "my fat ugly baby," Baby Christopher was adorable... It's not that I didn't like Joshua Harris -- I did. But they were so obviously two different children that it was laughable. Eric Farlow was maybe three or four years old and responded beautifully to Victoria and the other actors, while Joshua Harris was clearly 17 years old from his very first episode. 🤣

OVS knows people really want soaps and game shows, but he will rarely share anything like that. I bet he has that entire GH episode and cut the video off there. If he had some sort of pay to stream platform, I would pay a reasonable fee to purchase. He complains about needing funds and donations...that would be a perfect way to bring in money.

I agree about Diane English and Love & War. English did several series that were short lived stinkers. She probably thought that since MB became a hit she could just toss out anything and it would stick. I always liked Susan Dey. I guess as she got older she became self conscious and it often came through onscreen. She was also battling alcoholism and anorexia. I remember seeing her appear on talk shows and she often looked like she had a few and it was awkward. She also runs hot and cold on the PF. There's times she will discuss it and say it was a fun experience and there are times she shy's away from it. She was in love with David Cassidy who only saw her as a friend and he blabbed about it in his tell all book which hurt her.

A very brief blip of 1969 General Hospital in color at the 6:40 mark

UGH! I remember him on Mork & Mindy with Gina Hecht. He was also a semi regular on Murphy Brown (another Diane English series) during it's entire run. LOL at badmouthing Rhea Perlman. Like she would not hear about that ? The trashy mini series idea sounds hilarious. The teaming of the hack screenwriter idea was done in the 1997 reunion. Val is asked to write the screenplay about her latest book "Hostage". They team her with playboy Clay McKinney who takes credit with helping her write the screenplay even though he just goofs off. He makes advances on her after a party and she pushes him. The next morning his dead body is found floating in the pool. Val lies to the police when they find an earring and asks if it's hers.

That would be good too. I wonder what 70's/80's young actress would have been perfect in the role ? Maybe someone like Shannen Doherty ?

LOL...That would have been great. I can picture Karen inviting everyone over to watch making popcorn. Val would watch it through her fingers when it got to the parts about her, Gary & Lucy.

She was my first choice, but I thought it would be too obvious. I also like actresses Lee Remick and Suzanne Pleshette.

I agree. I think J.R. should have had a wife before Sue Ellen. When Dallas started in 1978 he and SE had been married for 7 years which has their marriage dating to 1971. Surely as old and as rich J.R. was he would have had 1 marriage under his belt by then. Maybe they could have had the first wife be pregnant when they split up and never told J.R. till she shows up with a teenage son around 1982-83. There were a lot of popular young actors around that time like C. Thomas Howell, Rob Lowe etc...that could have been considered for the role of the son. The ex wife would be fun to cast. If Tina Louise had not been cast Julie Gray, I could picture her as the first Mrs. Ewing. Barbara Parkins, Elizabeth Montgomery, or Shirley Jones may have been interesting casting choices.

I never understood the appeal of Jay Thomas. The industry just tried to make him happen by putting him in several series and guest appearances. After that Married People series ended, he was immediately put in "Love & War" with Susan Dey. After the first season Dey was fired by Diane English because she claimed Dey was not capable of comedy and lacked chemistry with Thomas. She was replaced in Season 2 with Annie Potts. Dey did comedy on The Partridge Family and was perfectly capable.

Yes, nerdy little Arthur was a scene stealer. He was about 4 ft 11 and drove a Gremlin. I laughed when he drove Ginger home and before she could get out of the car he was already running up to her house wanting to take a look....LOL They should have made him recurring. If Lucy had visited again, I can picture Val introducing him to her " Look Lucy you and Arthur are the same height". They never showed his Mom. I can kind of picture someone like Martha Raye playing her or maybe Sandra Gould.

Well, Lankford did have some weird acting tics and quirks. Watch the end of the scene after she confronts Mrs. Handleman. Her facial expressions are off the wall. They wrote Houghton out of most of that episode.....LOL In the episode " Home Is For Healing" about Lucy's visit. Lankford is really bad in the scene where she keep telling Kenny she's had it with all the parties and wants to get a pizza and take it to the beach. She likes to do that bug eyed thing. Houghton just comes across as a 70's man slut. Since Kenny was supposed to be a ladies man, maybe they should have made him and Ginger porn actors who are married and they try to keep a solid marriage working in the industry. They could just have switched out the audio equipment in the house for video equipment.

David Jacobs really was intent on doing a series with the " Scenes From A Marriage" concept. He had that short lived series " Married The First Year" that aired in Spring 1979. He also shot the pilot for Knots in Feb 1979 with that same idea. Constance McCashin said Jacobs was already talking to her about KL and offered her the part of Laura at Christmas 1978. David Jacobs was talented, but some of his original ideas were kind of out there. When I watched his Archive Of American Television interview, I was often scratching my head at some of the stuff he was saying he originally planned to do on Dallas and KL with storylines and his original casting choices. Thankfully they never made it to air. I remember him saying that the most fascinating character he created should have been Pamela Barnes Ewing, but as much as he loved Victoria, she fell flat of what he envisioned. I think Katzman is the blame for that. He declawed Pam after the miniseries and catered to Hagman as J.R. and to a lesser extent Patrick Duffy's Bobby. Jacobs said Bobby Ewing was supposed to be a fun playboy carefree character, but he became dull.

LOL....great summary of the Wards and the opening credits. Houghton & Lankford were not strong actors. Lankford had weird facial and eye expressions. Houghton just sounded like a himbo when giving dialogue. Re: Val's Cable Show/PTL Club.....I just wanted to add another comment about that. Imagine if Joshua had an affair with Abby. Joshua is exposed and goes live on the air to confess like Jimmy Swaggart. He grabs Abby from behind the scenes and puts her on camera and starts crying out he was turned to sin by this wicked woman. "I should have know better to trust a woman with all that eye makeup"......🤣

David Jacobs said they had plans for the Ward's to do that story but CBS nixed it. He must have forgotten that he did it anyway briefly with the Avery's in episode 2 where Richard yells at Laura for not being more friendly with Chip Todson. Laura goes over there and sleeps with him to get Richard's foot in the door with Petrolux & J.R. I can picture Richard doing that to Laura regularly more than Kenny doing it to Ginger. Richard would do anything to be top dog even throwing his family and friends under the bus to get it. In Courageous Convictions I'm surprised Richard didn't start pimping Laura out in that episode to pay the bills.

I watched the Kristin episode just the other night. I laughed when Ginger walked in on her and Kenny supposedly going at it. Supposedly Kristin was still pregnant by J.R. at this point, but miscarried and got quickly pregnant again ? Dallas dropped the ball on that. Baby Christopher should have been J.R.'s all along and as he grows up Mommy Pam starts to notice bad behavioral problems. I can picture 5 year old Christopher telling Pam " Shut up you stupid B#*%h" after she tells him to finish his milk. LOL at Val & the family PTL club. Joshua would get a secretary (like Jessica Hahn) and have a scandalous affair that rocks their little cable world. Joshua would pull a Jimmy Swaggart and confess his sins live on the air.

Yes that was great ....LOL. Another great scene is when he visits after she and Gary split up and talks to her about her book. He makes her repeat that she and Gary are separated. He also tells her he was disappointed it was fiction because real life was a hell lot more interesting. You should know that Valene.

Yes you are right. Bobby & J.R. made several KL appearances and Charlene did one. I wonder why none of the other Dallas actors made appearances ? Was it because they would have to pay them more money and they felt Duffy & Hagman were only worth the extra expense ? I would love to have seen Bobby bring Pam with him to visit the cul-de-sac at least once. They should have had let that happen when J.R. got shot. They were headed there but were stopped on the freeway and returned to Dallas. They should have had them already be in KL for a few days when they are notified and bring Gary back with them. Victoria & Joan rarely had scenes together. I can picture Val having a local cooking/lifestyle type of show on cable than being a writer.