Dallas 2.0: Discussion Thread

[Khan]

Just in case, though, I need to brace myself for the moment when they mention how Southfork has been in the Ewing (and not Southworth) family for generations.

[dragonflies]

That would not shock me at all.

I swear the next time John Ross disrespects Miss Ellie's memory Bobby needs to lay him out

[frequentsoapfan]

I agree with this assesment. I only saw some of Dallas through reruns on Soapnet and TNT but this show feels so different and these young people are dull as hell.

[Khan]

Alas, it's been renewed for another season, so we clearly know jack.

[dragonflies]

I like Julie Gonzalo and Rebecca the most of the younger cast.

[Soapsuds]

I feel Tommy is the best one. He should have been Christopher not the dud of Metcalf.

[dragonflies]

no he should have been John Ross not Christopher

[Soapsuds]

no he looks like Christopher like he could be Kristen's and Jeff's son..

[dragonflies]

LOL he's playing a character that basically has John Ross written all over it. sadly Tommy is what John Ross should be

[SFK]

I'm a car guy, and one thing I always enjoyed about Dallas was its car game. Nice to see that tradition carried over, loving the automobiles on this show.

On another superficial note, I thought Ann looked GREAT when she went to see her ex. Then in the next scene, Jordana looked so sexy in her flannel and jeans. She is hot with her gecko lookin' self.

I did not enjoy the feeling that we won't be seeing J.R. again in the immediate future. Loved the Jerry Jones cameo though.

[DRW50]

It's not John Ross, it's the show. I think that Cidre or whoever needed to prove that this is "their" show, and hip, and edgy. To do that, they need to repeatedly trash Miss Ellie, a strong and unique woman. Those are not allowed on a hollow show like this.

[Chris B]

This weeks episode was the first one I was an extra in. The scene was about halfway through the episode with John Ross and Bum in front of his apartment after he met with Marta. It was so cool seeing how it all came together.

[quartermainefan]

This thread has long adhered to this notion that somehow it is better to be Knotsian than Dallasesque, but I have to disagree. Dallas will always be > Knots Landing in my book, what with the over extended pausing of William Devane and the unnatural monologues characters on that show were prone to give. It was a fine show, but it is as if they were all secretly yearning for their close up, ready to give the big dramatic speech always. Dallas the characters were more colorful, less mannered, and chief among the people who just were cool because they had an interesting face if nothing else was Jock.

The absence of Jim Davis hurt the show because just having Jim Davis made the show cooler. Howard Keel was fine, but he was nowhere near as interesting as Jim Davis. Davis had that cool voice, and that Jock way of speaking that just dominated scenes once he got going. It seemed totally plausible everyone in that house did what he said. And once he left, the show lost that generational thing that made it so unique. Ellie alone isn't the same because they had such a fascinating marriage in that he cheated on her in the past, sometimes disgusted her in the present, wore the pants in that marriage but behind closed doors she had him wrapped around her finger. And then when he left the show had to get a little more conventional and lose some of the Texasness.

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And I love this scene because it so typical of the early years when everyone lived together for no rational reason. "I am Takapa!" is the the first line of dialogue I think of when I think of Dallas for some reason.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzSr6iIO5g4

The later years didn't have many scenes like this. Sue Ellen moved in and out, Pam moved in and out, Clayton and Jenna were never real Ewings, Lucy moved in and out..it just wasn't the same.

[Roman]

Well with Dynasty, all of their contracts were up. Instead of going through long protracted negotiations (which they ended up doing with Joan Collins, who wasn't in the first show) they basically told everyone that if the EPs had a hard time with any of them in their CNs, they would die in the massacre. Only two supporting characters died and the rest survived to leave Moldavia and never mention it again. There is a rumor that EP Ester Shapiro actually went on ABC and apologized for the entire storyline the next season.

The Colbys was great trash the very first season. I felt its writing was better than Dynasty (All of the writers went to The Colbys after its debut, prompting Joan Collins to call a meeting with the cast trying to get them to walk out if they didn't return to Dynasty). But that last season was the craps in a horse troft.

I thought Dallas was great television excluding the second half of the Dream Season. When PD came back, that season was its last great one. The four seasons after that were God awful.

[Roman]

Doesn't Chris' car look like an offshoot of the first car Bobby bought Pamela when she got her first job? The helicopter flight with JR gave off the impression that he had left the show. It felt like his final scenes, much like Jim Davis when he and Miss Ellie went on their second honeymoon and he was killed off the next season. BTW, Leonard Katzmann and Phil Capice continued to bring Jim scripts with Jock still in them. He was dying from brain cancer, and they knew how Jim felt about being a part of the show. From what his window said, it made Jim feel like a billion dollars that he wasn't forgotten when he had to leave the show. They knew he wasn't going to make it, but he stayed Big Jock until the end. And he still is to this day.