Desert Sun 22 January 1988
‘Dallas’ ponders its format
By JERRY BLACK AP Television Writer
LOS ANGELES The primetime soap opera Dallas may drop the serial format if CBS renews the show for an 11th year in the fall, officials said. Discussions are now under way between Lonmar Telepictures and CBS over creative changes in the show, Barbara Brogliatti, a spokeswoman for Lorimar said this week.
One means of pumping new life into the show, which has declined in the ratings in recent years, is to have each story begin and end in the same episode."We've tested the idea with the audience and found that our viewers love the idea of self-con-tained stories." said Brogliatti. She said Lorimar and CBS were also considering dropping the serial formal for Falcon Crest, another soap opera that has dropped in the ratings A third Lorimar serial on CBS, Knots Landing, would remain unchanged.
Although the changes are being contemplated, it will not be known until mid May whether CBS will renew the shows. Dallas, which made its debut in April 1978 did not begin as a serial, but gradually switched over. The Who shot J R ?” cliffhanger at the end of the 1979-80 season generated phenomenal worldwide interest. When the show returned in the fall it was first in the ratings and stayed at the lop for three of the next four years.In the 1982-83 season it was in second place.
Meanwhile. Charlene Tilton is returning to Dallas as vivacious Lucy Ewing for the final two episodes of this season She would stay with the show if it comes back in the fall. Tilton had left the show two years ago because the producers felt they were unable to develop interesting stories for a woman of her young age,Brogliatti said. Now that she is older, she is returning to the show and one of the questions that must be decided is the status of Lucy Ewing’s marriage to Mitch Cooper, played by Leigh McCloskey.
*Do you think a move to self contained stories would have made any difference?
By
Paul Raven ·
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.