Dallas: Discussion Thread

[j swift]

When the Chris Atkins season takes a detour into Peter and Lucy's modeling career it struck me that sometimes there were just too many episodes per season in the primetime soaps.

Also, 40 years later, the blueprint of Southfork continues always distracts me.  JR, Bobby, and Lucy all seem to sleep in adult decorated bedrooms.  Were these the same rooms that the boys slept in as kids?  Did Miss Ellie redecorate when they got married?  Did Pam and Sue Ellen have to share bathrooms?  Is Lucy in Gary's old room?  It all made more sense in the pilot when Southfork looked like a series of integrated casitas, and everyone had their own space.

Edited January 19, 2023 by j swift

[Paul Raven]

I also am one of the people who enjoyed Donna Reed. She was a different Miss Ellie, but you knew that when you cast her. She did the best she could in a horrible position. I'm glad Dorothy Malone turned them down, but the fact that those are the types of actresses they were going for, shows they wanted to take the character in a new direction.

I kinda get the logic of going in a different direction when recasting. But Miss Ellie was never a glamor puss and to have Donna Reed all dolled up was just jarring. i always thought Hope Lange might have worked. She's a fine actress and physically more like Barbara. Naturally she would bring new elements to the character but it might have been easier to take.

 

 

[Liberty City]

I did not mind Donna Reed's take on Miss Ellie. It just was not as warm as Barbara Bel Geddes' take on the role.

I'm excited for the HD remaster. I'm hoping Knots Landing gets one eventually.

[j swift]

I think @Paul Raven's suggestion of Hope Lange as Miss Ellie would've been an inspired choice.  The only lasting memory I have of Dorothy Malone was the hair.

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For me, the weak link is Priscilla Pointer as Rebecca Wentworth.  In the story Rebecca was counterpart to Miss Ellie, the beautiful wife of Digger and mother to three charismatic kids in Cliff, Pam, and Katherine.  But, while Miss Ellie was written as both sweet and a little snarky at times, Rebecca was just a wet noodle of a character.  She cries for forgiveness, then instantly gives over her husband's company to Pam and Cliff.  She seems to still be the traumatized wife of Digger rather than the rich and powerful head of the Wentworth dynasty, and she's oblivious to Katherine's deviance.  I think Rebecca, much like her namesake in the revival, had the opportunity to be a great protagonist to Ewing Oil's success, especially because they controlled the method of extraction, but Pointer's portrayal was too benign and weak.

Edited January 19, 2023 by j swift

[Soapsuds]

The only time I saw Rebecca tough was after Cliff's attempted suicide. She confronts Ellie about JR dirty dealings. She comments to Ellie that she can play just as dirty.

As Morgan Brittany said that the producers could only keep one....either her or Priscilla and Rebecca was killed off. They thought Katherine had much more potential as a character.

[Vee]

I really enjoyed Priscilla Pointer as the tough Rebecca in Season 6 prepared to square off with J.R. and co. (The totally dropped romantic beat with her and Clayton Farlow is also interesting.) So of course she is killed immediately and the men continue to reign supreme.

I've never been big on Morgan Brittany, not on Melrose or anywhere else, and Katherine's endless torch/obsession feels long since tired almost two seasons before she runs down Bobby. It feels like it's taken him five years to catch on to her infatuation with him as is.

Edited January 19, 2023 by Vee

[Soapsuds]

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[Spin865]

Rewatching the Katherine stuff, if they just listened to Afton when she called Pam in Paris about Katherine, so many things could of been avoided for the characters. And not just on Dallas on Knots also.   

[Broderick]

I never could buy into Donna Reed as Miss Ellie.  If Old Man Southworth had told Donna Reed to go round up some steers, she would've pitched a fit over the possibility of breaking a fingernail, lol.   Hope Lange probably would've worked.  

Priscilla Pointer was pretty much wasted; they didn't try very hard to write for her while they had her.  

[Soapsuds]

Under DR Miss Ellie became regal and even more watered down. BBG Miss Ellie was never regal and when things got out of control she'd let her feelings known to that character. DR  Miss Ellie never confronted any of the characters that involved their problems.

Edited January 22, 2023 by Soapsuds

[Soaplovers]

Afton's keen instincts and observational skills were established in season 5 (her first full season on the show) when she pointed out to JR that Clayton was in love with Sue Ellen.. which he wasn't even aware of himself.  It was probably the only time a character actually listened to what Afton had to say and acted upon it.

I think the fact that no one really listened to Afton kind of enhanced the class structure set up of the show.   In most of the characters minds, Afton was just a naive girl from Bioxi that everyone assumed just used sex appeal as her only asset... and that she had nothing else of value to contribute.

 

[Vee]

Afton deserved reparations from the state for what she put up with with Cliff.

Edited January 22, 2023 by Vee

[Soapsuds]

Season 9 Dream Season HD remastered images

 

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[Soapsuds]

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[soapfan770]

A bit late but I laughed when I read this as I will always remember Brittany for her character on Melrose having a tirade, calling Jane a whore  and then getting immediately blown to smithereens by Kimberly’s bomb lol. (I thought it was a bit unbelievable Brittnay was married to Muldoon’s Richard character too). But I get what you’re saying about Katherine and agree. I also thought her ‘87 return was a bit unnecessary too but I guess since she didn’t die they had to show her at some point.

As for Brittany herself I read a few years back she was working as some “conservative media entertainment hostess” or something and that lessened my previously neutral (or lack of) opinion of her.