Dallas: Discussion Thread

[Jagger1966]

[Vee]

So, the end of Season 8. "Swan Song" is deservedly famous for some lovely moments, like the stunning tableau outside the house with Bobby and Pam in all white as Victoria Principal lets out that primal howl, and the ambiguous note where Bobby appears to be addressing both Pam and Jenna on his deathbed and most of the family - and probably Jenna - has no clue. But I couldn't help but think that in HD Bobby's fatal wounds looked like giant swaths of pepperoni. Morgan Brittany was a good sport to return just to loll back on a car seat for a few seconds and die. Talk about easy money.

Donna Reed gave her all at the end there and at various points throughout this season, including the big scene where she takes down Jock's portrait. But she still always felt pretty off to me - far too buttoned up, cool and removed, a stylish tourist. Which is not to say the great Barbara Bel Geddes was not at times reduced to a collection of vague tics and misty looks herself; I remember some of those alleged bitchy quotes in Reed's letters about Bel Geddes after being fired: 'An old brown wren who blinks a lot.' She had a point!

Jenilee Harrison is now sporting a helmet of Nancy Reagan hair and is the latest under-30 to somehow end up chained to phrenology spokesmodel Cliff Barnes. Her acting has not improved and somehow HD has made her and Charlene Tilton's performances that much worse. (Thank God Tilton is gone for awhile) It does make you wonder how much long-term planning was actually in play here BTS - obviously Jamie was potentially intended to replace Lucy, but after her first several hours on the show Jamie so far has lost any semblance of a tomboy/rough-hewn personality beyond 'clueless dupe for Cliff'. Granted, Clueless Dupe for Cliff/J.R. is a time-honored role for young women on Dallas at this point but it's wearing more than thin. Even Lucy was at least spoiled and occasionally snarky, not that Tilton could deliver any of it; her claim to fame for me remains being the woman who giggled with delight as Charles Rocket dropped the F-bomb on Saturday Night Live and ended Jean Doumanian's reign for good. And what exactly was the plan for Dack Rambo? If he was intended to slot into Bobby's place who was he to be paired with? He's handsome but both he and Jamie seem like attractive cyphers in search of space on a TV show, fake Shemps in the Three Stooges.

I know the Knots team brings back Mark Graison yet again, which seems like a mistake as Mark and his gigantic mustache have haunted the show for over a year and they only just got closure on that storyline after dragging Pam through it for an entire season. (I will always know John Beck best as the jolly redneck who got brain damage in Rollerball with James Caan.) After a certain point, many support characters/love interests who are not Ewings simply become revolving door widgets who rotate in and out repeatedly - not just the many clueless sexpots and bimbos that J.R. and Cliff pass around like poor Afton or the stultifying Mandy Winger, but Lucy's various terrible and/or dead love interests (or reheated ones like Leigh McCloskey), and now Zombie Mark and the beyond boring Dusty Farlow, he of the low-lit rodeo movie screenings where he drinks and broods about his impotence. Dusty has returned for what feels like the sixth time and somehow Sue Ellen does not look as bored with it as I am, though oddly Dusty's own father does.

Anyway: I will be consuming the 'dream season' probably in full, in tandem with Knots Landing Season 7 to examine their creative swap in full.

I had forgotten that! Good old Helen Shaver, such a class act and a formidable character actor and apparently now director. I don't believe it was her first time dubbing either.

Edited September 7, 2023 by Vee

[Darn]

Maybe I'm reading too much into it but Larry Hagman and Victoria Principal are never in the same shot in this scene. It's especially glaring since the next scene has him and that actress sharing a shot, which looks much more like traditional mid-80s blocking.

I've only read about the casting on Donna Reed as Miss Ellie but it's always reminded me of Lee Meriwether taking over as Ruth Martin from Mary Fickett. This perfectly lovely motherly looking woman suddenly played by a glamourpuss.

[Vee]

It's pretty accurate, except I would argue Lee Meriwether was still fairly warm and a solid recast. Donna Reed was very different.

[I Am A Swede]

Donna Reed was horribly miscast as Miss Ellie. I could perhaps have seen her as a replacement for Martha Scott as Sue Ellen's mother, but as Miss Ellie she was so wrong in every way.

[GLATWT88]

Agree. She did not fit the role, but I can definitely see her as Sue Ellen's mother. 

[Soapsuds]

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[dragonflies]

So Dallas is streaming on Freevee but it's missing the first season

 

UGH

[kalbir]

The episodes in the ad @Soapsuds posted are from January 8, 1982.

[Soapsuds]

It's there!! FreeVee combined it with season 2. Don't ask why. I haven't got a clue why.

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On Apple TV they are not grouped together. It's presented as it should be with season 1 and then season 2 separately.

Yeah!  I saw those episodes first when the HD masters were released. Those episodes were the last ones where Dallas hit the 30.0 HH mark in ratings.

[dragonflies]

It's not there, I click on "Watch episode 1" for Season 2 it is Season 2 

[Soapsuds]

If you are watching them through a tablet like a fire one it doesn't show up. Don't ask. I have no clue why. But if you watch the episodes on your computer or via Roku on your TV season 1 pops up. It's very weird.

I'm glad I bought the entire series on Apple TV so I don't have issues with it.

@dragonflies

Screenshot of Dallas on FreeVee from my tablet. Season 1-3 don't even show up. It starts with season 4 but if I see FreeVee on my TV...all the seasons appear.

 

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[dragonflies]

Mine doesn't look like that on FIRE TV STICK. Maybe try it on ROKU

 

@Soapsuds this is all I see, no Season 1 listed at all 

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[Soapsuds]

Here is my FreeVee through my TV and my fire stick.

 

See season 2 episode 1 Diggers daughter should be season 1 episode 1. I don't know why they labeled it like that. You're not the only one that has complained about it.

[dragonflies]

Even on my phone there's no Season 1