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Dallas Discussion Thread


John

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In CBS drama history, Dallas 14 season run ties it w/ Knots Landing, NCIS: Los Angeles, Blue Bloods, and places it behind NCIS, Gunsmoke, Lassie, CSI, Criminal Minds.

If Dallas had continued into the 1990s, it would have looked old school next to Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, NYPD Blue, ER. It's so funny that Dallas final season overlapped w/ Beverly Hills 90210 first season, Dallas ended Spring 1991, and Beverly Hills 90210 blew up with the Summer 1991 episodes.

The natural end point I think was Spring 1988 but when watching the episodes Dallas was effectively over Spring 1989 w/ Sue Ellen departure. The final two seasons I don't feel were necessary and they only happened because CBS was in their third place primetime mess era.

I recognize Dallas place in television history as the most successful primetime soap and as Larry Hagman's career resurgence that became his second signature role or some may say his career-defining role, plus the influence it had on the daytime soaps.

Edited by kalbir
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I agree.  I know I've said this before, but to me, the final 2-3 seasons of DALLAS felt like nothing more than a parade of indistinguishable blonde women mixed with J.R. and Cliff's Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote-like antics.

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At @kalbir one of the final 1991 episodes of Dallas was titled “90265” as a reference to 90210 as well as being Malibu’s zip code when Bobby was searching for Susan Lucci’s character

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My parents watched til the bitter end though as did I

I feel like the plot of the 1996 JR Returns movie would have sufficed for the series finale. I consider that movie to be the end of the show anyways and the 2012 series as non-canon

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In one of the later seasons they did that episode where Bobby and J.R. get trapped in an elevator and start drinking and talking about the past. There is a flashback to 1978 when Bobby started at Ewing oil after marrying Pam....in only about 10 years you can really tell Patrick and Larry had rapidly aged quite a bit. Patrick was already going gray (some episodes looks like was trying to cover it up before giving in) by that point and was only about 40 when that episode aired. J.R. looked like he should be several years into retirement. 

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LOL that was actually that was the  300th episode and I know what you mean.

Hagman was 57 but looked a bit older, probably from all the hard and heavy drinking he was doing during the show’s run. 

Of course the styling during the later years of the show did no one any favors, especially for Duffy and Gray. Linda looked so much younger on Melrose a few years later than she did as Sue Ellen during the 88-89 season and her appearance in the finale, while Duffy looked refreshed by the time Step by Step premiered. 

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Victoria Principal denies having anything done, but we all know her second husband was a plastic surgeon so she had access to the best surgery and skincare.

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Her face started to change around 1982 along with various awful hairstyles/dye jobs. Her hair looked best in season 1 and 2 before the shag. I guess that was supposed to be courtesy of Jhirmack. I just bet she really used those products 

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I don’t think Victoria had any noticeable work done until the middle of the dream season. This was the season where she missed an episode or two because of “back issues” and then came back looking different.

Her different look after the initial bunch of episodes was due to heavier makeup and fussier hairstyles. She was such a beauty - she didn’t need those. I agree that she looked her best in the first season, with the longer dark hair and lighter makeup.

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She really was beautiful till she started with the surgery and bad hairstyles. I loved the way she looked circa 1978-79 with the long flowing hair. The episode where she comes riding up to Bobby on horseback when he pulls into the driveway when they argue about Jenna (Morgan Fairchild) she was stunning.  Poor Ken Kercheval (Cliff) really aged quickly too during his run.

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It’s always so shocking to see what Cliff was like before he became a buffoon. Or Jenna when she was played by someone who could act.

Pam does look at her best here. And that scene with Ellie and Pam is a winner.

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That is a great scene Later when Miss Ellie is concerned about Jock's friendship with Julie Gray, Pam repeats her words back to her about fighting for Jock. 

LOL at someone who can act. Presley was awful and dull in the role of Jenna. I wish Fairchild had been brought back to battle with Principal in meaty scenes.

Cliff really did come apart as the show went on. Ken aged very quickly and came across as more eccentric as time went on.

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