Dallas: Discussion Thread

[kalbir]

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I don't think this is the full Primetime Soaps episode though.

[Soapsuds]

Mary Fran as Sue Ellen?

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  Sounds like Colbys casting choice.

[Khan]

The thing is...?  I think it (Mary Frann as Sue Ellen) could have worked, in terms of chemistry with the rest of the cast, and especially with Larry Hagman; but I feel like Sue Ellen would have become a completely different character in the process.

[j swift]

There was discussion in the Primetime soap thread about Jack and Jamie Ewing and the respective actors that played those roles.

However, it struck me that another valid point about the poor logic surrounding their introduction is that they retroactively made Jock Ewing into a huge jerk.  Not only did he keep his illegitimate son in the barn, but he screwed over both Digger Barnes and his own brother for the oil rights on what would become the Ewing Ranch.  Even JR was a bit more loyal to his family that that!

[Soapsuds]

Wasn't it explained that Jamie and Cliff had no claim on Ewing Oil? 

J.R. makes a comment to Jamie that she's got 50% of Cliff which must be worth something.

 

[te.]

To be fair, did it really make him more of a jerk than the whole pitting JR and Bobby against each other in the will?

Plus, JR got his chops from somewhere. I think it got a bit Jock the Saint for a while because of Jim Davis tragic passing, then again people tend to do that in real life too, so...

[Chris 2]

As originally explained in the early episodes, Jock and Digger were partners in the first oil well. Digger was a drinker and a gambler so Jock registered the well in his name only because he feared Digger would gamble it away, but with the intention of sharing the profits. When Digger found out what Jock did, he interpreted it as Jock was stealing his half. So Digger went after him with a gun, and then Jock decided to keep the whole thing.

Later on, they retconned it so that Jock’s previously-unmentioned brother Jason was a third parter in the company. So Jack and Jamie thought they had a claim on it. But Jack connected the Ewings with a man who had a bill of sale showing that Jock bought out Jason and Digger. In return, the Ewings gave Jack 10% of the company.

[j swift]

Did Miss Ellie have any siblings?  And were her parents wealthy?

Also, Jock, Jason, Jack, Jamie, JR, James and then Bobby and Gary?  Did they run out of "J" names?  Might I suggest Jeremiah or Jaxon (Jeremy was already taken by the smarmy Mr Wendell)?  Or was the original setup meant to mirror the Kennedy clan?

Edited February 28, 2022 by j swift

[Chris 2]

Ellie’s family, the Southworths, owned Southfork. They went broke during the depression and Ellie married oilman Jock Ewing to prevent the family from losing the ranch.

Ellie had an older brother named Garrison, the namesake of her son Gary. Ellie considered him the rightful heir to Southfork. He was presumed dead in a boating accident in the late 30s, but then showed up at Southfork 40 years later (why do people on the soaps always let other people think they’re dead?). Ellie wanted to give him Southfork, but Jock and JR were not in favor of it. Didn’t matter, because Garrison was dying and kicked the bucket in the same episode (this was back when Dallas episodes were self-contained).

[j swift]

You sir are a scholar and a gentleman, thanks for the history lesson!

[Chris 2]

Ha - you’re welcome. I’ve probably spent too much of my life watching that show.

[Dion]

And like Gary, Garrison also had a drinking problem.

IIRC they never actually showed Garrison's death, the episode ended on an upbeat note with Garrison and Miss Ellie taking a walk around the ranch, now fully reconciled as siblings with the terminally ill Garrison planning on spending his last days at Southfork.

And then - like most self-contained shows of the era - Garrison was nowhere to be seen in the next episode so it can be assumed that he passed away between episodes.

[Soapsuds]

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[Paul Raven]

Dallas went through a lot of story with the self contained episodes.

What were some of the stories in those eps that you felt could have been multi episode arcs in the serial format?

When did the show officially stop the self contained stories?

Was it the beginning of the second full  season or sooner?

[Chris 2]

Oh, lots of stuff during that first full season could have been stretched over multiple episodes: Sue Ellen tries to buy a black market baby, Jock’s heart attack, Lucy is engaged to the gay son of another oil family. The show was mostly serialized by the beginning of the second full season, but they did have a few standalone episodes during that season, like the one that set up Knots Landing where Gary and Val are remarried.

Edited March 1, 2022 by Chris 2