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John

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Love Deborah!  I loved Mandy her character as well. Glad she was included in the new Dallas. It's too bad the writers glossed over her and Sue Ellen last scene on the new reboot. I wonder if the ex boyfriend regrets dumping her.

Patrick's return gave Dallas one more season. Dallas should've ended in 1990. 

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Has there ever been a primetime television show that impacted the fortunes of a network's primetime lineup more than Dallas and CBS? The rise and fall of Dallas pretty much lines up with the rise and fall of CBS primetime.

Fall 1979-Spring 1985: A pop culture phenomenon from Who Shot JR until Bobby's car accident. CBS became the #1 primetime network in Spring 1980 and remained so until Spring 1985. Dallas is CBS's highest rated scripted program from 1980/81 to 1984/85.

Fall 1985-Spring 1987: Tanks in the aftermath of Bobby's car accident. CBS primetime drops to 2nd place in Spring 1986. 1985/86 Dallas is no longer CBS's highest rated scripted program, it's now Murder, She Wrote. Dallas falls out of the Top 10 in the aftermath of the "it was all a dream" resolution.

Fall 1987-Spring 1988: Starts to go off the rails in the aftermath of Pamela's disappearance. CBS primetime drops to 3rd place in Spring 1988.

Fall 1988-Spring 1991: Off the rails plus budget mode. Falls out of the Top 30 in the aftermath of Sue Ellen's departure. CBS remains in 3rd place until Spring 1991.

CBS primetime had some signs of life from Fall 1991-Spring 1994, but it didn't last. CBS primetime became a mess again from Fall 1994-Spring 2000. Summer 2000 was the first edition of Survivor, Fall 2000 was the start of CSI plus Everybody Loves Raymond became a Top 10 show, and the rest is history.

There were other factors that lead to the decline of Dallas (weak lead-ins, sitcoms making a comeback, changing times) and the decline of CBS primetime (no hit sitcoms for many years, hanging on to aging dramas because the new dramas had no signs of growth, loss of established affiliates in the aftermath of losing NFL broadcasting rights in Fall 1994) but I don't think anyone expected the impact of the decline of what was CBS's biggest pop culture show during the first half of the 1980s to affect CBS's primetime lineup for 13 years.

Edited by kalbir
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