Dallas: Discussion Thread

[kalbir]

Three Dallas-related anniversaries, both real-life in the city and fictional on the show, are each separated by a day.

November 22, 1963: President Kennedy is shot and killed in Dallas.

November 21, 1980: CBS broadcasts the Dallas episode where who shot JR is revealed and it is the highest rated episode of the entire series.

November 23, 2012: Larry Hagman passes away in Dallas as he was there filming the TNT revival of Dallas.

It's so surreal that the episode where the most famous cliffhanger of the series was resolved was broadcast one day before the 17th anniversary of the most infamous real-life shooting that took place in the city of Dallas, and that Larry Hagman passed away 32 years and 2 days after that episode was broadcast.

Edited November 24, 2022 by kalbir

[kalbir]

Dallas mentions in SOD Best and Worst.

1984: Best Prime Time Cliffhanger, Gimme a Break!, Most Tortured Love Stories

1985: Best Prime Time Show

1986: Best Story Line, Biggest Cop-Out, Best Dream

1987: Best Scene Stealers, Most Pointless Story

1988: Gimme a Break!

1989: Best Casting - Prime Time

1990: Best Reincarnated Twosome

The write ups are posted here Classic Soap Opera Digest News on Tumblr - #Best & Worst

[Soapsuds]

Dallas in HD on HBO Max in early 2023 with a complete series blu ray release too!!

I can't wait!!

[kalbir]

HD streaming and Blu-ray release to time in with the 45th anniversary in April.

[Chris B]

I'm happy for the show! I'm glad I never bought a DVD set for Dallas because this will definitely be the one to buy. I hope it includes the movies and the reboot series as well, but if not those are easy and affordable to get already anyway. 

My biggest hope is that this leads to something for Knots Landing. I don't need HD, I just would love to own that series on DVD or see it on a legit streaming site.

[Vee]

Good for them.

I won't hold my breath on Knots. I need to get back to my binge there.

[Soapsuds]

More HD screenshots from season 11

 

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[Soapsuds]

More HD images from season 12

 

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[Vee]

I do wonder when HBO will get around to adding it. Knowing Discovery/Zaslav I wouldn't be shocked if it went up with zero promotion or announcement, like their many horrible cuts to the HBO library.

I'd love to watch the restorations but as it is I am sort of hopscotching through Season 6 and through some of 7-8 on FreVee in the hopes of syncing up viewing Dallas' dream season with KL's Season 7, when they swapped creative teams, so I can compare and contrast a bit. I don't feel the need to binge or watch much to skip ahead, but I would like to view a few to have a little context. It would be the most consistent consecutive viewing of Dallas I have done in a long while. I tend to skip around a lot because not much seems to change on the show. I frankly find so much of the show's plotline and character beats grindingly repetitive - only certain driving storylines like Jock's death, the fight between the brothers for Ewing Oil, etc. capture my interest for consistent stretches.

This is far too much to ask of anyone, but if any bored completionist has recs for specific eps in late S6-S8 I'll be around, and clearly very bored with my life lol.

Edited January 9, 2023 by Vee

[Soapsuds]

More HD pics

 

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[Vee]

Whenever I'm bored, exhausted or just can't think enough for more edifying entertainment, I turn on Dallas on FreeVee. I think my reasons for that have been clearly stated before. That being said, some of the characters, rhythms, etc. do really grow on you as I've mentioned. I do think Seasons 5 and 6 were among the more gripping I've seen so far, even if I still couldn't get through a full year of the grinding repetition of the larger show.

I am poking around in S7 and S8 now, hoping to sync up KL and Dallas for their creative swap shortly and watch both in tandem. What I will say is that suddenly, in S7 the cinematography and look of the show ramp way, way up from the chintzy, plastic look it's had for years (especially in comparison to Knots). It suddenly looks cinematic, it looks like a more modern film of the later '80s (or a primetime drama from a few years later), there is a lot of amazing use of shadow and warmth; the redesigned Ewing drawing room now looks vast and spacious, not like a set from Three's Company. This is allegedly the work of new cinematographer Bradford May, who makes the show look and feel very different. So of course he was apparently fired before this year was out and they went back to looking cheap.

Edited January 18, 2023 by Vee

[Chris B]

@VeeAm I right to think you're watching the Holly Harwood season? That was a messy season, but the final three episodes are classics, so I'd recommend those.

[Vee]

This is the season after that, though I did watch a lot of that season (and enjoyed it and Season 5 more than usual). In this early season I'm in now, Season 7, Mickey Trotter just got euthanized. I believe I talked about Holly Harwood and Lois Chiles a page or two back.

Edited January 19, 2023 by Vee

[Chris B]

Oh you're in the Peter season. This was a very odd year for the show. It had some good episodes, but I don't understand what the overall point of it was. The Peter storyline was just bizarre and although I liked Katherine, I never felt the story lived up to the characters potential. 

Now season 8 is one of my favorites. I loved the introduction of Jamie and the way she was originally written. Had they not been such a male-centered show, she could've been a valuable asset at Ewing Oil who actually made sense in that environment. She had great chemistry with JR and Sue Ellen. 

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.

[Vee]

I didn't know that. Malone would have worked, IMO.

I am not a devoted viewer. I always skip and jump around with Dallas bc frankly it only fitfully holds my attention, it's so often repetitive and too two-dimensional at times. But I found Seasons 5 and 6 (Jock's death, the competition between the brothers for Ewing Oil, Clayton and Ellie) to be more compelling than most seasons and I watched a lot more of them as a result. The current season has my attention because of the beautiful new (and apparently short-lived) production style, the new base of operations for divorced Pam and her family and Christopher Atkins in a speedo, but I won't be sticking with it forever. I am just trying to watch a sprinkling of these two seasons so I can sync up the dream season/Season 9 and KL Season 7 soon, since they swap creative heads.