Dallas: Discussion Thread

[Chris B]

I thought Jennilee was good her first season before they changed the character. With her, as the Lucy replacement, I thought she was an improvement over Charlene Tilton, but they gave up on the character. 

[SoapDope]

Even David Jacobs said she could not act. One of the most cringe worthy performances is when she attacks Ray after Mickey's death. Too bad Heather Locklear went to Dynasty instead of Dallas. I could picture her as Lucy ripping everyone a new one. Maybe Amanda Wyss as Lucy ? Here she is in a 1979 ad. She has even has hair like Charlene's.......LOL

 

[Vee]

Amanda Wyss was great in a lot of things, including A Nightmare on Elm Street. Any time Lucy appears I stop paying attention.

Edited June 29, 2023 by Vee

[te.]

Heather was pretty shaky in early Dynasty and Aaron invested a lot into her; somehow I doubt the Dallas producers would've done that. 

[Khan]

I agree, @te..  Heather Locklear was VERY green when she started on "Dynasty" (and on "T.J. Hooker").  Even if she hadn't improved, however, she still could engage with other actors in ways that Charlene Tilton couldn't.

Overall, I just don't believe Lucy was necessary to the show, or to Gary and Val's backstory.  David Jacobs could've left Lucy out entirely and said J.R. had his goons threaten Val into leaving Dallas over some trumped-up scandal, like pictures of her face superimposed over someone else's nude body, suggesting that Val was involved in pornography or something.

Edited June 30, 2023 by Khan

[te.]

I tend to mock Aaron a lot, but he clearly did have a great eye for picking up unknown talent and seeing beyond them being "green"; it's something where I feel the Lorimar soaps often failed at - as I said, I find the casting, especially in the latter parts of the series, very bland or just plain miscast (Leigh Taylor-Young comes to mind, who is just too likeable to play a spoiled rich bitch like Kimberly Cryder was meant to be). Sasha Mitchell was such a disaster as JR's bastard son - you would think they would absolutely hold extensive casting calls to get such a pivotal part cast and they come up with the one who gave Andrew Shue acting lessons.

[kalbir]

Budget mode most likely lead to a salary cap, thus new hires were done on the cheap.

[I Am A Swede]

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[SoapDope]

David Jacobs was hoping Lucy to be a 1970's & 80's Paris Hilton type (rich wild girl constantly getting into trouble with sex, drugs, and other scandals), but they quickly realized they screwed up with the casting of Tilton(rhymes with Hilton....LOL). They only threw storyline crumbs her way to justify cutting her a pay check. She was also used as Tiger/Teen Beat type press fodder for the younger viewers. 

Maybe if instead a Lucy, they should have had a teen grandson Lucas (Luke) and did the Kit Mainwaring storylines with him. Jock and J.R. would constantly berate him and he would act out. It would have been pre-Steven Carrington on Dynasty....which Dynasty was a blatant rip off of Dallas. 

[j swift]

IDK, there are a limited number of storylines for the rich vixen who is not the leading character

1. go after someone else's guy (Ray, Peter)
2. try to be domesticated and then resent it (Mitch)
3. be scammed for money (Casey, and the guy who played Spiderman)

After those options are played out, there are not a lot of plots left for Lucy, regardless of talent.  She wasn't going to be in a business story, nobody needed a surrogate daughter once Sue Ellen and Pam had kids, and Miss Ellie had other talk-to's. 

I also think Knots limited her potential.  Having a divorced daughter, makes Val and Gary seem too old for many of their storylines (including twins that were 20 years younger than their sister).  The horrors of being torn from her mother makes Lucy too sympathetic to be a vixen.  And there would need to be constant explanations as to why her parents weren't involved in her life in Dallas, once they established themselves in LA.

That being said, there is some fun sassy dialogue for Lucy when she returned and interacted with Callie.

Edited June 30, 2023 by j swift

[Soapsuds]

 

[te.]

I wonder if they at that point wanted to involve Ray in the "who's the daddy?" storyline but ditched it?

[SoapDope]

I thought about that too. Ray really got around on that ranch.

When it was revealed Ray was a Ewing, it never really opened up too many storylines. He was still the ranch foreman and still kind of isolated in storylines with Donna. They also ignored the fact he slept with his niece Lucy. 

[Soapsuds]

He apparently slept with everyone at Southfork except for Miss Ellie and Theresa the housekeeper.

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[Soapsuds]

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