Dallas: Discussion Thread

[kalbir]

@I Am A Swede Love the pictures 

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[I Am A Swede]

I guess this is how Steve Urkel reacted to the news that he helped Family Matters beat Dallas

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[BetterForgotten]

The irony is Lorimar also produced some of those awful TGIF sitcoms. 

It’s important to note that Dallas made Friday nights a big night. By the time the show had deteriorated in the late 80’s, Friday nights no longer had that type of viewership. Those were typically reserved for programming on Tuesdays and Thursdays. While Family Matters eventually won that timeslot, that show itself was a niche hit as was the entire TGIF block (even if it was a 90’s staple), which makes the fall for Dallas look even worse in retrospect. 

[Paul Raven]

Dallas used the JR son reveal too late and then messed up with the casting of Sacha Mitchell.

An earlier introduction and a more dynamic actor/ character would have given the show much needed new direction.

[SoapDope]

I agree. I think J.R. should have had a wife before Sue Ellen. When Dallas started in 1978 he and SE had been married for 7 years which has their marriage dating to 1971. Surely as old and as rich J.R. was he would have had 1 marriage under his belt by then. Maybe they could have had the first wife be pregnant when they split up and never told J.R. till she shows up with a teenage son around 1982-83.  

There were a lot of popular young actors around that time like C. Thomas Howell, Rob Lowe etc...that could have been considered for the role of the son. 

The ex wife would be fun to cast. If Tina Louise had not been cast Julie Gray, I could picture her as the first Mrs. Ewing. Barbara Parkins, Elizabeth Montgomery, or Shirley Jones may have been interesting casting choices. 

[Khan]

Or Barbara Eden. 

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[Paul Raven]

Well JR was known to be sleeping around. I recall Serena,whom he would call on to unload on literally and figuratively. She ( or an earlier model) could have easily become pregnant with JR's child and knowing that was not part of the deal and would incur JR's wrath, left town and had the baby raised by her mom/sister.

I felt sorry for Tina Louise being killed off before the show took off. Had Julie hung around, Tina would have had a whole new career as part of the Dallas phenomenon and been able to shed the Ginger from the Island tag.

[Franko]

In the episode "The Verdict," it's suggested that J.R. and aging call girl Lila (Barbara Rhodes) did have a child, young call girl Rhonda (Michelle Johnson). But then it's undercut by Rhonda laughing about how she's not really Lila's mother.

[YRBB]

What really struck me about Season 13 (other than the REALLY lackluster scripting and execution) was that the show still had plenty of good storyline ideas, one of them being the introduction of an adult male heir for J.R.

It was great, on paper, to have J.R. deal with the complications of a grown son, which we never would've gotten if we waited for John Ross to grow up.

Sadly, the execution....

[SoapDope]

She was my first choice, but I thought it would be too obvious. 

I also like actresses Lee Remick and Suzanne Pleshette. 

Edited September 10, 2024 by SoapDope

[Soaplovers]

JR having a long lost son was so blah....why not a long lost daughter that was more like dear ole dad?

 

[SoapDope]

That would be good too. I wonder what 70's/80's young actress would have been perfect in the role ?  Maybe someone like Shannen Doherty ?

[kalbir]

@I Am A Swede Love the Urkel GIF.

That started March 1985 and continued for the rest of the run. What should have been the wake up call for Lorimar/CBS was 1985/86 Dallas losing CBS highest-rated scripted show to Murder, She Wrote.

[Khan]

I agree.  Even losing the number-one slot to DYNASTY should have made Lorimar and CBS start thinking of some sort of exit strategy, because once a juggernaut like DALLAS loses its' position as the most-watched show on TV - not just on CBS, but on all of TV - it never reaches those heights again.

Edited September 11, 2024 by Khan

[Chris 2]

As someone who worked for one of the industry trades early in my career, I can tell you that executives were likely not comparing Dallas’s performance to one specific CBS show (i.e. “losing out to “Murder She Wrote” as CBS’ highest rated series”) as much as they were looking at the year-over-year performance of “Dallas” itself, relative to the entire network.

”Dallas” lost 10% of its audience from the 1984-85 season to the 1985-86 season. And the drop was even worse just looking at the early 1986 episodes, when the ratings just collapsed and the show fell out of the top 10. And in fairness to Lorimar and CBS, they did act, ousting the show’s creative team and bringing back Patrick Duffy and some of the creative team from 84-85.

The problem was that Dallas needed to go forward, not backward. What kept Knots Landing fresh was continually bringing in fresh talent both in front of and behind the camera over the years. Dallas didn’t do that well.