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Dallas: Discussion Thread

John

By John
in DTS: Cancelled Soaps

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YRBB Enthusiast

YRBB

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I think J.R. vs Pam would've been the natural evolution of that storyline and, at least by me, was expected (and something I looked forward to tremendously).

I do agree with the delay of delivering that promise in theory (which took the shape of the jungle stuff). J.R. would 100% have come up with a scheme to keep Pam away, so the idea of it was excellent and only served to build up to a big confrontation and eventual all-out war. The execution of it, of course, was rather atrocious.

I am so sad at the potential that was wasted, especially since Principal had become quite wonderful by then. I truly think it would've creatively refocused the show, kept people interested (if done right), and maybe even enticed Principal to stick around longer (although she had very clearly been aiming to get out after her 10th season for a while).

To be fair, however, KL had a concept that was pretty malleable and easily expanded (and, in fact, had done so several times already before it even became a long-running show!).

With DALLAS being about a single family and that family business, how does one do that? Go too far and the show becomes unrecognizable, and if the changes are anything but really well done, they are rejected.... 

They should have focused on JR vs Pam and looked into fresher things they hadn't done that much of, and that would be enough. They didn't need to reinvent the wheel (which they did, in a way) as long as they kept the writing tight and the show entertaining. Instead, they just decided to give up and coast on the past and their stars' appeal(s).

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Chris 2 Rising Star

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A lot of people don’t know this, but when Barbara Bel Geddes left in 1984, the original plan was to have Gladys Kravitz move in next door to the Ewings, to provide an older person to nose around in the younger Ewings’ business. That’s why she’s in that CBS promo. But the producers decided to recast Ellie with Donna Reed instead, and the rest is history.

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Khan Grand Master

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Honestly, if Donna Reed had joined the show as a sibling or cousin of Miss Ellie's, with the explanation that Ellie had either passed away or was out of town for health reasons, I think viewers might have accepted her more.  Primetime isn't like daytime in the sense that you can just recast a character and expect viewers to go along with it.

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DRW50 Grand Master

DRW50

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Thanks. I never would've known.

They should have had her join Knots instead of Aunt Betsy.

I think they got cocky because Dynasty had recast a number of characters.  They may have also thought people just saw Miss Ellie as another woman, interchangeable. The difference is Dynasty never recast the older characters that tended to get the most attention. And Dynasty was a hollower show. Barbara Bel Geddes was just irreplaceable in the Miss Ellie part.

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