Dallas (TV series)

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Dallas was a hit, long-running primetime television soap opera about the Ewings, a wealthy Texas oil family. It aired on the CBS network for 14 seasons, from April 2, 1978 to May 3, 1991. It was broadcasted around the world and is still considered as the most successful American soap opera outside the United States. Its music theme is globally among the most recognizable soap opera themes of all times.

The series is probably best-known for the central character of J.R. Ewing, the vain, greedy, scheming, crass oil baron played by Fort Worth native Larry Hagman for the show's entire run. Ironically, J.R. was only meant to be a supporting character when the show premiered (the show was to be based around Bobby and Pam); however, the popularity of J.R. took off and he became the focus of the series.

Creator David Jacobs originally created and pitched Knots Landing, but CBS wanted a more glamorous show. Jacobs therefore created Dallas around a wealthy oil family. When Dallas proved to be a hit, CBS again turned to Jacobs to create a show, and Knots Landing was aired as a spinoff of Dallas.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Contents

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Cast of characters

Larry Hagman as John Ross "J.R." Ewing, Jr.
Eldest son of Jock and Miss Ellie.
Patrick Duffy as Bobby James Ewing (1978-1985, 1986-1991)
Youngest son of Jock and Miss Ellie.
Barbara Bel Geddes (1978-1984, 1985-1990) and Donna Reed (1984-1985) as Eleanor "Ellie" Southworth Ewing Farlow
Jock's wife, whose family owned Southfork Ranch originally.
Jim Davis as John Ross "Jock" Ewing, Sr. (1978-1981)
Founder of Ewing Oil and head of the Ewing family.
Linda Gray as Sue Ellen Shephard Ewing (1978-1989)
J.R.'s long-suffering wife.
Charlene Tilton as Lucy Ewing Cooper (1978-1985, 1988-1990),
Saucy granddaughter.
Victoria Principal as Pamela Barnes Ewing (1978-1987)
Bobby's wife, who is forced to act as a buffer between the two feuding families.
Ken Kercheval as Clifford "Cliff" Barnes
Pam's brother, whose schemes are aimed directly against the Ewings.
Steve Kanaly as Ray Krebbs (1978-1988)
Ranch foreman; Jock's illegitimate son.
Susan Howard as Donna Culver Krebbs (1979-1987)
Politico who marries Ray.
Howard Keel as Clayton Farlow (1981-1991)
Miss Ellie's second husband, after the death of Jock.
Dack Rambo as Jack Ewing (1985-1987)
A wandering cousin.
Sheree J. Wilson as April Stevens Ewing (1986-1991)
Jack's ex-wife who eventually marries Bobby.
George Kennedy as Carter McKay (1988-1991)
Becomes the head of WestStar oil and the adversary of J.R.
Cathy Podewell as Cally Harper Ewing (1988-1991)
J.R.'s second wife.
Sasha Mitchell as James Beaumont (1989-1991)
J.R.'s illegitimate son.
Kimberly Foster as Michelle Stevens Beaumont Barnes (1989-1991)
April's sister.
Barbara Stock as Liz Adams (1990-1991)
Cliff's girlfriend.
Morgan Fairchild (1978), Francine Tacker (1980) and Priscilla Beaulieu Presley (1983-1988) as Jenna Wade
Bobby's first true love, before Pam.
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Important secondary characters

David Ackroyd (1978-1979) and Ted Shackleford (1979-1981) as Garrison Arthur "Gary" Ewing
Alcoholic black sheep of the Ewing family and Lucy's father, who moves away to California to star in the spin-off series Knots Landing.
Joan Van Ark as Valene Ewing (1978-1981)
Gary's wife and Lucy's mother.
David Wayne (1978-1979) and Keenan Wynn (1979-1980) as Willard "Digger" Barnes
Cliff and Pam's father, former partner and sworn enemy of Jock Ewing.
Tina Louise as Julie Grey (1978 - 1979)
J.R.'s secretary and mistress.
Don Starr as Jordan Lee (1978-1990)
A member of the cartel.
Fern Fitzgerald as Marilee Stone (1978-1990)
Promiscuous female member of the cartel.
Barbara Babcock as Liz Craig (1978-1982)
Pam's boss at The Store.
George O. Petrie as Harv Smithfield (1979-1991)
The Ewing family's attorney.
Colleen Camp (1978-1979) and Mary Crosby (1979-1981) as Kristin Shepard Farraday
Sue Ellen's scheming sister, who has an affair with J.R. and then shoots him in the famous cliffhanger.
Tom Fuccello as Dave Culver (1979-1982, 1986-1987)
Donna's stepson.
Jared Martin as Steven "Dusty" Farlow (1979-1982, 1985, 1991)
Clayton's son and Sue Ellen's one-time lover.
Randolph Powell as Alan Beam (1979-1980)
Smooth-talking, ambitious lawyer who works for J.R.
Martha Scott as Patricia Shepherd (1979-1985)
Sue Ellen and Kristin's mother.
Leigh McCloskey as Mitch Cooper (1979-1982, 1985, 1988)
Lucy's husband .
Morgan Woodward as Punk Anderson (1980-1988)
Oil executive and good friend to Jock and Miss Ellie.
Joanna Cassidy as Sally Bullock (1980-1981)
Shipping magnate who sleeps with J.R.
Morgan Brittany as Katherine Wentworth (1981-1984, 1985, 1987)
Wicked half-sister of Pam and Cliff.
Priscilla Pointer as Rebecca Wentworth (1981-1983)
Mother of Pam, Cliff and Katherine.
William Smithers as Jeremy Wendell (1981, 1984-1989)
Head of WestStar and proverbial thorn in J.R.'s side.
Audrey Landers as Afton Cooper (1981-1984, 1989)
Aspiring singer who becomes Cliff's girlfriend.
Susan Flannery as Leslie Stewart (1981)
A PR agent who works with Ewing Oil .
Deborah Rennard as Sylvia "Sly" Lovegren (1981-1991)
J.R.'s secretary .
Deborah Tranelli as Phyllis (1981-1991)
Bobby's secretary.
Sherill Lynn Rettino as Jackie Dugan
Cliff's secretary.
Alice Hirson as Mavis Anderson (1982-1987)
Punk's wife.
John Beck as Mark Graison (1983-1984, 1985-1986)
Pam's one-time fiancé.
Lois Chiles as Holly Harwood (1982-1983)
Oil heiress who becomes involved in a complex scheme with J.R.
Timothy Patrick Murphy as Mickey Trotter (1982-1983)
Ray's rebellious cousin.
Christopher Atkins as Peter Richards (1983-1984)
Young lover of Sue Ellen.
Omri Katz as John Ross Ewing III (1983-1991)
J.R. and Sue Ellen's son.
Shalane McCall as Charlie Wade (1983-1988)
Jenna's daughter.
Alexis Smith as Lady Jessica Farlow Montford (1984, 1990)
Clayton's criminally insane sister.
Daniel Pilon as Renaldo Marchetta (1984-1985)
Jenna's ex-husband and Charlie's father.
Jenilee Harrison as Jamie Ewing Barnes (1984-1986)
Cousin to the Southfork Ewings who marries Cliff.
Deborah Shelton as Mandy Winger (1984-1987)
One of J.R.'s many mistresses.
Joshua Harris as Christopher Ewing (1985-1991)
Bobby and Pam's adopted son.
Barbara Carrera as Angelica Nero (1985-1986)
Exotic businesswoman who dangerously tangles with J.R.
Steve Forrest as Wes Parmalee (1986)
Ranch hand who claims to be Jock.
Jack Scalia as Nicholas Pearce (1987-1988, 1991)
Stock broker who becomes infatuated with Sue Ellen.
Andrew Stevens as Casey Denault (1987-1989)
Young hustler who works for J.R.
Leigh Taylor-Young as Kimberly Cryder (1987-1989)
Daughter of the largest owner of WestStar stock, whom J.R. tries to marry in order to gain control of the company.
Beth Toussaint as Tracy McKay Lawton (1988-1989)
Carter McKay's daughter who becomes involved with Bobby.
J. Eddie Peck as Tommy McKay (1989)
Son of Carter McKay, a drug dealer.
Jeri Gaile as Rose Daniels McKay (1989-1991)
Carter's young wife.
Ian McShane as Don Lockwood (1989)
Film director who directs Sue Ellen's idea for an unflattering film about J.R.
Gayle Hunnicutt as Vanessa Beaumont (1989-1991)
Old flame of J.R.'s and James' mother.
Lesley-Anne Down as Stephanie Rogers (1990)
PR woman who plots to make Cliff a powerful political figure.
Susan Lucci as Sheila Foley (1990-1991)
Psychotic kidnapper.
Barbara Eden as LeeAnn de La Vega (1990-1991)
Old girlfriend of J.R. who plots revenge against him.
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Famous episodes

Dallas is also known for a number of famous episodes that made TV history:

  • "A House Divided" and "Who Done It?" - The 1979-1980 season ended with the show's anti-hero, J.R. Ewing, being shot (in the episode "A House Divided"). Viewers had to wait all summer (and most of the fall due to a Hollywood actors' strike) to learn whether J.R. would survive, and which of his many enemies was responsible. "Who Done It?" aired on November 21, 1980, with the revelation that Sue Ellen's sister Kristin, shot him in a fit of anger. It was one of the highest-rated episodes of a TV show ever aired. A session of the Turkish parliament was even suspended to allow legislators a chance to get home in time to view the episode. The great success of this stunt helped usher in the practice of ending a television season with a big cliffhanger. This entered into United States popular culture, with t-shirts printed with such references as "Who Shot J.R.?" and "I Shot J.R.!" being common over the summer.
  • "The Fourth Son" - Steve Kanaly who played the role of ranch foreman Ray Krebbs, was growing frustrated with the direction of his character and was heavily considering leaving Dallas altogether. In 1980, while playing racquetball with Larry Hagman, Kanaly was convinced in a conversation that if any of the actors on the set resembled a son of Jock Ewing it would be him. Hagman dreamt up a storyline that Ray Krebbs would be the illegitimate son of Jock. With some convincing, Hagman then persuaded Leonard Katzman that the idea would work. However, previous episodes portrayed Kanaly having an affair with Jock's granddaughter, Lucy Ewing, so Katzman let the on-screen affair die-off and be forgotten before they utilized the storyline. It was originally slated to develop in the episode, "Dove Hunt," with Jock revealing the surprise in confidence to J.R., but this idea was nixed. Instead, the storyline unfolded on December 12, 1980. Ray's supposed father, Amos Krebbs, who left him as a small boy, would show up on Ray's doorstep (with Ray wanting nothing to do with him). Amos Krebbs would later meet Jock and produce a diary belonging to his wife, Margaret Krebbs, Ray's mother, in which she admitted having an affair with Jock during the end of World War II. Margaret writes of Ray's first birthday and wishing his father (Jock) could be there. This was a landmark episode because it elevated Ray's status with the entire Ewing clan and also served as a basis for future storylines where Ray, J.R., and Bobby would unite as brothers and fight as Ewings.
  • "Swan Song" - In the 1984-85 season ending cliffhanger, Jenna Wade, Bobby Ewing's fiancee is released from prison. (She was in it earlier in the season for a false accusation of murder against her ex-husband.) J.R.'s wife SueEllen has started drinking again, and thinks that she has seen her ex-lover Dusty Farlow. Bobby Ewing is unsure if he wants to marry Jenna, because he has started to have feelings for his ex-wife Pam. Lucy Ewing decides to marry her ex-husband Mitch Cooper, and the wedding is held at Southfork. Jenna can see at the wedding that Bobby is acting different, and she figures out that he is in love with Pam. After the wedding Bobby goes and proposes to Pam. She accepts! The next day, when Bobby is leaving to go tell Jenna that it's over, he gets hit by a car driven by his ex-sister-in-law Katherine Wentworth. He is then taken to the hospital and dies.

Image:TVGuidedallasdream.jpg

  • "Blast From The Past" - One of the show's stars, Patrick Duffy, left the program in the spring of 1985. His character, Bobby, was plowed down by a car and died, on camera, on May 17, 1985. When Duffy agreed to return to the show in 1986, producers ended the 1985-1986 season (on May 16, 1986) with an episode in which a series of spectacular, improbable events take place (including an explosion in J.R.'s office which kills Sue Ellen), culminating in a scene where Pam wakes up in bed, to be greeted by Duffy emerging from a shower. Fans had to wait until September 26 to learn how the writers would explain Duffy's return. Most were disappointed with the solution, a pure deus ex machina: Pam had dreamt the entire previous season, including Bobby's death (an example of retroactive continuity, or a retcon). This caused a conflict elsewhere, as references to Bobby's death were made in the spin-off TV show, Knots Landing. After this, Dallas and Knots Landing effectively cut ties as they then took place in different universes.
  • "Fall of The House of Ewing" - This cliffhanger marked the end of a Contract player, Victoria Principal decided to leave the show after 9 seasons. The storyline had Pam returning to Southfork after phoning Bobby telling him that their struggles to conceive a baby, could be a thing of the past. Suddenly, an oilrigged truck comes out of nowhere leading Pam to have an accident. Pam survives the accident but is left with third degree burns. In subsequent seasons it is revealed that Pam is dying and chose to let her family believe that she had died in the traffic accident.
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Production details

A spin-off series, Knots Landing, ran from 1979 to 1993.

Produced by Leonard Katzman, the television series was one of the first to be distributed globally. Dallas was eventually translated and dubbed into 90 languages in over 67 countries, a record that to this day still stands for an American television series.

The "Who Done It?" episode of Dallas that revealed "Who Shot J.R.?", the famous cliffhanger, received the highest domestic ratings at that point with over 90 million American viewers tuning in for the answer. The last episode of M*A*S*H in 1983 finally beat the ratings; however, internationally Dallas still holds the record for the highest rated episode with nearly 360 million viewers tuning in to see who shot J.R.

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Ratings

The show's seasonal rankings were as follows: ?? (1978-79); #6 (1979-80); #1 (1980-82); #2 (1982-83); #1 (1983-84); #2 (1984-85); #6 (1985-86); #12 (1986-87); #22 (1987-88); #30 (1988-89); ?? (1989-90); #61 (1990-91).

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DVD releases

[[Image:Dallas_1+2.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Dallas Seasons 1 & 2 DVD.]] Image:Dallas 3.jpg Image:Dallas 4.jpg Image:Dallas 5.jpg

Some fans dispute the naming of the DVD "seasons". What is released as Season 1 on DVD was technically the original mini-series. When the show went to formal production as regular weekly series, what is on DVD referred to as Season 2 was really Season 1. If all of the series are eventually released on DVD, the final one will be referred to with this naming system as Season 14, when there was only 13 series produced, plus a mini-series.

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References

  • In the Family Guy episode "Da Boom" (1999), the Y2K virus changes civilization for the worse. In a parody of "the return of Bobby Ewing" climax, Victoria Principal and Patrick Duffy reprise their roles in a live-action segment at the end of the episode, when Pam wakes up and tells Bobby, who is in the shower, that she just dreamt about the strangest episode of Family Guy. They pause, then ask, "What's Family Guy?"
  • On the TV series Father Ted, a character named Tom wears a shirt that says "I shot J.R.".
  • Introducing Saturday Night Live's 1986-1987 season, Madonna, who hosted the first episode of the dismally rated 1985-1986 season, read a statement from NBC that claimed the previous season of SNL was "all a dream, a horrible, horrible dream." Coincidentally, on another ill-fated SNL season (1980-1981), Charlene Tilton hosted an episode (which Larry Hagman had turned down) centered around the "shooting" of Charles Rocket, a parody of the Who Shot J.R. story arc, in which Rocket says "I'd like to know who the fuck did it." For his use of the profanity, he was fired.
  • On That '70s Show when Donna is caught drinking, Eric notes that she was "like Sue Ellen on Dallas".
  • A couple of scenes on The Simpsons episode entitled "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)" has Smithers' dream at the start of the show similar to Pam waking up and realizing Bobby's death was all a dream. Also, Smithers, thinking he shot Burns because he was drunk and he had a fired weapon on him, was similar to Sue Ellen during the Who Shot J.R.? mystery. In another episode, entitled (I Married Marge), Homer can also be seen wearing an "I shot J.R." T-shirt.
  • In The Young Ones episode Time, the opening sequence and credits parody Dallas.
  • On the sixth season of Married... with Children, an episode entitled Al Bundy, Shoe Dick mirrored Dallas' elimination of storylines via a dream. In real life, Katey Sagal (Peg Bundy) had gotten pregnant and it was written into the series. Ms. Segal later had a miscarriage, and to write all of the baby events out of the show, that entire season up to that point was made a dream by Al Bundy.
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Trivia

  • Initially, Dallas was an extended pilot composed of five 60-minute episodes. The pilot generated enough popularity that the network decided to produce a standard weekly TV series. The pilot season is now referred to as season one officially by the DVD release on Warner Home Video.
  • The series' 13 year span was able to delve into the history of the Southworth/Ewing family a total of six generations. It included Enoch Southworth - Great,Great,Great Grandfather, Aaron Southworth - Great, Great Grandfather, Eleanor Southworth Ewing Farlow - Great Grandmother, J.R. Ewing-Grandfather, James Richard Beaumont- Father, and Jimmy Beaumont - Son.
  • Exterior locations were shot at the Southfork Ranch, which is now a tourist attraction and a convention center. It is located in Plano, a suburb north of Dallas. Many of the show's exteriors, including shots of each protagonist's respective skyscraper offices, were also shot in the Dallas area. The majority of the series' dramatic action was filmed in California at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios. The series was produced by Lorimar. Only once was interior shooting done at the real Southfork Ranch for dramatic purposes, that was for the 1998 TV movie, "War of the Ewings". The 2004 "Return to Southfork" reunion was also filmed inside, but that was a documentary, not an actual dramatic "episode" as such.
  • When the "Who Shot J.R.?" media frenzy began, Larry Hagman tried to renegotiate his contract. Producers David Jacobs and Leonard Katzman thought of firing him and replacing him with Robert Culp. However, Hagman announced that he may be leaving the series on an appearance on a British chat show (Wogan) during a promotional tour in the United Kingdom. The ensuing outcry led to the producers agreeing to Hagman's terms, increasing his salary and offering him a degree of creative input in the storylines.
  • Larry Hagman and Ken Kercheval were the only cast members to stay with the series throughout its entire run. Kercheval, however, was not credited in the opening credits until the beginning of the third season.
  • The Ewing's mansion shown in the pilot season was substantially larger than the one viewers were familiar with in the later TV series' episodes.
  • Larry Hagman is the only actor to appear in all 356 episodes of the series, plus the two reunion movies.
  • The communist government of Nicolae Ceauşescu's Romania ran episodes of Dallas in the 1980s hoping that it would convince people that capitalism was corrupt and decadent. Instead it sowed discontent within the communist system, as viewers looked past the characters to the portrayal of American lifestyles. Soon after the government fell, a Romanian businessman created a Dallas-themed attraction complete with a replica of the Southfork Ranch, to celebrate the show's role in bringing down communism.
  • The original Southfork ranch location where the initial five episodes of season 1 were filmed no longer exists, having been destroyed by fire. The series left that location at the end of the first season due to a request by the property owner, and moved to the ranch where the series was filmed for the rest of its run. However, exterior shooting at the location ceased in the fall of 1989, and would not return there until the reunion movie Dallas: J.R. Returns in 1996. The frame still stands to this day of the original Southfork that was used in the pilot season in Frisco, Texas.
  • There is also a computer game based on this TV series called Dallas Quest.
  • Most of the buildings seen throughout the series in the show really exist in the Dallas skyline. For example, the original Ewing Oil building was a building called the Renaissance Tower. Later on, through plot developments, JRE Enterprises operated out of a building called Fountain Place (to which Ewing Oil itsself later moved to, and remained through the end of the series). In the TV movies, Ewing Oil operated out of the Bank of America Plaza. Likewise, Cliff Barnes' Barnes/Wentworth Oil operated out of a pair of buildings called "Campbell Centre I & II", which for a time in the 1990's were where the Belgian oil company Petrofina operated from in the Dallas area. Several episodes include shots of an abstract piece of sculpture on the grounds of the complex that features the Fina shield-shaped logo.
  • One year into the production of "Dallas" the swarthy actor David Ackroyd was replaced by the blonde actor Ted Shackelford playing Gary Ewing. This was one of the typical Hollywood actor replacements in which the new actor doesn't even remotely resemble the initial one he or she replaces. However, Shackelford is much better known as Gary Ewing because of the long-running series Knots Landing.
  • In Spring 2004, a primetime special was taped in which actors reminised about their work on the series. It aired on November 7, 2004 on CBS, though it was delayed due to football. Sadly, actor Howard Keel (Clayton Farlow) had died earlier that same day.
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Dallas the Movie

A feature length motion picture based on the Dallas story is presently in development. Actors in negotiations to appear in roles include: John Travolta as J.R., Jennifer Lopez as Sue Ellen, Luke Wilson as Bobby, and Shirley MacLaine as Miss Ellie.[1]

Director Robert Luketic was once attached to helm the project but has now moved on. The media reported he was unhappy with some casting choices, but did not specify which ones. Both Betty Thomas (I Spy) and British director Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham) have subsequently been reported to be in negotiations to direct the film.[2][3]

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See also

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External links

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