The All-New DALLAS!

[24thcenstfan]

I enjoyed the premiere very much! Bringing in the old cast doesn't always work out, but I thought they blended the older/newer cast very well. I like all of the strategizing and maneuvering going on already! Can't wait for next week's episode.

[Temis the Vorta]

I thought Alexis preferred to swim in mud puddles?

Krystle can be played by Kim Kardashian with bleached blonde hair. They drown each other in a mud puddle. Ratings through the roof!

[Keith1701]

Temis the Vorta wrote:

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It's just a short run, something like 6 episodes for this season, so I'll give it a shot. Let's see if the younguns can measure up to the old farts.

I hope it is as good as the original DALLAS . I will watch the series no matter how many episodes.

[startrekwatcher]

Keith1701 wrote:

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I hope it is as good as the original DALLAS . I will watch the series no matter how many episodes.

I don't have to see another episode to tell you this new DALLAS even with JR et al will never be as thoroughly entertaining or as good as the original.

[Guy Gardener]

I keep passing this thread, but I don't see the the word Dallas any more... I see sal(l)aD.

[doubleohfive]

As an unabashed Dallas fan, I have the entire original series and movies on DVD at home and can answer some questions people have asked:

I'm pretty sure Bobby, Sue Ellen, JR, and most of the Ewings from the old series know the truth about Christopher - that he is Sue Ellen's biological nephew and that his biological parents are Kristin Shepard and Jeff Faraday (the guy who Bobby "bought" Christopher from.)

2) The new series is more of a continuation a la what was done with Doctor Who in the 2005 revival. Lots of stuff is still being retained in continuity, but much is being glossed over or ignored. Examples:

John Ross in the pilot goes to great length to remind us he's J.R.'s firstborn son when in actuality, he isn't. Sasha Mitchell played J.R.'s firstborn (though illegitimate) son James Beaumont in the final two season of the original show.

2) No mention is made of April, Bobby's second wife (who was murdered right in front of him on their honeymoon), or Cally (J.R.'s second wife) or the baby they had. Nor is any mention made of Jenna (Priscilla Presley) Ray's wife, or her daughter Charlie and her son (by Bobby), Lucas. Nor is any mention made of Ray's daughter Margaret from his marriage to Donna Culver. Maybe we'll see these kids grown up eventually?

The new series also is ignoring the two reunion movies from the '90s. Probably because the second, "War of the Ewings" sucked, and also because "J.R. Returns" undid a lot of the drama that the end of the series put in place (and from which this new series is picking up from.) Examples: J.R. manipulates Cliff in to selling Ewing Oil back to Bobby (and Sue Ellen) in "J.R. Returns"; we get an answer as to what happened to J.R. following the end of the series; and by the end of the first film, J.R., Bobby, Sue Ellen, John Ross, and Christopher are all living at Southfork again, with Bobby and Sue Ellen running Ewing Oil and J.R. running WestStar Oil.

Ar-Pharazon wrote:

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If Pam does return, I hope they made her look like Victoria Principal again (if she looked like anyone else after the fiery crash).

All we ever got was the fake Pam.

Not true. The same actress who played "Fake Pam" (the one Bobby dated briefly) returned a year later as "Actual" Pam when Cliff Barnes was searching for her. He found her and she told him never to tell Bobby. Afterward, we learned she was dying from her new doctor/husband.

Ar-Pharazon wrote:

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The only major difference was the absence of the cast photos during the opening.

I miss that too. I also hate that the theme is entirely synthesized and not performed by an actual orchestra. Sigh.

Mr. Laser Beam wrote:

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^ Assuming there is one...

That show had a crossover with Dallas' dream season. So perhaps the entirety of KL is part of Pam's dream?

The dream season began because they killed off Bobby in the 1985 season finale. On Knots, Gary (J.R., Bobby and Ray's brother) who had a drinking problem started drinking again. The producers on Knots liked this storyline and where it led the rest of the series so much that after Bobby's return from the dead, they decided not to acknowledge it. Gary never appeared on Dallas again, but they would reference him occasionally (Lucy's second marriage to Mitch, and J.R.'s funeral in J.R. Returns.)

Lastly, the big scene where J.R. takes the painting of Jock down from the wall in Ewing Oil is from the 1987 season finale, when Jeremy Wendell (then the president of WestStar) managed to manipulate the government into shutting Ewing Oil down, leaving him free to buy the building. J.R. makes a poignant point to his son about how Ewing Oil is more than just a company; it's literally family to them, as symbolized by the painting of Jock.

As for the new series, I love it. It's not quite what I was expecting, but then if it had just been a clone of the old show, I'd have mostly been disappointed. I do wish we had a more similar opening credits sequence (the old one was always more of an "announcement" than just a theme song...) and apart from little niggling details they got wrong (Southfork is in Braddock County, not Dallas, Christopher spent a lot of his childhood living with Pam at her house when she and Bobby were separated), I have been quite enjoying the new show.

A friend was able to hook me up with a sampler DVD of the first four episodes. I've seen them all now, and can say that 1) We will find out who sent the email to Elena soon and 2) We'll be seeing at least one more familiar face show up soon.

[Agent Richard07]

^ I was wondering when you'd pop your head in.

doubleohfive wrote:

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Sasha Mitchell played J.R.'s firstborn (though illegitimate) son James Beaumont in the final two season of the original show.

It was fun to see him and Duffy go on to do Step by Step.

doubleohfive wrote:

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The new series also is ignoring the two reunion movies from the '90s.

But like I said, a lot can happen in 14 years. There's no reason why something couldn't have simply changed. That's unless something is revealed in the next two episodes that we don't know about yet. If they were ignoring the movies, I'd think that they'd deal with J.R. supposedly shooting himself in the finale.

[Crusher Disciple]

Does Lucy have any kids?

[doubleohfive]

Agent Richard07 wrote:

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^ I was wondering when you'd pop your head in.

It was fun to see him and Duffy go on to do Step by Step.

Not just together on Step By Step, but to play characters with the exact same relationship to one another!

But like I said, a lot can happen in 14 years. There's no reason why something couldn't have simply changed. That's unless something is revealed in the next two episodes that we don't know about yet. If they were ignoring the movies, I'd think that they'd deal with J.R. supposedly shooting himself in the finale.

I don't know. I have to search for it, but I definitely recall reading somewhere (TV GUide? Entertainment Weekly?) that the new series was deliberately ignoring the reunion movies.

In J.R. Returns, Cliff sells Ewing Oil to Bobby and Sue Ellen so he can follow Afton to Waco so he could hopefully find her and meet his/their daughter. The new series establishes that Cliff still owns Ewing Oil (John Ross refers to the situation as Ewing Oil still being run by "that idiot Cliff Barnes!")
Too, neither Bobby nor Sue Ellen are shown to be in any way associated with Ewing Oil in the new series.

Lastly: the pilot of the new series makes no mention of the final gunshot heard in the original series finale. All we know is that J.R. has been catatonically depressed. We don't know for how long, but the implication is that it's been for a while. Granted, it can't have been for the entire intervening 20 years since "Conundrum" aired, because J.R. recognizes Ann at the Cattle Baron's Ball, so he had to have been ok for some time to get to know her before Bobby married her.

So I stand by my earlier statement - the new series is taking the Doctor Who route and acknowledging the previous series as much as it needs to but obviously not every last minute detail. It'd be nice if the new show did, but there are enough obvious differences and plot threads that contradict what we've already seen that it's patently obvious that things like the reunion movies are not in the continuity of the new show.

EDIT: Found the blurb about the reunion movies being ignored:

Cidre's first order of business: reviewing the old seasons all the way through to the series finale, when J.R. was reduced to a shell of his former self — a sad state he's maintained when the story picks up. (Wisely, the events of two '90s reunion TV-*movies, which Duffy and Hagman both dub "terrible," are ignored.)

Link

There you have it. And it's kind of sad, because I actually like J.R. Returns a lot; it's clever and fun. But I understand now how it completely changes the landscape of the characters and their relationships with one another and would make the new series much more difficult to do otherwise. I like enough of what I've seen so far to give Cynthia Cidre and her team the benefit of the doubt and keep watching.

[doubleohfive]

Crusher Disciple wrote:

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Does Lucy have any kids?

They never said. No mention of Mitch or any other possible husband. All we know is she shows up for Christopher's wedding with Ray (who is seemingly back in Texas from Europe, minus Jenna, Charlie and Lucas.)

[Guy Gardener]

If you want to compare the continuity to Doctor Who, some of us were still unsure if the new show was a selective reboot or an honest carry on, well into season two because so much information was being drip fed to us.

As the fanbase asks questions, the writers room will be pushed in unthought of directions.

[wissaboo]

doubleohfive wrote:

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As an unabashed Dallas fan, I have the entire original series and movies on DVD at home and can answer some questions people have asked:

maybe you can answer me this, didn't the cattle barons ball used to be a fancy evening gown and tux kind of thing? I was shocked how casually everyone was dressed.

[doubleohfive]

wissaboo wrote:

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maybe you can answer me this, didn't the cattle barons ball used to be a fancy evening gown and tux kind of thing? I was shocked how casually everyone was dressed.

No. The mainstay of the original series was that they always went to the Oil Baron's Ball, presumably for the power players in the Big Oil Industry.

Being that neither J.R. or Bobby are part of the oil industry anymore, (yet, anyway, that we know) and Bobby is primarily running Southfork Ranch, it makes sense that they'd be at the Cattle Baron's Ball instead. They never went to a Cattle Baron's Ball on the old show, so we have no frame of reference about what the appropriate attire would be for such an event.

[Crusher Disciple]

wissaboo wrote:

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maybe you can answer me this, didn't the cattle barons ball used to be a fancy evening gown and tux kind of thing? I was shocked how casually everyone was dressed.

That is black tie in Texas.

[wissaboo]

doubleohfive wrote:

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No. The mainstay of the original series was that they always went to the Oil Baron's Ball, presumably for the power players in the Big Oil Industry.

Being that neither J.R. or Bobby are part of the oil industry anymore, (yet, anyway, that we know) and Bobby is primarily running Southfork Ranch, it makes sense that they'd be at the Cattle Baron's Ball instead. They never went to a Cattle Baron's Ball on the old show, so we have no frame of reference about what the appropriate attire would be for such an event.

good catch