The All-New DALLAS!

Discussion in 'TV & Media' started by Agent Richard07, Jun 11, 2012.

  1. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    Well, decades have passed and he's obviously became more bitter of an old man and the kids have grown and changed as well. I hope the actor who plays J.R. (not recalling it right now) who is of advanced years and has had recent health problems survives the series and we don't get a Livia Soprano situation pulled on us. For my money he's pretty much going to be this series.
     
  2. Peacemaker

    Peacemaker Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Yeah, I have the bad feeling that Larry Hagman's cancer is going to get the best of him eventually. I really don't want to see him end up as this series' Jock Ewing :(.

    Interesting trivia. The actress who plays Ann did a one off on the original show as one of Cliff Barnes' one night stands. Personally, I think it would be a hoot for there to be an awkward moment when Cliff rears his head (and you know he will), just to give a nod to that, even if Ann and her one off aren't the same character.
     
  3. doubleohfive

    doubleohfive Fleet Admiral

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    Everything I've read seems to suggest his cancer is in remission right now, and that he's in fairly decent health. Whether or not the series lasts beyond the first ten episodes they've already shot is anyone's guess, but at least we know we've got another 10 solid hours of J.R.

    ^ Yep.

    http://dallastvworld.tumblr.com/post/24630141117/brenda-strong-has-much-respect-for-guest-actors

    And yeah, a nice wink of the eye to that previous (if minor) role of hers if and when Cliff shows up would be a riot. :lol: Way better an intertextual reference I think, too, than acknowledging that Metcalfe, Henderson, Strong, and Hagman were all on Desperate Housewives at one point or another.
     
  4. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    I believe the series has been doing well in the ratings, so I'd suspect another order of episodes would be likely.
     
  5. Crusher Disciple

    Crusher Disciple Admiral Admiral

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    I'm watching the original Dallas on CMT. I have no idea what they're doing with the episodes they choose to show. They're jumping all over the place. :confused:
     
  6. doubleohfive

    doubleohfive Fleet Admiral

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    LAME. Are they showing any of the good episodes though?
     
  7. Crusher Disciple

    Crusher Disciple Admiral Admiral

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    I honestly don't know. We never got a CBS station when I was growing up, so I never saw the original series. Just some of the 1990s movies.

    They're jumping around so much that I'm getting dizzy. Last episode, there was a hurricane coming towards Dallas (the less said about the meteorological inaccuracies the better), and the next Sue Ellen's already had John Ross and gotten out of rehab at the insane asylum J. R. apparently sent her to. And Mary Crosby's already had an affair with J. R. Wonder if they're setting up the "Who shot JR thing?"

    Not that I'd know for sure. :confused:
     
  8. doubleohfive

    doubleohfive Fleet Admiral

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    The hurricane one sounds like the *very* early episode (perhaps even in the miniseries?) where Brian Dennehy and his buddy hold the Ewings hostage at Southfork and make Sue Ellen prance around in her bathing suit and Miss Texas ribbon.

    I think you're probably right though about them showing seminal episodes to set up "A House Divided." (The episode where J.R. is shot.)
     
  9. Crusher Disciple

    Crusher Disciple Admiral Admiral

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    AAaaaaarrrgggggghhhh!! I'd just gotten that part out of my mind. My eyes! They burn! :barf::barf:

    Only thing I can think of. They're selecting episodes to go along with the new Dallas storyline.

    Oy!
     
  10. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    I know it's unlikely with such an old series, but is it possible to syndication contract isn't allowing for all of the episodes to be shown in sequence? I think some syndication runs are odd like that where each episode can only be ran so many times before the cotract is re-newed. (But, in that case, the more minor episodes would be shown more than the more notable ones.)
     
  11. Crusher Disciple

    Crusher Disciple Admiral Admiral

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    Possible. They also showed the episode where J. R. knocked Pam out of a barn and she had a miscarriage. And (cue melodramatic violin) she could never have children again!

    I figure that was to set up Christopher being adopted.
     
  12. KB24

    KB24 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I have to catch up to the rest of the thread, but I caught the first two episodes when I was laid up sick, and I kind of didn't like it. I love, love, adore that they went with a continuation and respect for the franchise and the elder players. Unfortunately, the old school sweets are ten times better than the new crowd that is supposed to anchor nuDallas. Maybe they would be okay in a teeny show among themselves, but when it cuts between young and hot scenes and old and classy stand offs, the elder cast wins everytime.

    Honestly, trying to bring in young hot head blood was what killed the original series. I mean, it survived the damn Dream Season but too many young and nineties changes just put it to bed. Why go back to that formula? I love the original and am glad it seems to be getting some marathon time on CMT. I'd be curious to see if nightly ratings for the original are equal or better than the new show. I fail to understand network logic to remake and reboot when people are streaming the old shows. If cable showed the classics, wouldn't the same few millions tune in?

    Heck, I'm named after Kristin Sheppard, so you can presume how much I enjoyed this show. However, it is one of tv's longest running series, what's really left to tell? Why go back at all? Why not leave well enough alone? As a kid, I could tell people I was named after 'Who Shot JR' and they knew exactly what I meant. In the last decade, however, if I say that in reference to how to spell my name for someone, they don't get it. How much capitalizing on the original can there be if new folks can't appreciate the old one? I think that might be what's really at the new one's problem. Is it for the original fans nostalgia or the hotties and 90210 scandals? I don't think it can be both.

    Having cast older for the second generation cast would have made a big difference. They all just looks too young even for college ages. Why not already have a set be married and in trouble? Another uncomfortable in the family business? Someone hiding a kid or a vice? It would have made it more interesting I think to see Tier 2 already falling apart before just starting out.
     
  13. doubleohfive

    doubleohfive Fleet Admiral

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    That was the fifth episode of the series, and the final episode of the miniseries that launched the show. It's entirely possible you saw the first five episodes (the Brian Dennehy/hurricane episode is #3 I think) and then they moved on to another marathon of episodes from later in the season.

    John Ross and Christopher didn't show up in the series for a while. Pam had the miscarriage, and then later on went catatonic and nearly jumped off a building because she was so depressed about it.

    And, finally, (and I admit, I'm a bit hazy on the details here) for a while, everyone thought Christopher was J.R.'s son by Kristin, which is why Bobby was willing to "buy" Christopher from Jeff Faraday to begin with - so as not to have the Ewing name tarnished by a baby born out of an affair. It wasn't till later that they determined that Christopher was actually Faraday's and Kristin's.
     
  14. J.T.B.

    J.T.B. Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I caught some of that one yesterday and it was pretty funny. Bobby said he was moving out of Southfork and Miss Ellie cried like it was the end of the world. But how was it normal for a grown man and his wife to live in the same house with his parents and brother and sister-in-law? The normal reaction would seem more like, what took you so long?

    Good old Jim Davis. You don't see actors like him on TV much anymore. Has the new series mentioned Punk Anderson? That would be great, I've always liked Morgan Woodward.

    Justin
     
  15. doubleohfive

    doubleohfive Fleet Admiral

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    I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that her other (favored) son Gary left home so early because he didn't fit in with the rest of the Ewings, and now here was her youngest son leaving because of J.R.'s machinations. Something people forget is that prior to the start of the original series, Bobby had lived away from home on the road, working for Ewing Oil all over Texas. The opening scenes of the pilot have him returning - married, with Pamela - to Southfork. One of the conceits about the show --and the Ewings-- has always been that they stayed together as a family for so long.

    I remember re-watching reruns in the '90s on TNN and finally seeing Jock in episodes he was in (I didn't remember any from the original run; I watched it with my parents after the dream season) and hot damn, Jock is awesome. I'd love it if the new show would bring back Punk Anderson or pick up on what Jeremy Wendell is up to these days. Is George Kennedy still alive? Maybe we'll see Carter McKay again too?

    As it is, Punk isn't mentioned in any of the first four episodes of the new show.
     
  16. ClayinCA

    ClayinCA Commodore Commodore

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    You never know what they'll decide to bring back from the old show, but George Kennedy (Carter McKay), Morgan Woodward (Punk Anderson), and William Smithers (Jeremy Wendell) all seem to be still alive. I'd love to see Audrey Landers or Ted Shackelford show up.
     
  17. doubleohfive

    doubleohfive Fleet Admiral

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    ^^I'd love to see Audrey Landers again. And you're absolutely right - there are a ton of great characters they can cull from if they want to bring back old favorites. Gary and Valene, Wendell, McKay, Mitch Cooper, Sly, Cally, Katherine Wentworth, Jenna... maybe even Dusty Farlow? I'd also love to find out whatever happened to Michelle after she moved in to Ray's old house just off Southfork. Is she still there?

    I'd love to see John Ross hooking up with Cliff Barnes' daughter -- can you imagine J.R.'s reaction to that? :lol:
     
  18. Alrik

    Alrik Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I understand where you are coming from, but we are talking Dallas here. You know, the series that erased an entire season by making it a bad dream.... ;) :D
     
  19. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    ^^ Good idea. The reunion movies were another dream of Pam's. Now she's locked away somewhere, lost in dreamland. :D

    Jim Davis had incredible gravitas as an actor. JR was reduced to a punk kid whenever he was in the room.
     
  20. doubleohfive

    doubleohfive Fleet Admiral

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    Ironically, the story about Wes Parmalee posing as a long-lost Jock who returns to Southfork to take his place as head of the Ewings in 1987 was initially started during the dream season. The writers had to reboot the idea after a while, and changed the character's name, but retained the same actor. Fortunately, they hadn't gotten too far in to the story during the dream season, but from what plot points they did include, it's obvious that had they not rebooted the season as a dream, it would have been precisely that story.

    Other bits that were to be included had Bobby not been resurrected:

    -Sue Ellen would have been blinded in the explosion at Ewing Oil (set by Angelica Nero for J.R.)
    -Jamie would have been killed off in the car explosion
    -Pam would find her new husband Mark Graison dead in the shower (the morning after their wedding)

    Obviously, Jamie was safe and sound in the post-dream season, but was eventually later killed off in a mountain climbing accident off-screen later the following season. The Angelica Nero storyline, the return of both Dusty and Mark Graison was negated, as was the storyline about Ray and Donna's dealing with the knowledge that their unborn baby would have Downs syndrome. (Steve Kanaly and Susan Howard weren't thrilled about losing that storyline.)