Dallas - Season 2

[ALF]

J.R. Junior is the standout in this series so far. He's got a long way to go to 'replace' Hangman and perhaps he never will but with JR gone he's providing the bravado and comic relief that Hangman made so famous.

I'm loving that they wrote Ashton back in. She was a major part of the original series. I hope there's more than the one episode appearance!
Is JR's Master Plan going to culminate with the death (or indirect cause of death) to Cliff?

I'm also wondering about the future of this series... as long as John Ross keeps up the smart mouth, ass kicking, swindling and scheming I'll keep tuning in. We've got 4 left until the season wraps up and I'm guessing JR's master plan will unfold but a new threat will emerge.

I looked through the posts from the last time I've been here... I couldn't find any discussion of the likelyhood that Victoria Prinicpal will reprise her role as Pamela Barnes but they've been dropping that bomb in every episode since JR died. Is this actually going to happen? I thought there was no way in hell she would return to Dallas. Did the producers manage to get her on board because of Hangman's passing or are they going to use her "off screen?"

 

[cardinal biggles]

Victoria Principal hasn't acted in years — her last role was over a decade ago on the short-lived prime-time soap Titans; since then, she seems to be solely focused on her skin care company. As recently as a month ago, she reaffirmed that she's not coming back:

"Since the inception of ‘Dallas’, the creators and fans around the world have referred to Bobby and Pam, as the Romeo & Juliet of ‘Dallas’. I could not agree more. And since the original author of this scenario, William Shakespeare, felt compelled to make theirs a tragic love story, of epic and unforgettable deathly loss, I think I shall respect that very successful example, and leave the legacy of Bobby & Pam’s tragic love story, undisturbed and intact

When I filmed Pam’s fatal car accident, for me that was the punctuation mark on my role as Pam. I cannot be held responsible for any choices made by producers, once I left ‘Dallas’, but I do take responsibility for my decision, not to risk tarnishing Bobby & Pam’s love story, with a desperate reappearance. I made this decision a long time ago with a loving and respectful heart for ‘Dallas’, Bobby & Pam and all faithful fans."

source

So either Victoria Principal really is coming back, and everyone involved is doing an unbelievable job of keeping their mouths shut, or Bobby's investigator in Dubai will find out Pam died years ago, which means Christopher inherits Pam's 1/3 stake in Barnes Global, making for a verrrry interesting Season 3.



Minor nit: it's Hagman, not Hangman.

 

[doubleohfive]

Yeah, I posted that article a few weeks ago in this thread right after I shared my theory about Pam. But fuck it, I think she's their ace in the hole. Bobby and the boys will figure it all out and at the end of the season face off with Cliff, who will reveal he's been working with Pam all along and we'll finally see her.

 

[Takeru]

Why would Pam work with Cliff against Bobby and Christopher? I already have a hard time believing Cliff would do it but Pam? No way, not in a million years..

Even if Victoria Principal considered returning to Dallas, I'm sure the moment someone suggested "You'll be playing a megabitch version of Pam out for revenge who orchestrated her son marrying his cousin under a different name!" she would have slammed the door in this person's face and that would have been the end of the negotiations.

 

[cardinal biggles]

I just don't see any way to bring Pam back that's either inconsistent with the last time we saw her character in 1988 (where she's dying of Writer's Convenience Syndrome, and wants Cliff and Bobby to leave her alone so they'll remember her as Victoria Principal and not Margaret Michaels with some fake burn makeup) or serves as a total distraction from everything that's going on.

That said, I'm still half expecting a major reveal at the end of the season finale where Victoria Principal steps out of a darkened doorway or off a plane.

 

[The Laughing Vulcan]

That said, I'm still half expecting a major reveal at the end of the season finale where Victoria Principal steps out of a darkened doorway or off a plane.

Stepping out of a shower would be more poetic...

 

[cardinal biggles]

I don't know why I didn't think of that.

 

[doubleohfive]

Why would Pam work with Cliff against Bobby and Christopher? I already have a hard time believing Cliff would do it but Pam? No way, not in a million years..

Even if Victoria Principal considered returning to Dallas, I'm sure the moment someone suggested "You'll be playing a megabitch version of Pam out for revenge who orchestrated her son marrying his cousin under a different name!" she would have slammed the door in this person's face and that would have been the end of the negotiations.

I just don't see any way to bring Pam back that's either inconsistent with the last time we saw her character in 1988 (where she's dying of Writer's Convenience Syndrome, and wants Cliff and Bobby to leave her alone so they'll remember her as Victoria Principal and not Margaret Michaels with some fake burn makeup) or serves as a total distraction from everything that's going on.

That said, I'm still half expecting a major reveal at the end of the season finale where Victoria Principal steps out of a darkened doorway or off a plane.

The woman was in a horrific car explosion. That she made it out alive is a miracle, but psychologically it must have wreaked havoc with her not only to be as disfigured as she must have been, but also to come to the conclusion that she would have to stay away from Bobby and Christopher after only so recently "getting them back." That has to damage someone psychologically, no matter what way you stretch it. I could easily see it just being crazy Pam now hell bent on revenge. More importantly, it would be rather out of left field to have her actually gunning for Bobby and the Ewings with Cliff now. Besides, we've already seen that old characters like Afton (who once got along just fine with characters like Bobby) are now hostile toward the family, so it wouldn't be necessarily without precedent.

Too, I could easily see Pam blaming the rest of the Ewings for all the heartache she had to suffer through, the psychopath behavior of Katherine, the death of Rebecca, etc. Besides, before Bobby Cliff was the only family she had and is likely the only other family she has left.

 

[ALF]

It would be kind of cruel for the producers of this show to dangle the hope of Victoria returning after the blow of losing Hagman.

 

[doubleohfive]

It would be kind of cruel for the producers of this show to dangle the hope of Victoria returning after the blow of losing Hagman.

Yeah, it would. But not if they know they've locked her for the role.

 

[wissaboo]

"Since the inception of ‘Dallas’, the creators and fans around the world have referred to Bobby and Pam, as the Romeo & Juliet of ‘Dallas’. I could not agree more. And since the original author of this scenario, William Shakespeare, felt compelled to make theirs a tragic love story, of epic and unforgettable deathly loss, I think I shall respect that very successful example, and leave the legacy of Bobby & Pam’s tragic love story, undisturbed and intact

When I filmed Pam’s fatal car accident, for me that was the punctuation mark on my role as Pam. I cannot be held responsible for any choices made by producers, once I left ‘Dallas’, but I do take responsibility for my decision, not to risk tarnishing Bobby & Pam’s love story, with a desperate reappearance. I made this decision a long time ago with a loving and respectful heart for ‘Dallas’, Bobby & Pam and all faithful fans."

source
.

after this I think it's good for her to stay away. It's kinda a slap in the face to all the reunion movies and this new series.

 

[ALF]

Recast?

 

[doubleohfive]

As I said earlier in the thread, I hope this is all just one massive misdirect on the part of the producers and Principal, who otherwise reconsidered her previous steadfast refusal to return to Dallas in the wake of Hagman's death. Is it a long shot? Of course it is. Maybe they went and signed Morgan Brittany to come back instead? Who knows? Given the rumblings that we'd "know who killed J.R. by season's end" I feel like it would be one hell of a cliffhanger - the one person we never thought we'd see again, and now she's evil!z

Talk about a cliffhanger - AND a way to lure us all back fro season three!

 

[Vendikarr]

Isn't there an easier way to find Pam? Have Christopher file paperwork to have her declared legally dead. It has been years since she was seen last, and if she was diagnosed as terminal, that fact should have been easy enough to uncover.

And in true soap opera fashion, moments before a decision is made by the judge, Cliff enters the room with Pam in tow, no matter who they get playing her.

 

[wissaboo]

only two episodes left and no word on a renewal.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Four, actually; they're doubling up tomorrow and next Monday. I'll be interested to see if this bumps up the ratings by turning both weeks into "event" viewing, or simply burns off the remainder of the season. The ratings seem to have reached a stable level across the season (the bump for "J.R.'s Masterpiece" not withstanding), and are higher than freshman follow-on Monday Mornings.

One final thought about whether or not Pam is going to reappear: if Victoria Principal does come back, I really hope they have the good sense not to list her in the guest stars at the beginning of the episode. They did that with Ken Kercheval in last season's finale, and it totally spoiled the big reveal on who Pamela/Rebecca really is by virtue of him not having appeared in the entire episode, yet he was listed in the guest cast. As soon as the hatch opened on that plane, I knew Cliff was going to be the one to step off.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

It's getting interesting. Mrs. Pamela Rebecca Ewing (again).

 

[cardinal biggles]

That last shot of Bobby striding out of the Ewing Energies offices after giving Cliff the keys... good stuff.

 

[wissaboo]

I love those two together. And I love what they are doing with Emma and how all the plot lines are coming together.

Bobby and Elaina are doomed though.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Do you mean Christopher?

The John Ross and Pamela thing was a hell of a twist I should have seen coming but didn't. It was so "Dallas." Well, later Dallas, like season 10.