... including a spin-off "Knot's Landing" that began in 1979. I'm originally from Dallas, I lived there the first 35 years of my life. I was 20 when this premiered back in 1978, and I hardly recognized the place that was portrayed, to the point that it was funny. The show tried and changed a few things up front, things that unless you go back and watch season one, you will quickly forget or maybe you never knew at all. Basically the entire series is about the conflict between two families - the Ewings and the Barnes', with other characters thrown in as needed. Jock Ewing heads the Ewing clan, which runs a successful oil company. "Digger" Barnes is a wildcat oil man who basically has been beaten down by life and by the Ewings in particular. Jock and Digger started out on the same rung of the same ladder, Jock has succeeded by foul means or fair, Digger has failed.
Throw into this a rivalry between Jock's two sons - the older, meaner, and famous J.R. (Larry Hagman), and the younger and more honest Bobby (Patrick Duffy). J.R. is the son that basically runs the family company and he will have no sibling even sharing that position. Now throw another complication of Bobby having just married Digger's daughter, Pam, and Pam's brother Cliff being the long time lover of J.R.'s long ignored and cheated on wife, Sue Ellen (Linda Grey), and you have all kinds of interesting scenarios. There is another Ewing son, Gary, and he has long since wisely decided to get away and stay away from this toxic situation and these toxic people. Jock and his wife are finishing raising Gary's daughter, Lucy (Charlene Tilton), who is a spoiled brat.
In the beginning, the focus was more on the Romeo and Juliet situation of Bobby and Pam, but people soon showed far more interest in the horribly evil greedy and lusty J.R., so the focus went to him and pretty much stayed there.
It's hard to keep a show focused for fourteen seasons, especially when you have real life situations pop up and story lines play out. For example, one cast member died early in the series (Jim Davis as Jock) and his absence was explained away for a full year before Jock's death was written into the script. As the years wore on other cast members left never to return, others left and were then urged to come back. This resulted in all kinds of strange devices and even hurtful situations. The strangest plot device - the absence of Bobby turning into a season long dream when the season after Duffy's exit became a complete disaster AND Patrick Duffy agreed to return. The hurtful situation - Donna Reed was asked to step in to replace Barbara Bel Geddes as Jock's widow, Miss Ellie, only to be summarily shown the door when Bel Geddes agreed to return.
And the one situation nobody ever talked about. In season one under aged Lucy is shown sleeping with Ewing hired hand Ray Krebs. Several seasons later it is revealed that Ray is the result of a past affair Jock had, making him a new rival of J.R.'s but also (OH THE HORROR!) Lucy's uncle! Great shades of incest, I think the writers just hoped everyone would forget this. (Somebody get me a bucket! BLECH!) Although everybody displayed good acting here, Dallas would have probably petered out after just a few seasons if not for the supreme job Larry Hagman did at portraying J.R. He stole every scene, every oil well, and every woman, and he was the man in the ten gallon hat with a menacing smile that everybody loved to hate. The second highest rated show in TV history - back when watching TV was a three network communal experience - had to do with who had shot him at the end of the third season in 1980. With all of his antics there was no shortage of suspects. Contrast this with the hapless affable accidental astronaut he played in "I Dream of Jeannie" and you have to admit Hagman showed great range. The fact that the reincarnation of Dallas could not go on after Hagman's death is somewhat a testament to his role as the glue that held everything together.
The unrealistic part? Coming from Dallas, the Ewings would have probably lived in Highland Park or Preston Hollow, not some ranch in the middle of nowhere. But in retrospect, maybe living on the ranch was a good idea, or else today's Ewings would have Dubya as a neighbor with the constant secret service intrusion, lobbyists parking on their front yard, stray bullets from the hunting rifle of visiting ex-Veep Cheney, and everything else that would come from having this particular ex president as a neighbor.
Sorry my review was so long, but Dallas was a long series and Texas is a very big state.
Throw into this a rivalry between Jock's two sons - the older, meaner, and famous J.R. (Larry Hagman), and the younger and more honest Bobby (Patrick Duffy). J.R. is the son that basically runs the family company and he will have no sibling even sharing that position. Now throw another complication of Bobby having just married Digger's daughter, Pam, and Pam's brother Cliff being the long time lover of J.R.'s long ignored and cheated on wife, Sue Ellen (Linda Grey), and you have all kinds of interesting scenarios. There is another Ewing son, Gary, and he has long since wisely decided to get away and stay away from this toxic situation and these toxic people. Jock and his wife are finishing raising Gary's daughter, Lucy (Charlene Tilton), who is a spoiled brat.
In the beginning, the focus was more on the Romeo and Juliet situation of Bobby and Pam, but people soon showed far more interest in the horribly evil greedy and lusty J.R., so the focus went to him and pretty much stayed there.
It's hard to keep a show focused for fourteen seasons, especially when you have real life situations pop up and story lines play out. For example, one cast member died early in the series (Jim Davis as Jock) and his absence was explained away for a full year before Jock's death was written into the script. As the years wore on other cast members left never to return, others left and were then urged to come back. This resulted in all kinds of strange devices and even hurtful situations. The strangest plot device - the absence of Bobby turning into a season long dream when the season after Duffy's exit became a complete disaster AND Patrick Duffy agreed to return. The hurtful situation - Donna Reed was asked to step in to replace Barbara Bel Geddes as Jock's widow, Miss Ellie, only to be summarily shown the door when Bel Geddes agreed to return.
And the one situation nobody ever talked about. In season one under aged Lucy is shown sleeping with Ewing hired hand Ray Krebs. Several seasons later it is revealed that Ray is the result of a past affair Jock had, making him a new rival of J.R.'s but also (OH THE HORROR!) Lucy's uncle! Great shades of incest, I think the writers just hoped everyone would forget this. (Somebody get me a bucket! BLECH!) Although everybody displayed good acting here, Dallas would have probably petered out after just a few seasons if not for the supreme job Larry Hagman did at portraying J.R. He stole every scene, every oil well, and every woman, and he was the man in the ten gallon hat with a menacing smile that everybody loved to hate. The second highest rated show in TV history - back when watching TV was a three network communal experience - had to do with who had shot him at the end of the third season in 1980. With all of his antics there was no shortage of suspects. Contrast this with the hapless affable accidental astronaut he played in "I Dream of Jeannie" and you have to admit Hagman showed great range. The fact that the reincarnation of Dallas could not go on after Hagman's death is somewhat a testament to his role as the glue that held everything together.
The unrealistic part? Coming from Dallas, the Ewings would have probably lived in Highland Park or Preston Hollow, not some ranch in the middle of nowhere. But in retrospect, maybe living on the ranch was a good idea, or else today's Ewings would have Dubya as a neighbor with the constant secret service intrusion, lobbyists parking on their front yard, stray bullets from the hunting rifle of visiting ex-Veep Cheney, and everything else that would come from having this particular ex president as a neighbor.
Sorry my review was so long, but Dallas was a long series and Texas is a very big state.