Dallas is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
prime-time
televisionA television program , television programme , or television show is a segment of content broadcast on television...
soap operaA soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on television or radio. The name "soap opera" stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers such as Procter & Gamble,...
that originally ran from 1978 to 1991. It revolved around the Ewings, a wealthy
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. The show debuted in April 1978 as a five-part
miniseriesA miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a production which tells a story in a pre-planned limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
on the CBS network, and then was broadcast on that network for 13 seasons from 1978 to 1991.
History
The show's central character is
John Ross "J.R." Ewing Jr.John Ross Ewing, Jr., more commonly known as J.R. Ewing, played by Larry Hagman, was a nefarious figure on the hit CBS television series Dallas . The series was a cross between Romeo and Juliet and the western Bonanza...
, a greedy, scheming oil baron played by
Fort WorthFort Worth is the seventeenth-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city within the state of Texas. Located in and a cultural gateway into the American West, the city covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, and Denton counties, serving as the county seat for Tarrant...
native
Larry HagmanLarry Martin Hagman is an American film and television actor, producer and director best known for playing J. R. Ewing in the 1980s primetime television soap opera Dallas and Major Anthony Nelson in the 1960s sitcom, I Dream of Jeannie.-Early life:Hagman was born in Fort Worth, Texas...
. Initially, J.R. was only meant to be a supporting character when the show premiered; it was originally based around J.R.'s brother Bobby and his new bride,
PamPamela Jean "Pam" Barnes is a fictional character in the popular American television series Dallas, played by Victoria Principal, Andrea Wauters and Margaret Michaels.-Early pre-series life:...
. However, J.R.'s machinations became popular with viewers and he quickly became the focus of the series.
Creator
David JacobsDavid Jacobs is a writer for television, most memorable for being the creator of the two dramas Dallas and Knots Landing.-Positions held:*Knots Landing Reunion: Together Again *Four Corners...
originally came up with an idea for a drama series about four married couples (which would later become the
spin-offA spin-off is a new organization or entity formed by a split from a larger one, such as television series based on a pre-existing one, or a new company formed from a university research group or business incubator...
series
Knots LandingKnots Landing is an American primetime television soap opera that was screened from December 27 1979 to May 13 1993 on CBS. Set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles in California, the show centered on the lives of four married couples living in a cul-de-sac, Seaview Circle...
), but CBS wanted a glitzy "saga-like" show. Jacobs therefore created
Dallas, a series about a wealthy family in the oil business. When
Dallas proved to be a hit, CBS reconsidered Jacobs' original idea and turned
Knots Landing into a
spin-offA spin-off is a new organization or entity formed by a split from a larger one, such as television series based on a pre-existing one, or a new company formed from a university research group or business incubator...
of
Dallas in late 1979.
The
Dallas miniseriesA miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a production which tells a story in a pre-planned limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
that started in April 1978 was shot entirely
on locationA filming location is a place where some or all of a film or television series is produced, in addition to or instead of using sets constructed on a movie studio backlot or soundstage...
in
DallasDallas , with a population of 1,279,910, is the third-largest city in Texas and the 8th-largest in the United States. The city is the main economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area that according to the March 2009 U.S. Census Bureau release, had a population of...
,
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
. Later, most interiors for the show were shot at the
MGMMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., or MGM, is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B...
studios in
HollywoodHollywood is a district in Los Angeles, California, United States, situated west-northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word "Hollywood" is often used as a metonymy of American cinema...
. Exteriors were shot at the
Southfork RanchSouthfork Ranch is a location near Plano, Texas in the community of Parker, Texas where the Dallas television series was filmed. It is located at 3700 Hogge Drive.-History:...
in
Parker, TexasParker is a city in Collin County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,379 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Parker is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.2 square miles , all of it land...
, and other parts of Dallas, until 1989, when rising production costs led to all filming being relocated in California.
Premise
The show was known for its wealth, sex, intrigue, and power struggles. When the series began, the founder of
Ewing OilEwing Oil Company is a fictional oil company from the television series Dallas. The company was founded by John Ross "Jock" Ewing, Sr. during the Great Depression....
and patriarch of the Ewing family was Jock (veteran movie actor
Jim DavisMarlin "Jim" Davis , was an American actor, best known for his role as Jock Ewing in the CBS prime-time soap Dallas, a role which he held up until his death in April 1981.-Biography:...
), an oil tycoon who had allegedly cheated his one-time partner, Digger Barnes (
David WayneDavid Wayne was an American actor with a career spanning nearly half a century.Born Wayne James McMeekan in Traverse City, Michigan and growing up in Bloomingdale, Michigan, Wayne's first major Broadway role was Og the leprechaun in Finian's Rainbow, for which he won the Theatre World Award and...
, later replaced by
Keenan WynnKeenan Wynn was an American character actor and member of a well-known show-business family. His bristling mustache and expressive face were his stock in trade as an actor.-Early life and career:...
) out of his share of the company and also his only love,
Eleanor "Ellie" SouthworthEleanor "Miss Ellie" Farlow , is a character in the popular American television series Dallas, the matriarch of the rambunctious Ewing family....
(veteran stage/movie actress
Barbara Bel GeddesBarbara Bel Geddes was an American actress, artist and children's author. She is best known for her role in the television drama series Dallas as matriarch Eleanor "Miss Ellie" Ewing...
).
Together, Jock and Miss Ellie raised three sons, J.R. (played by
Larry HagmanLarry Martin Hagman is an American film and television actor, producer and director best known for playing J. R. Ewing in the 1980s primetime television soap opera Dallas and Major Anthony Nelson in the 1960s sitcom, I Dream of Jeannie.-Early life:Hagman was born in Fort Worth, Texas...
),
GaryGary Ewing was a character in the CBS television series Knots Landing and Dallas. The character of Gary Ewing was played most notably by Ted Shackelford and briefly played by David Ackroyd .-Dallas:...
(
David AckroydDavid Ackroyd is an American actor, who first came to prominence in soap operas such as The Secret Storm and Another World.-Television and Films:...
and later
Ted ShackelfordTed Shackelford is an American actor best known for his role as Gary Ewing on the CBS television series Knots Landing, in which he starred from 1979–93...
) and Bobby (
Patrick DuffyPatrick Duffy is an American television actor. He is best known for his roles as Bobby Ewing on the CBS drama Dallas , and as Frank Lambert on the ABC television sitcom Step By Step .-Career:In 1976, Duffy landed the role of Mark Harris in the short-lived television series Man from Atlantis...
). J.R., the eldest Ewing son, totally unscrupulous and unhappily married to a former
Miss TexasThe Miss Texas competition was founded in 1936 as a scholarship contest for young women. The winner represents Texas in the Miss America pageant; three winners have gone on to be crowned Miss America ....
,
Sue Ellen Shepard EwingSue Ellen Ewing is a character on the popular American television series Dallas, played by Linda Gray from 1978 to 1989. Sue Ellen was the long-suffering two-time wife of the nefarious J. R. Ewing....
(
Linda GrayLinda Ann Gray is an American actress, best known for her role as Sue Ellen Ewing on the television prime-time soap opera Dallas.-Career:Prior to acting, Gray began working as a model in the 1960s...
), was frequently at-odds with his youngest brother, Bobby, who displayed the morals and integrity that his eldest brother lacked.
It was later revealed that Jock had illegitimately fathered a fourth son, the Ewing's ranch foreman
Ray KrebbsRaymond "Ray" Krebbs, was a character in the popular American television series Dallas, played by Steve Kanaly .Ray was born October 19 1945 in Emporia, Kansas. His alleged father left him and his mother Margaret Hunter Krebbs at age 3 and at age 15 was sent off to Dallas and to the Southfork Ranch...
(
Steve KanalySteven "Steve" Francis Kanaly is an American actor, best known for his role as Southfork Ranch foreman Ray Krebbs on the television soap opera Dallas from 1978 to 1989. From 1994-1995, he also had a role on the ABC daytime drama series All My Children as "Seabone Hunkle," the father of Dixie...
). Ray had previously engaged in a short fling with
Pamela BarnesPamela Jean "Pam" Barnes is a fictional character in the popular American television series Dallas, played by Victoria Principal, Andrea Wauters and Margaret Michaels.-Early pre-series life:...
(
Victoria PrincipalVictoria Principal is an American actress, best known for her role as Pamela Barnes Ewing on the CBS nighttime drama Dallas from 1978 to 1987.-Early life:...
), who was Digger Barnes' daughter and
CliffClifford "Cliff" Barnes, played by Ken Kercheval, was a character on the popular American television series Dallas. The Barnes family were competitors and sometimes enemies of the Ewing family. Cliff was the son of Willard "Digger" Barnes, the former partner and sworn enemy of Jock Ewing , and...
's (
Ken KerchevalKen Kercheval is an American actor, best known for his role as "Cliff Barnes" on the television series Dallas....
) sister. However, Pam loved Bobby Ewing and the two married in the pilot episode. J.R., who loathed the Barnes family, was not happy with Pam living at Southfork and tried to constantly undermine her marriage to his brother Bobby.
The series capitalized on ending each season with ratings-grabbing cliffhangers. Some notable cliffhangers included the landmark "Who shot J.R.?" episode in 1980 (which
TV GuideTV Guide is a North American weekly magazine about television programming.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews. Some issues have also featured horoscope listings and crossword puzzles.-Annenberg/Triangle era: The...
ranked #69 on its list of "TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time"), an unidentified floating female corpse in the Southfork swimming pool, a blazing house fire, Bobby being shot, and Bobby even being killed by Pam's crazed half-sister Katherine Wentworth. Patrick Duffy had decided to leave the series in 1985 which facilitated Bobby's death, but Duffy was offered a higher salary the following year and elected to return to the series (which had by then begun to suffer from a ratings drop). The intervening season where Bobby was dead was subsequently explained away as a dream of Pam's in 1986. In 1987, Victoria Principal decided to leave the series and her character was written out in another end-of-season cliffhanger where her car crashed into an 18-wheeler and exploded. The show continued (with steadily declining ratings) until 1991, when the series finale saw J.R. seemingly defeated by his enemies and apparently taking his own life.
Original main cast
Larry HagmanLarry Martin Hagman is an American film and television actor, producer and director best known for playing J. R. Ewing in the 1980s primetime television soap opera Dallas and Major Anthony Nelson in the 1960s sitcom, I Dream of Jeannie.-Early life:Hagman was born in Fort Worth, Texas...
as
John Ross "J.R." Ewing, Jr.John Ross Ewing, Jr., more commonly known as J.R. Ewing, played by Larry Hagman, was a nefarious figure on the hit CBS television series Dallas . The series was a cross between Romeo and Juliet and the western Bonanza...
(1978-1991 - entire run)
- Eldest son of Jock and Miss Ellie.
Patrick DuffyPatrick Duffy is an American television actor. He is best known for his roles as Bobby Ewing on the CBS drama Dallas , and as Frank Lambert on the ABC television sitcom Step By Step .-Career:In 1976, Duffy landed the role of Mark Harris in the short-lived television series Man from Atlantis...
as
Bobby James EwingRobert James Ewing, commonly called Bobby Ewing, is a fictional character central to the long running TV soap opera Dallas. The youngest son of Jock and Ellie Ewing, he was portrayed by actor Patrick Duffy between 1978 and 1991, although both the actor and the character left the show briefly during...
(1978-1985, 1986-1991)
- Youngest son of Jock and Miss Ellie.
Barbara Bel GeddesBarbara Bel Geddes was an American actress, artist and children's author. She is best known for her role in the television drama series Dallas as matriarch Eleanor "Miss Ellie" Ewing...
as
Eleanor "Miss Ellie" Southworth Ewing FarlowEleanor "Miss Ellie" Farlow , is a character in the popular American television series Dallas, the matriarch of the rambunctious Ewing family....
(1978-1984, 1985-1990)
- Jock's wife, whose family owned Southfork Ranch originally.
Jim DavisMarlin "Jim" Davis , was an American actor, best known for his role as Jock Ewing in the CBS prime-time soap Dallas, a role which he held up until his death in April 1981.-Biography:...
as John Ross "Jock" Ewing, Sr. (1978-1981)
- Founder of Ewing Oil and head of the Ewing family.
Linda GrayLinda Ann Gray is an American actress, best known for her role as Sue Ellen Ewing on the television prime-time soap opera Dallas.-Career:Prior to acting, Gray began working as a model in the 1960s...
as
Sue Ellen Shepard EwingSue Ellen Ewing is a character on the popular American television series Dallas, played by Linda Gray from 1978 to 1989. Sue Ellen was the long-suffering two-time wife of the nefarious J. R. Ewing....
(1978-1989)
- J.R.'s long-suffering alcoholic wife.
Victoria PrincipalVictoria Principal is an American actress, best known for her role as Pamela Barnes Ewing on the CBS nighttime drama Dallas from 1978 to 1987.-Early life:...
as
Pamela Jean "Pam" Barnes EwingPamela Jean "Pam" Barnes is a fictional character in the popular American television series Dallas, played by Victoria Principal, Andrea Wauters and Margaret Michaels.-Early pre-series life:...
(1978-1987)
- Bobby's wife, who is forced to act as a buffer between the two feuding families.
Charlene TiltonCharlene L. Tilton is an American actress.Tilton was born in San Diego, California, the daughter of Katherine, a secretary. Notably, Tilton is 4'11" tall. Tilton has had a varied career in show business...
as
Lucy Ewing CooperLucy Ewing Cooper was a character in the popular American television series Dallas, played by Charlene Tilton .Lucy was the saucy daughter of Gary Ewing and Valene Clements Ewing. Lucy was raised on the Southfork Ranch by her grandparents, Jock and Miss Ellie Ewing. In the start of the show, she...
(1978-1985, 1988-1990)
- Gary & Val's daughter. Saucy granddaughter of Jock and Miss Ellie.
Ken KerchevalKen Kercheval is an American actor, best known for his role as "Cliff Barnes" on the television series Dallas....
as
Cliff BarnesClifford "Cliff" Barnes, played by Ken Kercheval, was a character on the popular American television series Dallas. The Barnes family were competitors and sometimes enemies of the Ewing family. Cliff was the son of Willard "Digger" Barnes, the former partner and sworn enemy of Jock Ewing , and...
(1978-1991 - entire run)
- Pam's brother, whose schemes are aimed directly against the Ewings, specifically J.R.
Steve KanalySteven "Steve" Francis Kanaly is an American actor, best known for his role as Southfork Ranch foreman Ray Krebbs on the television soap opera Dallas from 1978 to 1989. From 1994-1995, he also had a role on the ABC daytime drama series All My Children as "Seabone Hunkle," the father of Dixie...
as
Ray KrebbsRaymond "Ray" Krebbs, was a character in the popular American television series Dallas, played by Steve Kanaly .Ray was born October 19 1945 in Emporia, Kansas. His alleged father left him and his mother Margaret Hunter Krebbs at age 3 and at age 15 was sent off to Dallas and to the Southfork Ranch...
(1978-1988)
- Ranch foreman; Jock's illegitimate son.
Additional cast members
Donna ReedDonna Reed was an American film and television actress.-Early life:Reed was born Donna Belle Mullenger on a farm near Denison, Iowa, the daughter of Hazel Jane and William Richard Mullenger. The eldest of five children, she was raised as a Methodist...
as
Miss EllieEleanor "Miss Ellie" Farlow , is a character in the popular American television series Dallas, the matriarch of the rambunctious Ewing family....
(1984-1985)
Susan HowardJeri Lynn Mooney , better known as Susan Howard, is an American actress, writer, and political activist; best known for portraying the character Donna Culver Krebbs on the soap opera Dallas, Maggie Petrocelli on the television show Petrocelli, and to Star Trek fans for portraying Mara, the first...
as
Donna Culver KrebbsDonna McCullum Culver Krebbs, was a character in the popular American television series Dallas, played by Susan Howard .Donna was an intelligent, well-regarded politician's wife. Donna was married to the much older Sam Culver, a former governor of Texas. During the course of her marriage, she...
(1979-1987)
- Political woman who marries Ray.
Howard KeelHoward Keel, born Harold Clifford Keel was an American actor and singer. He starred in many film musicals of the 1950s.- Early years :...
as
Clayton Farlow-->Clayton Farlow was a character in the popular American television series Dallas, played by Howard Keel .Clayton Farlow was raised on the Southern Cross Ranch in San Angelo, Texas with his sister Jessica. Jessica was wild in her teenage years and developed a serious violent mental condition. She...
(Spring 1981-1991)
- Dignified, and sometimes hot-tempered, oil baron. Miss Ellie's second husband, after the death of Jock.
Priscilla Beaulieu PresleyPriscilla Beaulieu Presley is an American actress and businesswoman.She is the ex-wife of singer and actor Elvis Presley, and the mother of singer/songwriter Lisa Marie Presley...
(1983-1988),
Morgan FairchildMorgan Fairchild is an American actress. She achieved prominence during the late 1970s and early 1980s with continuing roles in several television series, in which she usually conveyed a glamorous image. Fairchild has also performed in live theater and played guest roles in television comedies...
(briefly in 1978), and
Francine TackerFrancine Tacker is an American actress, probably best known for her brief appearance in the television series Dallas as Jenna Wade. Tacker was the second actress to play the character, succeeding Morgan Fairchild and preceding Priscilla Presley.She was also a regular on the series The Paper Chase,...
(briefly in 1980) as
Jenna WadeJenna Wade Marchetta Krebbs was a fictional character in the popular American television series Dallas, played most notably by Priscilla Beaulieu Presley . The character of Jenna was briefly played by Morgan Fairchild in 1978 and Francine Tacker in 1980.Jenna was Bobby Ewing's first true love,...
- Bobby's first true love, before Pam.
Dack RamboNorman "Dack" Rambo was an American actor, most notable for appearing as Walter Brennan's grandson Jeff in the ABC series The Guns of Will Sonnett, as Steve Jacobi in All My Children, as cousin Jack Ewing on CBS's Dallas, and as Grant Harrison on the NBC soap opera Another World.-Early life and...
as Jack Ewing (Spring 1985-1987)
- A wandering cousin, son of Jock's brother Jason.
Sheree J. WilsonSheree J. Wilson is an American actress, primarily known for her roles in soap operas and television...
as
April Stevens EwingApril Stevens, was a character that appeared in the later seasons of the popular American television series Dallas, played by Sheree J. Wilson ....
(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 PodewellCathy Podewell is an American actress. She is best remembered for her role as Cally Harper Ewing on Dallas from 1988 to 1991, in which she played the second wife to J.R. Ewing .Her first acting job was in the 1988 horror film Night of the Demons...
as Cally Harper Ewing (1988-1991)
- J.R.'s young second wife.
Lesley-Anne DownLesley-Anne Down in Wandsworth, London, England, is a British actress who is best known for her roles as Georgina Worsley in the ITV drama series Upstairs, Downstairs, Olivia Blake in the NBC soap opera Sunset Beach and Madeline Fabray LaMotte Main in North and South.Since March 2003 she has...
as Stephanie Rogers (Spring 1990)
- PR woman who plots to make Cliff a powerful political figure.
Sasha MitchellSasha Mitchell is an American actor and former Calvin Klein model, best-known for his role as "Cody Lambert" on the television series Step by Step....
as
James Richard BeaumontJames Richard Beaumont, was a character that appeared in the later seasons of the popular American television series Dallas, played by Sasha Mitchell from 1989 to 1991....
(1989-1991)
- J.R.'s illegitimate son with old flame Vanessa Beaumont.
Kimberly FosterKimberly Foster is an American actress, best known for her role as Michelle Stevens in the later seasons of the prime-time drama Dallas which she played from 1989 to 1991. Her character was briefly a sister-in-law to Bobby Ewing and later briefly a daughter-in-law to J.R. Ewing...
as
Michelle StevensMichelle Stevens was a character that appeared in the later seasons of the popular American television series Dallas, played by Kimberly Foster from 1989 to 1991....
(1989-1991)
- April's sister, who marries James Beaumont and then Cliff Barnes.
Barbara StockBarbara Stock is an American actress, who appeared in the prime-time drama Spenser: For Hire for two non-consecutive seasons as "Susan Silverman", the love interest of "Spenser"...
as Liz Adams (Spring 1990-1991)
- Cliff's girlfriend during the final season.
Important secondary characters
Tina LouiseTina Louise is the stage name of Tina Blacker, an American actor,singer and author. She is best known for her role as "movie star" Ginger Grant on the TV sitcom Gilligan's Island.-Early life:...
as Julie Gray (1978-1979)
- J.R.'s first secretary, whom he is personally involved with until her accidental death in 1979.
Gene EvansGene Evans was an American actor whose career began while he served during World War II. He performed with a theatrical troupe of GIs in Europe. He was born in Holbrook, Arizona, but reared in Colton, California. Evans made his film debut in 1947 and appeared in dozens of movies and television...
as Garrison Southworth (January 1979)
- Ellie's long lost brother who is afflicted with a terminal illness and returns to Southfork to live out the rest of his life. Gary Ewing is named after him.
Mary CrosbyMary Frances Crosby is an American actress. She is most often credited as simply Mary Crosby for her performances.-Early life:...
(1979-1981, 1991) and
Colleen CampColleen Celeste Camp is an American actress and film producer, known for her performances in two installments of the Police Academy series and as Yvette the Maid in the 1985 horror comedy Clue. She was also the first actress to play Kristin Shepard in US prime time soap opera Dallas in 1979.Camp...
(briefly in 1979) as
Kristin ShepardKristin Shepard, was a character in the popular American television series Dallas, played most notably by Mary Crosby and briefly played by Colleen Camp ....
- Sue Ellen's scheming sister, who has an affair with J.R. and then shoots him in the famous cliffhanger.
Ted ShackelfordTed Shackelford is an American actor best known for his role as Gary Ewing on the CBS television series Knots Landing, in which he starred from 1979–93...
(1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1985, 1991 guest appearances) and
David AckroydDavid Ackroyd is an American actor, who first came to prominence in soap operas such as The Secret Storm and Another World.-Television and Films:...
(briefly in 1978) as
Garrison Arthur "Gary" EwingGary Ewing was a character in the CBS television series Knots Landing and Dallas. The character of Gary Ewing was played most notably by Ted Shackelford and briefly played by David Ackroyd .-Dallas:...
- 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
Knots Landing is an American primetime television soap opera that was screened from December 27 1979 to May 13 1993 on CBS. Set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles in California, the show centered on the lives of four married couples living in a cul-de-sac, Seaview Circle...
.
Joan Van ArkJoan Van Ark is an American actress, most notable for her role as Valene Ewing, which she originated on the CBS hit series Dallas and continued for thirteen seasons on its long-running spin-off, Knots Landing...
as
Valene "Val" Clements Ewing (later Gibson Waleska Ewing)Valene "Val" Ewing is a fictional character in the American television series Dallas and, more prominently, its spin-off series Knots Landing. She was played by Joan Van Ark....
(1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1991 guest appearances)
- Gary's wife and Lucy's mother, a central character on Dallas spinoff Knots Landing
Knots Landing is an American primetime television soap opera that was screened from December 27 1979 to May 13 1993 on CBS. Set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles in California, the show centered on the lives of four married couples living in a cul-de-sac, Seaview Circle...
.
David WayneDavid Wayne was an American actor with a career spanning nearly half a century.Born Wayne James McMeekan in Traverse City, Michigan and growing up in Bloomingdale, Michigan, Wayne's first major Broadway role was Og the leprechaun in Finian's Rainbow, for which he won the Theatre World Award and...
(1978) and
Keenan WynnKeenan Wynn was an American character actor and member of a well-known show-business family. His bristling mustache and expressive face were his stock in trade as an actor.-Early life and career:...
(1979-1980) as Willard "Digger" Barnes
- Cliff and Pam's father, former partner and sworn enemy of Jock Ewing. A legendary prospector but erratic personality, it was implied in Dallas: The Early Years
Dallas: The Early Years was a made for television movie that first aired on March 23, 1986 on CBS during the eighth season of the TV series Dallas...
that Digger could smell oil underground.
Sandy Ward as Jeb Ames (1978-1979)
- One of J.R.'s business associates, involved in a deal based on the infamous Red Files.
John AshtonJohn Ashton is an American actor born in Springfield, Massachusetts, and graduate of the University of Southern California School of Theatre.John Ashton attended Enfield High School in Enfield, Connecticut....
as Willie Joe Garr (1978-1979)
- One of J.R.'s business associates, involved in a deal based on the infamous Red Files.
Lisa LeMole as Susan (1978)
- J.R.'s second secretary.
Meg Gallagher as Louella Caraway Lee (1978-1981)
- J.R.'s third secretary.
Jeanna MichaelsJeanna Michaels is an American actress most notably recognized for her role as Lydia Saunders on NBC's soap opera Santa Barbara. She portrayed the role from 1988 to 1989...
(1979-1981) and Donna Bullock (briefly in 1978) as Connie Brasher
- Bobby's first secretary.
Don StarrDon Starr was an American actor, best known for his portrayal of oil baron "Jordan Lee" in the television series Dallas. Other TV credits include: The High Chaparral, Little House on the Prairie, The Rockford Files, Charlie's Angels, The Incredible Hulk, Knots Landing, V, Hill Street Blues and L.A...
as Jordan Lee (1979-1990)
- A member of the cartel.
Fern FitzgeraldFern Fitzgerald is an American actress, best known for her recurring role in the television series Dallas as oil cartel businesswoman Marilee Stone. She appeared in the series from 1978 to 1990....
as Marilee Stone (1979-1990)
- Promiscuous female member of the cartel, whose husband committed suicide after losing money in a deal with J.R.
Dennis PatrickDennis Patrick was a well respected American character actor best known for his works in television shows like Dark Shadows, Somerset, and Dallas and movies like Joe...
as Vaughn Leland (1979-1984)
- Cattleman's Bank executive.
Barbara BabcockBarbara Babcock is an American actress who works primarily on television.-Early life:Although she was born in the United States, she spent a large part of her childhood in Tokyo, Japan, because her father Conrad Stanton Babcock, Jr. was a general in the U.S. Army. She learned to speak Japanese...
as Liz Craig (1978-1982)
- Pam's boss at The Store.
John ZarembaJohn Zaremba was an American actor most noted for supporting roles on science fiction films and TV series....
(1978-1986) and Dan Ammerman (briefly in 1978) as Dr. Harlen Danvers
- The Ewing family physician.
George O. PetrieGeorge O. Petrie was an American television actor.-Biography:He was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He appeared on Dallas, in the recurring role of Harv Smithfield...
as Harv Smithfield (1979-1991)
- The Ewing family's attorney.
Tom FuccelloTom Fuccello was an American actor, who was born in Newark, New Jersey.Initially a theatre actor, Fuccello appeared in Broadway productions of Butterflies Are Free, The Unknown Soldier And His Wife, and Are You Now, or Have You Ever Been? in the 1970s...
as Senator Dave Culver (1979-1984, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991)
- Donna's stepson.
Jeff Cooper as Dr. Simon Ellby (1979-1981)
- Sue Ellen's psychiatrist.
Jared MartinJared Martin is an American actor, born in Queens, New York on December 21, 1940.- Acting career :Born to Charles E. Martin in Manhattan on December 21, 1940, a cover artist for The New Yorker, and Florence Martin, Jared Martin began acting at the age of ten, when his parents gave him the choice of...
as Steven "Dusty" Farlow (1979-1982, 1985, 1991)
- Clayton's son and Sue Ellen's sometimes lover.
Randolph PowellRandolph Powell is an American actor, best known for his roles on television.He was a leading cast member of the science fiction series Logan's Run and played Alan Beam in the soap opera Dallas....
as Alan Beam (1979-1980)
- Smooth-talking, ambitious lawyer who works for J.R. and was briefly engaged to Lucy.
Martha ScottMartha Ellen Scott was an American actress best known for her roles as mother of the lead character in numerous films and television shows.-Early life:...
as Patricia Shepard (1979 and 1985)
- Sue Ellen and Kristin's controlling mother.
Leigh McCloskeyLeigh Joseph McCloskey is an American film and television actor.-Career:McCloskey was classically trained as an actor at the Juilliard School in Lincoln Center, New York. As an actor, he is perhaps most widely known for his role as Mitch Cooper on the CBS soap opera Dallas...
as Mitch Cooper (1980-1982, 1985, 1988)
- Lucy's husband and Afton's brother.
Morgan WoodwardMorgan Woodward is an American actor.He is probably best known for his recurring role in Dallas as "Punk" Anderson...
as Punk Anderson (1980-1987)
- Oil executive and good friend to Jock and Miss Ellie.
Joanna CassidyJoanna Cassidy is an American actress, known for her various roles in film and television.-Life and career:Cassidy was born Joanna Virginia Caskey in Haddonfield, New Jersey, the daughter of Virginia and Joe Caskey....
as Sally Bullock (1980-1981)
- Shipping magnate who sleeps with J.R.
Morgan BrittanyMorgan Brittany is an American film and television actress.Under her birth name, she appeared on TV in a 1960 episode of Lloyd Bridges's Sea Hunt; in the 1962 film Gypsy as "Baby" June, . She also appeared on Bridges's CBS anthology series The Lloyd Bridges Show...
as Katherine Wentworth (1981-1985, 1987)
- Wicked half-sister of Pam and Cliff, who falls in love with Bobby and kills him with her car. thus beginning the "dream" season.
Priscilla PointerPriscilla Pointer is an American stage, film and television character actress. She began her career in the theater, including productions on Broadway. Later, Pointer moved to Hollywood to act in films and on television...
as Rebecca Blake Barnes Wentworth (1981-1983)
- Mother of Pam, Cliff and Katherine who was killed of in a plane crash in the 1982-1983 season.
William SmithersWilliam Smithers is an American actor, perhaps best known for his recurring role as Jeremy Wendell in the television series Dallas. He appeared in the series in 1981 and from 1984 to 1989...
as Jeremy Wendell (1981, 1984-1989)
- Head of the powerful WestStar Oil and proverbial thorn in J.R.'s side.
Audrey LandersAudrey Landers is an American actress and singer, who is probably best known for her role as Afton Cooper in the television drama series Dallas.- Early years :...
as Afton Cooper (1981-1984, 1989)
- Mitch's sister and aspiring singer who becomes Cliff's girlfriend and later mother of his daughter Pamela Rebecca Cooper.
Anne FrancisAnne Francis is an American actress, famous for her role in the science fiction film classic Forbidden Planet , and as the female private detective in the television series Honey West ....
as Arliss Cooper (1981)
- Mitch and Afton's mother, Lucy's mother-in-law
Susan FlannerySusan Flannery is an American soap opera actress. She is perhaps best known for portraying Stephanie Forrester on the CBS Daytime soap opera, The Bold and the Beautiful.-Career:...
as Leslie Stewart (1981)
- A public relations agent who works with Ewing Oil and secretly tapes her conversations with J.R.
Debbie RennardDeborah Rennard is an American actress. She remains best known for her recurring role in Dallas as J.R. Ewing's secretary Sylvia "Sly" Lovegren. She appeared in the series from 1981 to 1991 and also in the film J.R. Returns...
as Sylvia "Sly" Lovegren (1981-1991)
- J.R.'s fourth secretary.
Deborah TranelliDeborah Tranelli is an American actress.Tranelli is best known for her recurring role in the television series Dallas as Phyllis, secretary to Bobby Ewing . She appeared in the series from 1981 to its end in 1991....
as Phyllis Wapner (1981-1991)
- Bobby's second secretary.
Sherill Lynn RettinoSherill Lynn Katzman Rettino was an American television actress best known for her recurring role in the television series Dallas as Jackie Dugan, Pamela Ewing's co-worker at The Store, and later Cliff Barnes's secretary at Barnes-Wentworth Oil...
as Jackie Dugan (1979-1991)
- Pam's co-worker at The Store, later Cliff's secretary at Barnes-Wentworth Oil, eventually James's secretary at Ewing Oil.
Alice HirsonAlice Hirson is an American actress best known for her roles on television.She appeared regularly in soap opera with roles as Stephanie Martin on The Edge of Night, as Marcia Davis on Somerset, and as Eileen Riley Siegel on One Life to Live...
as Mavis Anderson (1982-1988)
- Punk's wife and Miss Ellie's closest friend.
Lois ChilesLois Cleveland Chiles is an American actress and former fashion model best known for her role as Dr. Holly Goodhead in the 1979 James Bond film Moonraker.-Early life:...
as Holly Harwood (1982-1983)
- Oil heiress who becomes involved in a complex scheme with J.R. and causes Sue Ellen to drink again.
Timothy Patrick MurphyTimothy Patrick Murphy was born on November 3, 1959 in Hartford, Connecticut and was an American Film and Television actor who was best known for his role on the popular CBS prime time soap opera Dallas during the 1982 – 1983 season...
as Mickey Trotter (1982-1983)
- Ray's rebellious cousin who becomes involved with Lucy.
Danone Simpson as Kendall Chapman (1982-1991)
- Ewing Oil receptionist.
John BeckJohn Beck is an American actor. He grew up in Joliet, Illinois. Renowned as a gritty actor with plenty of presence on set, he is ultimately best-known worldwide for playing the role of Mark Graison in Dallas during the mid-1980s, but is also well-known for several other roles in which he...
as Mark Graison (Spring 1983-1984, 1985-1986)
- Pamela's beau after her first divorce from Bobby whom Pam vows to marry in Spring 1984 due to his contraction of a fatal disease. Mark is tragically killed in a plane crash and leaves Pamela a letter expressing his love for her and his knowledge that she still loved Bobby deeply. Graison reappears during the 1985-1986 "dream season" and marries Pamela...until she wakes up, of course.
Christopher AtkinsChristopher Atkins is a American actor, who became famous with his costarring debut role in the 1980 film The Blue Lagoon.-Early life:...
as Peter Richards (1983-1984)
- Twenty-year old lover of Sue Ellen and mentor to little John Ross.
Omri KatzOmri Haim Katz is an American actor. His TV and film credits include Eerie, Indiana; Matinee; Adventures in Dinosaur City; Hocus Pocus; and the CBS prime time soap opera Dallas, in which he played the role of John Ross Ewing III, the son of J.R...
(1983-1991) and Tyler Banks (1980-1983) as John Ross Ewing III
- J.R. and Sue Ellen's son.
Martin E. BrooksMartin E. Brooks is an American character actor known for playing scientist Dr. Rudy Wells in the television series The Six Million Dollar Man and its spin-off, The Bionic Woman, from 1975 onward .Brooks reprised the role of Wells in three television movies: The Return of the...
as Edgar Randolph (1983-1984)
- Government worker in charge of Offshore Oil Field auctions that JR drives to sanitarium from blackmail about his troubled past.
Shalane McCallShalane McCall is a former child actress, best known for appearing for five seasons on the hit CBS prime time soap opera Dallas playing Charlotte "Charlie" Wade, the daughter of Jenna Wade ....
as Charlie Wade (1983-1988)
- Jenna's daughter.
Alexis SmithAlexis Smith was a Canadian-born stage, film and television actress.-Career:Born Gladys Smith in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada, Smith was raised in Los Angeles. She was signed to a contract by Warner Bros. after being discovered by a talent scout while attending college...
as Lady Jessica Farlow Montford (1984, 1990)
- Clayton's criminally insane sister and biological mother of Dusty Farlow.
Daniel PilonDaniel Pilon is a Canadian-born actor, known for his role in Dallas as Naldo Marchetta. He has also appeared in daytime soap operas such as Ryan's Hope, Guiding Light and Days of our Lives....
as Renaldo Marchetta (1984-1985)
- Jenna's ex-husband and Charlie's father.
Jenilee HarrisonJenilee Harrison is an American actress possibly best known for her role as replacement blonde roommate Cindy Snow on the hit sitcom Three's Company from 1980–1982 and Jamie Ewing in Dallas from 1984–1986....
as Jamie Ewing Barnes (1984-1986)
- Daughter of Jock's brother Jason who Cliff marries to gain control of her share of Ewing Oil. She later divorces Cliff, moves to California, and then dies in a hiking accident in Season 10.
Deborah SheltonDeborah 'Debbie' Shelton is an American beauty queen and actress.Shelton was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Norfolk, Virginia. She graduated from Norview High School and attended Old Dominion University. Shelton first won the Miss Virginia USA title and was subsequently crowned Miss USA...
as Mandy Winger (1984-1987)
- A model who becomes one of J.R.'s many mistresses. She was previously involved romantically with Cliff Barnes.
Joshua HarrisJoshua Harris was born on November 27, 1978. He is the son of Evan Harris, the producer of the world famous O.J. Simpson documentary, Absolutely 100% Guilty: The Five Reasons Why O.J. Simpson Got Away with Murder.-Overview:...
(1985-1991) and Eric Farlow (1983-1985) as Christopher Ewing
- Bobby and Pam's adopted son, biological son of Kristin Shepard and Jeff Farraday.
Barbara CarreraBarbara Carrera is a Nicaraguan-born American film and TV actress as well as a former model. She is known for her roles as Bond girl Fatima Blush in Never Say Never Again and Angelica Nero on the television series Dallas....
as Angelica Nero (1985-1986)
- Exotic businesswoman who dangerously tangles with J.R.
Steve Forrest as Ben Stivers/Wes Parmalee (1986)
- Ranch hand who claims to be Jock.
Jack ScaliaJack Scalia is an American actor. He has appeared in drama, horror, action, and thriller films.-Early life:Scalia was born in Brooklyn, New York to a baseball player father. Scalia was drafted third by the Montreal Expos in 1971 as a pitcher.He has been married and divorced twice...
as Nicholas Pearce (1987-1988, 1991)
- Stockbroker who becomes infatuated with Sue Ellen.
Andrew StevensAndrew Stevens is an American film producer and director and actor.-Early Life:...
as Casey Denault (1987-1989)
- Young hustler who works for J.R., romances Lucy in order to use her money.
Leigh Taylor-YoungLeigh Taylor-Young is an American actress who has appeared on stage, screen, and television.-Early life and career:...
as Kimberly Cryder (1987-1988)
- Daughter of the largest owner of WestStar stock, whom J.R. tries to marry in order to gain control of the company.
Beth ToussaintBeth Toussaint is an American actress, best known for her television performances....
as Tracy McKay Lawton (1988-1989)
- Carter McKay's daughter who becomes involved with Bobby.
J. Eddie PeckJohn Edward Peck is an actor.Peck lived in Joplin, Mo., in the 1970s and graduated from Joplin Parkwood High School in 1976. He also attended Missouri Southern State University....
as Tommy McKay (1989)
- Son of Carter McKay, a drug dealer.
Jeri GaileJeri Gaile is an American actress, best known for playing Rose McKay in the television drama series Dallas from 1989 to 1991. Gaile is currently Director of the Spotlight Awards program for the Los Angeles Music Center....
as Rose Daniels McKay (1989-1991)
- Carter's young wife.
Ian McShaneIan McShane is a Golden Globe-winning English actor. Although he has starred in a number of films, it is by his television roles that he is generally best known, starting with the BBC's Lovejoy and particularly in the HBO Western drama Deadwood...
as Don Lockwood (1989)
- English film director who helps produce Sue Ellen's idea for an unflattering film about J.R., eventually Sue Ellen moves to London and marries him.
Gayle HunnicuttGayle, Lady Jenkins , known by her birth name Gayle Hunnicutt, is an American actress.Hunnicutt was born in Fort Worth, Texas and attended the University of California, Los Angeles. She worked as a fashion model before going into acting. She was married from 1968 to 1975 to the actor David...
as Vanessa Beaumont (1989-1991)
- Mother of James, an old flame of J.R., briefly attempts to rekindle their romance after J.R. has married Cally.
Susan LucciSusan Victoria Lucci is an American actress, best known for portraying iconic character Erica Kane on the daytime drama All My Children. Lucci has been called "Daytime's Leading Lady" by TV Guide, with New York Times and Los Angeles Times citing her as the highest-paid actor in daytime...
as Hilary Taylor/faux Sheila Foley (1990-1991)
- Psychotic kidnapper who causes April's death as April and Bobby honeymoon in Europe.
Barbara EdenBarbara Eden is an American film and television actress and singer who is best known for her starring role in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.-Early years:...
as Lee Ann De La Vega (1990-1991)
- An old girlfriend of J.R. who plots revenge against him.
Family tree
Deaths and departures
By the time the series ended, most of the family had departed:
- Jock Ewing
John Ross Ewing, Sr., better known as Jock Ewing, is a character in the popular American television series Dallas, played by Jim Davis and Dale Midkiff in Dallas: The Early Years....
(Jim DavisMarlin "Jim" Davis , was an American actor, best known for his role as Jock Ewing in the CBS prime-time soap Dallas, a role which he held up until his death in April 1981.-Biography:...
) was the first to depart, with the actor's death in 1981.
- Bobby Ewing was twice heartbroken, having lost both Pamela Ewing and April Stevens Ewing
April Stevens, was a character that appeared in the later seasons of the popular American television series Dallas, played by Sheree J. Wilson ....
.
- Pamela Ewing was severely injured in a car accident in the 1986-1987 season finale, and left Bobby and Christopher due to her apparent inability to let them see her in such a physically disfigured fashion. Nevertheless, while Victoria Principal never returned again to the series as Pam during its final four years before cancellation, Margaret Michaels, a Principal look-alike, played the character in the season premiere of 1988-1989.
- Donna and Ray divorced in 1987, the former moving to Washington, D.C. Ray then subsequently left Dallas with his new wife, Jenna, bound for Europe by the fall of 1988.
- Lucy Ewing returned to Southfork in spring 1988, but then left again two years later for Europe as well.
- Sue Ellen Ewing
Sue Ellen Ewing is a character on the popular American television series Dallas, played by Linda Gray from 1978 to 1989. Sue Ellen was the long-suffering two-time wife of the nefarious J. R. Ewing....
left Dallas in 1989 to move to London with her new film-director boyfriend and then-husband.
Cliffhangers
Dallas was notable for its cliffhangers. Throughout the series' run, every season ended with some sort of cliffhanging ending designed to drive ratings up for the season premiere the following year.
Miniseries cliffhanger:
Although this really wasn't a cliffhanger, the end of the fifth episode of the original
Dallas miniseries saw J.R. go up to the loft of the barn to talk to Pam, who had gone up there to escape the wild time at the barbecue going on at Southfork (which includes embarrassing actions from both the Ewing and Barnes family, most notably Digger's drunk rendition of "The Yellow Rose of Texas"). J.R., intoxicated, tries to convince her to tell Bobby not to leave the ranch. However, she doesn't want to be bothered, and, in trying to escape J.R., she falls from the loft, landing square on her stomach.
- Resolution: Pam, who was pregnant with Bobby's child at the time, lost the baby and was told that she would never be able to carry a baby to full term. Bobby and Pam were convinced to stay on the ranch after a conversation with Jock while Pam was recovering from her injuries.
Season One cliffhanger:
Sue Ellen's drinking problem has landed her in a sanitarium, where she is pregnant with a child she believes is Cliff Barnes' (although this would later be proven false). She escapes from the sanitarium, gets drunk, and then gets into a severe car accident, putting her life and the baby's life in danger. The doctors deliver the baby, named John Ross Ewing III (after his father and grandfather), but he is very small on delivery and isn't out of the woods yet. Neither is his mother, who, as the episode ends, is clinging to life. A very distraught J.R. is watching his wife at the end of the episode in tears, saying that she's "just gotta live."
- Resolution: After a two-part season premiere in which the child was kidnapped, John Ross is returned to the hospital and Sue Ellen recovers, although the doubt surrounding her newborn son's paternity lingers for a while afterward. As noted above, the baby's father is confirmed to be his namesake, J.R..
Season Two cliffhanger:
To cap off a season where J.R. has angered nearly everyone in the state of Texas, someone comes into his office late at night and shoots him twice.
- Resolution: As a result of the shooting, J.R. is temporarily paralyzed from the waist down and faces a long recovery. An investigation into the crime is conducted, and eventually Sue Ellen (who was the prime suspect) confronts Kristin, her sister, about the shooting. Sue Ellen reveals to Kristin that she remembered being in her sister's apartment that night drunk and with the gun that was used to shoot J.R. She also remembered Kristin giving her another drink, which caused Sue Ellen to pass out, then putting her in the trunk and driving to J.R.'s office, where Kristin shot J.R., and then hid the gun back at Southfork to frame Sue Ellen. However, Kristin is pregnant with J.R.'s baby, so he refuses to have her prosecuted, fearing another scandal. It is later revealed that after leaving Dallas, Kristin almost immediately miscarries J.R.'s child. Wishing to be able to blackmail J.R. at a later date, Kristin quickly becomes pregnant again with boyfriend Jeff Farraday (Art Hindle
Arthur Hindle is a Canadian actor and director.Hindle was born in Halifax. His family moved to Toronto while he was a child. Although shy as a youngster, he grew to be a rebellious and independent teenager...
), and later gives birth to a boy, Christopher, who she claims is J.R.'s child.
Season Three cliffhanger:
On his way to a late night business meeting with Bobby, Cliff notices a female body floating face-down in the pool. He goes into the pool to see who it is (the viewer is not given any clues as to who it might be, although many factors point to it possibly being Pam), then looks up to find J.R. standing on the balcony over the pool, right near a broken area where the person fell. Cliff, thinking J.R. did it, said, "She's dead. You bastard."
- Resolution: The body was revealed to be that of Kristin Shepard, who earlier that year was revealed to have shot J.R. Her cause of death was ruled to be a combination of drowning and a PCP overdose. In the months that follow, Kristin's boyfriend Jeff Farraday, desperate for money to repay various drug dealers and other lowlifes, "sells" the infant Christopher Shepard to Bobby and Pam, and he is raised as Christopher Ewing.
Season Four cliffhanger:
Cliff Barnes had been having a rotten year. His relationship with Sue Ellen (which had been rekindled that year) came to an end when Sue Ellen and J.R. decided to remarry after divorcing the previous season. To top it off, thanks to J.R., Cliff nearly drove his mother's tool company into bankruptcy, causing him to lose his job. He ends up attempting suicide, and while he lays in a hospital bed, comatose, Sue Ellen tells J.R. that if Cliff dies they will not remarry.
- Resolution: Cliff emerges from his coma in the second episode of the season, and Sue Ellen and J.R. remarry later on, with Cliff humiliating himself during the ceremony.
Season Five cliffhanger:
A drunk Sue Ellen and Ray Krebbs' cousin Mickey Trotter are involved in a car accident just outside Southfork. Sue Ellen emerges unhurt, but Mickey is paralyzed and in a coma. After finding out that the driver of the other car was J.R.'s rival Walt Driscoll, out to kill J.R. over an incident earlier in the year where he was put in jail, Ray comes over to Southfork to confront J.R., blaming him for what happened. J.R. asks, "Are you drunk?" Ray replies, "No, I'm stone cold sober, and now I'm going to kill you." J.R., trying to stop Ray, throws a candle holder at him but misses him completely. In the process, another candle holder with lit candles falls and ignites a fire while Ray and J.R. brawl. J.R. knocks Ray out and tries to get upstairs to Sue Ellen and John Ross, who are asleep-or, in Sue Ellen's case, passed out drunk- and unaware of the fire creeping up to the second floor. J.R., however, is hit by a falling beam on his way and falls to the ground as Southfork continues to burn.
- Resolution: Bobby eventually arrives on the scene and is able to revive Ray and save Sue Ellen, while J.R. reaches John Ross and they jump out a window into the pool to escape the blaze. Mickey Trotter eventually awoke from his coma in the season's third episode, but became despondent over his paralysis. After an argument with Lucy Mickey relapsed and fell into another coma and was placed on life support. Unwilling to see his cousin suffering Ray pulled the plug on him and was arrested shortly thereafter. Ray was brought to trial on charges of manslaughter and convicted, but was given a suspended sentence by a compassionate judge.
Season Six cliffhanger:
Just like in season two, J.R. was crossing people left and right. And just like in season two, a mysterious figure broke into his office at Ewing Oil at night and shot the man in J.R.'s office (who was sitting with his back to the assassin) three times. However, it is Bobby Ewing that has taken the shots, and he slumps out of the chair onto the floor.
- Resolution: After rumors begin to spread that the target had been J.R., it was revealed that Bobby was in fact the intended target and the shooter was Pam's half-sister Katherine Wentworth, who was obsessively in love with Bobby and decided that if she couldn't have him, then nobody else would. Bobby survives, despite another attempt on his life while he was recovering, and Katherine is exposed for his attempted murder, but she escapes and flees the country.
Season Seven cliffhanger:
Bobby, who has been divorced from Pam for two years and is engaged to Jenna Wade, decides that he wants to remarry his ex-wife instead and Pam agrees. The next morning, as the two are getting set to leave, someone drives a car at a high rate of speed toward Pam. Bobby shoves her out of the way just before she is hit, but can't get out of the way of the car in time to save himself and is hit and severely injured. The driver of the car turns out to be Katherine, who is killed herself when the car crashes. Bobby is rushed to the hospital where he later dies.
- Resolution: The family holds Bobby's funeral and try to go on with their lives in the wake of his death. However...
Season Eight cliffhanger:
Evil businesswoman Angelica Nero intends to kill J.R. and his cousin Jack for double crossing her, however J.R. has her apprehended by the police. Unfortunately, Angelica has already put her plans into motion. She has her henchman attached a car bomb to Jack's car, which explodes with Jamie inside. After hearing this on the phone, J.R. runs out of his office to go to Jack's apartment. As he leaves the office, Sue Ellen arrives in the other elevator looking for J.R. As soon as she enters J.R.'s office, a time bomb left by Angelica goes off and the entire floor that houses Ewing Oil explodes, showering debris onto the street below. We then see Pam in bed, the day after her marriage to Mark Graison. Pam wakes up to hear the shower running. Assuming it's Mark, she opens the shower door, only to find Bobby Ewing, alive and well.
- Resolution: The events of the entire past year beginning with Bobby's death at the hands of Katherine Wentworth were revealed to have all been a dream that Pam had. Therefore, none of the events of the previous season (including Pam's remarriage and Angelica Nero) existed.
Season Nine cliffhanger:
Pam, on her way home from the doctor's office after finding out she can finally conceive a baby, crashes into the fuel tank of a semi-truck, engulfing her car in a fiery explosion.
- Resolution: Pam is rushed to the hospital, but is badly burned in the crash and the doctors tell the gathered families that her survival is in doubt. Whilst there, another attempt is made on her life by her unstable half-sister Katherine Wentworth who has returned to Dallas. Although Katherine is apprehended by Bobby, Pam later engineers her own disappearance and leaves Dallas (and Bobby) forever.
Season Ten cliffhanger:
J.R. and Sue Ellen's new beau Nicholas Pearce fight in J.R.'s penthouse hotel suite, and during the course of the fight Pearce goes over the balcony and falls to his death. Shocked by what she has just seen and believing that J.R. has killed her lover, Sue Ellen then picks up a gun from the floor and shoots J.R. three times. She then picks up the phone and tells the police she would like to report a double murder.
- Resolution: J.R. recovers, but he and Sue Ellen mutually agree not to press charges against each other for their son's sake.
Season Eleven cliffhanger:
Sue Ellen prepares to leave Dallas for good, but before she does she has one last surprise for her ex-husband J.R. Sue Ellen has made a biographical motion picture about her marriage to him (with actors portraying them and the other Ewings) and previews the film to J.R. who is shocked by what he has just seen. Sue Ellen tells J.R. that she is leaving Dallas, but if he ever crosses her again in the future - or even if she wakes up on the wrong side of bed one morning - she will release the film and J.R. will be made "the laughing stock of Texas" and ruined forever. She then leaves Dallas, triumphant at last.
- Resolution: After Sue Ellen leaves Dallas, J.R. tries (and fails) to find the movie that she made. No further mention is made of the film.
Season Twelve cliffhanger:
After deliberately committing himself into a sanitarium in order to persuade a patient (Clayton's sister Jessica) to sign over her voting majority in Weststar Oil, J.R.'s plan backfires when Cally Harper, his latest scorned woman, and his illegitimate son James Beaumont coerce him into signing a property waiver before they will allow him to be released. Once he does, James tears up J.R.'s release papers anyway leaving him trapped in the sanitarium with no means of escape.
- Resolution: After being placed in solitary confinement in the sanitarium and being diagnosed with paranoia, J.R. ends up leaving the sanitarium after bargaining with Cally.
Season Thirteen cliffhanger:
After finally losing Ewing Oil to Cliff Barnes, control of Southfork to Bobby, and being abandoned by his wife and children, a drunk and despondent J.R. begins walking around the ranch alone with a loaded gun wishing he had never been born. A gunshot is later fired in J.R.'s bedroom as Bobby returns to Southfork, and he rushes up to J.R.'s room and gasps, saying "Oh, my God!" as the series ends. (See below.)
- Resolution: In late 1991, not knowing whether or not Dallas would be renewed for a fourteenth season, Leonard Katzman chose to write a cliffhanger that could not only wrap up the show for good, but one that could also resolved in a next season. After the famous finale, the show was not chosen to be renewed for a fourteenth season. Five years later, in 1996, a T.V. movie, Dallas: J.R. Returns
Dallas: J.R. Returns was the first of the two Dallas reunion movies to air after the series went off the air. It originally aired on CBS on November 15, 1996, and recently was rerun as part of TV Land's salute to 50 years of Warner Bros. Television....
, was written by Leonard Katzman and Arthur Bernard Lewis to resolve the series finale. It was revealed that instead of shooting himself in the head, as was implied in the finale, he shot the "devil" that was appearing to him in the mirror. After this incident, J.R. left Dallas the next morning, and spent five years abroad in EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
before returning to Dallas.
Final episode
In this episode, titled "Conundrum" (originally aired on CBS, May 3, 1991), J.R. is contemplating committing suicide. Southfork was taken out of his control and given to Bobby by Miss Ellie, while Cliff Barnes now had control of Ewing Oil. Clayton had given J.R. voting rights at Weststar, but J.R. was tricked into believing he would become Chairman of Weststar by Carter McKay. J.R. had sold his half of Ewing Oil to Cliff to take over Weststar, but old foe Dusty Farlow revealed that he had sold his Weststar shares to McKay, thus making McKay the majority stockholder. McKay fired J.R. from Weststar after revealing that he had set him up (McKay had sent two Weststar directors to J.R. and convinced him to sell Ewing Oil to pave the way for a Weststar takeover that would never happen).
John Ross, his own son, disowned him and moved to London to be with his mother. Now, drunk and despondent, J.R. walks around the pool with a bourbon bottle and a loaded gun, when suddenly another person comes into view...a spirit named Adam (portrayed by
Joel GreyJoel Grey is an American stage and screen actor, singer, and dancer, best known for his role as the "Master of Ceremonies" in both the stage and film adaptation of the Kander & Ebb musical Cabaret...
), whose "boss" has been watching J.R. and likes him. Adam proceeds to take him on a journey to show him what life would've been like for other people if he hadn't been born. Among what he shows him:
- Without J.R., Gary became the oldest Ewing son, and the youngest was Jason (who would have been born had J.R. never been around; Jason never appeared in the TV series as he didn't really exist).
- With Gary in charge of Ewing Oil upon Jock's retirement, the company went bankrupt. Stress from it killed Jock, and Miss Ellie died of a broken heart two years later, she never meets Clayton Farlow.
- Jason, a shady real estate developer swindled Gary and Bobby out of their shares in the company and Southfork, and proceeded to tear the compound down and build tract houses on it called Southfork Estates.
- Having never met Pam, Bobby continued his wild ways from before and ended up as a down-on-his-luck hustler who was behind on alimony payments to his wife Annie and kids J.R., Bobby, and Ellie. He also ends up behind on his gambling debts to Carter McKay, who owns casinos in Las Vegas. (McKay was fired by Jeremy Wendell at Westar.)
- Gary became a successful divorce lawyer who never married, and thus never had Lucy Ewing, J.R.'s niece. (He does eventually meet Valene Ewing, his wife in the real world, but nothing ever comes of it other than a date whose outcome was never discussed).
- Without having met J.R., Cally Harper never left her poor roots, and ends up as a battered wife who lives with her husband in a shack, where she kills him and (according to Adam) will be convicted and sentenced to life in prison as no one would believe she was beaten.
- Without J.R. in the way and forcing him to be a part of the Ewing/Barnes rivalry, Cliff Barnes was able to earn a law degree and enter politics, becoming Vice President of the United States and later Acting President due to a stroke suffered by the President.
- Since J.R. was never born (and thus, never shot), Kristin Shepard never met him (and, thus, never died), and became a successful con artist in Los Angeles. She poses as a hooker initially and then a police officer, which sees her accept a bribe from an embarrassed customer.
- Having never met J.R., Sue Ellen has become a successful soap opera star, with Nicholas Pierce (who was never killed off) as her loving husband.
- With J.R. out of the picture and Jock dying before he could find out, Ray Krebbs never knew of his Ewing blood ties. After an injury he suffered in a Ewing Oil-sponsored rodeo, Ray became a down on his luck ranchhand, forcing to work two or three jobs to support his family, who are loving and very supportive of him. He does have a son called Jock.
After one final scene where Bobby settles his gambling debts with McKay, Adam eggs J.R. on to kill himself. J.R. won't do it, as he doesn't want Adam to be sent back to heaven with his job incomplete. It's at this point where Adam reveals that he is not an angel, but a minion of Satan. A startled J.R. wakes up, gun and bourbon still in hands, and the scene appears to be a dream...only Adam returns, appearing to J.R. in his mirror and continuing to egg him on. J.R. slowly raises the loaded gun to his head, unaware that Bobby has returned home. The gun goes off while Bobby is in the hallway, and he rushes to J.R.'s room. He looks at what has gone down, gasps, "Oh, my God," and the series ends on that note with the fate of J.R. never settled (although it eventually would be five years later, in the reunion movie,
Dallas: J.R. ReturnsDallas: J.R. Returns was the first of the two Dallas reunion movies to air after the series went off the air. It originally aired on CBS on November 15, 1996, and recently was rerun as part of TV Land's salute to 50 years of Warner Bros. Television....
). It was believed J.R. killed himself, although in later years it was revealed he had shot the mirror (although no glass was heard).
Production details
Dallas was eventually translated and
dubbedDubbing is the post-production process of recording and replacing voices on a motion picture or television soundtrack subsequent to the original shooting schedule. The term most commonly refers to the substitution of the voices of the actors shown on the screen by those of different performers, who...
into 67 languages in over 90 countries, a record that to this day still stands for an American television series.
Dallas originally aired on Saturday nights when it debuted as a regular series. Within a month, the show was moved to Sunday nights, where it would stay until halfway through the season, when it took a Friday-night slot.
Dallas remained on Fridays until the show ended in 1991, alternating between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. airings.
The "Who Done It?" episode of
Dallas that revealed "
Who shot J.R.?Who shot J.R.? was an advertising catch phrase that American network CBS created in 1980 to promote the television show Dallas. In the final scene of the 1979-1980 season, the character J.R. Ewing, played by Larry Hagman, was shot by an unknown assailant. The episode, titled A House Divided, was...
", the famous 1980
cliffhangerA cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation...
, 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*HM*A*S*H is an American television series developed by Larry Gelbart, adapted from the 1970 feature film MASH . The series is a medical drama/black comedy that was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for CBS...
in 1983 finally had more viewers than Dallas. The final episode of
The FugitiveThe Fugitive is an American television series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen starred as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the...
, broadcast in August 1967, was watched by a higher percentage of television-owning Americans (72%), although it had lesser absolute numbers. Internationally
Dallas still holds the record for the most watched episode with nearly 360 million viewers tuning in to see who shot J.R.
Ratings
The show's seasonal rankings were as follows.
- #44 (Miniseries, 1978) audience 8,322,678
- #12 (Season 1, 1978–1979) audience 18,178,000
- #6 (Season 2, 1979–1980) audience 19,075,000
- #1 (Season 3, 1980–1981) audience 30,502,600
- #1 (Season 4, 1981–1982) audience 27,565,500
- #2 (Season 5, 1982–1983) audience 20,491,800
- #1 (Season 6, 1983–1984) audience 21,536,600
- #2 (Season 7, 1984–1985) audience 20 970 300
- #6 (Season 8, 1985–1986) audience 18,726,200
- #11 (Season 9, 1986–1987) audience 18,616,200
- #22 (Season 10, 1987–1988) audience 15,207,600
- #29 (Season 11, 1988–1989) audience 13,921,600
- #43 (Season 12, 1989–1990) audience 10,223,011
- #61 (Season 13, 1990–1991) audience 3,122,021
Reunion movies
- #10 in that week audience 16,743,300 (JR Returns, 1996)
- #23 in that week audience 11,897,756 (War of the Ewings, 1998)
DVD releases
Season 1 on DVD is the original mini-series. When the show went to formal production as a regular weekly series, what is on DVD referred to as Season 2 was Season 1 of the weekly series.
As of the end of 2010, it is expected that
Warner Home VideoWarner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . It was re-named Warner Home Video in 1980...
will have released all 14 Seasons of
Dallas on DVD with the reunion movies.
|
DVD Season |
Common Season Count |
Ep # |
Region 1 |
Region 2 |
Comments |
|
Seasons 1 & 2 |
Mini-Series & Season 1 |
29 |
August 8, 2004 |
November 1, 2004 |
The first-and-second-seasons DVD box set has five double-sided DVDs, which contain the 5 episodes from the miniseries and the 24 episodes from the first regular season. The Region 1 release includes a "Soap Talk" Dallas reunion special. Both Region 1 and Region 2 have three commentaries by actors Larry Hagman and Charlene Tilton, and series creator David Jacobs. |
|
Season 3 |
Season 2 |
25 |
August 9, 2005 |
September 26, 2005 |
The third-season DVD box set has five double-sided DVDs, which contain the 25 episodes from that season. It includes commentaries by Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray on two major episodes and the special documentary Who Shot J.R.?: The Dallas Phenomenon. |
|
Season 4 |
Season 3 |
23 |
January 24, 2006 |
May 22, 2006 |
The fourth-season DVD box set has four double-sided DVDs, which contain the 23 episodes from that season. It includes a cast reunion special from 2004: Dallas Reunion: The Return To Southfork, which aired on CBS on November 7, 2004. |
|
Season 5 |
Season 4 |
26 |
August 1, 2006 |
November 17, 2006 |
The fifth-season DVD box set has five double-sided DVDs, which contain the 26 episodes from that season. It includes a documentary called: A Living Landmark: A Tour of the Real Southfork Ranch. |
|
Season 6 |
Season 5 |
28 |
January 30, 2007 |
February 19, 2007 |
The sixth-season DVD box set has five double-sided DVDs, which contain the 28 episodes from that season. It includes a documentary that delves into the legacy of Dallas then and now. |
|
Season 7 |
Season 6 |
30 |
July 31, 2007 |
September 17, 2007 |
The seventh-season DVD box set has five double-sided DVDs, which contain the 30 episodes from that season. It includes the story behind the iconic Dallas theme song and is titled The Music of Dallas. |
|
Season 8 |
Season 7 |
30 |
February 12, 2008 |
February 18, 2008 |
The eighth-season DVD box set has five double-sided DVDs, which contain the 30 episodes from that season. The special feature is called Dallas Makeover - Travilla Style and deals with the Emmy award winning costumes of the show. |
|
Season 9 |
Season 8 |
31 |
July 15, 2008 |
September 22, 2008 |
The ninth-season DVD box set has four double-sided DVDs, which contain the 31 episodes from that season. The special features include the documentary Seasons of Change, an in depth look at the most famous dream sequence of all time, the entire ninth season, and its impact on the storylines, the fans, and stars. There is also a look back at Season 8 to examine the effect of Barbara Bel Geddes' departure for a year, and her eventual return. |
|
Season 10 |
Season 9 |
29 |
January 13, 2009 |
January 19, 2009 |
The tenth-season DVD box set has three double-sided DVDs, which contain the 29 episodes from that season. The opening episode, 'Return to Camelot' is the special two part syndicated version. This set contains no special features, unlike previous releases. |
|
Season 11 |
Season 10 |
30 |
April 21, 2009 |
July 20, 2009 |
The eleventh-season DVD box set has three double-sided DVDs, which contain the 30 episodes from that season. This set contains no special features, just as the previous release. |
|
Season 12 |
Season 11 |
26 |
January 19, 2010 |
TBA |
TBA |
|
Season 13 |
Season 12 |
27 |
TBA |
TBA |
TBA |
|
Season 14 |
Season 13 |
22 |
TBA |
TBA |
TBA |
|
J.R. Returns |
TV Movie |
N/A |
TBA |
TBA |
TBA |
|
The War of the Ewings |
TV Movie |
N/A |
TBA |
TBA |
TBA |
Syndication
Dallas began airing on
SoapnetSOAPnet is an American cable television channel that has been broadcasting current and past soap operas and dramas since January 20, 2000...
in 2003. It finished its run in August 2008 as Soapnet lost its rights to show it.
Bring Back Dallas - Special Reunion
In 2007, British comedian
Justin Lee CollinsJustin Lee Collins, often known as JLC, is a British comedian, television and radio presenter from Bristol. His West Country accent, enthusiasm for pop culture and "caveman" image are amongst his trademarks, a trait he claims was inspired by Chewbacca from Star Wars...
went about searching for all the stars of
Dallas to bring them back together for a special reunion party. The show was broadcast at 9 p.m. Sunday, May 27, 2007, on UK television network
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
as part of the
Bring Back...Bring Back... is a British television series comprising one-off shows where Justin Lee Collins tries to locate people from music, TV or film backgrounds to reunite them for a one-off performance or get-together...
series. After hunting down most of the main cast by any means necessary (e.g., climbing over security fences and ambushing hotels), Collins managed to interview them and gain more knowledge about some of the decisions made throughout the show's seasons. The participants amongst the cast were Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, Patrick Duffy, Ken Kercheval, Charlene Tilton, Susan Howard and Mary Crosby. He held his own Oil Baron's Ball, where unfortunately none of the cast turned up. However, in a surprise move, the actor who played baby Christopher (Eric Farlow) turned up.
Reboot
According to the
New York Times, the television network TNT has ordered a
Dallas pilot. The new show would follow the lives of J.R. and Bobby's sons, John Ross and Christopher Ewing. Original Dallas veteran actors, Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, and Patrick Duffy have already been contacted for their appearance in the pilot.
Tie-ins
- A Dallas comic strip ran in newspapers during the 1980s, illustrated by cartoonist Dick Kulpa and distributed by the L.A. Times Syndicate.
- There was a 1980s computer game based on the series called Dallas Quest
Dallas Quest is a game created by James Garon and published by Datasoft for the Commodore 64 computer in 1984. It is based on the Dallas TV series. There was also a version for the Apple IIe and Atari 8-bit home computers as well as the TRS-80 Color Computer.-External links:*...
.
- In spring 2004, a prime-time special was taped in which actors reminisced about their work on the series. It aired on November 7, 2004, on CBS, though it was delayed due to football
The NFL on CBS is the brand name of the CBS television network's coverage of the National Football League's games wherein the road team is from the American Football Conference, produced by CBS Sports.-Market coverage:...
. Actor Howard KeelHoward Keel, born Harold Clifford Keel was an American actor and singer. He starred in many film musicals of the 1950s.- Early years :...
(Clayton Farlow-->Clayton Farlow was a character in the popular American television series Dallas, played by Howard Keel .Clayton Farlow was raised on the Southern Cross Ranch in San Angelo, Texas with his sister Jessica. Jessica was wild in her teenage years and developed a serious violent mental condition. She...
) had died earlier that same day.
Legacy
On November 8, 2008, a reunion to commemorate the show's 30th anniversary was held at
Southfork RanchSouthfork Ranch is a location near Plano, Texas in the community of Parker, Texas where the Dallas television series was filmed. It is located at 3700 Hogge Drive.-History:...
in
Parker, TexasParker is a city in Collin County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,379 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Parker is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.2 square miles , all of it land...
, reuniting original cast members
Larry HagmanLarry Martin Hagman is an American film and television actor, producer and director best known for playing J. R. Ewing in the 1980s primetime television soap opera Dallas and Major Anthony Nelson in the 1960s sitcom, I Dream of Jeannie.-Early life:Hagman was born in Fort Worth, Texas...
,
Patrick DuffyPatrick Duffy is an American television actor. He is best known for his roles as Bobby Ewing on the CBS drama Dallas , and as Frank Lambert on the ABC television sitcom Step By Step .-Career:In 1976, Duffy landed the role of Mark Harris in the short-lived television series Man from Atlantis...
,
Linda GrayLinda Ann Gray is an American actress, best known for her role as Sue Ellen Ewing on the television prime-time soap opera Dallas.-Career:Prior to acting, Gray began working as a model in the 1960s...
,
Ken KerchevalKen Kercheval is an American actor, best known for his role as "Cliff Barnes" on the television series Dallas....
,
Steve KanalySteven "Steve" Francis Kanaly is an American actor, best known for his role as Southfork Ranch foreman Ray Krebbs on the television soap opera Dallas from 1978 to 1989. From 1994-1995, he also had a role on the ABC daytime drama series All My Children as "Seabone Hunkle," the father of Dixie...
and
Charlene TiltonCharlene L. Tilton is an American actress.Tilton was born in San Diego, California, the daughter of Katherine, a secretary. Notably, Tilton is 4'11" tall. Tilton has had a varied career in show business...
. Other cast members in attendance were:
Susan HowardJeri Lynn Mooney , better known as Susan Howard, is an American actress, writer, and political activist; best known for portraying the character Donna Culver Krebbs on the soap opera Dallas, Maggie Petrocelli on the television show Petrocelli, and to Star Trek fans for portraying Mara, the first...
,
Audrey LandersAudrey Landers is an American actress and singer, who is probably best known for her role as Afton Cooper in the television drama series Dallas.- Early years :...
,
Mary CrosbyMary Frances Crosby is an American actress. She is most often credited as simply Mary Crosby for her performances.-Early life:...
, and
Sheree J. WilsonSheree J. Wilson is an American actress, primarily known for her roles in soap operas and television...
. The front and back lawn of the fictional Ewing family home played host to a massive barbecue filled with people from the Dallas area, across the U.S. and around the world (who paid as much as $1,000) to reminisce and celebrate the series, as well as meeting with cast members. During the festivities, Kercheval said he was shocked to see the continued support for the show 17 years after it last aired. "I don't understand it," he said. "The staying power. Who knew?" Linda Gray also fondly remembered her time on the show: "I think it was a special time. It was a time when there weren't a hundred million channels and the internet and all of the other things that came to existence."
After
Dallas ended, co-stars
Patrick DuffyPatrick Duffy is an American television actor. He is best known for his roles as Bobby Ewing on the CBS drama Dallas , and as Frank Lambert on the ABC television sitcom Step By Step .-Career:In 1976, Duffy landed the role of Mark Harris in the short-lived television series Man from Atlantis...
and
Sasha MitchellSasha Mitchell is an American actor and former Calvin Klein model, best-known for his role as "Cody Lambert" on the television series Step by Step....
starred in a successful
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
sitcom,
Step By Step. Mitchell again played Duffy's nephew.
In popular culture
- J.R. Ewing's hat, a foremost symbol of the show's inherent "Americanness" that contributed to its hold over audiences on a global scale, is currently held in the Smithsonian's
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazines...
National Museum of American History'sThe National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific and military history. Among the items on display are the original Star-Spangled Banner and Dorothy's ruby...
collections.
- In the DuckTales
DuckTales is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. Based on Carl Barks' Uncle Scrooge comic book series, featuring the adventures of Scrooge McDuck and his nephews, the show premiered on September 18, 1987 and ended on November 28, 1990.- Premise :The...
episode "Ducks of the West", Scrooge McDuckScrooge McDuck or Uncle Scrooge is a Glaswegian anthropomorphic duck created by Carl Barks that first appeared in Four Color Comics #178, Christmas on Bear Mountain, published by Dell Comics in December 1947....
meets up with a cow-cowboyA cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century became a figure of special significance and legend. A subtype, called a wrangler,...
named J.R. Mooing, who is a parody of J.R. Ewing.
- On The Parkers
The Parkers is an American sitcom that aired on UPN from August 30, 1999, to May 10, 2004. A spin-off of UPN's Moesha, The Parkers featured the mother-daughter team of Nikki and Kim Parker...
, one episode consisted of a Dallas/DynastyDynasty is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981 to May 11, 1989. It was created by Richard and Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, and revolved around the Carringtons, a wealthy oil family living in Denver, Colorado...
parody.
- In the Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses is a British television sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan, and made and broadcast by the BBC. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003.Set in Peckham in south London,...
episode "Who Wants to Be a MillionaireWho Wants to Be a Millionaire is an episode of the BBC sit-com, Only Fools and Horses. It was the final episode of series 5, and was first screened on 5 October 1986...
", after Del Boy and Rodney have an argument about whether Del should go to Australia and become a millionaire or not, Albert believes that his two nephews are feuding just like the Ewing brothers. Del agrees by comparing himself to Bobby, but wouldn't compare Rodney to J.R.
- Bill Haverchuck, a main character in the television series Freaks and Geeks
Freaks and Geeks is an American comedy-drama television series, created by Paul Feig and produced by Judd Apatow, that aired on NBC during the 1999–2000 television season...
mentions watching Dallas in multiple episodes. The show Dallas also plays a significant role, in episode number fourteen, "Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers".
- In the That '70's Show
That '70s Show is an American television sitcom that centered on the lives of a group of teenagers living in the fictional suburban town of Point Place, Wisconsin, from May 1976 to 12:00 AM, January 1, 1980. It debuted on the FOX television network on August 23, 1998 and ran for eight consecutive...
episode "Love Wisconsin Style", EricEric Albert Forman is a fictional character and the male lead on Fox Network's That '70s Show, played by Topher Grace. The character is based on the adolescence of show creator Mark Brazill. Most of the show takes place at the Formans' home, particularly in the basement, where he and his five...
(Topher GraceChristopher John "Topher" Grace is an American actor, best known for playing the lead role of Eric Forman on the Fox sitcom That '70s Show for seven of the show's eight seasons, and the villain Eddie Brock, Jr./Venom in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3.-Early life:Grace was born in New York City, New...
) sees DonnaDonna Marie Pinciotti is a fictional character and the female lead in the FOX sitcom, That '70s Show. Played by Laura Prepon, Donna is the longtime girlfriend of her next-door neighbor, Eric Forman.- Family, friends, and ideals :...
(Laura PreponLaura Prepon is an American actress, best known for her role as Donna Pinciotti in the long-running television series That '70s Show. She is also known for the role of Hannah Daniels on the ABC drama October Road...
) drunk during the day and tells the guys, "It was like Sue Ellen on Dallas."
Opening title sequence
- For the 2007 NHL All-Star Game
The 55th National Hockey League All-Star Game was held in Dallas, Texas on January 24, 2007. The Western Conference was victorious, defeating the Eastern Conference 12–9...
, CBCHockey Night in Canada is a television broadcast of National Hockey League games in Canada, produced by CBC Sports. Hockey Night has consistently been among the highest-rated programs on Canadian television, and is the world's oldest sports-related television program still on the air...
's opening was a spoof of Dallas opening, using the same 1980s font and names like Sidney CrosbySidney Patrick Crosby
ONS is a Canadian professional ice hockey player and captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League ....
, Alexander OvechkinAlexander Mikhaylovich Ovechkin is a Russian professional ice hockey left winger and alternate captain for the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League...
, and Joe ThorntonJoseph Eric Thornton is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and alternate captain for the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League . He was drafted by and played seven seasons for the Boston Bruins before being traded to San Jose in 2005–06. He was an Art Ross- and Hart Memorial...
.
- In a 2007 episode of America's Got Talent
America's Got Talent is a British-owned American reality television series on the NBC television network. It is a talent show that features singers, dancers, magicians, comedians and other performers of all ages competing for the advertised top prize of US$1 million. The show debuted in June 2006...
in which the show went to Dallas for auditions, the episode began with the original Dallas theme and presented the three judges as the "stars" in a similar format to the introduction of Dallas.
- CBS Sports
The NFL on CBS is the brand name of the CBS television network's coverage of the National Football League's games wherein the road team is from the American Football Conference, produced by CBS Sports.-Market coverage:...
also used a Dallas musical theme for the opening of its 1991 NFL Wild Card playoff between the CowboysThis year would mark the Cowboys' return to the playoffs after a number of seasons, including a 1-15 campaign just two years prior. This also marked Norv Turner's first year as offensive coordinator under head coach Jimmy Johnson. The young offensive nucleus of Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin and Emmitt...
and BearsThe 1991 Chicago Bears season was their 72nd regular season and 21st postseason completed in the National Football League. The club posted a 11-5 record, and lost in the NFC Wild Card playoffs to the Dallas Cowboys.-Schedule:-Standings:-Postseason:...
. It featured the 3 way split screen common to Dallas openings and introduced "characters" Jimmy JohnsonJames William "Jimmy" Johnson is a former American football coach who currently appears on Fox NFL Sunday, the Fox network's NFL pregame show. He was the first football coach whose teams won both an NCAA Division 1A National Championship and a Super Bowl. In 1993, Johnson wrote Turning The Thing...
, Emmitt SmithEmmitt James Smith III is a former American football player. He played for the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals and is the NFL's all-time rushing leader, a record formerly held by his childhood hero, Walter Payton...
, Michael IrvinMichael Jerome Irvin is a former American football player for the Dallas Cowboys. He is also a former broadcaster for ESPN's NFL Countdown and currently an analyst for NFL Network. He is regarded as one of the most successful wide receivers in the history of the National Football League...
, Troy AikmanTroy Kenneth Aikman is a former American football quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League, and currently a television sportscaster for the Fox network. He is formerly a joint owner of the NASCAR Sprint Cup racing team, Hall of Fame Racing, along with fellow former...
, and Steve BeuerleinStephen Taylor Beuerlein is a former football quarterback who during his NFL career played for the Los Angeles Raiders , Dallas Cowboys , Phoenix Cardinals/Arizona Cardinals , Jacksonville Jaguars , Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos . He attended the University of Notre Dame...
. Pat SummerallGeorge Allen "Pat" Summerall is a former American football player and television sportscaster, having worked at CBS, FOX, and ESPN....
narrated.
- In The Young Ones
The Young Ones was a popular British sitcom, first broadcast in 1982, on BBC2. Its anarchic, offbeat humour helped bring alternative comedy to television in the 1980s and made household names of its writers and performers...
episode Time, the opening sequence and credits parody Dallas. Neil (Nigel PlanerNigel George Planer is an English actor, comedian, novelist and playwright.Planer is perhaps best known for his role as Neil in the cult BBC comedy The Young Ones. He has appeared in many West End musicals, including Evita, Chicago, We Will Rock You and Hairspray...
) is E.T. , a hippy version of J.R. who donates all business assets to "the Brothers of the Soil Commune".
- In the last two seasons of The Drew Carey Show
The Drew Carey Show is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from 1995 to 2004 and was known for its "everyman" characters and themes...
, one of the opening montages is an homage to the opening of Dallas, containing Cleveland references.
- The theme song of the show itself has entered pop culture. It has been remixed by Crazy Frog
Crazy Frog, originally known as The Annoying Thing, is a computer animated character created by Erik Wernquist. Marketed by the ringtone provider Jamba!, the animation was originally created to accompany a sound effect produced by Daniel Malmedahl while attempting to imitate the sound of a...
, and used in a sample game in Sun MicrosystemsSun Microsystems, Inc. is a multinational vendor of computers, computer components, computer software, and information technology services, founded on February 24, 1982...
' JAVAJava is an island of Indonesia and the site of its capital city, Jakarta. Once the centre of powerful Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms, Islamic sultanates, and the core of the colonial Dutch East Indies, Java now plays a dominant role in the economic and political life of Indonesia...
MIDP Software Development KitA software development kit is typically a set of development tools that allows a software engineer to create applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar platform.It may be something as simple...
.
- An arrangement of the theme from Dallas was used as the score for a short film about vice-presidential nominee, Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician who served as Governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009 and was the Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States in 2008....
and played at the 2008 Republican National Convention on September 4, 2008.
- The introductory scene of Nutty Acres in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts parodies the opening of the series.
"Who Shot J.R.?"
- The "Who Shot J.R.?" episode entered into American popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture...
, with t-shirtA T-shirt is a shirt which is pulled on over the head to cover most of a person's torso. A T-shirt is usually buttonless, collarless, and pocketless, with a round neck and short sleeves. The sleeves of the T-shirt extend at least slightly over the shoulder but not completely over the elbow...
s printed with such references as "Who shot J.R.?Who shot J.R.? was an advertising catch phrase that American network CBS created in 1980 to promote the television show Dallas. In the final scene of the 1979-1980 season, the character J.R. Ewing, played by Larry Hagman, was shot by an unknown assailant. The episode, titled A House Divided, was...
" and "I Shot J.R.!" becoming common throughout the summer of 1980. The cliffhanger was also referenced in the The Fresh Prince of Bel-AirThe Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from September 10, 1990 to May 20, 1996. The show starred Will Smith as a street-smart teenager from West Philadelphia who is sent to live with his wealthy relatives in a Bel Air mansion. His lifestyle often...
episode "As the Will Turns"; when Will was trying to get fired from a television show via a ridiculous monologue that incorporated elements from numerous TV shows, he says that he's "the guy who shot J.R." (as well as the sheriff"I Shot the Sheriff" is a song written by Bob Marley, told from the point of view of a man who admits to having killed the local sheriff, but claims to be falsely accused of having killed the deputy sheriff. The song was first released on The Wailers' album Burnin.-Overview:Eric Clapton recorded a...
).
- During a scene in The Wedding Singer
The Wedding Singer is a 1998 film written by Tim Herlihy and directed by Frank Coraci. Set in the 1980s, the film stars Adam Sandler as Robbie Hart, a wedding singer and Drew Barrymore as Julia Sullivan, the object of his affections....
, Frank SiveroFrank Sivero is an American character actor, perhaps best known for playing the roles of Genco Abbandando in Mario Puzo's and Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather: Part II and Frankie Carbone in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas.Sivero was born Francesco LoGiudice in Siculiana, Sicily, Italy, and...
, who plays Andy, refuses to leave the living room and says, "Hang on! I'm watching Dallas! I think J.R. might be dead or something! They shot him!"
- During the mania surrounding "Who Shot J.R.?", Happy Days
Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from 1974 to 1984 on ABC. The show presents an idealized vision of life in mid 1950s to mid 1960s America....
aired an episode in which the Fonz (Henry WinklerHenry Franklin Winkler is an American actor, director, producer, and author.Winkler is best known for his role as Fonzie on the 1970s American sitcom Happy Days...
) was shot in the behind. Three different versions of the incident come forward, with the one told by Roger (Ted McGinleyTheodore Martin "Ted" McGinley is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Jefferson D'Arcy on the television series Married... with Children, and as Charley Shanowski on the former ABC sitcom Hope & Faith. He was also a regular on Happy Days and The Love Boat.-Career:McGinley...
) being the most accurate. Fonzie, Chachi (Scott BaioScott Vincent James Baio is an American actor, best known for his work on the sitcoms Happy Days, Joanie Loves Chachi, and Charles in Charge...
), Roger and Potsie (Anson WilliamsAnson Williams is an actor and director.-Biography:Born as Anson William Heimlick — his father Haskell legally changed the original spelling of the family name from "Heimlich". He attended high school, where he was captain of the track team and acted in multiple school productions...
) have gone camping. Fonzie and Chachi are at odds with Roger and Potsie trying to restore order. When Potsie intervenes, Fonzie tells him to mind his own business and shoves him hard enough that he hits the mantelpiece above the fireplace. This dislodges a mounted rifle, which discharges upon hitting the floor. Thus, the shooting is determined to have been an accident.
- The Jeffersons
The Jeffersons is an American sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from January 18, 1975, through June 25, 1985, lasting 11 seasons and a total of 253 episodes produced by T.AT. Communications Company from 1975-1982 and Embassy Television from 1982-1985...
also had a Dallas parody through a script written by Florence, the maid. The cast was George as G.R. Jenkins, Louise as Lou Weezy Jenkins, Helen as Ellen Wallis, Tom as Tim Wallis, Lionel as Leon Jenkins, and Jenny as Jannice Wallis Jenkins. There is even a scene in which G.R. is shot but fakes his coma to draw out the assailant—Florence as Flossie.
- In the Irish sitcom Father Ted
Father Ted is a situation comedy television programme produced by Hat Trick Productions for Channel 4. The show depicts the lives of three Irish Catholic priests on the remote fictional Craggy Island off the west coast of Ireland. It ran for three series, totalling 25 episodes, between 21 April...
, one of the locals on Craggy Island constantly wears a shirt that reads "I Shot J.R."
- The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated television sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its eponymous family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie...
episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns?class="infobox" style="width: 20em; text-align: left; font-size: 90%" cellspacing="2"! style="font-size: 120%; text-align: center;" colspan="2" | The Simpsons episode|- ! style="font-size: 110%; text-align: center;" colspan="2" | "Who Shot Mr. Burns?"|-...
" parodies "Who shot J.R.?" A deleted sceneDeleted scene is a commonly-used term in the entertainment industry, especially the film and television industry, which usually refers specifically to scenes removed from or replaced by another scene in the final "cut", or version, of a film...
in "Bart vs. Australia"Bart vs. Australia" is the sixteenth episode of The Simpsons
' sixth season, which originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 19, 1995. In the episode, Bart is indicted for fraud in Australia, and the family travels to the country so Bart can apologize...
" also includes a reference when one of the courtmembers shouts, "Don't tell us who shot J.R.!" whilst covering his ears.
Season 9 (the "Dream Season")
- In the Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television sitcom, created by Seth MacFarlane, for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family which consists of Peter, Lois, Meg, Chris, Stewie, and their pet dog Brian...
episode "Da Boom"Da Boom" is the third episode of season 2 of Family Guy, originally aired on December 26, 1999. In it, Peter's newly adopted fears of the Y2K bug are realized after he cancels his family's New Year's Eve plans...
" (1999), the Y2K virus changes civilization for the worse. In a parody of "Blast from the Past" episode 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. Bobby pauses, then asks, "What's Family Guy?"
- Introducing Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a weekly late-night sketch comedy and variety show filmed in New York City. It made its debut on October 11, 1975, under a slightly different title. The show features a regular cast of comedy actors, joined by a guest host and musical act...
's 1986-1987 season, MadonnaMadonna is an American recording artist, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, and raised in Rochester Hills, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977, for a career in modern dance...
, who hosted the first episode of the dismally ratedNielsen ratings are audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
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 RocketCharles Rocket was an American film and television actor, notable for his tenure as a cast member on Saturday Night Live as well as for his appearances as the villain Nicholas Andre in the film Dumb and Dumber, Dave Dennison, the father in Disney's Hocus Pocus and Adam, the Angel of Death, in the...
, 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 profanityThe original meaning of the adjective profane referred to items not belonging to the church, e.g...
, he was fired.
- The show Reno 911!
RENO 911! is an American comedy television series on Comedy Central that debuted in 2003. It is a mockumentary-style parody of law enforcement documentary shows, specifically COPS, with comic actors playing the police officers...
sometimes references Dallas by having a character dream some event that happened on a previous episode, notably at the end of the season.
- The final episode of Newhart revealed the entire series was Bob Hartley's (the character that Bob Newhart
George Robert "Bob" Newhart is an American stand-up comedian and actor who is best known for playing psychologist Dr. Robert "Bob" Hartley on the 1970s sitcom The Bob Newhart Show and as innkeeper Dick Loudon on the 1980s sitcom Newhart.Newhart also appeared in film roles such as Major Major in...
played on The Bob Newhart ShowThe Bob Newhart Show is the name of two different television series, both starring comedian Bob Newhart. The better-known is a situation comedy produced by MTM Enterprises, which aired on CBS from September 16, to April 1,...
) dream.
See also
- Knots Landing
Knots Landing is an American primetime television soap opera that was screened from December 27 1979 to May 13 1993 on CBS. Set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles in California, the show centered on the lives of four married couples living in a cul-de-sac, Seaview Circle...
(1979-1993)
- Dynasty
Dynasty is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981 to May 11, 1989. It was created by Richard and Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, and revolved around the Carringtons, a wealthy oil family living in Denver, Colorado...
(1981-1989)
- Falcon Crest
Falcon Crest is an American primetime television soap opera which aired on the CBS network for nine seasons, from December 4, 1981 to May 17, 1990...
(1981-1990)
- Dallas: J.R. Returns
Dallas: J.R. Returns was the first of the two Dallas reunion movies to air after the series went off the air. It originally aired on CBS on November 15, 1996, and recently was rerun as part of TV Land's salute to 50 years of Warner Bros. Television....
(1996)
- Dallas: War of the Ewings
Dallas: War of the Ewings was the second of the two Dallas reunion movies. It aired on CBS on April 24, 1998, a little less than a year and a half after the first movie, Dallas: J.R...
(1998)
- Dallas Reunion: The Return to Southfork
Dallas Reunion: The Return to Southfork was a 90-minute retrospective special celebrating the long-running primetime television series Dallas which aired on CBS on Sunday November 7, 2004....
(2004)
External links