"Jock is dead Ray, start doing something for the living"

[Pamela Barnes]

Last nights Dallas had a great Donna and Ray scene suburbly acted by Steve and Susan. Donnas now moved to SF and Ray went to try and get her back.

Whereas parts of Dallas this season have been written badly the relationship side of things with Donna and Ray have been well written, delving deeper inside the Krebbs relationship. I also liked Donnas statment said with pain and frustration "People change Ray, they move on, if they don't they just stay the same and die".

One of the great things about Dallas was the onscreen chemistry between characters, Sue & JR, Bobby & Pam and Donna & Ray. I thought it was a shame the realtionship ended, I saw them as rather a stable couple in a world of turmoil, and also down to earth.

After the dream the stories become more and more plot driven. By 1988 no one seemed to care about the characters it was all plot, there was no thought to Ray and Jenna as a couple, it was forced together because of the conflict it would create with Bobby and to maintain the Jenna chacrter.

Personally I would rather they had invested in the Donna character more than Jenna.

I look forward to the Krebbs reuniting for the dream and those tear jerking scenes which showed some of the BEST ever acting on a TV soap regarding their child.

[Lkc1]

I agree Totally Pamela! Susan Howard and Steve Kanaly are great next season (she won an award for that Im sure) and yes they should have dumped Jenna not Donna (I believe it was a clash of wits behind the scenes tho - that Katzman didnt like strong woman and Susan had won an award and also wrote an episode of Dallas so he got rid).

There is some great dialogue apart from the last episode this season when Donna eventually tell Ray she's pregnant and he comes out with the classic line "You mean we're gonna have a baby?" -well he is a cowboy after all!

If it wasn't for the dream maybe Donna would have stayed (what with reconciling with Ray and adopting Tony) - still Katzman may have killed her off then instead, at least she got a happy ending!

A question tho:
Was the Krebbs home set destroyed or something? The other night I saw an episode where Ray came in drunk and rowed with Donna and their house looked sooo TOY (so much like a set) and once Donna moves to Southfork you never see the house again - Ray starts building one in the dream and then after the dream dont they have a flood or something?

[Tony D]

I, too, believe Ray and Donna's relationship fell victim to the dream idea. Having had them reunite in the dream, writers probably felt that they had it would be too repetitious if they did the same in reality.

In a way, it's kind of sad. Ray and Donna represented the ideal that two people from very different backgrounds and little in common could fall in love and make it last. But it didn't.

I do believe that the dialogue between Ray and Donna was well-written in the dream sequence and Susan Howard's acting hit a newfound respect.

I don't agree with Leonard Katzman's discarding of strong female characters. Some of the show's best scenes include the banter between J.R. and women who despised or intimidated him (Donna, Lucy, Sue Ellen and even Pam in the early years).

However, I don't see how they could have continued the Donna character after 1987. She divorced Ray and there was really nothing left for her to do in Dallas. I can't think of any plots they could have given her. Can you?

As far as the Krebbs house goes, just one of those dream/post dream discrepancies. During the dream, a water main broke and flooded the house. The Krebbs decided to move into Southfork while they built a new house. The old house was never seen again, not even when Pam wakes up. Apparently, they had destoyed the set.

At the start of the post-dream season, Ray "bought" the house he was supposedly building during the dream. Talk about your split-second purchases. And what ever did happen to the old house?

"If he does, he does. If he doesn't he dies. Never shoulda married my Mama in the first place."--- J.R. offers his heartfelt thoughts on the speedy recovery of Clayton, who is about to undergo a delicate heart procedure in 1987.

[Pamela Barnes]

Susan Howard says she refused to do a love scene with a major Dallas male character which led to her dismissal.

But who could it be? Surely not JR? If so who could blame her, how ridiculous would that be?

I can only think of Cliff or perhaps Bobby but why on earth? Maybe Clayton?

I think Susan really liked Donna and why not, she was a great role to play and I dont blame her for not doing out of character roles.

One of the best interviews I ever saw was in 1987 here in the UK. Everyone knew Donna was axed and she did a talk show here. When she arrived she had a huge round of applause. The interviewer said "we dont want you to leave, your the sanest person on that show". "I dont want to go either" she said. "We all want you to stay" the interviewer said to the audience who all cheered. Susan laughed "well please write in and tell them, I really dont want to go".

It was really sad.