May 3rd, 1991

[Ewing_5]

Dallas ended 13 years ago this year, how time flies! What are your favourite moments? I love the who shot J.R. scenario, brilliant stuff.

[Jenn]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ewing_5:
Dallas ended 13 years ago this year, how time flies! What are your favourite moments? I love the who shot J.R. scenario, brilliant stuff. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

There are so many great moments.One episode that I really liked is the one where Jr accuses Pam of giving Cliff a file.The reason I like that one so much is I think its an excellent Bobby and Pam episode.They are working together to find out what happened.There is a moment in the hotel room where they are talking about what they should do and Bobby is playing with her hair.I think it showcases why Bobby and Pam are a great couple.also you get the apology and kiss from JR at the end.

Hee hee!! I love that episode too with J.R. accusing Pam of being a spy, turns out it was his own secretary and mistress who betrayed him,
old J.R. is forced to eat crow at the end of the
episode. http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

Many people hated the Haleyville storyline but I
loved it!! I loved seeing J.R. get tossed into
prison, having to do hard labor. Then he gets abducted by Cally's brothers and forced to marry
her at gunpoint. Then the look on his face after Cally turns up at Southfork was priceless!
He thought he had been rid of her once he got out of Haleyville, then she comes back into his life. http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif Also loved it when she crammed a pie into his face. http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

[JennasBoutique]

Yes, Beth - Haleyville was a funny storyline, not so serious, maybe that's why we like it!

[CarlD]

One thing I didn't like about the final episode in May of 1991 was they had snips of all the previous cliffhangers of Dallas.

There were millions who tuned in that hadn't tuned in for many seasons, ranked #2 for the week (damn that CBS Sunday night movie that beat it for the #1 spot !!!!!) They could of had a very good season 13 recap of how Miss Ellie gave SF to Bobby, JR lost Ewing Oil to Cliff, etc. It would have given those viewers some sort of recap.

[CarlD]

(before the opening theme song) of course.

[Ewing_5]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Carl D:
(before the opening theme song) of course. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Oh yes, it would have be shown befor the unforgettable tune begins. http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

[CarlD]

Like they did from season 10-13 before the opening theme....."last on Dallas", then gave usually a very short and not very detailed recap. One thing Dynasty was better at.

I guess if they gave a final episode like that, they weren't interested in going out good like Knots Landing did with a very detailed final season recap.

[JennaWade]

i kinda liked the "Last on Dallas" with all the season finales! Buffy did a similar thing in 2000 and i liked it then too. i think it starts the ball rolling for closure by the end of the episode.

[JennaWade]

May 3rd, 1991:

i will always remember that day. that morning i won a local radio contest with Dallas trivia. i had heard the morning before that they were going to do it, so i called in before they even asked the question, because i KNEW that i'd know it (the question was a no brainer: What did Bobby say the morning Pam woke up from the Dream Season. Bonus question: What was Sue Ellen's pagent title?) i won a really cool tshirt Dallas: I was there at the end! (i still have it.) and the dj made fun of me because i was only 15 and i knew so much about Dallas, hee hee.

anyway, i missed the first 5 minutes of Dallas (luckily i was taping it) because while popping popcorn -- which was my ritual since i was really young for watching Dallas -- i set my microwave on fire! haa haa. luckily, all was good. and i felt really sad as the credits rolled... sigh...

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Carl D:
One thing I didn't like about the final episode in May of 1991 was they had snips of all the previous cliffhangers of Dallas.

There were millions who tuned in that hadn't tuned in for many seasons, ranked #2 for the week (damn that CBS Sunday night movie that beat it for the #1 spot !!!!!) They could of had a very good season 13 recap of how Miss Ellie gave SF to Bobby, JR lost Ewing Oil to Cliff, etc. It would have given those viewers some sort of recap. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


When the final episode originally aired in the U.K. I'm sure it didn't contain the snips of the previous cliffhangers of Dallas. I wonder how much of the episode the BBC cut out ??

[Ewing_5]

On UKTV Gold (reruns of Dallas) they don't show the previous cliffhangers of Dallas but the final episode on UKTV Gold airs for an hour, how much did they cut? or was it broken into two episodes?

[gravy47]

Well....actually my favorite moment or episode is The Dove Hunt.......thats where Jock and JR get shot and JR learns that Jock had a 1st wife......Jim Davis Rules....http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

[Ewing_5]

That is a great episode to watch I must admit.

[CarlD]

All the cliffhangers shown before the episode wasn't bad, but thought a detailed summary of the season would have been better, oh well.

Actually liked the final show, not up there with my favorite episodes though.

[James from London]

The series finale was horrible, just horrible. It was the most depressing two hours of my televisual life.

Hear, hear James.

The series finale was absolutely horrible. Couldn't the writers have come up with a better finale? Guess that's a pretty stupid question considering the whole final season was terrible. http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif

[Ewing_5]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by beth harmon:
Hear, hear James.

The series finale was absolutely horrible. Couldn't the writers have come up with a better finale? Guess that's a pretty stupid question considering the whole final season was terrible. http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The final season wasn't great but at least we dud get one more season after season 12.

My favourite season of Dallas has to be season 1 (I am not referring to the Mini Series here) it was very fresh and a classic one at that.

i liked season 1 too...my BEST is season 2 which ends with with the ep A House Divided and JR did his best to divide it!

[James from London]

Oh I enjoyed the last season apart from the final episode (and the scenes of JR in the sanitorium at the beginning). It wasn't classic DALLAS by any means, but it zipped along quite nicely, and I loved (most of) the penultimate episode where Michelle gets away with killing Susan Lucci, and double crosses both JR and Cliff.

I agree with JRE that Season 2 was DALLAS at its best. It was brilliantly constructed drama, almost like a Greek tragedy!

[Sid Fairgate]

I thought the irony of the final episode was that it was more of a showcase for Joel Grey and characters that never even existed than it was for characters who had actually been on Dallas before! You could tell the character of Jason was supposed to be like J.R. (I think they were trying to give the impression that he was worse by having him turn Southfork into a housing development), but I don't see why Jock and Miss Ellie would have automatically had another son by not having J.R.

As for the characters from the show they depicted, I thought many were written in an out of character fashion. J.R. or no J.R., I can't see Bobby as a broken down gambler, Cliff as the vice-president-turned-president (too easily distracted), or Gary as big time lawyer (an environmentalist or a rancher would have been believable). What seemed the most unbelievable to me was Jock turning Ewing Oil over to Gary at Miss Ellie's urging and then committing suicide after Gary bankrupted it. For one thing, I don't see Miss Ellie insisting Jock turn the company over to Gary because she loved the land as did Gary, and secondly if he did turn the company over to Gary you know Jock would always be at the office making sure he didn't screw up. The whole Jock suicide/Miss Ellie's dying of a broken heart really pissed me off because it wasn't believable. Jock had lived through many hardships before, and while I don't believe Gary would have ever been in a position to bankrupt Ewing Oil, if it HAD happened I can't fathom Jock EVER committing suicide. Miss Ellie wouldn't have died from a broken heart after feeling guilty because she NEVER would have asked Jock to let Gary run Ewing Oil in the first place! Ugh, how the hell did Leonard Katzman manage to forget the show's backstory when he had been there since day one? His vision of life without J.R. just ringed false for me.

There were some characters who I felt were portrayed in a somewhat realistic manner. Ray's life seemed believable, although the wife and kids they gave him didn't seem believable to me as his family. I also didn't like the stock footage they used of Ray "hurting his back", which was actually a clip from a rodeo scene from the show, I think from season 2. I can't really comment on McKay because he always seemed one dimensional to me by constantly being angry and red, but Cally's life seemed realistic. I could see her ending up poor in an abusive relationship because of her brothers. Cally never appealed to me as a character, but it seemed to ring true based on her back story.

I think the most realistic was Kristen as a con-artist. She had a thing for money, and as she got older and matured I could see her becoming a con artist. I thought it was funny how she conned that judge out of his money and made him think she was a cop. I bet he was disapointed considering he thought Kristen was a hooker, lol! And then she just sends him packing (pun intended).

But yes, overall this was a very bad episode, the series worst IMO. It needed to be set in real time and focus on actual characters from the series. Since VP wouldn't come back because Leonard didn't know if the show was ending, they then should have said Pam officially died and that the body was being shipped to Dallas for burial. The family then attends the funeral and after that we see what paths the characters plan on taking after that. There's your closure IMO.

[Sid Fairgate]

Also, what the hell was with Dallas and their over-use of dreams in the later years? You had the infamous dream season, Sue Ellen's dream within the dream about J.R. and John Ross, the dream sequence of Bobby and April and their new baby, and of course the last episode (although this seemed more like a halucination, but still along the same lines). Oh, and who could forget J.R.'s dream of Bobby and Sue Ellen in the shower, with Bobby saying "Good morning!" A very bad parody of the shower scene from season 8 IMO.

Maybe that's why Larry Hagman and Barbara Eden were both brought on; because they both starred in "I Dream of Jeannie", lol! http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

It seemed to me the writers wanted to us to believe the people in his lives were actually WORSE off without J.R.! http://images.bravenet.com/brpics/smilie/22_yikes.gif (With the exception of Cliff). Give me a break.

I agree I can't see Bobby becoming a loser, Cliff as the president or vice-president of this country or Jock letting Gary run Ewing Oil/
or Jock committing suicide when it went out of
business. And Miss Ellie dying of a broken heart? http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif Please. In Acceptance, after
she finally came to terms with Jock's death, she
went on with her life because she WAS a strong woman and not even her husband's death the man
she loved and lived with for 40 years caused her
to stop living.

I agree completely about Joel Grey and other non-exsistant characters hogging the spotlight.
How insulting to the original cast. http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_mad.gif Granted most of them left by this time but at least we got a glimpse of Sue Ellen, Ray and Kristin.

All in all a total disappointment to a great show (most of the series). http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif

They should have brought Pam back (recast her with another actress, it was the end of the series anyway) NOT kill her off. So many people
wanted Bobby and Pam back together. I know I did. http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif Anything would have been better
than what we actually got. http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif

[EwingFan4Ever]

All I want to know is did J.R. really Shoot Himself. http://images.bravenet.com/brpics/smilie/22_yikes.gif

[Tessie]

No, JR didn't shoot himself, he shot the mirror and then ran off to Europe. It's in JR Returns.

I must have missed something in that last episode - I never heard them say Jock committed suicide. I thought he just died, basically of shame, grief, disgust, etc, at having given Gary Ewing Oil?

[Sid Fairgate]

That's right Beth, for some reason I forgot about Sue Ellen being in Conundrum. It was nice to see her again, but she's another one who seemed out of character. I don't remember her ever talking about wanting to be an actress. Also, pairing her with Nick Pierce was extremely contrived. Yeah right, J.R. doesn't exist so Sue Ellen becomes an actress and marries the same man she had known while J.R. was alive? Hell, why didn't they make it Dusty, or Clint Ogden? Or Peter, lol! I mean come on, Adam told J.R. that Miss Ellie had never met or married Clayton Farlow because he had never been born, so why would Sue Ellen have met Nick (or Joey, whatever the hell he was going by). Also, why would Gary and Val all of a sudden meet as adults? I don't see how J.R. not being born would have effected things in that way.

Regarding Jock's suicide Tessie, I remember J.R. and Adam the Devil (Joel Grey) visiting Jock's tombstone. J.R. asks "Daddy killed himself?", to which Adam replies "Well the coroner said natural causes, but the coroner was a good friend of your mama's." Oh yes, she talked about her good friend the coroner all the time! http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Sid Fairgate:
Also, what the hell was with Dallas and their over-use of dreams in the later years? You had the infamous dream season, Sue Ellen's dream within the dream about J.R. and John Ross, the dream sequence of Bobby and April and their new baby, and of course the last episode (although this seemed more like a halucination, but still along the same lines). Oh, and who could forget J.R.'s dream of Bobby and Sue Ellen in the shower, with Bobby saying "Good morning!" A very bad parody of the shower scene from season 8 IMO.

Maybe that's why Larry Hagman and Barbara Eden were both brought on; because they both starred in "I Dream of Jeannie", lol! http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


It was their way of unapologetically tweaking the audience about THE dream (which had already destroyed the show).
Some sense of humor, huh?

[Tessie]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Sid Fairgate:
Regarding Jock's suicide Tessie, I remember J.R. and Adam the Devil (Joel Grey) visiting Jock's tombstone. J.R. asks "Daddy killed himself?", to which Adam replies "Well the coroner said natural causes, but the coroner was a good friend of your mama's." Oh yes, she talked about her good friend the coroner all the time! http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You're right, Sid, I remember that line. I don't know why it never really registered with me, but I just always thought, okay he died. http://images.bravenet.com/brpics/smilie/user.gif

LOL, don't you remember the friendly neighborhood coroner? He was at all the Ewing BBQs. http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

[gravy47]

I can hear Miss Ellie now....."Jock , Lets have dinner with the Coroner, tonight......We can talk about autopsies".........http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

[Tessie]

Or plot how to make JR's death seem natural. http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

[gravy47]

LMAO, Tessie Lou....http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

[Tessie]

http://www.soapchat.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

http://images.bravenet.com/brpics/smilie/wave1.gif

[Sid Fairgate]

Too funny Gravy and Tessie! That's why I hated the last episode so much. There were just too many character inconsistancies and the dialogue was crap. IMO, it felt more like a cheap fan fiction put to film then it did a credible show.

[Ewing_5]

I think they should of had the final episode at least had J.R. gunned down outside Ewing Oil before getting into his limo. And we were left with J.R. falling down to the ground and we see his eyes slowly close shut .....FREEZE FRAME...END OF DALLAS. LoL

DALLAS copied a show like 'The Wizard of Oz', which was about Dorothy's dream in Oz, by having season 8 turn out to be Pam's dream. It didn't work. Yet in 'Conundrum' they copied another film - I think 'It's a Wonderful Life' - and again it didn't work and was such a terrible rip-off. Then 'War of the Ewings' started with JR dreaming of Bobby in the shower saying 'Good Morning' not to Pam but to Sue Ellen. Don't they learn from their past mistakes ? I hope DALLAS, the cinematic movie, doesn't make silly references to dreams, etc. I can imagine it being silly if in the DALLAS movie Pam says 'Bobby, I had this dream you were dead and then you came back to life in the shower !'

IMO season 13's finale could have been a about JR and Bobby (and other cast members) sitting in the Southfork living remeniscing about the past and we are shown flashbacks (like they did when Jim Davis died) of all the best drama that happened on DALLAS throughout its entire run rather than the writers experimenting with metaphysical storylines.

[Tessie]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ewing_5:
I think they should of had the final episode at least had J.R. gunned down outside Ewing Oil before getting into his limo. And we were left with J.R. falling down to the ground and we see his eyes slowly close shut .....FREEZE FRAME...END OF DALLAS. LoL <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Nah, he's been shot a thousand times already. Find another way to get rid of him.

[SnarkyOracle!]

They seemed to think repeated use of shootings, plane-crashes and dreams kept the show on some kind of "theme" or something.

I wish Sue Ellen had stabbed J.R. in 1988 instead of shooting him; that would have been a nice change of pace.

And the "Conundrum" finale? Just in the interest of verisimilitude, maybe J.R. could have a heart attack, or maybe have a really wild stroke where his head blows up? Or one drink too many and his internal organs explode?
Something different from another (would-be) shooting or dream, this time both ...!

[Ewing_5]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Miss Marky 'Billyboobs' Philip:
I wish Sue Ellen had stabbed J.R. in 1988 instead of shooting him; that would have been a nice change of pace. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I love that episode, it was really good IMO, but if Sue Ellen stabbed J.R., that would of been even more shocking as we haven't seen a stabbing on Dallas.

[SnarkyOracle!]

It would certainly have made for a more "hands on" moment between the two of them.
You'd get to see Sue Ellen's sadistic gleam in her eye!

[JennaWade]

IMHO, i think that they really stopped trying the last season (or two) with storylines and everything. it seems like they were just amusing themselves.

in all seriousness, Dallas' biggest mistake was moving the storylines AWAY from the family and southfork (we won't even count the retarted range war southfork storyline) and taking it to Russia and lame "bad girls" like susan lucci and michelle. who cares. they spent a ridiculous amount of money doing these storylines that noone really cared about. what we care about (sorry "we" being me -- not trying to speak for anyone else) is the family and the interpersonal relationships there.

perhaps they should have just taken a page from daytime tv and had the kids grow up really fast so that they could have had some storylines from that. at least they would have been interpersonal storylines about people we know and care about. the characters in the later seasons seemed really flat one dimensional. even characters we know and love -- like bobby. bobby became someone i didn't even know...

ok, sorry for the rant... http://www.ultimatedallas.com/granny/Soapbox.gif

/rant.

[Ewing_5]

The final season was good at first with the April in Paris saga and the episode she died in was very gripping - in my opinion.

[shelly25]

Well my favorite story line was the one where Miss Ellie has a mastectomy and deal with the recovery and problems that come with it. I will always remember the day the finale of Dallas was shown because it is my dad's B-Day and my B-Day was the day before!

[Roger Larson]

Sid, I always wondered about the Jock-suicide angle. When Adam and JR were at the cemetary, Adam let JR believe that Jock had killed himself, even if it perhaps had not happened.

Remember: his objective was to make JR even more despondant so that he'd kill himself, so leading him to believe that Jock had committed suicide would have furthered this.

More likely, Jock died of stress over Ewing Oil's troubled finances. (Remember, in "real" Dallas during season one, he had a heart attack and survived only because JR was there to call an ambulance... Without JR, and with the stress of Gary breaking the company, Jock probably had a fatal heart attack. But Adam wanted JR to think it was suicide.

[lindagrayfan17]

i havent seen the final ep yet so im just LOVING all these spoilers..but my favorite favorite dallas moment was in the dream year with linda gray doing sum kick-ass emmy-worthy acting when sue ellen reached rock bottom...or when bobby pretended christopher was the son he adopted 4 him adn pam and she didnt know it was kristins baby..just that moment when he was takin it home 2 jr but she saw him 1st and he had 2 guve her the baby b/c she was losing her mind...my biggest guilty pleasur moment was when it was revealed ray was a ewing, thus sleeping with his neice.or---the whole sue ellen and peter affair was gr8-i loved it! i loved afton's singing scenes, and when miss ellie or jock got really ghetto with jr...and i actually like the campiness of anjelica nero but that whole season was way over the top...peace.

[alanbeam]

Ewing5: I like your Reborn banner. Let me join the chorus by stating that Joel Grey made absolutely no sense in the finale. That part would have been more appropriate by old enemy of JR's (like Rebecca Wentworth, Willie Joe Garr, or even the snake Jeremy Wendell).

As for Jock turning EO over to Gary, remember, he would have been the oldest son, and I think in a
JR-free universe, I think Gary would have had more of a backbone, because Jock would have trained him to take over EO. I know its hard to fathom that, but I think its true.

Jock may have died from a bucking bronco or spiked Texas chili, but I clearly don't buy his
killing himself, nor can I accept a Vice President Cliff Barnes, either.

Bobby may not have been a complete loser as was portrayed, but I think he would have been much more middle-class.

It would have been interesting to have seen how the cartel would have operated had JR had not been born.

I was @ home watching the series finale.