Watching "Dallas" again in preparation for The New Series.

**Benny JR** · 05-28-2012, 12:30 AM

I'm flicking through my DVD's of "Dallas" again. I started last night with the very first ever Episode and then Episode 5. Right now I'm on Episodes 6 and 7, how different the show is to the later years! It's like watching some classic Western. David Ackroyd is fine as Gary, it's nice to see Pam and Gary interact, and you really believe Patrick and David as Brothers, especially those slapping hugs they keep throwing each other, haha! Bobby is so playful like a Child here. He matured so much later on. I love Victorias big, toothy grin, sort of like Olivia Newton-John's, her laugh is brilliant, too!

Linda Gray has such a great figure, doesn't she? She looks SMOKIN' in those poolside scenes, as do Victoria and Charlene. "Dallas" is just so fantastic here, I forgot how good the earlier shows are. Lucy is gas craic, so funny and witty. David Ackroyd sort of reminds me of Alan Alda in looks, it's almost like Hawkeye in Texas, haha!

Overall, I'm enjoying it again, and forgot how good this show still is.

**Cliff Barnes** · 05-28-2012, 12:56 AM

David is definitely a fine actor. He would have made a fine Gary for the long haul. I loved Ted too of course, he was wonderful as well.

The mini-series and some of the first season absolutely has a tone all it's own that was never replicated. It's very dark and dramatic, with a certain 70's sleaze. But at the same time I am glad it changed because I really don't think it could have lasted long like that or become the big hit it did if it hadn't found the tone it did a little later on.

**Benny JR** · 05-28-2012, 01:33 AM

Yes, it's very self-contained here, and very much like a grand Western Movie. Joan Van Ark is such a hottie, she looks like a model, all of the girls do. I think a post "SST- Death Flight" Tina Louise stands out the most, though. She just seems a little out of place. I like her as an actress and she was fine in "SST- Death Flight" as a once-easy flight attendant, but as a secretary on "Dallas" with a thing for J.R. and the his Father, it just seems a little odd.

**Cliff Barnes** · 05-28-2012, 01:37 AM

Originally Posted by Benny JR

Yes, it's very self-contained here, and very much like a grand Western Movie. Joan Van Ark is such a hottie, she looks like a model, all of the girls do. I think a post "SST- Death Flight" Tina Louise stands out the most, though. She just seems a little out of place. I like her as an actress and she was fine in "SST- Death Flight" as a once-easy flight attendant, but as a secretary on "Dallas" with a thing for J.R. and the his Father, it just seems a little odd.

Yeah, well maybe they agreed with you, who knows, after all she certainly didn't last long! I liked her pretty well but obviously at the time they felt she was a limited character I guess. Of course fast forward just a few years to when the show was truly serialized, they might have thought twice and figured they could get at least a year out of her full time, ha ha. But when your show is not even a year old as opposed to even just a full year you have a very different opinion as a producer of what you can do with certain characters I suppose.

**Benny JR** · 05-28-2012, 02:13 AM

Yeah, maybe. I love all the ladies. Pam is toughening-up, especially how she imitated Sue Ellen with her "Yes, dear". Classic!

**Cliff Barnes** · 05-28-2012, 04:04 AM

Originally Posted by Benny JR

Yeah, maybe. I love all the ladies. Pam is toughening-up, especially how she imitated Sue Ellen with her "Yes, dear". Classic!

Yeah, good stuff.

**Benny JR** · 05-28-2012, 01:44 PM

It's mad how much Sue Ellen changed through the course of the show. She was a trophy Wife of sorts, who evolved into a smart successful career woman with a mind of her own who didn't need J.R. OR Southfork in the end.

Linda Gray is such a fantastic, diverse actress.

**Benny JR** · 05-29-2012, 12:31 AM

I'm on the two-parter Season Finale "John Ewing III".

I forgot about Lucy on drugs, it's kinda funny to see and Charlene is not bad in those scenes. Lucy on drugs, Sue Ellen drunk, The Ewing women begin to crumble...

Both fantastic actresses. This show had some really talented performers!

Let's hope The New Season is just as good!

**Giamma** · 05-31-2012, 04:02 PM

just started to watch Dallas from the beginning again.
In 2012 i can say that is still a very good show.

www.dallasforever.com

**Colonel Lucas** · 05-31-2012, 10:21 PM

The tone of the mini was fantastic. I love JR, cold, calculating, a real bastard. Jock too seems like a formidable presence. Even Miss Ellie is tolerable.

**zimm7778** · 06-01-2012, 12:52 AM

I started several months ago. Between prolonged gaps, sports, and the weekly shows I watch currently we just completed Bobby in the Shower. Now we are watching Dallas: The Early Years before trekking through the rest of the series.

**Benny JR** · 06-01-2012, 01:33 AM

I'm on "Whatever Happened To Baby John?" Part 1, still a good, strong show. The theme music has a definite disco sound to it, I love the different sounds and variations of the theme used throughout the shows run.

The sets seem too over-lit, they're very bright and this overuse of light makes the sets look bland.

Eyebrowseyebrowseyebrows (Alan Beam) has just arrived, I'd almost forgotten about him and his 'brows, LOL!

**Benny JR** · 06-01-2012, 02:14 AM

YEOWZA - Linda has an AWESOME figure! Hasn't she? I love it when she struts through Southfork in just a skimpy, tight purple bikini. I'm sure she was definitely one of the reasons men tuned-in to the show.

**Benny JR** · 06-03-2012, 01:50 AM

I skipped-on to "Return Engagements" as it's an important Episode in both "Dallas" and "Knots Landing" history and also just a good Episode overall and one of my particular favourites.

Ted Shackelford is very believable as Barbara Bel Geddes Son and a really fantastic actor, he really clicks perfectly with Joan Van Ark.

**Laurie!** · 06-03-2012, 02:34 AM

Originally Posted by Benny JR

It's mad how much Sue Ellen changed through the course of the show. She was a trophy Wife of sorts, who evolved into a smart successful career woman with a mind of her own who didn't need J.R. OR Southfork in the end.

Linda Gray is such a fantastic, diverse actress.

I must have missed that. When did that happen? The show I watched, ended with Sue Ellen using her money to buy an underwear company just to get rid of JR's mistress and to make a point with JR...and she didn't run the company either....she just funded it and the annoying Valentine guy ran it. Sue Ellen never had any business savvy or sense of personal relevance that didn't revolve around JR.

Women on Dallas weren't allowed to be succesful business women without needing help from men.

**Benny JR** · 06-03-2012, 02:40 AM

Just watched "A House Divided", I had forgotten how many people were really out to get J.R. and how nearly every character had a motive to shoot him. He drove Bobby and Pam away, he broke Miss Ellies heart, he threatened Sue Ellen, he cheated Cliff out of oil wells, he tried to ruin Alan Beam, he swindled Vaughn Leland out of millions and then of course there's Kristin, whom J.R. did all sorts of things to. You really WANT J.R. to get shot here.

**Benny JR** · 06-08-2012, 03:01 PM

I'm on The Season 5 Finale: "Goodbye, Cliff Barnes".

Southfork and the show in general, looks weird without Jock and Jim Davis. This was The Season I got into the show, but having re-watched The Season 1-4 DVD's, I really grew to like Jock. It was a shame Jim Davis died, it would have been great if he had been in more Seasons of the show. His death pretty much changed a lot of the show. It lost such a great actor and a great character when he died, I'm so glad they didn't recast Jock, though.

All of the women look great in this Episode, especially Sue Ellen and Pam. Bobby and Pam in Los Angeles would have been a great set-up for a "Knots Landing" crossover, considering it's only like a half-hour drive to the cul-de-sac.

**Benny JR** · 06-08-2012, 04:02 PM

Season 5's Finale didn't really feel like a proper cliffhanger to me, just another Episode. I'm really warming to Donna, there's just something about Susan Howard, she has such a nice charming charisma and good screen presence, she's just a nice addition and I forgot how much she livened-up things for the show. Her and Steve Kanaly have great chemistry together.

**Benny JR** · 06-09-2012, 01:48 AM

I'm on "The Road Back", I'd forgotten about Pam going out with Shoulders (Mark Graison), it totally slipped my mind!

**Stimpy** · 06-09-2012, 05:09 AM

1stly Benny when is the last time you even watched the show? not cracking on ya just asking actually. i also started watching the show from the very beginning as well. & i'm only on episode 3 i think? i forgot how damn hot that VP looks during that season. i wish she would have kept her hair that way. also that's not a bad thing that you are forgetting some things during the shows run.
do you have the whole series on dvd yet? i only have 1-8 dvd releases that is.