My Two Cents

[SteveW]

My two cents:
Let me start by my bias. I grew in the '80's watching KL, Dallas and FC. I recorded them and watched them on Sundays. There time slots always seemed odd to me. In addition I watched Hart to Hart and on Thursdays the Cosby Show and Family Ties. Moonlighting was in there but it was kind of short lived. Before that my parents weren't fans of TV and since they were in charge before I didn't watch much TV. Afterwards everything has been sporadic at best, like I've watched some of Bones and the Mentalist and the Big Band Theory. I did watch all of Brters and Sisters, As Time Goes By and Doc Martin, and I considered Downton Abby but shied away because I didn't really want to get into another serial. I enjoy reading and movies - they have a short life. I generally am not a fan of serial books or movies, unless they are all already out and I can watch them all together. I enjoy everything from a good tear jerker to sci-fi. I love plays as well and figure Dallas must be based in part on one of my favorites, Cat on A Hot Tin Roof.

I say all that because my two cents worth on that Dallas is based on my bias just as it is for everyone. There have been some fun and thoughtful discussion on this site and some very rude and self-important comments as well. It can all be great fun, though it does seem sad that some people seem to find joy in being offensive. I have found so many people with such great ideas and thoughts on what is Dallas on this site if the new writers aren't mucking about in here they are nuts. Dallas isn't the art of one person expressing themselves - it is a cultural phenomenon, a long series of characters that live on years to year, generation to generation. It isn't one man's vision (at least any more) and so those writers should take seriously what people have to say. Though it cannot please everyone it can plot its course in this manner.

So what is my two cents? First what I love about Dallas, the family, the traditions, Miss Ellie and Jock (on KL that would be Karen and Val and FC Angela and Lance). From these two people come the foundation of the show. The show was never the same when Jock died and in bad shape when Miss Ellie left. They seemed to try and replace them with JR and Bobby as the on again off again team - who were loyal brothers no matter what. Though as I said it seems based on Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (and others like Giant) as the tails of a rich, dysfunctional family, there was a great deal orginal to the show and JR broke out as the character to watch, the man you loved to hate. Many people have mentioned how funny it could be things like family drinks followed by dinner and pool fights and barbeques.

What I did not like about the original, though I loved Sue Ellen, I couldn't stand her long drown out suffering. This wasn't a novel and you read about her pain, this went on for years and JR caused so much of it - he used her as the trophy wife. It also got a little weird toward the end and JR seems to keep loosing to the point I almost felt bad for him.

So the new show: what I love, they are back and the kids are grown up trying to make their mark. I can't stand the house as it changed just way too much - but I can live with it. What I find missing is that their is nothing around which the show is built, not like Miss Ellie and Jock. Bobby is an idiot - the things he does when looking at them in a real world is stupid, like selling the house to protect the oil rights. His an Ann's relationship has no grounding so the show doesn't revolve around him. JR and Sue Ellen aren't in it enough to revolve around them. So what is left - the new people. And I'm great with that. I think it should be that way. Let them take over, but then all they do is fight each other. I don't mean like Miss Ellie and Jock had fights - I mean tear it down to the foundation and nothing is left. No one is around on which to look each week and cont on them to be the anchor of the show like the grandparents were.

Yet John Ross's character still became the break out character but not the one to love to hate, the one to just love to watch. A complex character who has everyone beating up on him, an uncle who doesn't listen to him, a cousin who hates him just because his daddy is mad at him, a girl friend who uses him, a mother who acts out of guilt and a father who is awful with nothing left in his life. Yet he tries to be the good guy. He makes mistakes trying to be like his dad, dealing with the bad guys but he has limits. He loves the land, he loves his family - though they all piss him off, he even comes up with a way to make them all rich again. He is just trying so hard to be a man and be the right man for the girl he loves I just end up liking him.
So, around him I thought they could anchor the show either with him and Elena or with him and Christopher. But there is no anchor - nothing to hang onto week after week. Its like nothing but conflict. Conflict is interesting of course - too much conflict leaves me not caring about the story. Within the last five minutes of the season they took any promise of anchoring the story around John Ross and Chris or John Ross and Elena and turned it on its head.

I am also disappointed that so much of this is just rehashed from the original. Where is this show's original idea? I suggested it be a fight between the younger generation and the older one, as opposed to JR and Bobby's relationship with their parents. That is just an idea, and not terribly creative, but new to this series. If the older guys are dysfunctional get the young ones to work on being functional - sort of an idea from the novel Fathers and Sons. I don't care if its my idea, I'm not wed to it, its just I don't want to relive the '80's stories.

This was once wrote about Tennessee Williams (author of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) "has the purity of language and an unusual emotional depth, often with no reprieve, that simply humbles our standard responses." I love this mans work - and the "no reprieve" makes it that much stronger - but his work is not a series. A series requires an unbreakable foundation, and often when the foundation is broken, the series works its way to death.

I had a very good time watching this season and had great hopes. I wish it the very best in Season 2 and hope that it finds this great anchor to its foundation that keeps people watching.

[Donna Scappaticci]

I do understand alot of your feelings. I just wonder if the viewers really want what Dallas was -- a dysfunctional family living together, constantly in conflict with each other. No one lives at Southfork any more, just Bobby and Ann. To be honest, at times it appears nothing like the old Dallas. If Bobby, JR and Sue Ellen weren't there, I don't know if we'd recognized the show. They have an anchor in John Ross; but he can't anchor the series alone. He is going to need someone (preferably a female) to give him guidance and confidence. Right now, as you said, his uncle and cousin hate him, he pretty much doesn't have a home, except for that unfinished apartment, he can't trust his father, and his mother smothers him.

At this point, I don't know how they can fix some things. All of a sudden, everyone can't be living at Southfork. I'm not even sure where everyone lives. Where's Sue Ellen's house. Christopher? Where did he live before he got married to Rebecca? I assume John Ross lived at Southfork until Bobby kicked him out, but then we never really saw him get kicked out.

I feel that they should have gone a little slower, with fewer story lines. All they really needed was Rebecca and Tommy's plan to fool Christopher. Did we need the methane project? The South American caper? The selling of Southfork? Bobby's illness and miracle recovery from both cancer and a brain aneuryism? The murder of double crosser Marta? There were too many storylines and not enough explanation of some things. Maybe that might have been more boring for the viewer, but at least we wouldn't be scratching our heads sometimes.

[SteveW]

I do understand alot of your feelings. I just wonder if the viewers really want what Dallas was -- a dysfunctional family living together, constantly in conflict with each other. No one lives at Southfork any more, just Bobby and Ann. To be honest, at times it appears nothing like the old Dallas. If Bobby, JR and Sue Ellen weren't there, I don't know if we'd recognized the show. They have an anchor in John Ross; but he can't anchor the series alone. He is going to need someone (preferably a female) to give him guidance and confidence. Right now, as you said, his uncle and cousin hate him, he pretty much doesn't have a home, except for that unfinished apartment, he can't trust his father, and his mother smothers him.

At this point, I don't know how they can fix some things. All of a sudden, everyone can't be living at Southfork. I'm not even sure where everyone lives. Where's Sue Ellen's house. Christopher? Where did he live before he got married to Rebecca? I assume John Ross lived at Southfork until Bobby kicked him out, but then we never really saw him get kicked out.

I feel that they should have gone a little slower, with fewer story lines. All they really needed was Rebecca and Tommy's plan to fool Christopher. Did we need the methane project? The South American caper? The selling of Southfork? Bobby's illness and miracle recovery from both cancer and a brain aneuryism? The murder of double crosser Marta? There were too many storylines and not enough explanation of some things. Maybe that might have been more boring for the viewer, but at least we wouldn't be scratching our heads sometimes.

Agreed and thank you for your comments. Very good point - with out those people and the outside shots of the house - this is not Dallas and as shows of any kind go they are missing this key point of anchoring it to something, its just a bunch of actions relying on a show that has been off the air for over twenty years. I do hope it works but I am skeptical. I really did come to like the John Ross character as much as any Dallas character created - well acted, great history, made him the man who keeps getting hurt and getting back up. They did a great job with him.

[quiche]

Steve - I could point to a lot of fault lines that existed with Jock and Ellie and their marriage. After all, they were J.R.'s parents and all the rotten things he did was almost with their sanction - especially when Jock was still alive.

But instead, I'm going to point out that there is an anchoring relationship on the new Dallas. It is the brotherly love between J.R. and Bobby. We saw plenty of that in episodes 9 and 10. The best scenes of the entire season, IMO.

[SteveW]

Steve - I could point to a lot of fault lines that existed with Jock and Ellie and their marriage. After all, they were J.R.'s parents and all the rotten things he did was almost with their sanction - especially when Jock was still alive.

But instead, I'm going to point out that there is an anchoring relationship on the new Dallas. It is the brotherly love between J.R. and Bobby. We saw plenty of that in episodes 9 and 10. The best scenes of the entire season, IMO.

I agree with you on Jock and Miss Ellie but that didn't mean they weren't the anchor to the show and the family. And I agree with you regarding JR and Bobby except JR is seldom in the show and frankly for me they did that in the original - tried, done, lets move on.

[quiche]

I agree with you on Jock and Miss Ellie but that didn't mean they weren't the anchor to the show and the family. And I agree with you regarding JR and Bobby except JR is seldom in the show and frankly for me they did that in the original - tried, done, lets move on.

It's different for J.R. and Bobby now - because the new generation has grown up.

[Beware of Bobby's shower]

It's different for J.R. and Bobby now - because the new generation has grown up.

It's also a bit different in that instead of just Jock there's two older father figures, and neither has authority over the other one's son the way Jock had over his all his boys. I think that's part of why it feels unanchored, too. Instead of one nuclear family (Jock, Ellie, and their boys), you have Bobby and Christopher, then J.R. and John Ross. It'd be kind of like having Jock's brother Jason move to Dallas with Jamie and Jack--it's harder to find a center.

[SteveW]

It's different for J.R. and Bobby now - because the new generation has grown up.

If JR and Bobby are anchoring anything it is the fighting between their sons - they are like fuel to the fire. As far as I can see neither one bring anything good to their families and if both died tomorrow the boys would be better off. Miss Ellie and Jock had their issues and loved each other and kept their family and the show together. People keep asking for a family dinner - Jock and Ellie could make that happen - not JR and Bobby. At least I don't see it.

[quiche]

I do understand alot of your feelings. I just wonder if the viewers really want what Dallas was -- a dysfunctional family living together, constantly in conflict with each other. No one lives at Southfork any more, just Bobby and Ann. To be honest, at times it appears nothing like the old Dallas. If Bobby, JR and Sue Ellen weren't there, I don't know if we'd recognized the show. They have an anchor in John Ross; but he can't anchor the series alone. He is going to need someone (preferably a female) to give him guidance and confidence. Right now, as you said, his uncle and cousin hate him, he pretty much doesn't have a home, except for that unfinished apartment, he can't trust his father, and his mother smothers him.

At this point, I don't know how they can fix some things. All of a sudden, everyone can't be living at Southfork. I'm not even sure where everyone lives. Where's Sue Ellen's house. Christopher? Where did he live before he got married to Rebecca? I assume John Ross lived at Southfork until Bobby kicked him out, but then we never really saw him get kicked out.

I feel that they should have gone a little slower, with fewer story lines. All they really needed was Rebecca and Tommy's plan to fool Christopher. Did we need the methane project? The South American caper? The selling of Southfork? Bobby's illness and miracle recovery from both cancer and a brain aneuryism? The murder of double crosser Marta? There were too many storylines and not enough explanation of some things. Maybe that might have been more boring for the viewer, but at least we wouldn't be scratching our heads sometimes.

I agree - it was too many storylines - and some dragged on forever.

[quiche]

It's also a bit different in that instead of just Jock there's two older father figures, and neither has authority over the other one's son the way Jock had over his all his boys. I think that's part of why it feels unanchored, too. Instead of one nuclear family (Jock, Ellie, and their boys), you have Bobby and Christopher, then J.R. and John Ross. It'd be kind of like having Jock's brother Jason move to Dallas with Jamie and Jack--it's harder to find a center.

I actually think Bobby is meant to be the anchor. He gets more screentime than J.R. or Sue Ellen. He will outlast them, also.

[quiche]

If JR and Bobby are anchoring anything it is the fighting between their sons - they are like fuel to the fire. As far as I can see neither one bring anything good to their families and if both died tomorrow the boys would be better off. Miss Ellie and Jock had their issues and loved each other and kept their family and the show together. People keep asking for a family dinner - Jock and Ellie could make that happen - not JR and Bobby. At least I don't see it.

Jock kept his sons at each others' throats, continually - alive or dead.

[SteveW]

Jock kept his sons at each others' throats, continually - alive or dead.

Good point but he also had Miss Ellie to keep what ever she could together. Maybe you have a point that Miss Ellie and Jock weren't the anchors to the original Dallas. I don't know. There has to be something that remains consistent, interesting and essentially good around which the show revolved, like Karen and Val in Knots Landing and it seems to me that was Jock and Miss Ellie. You are right about Jock - makes me wonder what she loved so much about him or even liked.

[quiche]

Good point but he also had Miss Ellie to keep what ever she could together. Maybe you have a point that Miss Ellie and Jock weren't the anchors to the original Dallas. I don't know. There has to be something that remains consistent, interesting and essentially good around which the show revolved, like Karen and Val in Knots Landing and it seems to me that was Jock and Miss Ellie. You are right about Jock - makes me wonder what she loved so much about him or even liked.

Women of that generation, put their husbands first, did not interfere with their husband's business, and to a large extent accepted his word as law. Their identity became subsumed under their husband's name. Recall all the times that Miss Ellie called herself Jock Ewing's woman. That's what she staked her whole life on.

[Jessie]

I loved the new show, I'm just happy to see some of my favourite stars back on the New Dallas. John Ross is my favourite of the new characters, I felt sorry for him. I think he wants to do right, and he wants to be powerful like his Dad. He was getting his life on track, and everything came smashing down around him. I loved Elena, and John Ross together, but I think her constant running to Christopher is a bit tiring, so next year I hope he moves on, and finds someone else. I just hope it isn't Rebecca, but I have a feeling it might be. I liked seeing John Ross, Christopher , and Elena working together, but now John Ross wants revenge, and I'm kind of rooting for him next year, but I'm sure Elena will get upset with Christopher real fast, and run back to John Ross, but this time I kind of hope he doesn't take her back, but I'm sure he will.
I hope in Season 2 we will see more of Sue Ellen, and JR, but I think the new Cast will be in the lead storylines, but I'm just happy Dallas is back on the air.

[SteveW]

Women of that generation, put their husbands first, did not interfere with their husband's business, and to a large extent accepted his word as law. Their identity became subsumed under their husband's name. Recall all the times that Miss Ellie called herself Jock Ewing's woman. That's what she staked her whole life on.

I see your point so with that in mind there were a strong couple who kept the focus of the show week after week. You could count on them, until that is the real actor playing Jock died. They would have been my grandparents age and I would like to say that such did not hold true for either one of my grandmothers. And it isn't true today except I must also note that Elena in business is nothing without John Ross. She has some ideas and has helped Christopher through his thinking and when she stood by John Ross like in the first episode, she stood by her man. But her business is built on John Ross's charms and Sue Ellen's money. I'd say that Miss Ellie giving up her identify to her man was more of a strong and independent woman then modern day Elena.

[quiche]

I see your point so with that in mind there were a strong couple who kept the focus of the show week after week. You could count on them, until that is the real actor playing Jock died. They would have been my grandparents age and I would like to say that such did not hold true for either one of my grandmothers. And it isn't true today except I must also note that Elena in business is nothing without John Ross. She has some ideas and has helped Christopher through his thinking and when she stood by John Ross like in the first episode, she stood by her man. But her business is built on John Ross's charms and Sue Ellen's money. I'd say that Miss Ellie giving up her identify to her man was more of a strong and independent woman then modern day Elena.

I think in the writers minds that Bobby and Annie Get Your Gun are the Jock and Miss Ellie of today. IMO, Annie Get Your Gun is #1 - a character badly misconceived, and #2 - badly cast with an actress who is too girlie for that age group.

Annie Get Your Gun is a farce and everything about her and her marriage to Bobby is farcial. It doesn't come off as a real marriage. In Season 2 they will reveal a missing child for her, if that still remains the plan. We don't need any more surprise children. They needed an actress with a presence - say like a Barbara Stanwyck type.

[SteveW]

I actually think Bobby is meant to be the anchor. He gets more screentime than J.R. or Sue Ellen. He will outlast them, also.

But he was a really bad one then - stupid and mean. Not that Jock wasn't mean - but not stupid too. And Miss Ellie balanced him out at times. Ann seems very strong but not at keeping Bobby inline.

[SteveW]

I think in the writers minds that Bobby and Annie Get Your Gun are the Jock and Miss Ellie of today. IMO, Annie Get Your Gun is #1 - a character badly misconceived, and #2 - badly cast with an actress who is too girlie for that age group.

Annie Get Your Gun is a farce and everything about her and her marriage to Bobby is farcial. It doesn't come off as a real marriage. In Season 2 they will reveal a missing child for her, if that still remains the plan. We don't need any more surprise children. They needed an actress with a presence - say like a Barbara Stanwyck type.

I agree. But to me they should be looking to the younger generation to carry things in this - that is why I was hoping for John Ross and Chris to be the anchor or John Ross and Elena at least. IMO

[ronald mascot]

JR's dialogue was brilliant throughout the season. But you know- I said weeks ago, all these threats from him will become meaningless if he can't back them up- and guess what? He couldn't, and didn't. JR the loser continues. That's such a disappointment that I can't watch next season, I just can't see such a great character be shredded like this- all for the kowtowing of Bobby Ewing. The biggest disappointment though is the erasing of a major storyline- Section 40- for the simple reason they want to tell it all over again because they have no good original ideas of their own. Maybe I could respect them more if they weren't ripping off so much of the old stories that other people came up with. They've erased Christopher's inheritance, they've erased Cliff Barnes' love for his nephew, yet they want to claim this is a "continuation" of the original show- obviously because they want the Dallas brand name- but it's really not. I think the best way to look at it is some "alternative reality" Dallas- it's really a "reboot"- and the writing is definitely mediocre at best (except for JR's dialogue)- I'm no longer interested. If they have Abby Ewing come on, I might give it another look, she is my favorite character in all the soaps (JR should take note- SHE'S a WINNER) but other than that, I'd rather be doing something else. Lots of people like it- good for you, have fun, shoot for the stars.

[SteveW]

JR's dialogue was brilliant throughout the season. But you know- I said weeks ago, all these threats from him will become meaningless if he can't back them up- and guess what? He couldn't, and didn't. JR the loser continues. That's such a disappointment that I can't watch next season, I just can't see such a great character be shredded like this- all for the kowtowing of Bobby Ewing. The biggest disappointment though is the erasing of a major storyline- Section 40- for the simple reason they want to tell it all over again because they have no good original ideas of their own. Maybe I could respect them more if they weren't ripping off so much of the old stories that other people came up with. They've erased Christopher's inheritance, they've erased Cliff Barnes' love for his nephew, yet they want to claim this is a "continuation" of the original show- obviously because they want the Dallas brand name- but it's really not. I think the best way to look at it is some "alternative reality" Dallas- it's really a "reboot"- and the writing is definitely mediocre at best (except for JR's dialogue)- I'm no longer interested. If they have Abby Ewing come on, I might give it another look, she is my favorite character in all the soaps (JR should take note- SHE'S a WINNER) but other than that, I'd rather be doing something else. Lots of people like it- good for you, have fun, shoot for the stars.

I agree. The best of the original is JR and for the shake of conflict he always has to loose? The best of the new is John Ross and again for the shake of conflict he always has to loose. These people need to read more. This is how I have felt too about just using the brand name and mining it for old ideas. I am very disappointed.

Oh and Abby - hell ya. I think John Ross needs the training of an older woman and that woman can do it in bed and in the board room. If Gary had' been such a drunk she'd have finally made a man out of him. I'm all for Abby on the show.