Linda Gray won't quit

[James from London]

Aside from Bobby maybe, all the central characters on New DALLAS are morally ambivalent. That's almost the motor driving this thing: who are these people, and when push comes to shove, how far will they go and where do their loyalties lie? So Sue Ellen's moral waverings, far from being her USP, are only what all the other characters are experiencing, except they're doing it at twice the speed and she's sort of getting left behind.

But I can empathise with LG. I too know what it is to have a not-as-well-defined-as-everybody-else's role in a hit TV series, only she's a far, far, far more important player than I ever was. #ThankGodForRepeatFees.

when she was at the Farlow ranch, that was interesting because Clayton and Dusty were interesting, and her reactions to them were worth watching- when they moved her into the condo by herself, her character hit a wall, it just wasn't that interesting to see Sue Ellen living by herself and just little John Ross.

Funny, I felt the opposite.

I probably won't watch the next season

Smart move, I think.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Was talking to Col on the phone yesterday and he'd been speaking to her ahead of her touching down in the UK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Am I jealous? I think I might be jealous.

[J. R.'s Piece]

I am just wondering..what kind of storyline can you give to a 72 year old Sue Ellen?

72? Isn't Sue Ellen a mere 64/65?
"Name: Sue Ellen Ewing

Born: 1947"
http://ultimatedallas.com/sueellen/

[Texas Tea]

Many thanks to Ultimate Dallas for doing this follow-up interview with Linda. What an unpleasant situation for her. She's become a mere figure head at the hands of the writers. I want to snap their virtual pens. She's being very gracious defending their challenge of integrating new characters and all that but it's just as important to give the returning cast adequate arcs and appropriate plot points. They've done so for JR and Bobby. And no one knows what to do with Sue Ellen who is more complex than both of them? And then to finally have a significant scene with Cliff where she rejects his offer to fund her campaign, basically showing her allegiance to the Ewings again, and it's cut with no explanation? SMH, truly.

I can only imagine how it must feel to be paraded around on the publicity circuit as a flagship character, knowing that her fans will disappointed at her lack of screen time. Seems she's having an ethical dilemma with it akin to false advertising, aside from the dissatisfaction of being oppressed from performing her craft optimally because of script limitations. Still she's ever positive and I admire that. I do love how she compares Sue Ellen to Sea Biscuit in the interview. I see her more as the ghost of Dallas past in this reboot but I do hope her optimism will prevail.

[ChrisSumnerMatheson]

What's your opinion regarding Sue Ellen in the later seasons? She didn't have any interesting storylines anymore in her last few years. So maybe this is where the problem lies. She's only interesting to most fans when she plays drunk Sue Ellen and/or the madly in love with JR Sue Ellen who is dependent on him and is nothing without him.

Is this what the fans want to see again???

Sunshineboy, what kind of story would you write for Sue Ellen?

In my mind I see tons of possible storylines for Christopher/John Ross/Elena/Rebecca and also for Bobby and JR. But to be honest, I can't think of anything Sue Ellen could do, besides the plots she has already been given. I am fine with this. However it seems most fans are upset and Linda is too.

I am just wondering..what kind of storyline can you give to a 72 year old Sue Ellen? I hate to say it but I really don't want to see any love storylines with Cliff. Or Sue Ellen happily reuniting with JR. Those days are over.

I can think of story for Lucy, Donna, Gary, Val and Katherine, to name a few, but Sue Ellen is done. Had they made Sue Ellen & Cliff a power couple on the original series, you'd have endless story with the Barnes/Ewing fued 2.0. Right now Linda Gray needs to accept the scraps given. She doesn't need a bigger story. Let Sue Ellen come in and out in small doses. I don't need to see Ray either btw. I think he'd be useless. If you bring on Lucas, use him and Jenna once or twice, but I have no desire to really see those marmite characters. Use powerful Donna to bring on Margaret, if it came to that.

Other characters with far more potential:

Lucy - Perfect soap opera supporting character. The drunken aunt with tons of money to throw around. She can come and go at any time and is the perfect character to unite both generaitons.

Donna - The suggestion of her as Sue Ellen's campaign manager is inspired and could salvage that story. She's made for cable.

Gary & Val - They're core characters and since they were hardly used on Dallas, there's lots of story here. Gary could be a nice, fresh contrast to JR and Bobby, as opposed to seeing them with Ray which was played to death on the original.

Katherine - Now this is one to really keep your eyes out for. Especially with Victoria Principal out of the way. She could be the new Lady Jessica.

[Pamela Barnes]

What's your opinion regarding Sue Ellen in the later seasons? She didn't have any interesting storylines anymore in her last few years. So maybe this is where the problem lies. She's only interesting to most fans when she plays drunk Sue Ellen and/or the madly in love with JR Sue Ellen who is dependent on him and is nothing without him.

Is this what the fans want to see again???

Sunshineboy, what kind of story would you write for Sue Ellen?

In my mind I see tons of possible storylines for Christopher/John Ross/Elena/Rebecca and also for Bobby and JR. But to be honest, I can't think of anything Sue Ellen could do, besides the plots she has already been given. I am fine with this. However it seems most fans are upset and Linda is too.

I am just wondering..what kind of storyline can you give to a 72 year old Sue Ellen? I hate to say it but I really don't want to see any love storylines with Cliff. Or Sue Ellen happily reuniting with JR. Those days are over.

Well there you have it. Sue Ellen reminds me of many of the great soap characters that go on a journey and it feels they have reached a natural conclusion. In UK soaps you see it all the time, like Rachael Watts to name but a few. But these wonderfully drawn females that over years go through a journey and it ends and when it ends it feels the character should end as well.

I loved Sue Ellen's final high point, which was the revenge on JR & Mandy. If there was ever a time for her to exit the series it was then (if not before). But instead she became this character that lost it's soul until eventually everyone threw the towel in.

They have the same problem now. They would have the exact same problem with Lucy, Ray or anyone they decided to bring back under the umbrella of a main cast member.

I think Cynthia is probably torn on this. On one hand we have this woman who was in an abusive relationship for years and managed to get away from it. Then you have the issue of her being the mother of your male lead. How do you make her part of the daily events without marrying her off to the man you don't feel she should be with?

[sunshineboyuk]

What's your opinion regarding Sue Ellen in the later seasons? She didn't have any interesting storylines anymore in her last few years. So maybe this is where the problem lies. She's only interesting to most fans when she plays drunk Sue Ellen and/or the madly in love with JR Sue Ellen who is dependent on him and is nothing without him.

Is this what the fans want to see again???

Sunshineboy, what kind of story would you write for Sue Ellen?

In my mind I see tons of possible storylines for Christopher/John Ross/Elena/Rebecca and also for Bobby and JR. But to be honest, I can't think of anything Sue Ellen could do, besides the plots she has already been given. I am fine with this. However it seems most fans are upset and Linda is too.

I am just wondering..what kind of storyline can you give to a 72 year old Sue Ellen? I hate to say it but I really don't want to see any love storylines with Cliff. Or Sue Ellen happily reuniting with JR. Those days are over.

I'm not a writer so I won't go there!


I just realise that when female soap characters who were once very specifcally defined by their ambition/needs then become 'powerful' then they instantly become less interesting.

I just don't really buy the evolving Sue Ellen, not this path anyway. It just doesn't seem creatively interesting and she was so so interesting in most of original DALLAS, bar the final few seasons ( when she started to become 'powerful' and not drink).

[sunshineboyuk]

Well there you have it. Sue Ellen reminds me of many of the great soap characters that go on a journey and it feels they have reached a natural conclusion. In UK soaps you see it all the time, like Rachael Watts to name but a few. But these wonderfully drawn females that over years go through a journey and it ends and when it ends it feels the character should end as well.

I loved Sue Ellen's final high point, which was the revenge on JR & Mandy. If there was ever a time for her to exit the series it was then (if not before). But instead she became this character that lost it's soul until eventually everyone threw the towel in.

They have the same problem now. They would have the exact same problem with Lucy, Ray or anyone they decided to bring back under the umbrella of a main cast member.

I think Cynthia is probably torn on this. On one hand we have this woman who was in an abusive relationship for years and managed to get away from it. Then you have the issue of her being the mother of your male lead. How do you make her part of the daily events without marrying her off to the man you don't feel she should be with?

Yes. But... she could be broken, mentally destroyed and living on Southfork, then she'd be a Lady Macbeth character. I think it's her state of mind that isn't quite right. Surely it's more interesting to find her broken and bitter ( which was always where she seemed to be heading, a victim of Ewing men rather than a powerhouse) and then we could get something really cool going with a 72 year old Sue Ellen. She should be a brilliant texture, a really spiky, unpredictable, prickly thorn in everyone's side. But thats not about giving her a story it's about giving her an interesting mind set.

[Pamela Barnes]

Yes. But... she could be broken, mentally destroyed and living on Southfork, then she'd be a Lady Macbeth character. I think it's her state of mind that isn't quite right. Surely it's more interesting to find her broken and bitter ( which was always where she seemed to be heading, a victim of Ewing men rather than a powerhouse) and then we could get something really cool going with a 72 year old Sue Ellen. She should be a brilliant texture, a really spiky, unpredictable, prickly thorn in everyone's side. But thats not about giving her a story it's about giving her an interesting mind set.

Yep true but she still needs to feel part of the set-up. In later seasons of Dallas she almost became the female version of Wendel. What I liked about the 86 version of her, was the fact they made her spiky, bitter, a vengeful but she also had a heart.

She always ended back at SF for a reason because otherwise it almost became two different shows. It's a shame on one level they lost the original Box ranch with all the different houses. It was like a Southfork version of a cul-de-sac. I really can't see her and JR living with Bobby & Ann at Southfork, It would be weird. It always made sense, well kind of, because of Ellie. Without her it just seems completely odd.

I probably would have gone with Sue Ellen and JR living at Southfork. I can't recall who was telling me this, but maybe it was here, anyway that maybe comatosed JR was being cared for at home. Sue Ellen took on the role of carer and was running the house. I think Sue Ellen as lady of Southfork is more interesting than Ann.

Bobby could have been doing ranch things but living off of Southfork in Ann's place.

[ChrisSumnerMatheson]

Yes. But... she could be broken, mentally destroyed and living on Southfork, then she'd be a Lady Macbeth character. I think it's her state of mind that isn't quite right. Surely it's more interesting to find her broken and bitter ( which was always where she seemed to be heading, a victim of Ewing men rather than a powerhouse) and then we could get something really cool going with a 72 year old Sue Ellen. She should be a brilliant texture, a really spiky, unpredictable, prickly thorn in everyone's side. But thats not about giving her a story it's about giving her an interesting mind set.

I see where you're going there. If she's going to be Team Ewing, she needs to be bitter and broken. I don't get it. Jessica Lange and so many other old actresses seem to be dying to play flawed, dark characters and they act the hell out of it. I don't understand why she needs to protect Sue Ellen and go the powerful, noble business woman route. She's snoozeworthy.

[sunshineboyuk]

Basically yeah, it's boring. She's not coming from an interesting place, so she's a powerhouse , who cares? But if she's Jessica Lange esque in AMERICAN HORROR STORY , which is frankly more honest than the Sue Ellen we have, then it's great and everyone's hooked.

[ohptk]

I'm surprised by all the dislike of powerful Sue Ellen. Yes, in the beginning she was a sympathetic character as the tortured wife, but she became a boomarang....booze-affair-back to JR-booze-affair-back to JR. Same story, different guys.

[redy2swet]

Some of you people are really nuts. Sue Ellen can be very exciting and powerful. SHe doesn't have to be crazy.Sue Ellen is flawed but its great to see her powerful as well. I just want to see more of her!

[MargaretKrebbs]

Sue Ellen running for governor needs to make sense in the Ewingverse. Her politics and political ambitions need to clash or parallel something big and important that is also happening at Southfork, or at the new Ewing Energy. We need to see something of her rise to power. How did she get here? When did she learn to love power? When did she get enough political backing to actually run for governor? (Assuming she's not running as a fringe third party candidate...)


She needs more than the slogan I AM TEXAS. That is so broad and vague. She isn't defined as a gubernatorial candidate so how can she be defined as a character?

She doesn't necessarily need a love interest. I don't need to see her living at Southfork. But I do need to believe this woman is a political animal, that she is actively running for office, that she lives and breaths policy making, that she could hold her own in a debate, that she's worrying about how to deal with her past demons if they are brought to the public. That she gets the idea of Texas politics and all politics, is essentially horse trading, if you know what I mean.

Instead, she's written and/or plays it like a naive pollyanna. Her "I could do good for Texas" line should have been, "I could do good for the Ewings."

She needs to take a few lessons from Tommy Carcetti from The Wire.

[Pamela Barnes]

Totally agree MK. It just feels so random. It would be like in the old Dallas if Tundra Torque had been a storyline without any impact on any character or anything else. It just feels out there with her occasionally using her position to do things and be in a dilemma. It was like that odd season of 24 where Kim was running through the woods for 7 hours.

But I fear with her in that position it will just continue. Maybe if Harris was running in opposition, or someone like that. When Bobby ran as a candidate it felt like it was part of of his character. With her it feels the other way around. That she is now purely story driven and a story which is on the Island of "Noideawhattodo"

[sunshineboyuk]

Agreed, it's a mindset thing, if we don't understand her mindset it's sloppy writing. If we understood her politics then we'd understand her, i'm assuming she's republican ... democrats don't do well in Texas do they? Or maybe she isn't a redneck right wing Republican in which case, what does that mean ? Agreed, agreed... but DALLAS aint THE WIRE so it's unlikely this is ever gonna be touched .

Although in terms of rescuing the character and making it work, this seems the only route to an interesting Sue Ellen.

[Christine]

Reading your posts makes me realize one thing: Maybe it's Linda Gray's own fault that Sue Ellen appears to be boring to so many of you. What if she insisted she would only play powerhouse Sue Ellen. This assumption is based on the fact that LG insisted not to ever play drunk Sue Ellen again. So maybe she was a bit diva-like and insisted she'd only play a powerful Sue Ellen. Just a guess. Maybe the writers were limited with their ideas because they could not do this and could not do that...maybe she wanted to see the scripts first before she signed her contract.

[MargaretKrebbs]

They need to make Sue Ellen for Governor more like Giles was in Buffy and less like Chief van Buren was in the original Law and Order.

Giles was there to guide and propel the action of the other characters, but he was also a character that was necessary and had conflicts and motives and made sense within the structure of the Buffy-fiction.

Van Buren was essentially the person who had the 'power' to command the characters to do certain things, but her 'decisions' and 'commandments' were ordered only after the other active characters came back to the police station to fill her in on all their adventures and findings. Van Buren never actually did anything. It just seemed like she had power and control, but really, she was powerless.

That is what is happening to Sue Ellen for Governor in Dallas 2. Her decision to run for governor seems like something she and Ann might have cooked up when they were off on a shopping spree at Bloomingdales and had stopped off for an afternoon skimed-half-caff-latte break.

Ann: "If you could have any job in the whole world, what would you choose?"

Sue Ellen: "Gee, governor of Texas seems like it might be a fun job! Attending all those ribbon cuttings and helping the poor by attending fundraisers. And I'd get to live in that great big governor's mansion."

[Pamela Barnes]

Reading your posts makes me realize one thing: Maybe it's Linda Gray's own fault that Sue Ellen appears to be boring to so many of you. What if she insisted she would only play powerhouse Sue Ellen. This assumption is based on the fact that LG insisted not to ever play drunk Sue Ellen again. So maybe she was a bit diva-like and insisted she'd only play a powerful Sue Ellen. Just a guess. Maybe the writers were limited with their ideas because they could not do this and could not do that...maybe she wanted to see the scripts first before she signed her contract.

But that's why she did the interview isn't it? To put across it's not her fault and that she is happy to play anything but this is what they came up with.

[Barbara Fan]

I dont want to see nice Linda Gray playing Nice Linda Gray

She is an actress and not playing herself - Sue Ellen was at her best in the early years as a catty, bitchy social climber, her put downs against shop girl Pam, her holier than thou attitude and a glass in her hand - usually with a V+T, and being a thorn in Jrs side

later Sue Ellen - ie her final year on Dallas - she was boring and dull as a successful business woman, I like the flawed Sue Ellen who has weaknesses and an achilles heel.

She looked out of place on TNTs Dallas and it seemed as if they didnt really know what to do with her

Its as if she is older now, not a key player and it sadly reminded me of Barbara in her final years, not a great script to play with, in a few scsnes to keep them happy (ie me!) but Sue Ellen just seems out on a limb and I just dont buy the great political career - Donna yes, but Sue Ellen no!

[ohptk]

Sue Ellen: "Gee, governor of Texas seems like it might be a fun job! Attending all those ribbon cuttings and helping the poor by attending fundraisers. And I'd get to live in that great big governor's mansion."

At least she'd have a house now! LOL

To sunshineboy's comment - republican or democrat - I'll doubt they'll ever say for fear of pollarizing viewers....the same as how they downplay oil because of current negative connotations.

If they do keep her in this governor race, they really do need to give her an issue to be passionate about. Maybe something comes up in opposition of that issue, but in that specific case she suddenly has a sympathy of the other side.

If it was just a 1 season thing, i think Gov. Sue Ellen would be great, but for what they hope to be an ongoing series, I see it as a dead end to giving her continuing storylines, since most of the focus will be geared towards the younger generation.

Maybe someone could come along to create a scandal that bumps her out of the race & that sets her up with an enemy to bring down as the show goes on. Vengeance was always a good motivator when it came to her & business.