Useless storylines

[teamster]

Was trying to think of some of the worst storylines on the show. A few spring to mind. The Wes Parmalee storyline. Or rather the end of it. I always thought it was moving along nicely and then it just stopped suddenly. Also, pregnant Jenna, Naldo's murder. BD Calhoun, Pams exit, just a few which spring to mind.

[Swami]

Angelia Nero nonsense and most of season 13 & 14.

Swami

[wallofsound]

Clayton's amnesia always baffled me. It trundled along in the background for a couple of episodes and then hey presto he was fine again. It literally went nowhere. Weird.

[Dallasfanatical]

The Leslie Steward storyline went absolutely no where. For all the greatness of the early seasons of Dallas, people forget that once J.R. recovered from his shooting and returned to Ewing Oil, that was a pretty boring season overall. The Leslie Stewart storyline just never clicked. I personally loved the BD Calhoun storyline and I liked the Wes Parmalee storyline but the ending of it left a lot to be desired.

[PAMANDBOBBYFOREVER]

Lucy in season 7. They just moved her around pointlessly until she reunited with Mitch in Atlanta.

[Jock-1981]

I agree about the Wes Parmalee storyline. It was moving along nicely (was he Jock or wasn't he? sort of thing). The tests he took proved him to be Jock (Lie Detector & X-Rays etc all proved in his favor) then all of a sudden at the barbeque,Bobby runs in and announces "He ran away,he's a fraud". Great build-up,sucky finish.
JR doing chores at the Harper place and being held at gun-point by Jeffett and Boazz (anybody hear banjos???).
The whole Paris story where April gets killed seemed a little much.

[JRandSueEllenForever]

I just mentioned the Wes Parmalee storyline on another thread, but I was thinking the same thing. Why did they end it so abruptly? Was it because of the negative audience reaction that nobody else could play Jock but Jim Davis? I don't know. It was certainly interesting and riveting, plus I thought Steve Forrest and Barbara Bel Geddes had great chemistry together. I don't know that I would have wanted him to be Jock, but I did like his character regardless. One thing that bugged me is if they wanted to end it so abruptly, the least they could have done was give us the pay off of being present in the room when Wes came and told Ellie the truth. Instead we find out about it after he's already gone.

[JRandSueEllenForever]

Most of the Ellie/Clayton storylines, especially toward the end of the series, were stupid and worthless.

The Peter Richards story was dumb. It was just an excuse to give Sue Ellen a young lover, but they could have done a better casting job!

Cally's very existence. She was an awful actress and I could not buy JR going for someone that young and stupid. Was he that desperate after Sue Ellen left him? Okay, we know JR usually liked them a little younger, but this girl was half his age! He also at least liked women with brains. This girl had none.

[Jock-1981]

The storyline where Ellie & Clayton went to a town and Ellie bought it and the murder mystery seemed really like the writers were grasping at straws.
A fellow stuffed dead into a fish tank? And one by one the guests die? No wonder Barbara Bel Geddes left the series.

[teamster]

the common thread would be that most of the rubbish storylines are from towards the end of the shows run.

[Jock-1981]

I agree.

[MildredEvans]

Most of the Ellie/Clayton storylines, especially toward the end of the series, were stupid and worthless.

The Peter Richards story was dumb. It was just an excuse to give Sue Ellen a young lover, but they could have done a better casting job!

Cally's very existence. She was an awful actress and I could not buy JR going for someone that young and stupid. Was he that desperate after Sue Ellen left him? Okay, we know JR usually liked them a little younger, but this girl was half his age! He also at least liked women with brains. This girl had none.

She was EVEN younger than Lucy.

[Swami]

I just mentioned the Wes Parmalee storyline on another thread, but I was thinking the same thing. Why did they end it so abruptly? Was it because of the negative audience reaction that nobody else could play Jock but Jim Davis? I don't know. It was certainly interesting and riveting, plus I thought Steve Forrest and Barbara Bel Geddes had great chemistry together. I don't know that I would have wanted him to be Jock, but I did like his character regardless. One thing that bugged me is if they wanted to end it so abruptly, the least they could have done was give us the pay off of being present in the room when Wes came and told Ellie the truth. Instead we find out about it after he's already gone.

I still think Larry probably had a say in vetoing recasting Jock. I remember in Wogan's 1986 interview with Larry and Linda, he asked Larry what all this was about with Daddy coming back, and Larry was quite adamant that "Daddy isn't coming back".

Swami

[SnarkyOracle!]

Was trying to think of some of the worst storylines on the show. A few spring to mind. The Wes Parmalee storyline. Or rather the end of it. I always thought it was moving along nicely and then it just stopped suddenly. Also, pregnant Jenna, Naldo's murder. BD Calhoun, Pams exit, just a few which spring to mind.

Every storyline you just mentioned was extremely useful. Even though Jenna was irritating and Pam's exit was poorly realized.

Cally's very existence. She was an awful actress

No, she was not an awful actress at all. But her Hooterville introduction was silly.

[MildredEvans]

Was trying to think of some of the worst storylines on the show. A few spring to mind. The Wes Parmalee storyline. Or rather the end of it. I always thought it was moving along nicely and then it just stopped suddenly. Also, pregnant Jenna, Naldo's murder. BD Calhoun, Pams exit, just a few which spring to mind.

I partially agree on the "Naldo's murder" storyline. Everything leading up to it was quite interesting, it was the aftermath that went on forever and that attorney that was just "a diamond" to the Ewings bored the living HELL out of me. I had trouble staying awake during those scenes...

[ronald mascot]

Yes, "Naldo's muder" for me- I resented so much time was spent on it that I didn't enjoy watching and then nothing really came of it. At least the fake Jock had several scenes in it I enjoyed, even it if it went nowhere. It was still worth something, just to see some nice acting from Barbara in it.

[montauk6]

Speaking of BD Calhoun, that whole mercenary arc did nothing for me.

[W.J.Garr]

I am just watching the Matt Devlin storyline and I find it nonsense. It filled no function. Plain boring.

[Colonel Lucas]

Once Lucy was married and the post divorce stuff was tripe. Why didn't they integrate her into the stories instead of being side, boring stories... I had forgotten about Clayton's amnesia.Once he married Ellie he was worthless, as was Jenna after she went with Ray, she was tolerable at least while with Bobby. Mark Grayson, anything. DID not like anything with him in it.

[Ross Van Der Heide]

Cally and Vanessa.