Dallas (TV series)

Identification Prime-time television soap opera

Date Aired April 2, 1978, to May 3, 1991

Dallas was the first prime-time soap opera aired in the United States. A groundbreaking venture, it took the traditionally housewife-targeted serial format and attempted to broaden its appeal for prime-time audiences by incorporating more explicit sexuality and nominally male-oriented themes.

The concept for Dallas, developed by writer David Jacobs, was originally based on a situation reminiscent of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (pr. c. 1595-1596) but set in contemporary Texas: The married couple Bobby Ewing and Pam Barnes would be caught in the middle of a conflict between their two warring families. The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) had commissioned a script, determined a one-hour pilot would not “show well,” and ordered five episodes. Dallas was thus initially planned as a miniseries, yet Jacobs hoped it would be popular enough for the network to turn it into a regular weekly show. To that end, actors were hired who were not “big names” and would therefore be available if the show continued. Patrick Duffy, playing Bobby Ewing, was the biggest star hired. Linda Gray and Victoria Principal beat out the competition for their roles, Sue Ellen Shepard Ewing and Pamela Barnes Ewing, respectively. The producers first discussed the part of J. R. Ewing with Robert Foxworth, but they loved Larry Hagman’s enthusiasm for the character and his “wicked” little smile.

The Show Premieres

The miniseries premiered on Sunday, April 2, 1978, and it aired on consecutive Sunday nights through the end of April. Critics panned the show, but viewers responded to the focus on family dynamics mixed with greed, glamour, intrigue, and romance. By the final episode, Dallas ranked in the top ten of the week’s most watched shows, and CBS ordered thirteen more scripts for the fall.

Dallas became one of the most successful television dramas in history and attracted a worldwide audience. The audience relished the conflict between the “good” brother Bobby and the “evil” brother J. R. They admired Miss Ellie, who, like a traditional mother, was the moral center for the Ewing family and sympathized with the sorrows of Sue Ellen. However, it was the actions of villain J. R. that kept most audience members watching. Hagman stated, “My character is the evil focal point of the show.” A power-hungry and amoral oil executive, J. R. was obsessed with Ewing Oil, a company founded by his father and namesake. Any threat either to the company itself or to his control of it brought out the worst in J. R., who became the man people loved to hate.

Cliffhangers

Dallas was best known for its season-ending cliffhangers, which caused fans to spend the summer hiatus in suspense, wondering how interrupted plotlines would be resolved. The most famous of these cliffhangers gave rise to a catchphrase that became part of American culture: “Who shot J. R.?” Because of his actions, J. R. had accumulated a number of enemies in the first two years of the show. On March 21, 1980, in the second season’s final episode, J. R., working late in his office at Ewing Oil, was shot twice by an unknown assailant. This became arguably the greatest cliffhanger of all time. Worldwide that summer, everyone seemed to be asking “Who shot J. R.?” The answer was a closely held secret. Hagman was the only cast member who knew, and he was offered $250,000 by a consortium of European newspapers for the answer. Even the queen mother of England asked Hagman to tell, but he would not do so. On November 21, 1980, 300 million people in fifty-seven countries tuned in to discover who shot J. R. Streets emptied as people gathered in front of television sets. In Turkey, the parliament recessed so that representatives could find out who had attempted to murder J. R. (The answer was Kristen, his sister-in-law and mistress.)

Even after the show’s overall ratings began to slip, cliffhanger episodes in the spring and their resolution in the fall were able temporarily to boost the program back into the top ten. Another famous cliffhanger occurred in the May 16, 1986, season finale, when Pam Ewing woke up and found her husband Bobby—who had been killed at the end of the previous season and buried at the beginning of the 1985-1986 season—standing in the shower. He said “Good morning,” and the season ended, leaving viewers to wonder how Bobby could be alive, or if Duffy was even playing the same character. Explanations for the actor’s return were easy to surmise: Bobby had been killed off, because Duffy had wanted to leave the show. However, in the following season, Dallas’s ratings had fallen, as the central conflict between the two brothers had been replaced by situations involving international intrigue, which viewers found less interesting. Meanwhile, Duffy’s attempt at a career outside of Dallas had not been particularly successful.

Hagman’s personal appeal and the producers’ offer of a huge salary increase convinced Duffy to return. The question remained, however: How could Duffy’s character, Bobby, plausibly be brought back to life? The writers developed three different solutions to the problem. To mislead the cast, the crew, and reporters, three alternative resolutions were filmed. In a notorious and later parodied turn of events, the chosen solution was that the entire previous season, one year’s worth of episodes, had been Pam’s bad dream. Characters that had been introduced were discarded, situations were erased, dead characters were brought back to life, and the series picked up again from the end of the 1984-1985 season.

Impact

Dallas became the most popular television program in the world and an icon of popular culture. More than ninety countries reported empty streets during the hour Dallas aired. Viewers became involved and were often consumed by characters and their activities. People wore T-shirts displaying J. R.’s face, some stating “I hate J. R.,” others, “I love J. R.” Strangers found a common language, discussing episodes of Dallas. Scholars based articles and dissertations on Dallas; it became one of the most studied texts in the history of television.

It many ways, the show echoed the excesses of the 1980’s, not only through its location in Texas, but also in its focus on the rich. Some described the show as a caricature of the 1980’s decadence with its focus on conspicuous consumption, greed, and J. R.’s credo: “It’s not what you get that matters; it’s what you can get away with.” As the luster of the era faded, so did the popularity of the show. As Hagman noted, “Dallas died with the Reagan era.”

Subsequent Events

After 356 episodes, Dallas ended on May 3, 1991, in a two-hour conclusion that showed J. R. losing everything and contemplating suicide. Two made-for-television movies, Dallas: J. R. Returns (1996) and Dallas: The War of the Ewings (1998), followed.

Bibliography

Geraghty, Christine. Women and Soap Opera: A Study of Prime Time Soaps. Cambridge, Mass.: B. Blackwell, 1991. Discusses the patriarchal elements of the program, particularly the influence of J. R. and his relationships with women.

Hagman, Larry. “Hats Off to Ten Years of Dallas.” People Weekly, April 4, 1988, 98ff. Hagman reflects on his years playing J. R., as well as on other characters and certain episodes of the show.

Kalter, Suzy. The Complete Book of “Dallas”: Behind the Scenes at the World’s Favorite Television Program. New York: Abrams, 1986. Includes background material concerning the series, plot summaries from the initial miniseries through the 1985-1986 season, and many photographs.

Liebes, Tamar, and Elihu Katz. The Export of Meaning: Cross-Cultural Readings of “Dallas.” 2d ed. Cambridge, England: Polity Press, 1993. Examination of the reception of Dallas in countries other than the United States and of the meanings attached to American culture when it circulates beyond U.S. borders.