Didn't the producers/showrunner state TNT Dallas would be about the next generation? If they wished to focus their story on John Ross and Christopher then fine...focus. My initial response when it was announced Josh and Jesse were playing John Ross and Christopher was scepticism. I thought, "Oh no. They've gone for rejects from
Desperate Housewives.
Josh proved me wrong in that infamous kitchen scene with Linda. His range of emotions surprised me. "Okay," I thought. "Where has this been hiding?" But it was too little too late. While the character of John Ross appeared to be in the thick of it, it was just that, appeared. With all the secondary characters taking over John Ross, much like the Ewing family got lost in whiplash plots.
From interviews Josh really liked playing the role. Pity then the writers didn't "focus" their attention on what mattered here: the Ewing family. Keep the story tightly woven around the Ewing's; JR, Sue Ellen, John Ross, Bobby and Christopher. It's what made Lorimar Dallas immensely popular because the writers kept the attention on the family. It was always about Ewing Oil, Southfork and the family whether they were squabbling amongst themselves or protecting it from outsiders.
The first season of TNT Dallas should have focused primarily on the Ewing's. If this meant JR, John Ross, Sue Ellen, Bobby and Christopher were hogging most of the screen time so be it. I would have dedicated most of it towards the relationship between JR, John Ross and Sue Ellen. The kitchen scene exemplified the relationship John Ross had with his parents, that's what the writers should have focused on, John Ross torn between pleasing both JR and Sue Ellen especially as Larry's health was declining. In the mix of course was Bobby and Christopher. And I really wish the writers had focused more on the relationship between Christopher and Sue Ellen; after all she was his Aunt.
The return however of TNT Dallas had a fundamental flaw from the outset and as soon as viewers got a taste of it they left in droves. I'm not talking about a drip feed of viewers, I'm talking millions. Cidre made the error of retconning a family no one had heard about into the Ewing Universe. A fatal mistake. It shifted focus away from what really mattered, what we cared about...the Ewing's.