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The 82/83 and 83/84 seasons were the two best consecutive years DALLAS ever had. And the 84/85 year might have lived up to that had the Mis-Ellie gaffe not happened (which cast a pall over the entire season).
The other thing about 83-84 is that it’s the last season of old-school Dallas., before we started dealing with cast upheaval and new characters taking center stage. Through the 1983-84 season, the only non-original cast member to be added to the opening titles was Susan Howard. 1984 on is also when we start seeing more story repetition (another fight for Ewing Oil, another JR/Sue Ellen divorce, etc).
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The 83/84 season was one of the only Paulsenian years which didn't have a major year-long story arc (unless you count the Sue Ellen/Peter affair). But it all worked due to the morning-after tone (enhanced immeasurably by Bradford May's camerawork) and the excellent sense of structure (which TVGuide cited at the time in their "the best of" article at the end of the season).
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- 24
Maybe I´m seeing things (Miss Piggy always tells me that...) but I think Paulsen did have a good idea of what OG Season 6 was going to be, in his ironic and funny way. In the season premiere, we get a glimpse at Mark´s plane and he and Cliff get out of it. In his last episode of that season, Mark (offscreen) gets into his plane and (supposedly) commits suicide. Coincidence? I even dare to say that he and the Katzman had the whole mega-arc of Mark sick and travelling in search of a cure thought out, up til "Swan Song". Oh and funny, Mark´s fake name in that dark, somber Hong Kong clinic is...surprise! Swanson!!
Mark´s pimp-mobile was like the Professor´s Convertible in "Wacky Races":
it could be a car, or a plane, or whatever.
"Swellin, do you know I love you?"
"And do YOU know I ate garlic?" *
Another coincidence: Just like with Cliff, a one-night stand gets Mrs. JR Ewing pregnant with her lover. There was no blood test to prove it this time, but it´s been confirmed that the initial plan was Peter being clearly the father of Swellin´s new baby. CBS made them change plans and turn their relationship into a more platonic thing, despite that night of "love". The whole season the writers go with "JR knows, JR does not know" to create suspense, and when the climax comes in "End Game", the payoff is truly great, and leads to the Season cliffhanger.
"And then Mrs. Ewing kissed Mr. Richards under the mistletoe, and then JR was watching them in the balcony,
and then Miss Lucy tried to sleep with Mr. Richards, and got drunk and played herself a fool (as always) and then..."
Also, I find the Ellie-Clayton a storyline that grows and grows that season, and also makes good use of the characters´ history. Her mastectomy in Ellie´s case, and his previous marriage (and Southern Cross´s destruction) in his case. The buildup to Lady Jessie is probably one of the best-crafted, longest in the show´s history. When Alexis (Jessie) enters, we liked her instantly because: a) we´ve heard a lot of rumors about her. b) she´s played by the very glamorous, classy Alexis Smith, and c) we know via her monologue what she is truly thinking about the wedding.
"Miss Ellie, have you ever read a book called "Misery"...?"
Is there a better introduction to a secret relative on "Dallas"? And yet, we don´t know the real truth, about her mental condition. To be honest, it surprised me that there wasn´t a "Where is Miss Ellie?" cliffhanger in the Season Finale. Everything was wrapped up very quickly and even the wedding was omitted, in what (I assume) was a late idea of rehashing the "Who Shot JR", now with Bobby. Full circle again. I wish today´s TV writers would put so much thought and attention to details, even last-minute changes seemed to be compelling back in the days.
Patrick: "(If she knew I´m going to be the next Richard Gere...")
Victoria: "("If he knew I´ll become multi-millionaire with melon-scented creams...")
Again, I think that the Bobby-Pam separation is a 2-season mega-arch from Paulsen and co. A twisted, heartbreaking and effective plot device, Katherine´s letter, makes it possible, and once the divorce is settled, here comes the Phantom Menace, aka Jenna Nº 3. She will be used for 2 years to keep the couple apart, and even so, there will frequent moments when one or the other will hint they miss each other, or say why all went so bad. In a way, at the end of season 6, despite his engagement to Jenna, there´s that look in their faces that say "he/she is not like you...at all". They will continue apart for another year, but even when they are in different places physically, they will have moments when they will prove each other how much they still care, and at the end, it will be much more than that, so much that he will almost feel obliged to find a way to get Jenna exonerated...though he´ll return to Pam´s arms.
"At least I hope she´ll send a big special package of the Principal Secret"
...with bottom guaranteed!"
"Of course I will! I always give it to my b*tches!"
About the Wicked Witch of Texas, Katherine, she will have a fascinating arc to follow. Actually it´s her only full "Dallas" season, and they nailed it. Too bad making her shoot Bobby had to imply that she was cuckoo. Kristin wasn´t so for shooting JR, and Katherine almost had it all, except for Bobby, and her confession (and maybe also the injection at the hospital) are out-of-character things for her. After all, she was always all for appearances (she even lied to Pam about forgiving Cliff´s responsibility in Rebecca´s accident, and didn´t react to her step-siblings getting part of Mama´s money and companies). She was a socialite who went places and worked in N.Y.C., and all that jazz. But confessing in front of the security guards and JR out and loud in the hospital was rather unbelievable to me. At that point I thought that the writers didn´t want to invest on the character anymore, and took a different route with the new guest females Mandy and Jamie. But that was in the Dread Season...
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So we almost had a baby Peter?
I'm not sure which is worse, baby Ray, baby Cliff, baby Clint, baby Dusty? We could even have had a baby Clayton!
Feeling rather robbed now that baby Peter didn't materialise.
It's always surprised me that Sue Ellen never did have a baby someone by a different someone.
That's brilliant!
Good job Dusty didn't turn out like his mad Momma and good job there weren't any other baby Jessica's.
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I knew there must have been something sinister and conspiratorial behind Sue Ellen's decision to not move in with Peter in his newly-rented love nest. Oh, how we as viewers were deprived!
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There could´ve been a spinoff (just like married Lucy & Mitch should´ve been spun off to "I Love Lucy") with Swellin and Peedur living in that place, and John Ross coming to visit. Maybe it should be titled "I Love Sue" or maybe "Who´s the Boss?"...
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“Sue’s the Boss?” sounds perfect to me. Of course if it spins off in the fall of 1984 while ABC premiers “Who’s the Boss?” then we’ve got some confused viewers.
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This season and the couple proceeding it were so densely plotted that, in retrospect, one realizes how much the writers dropped -- in both characters and plot points -- because so much else was going on. Yet in just the following season, we'd see the primary cause of DALLAS' creative decline become apparent, that weird state of endlessly repetitious storylines (fighting over Ewing Oil for the umpteenth time) coupled with new, uninteresting characters being crammed into the story.