Conundrum. Who was invited back?

[chrisjc]

So who was invited back for Conundrum?

The Flashbacks have Bobby, Sue Ellen, Ray, Gary & Val, Cally, Cliff, Kristen, McKay. Were the storylines devised regarding who was and who was not available? Was Miss Ellie written as dead because Barbara Bel Geddes did not take part or if she had been willing to appear would the storyline have been changed? Could the storyline showing Val and Gary first meeting have been changed if Charlene Tilton had appeared as Lucy. What about Donna, Jenna, Clayton, Pam? I always thought the role of Bobbys ex wife could have been taken by Jenna. Too much time spent on this story on the new Ewing brother when I would have much rather seen some old faces return.

 

[Sarah Danner]

Safe bet is Victoria Principal was, but said no thank you.

 

[TJames03]

Yes, VP was 100 percent invited back. The others, I don't know.

 

[tommie]

Yes, VP was 100 percent invited back. The others, I don't know.

Yup. She basically wanted to know that the show was definitively ending to make an appearance but they couldn't promise that since CBS hadn't officially pulled the plug on the show yet.

 

[ArchieLucasCarringtonEwing1989]

Its a shame we couldn't see Pam in an alternate universe.

I came up with a scenario had she appeared in the final episode, she accidentally bumps into a down on his luck Bobby at the hotel, they share a brief moment before Mark Graison calls to her and she smiles at Bobby where she gets into a chauffeur driven limo with Mark and their three children

The Lucy one could be that she lived happily with Gary and Valene in California all her life, I too think Bobby's alternate wife would be Jenna, since she was his second great love after Pam, and they knew each other since they were kids

 

[Garry]

In the depths of my Dallas collection I have an original script of 'Conundrum'. The Sue Ellen story is much different than the one that ended up on screen. She had a son and daughter and there was no Nicholas Pearce as her husband. It was quite dull really. But then again the entire episode was an insult to the series.

 

[TJames03]

I really couldn't see Miss Ellie or Lucy being in it. I would have written it that, without JR, Rebecca and Digger wouldn't have had such marital problems and she wouldn't have had an affair with Hutch, thus no Pam.

 

[Seaviewer]

Pam was mentioned in the scene where Cliff was vice-president. I presume that if VP had agreed she would have been at that gathering.

 

[TJames03]

Or there should have been a scene where the "angel" mentioned Pam and JR said, "I don't wanna see her!!!!!"

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Presumably, the idea to make Cliff the vice president of the United States was arrived at after Walter Mondale, during the 1984 presidential campaign, called George H. W. Bush (then the vice president under Reagan) "the Cliff Barnes of America politics."

 

[southfork88]

In the depths of my Dallas collection I have an original script of 'Conundrum'. The Sue Ellen story is much different than the one that ended up on screen. She had a son and daughter and there was no Nicholas Pearce as her husband. It was quite dull really. But then again the entire episode was an insult to the series.

Please, other differences ?

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

I would have liked to have seen America's #1 country superstar Garnet McGee make an appearance, not having been saddled by the Ewing exclusive services contract, which got her on the radio but prevented a true breakout into the mainstream

 

[Garry]

Please, other differences ?

Apart from the Sue Ellen change everything is basically the same. There was just a flashback scene of Kristin in the pool which was cut out and some more dialogue with Bobby and the lady in the bedroom before he climbed out the window. He was blackmailing her for money. That scene is also cut out of the Region 2 DVD syndicated version..

 

[TJames03]

I would have liked to have seen America's #1 country superstar Garnet McGee make an appearance, not having been saddled by the Ewing exclusive services contract, which got her on the radio but prevented a true breakout into the mainstream

Or mention on the radio a McGee/Ciji Dunne duet!

 

[TJames03]

How I would have written the scene:

Adam: "And now it is time to see how your arch nemesis Pam's life turned out had you never been born."

J.R.: "No! I don't wanna see THAT Barnes woman!"

Adam: "Are you sure? I think you'll be very surprised to see what fate had in store for her had you never existed....."

J.R.: "I said no!"

Adam: "As you wish...."

 

[Karin Schill]

I agree that Bobby's ex-wife should have been Jenna. It would have made sense.

But I guess the point was to show how miserable Bobby was without JR and how much better his life was for JR being in it. Besides JR always liked Bobby with Jenna...

But yeah overall the episode was not a good ending to a great show.

 

[Ray_Krebbs]

Maybe Adam tells J.R. Pam was created only to be a nuisance in his life, and since he was never born, neither was she lol.

 

[Chris2]

Or mention on the radio a McGee/Ciji Dunne duet!

Accompanied by Lilimae Clements on the autoharp.

 

[TJames03]

Lucy DEF wouldn't have ever existed.

 

[pete lashmar]

The grand finale still makes me shudder - what should have been one hell of a finale with full gusto, comeuppances, recriminations, revelations and drama was turned into a forgettable mess.

The whole set up was wrong, we loved Dallas because of the characters, so changing their whole personas, personalities etc just made no sense to met at all.

It should have focused fully of The Ewings in the present time, tied up storylines, given us some shocks and ended the series with a cliffhanger that made surprised us rather than shocked us, so any future movies/series could flow from it.

It was such a sad waste of everyone's talents & I really wish they'd got David Jacobs back to craft a finale.