Werewillie Oleson
Telly Talk Schemer
Although the final episode looks a bit tacky, I think it's kinda interesting that villain JR had "killed" DALLAS, his own soap.
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Dallas Character Dallas After Pam
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Michael Torrance
Telly Talk Mega Star
I also saw Bobby's death like Jock's, and the Pam/JR confrontation to be the show's ultimate journey (after all, it was set up so all the way back in the mini-series). Maybe the show would never go back to the top, but there could have been a satisfying closure and some good posterity for the brand other than the laughing stock it became because of the dream reset. But at the time networks would not have easily been convinced that it was better to do a story justice than to try to recapture the #1 spot with gimmicks. And Larry Hagman sawing off the branch of the producers he did not like made a bad situation worse.
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Rove
Telly Talk Warrior
It's how I envisaged Dallas to be after Bobby's death. It appeared to be on the right path when the reading of Bobby's Will stipulated Pam was to control Christopher's interest in Ewing Oil. At the time I buckled myself in and braced for the explosive confrontations between JR and Pam. This is what Dallas had been leading to after Bobby came home with that Barnes woman.
But. Instead of concentrating the story on the main characters; Miss Ellie, Clayton, JR, Sue Ellen, Jenna, Ray, Donna, Cliff, Afton, Pam and Jeremy Wendell they went for exotic characters that had no place on Dallas. I get so frustrated with the writers for not seeing what was clearly in front of them, the ultimate showdown between the Ewing and Barnes family. :brick:
pete lashmar
Telly Talk Addict
And to make it even more unpalatable they created the most ridiculous plot to get Pam away from Ewing Oil....the emerald mine - I mean come on, A) Pam was never THAT stupid and B) the plot was ridiculed by the most die hard fans.
I too was expecting the big showdown season - it could have been so good with Pam & Sue Ellen teaming up after she got off the booze, but instead the writers decided to bring in the even more ridiculous Angelica Nero plot, which may have worked had they got an actress who could actually act.
Rove
Telly Talk Warrior
But instead of Angelica Nero offering anything of substance she was a distraction from the main event. Other posters have rightfully pointed out it was a delibrate ploy to dampen Victoria Principle's (Pam's) importance to Dallas.
pete lashmar
Telly Talk Addict
I've never seen it like that personally, though I can understand some people thinking it. For me I viewed it as Dallas execs wanting their own "Alexis" and it just didn't suit the show at all, both in terms of actress & plot.
It's funny you should bring that up as I've also seen some paralells between the Windsors and The Ewings. But somehow back in the 1990s I always used to think that Prince Charles and Diana were more like JR/SE and that Andrew/Fergie were more like Bobby and Pam.
JR/SE = young virgin who marries well into a prominent family where her main function is to produce an heir to the empire (Like Charles and Diana sort of)
Bobby/Pam = more of a love match, slightly younger couple that seems to have fun together. (Like Andrew & Ferige sort of)
Rove
Telly Talk Warrior
Why is it Bobby displays more emotion in this scene with April's death than Pam's exist? Oh wait. I figured Leonard had either written or directed this episode.
pete lashmar
Telly Talk Addict
SJW was very popular with Katzman by all accounts - although he regretted killing her off - but because VP dared to leave her exit was both nonsensical & messy with no conclusion for the fans.
In fact the more I think of it Dallas execs really did treat fans of the show with utter contempt - they were very happy when they got high ratings and all the press/media coverage but didn't give a damn about them when characters they loved wanted to either leave or had issues with them. They were sent packing with very poor storylines and left fans totally deflated.
Rove
Telly Talk Warrior
It's been many, many years since I've watched Dallas after the death of Bobby. Funnily enough this is when Warner Bros. Australia stopped importing/releasing the series on DVD. On a few occasions I've been tempted to purchase the remaining series because I sometimes think I judge the back half of Lorimar Dallas too harshly. From memory I don't recall over-reacting on April's addition. It possibly has more to do with shoddy story-lines than anything else. Like others I'd seriously struggle after Pam leaves, with others it's Sue Ellen.
My biggest hurdle would be not to throw something at the television when Cally and James arrives.
ArchieLucasCarringtonEwing1989
Telly Talk TV Fanatic
Apparently Larry Hagman, tried on several occasions to get Victoria Principle back on the show, citing that she was important to the show and a big loss, even he admitted that she was important and I agree, the loss of Pam you lose the spirit of the show, JR was the heart of Dallas, Pam was the spirit/energy, Pam loss was jarring (especially how it was handled) whereas the loss of Bobby wasn't as jarring I thought.
Somehow I don't think VP would've stood for the silly storylines of the last three years of the show had she remained.
Somehow I don't think VP would've stood for the silly storylines of the last three years of the show had she remained.
Rove
Telly Talk Warrior
I've always considered Pam more integral to Dallas than Bobby. Her death was handled poorly, but probably because the producers/writers lived in hope Victoria would return, à la Patrick Duffy. Clearly this did not happen until several light bulbs went on in Leonard Katzman's thought processes so his idea of acquiring the services of Margaret Michaels was born. Good grief. As if the Donna Reed infliction on Dallas fans wasn't enough, let's observe how fanciful us creative types can be. :brick:
ArchieLucasCarringtonEwing1989
Telly Talk TV Fanatic
I think Margaret Michaels would've been an okay Pam, especially since she looked and sounded like her, the main gripe with Donna Reed was that she was playing Miss Ellie as a totally different character to how BBG played her th previous seven years.
Spooky Owl!
Telly Talk Supreme
Katzman was quoted as saying April's death was the biggest mistake he'd ever made in DALLAS history. A mostly disliked character who died in the last year of the series when it was 61st (or worse) in the ratings.
So he had either become completely tone-deaf regarding his own show, or he was (even more likely) being perverse.
So he had either become completely tone-deaf regarding his own show, or he was (even more likely) being perverse.
I'm fine with Miss Michaels as an imposter for Pam.
pete lashmar
Telly Talk Addict
I seem to be one of the few who loved SJW & April - I thought she brought a little fun to the show - but her death was handled very strangely. Her actual death was very shocking & jarring at the time, but they ruined it by having her appear dreamlike to Bobby throughout the rest of the season with terrible...TERRIBLE clarinet music.
Now Pam was in season's 1-10 - April was in 9-14 - and yet April's death was treated so mournfully - as if she was the love of Bobby's life whilst Pam (who was the love of Bobby's life) was written out & Bobby just accepting it, accepting the divorce and telling everyone to never mention her again.
Spooky Owl!
Telly Talk Supreme
Many of us had a problem with April's devolution. In the beginning, she was an engaging golddigger, but was later de-ovaried to make her "acceptable" to live at Southfork as Bobby's whiney, clingy, needy new wife.
Spooky Owl!
Telly Talk Supreme
After Pam leaves...
I always want her disappearance to remain a mystery, one which evolves in the background over the remaining four or five years of the show (BTW: I want to see DALLAS end in 1992, not 1991 in the way it did...) perhaps Bobby and Cliff and JR eventually discovering, just before the show ends, that Pam may have died of neurofibromatosis -- she may have been a blood Barnes after all!
There can be breadcrumbs dropped to suggest that Wendell had something to do with Pam's exit, and that the whole McKay-is-really-the-boss scenario just a scam to lull the Ewings into an unvigilant calm.
And we can be given only 75% of the story, with certain details unresolved.
I always want her disappearance to remain a mystery, one which evolves in the background over the remaining four or five years of the show (BTW: I want to see DALLAS end in 1992, not 1991 in the way it did...) perhaps Bobby and Cliff and JR eventually discovering, just before the show ends, that Pam may have died of neurofibromatosis -- she may have been a blood Barnes after all!
There can be breadcrumbs dropped to suggest that Wendell had something to do with Pam's exit, and that the whole McKay-is-really-the-boss scenario just a scam to lull the Ewings into an unvigilant calm.
And we can be given only 75% of the story, with certain details unresolved.
I almost agree. I think Pam's disappeareance should have been a mystery until the show's end. But I would have wanted her to return for the final episode of Dallas and reunited with Bobby and Christopher. Then the show would have come full circle and it would have been a satisfying end for most of the fans/viewers of the show.
The way they ended the show now was crap. It's not worthy of a show as great as Dallas.
The way they ended the show now was crap. It's not worthy of a show as great as Dallas.
Spooky Owl!
Telly Talk Supreme
Too many fans think they want a "satisfying" and "happy" ending, even when they really wouldn't. If Pam suddenly returned home and was reunited with Bobby and Christopher, it would feel forced (and VP would never have done it) and would neutralize the impact of the mystery element involved in her disappearance.
But that's the funny thing about fan fiction: the male writers just blow things up, and the female writers want happy marital scenarios.
