Just How Badly Run Was Ewing Oil?

[Jabari Lamar]

On a personal note, I don't mean to contradict the smart posters on here. You just hit on a subject that I see every day and love talking about it. And very much enjoy the back and forth. But I'll step out a bit and lot others have their say now.

No need, I loved your post, which you posted while I was writing mine. If I'd seen yours first I may not have bothered writing anything.

I'll just add that even if the Ewings didn't have better legal procedures in place for these sort of things in the beginning, I'd think they'd have starting implementing some after they almost lost Southfork because of J.R., to make sure no one person, even the President of the company, can make a decision that big on his or her own again.

But, of course, the real answer to this is that it's fiction, and "realism" isn't always very entertaining. Someone mention Empire, and yeah we could (and did) nitpick apart the way they show a major record label being run. Or ask an actual martial artist how realistic Cobra Kai is.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

interestingly, the time I can remember them showing a very realistic modern corporate-looking Ewing Oil staff meeting was during the Dream Season when Pam was working there. JR was leading something like a regularly-scheduled meeting of division heads in a conference room and Pam, having just learned of the meeeting’s existence, joined it in progress.

 

[Jabari Lamar]

interestingly, the time I can remember them showing a very realistic modern corporate-looking Ewing Oil staff meeting was during the Dream Season when Pam was working there. JR was leading something like a regularly-scheduled meeting of division heads in a conference room and Pam, having just learned of the meeting’s existence, joined it in progress.

Right, that's one of the scenes I was thinking about, when referring to other top execs who who should have been part of the series, and it's the kind of scene that should have been at least semi-regular on the show. I also remember an earlier scene when Bobby took over the company when J.R. was shot, he was meeting with some group of people in the office and saying something like if any of them don't feel like they can give him the same loyalty that they gave to J.R. when he was President then they're free to leave, indicating that these were important people in the company.

 

[Mustard]

J.R. dumping those Asian wells on the Cartel and Vaughn Leland is illegal, but only if the prosecution can prove that J.R. definitely knew that about the revolution in South Asia and that those wells would be imminently worthless. I don't think Hank Johnson will be squealing, somehow.

 

[DallasFanForever]

I’m trying to figure out the math on how Larry came up with that $2 billion as the amount that J.R. lost. If the fine from the justice department was 2 billion alone that would mean up until that point Ewing Oil would’ve only broken even all those years? And what about the years after that when Ewing Oil was back in business? Or was this just a number Larry would throw out there tongue in cheek over the years?

 

[Jabari Lamar]

I’m trying to figure out the math on how Larry came up with that $2 billion as the amount that J.R. lost. If the fine from the justice department was 2 billion alone that would mean up until that point Ewing Oil would’ve only broken even all those years? And what about the years after that when Ewing Oil was back in business? Or was this just a number Larry would throw out there tongue in cheek over the years?

I don't think if he thought of it that deeply. The series, both original and CBS, was often unclear and contradictory in terms how much everyone supposedly had. Exact terms were rare. The show began with the Ewings "millionaires." That first-season episode where criminals were planning to kidnap J.R. for ransom, but ended up grabbing Bobby instead, they estimated J.R.'s networth at $200 million. Where did they get that figure? And if he was worth that, Bobby must be around that amount too, and Jock had to have even more. When J.R.'s Asian oil fields deal went through he said it made them all "billionaires." What exactly did that mean? Ewing Oil was still a private company, 100% owned by Jock, how did they break down profit-sharing? IIRC when Jock died he left each of his son's $30 million, so that's $120 million that had in cash at the time of his death, with the rest of his wealth tied up in Ewing Oil assets, which divided between the rest of the family. And then later they were fined $2 billion by the Feds. I think that's the last I ever recall of exact dollar figures being mentioned in regards to their wealth.

 

[Miss Texas 1967]

I’m trying to figure out the math on how Larry came up with that $2 billion as the amount that J.R. lost. If the fine from the justice department was 2 billion alone that would mean up until that point Ewing Oil would’ve only broken even all those years? And what about the years after that when Ewing Oil was back in business? Or was this just a number Larry would throw out there tongue in cheek over the years?

I was just about to ask this. Has anyone actually tried doing the calculations? I get the feeling that a lot of the time in the show they make up numbers in relation to what is happening at that moment rather than bigger picture keeping a bottom line of who was worth what and how/when those figures changed.
Larry may have done a rough calculation but surely that could then be replicated? Unless it was an off the cuff remark not meant to be taken seriously and instead meant to indicate JR was a risk taker and overall it might not have actually paid off.

 

[Billy Wall]

I don't think if he thought of it that deeply. The series, both original and CBS, was often unclear and contradictory in terms how much everyone supposedly had. Exact terms were rare. The show began with the Ewings "millionaires." That first-season episode where criminals were planning to kidnap J.R. for ransom, but ended up grabbing Bobby instead, they estimated J.R.'s networth at $200 million. Where did they get that figure? And if he was worth that, Bobby must be around that amount too, and Jock had to have even more. When J.R.'s Asian oil fields deal went through he said it made them all "billionaires." What exactly did that mean? Ewing Oil was still a private company, 100% owned by Jock, how did they break down profit-sharing? IIRC when Jock died he left each of his son's $30 million, so that's $120 million that had in cash at the time of his death, with the rest of his wealth tied up in Ewing Oil assets, which divided between the rest of the family. And then later they were fined $2 billion by the Feds. I think that's the last I ever recall of exact dollar figures being mentioned in regards to their wealth.

I agree with everything but Bobby being worth as much as JR in the early seasons. No way was Bobby making as much as JR as the Ewing Oil Road man when JR was the president.

 

[Jabari Lamar]

I was just about to ask this. Has anyone actually tried doing the calculations? I get the feeling that a lot of the time in the show they make up numbers in relation to what is happening at that moment rather than bigger picture keeping a bottom line of who was worth what and how/when those figures changed.
Larry may have done a rough calculation but surely that could then be replicated? Unless it was an off the cuff remark not meant to be taken seriously and instead meant to indicate JR was a risk taker and overall it might not have actually paid off.

I recall reading some article or interview on some Dallas fansite during the TNT show where they spoke to some oil expert who estimated that the 2 billion barrels of oil that they claimed to have under Southfork would be worth $200 billion. This would have made The Ewings the richest family in the world at the time, even beating the Waltons of Walmart combined.

But then in the aftermath of J.R.'s death they couldn't even afford the, I think it was $200 million fine that the government levied on them for that explosion that Cliff secretly caused. And in the end of season 3 Bobby and Sue Ellen had to get a loan from Carlos Del Sol to buy back Ewing Global from the government. So, yeah, it was inconsistent, basically they had however much money they needed to have until a particular storyline required them to not have enough money.

But I really think that $2 billion figure Larry cited comes from the losing Ewing Oil storyline. They were fined $2 billion because of J.R.'s scheme so he says he "lost $2 billion."

 

[Jabari Lamar]

I agree with everything but Bobby being worth as much as JR in the early seasons. No way was Bobby making as much as JR as the Ewing Oil Road man when JR was the president.

I said around that amount, I'm thinking like $100-$150 million?

 

[Rove]

But in 2021, a company with the profits of Ewing Oil is not likely to be an independent oil company. The oil business now is not the oil business of the 1970s and 1980s, and Ewing Oil were under pressure from the likes of West Star Oil even in the 1980s. It would be far harder to resist them today.

I had hopes TNT Dallas would focus on this rather than the silly nonsense the writers dished up. Although not everyone's cup of tea I liked the business aspect of Dallas and really enjoyed how Lorimar Dallas mixed business with pleasure, though as you said, in 2021 things would be quite different for Ewing Oil...or should we be calling it Ewing Energies? Isn't Ewing Oil now a subsidiary of Ewing Energies? As Christopher rightly pointed out to John Ross, "Oil 's the past...."

 

[the-lost-son]

There is a scene in TNT Dallas. JR wants to bring muffins to the secretaries and making a remark like „who knew so many of of them turned out to be men. Where is the fun in that?“ They got that right, different times.

I like all the scenes (classic and TNT Dallas) when JR/John Ross are sitting in their offices late at night drinking hard liquor. But it‘s hilarious that they are always drinking in the dark with most lights off. Maybe they knew the world will run out of oil at one point, so better start saving.

 

[DallasFanForever]

I always liked those nighttime scenes when the offices were darkened as well. That atmosphere usually signaled something serious was about to happen.

 

[Jabari Lamar]

I had hopes TNT Dallas would focus on this rather than the silly nonsense the writers dished up. Although not everyone's cup of tea I liked the business aspect of Dallas and really enjoyed how Lorimar Dallas mixed business with pleasure, though as you said, in 2021 things would be quite different for Ewing Oil...or should we be calling it Ewing Energies? Isn't Ewing Oil now a subsidiary of Ewing Energies? As Christopher rightly pointed out to John Ross, "Oil 's the past...."

I also liked the business aspects of Dallas, and suspect that most fans of the original did too. That was a major part of the series, as the saying went, "bedrooms and boardrooms" (or was it the other way around?). I also liked the update to Ewing Energies, and the new logo they designed for it (didn't like Ewing Global, that sounded like a travel agency), and that is more realistic. Perhaps Ewing Oil would have been the name of a subsidiary, but the company would be way bigger than just an oil company these days. My real-world comparison was the Koch brothers, Koch Industries began as an oil company founded by one man but today is a multinational corporation involved in many different businesses and is still privately owned and ran by his heirs.

 

[stevew]

I also liked the business aspects of Dallas, and suspect that most fans of the original did too. That was a major part of the series, as the saying went, "bedrooms and boardrooms" (or was it the other way around?). I also liked the update to Ewing Energies, and the new logo they designed for it (didn't like Ewing Global, that sounded like a travel agency), and that is more realistic. Perhaps Ewing Oil would have been the name of a subsidiary, but the company would be way bigger than just an oil company these days. My real-world comparison was the Koch brothers, Koch Industries began as an oil company founded by one man but today is a multinational corporation involved in many different businesses and is still privately owned and ran by his heirs.

And the family fighting among the Koch brothers is some what like Dallas itself. They also have a non-family owner with a dramatic story of his own. Certainly what I would have based Dallas TNT off of. The idea that the Ewing's were dead broke was crazy. As I've said before, I loved the business stories, but like I've heard from many doctors and nurses about medical drama's, the divergence from any sort of reality always lessened the drama for me.

My problem with TNT was that we were suppose to take the story as they told us, not as they showed us. We saw in the original that Jock was in charge, even if removing $10 million from Ewing Oil would have required reporting and taxes or some other scheme to keep the money in the company but invested in a new venture - at least we saw Jock in charge. In TNT we're told Sue Ellen is a good business woman, then she loans Elena money and John Ross has to argue with her that she needs to be paid back. I'm suppose to believe that's a good business woman? Bobby is suppose to be the good guy, only doing wrong if he has to, and he uses his own nephew to pimp him out for a deal - that's the good guy forced to be bad? Jock was a good business man. We saw it . The day before the loan came due I'd expect him in his lawyers office saying, "Handle this. No one cheats me." As for the business deal, Jock says, "Find some handsome stud on the ranch and offer him a few bucks to help us out with the lady." Not that Jock would have been opposed to letting Elena hang herself or letting JR whore himself out. But what we saw was what we got, even if the story didn't always make since in a real world. In TNT we got told one thing and then witnessed another.

As for the oil on South Fork, I've said it before and I'll say it again: In 2008 crude reached almost a 150 a barrel. Do the math for the amount of oil they said was under the ground. These people were beyond rich.

 

[Jabari Lamar]

And the family fighting among the Koch brothers is some what like Dallas itself.

Right, there were four sons of the founder of Koch Industries, but two of them split off from the others and went into other businesses while the other two remained and ran the company together while also getting heavily involved in politics. Definitely sounds very Ewing-like. The Bass family, the great-nephews of legendary oil-man Sid Richardson are also another real-life family that I'd point to as inspiration for the Ewings.

They also have a non-family owner with a dramatic story of his own.

You mean that old dude who married Anna Nicole Smith? Yeah, that story could fill a whole separate soap opera by itself.

 

[stevew]

Right, there were four sons of the founder of Koch Industries, but two of them split off from the others and went into other businesses while the other two remained and ran the company together while also getting heavily involved in politics. Definitely sounds very Ewing-like. The Bass family, the great-nephews of legendary oil-man Sid Richardson are also another real-life family that I'd point to as inspiration for the Ewings.

You mean that old dude who married Anna Nicole Smith? Yeah, that story could fill a whole separate soap opera by itself.

I thought going forward such an inspiration would have worked as a great template. With Carlos DelSol ending up in the Howard Marshall role. I heard much of J.R. was as a business man was inspired by J. L. Hunt and I always got a J. Paul Getty feeling from Wendell. Truth is stranger that fiction and I think it's always a good idea to look at those real characters when attempting to write fiction. Interesting none of the Koch brothers ended up broke either, but I guess for drama some writers just want to go for broke when they're creating a story.

 

[stevew]

Ewing Oil was a multi-million dollar company and at one point JR even claimed it was worth over $1 billion yet is seemed to be run with the same level of professionalism as a family Five and Dime store.

For a company of that size, why didn't it have a board of directors? Where was the director of finance or a director in charge of explorations, research or strategy? Even Barnes Wentworth had a director of finance in the shape of Leo Wakefield.

The company should have had a better structure: Jock could have been the Chairman, JR the Chief Executive Office and Bobby the Chief Operating Officer. Instead, the company was totally without structure and JR and Bobby just did ad hoc deals on a whim.

It had the kind of structure that could work in the days of using a drunk's nose to sniff out oil but in the high powered business world of the 1980s it would have been a poor way to set up a company to run successfully.

Well said.

 

[stevew]

Would you like to hear something surprising about that?

Even in the year 2021, we STILL see this in Texas once in a while. Here is how the conversation goes at my job:

My Boss: Wade Luce died last week, so I don't know what will happen with these contracts.

Me: What do you mean? Luce Oil Company is HUGE. Surely they have a plan in place.

Boss: I heard Wade was still keeping the books on yellow pads in his old office. Nobody knows if they can untangle everything.

Me: But they own all that land. And all that equipment. Surely there is some structure in place.

Boss: Wade was still running the show and they don't even know who is in charge right now. So keep doing what you're doing, but don't spend any money that you don't have to on the Luce projects, because we might never get paid for those.

Me: I wonder if I can still return those new boots I just bought?

I'm not surprised but on Dallas they even skirted some legal issues in how they ran things, but then again they did pay for it time and again. If you've got the cash follow, within the law, you can do a lot, and even skirt the law for a long time. What I found funny was the family putting up with things. Here's the story if I were Lucy, Bobby, Ray, etc.

"JR, right me out a a check and you can do anything you want with the company. I'm out."

 

[stevew]

I agree with everything’s that been said so far but I think the show would’ve been a lot more boring without J.R. wheeling and dealing and being held accountable to a board of directors. And the fights with Bobby over all their decisions wouldn’t have happened as often either. I’ll take the dysfunctional mess that Ewing Oil was, thank you!

I see what you're saying but I disagree - I think it could have been just as interesting, just a lot more work for the writers. Having a board doesn't stop anything. Could make it a bit more complicated. Jock holds a board meeting and moves money around at Ewing Oil without Bobby knowing - can hold a meeting with everyone else there but him and have a quorum. Just adds a level of complexity, doesn't take away from the drama. Jock didn't just need to "take" the money but it could be those people listen to me, because they know "Ewing Oil is mine!" Henry Ford II didn't have any trouble with Lee Iacocca in the way and his family (not him but the entire family) only owned 5% of the company. Now they only own 2% and they still run the place. It can add to the drama. The issue could be trying not to get over complicated so you leave stuff unsaid but inferred. But with Dallas I think it was just easier for the writers not to worry about the those details most didn't know anyway. Like writing a medical drama without a doctor to consult.