Who shot Bobby? Cleverly executed homage or jaded and unoriginal?

[Mel O'Drama]

Entertainment This Week was a not a local program. It was a weekend edition of Entertainment Tonight (I don't think they make it any more). So it was an American show which happened to be broadcast on the same channel that had Dallas. Chances are they didn't even know that segment was in it that week.

Ah - that explains it. Thanks.

I don't think we had Entertainment Tonight in the UK during the Eighties. I certainly never encountered it. UK broadcasters were very selective back then when it came to airing imported TV series.

By the mid-Nineties, with Sky taking us from four TV channels to hundreds I have fond memories of ET as the show I used to watch regularly for Melrose Place teasers.

 

[Lastkidpicked]

What if they had only shown a glass of brandy falling on the floor? And then in the next (final) scene we see JR in bed with Someone…
"Who didn't shot JR Ewing?"

Maybe they could have given the others reasons to be in the Ewing Oil building (thus giving them the opportunity to take the bullets)

I like that idea a lot. Because it would be two cliff hangers in one:

Who did the shooting?
Who was shot?

 

[Lastkidpicked]

That's a good example of America (and Texas in particular) taking its grandness too far, and then it becomes jaw-droppingly tasteless.
In other words, it doesn't matter how you take it, as long as you notice it.

Here is the viewpoint on this from the city of Dallas:

Everything here is BIG. Just BIG! If I ask you what is the chief export of the state of Texas, what would you say?
Oil?
No, no, no. . .
Our chief export is sheer audaciousness. Where else would you see a 20 year old kid earning $ 30,000/ year buy a $ 60,000 truck, then spend $ 5,000 on oversized wheels and tires just so he could have the biggest truck in the neighborhood? You guessed it, Dallas Texas. And many of you have been through the cities of Houston and Dallas and you have seen this for yourselves.

If you have any doubts about how Texans insist on having the biggest of everything, guess the state that invented silicone breast implants.

You're welcome.

 

[Chris2]

I think the cliffhanger in Endgame was great and holds up well. As another poster mentioned: much better than the fire. With that one, we knew that it would end with everyone in peril, and that no important character would die. At least Endgame had some suspense to it.

I wish, after Bobby regained his sight, he had kept it a secret and pretended to be blind for awhile. If you’re going to go with a soap opera cliche, you might as well go all in.

 

[Seaviewer]

I don't think we had Entertainment Tonight in the UK during the Eighties.

I don't think the weekday edition was on here either then but I used to watch the weekend edition religiously. In those days it was much more about the shows themselves and not so much of the celebrity gossip they thrive on now.

 

[Monzo]

Was the fact that Katherine shot Bobby a big surprise at the time? Did many assume that after JR was shot by his sister-in-law it would be (when it comes to Bobby) his sister-in-law again or did some think it can't be that obvious? Storywise Katherine had burned all bridges at the end of season 7, so she could have (wanted to) shot JR or Bobby, it didn't matter.

Some viewers might have been smart enough that if they knew Morgan Brittany would be staring on a new show on a rival network this fall, there was no way she could have stayed with Dallas, so Katherine would be the obvious shooter.

How did Morgan Brittany actually end up on Glitter? Did she get the offer for Glitter and then left Dallas or was she informed that she would not be part of the next season and then joined Glitter?

Was there speculation in the summer of 1984 about who might have shot Bobby, or wasn't it a big deal? The revelation of JR's shooter had a 53.3 rating, Bobby's had only a 24.0 rating.

 

[Chris2]

By that time, the whole cliffhanger thing had less impact on US culture - nothing was a sensation like Who Shot JR. I don’t recall anyone I know really speculating who did it. For the series fans, it was more the idea that Bobby was shot - rather than JR - that was the surprise.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

I thought it was well written, well directed.
It had some extra impact because PD was already talking about leaving, and I believe he did not participate in the pre-season publicity photos.

 

[Toni]

Was the fact that Katherine shot Bobby a big surprise at the time? Did many assume that after JR was shot by his sister-in-law it would be (when it comes to Bobby) his sister-in-law again or did some think it can't be that obvious? Storywise Katherine had burned all bridges at the end of season 7, so she could have (wanted to) shot JR or Bobby, it didn't matter.

Some viewers might have been smart enough that if they knew Morgan Brittany would be staring on a new show on a rival network this fall, there was no way she could have stayed with Dallas, so Katherine would be the obvious shooter.

How did Morgan Brittany actually end up on Glitter? Did she get the offer for Glitter and then left Dallas or was she informed that she would not be part of the next season and then joined Glitter?

Was there speculation in the summer of 1984 about who might have shot Bobby, or wasn't it a big deal? The revelation of JR's shooter had a 53.3 rating, Bobby's had only a 24.0 rating.

My bestie Morgan told me in her interview...

I was actually filming both "Dallas" and "Glitter" at the same time. The two productions made a deal that I could appear on both. It was unprecedented at the time. No actor had ever been contracted to two tv shows on two different networks at the same time. Unfortunately, "Glitter" was scheduled in a time slot on Thursday night that put it up against "The Cosby Show" and "Magnum P.I.", both of which were ratings giants. We just got crushed by the competition. There were many good shows that season that got quickly canceled. It was called "ABC's bloodbath"! So I went back to "Dallas", ended up killing Bobby and having my first child.

So in theory Morgan could have managed to appear in both shows, whenever they worked around her pregnancy. Anyway, I think it was perfectly planned, though I never doubted that she did it! (If I hadn´t been spoiled a few years earlier, of course, and I knew she´d shoot Bobby the first time I watched her entrance in the show!)

https://sites.google.com/site/mundodallases2/exclusive-interviews/morgan-brittany?authuser=0

 

[Grangehill1]

Was the fact that Katherine shot Bobby a big surprise at the time? Did many assume that after JR was shot by his sister-in-law it would be (when it comes to Bobby) his sister-in-law again or did some think it can't be that obvious? Storywise Katherine had burned all bridges at the end of season 7, so she could have (wanted to) shot JR or Bobby, it didn't matter.

Some viewers might have been smart enough that if they knew Morgan Brittany would be staring on a new show on a rival network this fall, there was no way she could have stayed with Dallas, so Katherine would be the obvious shooter.

How did Morgan Brittany actually end up on Glitter? Did she get the offer for Glitter and then left Dallas or was she informed that she would not be part of the next season and then joined Glitter?

Was there speculation in the summer of 1984 about who might have shot Bobby, or wasn't it a big deal? The revelation of JR's shooter had a 53.3 rating, Bobby's had only a 24.0 rating.

It was a very big deal and it wasn’t obvious it was Katherine. I remember BBC Breakfast Time ran a poll the next day and Katherine came out on top. BUT … at school a lot of us thought it was Edgar Randolph.
I do remember when it was actually revealed it was Katherine, the disappointment as I knew she could no longer last as a regular character

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

It's never a good sign when a show starts duplicating its past. Especially a soap so successful, others actually duplicated its genre in prime time.

I find it amazing when I watch those episodes now that they just straight-up reused the footage from years earlier when JR was shot to open the season - the police car, the crowd, the stretcher, etc.

Of course people didn’t have streaming services and internet forums to pore over every detail back then, but unless this was some sort of wildly subtle high-concept artistic choice, it seems like an indication that they were getting cheap and lazy and starting to mail it in.

(now if they’d really gone for it and reused the screaming maid, my opinion would do a dramatic 180!)

 

[Chris2]

Oh they absolutely should have used the screaming lady again. Poor thing - traumatized twice. Perhaps a new job is in order?

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Dallas was no stranger to repeating it's story lines, and perhaps the most glaring example was Bobby's shooting in 'Endgame'. Even down to the killer being the sister-in-law who tried to frame a sibling she couldn't stand. The show was quite upfront about the fact that they were re-treading old ground, but served up a twist having Bobby be the victim and therefore left us not only wondering who was the killer, but also casting doubt over who was the intended victim.

What did you think of the story line? Do you think it was a good idea to emulate Dallas' all time most iconic story line so closely? Do you think they got away with it?

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They got away with it.

Bobby's shooting in the original run of the show was must see viewing.

Did I think it was a carbon copy of the shooting of JR? To be honest I never thought of the storyline of being that at all but I guess with hindsight it probably was. It certainly kept me on the edge of my seat.

Season eight was a great season leading up to Bobby and Pam getting back together before Katherine ran him down in that iconic car collision. It was one of the better seasons.

 

[Monzo]

Oh they absolutely should have used the screaming lady again. Poor thing - traumatized twice. Perhaps a new job is in order?

Should Audrey Landers have something to do in her final episode or what was the reason Afton found Bobby? I never understood why the police let Afton out of town. Maybe she would have wanted to shoot JR and called the police when she saw that she had hit Bobby. She would have had time after the call to hide the gun somewhere in the building. The police were very trustworthy of Afton.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Should Audrey Landers have something to do in her final episode or what was the reason Afton found Bobby? I never understood why the police let Afton out of town. Maybe she would have wanted to shoot JR and called the police when she saw that she had hit Bobby. She would have had time after the call to hide the gun somewhere in the building. The police were very trustworthy of Afton.

I guess she didn't seem suspicious to them. And they knew she was wanted on A CHORUS LINE, so they let her go.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

I guess she didn't seem suspicious to them. And they knew she was wanted on A CHORUS LINE, so they let her go.

I always figured there were lounge-goers in the DPD and in the prosecutor's office who correctly assumed that while Afton might encourage theft of a secret lover via back door or perhaps strangle the occasional Cole Porter tune, she'd never resort to shooting someone

 

[Seaviewer]

Did I think it was a carbon copy of the shooting of JR? To be honest I never thought of the storyline of being that at all but I guess with hindsight it probably was. It certainly kept me on the edge of my seat.

For the series fans, it was more the idea that Bobby was shot - rather than JR - that was the surprise.

I think it was an intentional carbon copy; set the viewers up to believe they'd seen it all before, then zap them with the twist.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

I think it was an intentional carbon copy; set the viewers up to believe they'd seen it all before, then zap them with the twist.

Yeah even I thought it was JR about to fall out the chair. I can remember being gobsmacked that it was Bobby. I certainly didn't see that coming!

 

[Grangehill1]

Yeah even I thought it was JR about to fall out the chair. I can remember being gobsmacked that it was Bobby. I certainly didn't see that coming!

When did you see it?

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

When did you see it?

On it's original transmission back in the 80's on BBC1 Northern Ireland. That seems like a lifetime ago now!