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What was the purpose of Mandy returning at the end of season 10? She’d already left in a very good way (twice if you count the dream season). What was the point of bringing her back?
Why did Mandy return?
- Thread starter Grangehill1
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Maybe Deborah Shelton was under contract until the end of the season. If she was, I guess they'd rather use her than pay her to sit at home.
I don't know why they didn't keep her. They already knew they were losing Victoria Principal. Why would they let their two best looking actresses go at the same time? Dallas took a fairly big hit in their ratings the next season. I think people were getting tired of seeing Sue Ellen married to JR.. They'd have them break up and get back together so many times that I doubt I was the only one thinking "Why are doing this again?" They could have made things more interesting if they'd had JR marry Mandy and have Sue Ellen finally marry Dusty. It would have given the show a fresh dynamic from which they could have new stories instead of watching JR and Sue Ellen continually break up and make up. They eventually had Sue Ellen leave JR the next season anyway so I don't know what they were waiting for. Did they think Cally made a better wife for JR than Mandy would have? I don't know what they were thinking having JR marry Cally.
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Having Sue Ellen plot to bring down by JR after finding him with Kimberly Cryder instead of falling apart felt exciting and new. It was a variation they hadn't tried before.
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But does that really sound very interesting to you?
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Because she came and she gave without taking, but he sent her away... Oh Mandy.
Only if the moved to Knots Landing.
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Part of the problem was that Sue Ellen’s rehabilitation stretched credulity. Her transformation from the morose Tennessee Williams styled neurotic to empire building ball buster was often engaging, but seemed to overcompensate for the lush years.
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not as interesting as if Sue Ellen married Mandy and JR married Dusty
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Relatively speaking, yes. Compared to seeing Cally and JR, and seeing Sue Ellen and Don Lockwood, I'd much rather they had gone with Mandy for JR and Dusty for Sue Ellen.
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Here's a German newspaper article from back then claiming that Mandy returned towards the end of the season due to viewer protests.
I don't know if US viewers were surprised by Mandy's departure or if it had been announced some time beforehand. If so, there might indeed have been a large number of protest letters, leading to Mandy's visit at the end of the season. I think they initially kept it a visit and didn't make it a permanent return because they didn't know what would happen to Victoria Principal. If Victoria had actually accepted the offer for season 11, how would that have been possible with the entire season 11 budget? Also, I don't know how far along the planning for season 11 was at the end of season 10. To be honest, it seems to me that they weren't even thinking about the next season when season 10 ended. But maybe the Weststar/Kimberly storyline was already in the works, and Mandy wouldn't have fit into that. Nevertheless, it seems Mandy's story wasn't quite over yet, as an article in a German magazine previewing season 11 suggested a possible comeback for Deborah Shelton later in the season.
I wouldn't have minded if Mandy returned in season 12 after Sue Ellen shot J.R. J.R. and Mandy would have been a couple again, but I would have kept Cally's journey, so Mandy's heart would have been broken when Cally showed up in Dallas as JR's wife. By then, Mandy's younger brother could have appeared as a love interest for Lucy. After Mandy experienced heartbreak again because of J.R., Dallas would have gotten its own version of Beauty and the Beast when Mandy fell in love with Carter McKay.
I don't know if US viewers were surprised by Mandy's departure or if it had been announced some time beforehand. If so, there might indeed have been a large number of protest letters, leading to Mandy's visit at the end of the season. I think they initially kept it a visit and didn't make it a permanent return because they didn't know what would happen to Victoria Principal. If Victoria had actually accepted the offer for season 11, how would that have been possible with the entire season 11 budget? Also, I don't know how far along the planning for season 11 was at the end of season 10. To be honest, it seems to me that they weren't even thinking about the next season when season 10 ended. But maybe the Weststar/Kimberly storyline was already in the works, and Mandy wouldn't have fit into that. Nevertheless, it seems Mandy's story wasn't quite over yet, as an article in a German magazine previewing season 11 suggested a possible comeback for Deborah Shelton later in the season.
I wouldn't have minded if Mandy returned in season 12 after Sue Ellen shot J.R. J.R. and Mandy would have been a couple again, but I would have kept Cally's journey, so Mandy's heart would have been broken when Cally showed up in Dallas as JR's wife. By then, Mandy's younger brother could have appeared as a love interest for Lucy. After Mandy experienced heartbreak again because of J.R., Dallas would have gotten its own version of Beauty and the Beast when Mandy fell in love with Carter McKay.
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Mandy returned because Mr Katzman wanted her back!
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At the end of Season 10, there was a threat of another Hollywood strike, so there was no summer hiatus that year. Not too long after Pam´s accident scene, the cast and crew returned to Dallas to film the first round of exteriors for the following season (in "Falcon Crest" it was even more obvious: the final scene of their 6th scene was filmed immediately prior to the beginning of the next season (and after quick contract negotiations).)
Also, David Paulsen was at the helm of the "Dallas" writing team, so he very likely had in mind the whole Kimberly Cryder saga when Wendell bought Ewing Oil at the end of Season 10. It´s quite public that he had a knack for overseeing and structuring perfectly the show´s seasonal bible, thus giving it a more literary approach (Season 6 being his finest contribution with the fight for Ewing Oil).
Check out the female hairdos of the actresses left: Linda and Barbara look the same as in the Season 10 Finale. We all know that didn´t often happen... There is also the theory (from National Enquirer, no less) stating that most storylines of that Season 11 didn´t include the ensemble cast: every main character had their own isolated plot (except for J.R., who was in everybody else´s too). Rumors say that that specific way of writing would have allowed to bring back Pam if Victoria had accepted the umpteenth offer by the producers, and that "principal" problem would have been solved.
I´m not quite sure of this last paragraph because of its sources, but it partly rang true for me. Why else there were so many insipid, third-rate supporting actors? Because that year, only Jack Scalia and Leigh Taylor-Young earned their pay, the others seemed to be expendable fillers. Bonsai-Girl? Lisa Alden? Casey Denault? Fake Digger? None of those were truly meaningful or necessary to the plot.
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I do can see Mandy in the latter years of the show, instead of you-know-which curly blond... In my fanfics, she works for Carter McKay to wheel and deal for WestStar...