Would Victoria Have Stayed 1 More Season If She Hadn't Been Misled About Pam Dying In The Accident?

KayLloyd

Telly Talk Well-Known Member
LV
0
 
Messages
575
Reaction score
913
Awards
4
Location
United States
I've always wondered if Victoria would have made the decision to stay for 1 more season if Katzman had been honest with her that he had no intension of killing Pam off when she leaves the show. My guess is that that she would have negotiated for some form of closure storyline in her final season that both she and fans could live with.
 

Rove

Telly Talk Champion
LV
0
 
Messages
4,774
Reaction score
7,891
Awards
5
Location
Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
Difficult one. My understanding is Victoria had more or less given the producers 2 years notice of her impending departure from Dallas. She has stated in interviews if she had accepted the producers generous pay rise offer it would have made her the highest paid actress on American television. Clearly this wasn't about money. She felt her time on Dallas was done (and the best years of Dallas was behind her) and wished to spread her wings in other projects. I don't blame her one bit for wishing to try new things.

217a1f96781e5eb445c3be8cf7749d58.jpg
Even with the return of Patrick it would appear Victoria had still made the decision to leave. Why else would the writers/producers create such a dramatic end to a character. With the truck driver running for the hills and no services nearby I would expect no person would have survived that horrific crash. And with that Victoria thought the character of Pam was done, toasted (pun intended) :p
 

pete lashmar

Telly Talk Addict
LV
4
 
Messages
1,095
Reaction score
2,463
Awards
6
Location
Portugal
To be honest, like the majority of the cast, they are know for their roles in Dallas, including VP. However VP's career since has been the most successful and varied.
 

tommie

Telly Talk Hero
LV
3
 
Messages
6,121
Reaction score
8,654
Awards
9
Location
Sweden
Member Since
I dunno
In all honesty, I don't get why they didn't make more of her exit - I mean, did we ever find out why the car malfunctioned suddenly? Whose oil tanker was it that she crashed into? I know they wanted a symbolism with Pam leaving in the car she arrived in, but it just seems like there should've been more to it, especially with Krazy Katherine randomly showing up. Having the oil tanker somehow related to one of JRs shananigans would've also added some weight to the story.
 

Mel O'Drama

Admin
LV
12
 
Messages
13,298
Solutions
1
Reaction score
27,036
Awards
29
Member Since
28th September 2008
I've always wondered if Victoria would have made the decision to stay for 1 more season if Katzman had been honest with her that he had no intension of killing Pam off when she leaves the show.

If anything I should think that would have reinforced that her decision to leave at that point was the right one. Telling her outright they couldn't give the character a clean and satisfying ending with that much notice would make it clear in which direction the show was heading.


In all honesty, I don't get why they didn't make more of her exit - I mean, did we ever find out why the car malfunctioned suddenly? Whose oil tanker was it that she crashed into?

With Jock's exit storyline Dallas had already done this really well and it could have worked for Pam if done equally well.

Personally, though, I'd favour the less is more approach with Pam's exit and would be happy for it to be exactly what it appeared: a tragic accident that cut short a life. That way the storylines that came from it would be character driven and about the remaining characters' responses to Pam's death and the impact she had on their lives (and in turn the series).

Admittedly, my perspective is tainted with the knowledge that things really went wrong when the series did attempt to make more of her exit, and did so very badly.
 

Rove

Telly Talk Champion
LV
0
 
Messages
4,774
Reaction score
7,891
Awards
5
Location
Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
Personally, though, I'd favour the less is more approach with Pam's exit and would be happy for it to be exactly what it appeared: a tragic accident that cut short a life.
Just as Pam receives the NEWS she can carry a baby full term and the prospect of our Romeo & Juliet living happily ever after, it's tragically taken away. I liked your idea of less is more approach. But the following season it would appear the producers prospects of having a foot in both camps was more novel. "What if Victoria, like Patrick, realizes she made a terrible decision then wishes to return?" They clearly didn't wish to go through that horrid scenario again. What they created instead was one fine mess. A mess that was finally given closure during TNT Dallas.
 

tommie

Telly Talk Hero
LV
3
 
Messages
6,121
Reaction score
8,654
Awards
9
Location
Sweden
Member Since
I dunno
Just as Pam receives the NEWS she can carry a baby full term and the prospect of our Romeo & Juliet living happily ever after, it's tragically taken away. I liked your idea of less is more approach. But the following season it would appear the producers prospects of having a foot in both camps was more novel. "What if Victoria, like Patrick, realizes she made a terrible decision then wishes to return?" They clearly didn't wish to go through that horrid scenario again. What they created instead was one fine mess. A mess that was finally given closure during TNT Dallas.

Yeah, I think the better scenario would've been Pam finally fed up with their BS just driving away with Christopher and away from Dallas. Christopher would've been at Southfork now and again and Pam would've been alive off screen. It was obvious they didn't have the guts to kill her off so just let Pam be.
 

Rove

Telly Talk Champion
LV
0
 
Messages
4,774
Reaction score
7,891
Awards
5
Location
Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
It was obvious they didn't have the guts to kill her off so just let Pam be.
Pam's treatment from the writers/producers certainly wasn't palatable to the fans. How else do we explain Leonard Katzman's dire need to offer some form of closure to the character by hiring Margaret Michaels? It still didn't work. Why not just stick with the premise Katherine may - or may not - have had something to do with Pam's disappearance.
 

TJames03

Banned
LV
0
 
Messages
1,902
Reaction score
780
Awards
4
Location
California
The only good part of her exit was the undeniable fact that tragedy can occur at any time without warning.
 

ArchieLucasCarringtonEwing1989

Telly Talk TV Fanatic
LV
0
 
Messages
1,400
Reaction score
1,769
Awards
5
Location
London
Member Since
22nd June 2010
TPTB wrote themselves into a corner, they had just reunited the show's golden couple, however, VP had given the top brass prior warning that she would be leaving, this was in 1985 and she left in 1987, they had two years to plan out her exit, what I don't think they counted on was Patrick Duffy returning after Bobby was killed off, which did throw a spanner in the works, my guess is that had Bobby stayed dead, Pam probably would've left Dallas with Christopher and carried on living off screen.

I guess they couldn't have Bobby or Pam cheat or meet someone else in order to break up the golden couple so maiming Pam in a massive car accident was their only way.

But given recent mishaps in the show, they couldn't recast the role immediately nor could they outright kill off Pam, TPTB were afraid of both options.

Perhaps they should've had Bobby cheat with Jenna and Pam finds out and she leaves Dallas, while Christopher makes occasional appearances, Pam however could leave Dallas pregnant with Bobby's baby.
 

markymark

Soap Chat Active Member
LV
0
 
Messages
39
Reaction score
34
Member Since
2009
Do we know Victoria was lied to??

Well she has stated that she felt the fiery death crash was a perfect full stop to her character. And she was horrified to see the mummy appear in the next season.
 
Last edited:

Seaviewer

Telly Talk Champion
LV
7
 
Messages
4,862
Reaction score
8,447
Awards
16
Location
Australia
Member Since
14 September 2001
Pam receives the NEWS she can carry a baby full term
I've always wondered why they made a point of saying this. It seems like they were planting seeds for a future storyline that was never going to happen unless they could talk Victoria into coming back.
 

tommie

Telly Talk Hero
LV
3
 
Messages
6,121
Reaction score
8,654
Awards
9
Location
Sweden
Member Since
I dunno
I've always wondered why they made a point of saying this. It seems like they were planting seeds for a future storyline that was never going to happen unless they could talk Victoria into coming back.

I think they just wanted to make her ending more tragic - ie finally she can have all that she wanted. Boom! She's dead.
 

pete lashmar

Telly Talk Addict
LV
4
 
Messages
1,095
Reaction score
2,463
Awards
6
Location
Portugal
Well she has stated that she felt the fiery death crash was a perfect full stop to her character. And she was horrified to see the mummy appear in the next season.

She never watched the show after she left - she was told though (and so aware) of the mummy in the following season and felt the writers had mid-led the viewers.
 

TJames03

Banned
LV
0
 
Messages
1,902
Reaction score
780
Awards
4
Location
California
If I were VP, the entire script RE: Pam's car crash would have raised suspicions. I would have immediately suspected that Pam's fiery would bring in a new actress to play her RE: plastic surgery. I think that was the producers ultimate goal, but they realized it wouldn't work.
 

Chris2

Telly Talk TV Fanatic
LV
0
 
Messages
1,453
Reaction score
4,150
Awards
5
Location
United States
Pam's car didn't malfunction! She wasn't paying attention because she was too busy on the car phone, having phone sex with Bobby. So she plowed into the truck

I never bought Victoria's after-the-fact "I gave them two years notice" excuse. If that were the case, she wouldn't have been actively negotiating a new contract, as was reported by multiple sources at the time. And the producers wouldn't have had Bobby and Pam remarry, which left them in a tough spot, story-wise, when she left. It was also reported that Victoria was originally written into the early episodes of the 1987-88 season, and the writers had to "take her out", when negotiations "hit a snag". The initial episodes of 87-88 were filmed earlier than usual due to fears of a writers strike. I do believe she was done creatively with the show, but she was willing to return if she got a LOT more money (I suspect salary parity with Duffy, who got a big raise to return). They offered her more, but not enough.

If the producers truly knew that much ahead of time that Victoria was leaving, they could have had her call off the wedding after finding out about Jenna's pregnancy. The rest of the season could have been about both of them trying to work through that, but not being able to.
 
Last edited:

Snarky Oracle!

Telly Talk Supreme
LV
4
 
Messages
15,103
Reaction score
1,273
Awards
13
Location
USA
She never watched the show after she left -
Yeah. Uh huh.

Pam's car didn't malfunction! She wasn't paying attention because she was too busy on the car phone, having phone sex with Bobby. So she plowed into the truck

I never bought Victoria's after-the-fact "I gave them two years notice" excuse. If that were the case, she wouldn't have been actively negotiating a new contract, as was reported by multiple sources at the time. And the producers wouldn't have had Bobby and Pam remarry, which left them in a tough spot, story-wise, when she left. It was also reported that Victoria was originally written into the early episodes of the 1987-88 season, and the writers had to "take her out", when negotiations "hit a snag". The initial episodes of 87-88 were filmed earlier than usual due to fears of a writers strike. I do believe she was done creatively with the show, but she was willing to return if she got a LOT more money (I suspect salary parity with Duffy, who got a big raise to return). They offered her more, but not enough.
Pretty much, yes.

Victoria apparently asked for parity with Duffy, and while they offered her a ton, they wouldn't give her that. Lorimar said "her demands were very high" and that she was only willing to return for one more year and they were asking for two.

Principal then said publicly that CBS and Lorimar "have always been very generous with me" upon exiting.

I think she made the right choice, given where the show was headed. And I doubt she was misled about Pam's crash.
 
Top