Dallas Character Lamest Dallas Character Ever

[Barbara Fan]

I dont include anyone from the final season as I dont consider it Dallas and just about everyone was awol there

from main cast April - dreadful character and bad acting
laurel Ellis - more wooden than the Bonsais and james beaumont another newbie from dallas the dire years

 

[Chris2]

Peedur. Definitely Peedur. He was just a lame attempt to bring in younger viewers by casting a flavor-of-the-month.

Honorable mention: Leslie Stewart. Susan Flannery was a very good actress, and an attractive woman. But she seemed way out of place on the show (she would have been a better fit on Dynasty) and she had a terrible hairdo/color that aged her 15 years (she was 41 at the time).

 

[Kenny Coyote]

Peedur. Definitely Peedur. He was just a lame attempt to bring in younger viewers by casting a flavor-of-the-month.

Honorable mention: Leslie Stewart. Susan Flannery was a very good actress, and an attractive woman. But she seemed way out of place on the show (she would have been a better fit on Dynasty) and she had a terrible hairdo/color that aged her 15 years (she was 41 at the time).

She also had a personality that was about as colorful as her hair (the character - not the actress). I cannot find anything about her personality that is even a little bit attractive. JR seemed so desperate to get her in bed that I wondered "why her"? She certainly wasn't another Holly Harwood (who Larry Hagman said out of the women that JR had affairs with, Larry thought Holly Harwood was the sexiest one).

"Peedur"? I've been a member of this board for a lot of years and I know you're not the only one who spells his name that way. Several people have spelled it that way so I figure there must be a joke as to why his name gets spelled that way. Could someone let me know what it is?

The character Peter was bad enough, the casting was as well because they chose the youngest looking adult male they could have found which exaggerated the age difference even more. But then they gave him those tiny little clothes to wear. Was it a practical joke at the actor's expense that he had to dress in clothes that were barely big enough for John Ross to wear?

laurel Ellis - more wooden than the Bonsais and james beaumont another newbie from dallas the dire years

I've noticed that people whose favorite character is Pam usually intensely dislike every single woman that Bobby ever dated. . No matter how different Jenna is from April or how different April is from the Pam look-alike who was a real estate agent, since they all at some point in time received affection or even love from Bobby, they all get hated. Any woman who is potential competition for Pam becomes hated or at least disliked.

People whose favorite character is Sue Ellen usually hate Mandy and Holly. Sue Ellen chose to be friends with Cally; otherwise Cally would be hated just as much.

So I'm not at all surprised that you don't like Laurel.

I'm almost indifferent towards Laurel. She wasn't interesting enough or played by a good enough actress for me to like her a lot, but she was such a nice, kind hearted young lady who genuinely felt bad that Clayton got into trouble with Miss Ellie for being friends with Laurel, that I can't help but like her at least a little bit.

 

[Angela Channing]

I found seeing a woman of that age with a kid Peter's age somewhat perverse. I really don't know what they were thinking. I don't know who they thought that would appeal to.

The age difference between Sue Ellen and Peter couldn't have been that much different to that between JR and Kristin. If it's acceptable for JR to be with a much younger woman then why shouldn't Sue Ellen have a much younger man?

I actually liked the idea of Sue Ellen and Peter having an affair although I would have preferred it had she been the one who pursued him instead of it being the other way around.

 

[Angela Channing]

Charlie is missing from this list?

Yes, Charlie would have been on my list. Ghastly character and ghastly acted. I would also say the same for Alex Barton, just complete yuk!

 

[Angela Channing]

I've noticed that people whose favorite character is Pam usually intensely dislike every single woman that Bobby ever dated. . No matter how different Jenna is from April or how different April is from the Pam look-alike who was a real estate agent, since they all at some point in time received affection or even love from Bobby, they all get hated. Any woman who is potential competition for Pam becomes hated or at least disliked.

That's an interesting observation but I don't agree.

I always qualify my dislike for Jenna by referring to Prissy Presley's version of Jenna. I really like Morgan Fairchild in the role and had she returned to play the part instead of bringing in Elvis's ex-wife, I think she would have made a fascinating wife for Bobby. I kind of liked Francine Tacker in the role too. Prissy just didn't have the acting ability to make Jenna likeable or bitchy, she was just bland, annoying and unconvincing. So for me, it's nothing to do with Jenna being a rival for Pam's attention and everything to do with the lame casting.

 

[Toni]

To be honest, I completed a previous ten candidates list right away, and decided to add 5 more that practically begged to be in the list. However, I clicked to go backwards and sadly my list was deleted though not the post itself. So a lot of those who you mentioned above really are there in spirit, so to say. We could do a part 2 with the other bunch of lamies and then another one to decide which is the lamest of all. Would James win this list?

:brick: Me regretting to forget Charlie!

 

[Toni]

That's an interesting observation but I don't agree.

I always qualify my dislike for Jenna by referring to Prissy Presley's version of Jenna. I really like Morgan Fairchild in the role and had she returned to play the part instead of bringing in Elvis's ex-wife, I think she would have made a fascinating wife for Bobby. I kind of liked Francine Tacker in the role too. Prissy just didn't have the acting ability to make Jenna likeable or bitchy, she was just bland, annoying and unconvincing. So for me, it's nothing to do with Jenna being a rival for Pam's attention and everything to do with the lame casting.

I agree with you Mrs. Channing. I didn´t want Jenna to be run over by Katherine just because she was Pam´s rival for Bobby´s affections. I just wanted to see the whiney domineering pretentious Jenna-Presley to be erased from the surface of the Soap Earth. It didn´t add anything to the show, it was like hiring one of the Kardashians to play Alexis in WC Dienasty. A proof of tackiness. Even so, I could stand her in her first season, when she still had the strength to face Katherine.

This didn´t happen to me with Bobby´s other "fans": I liked Tracy Lawton even if she was a recycled Pam. I didn´t mind Kay the political girl... if she had been played by Jaclyn Smith, or course. The Bo Derek umpteenth double and the Pam double were quite pathetic to be honest. And about April, I didn´t mind Sheree´s voice, for instance. But even in the beginning she was a wishy-washy villain, and then a wishy-washy two-good shoes. I couldn´t bear any of her incarnations. April was awfully written and played much worse. She moved like a robot and no sense of glamour. There was no mystery or fascination about her. No personality and the biggest mistake of Katzman´s latest years: he just couldn´t write for such a character. Even Michelle was more lively than April. Go figure...

Maybe she was meant to star on "Flamingo Road"...​

 

[Kenny Coyote]

The age difference between Sue Ellen and Peter couldn't have been that much different to that between JR and Kristin. If it's acceptable for JR to be with a much younger woman then why shouldn't Sue Ellen have a much younger man?

What country are you from? I can answer your question because I've lived in the United States all my life - 50 years. I know not all cultures are the same and apparently this seems unusual to you that it would be seen as extremely unusual for a 40 year old woman to be in a relationship with a 20 year old man.

The explanation for your question comes from an understanding of what American society expects of people and an understanding of our biology. That's one thing that doesn't change no matter what country you are from. In The United States, we believe men and women are of equal value (and that wasn't even always the case because there was a time when women did not have the right to vote ) but while men and women are of equal value they're certainly not the same.

A man can become a father at 50 or 60 years old or even older. A woman doesn't have an equal ability to become a mother at 50 or 60 years old though, does she? Also, women develop and mature more quickly than boys do. Those facts combined lead to the reality that women in general (certify not all) prefer to be with men who are older than them rather than younger than them and men prefer, in general again, women who are younger than they are. BYW, women in general prefer to be with men who are taller than they are. Do you ever see a couple in The USA in which the woman is taller than the man? Yes! Even among celebrity couples, there are examples. I think Christie Brinkley was taller than Billy Joel, but they were married and have a daughter. So our society is tolerant of people who nothings differently from what is conventionally accepted, but only up to a point.

That leads to us becoming used to seeing couples where the man is older than the woman. If we see the opposite, it's slightly unusual but no big deal as long as it's a difference of no more than about 5 years. Once you get too much beyond that in our country, it will certainly raise some eyebrows when say, a 40 year old woman and a 30 year old man are married to each other. Sue Ellen had to have been at least 20 years older than Peter. That's a huge difference! It's enough that they could be different generations if they were family. I mean, Sue Ellen was old enough that she was mistaken for being Peter's mother! Do you remember seeing an episode where they were at a university cafeteria and one of the girls called Sue Ellen Mrs. Richards? That has to be an embarrassing feeling.

So the answer to your question is partly biological and partly because of the way our society is. There's certainly nothing illegal about a 40 year old woman in a sexual relationship with a 20 year old man, but just because it's legal doesn't mean society will appreciate it. People will laugh at them, make jokes about the, etc. The worst case scenario for age differences is when a high school 15 year old girl has a 17 year old boyfriend, and that's extremely common because starting from even younger than that, girls tend to go for older guys.

There is nothing illegal about the 15 year old girl in a sexual relationship with the 17 year old boy. Until he turns 18. What do you think happens then? Well, they're not likely to go home to mom and dad and say "Guess what we did today!" but if the truth is found out somehow, and the boy is now 18 and the girl is now 16 years old, he can actually go to prison for committing the same acts that when they were 15 and 17 years old were perfectly legal! That's known as statutory rape. Because of their ages, the girl cannot legally consent to have sex with the guy. It may sound too crazy to be possible but it can and does happen.

 

[Kenny Coyote]

Me regretting to forget Charlie!

Toni, I thought that was just a magnanimous gesture on your part and a display of your kindness towards children!

 

[Toni]

The Peter Richards affaire was quite simple to understand: Chris Atkins had shown his private parts in that soft-porn that was "The Blue Lagoon". After that, he became a sex idol, especially for fortysomethings. The wisest thing to do in that scenario was to hire him to play the would-be lover of the show´s fortysomething. Period. Every time he was on screen, he was barely dressed (or naked) and women had fantasies with him. Just like when the Metcalfe was playing the gardener on "Desperate Housewives". We need fantasies. Even back in the 80´s.

 

[Toni]

Toni, I thought that was just a magnanimous gesture on your part and a display of your kindness towards children!

Throw her to the hounds, Smithers!!

 

[Angela Channing]

What country are you from? I can answer your question because I've lived in the United States all my life - 50 years. I know not all cultures are the same and apparently this seems unusual to you that it would be seen as extremely unusual for a 40 year old woman to be in a relationship with a 20 year old man.

The explanation for your question comes from an understanding of what American society expects of people and an understanding of our biology. That's one thing that doesn't change no matter what country you are from. In The United States, we believe men and women are of equal value (and that wasn't even always the case because there was a time when women did not have the right to vote ) but while men and women are of equal value they're certainly not the same.

A man can become a father at 50 or 60 years old or even older. A woman doesn't have an equal ability to become a mother at 50 or 60 years old though, does she? Also, women develop and mature more quickly than boys do. Those facts combined lead to the reality that women in general (certify not all) prefer to be with men who are older than them rather than younger than them and men prefer, in general again, women who are younger than they are. BYW, women in general prefer to be with men who are taller than they are. Do you ever see a couple in The USA in which the woman is taller than the man? Yes! Even among celebrity couples, there are examples. I think Christie Brinkley was taller than Billy Joel, but they were married and have a daughter. So our society is tolerant of people who nothings differently from what is conventionally accepted, but only up to a point.

That leads to us becoming used to seeing couples where the man is older than the woman. If we see the opposite, it's slightly unusual but no big deal as long as it's a difference of no more than about 5 years. Once you get too much beyond that in our country, it will certainly raise some eyebrows when say, a 40 year old woman and a 30 year old man are married to each other. Sue Ellen had to have been at least 20 years older than Peter. That's a huge difference! It's enough that they could be different generations if they were family. I mean, Sue Ellen was old enough that she was mistaken for being Peter's mother! Do you remember seeing an episode where they were at a university cafeteria and one of the girls called Sue Ellen Mrs. Richards? That has to be an embarrassing feeling.

So the answer to your question is partly biological and partly because of the way our society is. There's certainly nothing illegal about a 40 year old woman in a sexual relationship with a 20 year old man, but just because it's legal doesn't mean society will appreciate it. People will laugh at them, make jokes about the, etc. The worst case scenario for age differences is when a high school 15 year old girl has a 17 year old boyfriend, and that's extremely common because starting from even younger than that, girls tend to go for older guys.

There is nothing illegal about the 15 year old girl in a sexual relationship with the 17 year old boy. Until he turns 18. What do you think happens then? Well, they're not likely to go home to mom and dad and say "Guess what we did today!" but if the truth is found out somehow, and the boy is now 18 and the girl is now 16 years old, he can actually go to prison for committing the same acts that when they were 15 and 17 years old were perfectly legal! That's known as statutory rape. Because of their ages, the girl cannot legally consent to have sex with the guy. It may sound too crazy to be possible but it can and does happen.

I'm from the UK.

I don't care about social conventions, I find it much more acceptable for an older woman to have a relationship with a younger man than with a man who repeatedly cheated her, kept her in an environment of continuous mental, verbal and emotional abuse, threats and subjected her to constant humiliation, intimidation and other forms of coercive control.

 

[Kenny Coyote]

I'm from the UK.

I don't care about social conventions, I find it much more acceptable for an older woman to have a relationship with a younger man than with a man who repeatedly cheated her, kept her in an environment of continuous mental, verbal and emotional abuse, threats and subjected her to constant humiliation, intimidation and other forms of coercive control.

I'd rather not get into making any judgments on what should be acceptable or should not be acceptable in society. I've learned over the years that discussing politics and religion are the best ways to ensure you end up in an argument.

I'm only describing the way things are here - not trying to say how things should be. I will say this: I haven't always been happy with the way our society's conventions have impacted me. For example, when I was in high school, there were several times when there was a girl I wanted to ask out but I found out she already had a boyfriend - a boyfriend who was one or two grades ahead of us. So when, for example, I was in 9th grade and wanted to ask out Tracy, and I found out Tracy was going out with a guy who was in 11th grade, it sucked! I felt like even if she eventually broke up with the guy, then I'd be competing against guys in 11th or 12th grade for the affections of this girl who was in 9th grade, the same grade I was in. I've always liked for there to be as little age difference as possible between me and whichever girl I was dating. I found that way we had more in common, more to talk about, and could relate to each other better.

Now, many years later as a middle aged adult, none of that impacts me at all. I can look back and laugh about it now, but still I remember what it was like back then, and I was not happy at all to find out that girls tended to like older guys! Ha ha!

BTW, as far as I remember, when I was in high school, girls either dated older guys, or guys the same age. I literally don't remember anyone I knew in a relationship where say, the girl was in 12th grade and the guy was in 11th grade.

When I was in college, there were just very occasionally girls dating guys maybe one or two years younger than them, but never more than 2 years as far as I remember, and even then, for a college girl who was a sophomore to date a guy who was a freshman was something you hardly ever heard about. Things could be different today for college kids; I only know about what it was like in my generation.

Speaking of school, there have been a few scandals in the public school system in the USA where a female teacher was found to have been having a sexual relationship with 15 and 16 year old guys! If it were the other way around, people would say about a male teacher having sex with his teenage female students - lock that bastard in prison and throw away the key! But with a female teacher having sex with a 16 year old male student, I often hear things said like "What a lucky kid!" or "I wish that had happened to me! Why didn't I ever get teachers like her"? You might say that's a double standard and you'd be absolutely right! But the way things are and the way things would be if the world were a completely fair environment are not usually the same.

I believe that girls do mature at an earlier age than guys do though. I think we guys take longer to begin to act as mature adults than girls do. Just my observation.

EDIT: it is 7:36 PM and as of now, the leader in the poll for lamest character is James Beaumont with 7 votes.. Lee Ann de la Vega is in 2nd place with 6 votes and Laurel Ellis is in 3rd place with 5 votes. This is a close race!

 

[Victoriafan3]

Pam and Bobby were the love of each other’s lives. That is the whole premise of the show. The moment VP left the writers/producers promptly seemed to forget that. Which is what is most irritating. If there had been grief and a search on Bobby’s part I would’ve accepted and understood more. I’ve said all this before. There is no way the real Bobby would have even considered April after her sleeping with JR. Otherwise he might has well have ended up with Holly Harwood who I like a whole lot more than April. Even Katherine could’ve been fun cause she was fun and interesting to watch. he told both of them ‘no’ they had slept with his brother. April was, as has accurately been said, poorly written and dodgily played. And this consistency went right out the window for this personality transplant character. As for Jenna she deceived Bobby for years about Charlie’s parentage and she kept walking out on him. Her characterisation, as has also been said here, deteriorated steadily from 84-85 on. I still think the ideal and natural lady for the real Bobby after Pam left though was Phyllis. She was so nice and that I could totally accept after VP left. So it’s really Jenna #3 and April who weren’t right for Bobby and nothing to do with disliking all girlfriends. We want him to be happy with someone more carefully suited to the actual character of Bobby and the premise of the shows history

 

[Kenny Coyote]

If there had been grief and a search on Bobby’s part I would’ve accepted and understood more. I’ve said all this before. There is no way the real Bobby would have even considered April after her sleeping with JR. Otherwise he might has well have ended up with Holly Harwood who I like a whole lot more than April. Even Katherine could’ve been fun cause she was fun and interesting to watch. he told both of them ‘no’ they had slept with his brother.

The way I remember it, Bobby told Katherine "no" because she was Pam's sister and he could never think of Pam's sister as a possible girlfriend. As for April having slept with JR, I liked that Bobby's able to get past that bias. Besides, he was gonna marry Jenna and she slept with (and married) Renaldo Marchetta who is a lot worse than JR. So if women are disqualified from even being considered based on whom they've slept with, if any woman who slept with JR is out of consideration, then a woman who slept with a man worse than JR would then also not be considered. But I like that Bobby's able to become mature and get past something as silly as having to approve of every man a woman has slept with. Is he ready to tell them every woman he's slept with and have them decide if he's slept with any women they don;t approve of? I somehow doubt it. What's more important is that Bobby became more mature and was able to understand that a woman is comprised of a lot of different qualities and to judge her entirely on that one thing and not be able to see there is a lot more to a woman than "who has she slept with." In April's case she had gone though a lot of changes since she was the woman we first saw arrive in Dallas. The woman she was when she was married to Jack is not an accurate indication of the kind of woman she had become since then. When she first arrived in Dallas I didn't like her either.

April was, as has accurately been said, poorly written and dodgily played.

That's one opinion of April but it's certainly not the only opinion of her and it's certainly not my opinion of her. April became a charming, kind hearted, sexy young lady who was a lot of fun and was someone who would always be loyal to Bobby. She would not walk out in him because she didn;like the way he was running Ewing Oil. Unlike Pam, April enjoyed the oil business and even had an oil company of her own - April Oil. She understood sometimes in business you have to be ruthless. April could understand that the oil business is like a shark tank and you have to become somewhat hard and aggressive to survive in it. After you figure out how you can survive in the oil business, next you have to figure "How can I flourish"? What that entails isn;t always being a nice guy. If you're not the biggest, baddest great white in that shark tank, someone is going to come along and take a big bite out of you. Human beings are multi-faceted creatures. How you have to conduct yourself in order to flourish in the oil business isn't the same way you are going to act when you come home and you're with your wife and kids.

I still think the ideal and natural lady for the real Bobby after Pam left though was Phyllis. She was so nice and that I could totally accept after VP left. So it’s really Jenna #3 and April who weren’t right for Bobby and nothing to do with disliking all girlfriends. We want him to be happy with someone more carefully suited to the actual character of Bobby and the premise of the shows history

OK, that's fair. I don't know if there are others who might still hate any woman they see as competition to Pam but in your case, you just want Bobby to be happy. I like that

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

good to see the bargain basement Guzzler replacement Matt Cantrell getting some votes!

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

I very rapidly went off Priscilla Presley during the dream season & she wasn't much better in season ten either!

Clint Ogden was a complete dog. And whilst Barbara Eden is a good actress, she wasn't given much to do as Leeann de La Vega.

I am glad Donna Reed isn't on this list, her portrayal of Miss Ellie was a lot more elegant than Barbara's but the characterisation was very similar. She was a good actress.

 

[Miss Texas 1967]

"Peedur"? I've been a member of this board for a lot of years and I know you're not the only one who spells his name that way. Several people have spelled it that way so I figure there must be a joke as to why his name gets spelled that way. Could someone let me know what it is?

Little John Ross kind of turned his t's into d's when saying his name. At least that's what I gather.

 

[Kenny Coyote]

'm
I am glad Donna Reed isn't on this list, her portrayal of Miss Ellie was a lot more elegant than Barbara's but the characterisation was very similar. She was a good actress.

I'm glad too. She was given a job where no matter what she did people would complain because no matter how good she was, she wasn't our Miss Ellie. I think she did as well as anyone could have in those circumstances. It's just that Barbara Bel Geddes was the Miss Ellie. Nobody could have replaced Jock either. I'm glad they didn't try to.