Dallas had our attention, but did it have our respect?

[James from London]

Extracts from an interesting article in today's Guardian about the UK's changing attitude towards American TV:

US television has been waging a steady invasion campaign for decades, so while Friends was a turning point, it certainly wasn’t the first American TV show to find a major audience on British screens. In the days of three channels and no streaming, Texas-set soap opera Dallas regularly attracted more than 20 million viewers to the BBC. In 1980, its “Who shot JR?” cliffhanger kept an entire nation in suspense for the eight months between the oil baron’s attempted murder and the big reveal of the culprit. By that point, evidently, UK audiences could wait no longer and the BBC decided to compress the usual two-week delay between US and UK broadcast to just 18 hours.

Dallas had our attention, but did it have our respect? In his 2013 book, Armchair Nation: An Intimate History of Britain in Front of the TV, Professor Joe Moran details the extent to which British appreciation of the show was couched in mockery. Terry Wogan would often begin his Radio 2 morning show with a devilish takedown of the previous night’s episode, and the soap was also a favourite subject of the legendarily wry Observer TV critic Clive James. “It was never embraced as quality television because, frankly, it wasn’t,” says Moran now. As such, Dallas’s influence on the shows that came after was limited: “Part of its appeal was that it was very American and very different, so there would have been no point trying to replicate it. The appeal of Dallas was that it took itself seriously. Television drama has generally got higher quality since the 1980s.”

...

Friends was a near-instant hit in the UK, and while it was at first subject to the same sort of anti-US snobbery that afflicted Dallas, this surely said more about mid-90s British audiences than it did about mid-90s US television.

...

As the century ended and the golden era dawned – The Sopranos first aired on British television in the summer of 1999 – UK attitudes to US television were completely transformed from lazy derision of the likes of Dallas to breathless admiration.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-...erica-how-us-television-took-over-our-screens

 

[pete lashmar]

Dallas had a huge effect worldwide on what a continuing drama/soap could achieve, but whether it was respected or not comes down to individuals. For me personally I had huge respect for it - everyone involved in the first 8 years was at the top of their game. Not only did they create a new TV series, but they grew it into a world wide global phenomenon that had people glued to their tv sets.

Dallas still stands up as a fantastic drama, the issues they dealt with are still relevant today and comparing it to Friends is like comparing a block of cheese to a block of concrete - you can't - and Friends (as have many sitcoms) has dated terribly in just a few years.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

I think up until Patrick Duffy returned in that shower scene at the end of season nine the show was well respected & well loved.

And of course, when Victoria Principal left the show a year later that was yet another reason for the show's respect to go out the window.

Especially with the way they handled Pam Ewing's eventual exit in season eleven.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

It was respectable when it was, and wasn't when it wasn't.

Seasons 3, 6, 7 and 10 (per DVD count) were great TV; the other seasons were trickier, the closing seasons deliberate camp.

It hard to put one label on a show which ran as long as DALLAS and had so many phases and so many fluctuations in tone and quality. I prefer to think of the best seasons as being the heart and soul of DALLAS, while the others are a vague miscommunication due to a faulty aerial.

 

[Billy Wall]

Definitely had everyone’s respect until it was known that season 9 didn’t really happen. When you’re constantly one of the most highly rated shows for many years, you’re obviously a respected show.

 

[Lastkidpicked]

Dallas had our attention, but did it have our respect? In his 2013 book, Armchair Nation: An Intimate History of Britain in Front of the TV, Professor Joe Moran details the extent to which British appreciation of the show was couched in mockery. Terry Wogan would often begin his Radio 2 morning show with a devilish takedown of the previous night’s episode, and the soap was also a favourite subject of the legendarily wry Observer TV critic Clive James. “It was never embraced as quality television because, frankly, it wasn’t,” says Moran now. As such, Dallas’s influence on the shows that came after was limited: “Part of its appeal was that it was very American and very different, so there would have been no point trying to replicate it. The appeal of Dallas was that it took itself seriously. Television drama has generally got higher quality since the 1980s.”

Interesting article, and thank you for posing it.

May I add to your post by giving the American perspective of the events surrounding Dallas?

1979 was a dark time in American history. We were accustomed to being on the winning side of World War II (Along with you, James). And of course, the post war economic boom seemed like the good times would go on forever!

But that was changing. We went from "Everybody who wants a job has a job" to hearing about layoffs and forced retirements. We went from expecting to earn more money each year to watching our buying power erode due to inflation. Big companies were buying up small companies with the motto "Fire people until you appear profitable". Economists even came up with a new way to measure all of this suffering and that measure was called the "Misery Index".

We needed a distraction!

And along comes Dallas. A show about a fabulously wealthy family. This could be interesting.

But it wasn't your usual soap opera. As the article points out, it was very American and very different. And I'll put a finer point on it: The show was VERY Texas.

The Ewings were rich beyond our imaginations, but they weren't glamorous. Jock wouldn't be found at the opera-- No, he could be found in a dusty jacket out working the cattle.

And the Shakespearean young couple, Bobby and Pam, who had more money than they could ever spend, didn't even consider buying a home of their own. They fully expected to be living at Southfork.

This was different, all right! And it was just the distraction we needed!

Then along comes the summer of 1980. As Americans, we were growing weary of even talking about the depressing world events. We wanted to talk about something else for a change. And so here comes the summer of "Who Shot J.R?"

Now, we all had something fun to talk about! Car dealers bought huge billboards with the dealer's face on it proclaiming, "I shot J.R!"

Attorneys and Lawyers took out ads saying, "If you shot J.R. then call us. We'll defend you at trial!"

Instead of opening a conversation talking about the weather, people opened the conversation with, "Who do you think did it?"

It was just the right distraction at just the right time.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

My blood pressure shot up when she referred to "the Queen of England" and I had to stop reading. I will come back to it after I've cooled down.

 

[James from London]

Speaking of Dallas and the UK, I'm reading Pete Paphides' great childhood memoir, Broken Greek, at the moment and he mentions two rival novelty singles I'd never previously of that came out at the time of the "Who shot JR?" craze: 'I Shot JR' by the Wurzels (according to Paphides, "a self-released shocker which betrayed very little knowledge of Dallas or the character it purported to hate") and 'We Know Who Did it' by the Barron Knights ("nothing if not thorough"). I don't think either of them charted.

On balance, I'd say the Wurzels song is slightly less irritating.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

Speaking of Dallas and the UK, I'm reading Pete Paphides' great childhood memoir, Broken Greek, at the moment and he mentions two rival novelty singles I'd never previously of that came out at the time of the "Who shot JR?" craze: 'I Shot JR' by the Wurzels (according to Paphides, "a self-released shocker which betrayed very little knowledge of Dallas or the character it purported to hate") and 'We Know Who Did it' by the Barron Knights ("nothing if not thorough"). I don't think either of them charted.

On balance, I'd say the Wurzels song is slightly less irritating.

I dunno, I thought the Gary Numan 'Cars' one was pretty fantastic! Is that an English guy doing the 'Texas accent'?

 

[James from London]

Is that an English guy doing the 'Texas accent'?

How could you guess?!

 

[Kenny Coyote]

I think anytime when you have a show that so successfully captures the hearts and imaginations of that many people you have earned respect. They could have made Dallas more realistic, and to people who are critics, that may have been a better way of getting their respect, but that wasn't Dallas' goal. Their goal was to entertain people and make people just have so much fun watching it that they'd talk about it at work and wherever else they went, making even more people tune in to find out "what's causing all this"?

That how my family found out about Dallas. One night when my parents invited a friend over to have dinner with, he told us about Dallas and made it sound so interesting that we watched it the next Friday. After that we never missed an episode.

I think if critics get honest with themselves they have to admit that yes, The Sopranos was a well liked and well respected show, but it was hardly the phenomenon Dallas was. James Gandolfini did an excellent job in his role in the Sopranos as did others of their cast, but they certainly didn't have anything on the acting talent you could find in Dallas in its first 8 seasons. Even the actors they had in supporting roles, actors like Morgan Woodward and Mary Crosby were very convincing in their roles. William Smithers as Jeremy Wendell put on a main cast worthy performance in every scene he had.

Even when the writers stopped delivering the quality of scripts Dallas fans had come to expect, the original main cast actors gave it their all. They didn't phone in their performances or act on "auto-pilot" if a script was sub-par; they still continued to give it everything they had. As far as I'm concerned that's the sign of a true professional- an actor who gives every episode a 100 percent effort.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

'I Shot JR' by the Wurzels

Oh... it does sound a little familiar, but I was expecting it to be this one:

Those Wurzels certainly got plenty of material out of him, didn't they?

 

[James from London]

Oh... it does sound a little familiar, but I was expecting it to be this one:

Those Wurzels certainly got plenty of material out of him, didn't they?

Blimey. I had no idea ...

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Blimey. I had no idea ...

Along with I Shot JR t-shirts, which captured my imagination, I associate I Hate JR with that summer of 1980. I was pretty young at the time, so I remember the song more than I do the shooting or the reveal (both of which I probably missed anyway).

 

[Barbara Fan]

Speaking of Dallas and the UK, I'm reading Pete Paphides' great childhood memoir, Broken Greek, at the moment and he mentions two rival novelty singles I'd never previously of that came out at the time of the "Who shot JR?" craze: 'I Shot JR' by the Wurzels (according to Paphides, "a self-released shocker which betrayed very little knowledge of Dallas or the character it purported to hate") and 'We Know Who Did it' by the Barron Knights ("nothing if not thorough"). I don't think either of them charted.

On balance, I'd say the Wurzels song is slightly less irritating.

I bought the Wurzels song - in a record shop that i usually didnt visit, (Street cred and all that!)

Its was a double A side
I hate JR and I love JR

Hey JR You're a superstar and we love you just the way you are!! Great lyrics or what?

Its up in the loft- think its worth a bob or two?

Oft played by the late great Terry Wogan - happy 1980 days!

 

[Willie Oleson]

They could have made Dallas more realistic, and to people who are critics, that may have been a better way of getting their respect

It just so happens that I'm currently watching a British and American soap, and the tone of both series couldn't be more different.
The British soap looks more realistic in the way the story and characters are written, and yet on one occasion I had to pause the video because I was literally howling with laughter.
Not because something ridiculous or far-fetched was happening, but the Brits can also take their earnestness a little bit too far.
Of course this is from a Continental-European point of view, and personally I love to laugh at foreigners and their typical foreign things, but not in a mean-spirited or bigoted kind of way.
It's actually very similar to mirror-humour, when people laugh at their own quirks and traditional antics.

James Gandolfini did an excellent job in his role in the Sopranos as did others of their cast, but they certainly didn't have anything on the acting talent you could find in Dallas in its first 8 seasons

I wouldn't say that they weren't as talented as the cast of Dallas, however, these critically acclaimed TV shows are written, directed and filmed in such a clever and effective way that it's not always easy to tell where the real talent comes from.
In the last Dallas episode I've watched Linda Gray only played a small role, she didn't have anything specific to do except for being there, and yet she never, not for one single moment, stopped playing Sue Ellen. All of her facial expressions, even when it expressed nothing, were spot on.
And when an actor achieves that in a series that has its fair amount of junk and contrived plotting then I think that also deserves my respect.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

The British soap looks more realistic in the way the story and characters are written, and yet on one occasion I had to pause the video because I was literally howling with laughter.
Not because something ridiculous or far-fetched was happening, but the Brits can also take their earnestness a little bit too far.

So... the British soap has your attention but not your respect?


Seriously, though, I think this is why Dallas was kind of chortled at by British viewers during the Eighties. Like the article said, it took itself so seriously. And it looked quite unlike our British soaps which were - and are - very kitchen sink and gritty. Dallas was glossy, with dramatic pauses and a soundtrack to evoke emotions. There were carefully framed close-ups that were frequently shot at different times to the long shots. It was exotic and alien. But also felt very genteel and a bit prissy. Certainly compared with what we were used to: a kind of twice weekly rep where people came on, had one take to get it right with a couple of cameras on them and committed whatever happened to camera.

I'm generalising, of course. And I haven't even got to the dramatic difference in styles of dialogue, language and accents.

It doesn't necessarily mean Dallas wasn't respected here. We just enjoyed it in a different way.

Culture has changed, of course. Britain has become ever more obsessed with and immersed in American culture (says he, typing away on his MacBook). People watch more American series and films than they do home grown. There's Starbucks and MacDonalds on every other street, replete with the lingo that's become part of our world. And there's all this internet business.

So it's less alien. We've lost the barriers, but we've also lost a little of our identity with it. And perhaps some of our ability to enjoy a quiet couple of titters at the foreignness of imported TV.

 

[Willie Oleson]

So... the British soap has your attention but not your respect?

Only the ones that come with a glossy slipcase!

Like the article said, it took itself so seriously.

But that was the only way to make it work.

It doesn't necessarily mean Dallas wasn't respected here. We just enjoyed it in a different way.

You know, "respect" seems such an odd word when it comes to art and entertainment.
I am often impressed by great performances or clever plotting, and that's why I like it or love it.
But it feels so weird to say "I respect Dallas or Knots Landing or..." - it sounds too religiously imho.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Only the ones that come with a glossy slipcase!

Oh - funny and true.

But that was the only way to make it work.

Agreed. And it was certainly preferable to when Dallas didn't take itself seriously. But glossy melodrama just looked so peculiar to late Seventies/early Eighties British eyes. It's a bit of a shock when you're used to Hilda Ogden.

 

[James from London]

James Gandolfini did an excellent job in his role in the Sopranos as did others of their cast, but they certainly didn't have anything on the acting talent you could find in Dallas in its first 8 seasons.

I think the casting on The Sopranos was pretty flawless.

these critically acclaimed TV shows are written, directed and filmed in such a clever and effective way that it's not always easy to tell where the real talent comes from.

Which, in a way, is how it "should" be. All aspects of The Sopranos are so seamlessly of a piece, you can't see the joins. Of course, seeing the joins on Dallas is part of its charm.

Culture has changed, of course. Britain has become ever more obsessed with and immersed in American culture (says he, typing away on his MacBook). People watch more American series and films than they do home grown. There's Starbucks and MacDonalds on every other street, replete with the lingo that's become part of our world. And there's all this internet business.

Speaking very generally, I think American TV has traditionally tended towards the aspirational ("this is who you could be") whereas British TV has been more about the identifiable ("this is who you are"). This is clear in the soaps - glossy versus gritty - but also other genres. When reality TV first hit big around 2000, I don't think it's any coincidence that America went nuts for Survivor, which was all about winning and beating the odds and being the best, while we were glued to Big Brother, which was all about making cups of tea while staring into space. Americans only came round to BB when they made it more competitive and Survivor-like. Of course, there are exceptions: the blue-collar Archie Bunker-style US sitcoms of the 70s for instance, which sadly we never got to see, maybe because they weren't regarded as exotically "other" enough to import.

But yeah, things have changed in the UK. Even on the soaps, almost everyone has glossier hair than they used to.

You know, "respect" seems such an odd word when it comes to art and entertainment.
I am often impressed by great performances or clever plotting, and that's why I like it or love it.
But it feels so weird to say "I respect Dallas or Knots Landing or..." - it sounds too religiously imho.

Agreed. Respect sounds kind of stuffy and boring. It's like those "classic" rock groups and albums one is encouraged to admire and respect. It instantly ossifies them and takes away the immediacy and excitement.