Losing Ewing Oil offices

[the-lost-son]

Hi everybody,
I‘ve been posting under this name before the old forum crashed. I‘ve been hanging around here since 2003/2004, enjoying the informative posts here. I especially enjoyed this forum during the 2004 reunion and the TNT reboot.

I was born in the 80s in Germany. I watched Dallas reruns in TV (only during the holidays ). My first memory is the Ewing B-B-Q when Jock‘s helicopter crashed, which was a shock to me at that time. Much later I kept buying the DVD Sets until Season 9 (WB 10). I always stop watching after VP‘s exit. There are many reasons for my dislike for the later seasons, like losing members of the Ewing Family, the filming style (JamesfromLondon once wrote an informative post about it once) or just the writing in general.

But it keeps bugging me that after the loss of Pamela (what irony that she left the series in the same car which brought her to Southfork nine years ago) and Donna (money cuts, but unfortunate) they had to get rid of the old offices. The old Ewing oil offices had such a huge history with great cliffhangers In the series. It felt like losing a third family member. The Ewings belonged in these offices like the do on Southfork.
(Furthermore the new offices looked cheap imo.) On top of all, later in Season 10 (WB11) they got everything back from Jeremy Wendell except the only link to the Ewing Oil we knew - the offices.

Does anybody feel the same?

 

[Billy Wall]

Are we talking about the first Ewing offices because the second ones definitely looked more classy/expensive. I’m talking about the offices when Bobby had grey brick walls.

 

[DallasFanForever]

I liked the second set of offices in terms of looks but I prefer the original offices overall. The new ones just didn’t have the same feel to me. It felt like I was watching a different show in that respect.

 

[Lastkidpicked]

Good to see you back, @the-lost-son. I remember you from the days of "Return to Southfork" back in 2004.

You will be happy to hear that you can rent some office space in the Ewing Building. I'm not kidding.
I'm guilty of taking the occasional elevator trip to one of the upper floors. It's fun to look out the window and think, "This would have been J.R.'s view"

Renaissance Tower1201 Elm St​

8,233 SF of 5-Star Office Space Available in Dallas, TX​

SPACES AVAILABLE​

HIDE SPACE DETAILS
105
402 sqft
Office

$20.00 /sqft /mo

STATUS
Available
LEASE TYPE
Direct



1500
31,201 sqft
Office

$20.00 /sqft /mo

Maybe we should rent one of the offices in the Ewing Oil Building and set up the TellyTalk headquarters there!

 

[the-lost-son]

Thanks for your replies. I forgot about the first offices of the very first seasons.
I thought of the Ewing Oil offices where JR took down Jock‘s painting in season 9 (WB10).

@Lastkidpicked: great info. I have never been to Dallas. As soon as tourism is possible again, a trip to Dallas/Southfork is a wish I want to fulfill myself in 2021..

 

[Frank Underwood]

I think the reason they had Wendell sell off the Ewing Building is because they wanted to retire those offices and replace them with something more modern.

I preferred the early/middle years offices for nostalgic reasons, but they were too small. They were ugly too, but they looked better after the upgrade in season 6 (per DVD.)

I thought the most realistic offices were the ones used in season 1. They were larger, wood paneled, and had a big lobby.

I liked the offices in the last three seasons, but I hated the running joke that JR's office was the smallest. I never cared for JR's office in season 11 with the weird doors, though.

The offices in TNT Dallas never made sense. They got the Ewing Building back, and the offices were supposedly in the same suite, but they were much too large to fit.

 

[Michelle Stevens]

Welcome back @the-lost-son . :123:

I agree that the Ewing Oil offices were a very important part of the series that don't get much attention or at least not as much a Southfork.

I liked the offices in the final seasons the most as they looked the most like those of an prosperous oil company at that time. Having said that I wish there was more history known about when Jock moved into the offices we see in 1978 and how many floors they had in the building. One would think they would have several floors full of employees than just the executives and their secretaries. Wouldn't Ewing Oil have engineers, marketing people, etc., in the same building? Maybe it was mentioned and I just missed it.

I hope you get to see Dallas and the Dallas series landmarks. It's well work it. I was there in 2019 and took this shot of the Renaissance Tower.

 

[Lastkidpicked]

One would think they would have several floors full of employees than just the executives and their secretaries. Wouldn't Ewing Oil have engineers, marketing people, etc., in the same building? Maybe it was mentioned and I just missed it.

This is what I liked about the Contest for Ewing Oil. We often saw Bobby call downstairs to have an accountant or an engineer come up to his office so Bobby could ask him questions. It underscores Michelle Stevens' point that there are a lot of people working away in the Ewing Building who we seldom see. It was a nice touch that added a bit of realism to the show.

And many of you have come to know my sense of humor. I always think the funniest line is a straight line. When Bobby asked a Ewing accountant to come up and discuss the details of a contract J.R. signed with the Cartel:

Jordan Lee: "That's armed robbery!"
Accountant: "No, that's paragraph 17A, Section F"

BWHAHAHAHAHA! Don't ever change, Mr. Accountant.

 

[Michelle Stevens]

This is what I liked about the Contest for Ewing Oil. We often saw Bobby call downstairs to have an accountant or an engineer come up to his office so Bobby could ask him questions. It underscores Michelle Stevens' point that there are a lot of people toiling away in the Ewing Building that we seldom see. It was a nice touch that added a bit of realism to the show.

That's a good example that I forgot about. I wish we would have gotten more of the Ewings in different departments of Ewing Oil over the series. It would have given the series more depth in that aspect. I could think of story ideas of corporate sabotage from rivals within these departments under the noses of the Ewings. Just as we've seen with the secretaries over the years (Sly, Phyllis, Jackie, Kendall), there were JR loyalist and Bobby loyalist from within Ewing Oil.

I've just always found that part of Dallas interesting and never fully explored.

And many of you have come to know my sense of humor. I always think the funniest line is a straight line. When Bobby asked a Ewing accountant to come up and discuss the details of a contract J.R. signed with the Cartel.

Jordan Lee: "That's Blackmail!"
Accountant: "No, that's section 12, paragraph 6."

BWHAHAHAHAHA! Don't ever change, Mr. Accountant.

Good point!

 

[Rove]

All I know is I wanted that State of Texas fixture which was affixed to the wall in JR's office. I liked the early years and the subsequent changes as the series progressed. Early Dallas was about an independent company - I suspect with a small staff - to a growing entity by the time TNT Dallas rolled around.

 

[Laurie Marr]

The offices from 82 to 87 were classic. In fact, I narrowly missed out on purchasing the nameplates of JR and Bobby at a TV memorabilia auction.
On a side note: even at the time it struck me as bizarre that the offices were housed in what was called ‘the Ewing building.’ Suite of offices, perhaps, but not the entire building.

 

[Frank Underwood]

The offices from 82 to 87 were classic. In fact, I narrowly missed out on purchasing the nameplates of JR and Bobby at a TV memorabilia auction.
On a side note: even at the time it struck me as bizarre that the offices were housed in what was called ‘the Ewing building.’ Suite of offices, perhaps, but not the entire building.

I was under the impression that they owned the entire building, and rented out the floors/suites they weren't using.

 

[the-lost-son]

The offices from 82 to 87 were classic. In fact, I narrowly missed out on purchasing the nameplates of JR and Bobby at a TV memorabilia auction.
On a side note: even at the time it struck me as bizarre that the offices were housed in what was called ‘the Ewing building.’ Suite of offices, perhaps, but not the entire building.

Classic is the correct term do describe it. Even small things like the name plates at JR and Bobby‘s doors served a purpose. I don‘t mind if you adapt to modern styles but the changes made to these (now completely different) offices were too drastic. They made the same mistakes with Southfork in TNT Dallas, just too drastic. I guess people adapt to changes to a certain extent, but not if there is no resemblance left. (Looking at you Southfork interior.) A saga has to have a basic left intact.

 

[Rove]

A saga has to have a basic left intact.

There is something to be said about keeping the familiarity. A classic example was the change-up to the Southfork interior for TNT Dallas. It was too extreme for most fans. Instead of focusing on the story I found myself working out where everything was/is should have been. Well...anything to keep my focus off the horrid scripts.

 

[the-lost-son]

There is something to be said about keeping the familiarity. A classic example was the change-up to the Southfork interior for TNT Dallas. It was too extreme for most fans. Instead of focusing on the story I found myself working out where everything was/is should have been. Well...anything to keep my focus off the horrid scripts.

In season 3 TNT Dallas JohnRoss owned half of Southfork and wanted to make changes to the building. The conflict between him and Bobby (who wanted to preserve the ranch and Mam‘s legacy) was pointless as everything was unrecognizable already anyway.

Had Southfork left any resemblance to the Ewing‘s home we knew for so long, one could have been invested in that storyline. (If I remember correctly, a CGI-version of Southfork had been planned for season 4.)

 

[Rove]

a CGI-version of Southfork had been planned for season 4

As in exterior or interior shots. I'm not sure of the benefits of a CGI Southfork unless it involved cutting costs.

 

[Herofan]

I liked the second set of offices where the state of Texas was on the wall in JR’s office; however, I didn’t consider those much different than the earlier seasons. The decor was different, but the lobby was similar, and the door, windows, and desk placement was the same in JR’s office. Bobby’s did change, but I liked it. I didn’t care much for any offices that came after.

 

[Lastkidpicked]

All I know is I wanted that State of Texas fixture which was affixed to the wall in JR's office.

Funny how things were a big deal back in the day. I remember when oil companies had a big paper map of Texas, and push pins to indicate well sites.
Then it was a really huge deal when they came out with a map that was backlit. So that the well sites actually lit up, such as on J.R.'s map. It was a really big deal at the time.