Recalibrating Dallas for longevity

[harry96]

I read somewhere that at least one of the producers said that they wouldn't have burned through so many stories so fast had they had any idea that Dallas would be on for so many years.

That got me thinking about how I would redo things to slow everything down. Here are some suggestions. What do you think, and what are yours?

Jock is still the president of Ewing Oil and is still running it day-to-day.

J.R. is the vice-president, and we see them working together the same way we later do J.R. and Bobby. Either Jock is in what would become Bobby's office, or he's in what became J.R.'s and J.R. is in what would become Bobby's. The latter would make sense for why Jock always worked out of J.R.'s office when he was alive -- because it used to be his.

Jock is considering retiring. But he's hesitant, both because he's afraid he'll be bored and because he's already seen enough of J.R.'s recklessness and lack of scruples that he's not sure that he can trust J.R. to run things without daily supervision.

Ellie is unsure about Jock retiring too, mainly because she's afraid that them being around each other all the time may cause marriage problems.

J.R. of course is encouraging it so he can finally get the job he has always wanted.

J.R. is discreet about his affairs.

Because of that, Sue Ellen is suspicious, but has no proof of anything. Her nagging doubts are causing her drinking to become a little excessive, but not enough that the family has noticed, nor enough that it's causing her any problems -- yet.

Lucy is maybe 13-14 and is just entering her rebellious phase.

The event that kicks off Dallas is not Bobby and Pam's marriage, but them meeting for the first time. They quickly become an item and Bobby starts taking her on the road with him, allowing them to see each other without their families finding out. We get to see their courtship, and we get to see Bobby's job spreading the three Bs.

Maybe them showing up at cocktail hour at Southfork and announcing their engagement is the cliffhanger of season one.

The families spend season two trying to break them up. Bobby and Pam are still on the road most of the time. J.R. especially is against Bobby's marriage (to anyone) because he doesn't want Bobby coming in off the road and disrupting his coming autonomy.

Season two ends with the wedding. Jock announces his retirement and his promotion of J.R. to president, but with Bobby moving into the other office. J.R. finally got what he wanted -- but he also didn't.

 

[tommie]

I don't agree that the issue was that they necessarily burned through too many stories, but that there was a lack of planning in case actors actually wanted to leave. I guess if I had been in charge it's not so much that I would slow down the stories as much as I would've tried to expand their universe from the get-go so that I would have characters in the waiting in the wings just in case. I probably wouldn't have spun off Gary to another show either as he'd be valuable to the show in future seasons to mix it up when Bobby / JR got stale.

 

[DallasFanForever]

The event that kicks off Dallas is not Bobby and Pam's marriage, but them meeting for the first time. They quickly become an item and Bobby starts taking her on the road with him, allowing them to see each other without their families finding out. We get to see their courtship

I like the idea of seeing more of Bobby and Pam’s backstory; how they met, their courtship, their first wedding, etc. (Even though it wasn’t much of an actual wedding).

The most interesting part you mentioned that I’d like to see is Bobby taking Pam on the road with him. I’m really not sure how that would work to be honest, considering Bobby was most likely doing some unethical things to help the family business at this time. I’m sure these things wouldn’t sit too well with Pam. It would be interesting to see them perhaps clashing a little over this early on.

 

[Lastkidpicked]

Welcome to the boards, @harry96

The most interesting part you mentioned that I’d like to see is Bobby taking Pam on the road with him.

There is a fun and long term storyline they hinted at toward the end of the series.

Bobby started making comments about how much fun it would be to start over in the oil business. I mean really start over. Imagine watching him and Pam on the road, going to diners and cattle auctions, learning who the property owners are in the small towns where they want to drill.

Imagine Pam and Bobby meeting with land owners to secure leases on their properties.

And they could be very creative. Think about this juxtaposition (and I hope this makes @James from London proud, as he has done productions like this):

We see J.R Ewing, in his expensive suit and Stetson, ushering a client into a fancy restaurant. They sit down to discuss business over an expensive lunch.

Cut to Bobby and Pam, in a run down diner, sitting down with a local landowner. They shake hands warmly and the landowner suggests the diablo sandwich and Dr. Pepper. They pass around a basket of fries as they discuss the weather and the history of the town. Pam and Bobby allow the landowner to do most of the talking.

Back to J.R. and his client in the fancy restaurant. They are poring over papers and saying, "I'll give this to my accountants for review." And, "I'll give this to my lawyers for approval" and putting papers into expensive suitcases to bring back for the accountants and lawyers.

Cut back to Pam and Bobby closing a deal with the landowner. They shake hands firmly to seal the deal.

It could be fun to watch the different ways of doing business side by side.

 

[Jon Ewing Jr.]

I wish they would have shown Bobby playing college football at Texas. Maybe since he did make the SWC first team he could have been one of the finalist for the Heisman Trophy.

 

[the-lost-son]

I think you're referring to an interview Lenny Katzman gave were he said that the writers came up with good ideas but they couldn't do it because they did sth. like that a few years ago. He gave an example when he asked "How often can you Pam&Bobby move out of Southfork? ".

I don't think that stretching the story would have helped in any way. Actors opt to leave at a certain stage. VP, PD and BBG would have left along the way regardless of a stretched story. It's still a job, no lifelong obligation. Cast departures change the story fundamentally. Sometimes the writers can deal with that perfectly (Jock), sometimes they can't (VP).

Obviously one could argue that every story is told at a certain point and things became repetitive (around the dream season and the next one at the latest).
But I think the "only" possibility to give Dallas more - or at least better last years - is the writing. Not by stretching things but by keeping the writing style which it made it so compelling.

I'm watching season 3 (4DVD) at the moment. The writing is strong and I really like these little rewards when you watch closely.
For example Sue Ellen gets arrested in the 3rd episode and an unknown person bails her out. Around episode 20 we learn it was Dusty. That's smart writing.
This longterm writing doesn't happen in the last +4 seasons where everything is spoken out immediately like in daytime soaps.

The other reason is earnestness. Compare the two times JR gets shot. The first time was an event which drove the story on several levels for +12 episodes, the 2nd time it's a joke to be laughed about, forgotten in the following episode.

Interestingly Dallas is not the only series which gets soft. I watched the entire series of Magnum. The early 80s episodes are tough, sometimes violent, in the late eighties it's softened up, relying more on Higgins/Magnum comedic acts.

I don't know if during the late eighties these series were softened to profit of the success of all these comedy shows at that time (Cosby, Roseanne...) or if it was about political correctness. Nonetheless there is a significant shift away from the original formula in these series. This "lighter, less serious, sometimes comedic approach" hurt Dallas more though.

 

[Grant Jennings]

When David Jacobs first presented his concept for Knots Landing (or whatever the working title was at the time) Lorimar told him they wanted something "epic" instead. I find this ironic as Knots Landing went on to inhabit a large universe while Dallas always felt very insular to me. With its focus on a handful of characters and two primary settings, one residential (Southfork) and the other a workplace (the Ewing Oil offices), Dallas's structure was very similar to most sitcoms.

On a daytime soap secondary characters have scenes opposite tertiary and other secondary characters but on Dallas the secondary characters are rarely outside the orbit of one of the leads; I can't recall any scenes of Katherine that didn't also include Pam, Bobby, J.R. or Cliff. Branching the supporting characters out would have given the show more plot possibilities.

For all of the talk about the Barnes/Ewing feud there were very few members of the Barnes family. Maggie and Jimmy were quickly dispatched followed by Digger. We then learned that Pam wasn't really a Barnes. Rebecca had potential but she was treated more like a plot device than a fully rounded character (kudos to Priscilla Pointer for fleshing out the role); she quickly became an ATM for Cliff just as Dominique was for Blake on Dynasty.

I blame the writers and show-runners for limiting Dallas's potential. While Knots Landing was adding cast members to its opening titles and Dynasty was clearly eager to add to its opening - even if someone appeared in only a few episodes - the titles for Dallas (except for the last few seasons, when the show was already in decline) was limited to only the core cast. Didn't Morgan Brittany and John Beck deserve their own title cards?

By focusing on a few core characters to the exclusion of others, the writers and producers tied their own hands; they had no choice but to recast Miss Ellie and resurrect Bobby. Other series have survived and even thrived after the departure of main cast members but the powers that be at Dallas painted themselves into a corner from which they never escaped.

 

[Billy Wall]

When David Jacobs first presented his concept for Knots Landing (or whatever the working title was at the time) Lorimar told him they wanted something "epic" instead. I find this ironic as Knots Landing went on to inhabit a large universe while Dallas always felt very insular to me. With its focus on a handful of characters and two primary settings, one residential (Southfork) and the other a workplace (the Ewing Oil offices), Dallas's structure was very similar to most sitcoms.

When they said epic, I think they wanted something that revolved around money and power.

 

[Alexis Colby Carrington]

When David Jacobs first presented his concept for Knots Landing (or whatever the working title was at the time) Lorimar told him they wanted something "epic" instead. I find this ironic as Knots Landing went on to inhabit a large universe while Dallas always felt very insular to me. With its focus on a handful of characters and two primary settings, one residential (Southfork) and the other a workplace (the Ewing Oil offices), Dallas's structure was very similar to most sitcoms.

On a daytime soap secondary characters have scenes opposite tertiary and other secondary characters but on Dallas the secondary characters are rarely outside the orbit of one of the leads; I can't recall any scenes of Katherine that didn't also include Pam, Bobby, J.R. or Cliff. Branching the supporting characters out would have given the show more plot possibilities.

For all of the talk about the Barnes/Ewing feud there were very few members of the Barnes family. Maggie and Jimmy were quickly dispatched followed by Digger. We then learned that Pam wasn't really a Barnes. Rebecca had potential but she was treated more like a plot device than a fully rounded character (kudos to Priscilla Pointer for fleshing out the role); she quickly became an ATM for Cliff just as Dominique was for Blake on Dynasty.

I blame the writers and show-runners for limiting Dallas's potential. While Knots Landing was adding cast members to its opening titles and Dynasty was clearly eager to add to its opening - even if someone appeared in only a few episodes - the titles for Dallas (except for the last few seasons, when the show was already in decline) was limited to only the core cast. Didn't Morgan Brittany and John Beck deserve their own title cards?

By focusing on a few core characters to the exclusion of others, the writers and producers tied their own hands; they had no choice but to recast Miss Ellie and resurrect Bobby. Other series have survived and even thrived after the departure of main cast members but the powers that be at Dallas painted themselves into a corner from which they never escaped.

I think Dynasty suffered slightly in this regard also until they expanded with some of the Colbys coming in and Dominique.

 

[stevew]

I don't agree that the issue was that they necessarily burned through too many stories, but that there was a lack of planning in case actors actually wanted to leave. I guess if I had been in charge it's not so much that I would slow down the stories as much as I would've tried to expand their universe from the get-go so that I would have characters in the waiting in the wings just in case. I probably wouldn't have spun off Gary to another show either as he'd be valuable to the show in future seasons to mix it up when Bobby / JR got stale.

I get your point and agree with you for the most part, but I think I would have spun Gary off - because that way if you ever get the chance you could bring him back. Things get slow for him on Knots Landing, he arrives in Dallas. In fact I would have done the same with Bobby. No need to kill him off (unlike Jock the actor was not dead) - send him to Washington as a U.S. Senator, along with Pam and Cliff and you've got a new series based in D.C. on politics. Thus when you want Bobby back, you can bring him back. No dream season. I don't think sending them away was a bad idea. I think it was a good idea. Then you have all these characters out there ready in the wings to come back as needed. Lucy on a series in NYC, an apartment building on the upper east side with a new group of friends, Knots Landing's neighborhood in a single building. I think that's where they were short sited. Where it seems to me Dynasty tried to copy itself, Dallas did not - Knots Landing was way different and so should have been Bobby and Lucy's shows - with lives of their own but in the same universe. I'd have even sent someone to Falcon Crest, say Donna or Abbey - long before I would have watched them just go away.

 

[stevew]

I wish they would have shown Bobby playing college football at Texas. Maybe since he did make the SWC first team he could have been one of the finalist for the Heisman Trophy.

I'm thinking another mini series was a lost opportunity - The Middle Years.

 

[Billy Wall]

I get your point and agree with you for the most part, but I think I would have spun Gary off - because that way if you ever get the chance you could bring him back. Things get slow for him on Knots Landing, he arrives in Dallas. In fact I would have done the same with Bobby. No need to kill him off (unlike Jock the actor was not dead) - send him to Washington as a U.S. Senator, along with Pam and Cliff and you've got a new series based in D.C. on politics. Thus when you want Bobby back, you can bring him back. No dream season. I don't think sending them away was a bad idea. I think it was a good idea. Then you have all these characters out there ready in the wings to come back as needed. Lucy on a series in NYC, an apartment building on the upper east side with a new group of friends, Knots Landing's neighborhood in a single building. I think that's where they were short sited. Where it seems to me Dynasty tried to copy itself, Dallas did not - Knots Landing was way different and so should have been Bobby and Lucy's shows - with lives of their own but in the same universe. I'd have even sent someone to Falcon Crest, say Donna or Abbey - long before I would have watched them just go away.

You think Dallas survives without Bobby, Pam and Cliff?

 

[stevew]

You think Dallas survives without Bobby, Pam and Cliff?

I think it could have yes. JR, Jeremey Wendell, Donna, Ray, Miss Ellie, Clayton, Sue Ellen, Lucy - lots of great talent and certainly a story could bring in some others. I believe that at least if some member of the Ewing family existed and the stories were good, revolving around that family, it's home and it's business investments, then yes you'd still have Dallas in one form or another. The fact is PD wanted to leave and so did VP, and Cliff just became ridiculous going up against JR, so the answer had to be to continue on without them or cancel the show.

 

[Mustard]

I read somewhere that at least one of the producers said that they wouldn't have burned through so many stories so fast had they had any idea that Dallas would be on for so many years.

Then why were the main actors of Season 1 DVD (i.e. the miniseries) signed on for a potential 7 years on Dallas, tying them (in theory) to the show until the end of Season 8 DVD in 1985? Of course, it didn't stop Larry Hagman threatening to go in 1980 after J.R. was shot, and all the actors were behind him against the producers at that time. Jim Davis' departure in 1981 due to his imminent death from cancer couldn't be avoided, and Barbara Bel Geddes' heart surgery in March 1983 set off a catastrophic chain of events behind the scenes in hindsight. And then Victoria Principal stays on for another 2 years after the end of her initial contract in 1985, but then leaves in 1987, seemingly catching the brass off guard. All had impacts on storylines that couldn't really be foreseen.

 

[Chris2]

Five and seven year initial contracts were standard at the time for actors on US TV series. And those contracts became null and void if their show was cancelled.

 

[Jock's Ghost]

I'm thinking another mini series was a lost opportunity - The Middle Years.

YES! It should have begun with the arrival of teenage Ray Krebbs begging for work and the closing scene of JR telling Valene to leave Texas forever as she tries to reclaim Lucy..... the final shot is of a pensive Miss Ellie rocking her granddaughter to sleep.

 

[Jock's Ghost]

Then why were the main actors of Season 1 DVD (i.e. the miniseries) signed on for a potential 7 years on Dallas, tying them (in theory) to the show until the end of Season 8 DVD in 1985? Of course, it didn't stop Larry Hagman threatening to go in 1980 after J.R. was shot, and all the actors were behind him against the producers at that time. Jim Davis' departure in 1981 due to his imminent death from cancer couldn't be avoided, and Barbara Bel Geddes' heart surgery in March 1983 set off a catastrophic chain of events behind the scenes in hindsight. And then Victoria Principal stays on for another 2 years after the end of her initial contract in 1985, but then leaves in 1987, seemingly catching the brass off guard. All had impacts on storylines that couldn't really be foreseen.

All of those could have been handled better had they just calmed down and thought it through. I've read some excellent story ideas on how to handle all of it. Miss Ellie could have went away for her health in dealing with Jocks death still. A phone call on occassion keeps up to date. No need to recast. It would have kept that loser Clayton mostly out.
Bobby's departure either a coma or he is reelected as Senator and moves to D.C. temporarily.... I know Duffy said he wanted him dead but that was not his authority. He should have been ignored. Katherine runs him down, she escapes, Bobby in a coma until the next season to wake up. Fixed.
All of it fixed.
Again, I've wrote this many times, Pam should have been recast after the car accident. Perfect clone in Margret Michael's. The face, build and would have been some damn fine drama for boby and Pam to mine. New body, new character really.