Opinions Of The Barnes/Wentworth Family.

[Billy Wall]

Did you like or dislike them? Let’s be honest, they all had some crazy in them and it all involved the Ewing’s. They all started out as good people, but as time wore on, every last one became extremely flawed and obsessed with one thing or another. Pam with having a baby, Cliff and later Rebecca with JR and Katherine with Bobby. I think they should have brought back Jimmy to give the Barnes’ some balance as a level headed voice of reason.

This might be another topic, but after numerous re-watches, one thing I’ve noticed, Dallas went out of their way to give everyone a fatal flaw but the Ewing’s.

 

[Laurie!]

If you're being honest, you should never say, "Dallas went out of their way to give everyone a fatal flaw but the Ewing's". Hahaha! That made me laugh!!

Larry often said his wife Maj loved the script for Dallas because not one character had any redeeming qualities so he should audition. That may be a bit of a stretch because they all had some morals and definitely some had more than others.

Every single Ewing had their own dose of crazy and their own obsession with the Barnes family too.

As for the topic, I thought Cliff Barnes had the most believable character progression. I really understood how he became the way he was (minus the atrocious TNT hot mess). He started out brainwashed against the Ewing's but tried being a principled politician and like most politicians, became a self-serving weasel. Then he lost the one grounding person in his life (Pam) and realized his feud was silly, truly became friends with Bobby and grew way more as an adult than JR ever did.

Pam was essential to Dallas. She was really the only link between the Barnes vs Ewing feud that drove the show for so many great seasons.

 

[Billy Wall]

If you're being honest, you should never say, "Dallas went out of their way to give everyone a fatal flaw but the Ewing's". Hahaha! That made me laugh!!

Larry often said his wife Maj loved the script for Dallas because not one character had any redeeming qualities so he should audition. That may be a bit of a stretch because they all had some morals and definitely some had more than others.

Every single Ewing had their own dose of crazy and their own obsession with the Barnes family too.

As for the topic, I thought Cliff Barnes had the most believable character progression. I really understood how he became the way he was (minus the atrocious TNT hot mess). He started out brainwashed against the Ewing's but tried being a principled politician and like most politicians, became a self-serving weasel. Then he lost the one grounding person in his life (Pam) and realized his feud was silly, truly became friends with Bobby and grew way more as an adult than JR ever did.

Pam was essential to Dallas. She was really the only link between the Barnes vs Ewing feud that drove the show for so many great seasons.

The reason I said, “Dallas went out of their way to give everyone a fatal flaw but the Ewing’s” is because unlike everyone else, the Ewing’s flaws didn’t necessarily destroy their lives.

 

[Laurie!]

The reason I said, “Dallas went out of their way to give everyone a fatal flaw but the Ewing’s” is because unlike everyone else, the Ewing’s flaws didn’t necessarily destroy their lives.

JR ended up suicidal, left town and came back on the back of a pig truck. I'd say his flaw was pretty fatal. If you add in the dire version...he pinned his suicide as a murder on his nemesis Cliff Barnes. How is that anything but fatal?

Sue Ellen drank herself into a stupor over her affair with Cliff, didn't know who the father of her child was and nearly killed that child.

Jock still hated Digger Barnes until his dying days. Miss Ellie still loved Digger a little.

Bobby was never a good guy ever again, after Pam left. When she left, he felt the need to sleep with her look-a-like and make her brother his best friend, etc. Again...if you take the TNT version as canon, he pinned his brother's suicide/murder on Cliff.

Seems pretty fatal to me lol.

 

[Billy Wall]

JR ended up suicidal, left town and came back on the back of a pig truck. I'd say his flaw was pretty fatal. If you add in the dire version...he pinned his suicide as a murder on his nemesis Cliff Barnes. How is that anything but fatal?

Sue Ellen drank herself into a stupor over her affair with Cliff, didn't know who the father of her child was and nearly killed that child.

Jock still hated Digger Barnes until his dying days. Miss Ellie still loved Digger a little.

Bobby was never a good guy ever again, after Pam left. When she left, he felt the need to sleep with her look-a-like and make her brother his best friend, etc. Again...if you take the TNT version as canon, he pinned his brother's suicide/murder on Cliff.

Seems pretty fatal to me lol.

When I say Ewing’s, I’m referring to Jock, Miss Ellie, JR and Bobby. Again, they all had flaws, but none of their flaws destroyed their lives.

Jock hating Digger and Miss Ellie loving him “a little” didn’t destroy their lives.

JR faking his own death didn’t destroy his life.

Bobby “never being a good guy after Pam left” didn’t destroy his life. Lol

Digger was deemed an alcoholic loser.

Cliff got so messed up so bad that he became homicidal.

Rebecca got on a plane that crashed to stop JR’s variance. Was stopping JR THAT important?

Katherine went totally looney over Bobby

Pam became totally obsessed with having a baby. She bailed on her husband and child because of her looks.

Ray Krebbs ( I know, technically a Ewing, but wasn’t raised as a Ewing) had major self confidence issues.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Did you like or dislike them? Let’s be honest, they all had some crazy in them and it all involved the Ewing’s. They all started out as good people, but as time wore on, every last one became extremely flawed and obsessed with one thing or another. Pam with having a baby, Cliff and later Rebecca with JR and Katherine with Bobby. I think they should have brought back Jimmy to give the Barnes’ some balance as a level headed voice of reason.

This might be another topic, but after numerous re-watches, one thing I’ve noticed, Dallas went out of their way to give everyone a fatal flaw but the Ewing’s.

If you're being honest, you should never say, "Dallas went out of their way to give everyone a fatal flaw but the Ewing's". Hahaha! That made me laugh!!

Larry often said his wife Maj loved the script for Dallas because not one character had any redeeming qualities so he should audition. That may be a bit of a stretch because they all had some morals and definitely some had more than others.

Every single Ewing had their own dose of crazy and their own obsession with the Barnes family too.

As for the topic, I thought Cliff Barnes had the most believable character progression. I really understood how he became the way he was (minus the atrocious TNT hot mess). He started out brainwashed against the Ewing's but tried being a principled politician and like most politicians, became a self-serving weasel. Then he lost the one grounding person in his life (Pam) and realized his feud was silly, truly became friends with Bobby and grew way more as an adult than JR ever did.

Pam was essential to Dallas. She was really the only link between the Barnes vs Ewing feud that drove the show for so many great seasons.

JR ended up suicidal, left town and came back on the back of a pig truck. I'd say his flaw was pretty fatal. If you add in the dire version...he pinned his suicide as a murder on his nemesis Cliff Barnes. How is that anything but fatal?

Sue Ellen drank herself into a stupor over her affair with Cliff, didn't know who the father of her child was and nearly killed that child.

Jock still hated Digger Barnes until his dying days. Miss Ellie still loved Digger a little.

Bobby was never a good guy ever again, after Pam left. When she left, he felt the need to sleep with her look-a-like and make her brother his best friend, etc. Again...if you take the TNT version as canon, he pinned his brother's suicide/murder on Cliff.

Seems pretty fatal to me lol.

Maybe it's a matter of the Ewings behaved badly, their choices had (disasterous in some cases) consequences, but their rivals and some others seemed even more worse off

Ie
Cliff Barnes numerous times
Julie Gray died
Holly Harwood was violated financially and physically
Rebecca died
Walt Driscoll died
April died
Michelle Stevens was arrested (presumably convicted)
Katherine Wentworth went crazy and became a fugitive
Mickey Trotter died
Kristin died
Pam's boss at the dept store (Barabara Babcock was the actress) was transferred.
Barabara Eden's character couldn't have a baby
Jordan Lee was killed
Seth Stone died
Cartel lost money in the Asian deal
Susan Lucci's character died

Now these characters were certainly not 100% innocent and some were downright devious, but I think the point that the gentleman was
trying to make was that they generally met a worse fate than the Ewings

 

[Laurie!]

I think the point that the gentleman was
trying to make was that they generally met a worse fate than the Ewings

I get that but I dispute it is all I'm saying. Cliff owned a company that was worth considerably more than JR's remaining remnants of Ewing Oil. JR committed suicide and was still so obsessed with Cliff that he pinned it on him.

Bobby lost the love of his life, her replacement and was eventually saddled with a boring broad who lied to him about essentially everything.

Jock died tragically and never got over his hatred of the Barnes family.

Miss Ellie had to live with her obnoxious children for her entire lifetime and was left trying to solve murder mysteries...haha.

My point was, the Ewing's were crazy and had horrible fates as well.

 

[Mustard]

I liked them.

This might be another topic, but after numerous re-watches, one thing I’ve noticed, Dallas went out of their way to give everyone a fatal flaw but the Ewing’s.

The Ewings had loads of flaws.

 

[Chris2]

Rebecca abandoned her young children to their murdering drunk of a father and never looked back. She’s an awful person.

 

[Billy Wall]

I liked them.


The Ewings had loads of flaws.

Yes, but for the most of Dallas’ run, they got away with their flaws and they certainly didn’t destroy their lives like other characters.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Rebecca abandoned her young children to their murdering drunk of a father and never looked back. She’s an awful person.

Was there an aunt who helped raise Digger's children? I seem to remember one in Dallas" Early Years and she was mentioned in the TV series.
To be fair to Digger, Bobby and other characters beat up some people quite badly. Digger found his wife with another man, so acted
in anger. Cliff and Pam never mentioned Digger as a cruel man.

 

[Billy Wall]

Was there an aunt who helped raise Digger's children? I seem to remember one in Dallas" Early Years and she was mentioned in the TV series.
To be fair to Digger, Bobby and other characters beat up some people quite badly. Digger found his wife with another man, so acted
in anger. Cliff and Pam never mentioned Digger as a cruel man.

Aunt Maggie. She actually appeared a few times on Dallas.

 

[pete lashmar]

Well I suppose you have to put everything down to Digger's drunkenness and bitterness - all the hate flows from them and poisoned his and his families' minds.

Ellie chose Jock over Digger because Southfork needed saving and Digger was a drunk and wasted all his money = he blamed Jock for everything, never for one second taking any self accountability.

Later, when Cliff came along digger brainwashed him to his truth not THE truth.

Rebecca was most definitely the worst woman ever to be seen in Dallas. She left her children with a murdering drunk, slept her way to money, lied to her daughter's face about being her mum, bought her money obsessed son before dumping him and then bought him again. Then after having him nearly die she pushes him into a further battle with J.R when she could have dealt with him herself.

Cliff started off as a character who just wanted his daddy to have what he thought he deserved,but his hate and loathing for the Ewings just saw no bounds. He would be down and beaten but still pushed on, not least when he blackmailed Sly to get Ewing Oil info. Yes J.R did bad things to cliff and warned him over and over again not to cross him, but Cliff was like a lemming....he just couldn't stop himself and eventually turned from a wonderful, fully rounded character into a man with not many redeeming features at all. I won't even mention TNT because that was NOT Cliff Barnes.

Pam was OK - thought she was a bit of a cow to leave Bobby and taking her son, flying around Europe with Mark Grayson and then getting all funny about what Bobby was up to with katherine. I also really didn't like it when she gave out to Bobby when she was doing far worse and couldn't see it.

And then Katherine....basically forgotten by her own mother, walked over by Cliff and Pam, and then Pam and Cliff, who her mother has only known for a year or so take away most of her money, property and businesses. It's no wonder she went a bit ming mong really is it.

But all the troubles with the Barnes lay with Digger & Rebecca...the buck stops with them for lying about their pasts and not owning their mistakes.

 

[Jock's Ghost]

Well I suppose you have to put everything down to Digger's drunkenness and bitterness - all the hate flows from them and poisoned his and his families' minds.

Ellie chose Jock over Digger because Southfork needed saving and Digger was a drunk and wasted all his money = he blamed Jock for everything, never for one second taking any self accountability.

Later, when Cliff came along digger brainwashed him to his truth not THE truth.

Rebecca was most definitely the worst woman ever to be seen in Dallas. She left her children with a murdering drunk, slept her way to money, lied to her daughter's face about being her mum, bought her money obsessed son before dumping him and then bought him again. Then after having him nearly die she pushes him into a further battle with J.R when she could have dealt with him herself.

Cliff started off as a character who just wanted his daddy to have what he thought he deserved,but his hate and loathing for the Ewings just saw no bounds. He would be down and beaten but still pushed on, not least when he blackmailed Sly to get Ewing Oil info. Yes J.R did bad things to cliff and warned him over and over again not to cross him, but Cliff was like a lemming....he just couldn't stop himself and eventually turned from a wonderful, fully rounded character into a man with not many redeeming features at all. I won't even mention TNT because that was NOT Cliff Barnes.

Pam was OK - thought she was a bit of a cow to leave Bobby and taking her son, flying around Europe with Mark Grayson and then getting all funny about what Bobby was up to with katherine. I also really didn't like it when she gave out to Bobby when she was doing far worse and couldn't see it.

And then Katherine....basically forgotten by her own mother, walked over by Cliff and Pam, and then Pam and Cliff, who her mother has only known for a year or so take away most of her money, property and businesses. It's no wonder she went a bit ming mong really is it.

But all the troubles with the Barnes lay with Digger & Rebecca...the buck stops with them for lying about their pasts and not owning their mistakes.

Good point about Rebecca. I still think the Wentworths were all killed off too soon. I was on Katherines side until she shot bobby and writing the phony divorce letter to keep him and pam apart was a bit too far. But she was not wrong about Cliff.
Rebecca. What kind of person leaves their kids behind yet claims she was in fear of her life?
And later with all her money and Diggers death, why didn't she go find her kids? She was richer longer than her years with Digger.
And she also lied to husband Wentworth!!!
PLUS, It was her that got HUTCH MCCKINNEY KILLED! Pam's real dad...
I agree... to quote, JR, "damn! i hate that woman."

 

[Jock's Ghost]

Was there an aunt who helped raise Digger's children? I seem to remember one in Dallas" Early Years and she was mentioned in the TV series.
To be fair to Digger, Bobby and other characters beat up some people quite badly. Digger found his wife with another man, so acted
in anger. Cliff and Pam never mentioned Digger as a cruel man.

Diggers Sister Maggie.

 

[Jock's Ghost]

Digger is the kind of prideful jackass that if Jock had given him just some money, he'd not accept it and would rather live in the guttter than take it and do something postive with it. Digger was the kind of person who was born to lose. A gambler at life, not with cards. If there was high stakes anything he was intent on losing it and he did.
Always found that flaw fascinating in any character. ....
I saw an interview with Lucille Ball where she praised Desi, but said he was born to lose. No matter how great he had it, he had to make it better even when it made it worse, which is what he did.....
Digger was in competition at first with Jock then his family. Then himself, yet no one cared. Had he just stopped drinking he could have done whatever he wanted.....
Drunks, drug addicts like digger need an enemy to blame for their addictions. "If not for so and so, i wouldnt be in this mess." The blame never touches who it deserves. Always someone else to blame. It makes not having any accountability feel good.
Digger kept singing that song for 50 years. His kids believed it. No one else did.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Good point about Rebecca. I still think the Wentworths were all killed off too soon. I was on Katherines side until she shot bobby and writing the phony divorce letter to keep him and pam apart was a bit too far. But she was not wrong about Cliff.
Rebecca. What kind of person leaves their kids behind yet claims she was in fear of her life?
And later with all her money and Diggers death, why didn't she go find her kids? She was richer longer than her years with Digger.
And she also lied to husband Wentworth!!!
PLUS, It was her that got HUTCH MCCKINNEY KILLED! Pam's real dad...
I agree... to quote, JR, "damn! i hate that woman."

Good points.

I would add that Katherine had a right to be angry.
Her Mother gives Cliff the royal treatment in her company, one that her Father built,
and puts Pam as first in line as well.
Katherine had more of a right to her Father's company than Cliff and Pam combined.
It is a shame that the writers took Katherine down a bad road.
I think that a sane Katherine could have been a formidable adversary
to Ewing Oil, or a strong ally to JR, or if paired with Bobby, could have defeated JR
without all the Walt Driscoll/McLeish Bros drill subplots

I would give Kudos to Morgan Brittany for her performance

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

they needed Cousin Jimmy!!!!

(one of them, anyway!)

 

[lbf522]

Rebecca abandoned her young children to their murdering drunk of a father and never looked back. She’s an awful person.

Not to mention that she only reached out to Pamela after her wealthy husband died.

 

[Mustard]

Was there an aunt who helped raise Digger's children?

Digger's sister Maggie.

To be fair to Digger, Bobby and other characters beat up some people quite badly. Digger found his wife with another man, so acted
in anger. Cliff and Pam never mentioned Digger as a cruel man.

Digger seems like a good person when sober, and even sometimes when drunk. Being married to him must be a very different experience, though. Digger let bitterness consume him really, and he was a wanderer when drunk so pretty useless with responsibility.