What ending would you have written for Bobby and Pamela?

[Pammy P]

If Pamela aka VP, had stayed another season, what ending would you have wanted for Bobby & Pamela:

My hypothesis would have been that Jenna would not have married Ray, but would have left Dallas and re-igniting her affair with Maynard Anderson and taken her two chavvys with her, never to be seen or heard of again!
Donna would have returned to Ray with little Margaret and she too stayed another Season before her and Ray went to live in Weatherford, Texas at a Ranch and she continued her political interests and both made cameo appearances as Ray and Donna.
Bobby and Pamela would have got over the Jenna scenario and with her away from Dallas (not that it would have made any difference if she had stayed) Pamela could have gotten pregnant with a child, a girl they named Eleanor after Miss Ellie, Cliff became embroiled in Ewing Oil as he always wanted to, and the series finished on a high with the Ewing Feud buried and all lived happily ever after. Sue Ellen and JR also stayed together but only had John Ross, they moved to New York to manage Valentine Lingerie and he became a Politian.

Oh well, we all have fantasy ideas. LOL Hahaha

 

[CeeCee72]

I would have have Bobby search high and low for her after she disappeared from the hospital. He finds her, kidnapped and brainwashed by Katherine. He shoots Katherine dead and rescues Pam, bringing her back to Southfork. After she heals (mentally and emotionally) they take Christopher and move far away from Dallas and the Ewing/Barnes feud.

 

[Mustard]

If the series was carrying on after Season 10 DVD, they should have either have recast Pam to Margaret Michaels, or have Bobby search for Pam high and low once Katherine shows up, even if he fails in the end. The audience would have had more of a connection with that at least. And the writing should make it seem like Katherine abducted Pam, not insinuate that Pam was abandoning Bobby and Christopher. Dallas made a huge mistake by not having the characters care much about Pam in Season 11 DVD, and not having Bobby go a bit crazy over it. A lot of it was clearly the brass being annoyed at Victoria Principal and letting that get on the screen.

Why not do the recast? I reckon it would have slowed down the decline a bit.

Ideally, end it with Season 10 DVD, with Pam driving into the sunset instead of an oil tanker.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Most beloved classic movies don't have happy endings -- a happy ending satisfies a portion of the audience temporarily, and then they forget about it forever.

I'm also against recasting Pam because recasting core characters in primetime shows rarely works. Yes, Margaret Michaels is a better recast than was Donna Reed, but it just doesn't seem like a wise idea.

As someone who dislikes the dream resolution to revive Bobby, i would still have Katherine quire dead.

Now, it's true -- they stumbled horrendously in S11 by having the family ignore Pam's exit, and the best way to help an audience get over the loss of a major character is to make that absence into a character in and of itself -- just as they did when Jock died in 1981 and Bobby kinda-sorta died in 1985... They obviously didn't do this when Pam disappeared in 1987, and their neglect in this area was deeply destructive.

I've said before, Jeanne O'Brian would turn out to be a hoax, hired not by JR but someone else (Wendell for some reason?) and the mystery of what happened to Pam would play out in the background for 3 or 4 years until Bobby and Cliff would eventually learn that she might be dead with adult-onset neurofibromatosis the cause -- leading them to realize that Rebecca's tale of Hutch McKinney being the father was either a lie or a mistake.

And I'd have it end with a certain ambivalence, much like the Wes Parmalee plot (but maybe not quite that ambivalent).

100% concrete endings can be unsatisfying long term. Unresolved loss, well-told, is better.

 

[Mustard]

Most beloved classic movies don't have happy endings -- a happy ending satisfies a portion of the audience temporarily, and then they forget about it forever.

Gary and Valene got their happy ending in Knots Landing. The most resilient couple ever in soap, probably.

I'm also against recasting Pam because recasting core characters in primetime shows rarely works. Yes, Margaret Michaels is a better recast than was Donna Reed, but it just doesn't seem like a wise idea.

Dallas was already in decline. Recasting Pam to Margaret Michaels would have slowed the decline down compared to what they did, i.e. Dallas without Pam. Dallas were scared of recasting (because of Donna Reed) and scared of killing Pam off (because of bringing Bobby back from the dead), but what they ended up doing was a mess.

Now, it's true -- they stumbled horrendously in S11 by having the family ignore Pam's exit, and the best way to help an audience get over the loss of a major character is to make that absence into a character in and of itself -- just as they did when Jock died in 1981 and Bobby kinda-sorta died in 1985... They obviously didn't do this when Pam disappeared in 1987, and their neglect in this area was deeply destructive.

Massively so.

 

[Rove]

'Swan Song'
​

This was the perfect ending for Bobby & Pam. The Romeo and Juliet of our times not getting their happily ever-after. Then the following season without Bobby should have went full-on nuclear. Pam was in the Ewing office. JR determined to extinguish the Barnes family...period... and everyone else was in the cross-hairs. Then Pam decides enough...she hands over the responsibly of Christopher's shares to Miss Ellie and departs Southfork with Christopher.

The last we see of her and Christopher is driving on the freeway out of Dallas. End scene, end series...to be revisited another day. Leave the audience wanting more. This would have been better then what we ended up with.

 

[the-lost-son]

In regards to Bobby & Pam I'd like to quote pretty woman:
I WANT THE FAIRY TALE.

Never in the history of prime time soap has there ever been such a need for simple PLANE CRASH. It worked with Dusty, Mark, the Ewing boys, Jock... It's kind of a tribute to Pam's mother as well. No need to reinvent the wheel again. It's a soap classic.

Let Bobby fall apart in the following season. When the show is coming to an end, let VP return or if she isn't interested let a woman drive in a red convertible towards Southfork in the last scene.

It's buffling how a show which was outstanding in reuniting their couples (eg. Sue Ellen&JR) or maintaining the memory of a loved one (Ellie&Jock) lost its way with mummys (Pam), movies (SueEllen) or final relocations with babies to other cities (Donna).

 

[pete lashmar]

I would have had Bobby in the car with Pam, laughing and excited about the prospect of being parents and then crash into the oil tanker.

Then, in the following season it's revealed that they are both dead and that the oil tanker was owned by WestStar....cue revenge plots from JR.

 

[Barbara Fan]

I would have Pam afer she visits Dr - who tells her she can carry a child to full term - pregnant, and that Bob and Pam finally have their own daughter

or Id keep Bobby dead and Pam is married to Mark, who with a lot of hindsight - treated her far better than Bobby and was far more romantic and thoughtful

 

[Seaviewer]

I WANT THE FAIRY TALE.

Yes. VP return or MM recast, Bobby and Pam patriarch and matriarch of Southfork.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

If Victoria had agreed to return I'd want both of them laughing and flirting with each other in Bobby's red Mercedes SL, in a call back to the opening of Digger's Daughter.

 

[Bobby Southworth]

Alright... this will be somewhat long winded. I've seen so many people complain and complain about the dream resolution, and bringing Bobby back. Had they done the dream season right, I maybe would have been able to deal with no more Bobby, but I liked the Bobby character, and always felt part of the center of the show was having the two brothers balance each other out. No one brought in to fill the void for Bobby was going to be able to replace that balance in the same way. Jack was a Ewing, but he wasn't introduced until the end of the 8th season, and during season 9, if I'm not mistaken, weren't JR and Jack mainly on the same side? Mark? don't even get me started? Matt? No. Pamela would have been the best character to put up against JR, but unfortunately, they did not get the dream season right, and quickly swept the idea of her competing with JR at Ewing Oil under the rug. Then, to add insult to injury, after the very brief reconciliation of Romeo and Juliette at the end of season 8, they have Mark reappear, and boom, Pam falls right back into his arms. What? How do fans not see the way that took away from the bitter sweet ending of Bobby and Pam from Swan Song? It just was wrong. Not saying Pam couldn't have met someone else eventually, but that soon? So, no. I didn't want to see Mark and Pam get married, and for the show to go on in that direction. The best thing about the dream season was the method and realistic way that Sue Ellen finally overcame her alcoholism, and the horrible way in which JR treated her leading up to her battling her addiction. It's a shame we lost that to the dream. No arguments there.

To slowly get back to the topic of this thread: I think having season 10 with them back together was great. It's too bad the damage the dream resolution did to the series, but in fairness..come on, there were plenty of things about Dallas that weren't all that realistic or to be taken seriously before the dream. Both Sue Ellen's sister, and Pam's sister end up obsessed with their husbands and try to kill them? Dusty came back from the dead. Garrison was never really dead. Mark wasn't really dead(in the dream, and possibly in reality, who knows?). Dusty, Jock, Rebecca, and Mark all dying in plane or helicopter crashes.. couldn't they have been a little more creative? All I'm saying is there were certainly aspects of the series that made it seem soapy, or unrealistic prior to the dream resolution. Everyone who says it could no longer be taken seriously, that just makes me chuckle a little bit. That's also not to say I don't think it seemed more realistic that most other soaps of it's time, at least in the first 5 seasons or so, before it started repeating itself with psycho sisters and people coming back again from plane/helicopter crashes. I loved the family/western feel of the first several seasons. I actually love the whole series, with the the exception of a lot of the dream season, and the closing season.

So, yes. Season 10. They were reunited. It felt like Dallas again. Then tragedy strikes. Pam finds out she can carry a child, and there's the tanker. The show should have either just ended with them finding out they could have children, and without Ewing Oil being taken away by the Justice department, or..... Pam's exit, Bobby's reaction to it should have been written a whole heck of a lot better the next season. THAT is what partially made the show never the same for me. I could have lived without Bobby had the dream season been done right, and I could have lived without Pam had season 11 been done right, but neither were the case. Yes, it seems very much that the Pam character was very much a victim of the way the brass felt about Victoria. That was an insult to the fans. Bobby doesn't look for her, and plays the victim after she had been through something so traumatic?? She wouldn't have been in her right state of mind. If the show were to continue without her, I think he should have tried to find her, and maybe was just never successful, or Cliff finds her the way that he did eventually, and mostly things stay the same, with them thinking she just doesn't want to come back, but we know the real reason. If Bobby just would have seemed to care, it would have made it a whole lot better. If anyone would have seemed to care, really.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

At the end of the JR Returns movie..

My personal bias - JR should have always had controlling interest in Ewing OIL.
Jock hijacked JR's childhood and moral compass to train him to lead Ewing Oil,
while Bobby was spared the hard work and difficult decision making

How about this:


JR finally regains Ewing Oil
Bobby puts the ranch in trust for Jock's Grandchildren, JR and Sue Ellen move into Southfork, Bobby leaves Dallas and SF
to live in Europe with Pam, a newly self aware Cliff marries Afton and leads a charitable foundation
in honor of Digger, Donna becomes governor of Texas, Ray heads up some type of agricultural commission,
Katherine is somehow pardoned, and teams with McKay to take over Weststar

 

[Bobby Southworth]

In all honesty, to further alienate myself from other members on here, ...lol? I wouldn't have really been all that against them recasting Victoria in season 11. I know, I know, they didn't want another Donna Reed fiasco, but... the problem was that Donna Reed was not a good choice to replace Barbara. Donna Reed was a fine actress, and nothing at all against her, but what in the world were they thinking? Then, she plays Miss Ellie as a different type of character?? Both of these things are why the scenario was a flop. Maybe Donna could have even pulled it off had she been written to stick to the same personality as the Miss Ellie we had come to appreciate for 7 seasons. Who knows?

However, that's not the route they took, and it was a disaster. I'm not saying Barbara would have been easy to replace, and quite frankly, they never should have, but they did. In the case of Pam, had they replaced her with Margaret or even someone else, and the actress played it the same way as Victoria, it would have been much better than what they ended up doing to the Pam character. Victoria certainly wouldn't be easy to replace either, but if she wanted out, I feel like they had every right to do what was best for the show at that point. Have season 11 feature Bobby and Pam happy together, and a pregnant Pamela.

 

[Rove]

I've always been curious about the behind scene politics playing out with Victoria's decision to leave. She states she offered the producers 2 years notice. This would have given them ample time to map out an exit story for Pamela. "Do we kill her off or have her drive off into the Texas sunset?" Creating a cliff-hanger where the character is propelled into a fuel tanker sounded like a fait accompli. Let's be honest here...no one would have survived that. Why then was the decision made to have Pam survive such a horrific accident?

Let's recap. Victoria had decided to leave. She was strong in her convictions despite the money being thrown at her to stay. Did the producers decide to keep the character alive in the faint hope Victoria might change her mind and if not the producers could easily recast the role? Why would they contemplate this idea when the damage was still being felt with the Miss Ellie recast and dangling "Jock is alive" story in front of us.

It really was a strange time in Dallas. Secondary characters were easily dispensed with as @Bobby Southworth pointed out with a myriad of plane crashes although some managed to return from the dead but when it came to the main stars the producers really had no clue what they were doing except in the case of Jock. No one wished to see the Prince (Bobby) of Dallas die. But he did. He flatlined. The whole world witnessed it. Pamela's reaction is still one of the most haunting things I've witnessed on television.

Bobby should have remained dead. The true fight between a Barnes and a Ewing was really what I wanted to see. Pam was in the hen house (Ewing Oil). I desperately wanted to watch what the writers had in store for us. But it all came to naught. Pam might as well have flatlined along with Bobby. Perhaps that could have been the send off Dallas severely needed. Pam lying in a hospital bed somewhere in Dallas Memorial surrounded by her love ones. Bobby in another part surrounded by the Ewing family. Both flatline at the same time. Our Romero and Juliet arrive together in Dallas and depart - not together - but die at the same time.

 

[Snowcat]

I would have Pam afer she visits Dr - who tells her she can carry a child to full term - pregnant, and that Bob and Pam finally have their own daughter

or Id keep Bobby dead and Pam is married to Mark, who with a lot of hindsight - treated her far better than Bobby and was far more romantic and thoughtful

That’s debatable. What I didn’t like about Mark was he did not respect her boundaries at the beginning. He did not respect the fact that she was a married woman. that said, I don’t think Mark was as chauvinistic as Bobby

 

[Snowcat]

Alright... this will be somewhat long winded. I've seen so many people complain and complain about the dream resolution, and bringing Bobby back. Had they done the dream season right, I maybe would have been able to deal with no more Bobby, but I liked the Bobby character, and always felt part of the center of the show was having the two brothers balance each other out. No one brought in to fill the void for Bobby was going to be able to replace that balance in the same way. Jack was a Ewing, but he wasn't introduced until the end of the 8th season, and during season 9, if I'm not mistaken, weren't JR and Jack mainly on the same side? Mark? don't even get me started? Matt? No. Pamela would have been the best character to put up against JR, but unfortunately, they did not get the dream season right, and quickly swept the idea of her competing with JR at Ewing Oil under the rug. Then, to add insult to injury, after the very brief reconciliation of Romeo and Juliette at the end of season 8, they have Mark reappear, and boom, Pam falls right back into his arms. What? How do fans not see the way that took away from the bitter sweet ending of Bobby and Pam from Swan Song? It just was wrong. Not saying Pam couldn't have met someone else eventually, but that soon? So, no. I didn't want to see Mark and Pam get married, and for the show to go on in that direction. The best thing about the dream season was the method and realistic way that Sue Ellen finally overcame her alcoholism, and the horrible way in which JR treated her leading up to her battling her addiction. It's a shame we lost that to the dream. No arguments there.

To slowly get back to the topic of this thread: I think having season 10 with them back together was great. It's too bad the damage the dream resolution did to the series, but in fairness..come on, there were plenty of things about Dallas that weren't all that realistic or to be taken seriously before the dream. Both Sue Ellen's sister, and Pam's sister end up obsessed with their husbands and try to kill them? Dusty came back from the dead. Garrison was never really dead. Mark wasn't really dead(in the dream, and possibly in reality, who knows?). Dusty, Jock, Rebecca, and Mark all dying in plane or helicopter crashes.. couldn't they have been a little more creative? All I'm saying is there were certainly aspects of the series that made it seem soapy, or unrealistic prior to the dream resolution. Everyone who says it could no longer be taken seriously, that just makes me chuckle a little bit. That's also not to say I don't think it seemed more realistic that most other soaps of it's time, at least in the first 5 seasons or so, before it started repeating itself with psycho sisters and people coming back again from plane/helicopter crashes. I loved the family/western feel of the first several seasons. I actually love the whole series, with the the exception of a lot of the dream season, and the closing season.

So, yes. Season 10. They were reunited. It felt like Dallas again. Then tragedy strikes. Pam finds out she can carry a child, and there's the tanker. The show should have either just ended with them finding out they could have children, and without Ewing Oil being taken away by the Justice department, or..... Pam's exit, Bobby's reaction to it should have been written a whole heck of a lot better the next season. THAT is what partially made the show never the same for me. I could have lived without Bobby had the dream season been done right, and I could have lived without Pam had season 11 been done right, but neither were the case. Yes, it seems very much that the Pam character was very much a victim of the way the brass felt about Victoria. That was an insult to the fans. Bobby doesn't look for her, and plays the victim after she had been through something so traumatic?? She wouldn't have been in her right state of mind. If the show were to continue without her, I think he should have tried to find her, and maybe was just never successful, or Cliff finds her the way that he did eventually, and mostly things stay the same, with them thinking she just doesn't want to come back, but we know the real reason. If Bobby just would have seemed to care, it would have made it a whole lot better. If anyone would have seemed to care, really.

I completely agree with you. I find the dream much less upsetting than Pams departure. There is no way Bobby would have not gone after her. Also, i don’t think Pam could have stayed away permanently. She was abandoned by her mother. She couldn’t do that to Christopher. I also forgot that April blurted out to Bobby that Cliff found Pam & she was too in love with someone else to come back. That is the ultimate knife in the heart. No wonder he only referred to her as Christopher’s mother. I think Pam should have either died in the accident or Bobby chased her down. Then find out she’s dying and they could have spent her last few months together. Bobby, Cliff & Christopher & the audience would have had closure.
i think you’re right about the brass being upset with VP. This is similar to what they did to Samantha on Sex and the City. They wrote her out in a whiny way that completely contradicts her character because they were mad at the actress for leaving

 

[Mustard]

I completely agree with you. I find the dream much less upsetting than Pams departure. There is no way Bobby would have not gone after her. Also, i don’t think Pam could have stayed away permanently. She was abandoned by her mother. She couldn’t do that to Christopher. I also forgot that April blurted out to Bobby that Cliff found Pam & she was too in love with someone else to come back. That is the ultimate knife in the heart. No wonder he only referred to her as Christopher’s mother. I think Pam should have either died in the accident or Bobby chased her down.

If Dallas was carrying on without Victoria Principal, they should have just brought Margaret Michaels in as replacement. It wouldn't have been anything like Donna Reed replacing Barbara Bel Geddes, because Margaret Michaels resembles Victoria Principal so closely and the dynamics of Dallas would have held up.

 

[MenaceTheDennis]

It wouldn't have been anything like Donna Reed replacing Barbara Bel Geddes, because Margaret Michaels resembles Victoria Principal so closely and the dynamics of Dallas would have held up.

She didn’t look like Victoria THAT much, and I don’t find her that great in her last scene as Pam, merely adequate. They were gun shy about replacing another actress after Reed which is understandable. I bet they were holding out hope until the very end that Victoria would return. If Michaels would’ve stepped into the role, 99 percent of the posters on this board would’ve been still irate about the recast, mainly because she wasn’t Victoria. The overriding issue with the departure of Pam was the way it was written. They had two years to plan for her exit. Uncle Lenny dropped the ball by arrogantly assuming everyone would stay or return to the fold like everyone always did. Having enough of the feud, Pam leaves town which I think was the best solution. Having Pam the last four seasons on the show wouldn’t have magically fixed all the other huge problems and nonsense they threw at viewers anyway. Maybe only slightly better writing with Pam in the mix but not enough big improvement which the show desperately needed then.

 

[Mustard]

Having Pam the last four seasons on the show wouldn’t have magically fixed all the other huge problems and nonsense they threw at viewers anyway. Maybe only slightly better writing with Pam in the mix but not enough big improvement which the show desperately needed then.

But where did all these other problems of the late seasons come from? They nearly all flowed from the change of dynamics in Dallas as a series without Pam there. Bobby's personal life completely changed, for example. The ensemble dynamic at Southfork and the feuds in the show started unravelling. Creativity had been declining while Victoria was still there, but Pam's absence just accelerated it. Season 11 DVD felt vaguely like old Dallas, but now at its most stale, and the different threads of the series no longer joined up as they should, so Season 12 DVD started introducing new characters and situations to try to inject some fresh differences for the future, but it never gelled. Season 13 DVD went further with it.

Donna Reed's Miss Ellie has a very different character, in being far less emotional and not being tied to the rancher's daughter/lover of the land aspect in anywhere near the same way. That's the biggest reason why the recast failed.