Luke_Krebbs_Ewing
Telly Talk Champion
I'm sure you turned out fine.
Dallas was an 80's show and certainly defined the era it was shown in.
I'm glad I was old enough to see it in it's prime.
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I'm sure you turned out fine.
Dallas was an 80's show and certainly defined the era it was shown in.
I'm glad I was old enough to see it in it's prime.
I was born in ‘77. I’m the youngest. I didn’t start paying attention until around the time Priscilla Presley joined. My family was hooked. I was definitely too young to be watching but I definitely wasn’t the only one my age watching. But I think we all turned out ok. LolI'm sure you turned out fine.
Dallas was an 80's show and certainly defined the era it was shown in.
I'm glad I was old enough to see it in it's prime.
Frank Underwood
Telly Talk Champion
David Jacobs was a television pioneer and will certainly be missed.
And while Knots Landing more or less stayed true to his vision, it's a shame Dallas ended up bastardized. His treatment by those in charge of TNT Dallas was just plain rude.
And while Knots Landing more or less stayed true to his vision, it's a shame Dallas ended up bastardized. His treatment by those in charge of TNT Dallas was just plain rude.
Snarky Oracle!
Telly Talk Supreme
Yeah, that was a bad sign from the very beginning that nuDALLAS wasn't going to work -- or be permitted to work.
When you send cease and desist letters (or the equivalent) to the creator of the show for trying to contact you, and then pleasantly meet for lunch just to get the story out of the press, never contacting him again when he asks for a powerless consultant role on the re-boot, how can it turn out well??
Except for Josh and the dark, fall/wintery Texas vibe, the only new things they did that were almost successful, they just stumbled into and they didn't seem to notice.
And then there's horrible, smug, stupid Ann, a metaphor for everything wrong with the TNT show.
It coulda been so good. Different by necessity from the original show, but so good... What a brutal disappointment for (almost) everybody.
southfork88
Telly Talk TV Fanatic
A letter of formal notice or a desist letter? Was this actually done to David Jacobs? I'm shocked!When you send cease and desist letters (or the equivalent) to the creator of the show for trying to contact you, and then pleasantly meet for lunch just to get the story out of the press, never contacting him again when he asks for a powerless consultant role on the re-boot, how can it turn out well??
Snarky Oracle!
Telly Talk Supreme
Something like one of those, kinda sorta maybe.
Jacobs requested consultant participation in nuDALLAS, a position with no power. And there was some legal thingamajig where somebody said this or that or possibly "go away."
The story made the web, suddenly a lunch happened, the issue was swept under the rug, and he never heard from them again. And so TNT's nuDALLAS went on to unprecedented success -- 11 years of sky-high Nielsen rating, 40 Emmys, and even an Oscar and a Nobel Prize just for being so damned good.
Toni
Maximum Member
Fear The Unnamed!!
Richard Channing
Eternal Member
Short piece by David Jacobs from 2010:
In the years leading up to 1978, if you’d asked an average citizen in a typical American city what the name “Dallas” brought to mind, he would likely have hit on the dark day in 1963. The motorcade, the sixth floor, Dealey Plaza, JFK. Then came the TV show, and soon, around the world, we were known for something much less serious.
Before I started my television career at the age of 37, I had been a journalist, the author of a number of books on historical subjects, and a writer of fiction. When I approached teleplays, I came at them the same way I had always approached writing: who are the people I’m writing about? Where do they come from? What brought them from there to here? And—most important—what is it about their histories that ensure that their loves will be volatile, their hates will be toxic, and their conflicts colossal?
Answering those questions puts drama in the structure of the work. You don’t need to have characters constantly screaming at each other. Just put two or more of them in the same room, and you’ve got all the tension you need to tell the story.
The structure of Dallas, of course, is built on the foundation of Jock Ewing and Digger Barnes’ partnership in the wildcatter culture of oil in the 1930s—a partnership that turned to enmity and hatred. It didn’t ease the conflict when both fell in love with Ellie Southworth.
I knew all that history before I wrote “FADE IN” on the first Dallas script. Indeed, I had written it all in a 14- or 15-page-long summary that I thought very exciting. Mike Filerman, the Lorimar executive who had developed the show with me (and my executive producing partner in most of the shows I did later) told me we weren’t going to send the pages into the network.
“Why not?” I asked, deflated. First, Mike said, because it’s never a good idea to leave network executives too much in writing (they’d pore over it). And second, what I’d written was so colorful and rich that he thought the pilot script I was going to write might seem disappointingly tame by comparison. (It probably was.) We didn’t send the back stories in, but we knew them, and knowing them was critical to the development of the Dallas cast of characters.
For a long time, the success of Dallas was a guilty pleasure to me. I was, when I created the show in 1977, the story editor of another show (Family, on ABC), and I had never written a pilot script before. When CBS ordered five episodes to test the show on the air, the experienced producer Leonard Katzman came in to run it—as he continued to do throughout most of the show’s life. But because of the early promise of Dallas, I was able to insist that I run the other shows I created. Naturally, I was thrilled by the success of Dallas and the worldwide phenomenon it became.
Years later, filming Dallas: the Early Years in Dallas and Fort Worth at Christmastime in 1985 was the best experience I ever had making television. It was a great story. The direction, production, and cast were terrific, and the final product was an exciting, rowdy movie that—until There Will Be Blood—was the most realistic depiction of the wildcatters’ world ever put on film. But the most significant thing about Dallas: the Early Years to me was that it reconnected me to Dallas. The series lasted a long time—14 years—and underwent a lot of changes. But it always returned to its core conflicts. As we were making The Early Years, I saw the connections. The series, the stories, the iconic characters all came from here.
There has, since then, been no guilt in my Dallas pleasures.
David Jacobs is a television writer best known for creating Dallas and Knots Landing.
In the years leading up to 1978, if you’d asked an average citizen in a typical American city what the name “Dallas” brought to mind, he would likely have hit on the dark day in 1963. The motorcade, the sixth floor, Dealey Plaza, JFK. Then came the TV show, and soon, around the world, we were known for something much less serious.
Before I started my television career at the age of 37, I had been a journalist, the author of a number of books on historical subjects, and a writer of fiction. When I approached teleplays, I came at them the same way I had always approached writing: who are the people I’m writing about? Where do they come from? What brought them from there to here? And—most important—what is it about their histories that ensure that their loves will be volatile, their hates will be toxic, and their conflicts colossal?
Answering those questions puts drama in the structure of the work. You don’t need to have characters constantly screaming at each other. Just put two or more of them in the same room, and you’ve got all the tension you need to tell the story.
The structure of Dallas, of course, is built on the foundation of Jock Ewing and Digger Barnes’ partnership in the wildcatter culture of oil in the 1930s—a partnership that turned to enmity and hatred. It didn’t ease the conflict when both fell in love with Ellie Southworth.
I knew all that history before I wrote “FADE IN” on the first Dallas script. Indeed, I had written it all in a 14- or 15-page-long summary that I thought very exciting. Mike Filerman, the Lorimar executive who had developed the show with me (and my executive producing partner in most of the shows I did later) told me we weren’t going to send the pages into the network.
“Why not?” I asked, deflated. First, Mike said, because it’s never a good idea to leave network executives too much in writing (they’d pore over it). And second, what I’d written was so colorful and rich that he thought the pilot script I was going to write might seem disappointingly tame by comparison. (It probably was.) We didn’t send the back stories in, but we knew them, and knowing them was critical to the development of the Dallas cast of characters.
For a long time, the success of Dallas was a guilty pleasure to me. I was, when I created the show in 1977, the story editor of another show (Family, on ABC), and I had never written a pilot script before. When CBS ordered five episodes to test the show on the air, the experienced producer Leonard Katzman came in to run it—as he continued to do throughout most of the show’s life. But because of the early promise of Dallas, I was able to insist that I run the other shows I created. Naturally, I was thrilled by the success of Dallas and the worldwide phenomenon it became.
Years later, filming Dallas: the Early Years in Dallas and Fort Worth at Christmastime in 1985 was the best experience I ever had making television. It was a great story. The direction, production, and cast were terrific, and the final product was an exciting, rowdy movie that—until There Will Be Blood—was the most realistic depiction of the wildcatters’ world ever put on film. But the most significant thing about Dallas: the Early Years to me was that it reconnected me to Dallas. The series lasted a long time—14 years—and underwent a lot of changes. But it always returned to its core conflicts. As we were making The Early Years, I saw the connections. The series, the stories, the iconic characters all came from here.
There has, since then, been no guilt in my Dallas pleasures.
David Jacobs is a television writer best known for creating Dallas and Knots Landing.
Luke_Krebbs_Ewing
Telly Talk Champion
I'd love to see an in-depth documentary about his work. By all accounts he was a complete gentleman.
Diggers Daughter stands up so well even today and hasn't dated at all. The core themes still remain relevant. Thank you for writing it and giving the world such a multi layered show.
Luke_Krebbs_Ewing
Telly Talk Champion
If there ever is a blu-ray release of Dallas I just want the one extra, a tribute documentary to David Jacobs for creating such an iconic show.
The blu-ray needs to recognise the importance of David Jacobs work as the creator of Dallas and should also include a tribute to Michael Filerman too whose inspiration to name the unnamed series pilot as Dallas was inspirational.
Michael Filerman (left) and David Jacobs (right) with some of the female stars of his hit TV series Knots Landing.
The blu-ray needs to recognise the importance of David Jacobs work as the creator of Dallas and should also include a tribute to Michael Filerman too whose inspiration to name the unnamed series pilot as Dallas was inspirational.
Michael Filerman (left) and David Jacobs (right) with some of the female stars of his hit TV series Knots Landing.
LMLDallas78
Telly Talk Enthusiast
All respect to David Jacobs, he was a genius in creating Knots Landing and Dallas.If there ever is a blu-ray release of Dallas I just want the one extra, a tribute documentary to David Jacobs for creating such an iconic show.
The blu-ray needs to recognise the importance of David Jacobs work as the creator of Dallas and should also include a tribute to Michael Filerman too whose inspiration to name the unnamed series pilot as Dallas was inspirational.
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Michael Filerman (left) and David Jacobs (right) with some of the female stars of his hit TV series Knots Landing.
Filerman was instrumental in naming Dallas when David was going to name it Houston and said, "but who wants to watch a show called Houston, call it Dallas".
For that I respect Filerman, but not for how he slated Linda Gray in an interview and said he wouldn't have chosen her.
I believe there were some behind the scenes politics going on, but his outspoken opinion was not called for.
David Jacobs spoke highly of Linda and that's good enough for me.
Filerman was proved wrong anyway.
Seaviewer
Telly Talk Warrior
Hindsight aside, I don't really see it. Houston was (and is) known internationally for its association with the space programme, Dallas for the assassination. Maybe they should have gone with El Paso, which was a Marty Robbins song.
Snarky Oracle!
Telly Talk Supreme
Yeah, Filerman was dismissive of Linda Gray -- even years later, as well as David Paulsen (whom he seemed to see as a hack. Pearls and swine). Filerman also behaved inappropriately towards Ana-Alicia when CBS and Lorimar demanded she return to the set of FALCON CREST.
He sounds like he was a bit of a creep with questionable judgment. But if he recommended DALLAS as the title instead of HOUSTON, then that's a good choice.
After all, even though no oil may have been drilled in Dallas County, the oil bankers are there.
Luke_Krebbs_Ewing
Telly Talk Champion
Yeah I can just hear the announcer on BBC1 saying "And now after a long absence time to find out who shot JR in El Paso!"
