VIDEO: Trailer

[Matthew Blaisdel]

So your brain gets actually full?
Well then ... just overwrite some of the old informations with some of Dallas.
But seriously, watch it. With Dallas it's quite simple. As soon as you realize it's getting really awful, you can just stop - because it ain't get better anymore.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Dallas beginning in 1978 may not have helped either with its hangover of browns and bad fashion

It's my favourite DALLAS look.
Eventhough I love Nolan Miller's fabulous costumes, I prefer the natural elegance of Dynasty's first seasons.

Admittedly, when the seventies was ugly, it was really ugly - but I didn't see that on these shows.

 

[Ked]

So your brain gets actually full?
Well then ... just overwrite some of the old informations with some of Dallas.

Well, sometimes my brain just deletes all the old excess info that I don't care about anymore... like all the stuff I learned in school.

But seriously, watch it. With Dallas it's quite simple. As soon as you realize it's getting really awful, you can just stop - because it ain't get better anymore.

Which seasons do you recommend the most? Is there any point where it'd be a good idea to cut the series off short?

 

[Matthew Blaisdel]

Admittedly, when the seventies was ugly, it was really ugly - but I didn't see that on these shows.

Maybe because they were always some years ahead of fashion in these shows.
I mean, when i watch talkshows with some of the casts, the actors look always way better and ahead than the audience in terms of fashion and style.

 

[Matthew Blaisdel]

Which seasons do you recommend the most? Is there any point where it'd be a good idea to cut the series off short?

A good point to stop would be after season 10 (DVD) with Pam's car crash. If you are still into it (which will most likely happen, because it's highly addictive) the very last way out should be Sue Ellen's exit.
What comes later, will just darken your experience.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Yes, @Ked , certainly go thru Pam's Season 10 exit; I also think Season 11, though flawed, still "feels" like DALLAS, even though the balance is off.

I also liked the earth-toned look of the '70s, and at least the "ugliness" of the era felt somehow real, and therefore valuable... That said, we used to make fun of how paltry the sets and clothes were during the early days of DALLAS well before anybody had ever heard of DYNASTY. So Lorimar just didn't seem to give a rat's a$$ about making the Ewings' environs very impressive, given their income, until DYNASTY came around.

And at the very least, early DALLAS could have had a more luxurious '70s look to the rooms at Southfork. But the producers seem to be going for trailer park accoutrements more out of laziness or lack of thought than even budget... Susan Howard admitted that "we complained a lot" about the meager wardrobe in the introductory seasons of DALLAS, and I'm frankly glad they didn't initially go all out with the fashions like DYNASTY soon would. But the offices downtown should never looked quite as pathetic as they did, nor the bedrooms at the ranch.

 

[Ked]

A good point to stop would be after season 10 (DVD) with Pam's car crash. If you are still into it (which will most likely happen, because it's highly addictive) the very last way out should be Sue Ellen's exit.
What comes later, will just darken your experience.

Yes, @Ked , certainly go thru Pam's Season 10 exit; I also think Season 11, though flawed, still "feels" like DALLAS, even though the balance is off.

So just the first 11 seasons? And Dallas had 14 seasons in total, right? So... just forego the last 3 seasons? I guess that does make it a little easier.

And hey, it might even positively influence my own Dyansty-esque story - which has already become influenced by a whole bunch of other shows (Downton Abbey; Mad Men; The Thorn Birds; The Simpsons; Desperate Housewives; Peyton Place; etc) and movies (While You Were Sleeping; both versions of Sabrina; Death Becomes Her; The Graduate; The Untouchables; The Shining; Mildred Pierce; Breakfast at Tiffany's; Les Miserables; etc) and even some real life actors (Cary Grant; Marilyn Monroe; Grace Kelly; Shelley Duvall; Pam Grier; Audrey Hepburn; etc), so why not add Dallas to the list?

I was going to do a "Who Shot?" plotline anyway... only that particular plot was inspired by a fan-theory about "Who Shot Mr. Burns" and not about JR.

 

[Rove]

My brother-in-law was a kid in the 70s, and any time that era is brought up, he'll groan about how *ugly* everything was.

So was I. I look at some of the surviving photos of myself and my siblings from that era and look at the fashion and think, "Mother, what were you thinking?

 

[Matthew Blaisdel]

Be assured, Dallas will be an enrichment for your list!

 

[Rove]

Which seasons do you recommend the most? Is there any point where it'd be a good idea to cut the series off short?

Be patient when viewing Dallas for the first time. I still struggle with those first five stand-a-lone episodes however as the series progresses you somehow become mesmerized by the Ewing family. Then it seems to hit its stride. Again I struggle with the Miss Ellie switch-a-roo and the introduction of Jamie Ewing but as others have said you will feel a natural end to the magic that was Dallas.

 

[Michael Torrance]

So DALLAS learned from the competition, and DYNASTY seemed not to.

DYNASTY forgot how to be Dynasty at some point in season 7. I was a die-hard Dynasty fan in its original run, and I remember getting bored with the show during season 7 (as opposed to angry and frustrated with the Rita/Krystle and Galen mess) and despite S8 having some good moments, the excitement did not come back until the first episode of season 9. I have since decided to delete "The Reunion" from memory and prefer having the last episode of S9 be the end--of the show, not of the story.

 

[Willie Oleson]

So... just forego the last 3 seasons? I guess that does make it a little easier

But then you don't know what's going to happen next.

 

[Michael Torrance]

Do you all recommend I watch the *entire* series, or would I be able to get away with watching only a few seasons? I personally would have watched Dynasty like that, skimming over some seasons and possibly skipping over the last half of season 7 and skimming over most of season 8 before settling down for season 9.

I watched Dallas after the end of Dynasty. I would say at a minimum the first four seasons are a must--same as the experience of watching Dynasty transform with Alexis and the Pollocs from one type of drama to another, watching Dallas transform from an episodic show to a serialized one is fascinating. Plus with Jock's death and Rebecca coming in, the show moves to a different era altogether. For me, not as tight in terms of story structure, though other things improved as both I and others have mentioned (the acting of some and certainly the production values). A second chunk would be the next four seasons, though I stopped watching every single episode after the Southfork fire at the end of S6, and my main focus on S7 was to catch Christopher Atkins in a swimsuit, who never exhibited the kind of gratuitous nudity I was hoping for. If you feel like dreaming together with the writers and production team, then delve into S9. I think the last episode I watched was Pam's car bursting up in flames, in S 10, but frankly that was two seasons longer than the show had story for IMO.

 

[Ked]

But then you don't know what's going to happen next.

I'll watch the first 11, then see if I want to continue.

 

[Ked]

I also plan on watching the original "Upstairs, Downstairs", since I've already seen the newer version (I thought it was pretty good, although it was also a little bland, and at times a little too depressing, so I wasn't all that surprised when it got cancelled after the second season, though I would have welcomed a third).

 

[Willie Oleson]

What other prime time soaps have you seen, Ked?

 

[Ked]

What other prime time soaps have you seen, Ked?

What constitutes as a prime time soap?

 

[Karin Schill]

I'll watch the first 11, then see if I want to continue.

Sounds like a good plan. Definitely start watching from the beginning even if the show is a slow-burn to start with. Then all of a sudden the drama will explode and the storylines will link into each other and you will find yourself surprised by what happened to it.

 

[B.J. Ewing]

Like Fallon. Rest is garbage. Where is the class?

 

[Ked]

Like Fallon. Rest is garbage. Where is the class?

Since when was Dynasty about class?