Dallas Character The Mickey Trotter Incident

Mustard

Mustard

Telly Talk TV Fanatic
Walt Driscoll and Sue Ellen committed manslaughter, in my opinion. Sue Ellen was drinking and driving, and walked away with mere bruises, yet left Mickey paralysed from the neck down and he couldn't bear his life in that state.

As for Ray, if he and Bobby hadn't got on their moral high horse and scuppered J.R. and Walt Driscoll in the shipping of oil to Cuba, the chain of events that led to Mickey's paralysis would have never been started. Of course, J.R. pointed this out to Ray and Bobby later on after Ray and Bobby had tried to blame J.R.
 
JRandSueEllenForever

JRandSueEllenForever

Telly Talk Member
Ray and Bobby were as much to blame for setting Driscoll up. As JR said, "None of us have clean hands, boys." He was right. There was so much blame to go around. The fight for Ewing Oil. JR getting involved with Holly Harwood which led to Sue Ellen drinking again. Ultimately I'll blame the entire Ewing family for failing to get proper care for Sue Ellen. If you've got an alcoholic living in your home, do you drink in front of them or leave booze lying around for them to get their hands on?

What really bothered me was why write Mickey off the show? He was the only guy Charlene Tilton had any chemistry with or a meaningful, heartfelt storyline!
 
KayLloyd

KayLloyd

Telly Talk Addict
JRandSueEllenForever said:
Ray and Bobby were as much to blame for setting Driscoll up. As JR said, "None of us have clean hands, boys." He was right. There was so much blame to go around. The fight for Ewing Oil. JR getting involved with Holly Harwood which led to Sue Ellen drinking again. Ultimately I'll blame the entire Ewing family for failing to get proper care for Sue Ellen. If you've got an alcoholic living in your home, do you drink in front of them or leave booze lying around for them to get their hands on?

What really bothered me was why write Mickey off the show? He was the only guy Charlene Tilton had any chemistry with or a meaningful, heartfelt storyline!
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I agree, Mickey was an interesting character and they should have kept him around to build a life with Lucy. My sense is that TPM's sexual orientation was probably the reason that they let him go, like it was with Dack Rambo.
 
darkshadows38

darkshadows38

Telly Talk Star
i never cared for the story line be honest, cause i think it was Sue Ellen's fault as well. i also think that she should never have slept with him in the 1st place because wasn't he old enough to be her son? or suppose to be anyways? JR getting off for murder is no surprise but Sue Ellen a character who isn't out to kill anyone well but really JR if you think about it. i also grew tired of her drinking after so many times in putting that in. one tends to wonder if she ever drank the real stuff during filming? i doubt it would have been during the driving scene though to be fair.
 
Mustard

Mustard

Telly Talk TV Fanatic
darkshadows38 said:
i never cared for the story line be honest, cause i think it was Sue Ellen's fault as well. i also think that she should never have slept with him in the 1st place because wasn't he old enough to be her son?
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That was Peter Richards, not Mickey Trotter. Mickey Trotter was Ray's cousin (although Ray often erroneously said "nephew"), and Lucy's boyfriend.
 
Presea

Presea

Telly Talk Addict
JRandSueEllenForever said:
Ray and Bobby were as much to blame for setting Driscoll up. As JR said, "None of us have clean hands, boys." He was right. There was so much blame to go around. The fight for Ewing Oil. JR getting involved with Holly Harwood which led to Sue Ellen drinking again. Ultimately I'll blame the entire Ewing family for failing to get proper care for Sue Ellen. If you've got an alcoholic living in your home, do you drink in front of them or leave booze lying around for them to get their hands on?

What really bothered me was why write Mickey off the show? He was the only guy Charlene Tilton had any chemistry with or a meaningful, heartfelt storyline!
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There were so many contributing factors when it came to Mickey's death. It sucked that they killed him because he was the only one that Lucy developed a genuine connection with, in my opinion. The Ewings really were stupid about Sue Ellen. Why didn't it occur to Miss Ellie that going back to Southfork might not exactly be a good thing for Sue Ellen? Instead, she just yells at her to go back when she sees her in Clayton's hotel room. And Sue Ellen wasn't smart about this, either. I would have left and never came back.
 
TJames03

TJames03

Banned
I think that the actor's real-life sexual orientation played a role in his dismissal. Hagman was notoriously homophobic (even though his mother was a complete lesbian in real-life and some of the things that his daughter put into his biography wouldn't surprise me if he.....'experimented' sexually).
 
Sarah

Sarah

Moderator Emerita
Did Mickey have a brain of his own? Did he not realise that getting into a car with someone who was drunk was dangerous? Stop blaming Sue Ellen for everyone else's mistakes.
 
Presea

Presea

Telly Talk Addict
TJames03 said:
I think that the actor's real-life sexual orientation played a role in his dismissal. Hagman was notoriously homophobic (even though his mother was a complete lesbian in real-life and some of the things that his daughter put into his biography wouldn't surprise me if he.....'experimented' sexually).
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I couldn't have put it better myself.
 
Angela Channing

Angela Channing

Telly Talk Veteran
And don't forget Lucy for encouraging Micky to stop Sue Ellen and Aunt Lil for encouraging Ray to end Micky's life support.

If we try hard enough, we could probably find a reason why Teresa could take a share of the responsibility.

Micky's crash was a horrible accident for which many were responsible but his death was a deliberate act by Ray.
 
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Don Howard

Don Howard

Telly Talk Fan
JRandSueEllenForever said:
What really bothered me was why write Mickey off the show?
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When the 1983-84 season began, Timothy Patrick Murphy was promoted from the guest list to the Also Starring rolls, during which time he just laid there seldom uttering a line. Shortly after that, he flatlines. He did much less as an "also starring" than as a "guest starring".
 
superfan

superfan

Telly Talk Member
TJames03 said:
I think that the actor's real-life sexual orientation played a role in his dismissal. Hagman was notoriously homophobic (even though his mother was a complete lesbian in real-life and some of the things that his daughter put into his biography wouldn't surprise me if he.....'experimented' sexually).
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Even though I think indeed Hagman was homophobic, I don't believe that played a role in it. It was typical of supporting players to feature in 2 or 3 seasons and then go out. Rebecca, Katherine, Kristin, Mitch, Dusty were all phased out before the three season spread. With Mickey, Lucy had already had her "marriage" plot, why do the same thing again? There was more potential for it to give Lucy and Ray more substantial plots the next season because of it. I think it was strictly a writing decision.
 
superfan

superfan

Telly Talk Member
Don Howard said:
When the 1983-84 season began, Timothy Patrick Murphy was promoted from the guest list to the Also Starring rolls, during which time he just laid there seldom uttering a line. Shortly after that, he flatlines. He did much less as an "also starring" than as a "guest starring".
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Yeah, but so did Dack Rambo when he got in the credits. Sometimes that is just a contract negotiation that be a gift to them to counteract getting phased out.
 
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