KayLloyd
Telly Talk Addict
That's my favorite picture of them
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Bobby and Pam : Together or apart?
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.darling of dallas
Telly Talk Member
Bobby and Pam's marriage is under constant attack. Hubris tells you that your love is strong enough to withstand any friction. Pride goes before the fall. Pam and Bobby lived in the house with the enemy. There were round the clock opportunities to chink at the armor of the marriage. If you keep attacking something, eventually it will break - no matter how strong it is.
Bobby extended an olive branch to Cliff many times. Cliff rejected it because Bobby is a Ewing. When Bobby was a senator, he gave Cliff a job because he was trying to make peace with his brother in law. Cliff double crossed him the first chance he got. Bobby often ran interference for Cliff against JR. There is only so much you can take before you realize this person is not worth your help. The sad part is that Cliff openly admits many times that he likes Bobby, even though he is a Ewing.
Bobby is a man, a wealthy man at that. I would expect nothing less than for him to be a chauvinist in the 1970s, 1980s. He learned his business tactics from his ruthless father. who is a chauvinist. ( Just thinking about Jock's remark "What's wrong with women staying home and having babies?" makes me cringe.)
Before he met Pam, Bobby was a playboy. The women in his life included his mother, a dutiful, devoted homemaker; and his sister in law, who allows her husband, his brother, to dictate the terms of their marriage. His mother and sister in law go shopping and do charitable work. That appears to be it.
Bobby's background makes him a bit of a jerk, but he has potential. He falls in love with a strong, outspoken woman from the wrong side of the tracks. She quickly makes it clear that she's not going to put up with his nonsense. That's why she turns up at Jenna's apartment with the ultimatum. After this, Bobby and Pam don't have this issue for a while.
Bobby suffered greatly during the fight for Ewing oil. He says he lost everything, by which he means his wife and son. But then, he should have. He was wrong.
What I like about Bobby is that he has a conscious. He can change.
Bobby is definitely not happy when Pam moves out. I would say he is devastated. He goes after her a number of times. The problem is he wants her back on his terms. Then, after the fire, he realizes how foolish he has been. He decides Ewing oil is not worth it. He goes after his wife. He tells her that he will move anywhere with her because having her back means everything to him.
Again, I pose the question: Why does a couple HAVE to get divorced to make for good television?
Bobby and Pam were great television because their love for each other, despite all the outside interferences, was always so evident. I say their marriage was entertaining , It was a beautiful, romantic story of enduring love.
I think it is sloppy, lazy writing to decide that the only story line available is one that results in divorce. Bobby and Pam moved so swiftly to divorce that it was mind-boggling. Bobby and Pam had a strong marriage. It is preposterous that they would get divorced over something as silly as Katherine's letter. Bobby just lets go of the love of his life.
Bobby and Pam have other story lines that would be just as interesting to viewers and flow more smoothly with their story. Pam could have had a child. Apparently, she can carry a baby. We learned this just before she crashed into the tanker. A couple having their very first child is always good for ratings. ( By the way, I love Christopher.)
I think the writers should have left this couple alone. Jock and Miss Ellie could have been the stable, forever couple. Unfortunately, Jim Davis died.
If you want to 'shake up' the relationship, let Bobby and Pam walk close to the edge of getting a divorce. But, they should never get divorced. The suspense of 'will they, won't they' is strong enough to hold the audience. We never believed that Bobby and Pam would get divorced. Separation is plausible. Divorce is not.
Bobby and Pam were sort of too good to be true. So when the unthinkable happened, it proved the point. For some, it was like an 'aha moment' that changed their feelings toward the couple. The bond of fondness that some had, believing that theirs was a forever marriage was broken. I have often read the comment that Bobby and Pam lost some of their 'steam' after the divorce, especially since they kept them apart for 3 years.
I myself remain firmly committed to the pair. I have to give Patrick Duffy and Victoria Principal all the credit for this. They have phenomenal chemistry. By the end of Return to Camelot: Part 1, it is as if Bobby and Pam had never separated. The world of Dallas is perfect again.
Alas, the writers would mess up again.. They decided that the love triangle between Bobby, Pam and Jenna needed one more run. Incidentally, it was never really a love triangle, since Jenna never could compete with Pam for Bobby's love. This is why she was always using Charlie and later the baby to manipulate him. Anyway, the writers decided that Jenna should become pregnant by Bobby,
Oh to be a fly on the wall in the writers room when they discovered Victoria Principal would not be returning. OMG
I will give the writers or whoever is responsible for story lines a bit of credit. They obviously knew Victoria Principal well enough to believe her. Hence the hastily written story about Pam going to the doctor and discovering that she could carry a baby. They knew that they had blown it, and were desperately trying to make amends for what was about to happen to the audience,
For me, this was bittersweet. Sometimes I am pleased that the writers tried to placate me. I can imagine that if Pam had not had the accident, she and Bobby would have had a natural child. Other times, I am angry at the wasted opportunity for Season 10. It also makes Bobby and Pam's ending all the more heartbreaking .
LoganRhinewood
Telly Talk Member
I remember Patrick Duffy saying that he never understood why they all lived in one house together and that this was the source of a lof of - if not even most of - the problems. In Bobby's and Pam's case it definitely did not help indeed that they lived in the same house as JR.
DallasFanForever
Telly Talk Supreme
Quite often when rewatching the opening scenes I do hope they will change their minds and keep driving right past the ranch. It would’ve saved them both a lot of heartache.
Ultimately I guess I can’t agree with Patrick though. Had they all lived under separate ceilings I’m afraid the drama never would’ve been the same. I’m glad they did it the way they did.
LoganRhinewood
Telly Talk Member
Yup, I also think it would have been better if they had just driven past the ranch. However, from a writing/drama viewpoint they all needed to live in the same house AND Miss Ellie and Jock needed to be obsessed with having their sons around (along with the continuous drama around Gary being the only one who didn't want to live with them). Dallas wouldn't have worked as well otherwise. I very much agree.
darling of dallas
Telly Talk Member
Southfork provided some great drama, even though it made no sense for them to live together.
The Ewing barbecues were great, especially when the Barnes family attended. I like the first one the best.
Bobby and Pam announced they were going to have a baby. Digger and Jock had their big reunion. Sue Ellen started to drink. JR and Pam encountered each other in the barn, resulting in her miscarriage. Jock and Pam had that heart-warming talk. (I always thought there was something extra special about this scene. I discovered, this year, that Jim Davis and Victoria Principal had a bond offscreen.)
This was a great way to end the mini series. It is probably the reason Dallas was extended.
However, Southfork became too toxic for this couple. Besides, the two years apart proves the family bickering could follow them where ever they lived.
Bobby and Pam needed to set boundaries with their families. To paraphrase Miss Ellie, at some point you have to let your family know who has the last word in suitable husbands and (wives).
By season 10, these two finally realized that their brothers hatred for each other - and, therefore their marriage - was never going to allow them to have any peace. They began to plan a life that didn't include seeing so much of them. Unfortunately for them, it was too late.
The Ewing barbecues were great, especially when the Barnes family attended. I like the first one the best.
Bobby and Pam announced they were going to have a baby. Digger and Jock had their big reunion. Sue Ellen started to drink. JR and Pam encountered each other in the barn, resulting in her miscarriage. Jock and Pam had that heart-warming talk. (I always thought there was something extra special about this scene. I discovered, this year, that Jim Davis and Victoria Principal had a bond offscreen.)
This was a great way to end the mini series. It is probably the reason Dallas was extended.
However, Southfork became too toxic for this couple. Besides, the two years apart proves the family bickering could follow them where ever they lived.
Bobby and Pam needed to set boundaries with their families. To paraphrase Miss Ellie, at some point you have to let your family know who has the last word in suitable husbands and (wives).
By season 10, these two finally realized that their brothers hatred for each other - and, therefore their marriage - was never going to allow them to have any peace. They began to plan a life that didn't include seeing so much of them. Unfortunately for them, it was too late.
DallasFanForever
Telly Talk Supreme
Especially when Pam and Bobby remarried. I know for dramatic purposes they had to live at Southfork again but this time they were no longer so young and naive about things. If we eliminate the dream season J.R. had just literally sent her off on that wild goose chase to find Mark. That was something she could never forgive him for and it just doesn’t seem feasible to me that she’d agree to live at Southfork again. In Bobby’s proposal he even says, “We can live anywhere you want. It doesn’t have to be at Southfork.” I wish she had taken him up on it.
Sarah Danner
Telly Talk Active Member
I could support the temporary separation, but was disgusted when the writers chose to have them divorce.
It was truly believed their love would conquer all (which two years later it did, thankfully).
The big will he or won't he was whether or not J.R. would success in splitting them up.
Once he did, it was disappointing.
It was truly believed their love would conquer all (which two years later it did, thankfully).
The big will he or won't he was whether or not J.R. would success in splitting them up.
Once he did, it was disappointing.
DallasFanForever
Telly Talk Supreme
I agree wholeheartedly. They never should’ve had them divorce. The long winding road they took back to one another was well written and worth the wait but a long separation minus the divorce was enough in my opinion.
Taylor Bennett Jr.
Telly Talk Winner
you can argue about the merits of their acting in general, but I really think no one ever did the “longing look of love denied by circumstance” that those two could do. It just jumped through the screen..
(there has to be a more concise, expressive phrase for that look!)
(there has to be a more concise, expressive phrase for that look!)
darling of dallas
Telly Talk Member
That look was the only thing that made season 7 bearable.
That look and all the times Bobby and Pam met and had those inappropriate conversations that I wish Mark and Jenna could have heard.
Given the way that they clearly felt about each other, I always wonder why Bobby and Pam were so faithful to Jenna and Mark, yet they almost cheated on each other twice.
LMLDallas78
Telly Talk Enthusiast
Pam and Bobby's marriage was meant to be one of the greatest love stories but it seems they often led separate lives being together.
They were both instrumental in protecting their own brothers often before protecting each other or other family members.
It seems at times their own brothers were far more important to each of them than the other one was.
They also kept secrets from each other and yet Pam once said it was JR who needed his secrets.
She also said to Bobby the step up from a Barnes to a Ewing wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. She knew her own brother could play just as dirty as her brother-in-law even though her brother was the loser.
Too much misplaced brotherly love going on here. They should have put as much effort into their own relationship.
They were both instrumental in protecting their own brothers often before protecting each other or other family members.
It seems at times their own brothers were far more important to each of them than the other one was.
They also kept secrets from each other and yet Pam once said it was JR who needed his secrets.
She also said to Bobby the step up from a Barnes to a Ewing wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. She knew her own brother could play just as dirty as her brother-in-law even though her brother was the loser.
Too much misplaced brotherly love going on here. They should have put as much effort into their own relationship.
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DallasFanForever
Telly Talk Supreme
Pam quite often had blinders on when it came to Cliff in those early years. She seemed to defend him til the end even when it was obvious he was wrong. Later on she couldn’t even accept that he had worked with J.R. to conspire to keep her and Bobby apart when Cliff wasn’t really above such a thing. She chastised him at times but it wasn’t really until those later seasons that she started seeing him for what he really was.