Cliff Barnes personality change

[Chase Gioberti]

He went from being a serious, sometimes thoughtful loser for the first seven seasons to, with no real explanation, basically a cartoon character. Just a stupid fool.

Was there any reason for this change?

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

And then he was a psychopathic, homicidal maniac for TNT's nuDALLAS.

Adult-onset neurofibromatosis, and the resulting brain lesions, is the only explanation. I say it killed oldPam, too.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

And then he was a psychopathic, homicidal maniac for TNT's nuDALLAS.

Adult-onset neurofibromatosis, and the resulting brain lesions, is the only explanation. I say it killed oldPam, too.

Pam couldn't have had Neurofibromatosis because Digger wasn't her Father.

Hutch McKinney was Pam's real Father.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

And then he was a psychopathic, homicidal maniac for TNT's nuDALLAS.

Adult-onset neurofibromatosis, and the resulting brain lesions, is the only explanation. I say it killed oldPam, too.

The introduction of the Wentworth mega-wealth and then the potential brain damage from his suicide attempt sped up the progression..

(seen above, scrappy young crusading Senate Counsel Cliff Barnes sitting outside his 'common shop girl' sister Pam's apartment, waiting to confront her over the mortal sin of marrying a Ewing)

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Pam couldn't have had Neurofibromatosis because Digger wasn't her Father.

Hutch McKinney was Pam's real Father.

Yeah, I saw the show.

Only that's just what Pam was told that Rebecca said to Digger. We have no idea if that was true.

Rebecca may have lied. Or she may have been genuinely-confused as to who the father of her daughter is.

What fun it would be in the final season of oldDALLAS for JR to worry that he and Pam were blood siblings.

 

[pete lashmar]

Once Pam was written out of the show the writers really didn't know what to do with Cliff.

He lapsed from one storyline to an another and was weakened considerably in the process.

In J.R Returns he returned to his former best, but wasn't even in War of the Ewings.

As for TNT - I could take his complete character overhaul if they had given us a fantastic backstory but they didn't and so if felt very wrong and very disingenuous to the character we knew and loved.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

After Cliff took all those pills, maybe that is what changed him?

 

[Billy Wall]

I said it before, Dallas went out of their way to give everyone a fatal flaw that wasn’t a core Ewing and the strong characters that didn’t have a fatal flaw and were their equal, they got rid of.

 

[Jon Ewing Jr.]

After Cliff took all those pills, maybe that is what changed him?

You mean those 50 or so tranquilizers?

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Doctor, are you talking about brain damage...?

 

[Chase Gioberti]

It all happened after he struck oil in the gulf. He was always laughing and confused and his IQ dropped by 50%.

 

[darkshadows38]

1. do were they horse Tranquiizers ? yeah i know i spelled that wrong sorry about that. 2 it made me think of the show Smallville on why he went that way on Smalliville Lex i'm not even kidding got knocked out throughout the entire run of his show that's 6 seasons a total of #49 times! that is enough to change anyone he also was shot in the head and nearly died a couple of times. so it was partly due to that on why he went Evil, my point is maybe Cliff went through the same thing too? but in a different way, my guess even though i haven't seen the era with out Victoria Principal to be fair but maybe the writers were trying to figure out what to do with him since he didn't have Pamela anymore? out of all the shit he had done to him or he did to himself it's a wonder why it wouldn't change him to some degree, i know he got money during the show's run and i think lost it? but didn't he get it back later on or am i wrong? if i recall someone said that being Rich rather than the Everyday Joe so to speak

also changed him and not in a good way. you could relate to him more so at the start of the show rather than at the end. from what i've read on here through the years at some point you just didn't feel sorry for him anymore compared and part of it was his Obsession with the Ewiings the other is prolly bad writing and not knowing what to do with him. kinda like how from my understanding they ran out of shit to do for JR and made one bad decision after another from what i've read on here for the past 16 and a half years or am i wrong in any of this?

 

[Seaviewer]

As for TNT - I could take his complete character overhaul if they had given us a fantastic backstory but they didn't and so if felt very wrong and very disingenuous to the character we knew and loved.

I've just started rewatching season 9 and it confirms my opinion than Cliff was well on the way to being completely unhinged - he's already obsessive and near- sociopathic. But you're right: a few lines of explanatory dialogue could have made all the difference (as with much of the TNT series).

 

[Laurie Marr]

Cliff’s character arc was definitely the most dramatic. From idealistic senatorial hopeful to Emperor Palpatine. Yet the seeds of his destruction were very evident very early on. I’ve seen first hand the fate that lies in store for a fundamentally decent person who becomes consumed both with bitterness and a thirst for revenge that can never be sated.

 

[darkshadows38]

at least you can see it start to show early signs instead of it coming out of nowhere

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Yeah, I saw the show.

Only that's just what Pam was told that Rebecca said to Digger. We have no idea if that was true.

Rebecca may have lied. Or she may have been genuinely-confused as to who the father of her daughter is.

What fun it would be in the final season of oldDALLAS for JR to worry that he and Pam were blood siblings.

But Digger admitted on his death bed that Pam wasn't his.

This was during the Jock on Trial for murder episodes.

Digger did the honourable thing and admitted that he was responsible for killing Hutch McKinney not Jock.

He revealed that Rebecca was pregnant with a child which wasn't his, and that child was Pam.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

But Digger admitted on his death bed that Pam wasn't his.

This was during the Jock on Trial for murder episodes.

Yeah, I've seen the show.

But we don't know if Rebecca lied to Digger or not, or she was just confused.

DALLAS is fiction, and even ir real life, people get confused or even lie.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Yeah, I've seen the show.

But we don't know if Rebecca lied to Digger or not, or she was just confused.

DALLAS is fiction, and even ir real life, people get confused or even lie.

There is still the possibility that she was telling the truth Snarky.

Why would she have reason to lie? She was in love with Hutch McKinney for a start.

Why would she lie that the baby wasn't Digger's but Hutch's?

And also here is a known fact, why didn't Pam develop full blown neurofibromatosis?

Simple answer because she didn't have it as Digger was not her Father.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

There is still the possibility that she was telling the truth Snarky.

Why would she have reason to lie? She was in love with Hutch McKinney for a start.

Why would she lie that the baby wasn't Digger's but Hutch's?

Of course there is still the possibility Rebecca was telling the truth. Just as there was the possibility that she wasn't.

And who knows why she might lie about it...? To get Digger to go away, perhaps, since she wanted to run off with Hutch...?

Or she may not have been sure who the father was.

Those complications happen even in real life, let alone fictional drama.

And also here is a known fact, why didn't Pam develop full blown neurofibromatosis?

Simple answer because she didn't have it as Digger was not her Father

The disease usually manifests in infancy. But it can lay dormant until adulthood.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Of course there is still the possibility Rebecca was telling the truth. Just as there was the possibility that she wasn't.

And who knows why she might lie about it...? To get Digger to go away, perhaps, since she wanted to run off with Hutch...?

Or she may not have been sure who the father was.

Those complications happen even in real life, let alone fictional drama.




The disease usually manifests in infancy. But it can lay dormant until adulthood.

According to the TNT Dallas Pam died of pancreatic cancer!

Not true of course as she's my Step-Mother & still very much alive.

I will defend her to the day I die & I won't have you distorting the truth! Rebecca ran away from Digger because he was abusive to her when he was drunk!

Pam is not the daughter of Digger Barnes. Hutch McKinney was her Father, so you will immediately desist this line of thought! I will not have you trashing her or Rebecca's memory.

Pam has remarried Mark Graison and they're both very happy. Please do not speak ill of the dead, Rebecca Barnes Wentworth deserves better than that.