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<blockquote data-quote="Jabari Lamar" data-source="post: 170848" data-attributes="member: 2208">Agreed on both counts. For a show obstensibly built on a fueding families, the Barnes weren&#039;t really much of a &quot;family&quot;, just initially Digger, Cliff, and Pam, as compared to the Ewings. So it always felt rather lopsided in favor of the Ewings.&nbsp; There should have been a few more Barnes&#039;, to give them more of a presence on Dallas.&nbsp; And as a Black man who grew up watching Dallas, I definitely would have loved some recurring Black characters on the show (other than Dora Mae). After seeing Dallas: The Early Years, I thought they should have brought in the Foster family to the main show. They were the poor Black sharecroppers (with the father played by the wonderful Bill Duke) who worked the land that Jock, Jason, and Cliff first struck oil on back in the 30&#039;s. When the miniseries jumped forward to the 1950&#039;s and showed the Southfork BBQ where Digger tried to kill Jock, the Foster&#039;s young son Benjamin was there, and he was now well-dressed and they said he was in law school, thanks to the wealth his father made with Jock. I think they should have introduced that character on to the main series, now as an older man, he should have been in the Harv Smithfield role, now acting as the Ewing&#039;s main counsel for their business deals and any other legal problems.&nbsp; He could head of his own successful family-owned law firm, with his adult son and daughter (who grew up alongside J.R. and Bobby in the same elite schools) also working as attorneys. So you&#039;d have this&nbsp; wealthy Black family of lawyers (they view &quot;the law&quot; as a family profession the same way the Ewings view being in the oil business) who are loyal allies to the Ewings, since they trace the beginning of their fortunes back to Jock. From there there are many ways you work them into stories interacting with the Ewings.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Jabari Lamar, post: 170848, member: 2208"] Agreed on both counts. For a show obstensibly built on a fueding families, the Barnes weren't really much of a "family", just initially Digger, Cliff, and Pam, as compared to the Ewings. So it always felt rather lopsided in favor of the Ewings. There should have been a few more Barnes', to give them more of a presence on Dallas. And as a Black man who grew up watching Dallas, I definitely would have loved some recurring Black characters on the show (other than Dora Mae). After seeing Dallas: The Early Years, I thought they should have brought in the Foster family to the main show. They were the poor Black sharecroppers (with the father played by the wonderful Bill Duke) who worked the land that Jock, Jason, and Cliff first struck oil on back in the 30's. When the miniseries jumped forward to the 1950's and showed the Southfork BBQ where Digger tried to kill Jock, the Foster's young son Benjamin was there, and he was now well-dressed and they said he was in law school, thanks to the wealth his father made with Jock. I think they should have introduced that character on to the main series, now as an older man, he should have been in the Harv Smithfield role, now acting as the Ewing's main counsel for their business deals and any other legal problems. He could head of his own successful family-owned law firm, with his adult son and daughter (who grew up alongside J.R. and Bobby in the same elite schools) also working as attorneys. So you'd have this wealthy Black family of lawyers (they view "the law" as a family profession the same way the Ewings view being in the oil business) who are loyal allies to the Ewings, since they trace the beginning of their fortunes back to Jock. From there there are many ways you work them into stories interacting with the Ewings. [/QUOTE]

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Who played JR Ewing?