Dallas and Texas History Part One

[Lastkidpicked]

It might be fun to look at the show Dallas, and contrast it with events happening in Texas at the time of filming different seasons.

Part One-- The Miniseries

As someone from Texas, I can tell you that the miniseries was the perfect intersection of place and time.

The place? The great state of Texas. The show simply wouldn't have worked as well any place else. There are larger ranches in Montana, and wealthier people in Europe, but nobody else has the Texas attitude. If you know, you know.
It's an attitude of "This is so over the top ridiculous that it can't be happening. Oh, it's Texas so it's probably is happening right now."






In Texas, too much is never enough!

And the running joke in Texas:

Guy from Oklahoma: My ranch is so big, it takes me half a day to drive across it!
Guy from Texas: Yeah, I had a truck like that once.

BWHAHAHAHA! You can't keep us down!

Six flags over Texas! SIX FLAGS? We're still young pups compared to you all in Europe, but we've already been owned by SIX different countries! And we're still here!

Hell, we LOST the Battle of the Alamo and that is still our victory scream! Alamo Beer. Alamo Rental Cars. Westar Alamo Land Surveyors-- Probably a subsidiary of Jeremy Wendell.

The story that Linda Gray tells of using the powder room and noticing the woman next to her has a gun in her purse. "Well, this is Texas, Darling."

But wait! Why is the music stopping? Somebody has to pay the band? What's going on here?

The show Dallas was also all about timing. We were in a downward spiral. Suddenly, the economy crashed and the good times (along with the oil) dried up. People accustomed to having plenty of money were suddenly out of work. Those big, bodacious Cadillacs and Lincolns were being repossessed. Americans were being held hostage halfway across the world. Airliners were being hijacked.
Things were not fun any more. There was only one word for it.

Malaise.

A general feeling of discomfort, illness, or uneasiness whose exact cause is difficult to identify.
"A general air of malaise"

Oh, boy. This is depressing. Can it be turned around?

Look at the opening scenes from the miniseries. Bobby, with the handsome face, young body, and hair that not even driving a convertible can muss up. And his new bride Pamela. The girl from the wrong side of the tracks, but with good looks and plenty of spunk. And that's not their father's Cadillac. In fact, it's a car their fathers would NEVER drive. And they are driving right into the patriarchal house that Jock built, whether he likes it or not.

So is this a glimpse of new hope? A ray of sunshine? A possibility that Romeo and Juliet can come and rescue all of us? Pull us out of our doldrums, one hour per week?

Well, Dallas fans-- What do you think?

 

[LMLDallas78]

It might be fun to look at the show Dallas, and contrast it with events happening in Texas at the time of filming different seasons.

Part One-- The Miniseries

As someone from Texas, I can tell you that the miniseries was the perfect intersection of place and time.

The place? The great state of Texas. The show simply wouldn't have worked as well any place else. There are larger ranches in Montana, and wealthier people in Europe, but nobody else has the Texas attitude. If you know, you know.
It's an attitude of "This is so over the top ridiculous that it can't be happening. Oh, it's Texas so it's probably is happening right now."



View attachment 45414
View attachment 45415

In Texas, too much is never enough!

And the running joke in Texas:

Guy from Oklahoma: My ranch is so big, it takes me half a day to drive across it!
Guy from Texas: Yeah, I had a truck like that once.

BWHAHAHAHA! You can't keep us down!

Six flags over Texas! SIX FLAGS? We're still young pups compared to you all in Europe, but we've already been owned by SIX different countries! And we're still here!

Hell, we LOST the Battle of the Alamo and that is still our victory scream! Alamo Beer. Alamo Rental Cars. Westar Alamo Land Surveyors-- Probably a subsidiary of Jeremy Wendell.

The story that Linda Gray tells of using the powder room and noticing the woman next to her has a gun in her purse. "Well, this is Texas, Darling."

But wait! Why is the music stopping? Somebody has to pay the band? What's going on here?

The show Dallas was also all about timing. We were in a downward spiral. Suddenly, the economy crashed and the good times (along with the oil) dried up. People accustomed to having plenty of money were suddenly out of work. Those big, bodacious Cadillacs and Lincolns were being repossessed. Americans were being held hostage halfway across the world. Airliners were being hijacked.
Things were not fun any more. There was only one word for it.

Malaise.

A general feeling of discomfort, illness, or uneasiness whose exact cause is difficult to identify.
"A general air of malaise"

Oh, boy. This is depressing. Can it be turned around?

Look at the opening scenes from the miniseries. Bobby, with the handsome face, young body, and hair that not even driving a convertible can muss up. And his new bride Pamela. The girl from the wrong side of the tracks, but with good looks and plenty of spunk. And that's not their father's Cadillac. In fact, it's a car their fathers would NEVER drive. And they are driving right into the patriarchal house that Jock built, whether he likes it or not.

So is this a glimpse of new hope? A ray of sunshine? A possibility that Romeo and Juliet can come and rescue all of us? Pull us out of our doldrums, one hour per week?

Well, Dallas fans-- What do you think?

Interesting post and I've only just noticed it. I was so young when Dallas started and didn't have a clue about the place or what was happening there in real life, but boy did I want to be there!
Dallas began my childhood love and dreams of everything American. It was then and is now my perfect escapism.

It was described here in the UK as Romeo & Juliet with stetsons, I didn't care what it was called, I simply fell in love with it from day one.

 

[Lastkidpicked]

Dallas began my childhood love and dreams of everything American. It was then and is now my perfect escapism

You describe it perfectly, @LMLDallas78 Everything that is the best (and worst) of America at the time. And perfect escapism.

Here is how perfectly it captured the Texas spirit:

Nicolae Ceausescu was shown the TV series Dallas. He figured "Now's my chance. I'll show our people the despicable J.R. Ewing, and they will realize how good they have it over here."
As you know, the plan backfired! People might have hated J.R. Ewing, but they wanted to be J.R. Ewing. Showing Dallas only made people clamor for American capitalism.
How did Larry Hagman react? With his usual modesty. According to Patrick Duffy: "For years, Hagman would tell me how he took personal credit for defeating communism. . . I took that with a grain of salt."

BHAHAHAHAHA! Good ole Texan modesty.

Here's another story that hits close to home because as you know, I'm much more like Ray Krebbs than J.R. Ewing:

Others tried to use Dallas to show that American ideals were based on greed and corruption. That also backfired often as people would be interviewed after watching the show and they would say,

"You mean to tell me that in Texas, the lowest paid person (Ray Krebbs) drives a brand new pickup? Sign me up!"

And this is true, by the way. If you drive into Texas oil towns you can go into the working class neighborhoods and see new pickups in front of about half the houses. Why? Because if you work for an oil company, one of the benefits is you can take home your company truck.

Want a personal story about your buddy, the Last Kid Picked?

When I had kids at home, I asked for a Suburban instead of a pickup for my company truck. At the time, I was a security guard and worked in one of those little security huts.

I could never post pictures on line because my friends would tease me:

"Your truck is bigger than the place you work!"

 

[Lastkidpicked]

DALLAS AND TEXAS HISTORY PART TWO

The miniseries was a success and the show was picked up for a regular season. Let's look at how things begin to change.

In the miniseries, Pam and Bobby were front and center. J.R. was a supporting character and a two dimensional bad guy. Things changed, and Larry Hagman began to develop J.R. into the man we love to hate. Did timing play a part in this? Let's take a look.

In the late 1970's American television showed a lot of "reality" tv. The wacky antics of "I Love Lucy" had given way to the humorous, but more serious tone of "Alice" and "One Day at a Time." Ozzie and Harriett gave way to 8 is Enough, which showed realistic families with realistic problems. Comedies evolving to show the more serious side of life.

Then Pam and Bobby showed up to bring us some relief. A little escapism from the real world, watching a modern day Romeo and Juliette. But were we watching for Pam and Bobby, or were we secretly watching for J.R.? It was awkward at first, as J.R. was planning his dirty schemes on Sunday nights, which was considered family time for television. It was one thing for your kids to root for the chosen couple, but could they root for the bad guy?

Dallas moved to Friday nights at the same time something else was happening. World events were different as well. We were mired in bureaucracy. Tied up in red tape. The politicians and business leaders were helpless as the economies around the world stagnated. At work it seemed as if all we heard was, "We can't do that." "It's too expensive." "It's too risky". We were just beat down by it all and needed a person of action to root for. Suddenly, it was okay to watch Dallas and cheer for the antihero. Love him or hate him, at least J.R. Ewing got things done.

And what's this? J.R. isn't your usual bad guy, full of self hatred. Watch closely, and as we see him scheme through an episode we notice the sly grin on his face. He's enjoying the fight.

If you are old enough to remember, there was only one person in the world looking at us with a little grin as if to say, "This is fun, isn't it?"

 

[Lastkidpicked]

Dallas and Texas History Part Three WHO SHOT J.R?

It's 1980. There is an uneasy peace around the world. The major powers were in a state of détente, but smaller squirmishes had everyone nervous.
Economies were changing. Big factories were shutting down, and jobs were moving out of town or overseas.
People were on edge.

Small talk was difficult and awkward. You didn't dare start a conversation with "how's work?" because the other person may have just been laid off. Religion was off the table for discussion, and politics-- can you even imagine how that conversation would go?

Then J.R. Ewing was shot. The shot heard around the world.

Suddenly, we had something to talk about! When you would run into a work acquaintance, you wouldn't ask, "How's that project coming?" Instead you would ask, "Who do you think shot J.R.?"

The great part is we had something to talk about that could turn into a FUN argument. "How could you possibly think that Bobby had something to do with this? Have you ever SEEN the show?" It was downright entertaining to talk about.

And it took off from there. Used car dealers paid for giant billboards proclaiming, "I shot J.R." Politicians jokingly accused their opponents of shooting J.R.
Everybody was getting in on the fun!



And there was more fun to be had. In Las Vegas, odds makers set it up so you could gamble on who shot J.R. just like you could bet on the horse races. The queen mother used her position to try and get Larry Hagman to spill the tea on whodunnit. It was a great way to spend the summer.

To put a finer point on it-- We really needed a distraction from the real world. Dallas and J.R. Ewing provided the perfect distraction at the perfect time.