Dallas had our attention, but did it have our respect?

[Mel O'Drama]

the meteoric rise of Roseanne

The second coming of Roseanne (from 11:45 in the video) made me smile. The fall was even more meteoric than the rise. And it took all of eleven seconds.

 

[Kenny Coyote]

Westerns dominated. Especially Gunsmoke and Bonanza! It made perfect sense for Dallas to have some western elements in it - something the other primetime soaps never had, and none of them dominated like Dallas did. Is it any wonder that when westerns were gone from TV that as soon as Yellowstone aired it became the most watched new show? Americans were bred on westerns. The only part that doesn't make sense is that it took until Yellowstone debuted for there to finally be a western on TV again.

 

[James from London]

Speaking of Dallas and the UK, I'm reading Pete Paphides' great childhood memoir, Broken Greek, at the moment and he mentions two rival novelty singles I'd never previously of that came out at the time of the "Who shot JR?" craze

And speaking of songs that reference Dallas, or at least Dallas-related actors, the lyrics of this popped out at me on the bus this morning:

By the way I got tickets for us to see Joan Baez tonight
Oh? I guess I misunderstood, I never heard of Joan as Policewoman
But I do love me some Angie Dickinson
Let's be clear, Joan Baez makes GG Allin look like Charlene Tilton

 

[James from London]

And speaking of Dallas and songs, I just this moment learnt that Peter Richards got to No 71 in America the year before he became Josh Ross's camp counsellor :

 

[Willie Oleson]

It would have been nice if P. R. Barnes had gone through John Ross' childhood stuff and then casually show Christopher's single.

I'll never forgive Cynthia Cidre for this great but very missed opportunity. Clearly she knew nothing about anything.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Generally speaking, the critics seldom liked popular tv shows/movies/ popular music pre 2000
The critics were often arrogant, pompous and clueless.

Things have changed in that the critics are now embracing more popular entertainment projects but for the wrong reasons.
Giving positive reviews to Star Wars trilogy comes to mind.
The Star Wars fan base has been disappointed, has felt disrespected and many have described the SW trilogy as woke and sub-par.
Yet the Critics on RT have been mostly positive.
I think it has to do with access. A critic who gives negative reviews to major studio projects may not be afforded priority status
by the parent companies.

As far as Dallas, it was a cultural phenomon, and it was taken seriously enough that other TV shows began imitating it.
While it is fashionable to bash the Dream Season, it doesn't negate the enormous popularity of the series
and any number of talented actors, writers, production people, etc .who worked on it for 14 seasons.
Like any show that last that long, it began to decline, but I would argue that it was at its best Seasons 1-6,
and while some people may have dismissed it publicly, they were probably also watching it

 

[cws]

Generally speaking, the critics seldom liked popular tv shows/movies/ popular music pre 2000
The critics were often arrogant, pompous and clueless.

Things have changed in that the critics are now embracing more popular entertainment projects but for the wrong reasons.
Giving positive reviews to Star Wars trilogy comes to mind.
The Star Wars fan base has been disappointed, has felt disrespected and many have described the SW trilogy as woke and sub-par.
Yet the Critics on RT have been mostly positive.
I think it has to do with access. A critic who gives negative reviews to major studio projects may not be afforded priority status
by the parent companies.

As far as Dallas, it was a cultural phenomon, and it was taken seriously enough that other TV shows began imitating it.
While it is fashionable to bash the Dream Season, it doesn't negate the enormous popularity of the series
and any number of talented actors, writers, production people, etc .who worked on it for 14 seasons.
Like any show that last that long, it began to decline, but I would argue that it was at its best Seasons 1-6,
and while some people may have dismissed it publicly, they were probably also watching it

It really was a global phenomenon. It wasn't perfect,and some seasons were way better than other seasons. It still has an impact because we are still talking about it 30 years after the original show ended. Dynasty,Falcon Crest, and Knots Landing didn't have such a phenomen that Dallas did. Aren't we lucky that we remember the phenomenon, because I highly doubt there will ever be one again.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

And speaking of Dallas and songs, I just this moment learnt that Peter Richards got to No 71 in America the year before he became Josh Ross's camp counsellor :

ah man, I was expecting something more along the lines of the hardcore sound of Lucy’s favorite Austin band The Coffins

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Generally speaking, the critics seldom liked popular tv shows/movies/ popular music pre 2000
The critics were often arrogant, pompous and clueless.

Things have changed in that the critics are now embracing more popular entertainment projects but for the wrong reasons.
Giving positive reviews to Star Wars trilogy comes to mind.
The Star Wars fan base has been disappointed, has felt disrespected and many have described the SW trilogy as woke and sub-par.
Yet the Critics on RT have been mostly positive.
I think it has to do with access. A critic who gives negative reviews to major studio projects may not be afforded priority status
by the parent companies.

As far as Dallas, it was a cultural phenomon, and it was taken seriously enough that other TV shows began imitating it.
While it is fashionable to bash the Dream Season, it doesn't negate the enormous popularity of the series
and any number of talented actors, writers, production people, etc .who worked on it for 14 seasons.
Like any show that last that long, it began to decline, but I would argue that it was at its best Seasons 1-6,
and while some people may have dismissed it publicly, they were probably also watching it

Critics snarked surrounding the global hoopla of "Who Shot JR?" in 1980, and many predicted that the cliffhanger -- and DALLAS itself -- would become a forgotten Trivial Pursuit question within just a couple of years. And that indeed could have happened, but the producers kept the show on track and it became a literal legend in its own time -- the biggest thing on Earth, be it vegetable, mineral or TV series -- during the first half of the'80s.

Even recalcitrant critics came around to admitting that DALLAS churned out a pretty good show.

That all changed in 1986. The use of the dream scenario destroyed the show utterly (even though the 86/87 season was pretty snappy) and validating all the "it's just a soap opera" criticisms, Pam's Dream becoming a literal sitcom punchline for years.

Even today, when DALLAS is mentioned on award shows, like the Emmys, it's met with snickers.

That didn't have to happen. But it did.

But that's the problem with series television: years of good work can be all but wiped-out with a pocket of bad creative decisions.

 

[Seaviewer]

Dallas’s influence on the shows that came after was limited:

paved the way for Hill Street Blues, L.A. LAW, The Sopranos and Breaking Bad.

Precisely. I would argue that Dallas's influence was profound, leading to almost everything being serialised at least to some extent.

 

[WarriorsFan]

Westerns dominated. Especially Gunsmoke and Bonanza! It made perfect sense for Dallas to have some western elements in it - something the other primetime soaps never had, and none of them dominated like Dallas did. Is it any wonder that when westerns were gone from TV that as soon as Yellowstone aired it became the most watched new show? Americans were bred on westerns. The only part that doesn't make sense is that it took until Yellowstone debuted for there to finally be a western on TV again.

Dallas really was a modern day larger than life western. Gunsmoke lasted 20 seasons, and Dallas premiered three years after Gunsmoke ended.

Precisely. I would argue that Dallas's influence was profound, leading to almost everything being serialised at least to some extent.

As I pointed out before, Dallas spawned the other primetime soaps (some more successful than others) and even influenced the daytime soaps.

 

[James from London]

I would argue that Dallas's influence was profound

I think the quote quoted in the piece I originally quoted was talking about Dallas's influence on British TV:

Dallas’s influence on the shows that came after was limited: “Part of its appeal was that it was very American and very different, so there would have been no point trying to replicate it ..."