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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 3015" data-attributes="member: 22">13/Mar/80: KNOTS LANDING: Courageous Convictions v 14/Mar/80: DALLAS: The Wheeler DealerAgain, two very different hours of television with a surprisingly similar starting point. On KNOTS, Richard is sweating badly when an oil company he bought shares in goes belly up. He now has a week to raise $20,000 or face bankruptcy and unemployment. On DALLAS, a shaky JR stands to lose billions if Ewing Oil's Southeast Asian oil wells are nationalised in a military coup in two days' time. (I love the vagueness of all this overseas drama - we don't even know which part of Southeast Asia and we don't care.) Richard's solution is to throw a barbecue for the neighbours. Doing his best to follow Fallon Carrington's dictum - "The poor cut back in hard times, that's why they're poor. The rich know that's the time to spend" - he instructs Laura that only the best steaks and bourbon will do. During the party, he approaches Sid then Kenny for a loan, (ironic that he doesn't even go near Gary, "the Texas Ewing") only for them to turn him down. It's a wonderfully excruciating scene: Richard's desperate, Sid and Kenny are embarrassed, and Laura's mortified when she realises what's going on - yet everyone wears their best party face throughout. Finally, Sid stumps up $5,000, but it's not enough.On "The Wheeler Dealer", JR's plan also involves his so-called friends, i.e. Vaughn Leland and the cartel, whom he suckers into buying the Asian leases off him at a huge markup, just hours before news of the revolution breaks. It's JR's most outrageous scheme to date, and what's interesting is how genuinely nervous he is about pulling it off. (When he pours himself a drink in one scene, his hand is visibly shaking.) What's at stake is not just the family fortune, but something even more valuable: his daddy's approval. But even at the beginning of the episode when things are still going well - the bank loans have been paid off and Ewing Oil is more prosperous than it ever has been - Jock still cannot forgive JR for mortgaging Southfork in the first place.There's a parallel between that scene and the great one in "Courageous Convictions" where Richard asks his father-in-law Hank to mortgage his house on his behalf. Hank has always lived within his means and cannot understand the mess Richard has got himself into. The gulf between generations, between two completely different sets of values, is plain to see. (Not that I'm suggesting Jock and Hank have the same values, but you know, they've both got white hair and stuff.)"Courageous Convictions" is also a turning point for Laura. When KNOTS began, she was the suburban equivalent of Sue Ellen, a malfunctioning Stepford Wife living a life of quiet desperation and afternoon sex. The episode titles say it all: "The Lie" was about Laura's inability to admit the truth, "Courageous Convictions" is about, amongst other things, Laura summoning the guts to stand up to her husband for what she believes is right. Sure, it would have been predictable, and probably more fun to watch, had Laura continued down a path of self-destruction, but this is KNOTS, through the character, taking the high road instead. And while a housewife taking a job and control of the family finances might not be a revolution in South East Asia, it's still a revolution. Back in DALLAS, meanwhile, Sue Ellen has given up the fight. In session with Dr Elby, she describes herself as "a lush, just like her husband says she is.""Courageous Convictions" also contains a subplot about Diana, her first serious boyfriend, and a hundred dollar bill he steals from Sid. I really like the way KNOTS takes Diana as seriously as she takes herself which, as a solemn sixteen-year-old, is very seriously indeed. And there's a lovely scene between her and Sid where they talk about betrayal and forgiveness."The Wheeler Dealer" is DALLAS in extra time. The season was meant to end all nice and neat with Digger's funeral at the end of "Jock's Trial Part 2". At the last minute, the network asked for two more episodes so this is the writers looking back at what stories they already had and seeing what further drama they could pull from them. Would we have ever met Amanda Ewing had Miss Ellie not suggested to Jock that they visit her in the sanitarium where she resides (the grounds of which look suspiciously like the one Sue Ellen at was this time last season)? Watching Jock and Ellie's discussion, I got all warm and fuzzy when I saw the shot of them that New DALLAS has based its "what-the-hell-is-it?" portrait of them on. In the short term, sending Jock, Ellie, Bobby and Pam off to Colorado is a convenient way of occupying them for half an episode. In the long run, Amanda confusing Bobby for a young Jock will pay off handsomely when it comes to resolving the "Who really owns Ewing Oil?" mystery of Season 7. Amanda's isn't the only case of mistaken identity in this ep: a boozed up Sue Ellen thinks Mark Jennings from DYNASTY is Dusty come back from the dead. (She'll have to wait until next season for that.) As well as an off-screen revolution and a crazy ex-wife, this writers also rustle up a long lost document giving Cliff a share of Ewing 23, a really good barroom brawl where Ray and Bobby ride to an ungrateful Sue Ellen's rescue, the first indication that Pam's mama might be alive, and the final nail in JR's affair with his sister-in-law. The suggestion that she sleep with his business associates proves the last straw for Kristin as it did for Julie. And just as Julie joined forces with Cliff (or was about to when she was killed), so Kristin does the same with Alan Beam. All this plus an excellent Southfork cocktail scene, the one by which all others must be measured: Sue Ellen sneaks a drink at the bar, JR denounces her as an alcoholic, Bobby defends her, Lucy throws in a zinger, JR changes tack and impunes Pam's paternity and sanity, Pam runs off, Bobby punches JR, Jock puts his boys in line, and Sue Ellen finishes off the scene with a one-liner in JR's ear.And the winner is … DALLAS</blockquote>

Verification: What month follows July?