DaddyDavis2000
Telly Talk Newbie
Had the actor who played Guzzler not died would you had liked to see Guzzler return, maybe even become a main character? I loved the character of Guzzler, his episode is one of my favorites.
Guzzler
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Luke_Krebbs_Ewing
Telly Talk Champion
No.
I didn't like him trying to hit on Pam after she told him to stop and she had to tell him several times.
I thought that was creepy of him.
darkshadows38
Telly Talk Star
had it been written better and had the writers picked a better name that sounds more like a porn name than a nickname in a show called Dallas than i dunno maybe
Lastkidpicked
Telly Talk Dream Maker
I like Guzzler because there are a lot of people like him in Texas.
They are always chasing the next get rich quick scheme.
The big opportunity is just around the corner. Riches await if you just try hard enough.
Guzzler doesn't want to hurt anybody. He just wants to get his piece of the pie.
They are always chasing the next get rich quick scheme.
The big opportunity is just around the corner. Riches await if you just try hard enough.
Guzzler doesn't want to hurt anybody. He just wants to get his piece of the pie.
Lotus Point Tundra Torque
Telly Talk Member
I am surprised to hear he is one of your favorites.... There is no personal judgment, but imo, he is one of the more forgettable characters. Yes, I agree, he may be "Texas," but he didn't really advance the story at all.
That being said.... would it have made more sense for Matt Cantrell to have been Guzzler??? Would that character have had more credibility as someone the audience would know? As opposed to a totally new character that all the characters acted like they knew, yet, we had never heard of??
That being said.... would it have made more sense for Matt Cantrell to have been Guzzler??? Would that character have had more credibility as someone the audience would know? As opposed to a totally new character that all the characters acted like they knew, yet, we had never heard of??
darkshadows38
Telly Talk Star
honestly he's a character i always forget even exists until that episode comes up when i'm watching that particular season
Taylor Bennett Jr.
Telly Talk Winner
I’d like to have seen Guzzler make a few more appearances at the end of the first full season (after getting back from straightening things out with them high rises down in Venezuela), perhaps enjoying a brief love affair with Garnet McGee.
In the next season, as he builds his construction empire (with seed funding from Bobby), he becomes more and more of a regular character, ending up as one of the main suspects in JR’s shooting. (JR having meddled in one too many of his development projects)
The following season, promoted to an opening credits role, Guzzler aligns with both the Cartel and Unified Development to build a luxury resort/oil refinery/shopping center on Lake Takapa. This, along with his other holdings in real estate and oil and gas and various other fuels and minerals, makes the Guzzler a billionaire in his own right.
As the seasons go on, Guzzler manages to marry a couple of the Ewing women (Sue Ellen for sure, maybe Pam or Lucy) — not at the same time, of course, as Double Weddings are the domain of the dastardly Edison Faraday Haynes — and somehow eventually gain control of Ewing Oil.
By the time Bobby dies, the viewers are mainly concerned with what Guzzler’s reaction will be. It turns out that reaction is to inexplicably transform into Matt Cantrell in the next season, just in time to uncover the world’s largest emerald deposit and live happily ever after, with the show going off the airwaves firmly in its rightful #1 position atop the Nielsen ratings.
Well, that or maybe have Pam tell Bobby he sent a postcard from Venezuela, prompting a small chuckle, ala Luke Middens.
In the next season, as he builds his construction empire (with seed funding from Bobby), he becomes more and more of a regular character, ending up as one of the main suspects in JR’s shooting. (JR having meddled in one too many of his development projects)
The following season, promoted to an opening credits role, Guzzler aligns with both the Cartel and Unified Development to build a luxury resort/oil refinery/shopping center on Lake Takapa. This, along with his other holdings in real estate and oil and gas and various other fuels and minerals, makes the Guzzler a billionaire in his own right.
As the seasons go on, Guzzler manages to marry a couple of the Ewing women (Sue Ellen for sure, maybe Pam or Lucy) — not at the same time, of course, as Double Weddings are the domain of the dastardly Edison Faraday Haynes — and somehow eventually gain control of Ewing Oil.
By the time Bobby dies, the viewers are mainly concerned with what Guzzler’s reaction will be. It turns out that reaction is to inexplicably transform into Matt Cantrell in the next season, just in time to uncover the world’s largest emerald deposit and live happily ever after, with the show going off the airwaves firmly in its rightful #1 position atop the Nielsen ratings.
Well, that or maybe have Pam tell Bobby he sent a postcard from Venezuela, prompting a small chuckle, ala Luke Middens.
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Lastkidpicked
Telly Talk Dream Maker
"You're a very clever woman, Pam. You'll think of something."
This scene tells a lot. It shows that J.R . is acknowledging that Pam now has more influence on Bobby than J.R. does. Interesting how a big shift sometimes is signified by a simple line.
I love your screen name, @Lotus Point Tundra Torque
Guzzler is important because he showed Bobby away from the office and out of Jock and J.R.'s shadow. His appearance also allowed Miss Ellie to give voice to the debates that ranchers and real estate developers have all the time.
Miss Ellie:
“Does everything have to be used? Can’t some things just be? Stay the way they’ve always been? Do we have to change everything we touch? Does it really make things better that way?”
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Angela Channing
Telly Talk Veteran
I always like when shows bring back characters from the past over bringing in new ones. I would have brought back Guzzler to play more or less the same role that Matt Cantrell did. It would have been more believable when all the family were so excited to see him again when to the viewers he was a complete stranger.
Chase Gioberti
Telly Talk Fan
No. One episode was painful enough.
Chase Gioberti
Telly Talk Fan
You must not visit other states much.
They are all over the place in Illinois. In New York. California. Arizona. Plenty of other states I travel to as well. It’s a human condition and not limited or even accentuated in Texas specifically.
Luke_Krebbs_Ewing
Telly Talk Champion
I dunno, I think Guzzler was a good name.
Now Gobbler sounds more like a porn name but it's not appropriate for Dallas in my honest opinion.
Snarky Oracle!
Telly Talk Supreme
Yes, as unlikeable as Guzzler could be, I much prefer to have established (well, semi-established) characters make return appearances because it just solidifies the backstory somehow, the latticework legacy of the program's narrative.
Sure, newer characters are necessary, but tend to be over-introduced in the later seasons of a program to "bring in the kids" (which never really works anyway).
Matt Cantrell was a mid-'80s boytoy "flip" of the Guzzler character and a transparently goofy one which didn't work at all.
And, interestingly, some time ago when I was reviewing DALLAS via my DVD collection (I eventually stopped, as the "check you disc for scratches" thing began driving me crazy, which only @Matthew Blaisdel has ever explained to my satisfaction, the double-sided issue) I noticed Guzzler's speech near the end of the episode was rather unexpectedly touching. Before, I'd never paid that much attention to it -- not because I was younger, I don't think, but because it just didn't really register on me until later on. (I probably had shrugged the speech off as the self-involved ramblings of a hustler -- and to a degree they are -- but the probable Everyman reality behind it struck me anew).
Then, another poster chimed in to make almost exactly the same point about Guzzler's speech. But being an aficionado of eerie karma doesn't prevent repercussions.
Luke_Krebbs_Ewing
Telly Talk Champion
That had better not get reinstated for the Blu-ray.
The threesome in the TNT Cyntax Dallas was bad enough, I definitely don't want to watch that!
KayLloyd
Telly Talk Addict
Not so sure about that. He hit on his friend's wife while he was a guest in his home.
Lastkidpicked
Telly Talk Dream Maker
You make a very good point, @KayLloyd . It would be interesting to compare Guzzler with another character from the 1970's /1980's.
This is Larry Dallas, from Three's Company.
He is a friend of the main character, Jack. In the series, Jack is the honorable one and Larry is always trying to get the two of them in trouble, and is always chasing the ladies. Sound a bit like Bobby and Guzzler?
Here is something we discovered recently. Richard Kline, who played Larry, said this:
The reason that Larry is fun is we see him in pursuit of women in a humorous way, but you notice we never see him actually succeed in getting the girl. That is what makes it harmless entertainment.
We might be able to think of Guzzler in the same way. We know he isn't going to hit it big in real estate, and we know he will not get anywhere with Pam. But it's entertaining to watch him try. And Guzzler knows he won't get anywhere with Pam but he tries anyway, just because he is Guzzler.
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Seaviewer
Telly Talk Warrior
You've obviously given this some thought. It's interesting how different viewers can form strong feeling over things that others don't even notice.
Ah, Guzzler does have a raison d'etre after all.
Yes, that would have worked.