How do you think the show would have gone had Pam stayed?

[CryptCreeper72]

NO! It's always better to lose the actor than the character.

I have to disagree with that. There are some actors who are so closely identified with their characters that they canNOT be replaced (especially in beloved TV shows).

Could you recast Jack Bauer with someone other than Kiefer Sutherland? No. Better to introduce a new character for fans to root for.

Could you recast Archie Bunker with anyone other than Carol O'Connor? No. Better to introduce a new character to carry the show.

Could JR have been successfully recast with an actor other than Larry Hagman? Absolutely not.

Dallas had a couple of successful recasts (Kristin, Digger), but never with a main character. Perhaps Pam could have been recast successfully given the storyline of plastic surgery, but the recasting of Miss Ellie was so abrupt it was never going to work. Reed is a lovely woman and a very good actress, but her Miss Ellie was the totally different character than BBG's Miss Ellie. It wasn't even believable that Ellie had changed so much, almost overnight.

 

[Soaplover]

I kind of liked how Margaret Michaels played Pam during her brief stint playing Pam. She had a colder/reserved aura that kind of matched how the character of Pam acted during the mini series when she first married into the Ewing family.

I think she could have been good playing her for a long stint.

 

[DallasFanForever]

I kind of liked how Margaret Michaels played Pam during her brief stint playing Pam. She had a colder/reserved aura that kind of matched how the character of Pam acted during the mini series when she first married into the Ewing family.

Yes, from her one brief scene with Cliff and her doctor I think she did a fine job. She certainly had the mannerisms down and she did look the part. She was what I would’ve pictured a post-accident Pam as being like.

I think she could have been good playing her for a long stint.

Maybe, but I’m glad it didn’t happen. A Pam recast could’ve drastically backfired. I think it’s better they kept it to one episode and gave us some closure, even if it wasn’t enough closure.

 

[Jock's Ghost]

Yes, from her one brief scene with Cliff and her doctor I think she did a fine job. She certainly had the mannerisms down and she did look the part. She was what I would’ve pictured a post-accident Pam as being like.



Maybe, but I’m glad it didn’t happen. A Pam recast could’ve drastically backfired. I think it’s better they kept it to one episode and gave us some closure, even if it wasn’t enough closure.

Her staying would have been better than what we got....

I have to disagree with that. There are some actors who are so closely identified with their characters that they canNOT be replaced (especially in beloved TV shows).

Could you recast Jack Bauer with someone other than Kiefer Sutherland? No. Better to introduce a new character for fans to root for.

Could you recast Archie Bunker with anyone other than Carol O'Connor? No. Better to introduce a new character to carry the show.

Could JR have been successfully recast with an actor other than Larry Hagman? Absolutely not.

Dallas had a couple of successful recasts (Kristin, Digger), but never with a main character. Perhaps Pam could have been recast successfully given the storyline of plastic surgery, but the recasting of Miss Ellie was so abrupt it was never going to work. Reed is a lovely woman and a very good actress, but her Miss Ellie was the totally different character than BBG's Miss Ellie. It wasn't even believable that Ellie had changed so much, almost overnight.

None of those apply. Thing is, we already had a PAM replacement. She was spot-on. With the burns, she would have been a new character so it would have made sense. The show was in season 11 by then. It sustained itself barely after Zombie Bobby, but the killing blow was Pamela leaving, plus all the crap stories that followed.

Yes, from her one brief scene with Cliff and her doctor I think she did a fine job. She certainly had the mannerisms down and she did look the part. She was what I would’ve pictured a post-accident Pam as being like.



Maybe, but I’m glad it didn’t happen. A Pam recast could’ve drastically backfired. I think it’s better they kept it to one episode and gave us some closure, even if it wasn’t enough closure.

I love that scene, but for the fact, it didn't make much sense her leaving Christopher. but the actor was perfect.

 

[DallasFanForever]

Her staying would have been better than what we got....

I would’ve had no problem with her staying but I guess I’m one of the ones that couldn’t accept her as Pam. Unfortunately she looked so much like her that keeping her on long term as a different character wasn’t going to work. The comparisons would always be there. I think the Jeanne O’Brien story and how it played out was much better for her in hindsight.

 

[Sea - Boo! - Er]

It's recasting midway through. Like a Broadway play starring BBG as Maggie the Cat, when, all of a sudden, Donna Reed shows up in Act 3 with no explanation.

I mean, it's a problem!

It's not unknown for an understudy to go on during a performance if the star suddenly takes ill.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

It's not unknown for an understudy to go on during a performance if the star suddenly takes ill.

Agree. It is live, and sometimes, a change is necessary for a number of reasons.

 

[Kaleid]

I would’ve had no problem with her staying but I guess I’m one of the ones that couldn’t accept her as Pam. Unfortunately she looked so much like her that keeping her on long term as a different character wasn’t going to work. The comparisons would always be there. I think the Jeanne O’Brien story and how it played out was much better for her in hindsight.

Perhaps what would have worked with the new actress, would have been Pam returning with a personality change. From there, she could distance from Bobby, who's having trouble accepting her new persona, and issues with Christopher as they have problems re-bonding. NuPam could even take a romantic shine again to Ray, or become friendlier to J.R. A lot of possibilities could have sustained a story like that over a couple of seasons.

 

[DallasFanForever]

Perhaps what would have worked with the new actress, would have been Pam returning with a personality change. From there, she could distance from Bobby, who's having trouble accepting her new persona, and issues with Christopher as they have problems re-bonding. NuPam could even take a romantic shine again to Ray, or become friendlier to J.R. A lot of possibilities could have sustained a story like that over a couple of seasons.

A drastic change in personality would’ve been interesting. Given the horror of her ordeal it definitely would’ve made sense. Insecurities about how she looks, being accepted by her family, the pain and agony she’s dealing with physically and emotionally, etc. I still don’t know if it would’ve worked with most fans but that may have given it more of a chance perhaps.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

A drastic change in personality would’ve been interesting. Given the horror of her ordeal it definitely would’ve made sense. Insecurities about how she looks, being accepted by her family, the pain and agony she’s dealing with physically and emotionally, etc. I still don’t know if it would’ve worked with most fans but that may have given it more of a chance perhaps.

I agree with you.
Unfortunately, there was a reluctance to recast, apparently.
I still think recasting Jock would have led to better story lines than the ones we saw in seasons 11-14

 

[DallasFanForever]

I still think recasting Jock would have led to better story lines than the ones we saw in seasons 11-14

Well, it couldn’t have made things any worse in my opinion.

 

[CryptCreeper72]

Well, it couldn’t have made things any worse in my opinion.

They should have brought back Wes Parmelee since we never got closure on that story.

 

[DallasFanForever]

They should have brought back Wes Parmelee since we never got closure on that story.

Yes, at some point I wish they would’ve. I do kind of like the ambiguity of it all sometimes though and how we’re left to wonder.

Like with Pam, I do enjoy the one-off scene where MM tells Cliff she’s moved on with her life and is marrying her doctor but then there’s another part of me that wishes we hadn’t seen her again and are left to ponder where she is and what she’s doing for the rest of her life, just like her family would be.

 

[CryptCreeper72]

Yes, at some point I wish they would’ve. I do kind of like the ambiguity of it all sometimes though and how we’re left to wonder.

Like with Pam, I do enjoy the one-off scene where MM tells Cliff she’s moved on with her life and is marrying her doctor but then there’s another part of me that wishes we hadn’t seen her again and are left to ponder where she is and what she’s doing for the rest of her life, just like her family would be.

I have to be honest, I HATED that scene. The Pam we know would have NEVER told Cliff she had moved on from him - or Christopher. It cemented the total destruction of the character we had all loved for years.

 

[DallasFanForever]

I have to be honest, I HATED that scene. The Pam we know would have NEVER told Cliff she had moved on from him - or Christopher. It cemented the total destruction of the character we had all loved for years.

I can respect that, and no it’s not what the Pam we knew would’ve said to Cliff. I chalk it up to the accident having scarred her emotionally and psychologically in addition to the physical torment. She wasn’t thinking rationally at this point but of course trauma can do that to a person. She was probably better off not seeing Cliff at all and sparing them both more pain.

 

[Sea - Boo! - Er]

I have to be honest, I HATED that scene. The Pam we know would have NEVER told Cliff she had moved on from him - or Christopher. It cemented the total destruction of the character we had all loved for years.

I don't think I believed her at that point. She thought she was dying and wanted to shield the family - only to inflict a different kind of trauma of course - but all that could have been undone later with good writing.

 

[Spooky Owl!]

I have to be honest, I HATED that scene. The Pam we know would have NEVER told Cliff she had moved on from him - or Christopher. It cemented the total destruction of the character we had all loved for years.

I've always been on the fence about the scene. I thought Margaret Michaels did a good job -- and she seemed fairly good-humored about being hired to play a post-horrific disfiguration of Victoria Principal.

But should they have done it, the scene? Well, I guess after Donna Reed and an entire (admittedly mediocre) season waved away as a dream, DALLAS just seemed to throw all caution to the wind in a pointed 'WTF?' kind of way... Which is regrettable.

I have postulated that MM's one scene as Pam in "Carousel" (ep. 12.01) in 1988 might have been Jeanne O'Brien being introduced as the first step in the scheme to distract Bobby by a Pam-lookalike (preferably hired by somebody other than JR). Only pouty-Bobby wasn't yet biting. And she later shows up in Texas to initiate her second attempt -- and this time it works.

Or perhaps it really is Pam, and her impending death-by-cancer has been brought on by that adult-onset neurofibromatosis. She was Digger's daughter after all.