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

[TJames03]

Bobby would be too stupid to think that. I would also have gory flashbacks of Katherine strangling Pam and bloody bandages being shown after Pam was "killed."

You'd never actually see Katherine dismember Pam, you'd just use your imagination on how she was taken apart.....kinda like the producers fantasized about VP being taken apart when VP quit the show.....

 

[Seaviewer]

My mother had the weird idea that Pricilla Presley should switch to playing Pam.

To this day I'm not sure whether she was serious...

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

My mother had the weird idea that Pricilla Presley should switch to playing Pam.

To this day I'm not sure whether she was serious...

Or perhaps Priscilla Pointer. Turns out JR located Pam's birth certificate, and, lo and behold, she's actually much, much older than Bobby thought she was!

 

[TJames03]

It was obvious that the producers were purposely making Pam unlikeable in her final season.

 

[Ray_Krebbs]

That is one of the reasons I dislike the 86 to 87 season. I thought both Pam and Donna became unlikable, and I don't think it is a coincidence this happened when both were to go. I think a better exit would have been Pam being forced into a limo by goons. Sitting across from her are Katherine and Angelica Nero. The next season sees Bobby going on a hunt for her. I am borrowing this from KL, but perhaps it ends with a car supposedly carrying Pam flips over and explodes. If VP decided to return, it could have been said it was actually Katherine and/or Angelica who died, not her. Mark could be revealed as another person in the evil group, and he forced her to marry him and live as a prisoner in his new California estate.

 

[Ray_Krebbs]

Perhaps they could have done a crossover with Falcon Crest. Bobby faked his death so that he could be the secret mastermind behind the Nazis in California. Jacqueline Perrault and Riebmann acted on his behalf. Their deaths led him to have to be present.

 

[Kenny Coyote]

You'd never actually see Katherine dismember Pam, you'd just use your imagination on how she was taken apart.....kinda like the producers fantasized about VP being taken apart when VP quit the show.....

Ironically Bobby probably threatened to take various people apart several dozen times throughout Dallas' run. That was his exact expression: "I'll take you apart." Or did you use that phrase purposely because Bobby used it so often?

I thought both Pam and Donna became unlikable, and I don't think it is a coincidence this happened when both were to go.

I thought Donna was always unlikable but I don't think Pam was unlikable during her last season on Dallas. She had finally come home to where she had always belonged and she, Bobby and Christopher were finally happy! I never got the feeling that she was really too happy while she was separated from and then divorced from Bobby. She even said she had never stopped loving him, so it's understandable that she wouldn't have been happy until she was back with Bobby again.

Donna was unlikable because she always treated Ray in such a hypocritical way. If you recall, she would get upset with Ray when he asked her to stop being so ambitious so she could be home more often, and presumably so they could start a family since he clearly wanted to be a father. Donna resented that request and would say things like "People have to grow or they die." However, and here is the hypocrisy in her: Whenever Ray would venture outside of ranching, such as when he was becoming interested in real estate and joined Jock and Punk on some good deals, Donna would be upset that Ray was displaying a growing process of his own. Her endlessly repeated question was "What happened to that cowboy I married"? When she was talking about Sam Culver and the book she wrote about him, she was asked about him becoming more liberal with age. She replied proudly: "He was growing process." Going through a growing process was essential for everyone as far as Donna was concerned, except of course for "that cowboy she married."

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Donna was unlikable because she always treated Ray in such a hypocritical way. If you recall, she would get upset with Ray when he asked her to stop being so ambitious so she could be home more often, and presumably so they could start a family since he clearly wanted to be a father. Donna resented that request and would say things like "People have to grow or they die." However, and here is the hypocrisy in her: Whenever Ray would venture outside of ranching, such as when he was becoming interested in real estate and joined Jock and Punk on some good deals, Donna would be upset that Ray was displaying a growing process of his own. Her endlessly repeated question was "What happened to that cowboy I married"? When she was talking about Sam Culver and the book she wrote about him, she was asked about him becoming more liberal with age. She replied proudly: "He was growing process." Going through a growing process was essential for everyone as far as Donna was concerned, except of course for "that cowboy she married."

I don't think it was hypocritical so much as Donna's instinct that he was doing some of these things for the wrong reasons, out of insecurity which JR stoked, and that Ray was likely to get burned. Which is usually what happened.

 

[Alexis Colby Carrington]

Hopefully we'd never had had April in the show.

 

[Mustard]

Hopefully we'd never had had April in the show.

April first appeared while Pam was still in the show.

 

[Alexis Colby Carrington]

April first appeared while Pam was still in the show.

Oops! I meant they'd never be together ha ha

 

[Justine]

Pam would no doubt have gotten pregnant - they set that up in VP's final episode - but the writers would probably have found some reason to split them up again.

If Victoria had stayed for another season, I think the writers would have continued with Pam's infertility issue. The arrival of Lucas probably would have driven a rift between Bobby and Pam and I wouldn't be surprised if the writers planned to send her down the insanity route a second time. Maybe she would have even kidnapped Lucas? Whatever direction, I'm pretty sure it would have been a lame soapy storyline for her so it's best that Victoria left when she did.

 

[Chris2]

The idea of Bobby’s search ending with an exploding car that was supposedly carrying Pam is a good one. It would have provided better closure than what we got.

 

[Toni]

The idea of Bobby’s search ending with an exploding car that was supposedly carrying Pam is a good one. It would have provided better closure than what we got.

Not so sure. "Knots" did it in their last season, and it was all a tease. Liars, liars, liars...

 

[Chris2]

It came off as a tease because it was close to the end of the series and we got Valene back just about a dozen episodes later. But it was an effective plot device that allowed Gary to move on and allowed Valene to return.

 

[Seaviewer]

Not so sure. "Knots" did it in their last season, and it was all a tease. Liars, liars, liars...

Not intentionally. When they did it, they meant it. But it's just as well as it did allow Val's return for the finale which would not have been possible if they'd been more definitive.

 

[Laurie Marr]

Pam’s departure had dire consequences for the characterisation not only of Bobby, but Cliff and JR too. The character also had a key relationship with the audience. After all, we were introduced to the Ewings through Pam: she was the placeholder for the audience’s point of view in the show, even though that was very much diluted as the years went by. Nevertheless, Pam was the touchstone - for the characters and the viewers. The family feud was the big, enduring and dramatically most fertile wellspring for the Ewing saga. Once that plot line was gone Dallas was greatly diminished.

 

[Toni]

Pam’s departure had dire consequences for the characterisation not only of Bobby, but Cliff and JR too. The character also had a key relationship with the audience. After all, we were introduced to the Ewings through Pam: she was the placeholder for the audience’s point of view in the show, even though that was very much diluted as the years went by. Nevertheless, Pam was the touchstone - for the characters and the viewers. The family feud was the big, enduring and dramatically most fertile wellspring for the Ewing saga. Once that plot line was gone Dallas was greatly diminished.

@Laurie Marr, I don´t know what I like the most, if your spot on thoughts or your hilarious name!!

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Also, John Boy was recast on The Waltons after Richard Thomas left.

And that didn't work either. Fortunately, John-Man made very few appearances.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

It would have been better.
VP or no VP, the Pam/Bobby story was a major part of the dynamics of the show Without Pam, it was not the same show

There was no plan to recast, apparently.
If there was, it would have had to be a "name" actress.
Jaclyn Smith could have been good, IMHO. She was born in Houston, Texas (which is actually where the major oil industry in Texas nis present)
and could have brought something positive to the role.
Unfortunately, some people are so resistant to any change, it was probably not considered.