J.R Returns should have been a blueprint.

pete lashmar

pete lashmar

Telly Talk Addict
Just watched J.R Returns. I haven't seen it in years but absolutely and thoroughly enjoyed it.

It just worked like classic Dallas. John Ross & Christopher felt real with fun 3 dimensional personalities. Sue Ellen was strong & playful. Cliff was Cliff and Pamela was a nice girl without a scheming agenda and Bobby...well.....was Bobby.

This should have been a blueprint for future Dallas. I know they did War Of The Ewings and veered off, but when TNT brought it back J.R Returns should have been their starting point IMO.

I'll be watching War of the Ewings tomorrow, again I haven't seen it in years, but hey, it deserves another re-watch before Return To Southfork.
 
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Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Telly Talk Champion
pete lashmar said:
Just watched J.R Returns. I haven't seen it in years but absolutely and thoroughly enjoyed it.

It just worked like classic Dallas. John Ross & Christopher felt real with fun 3 dimensional personalities. Sue Ellen was strong & playful. Cliff was Cliff and Pamela was a nice girl without a scheming agenda and Bobby...well.....was Bobby.

This should have been a blueprint for future Dallas. I know they did War Of The Ewings and veered off, but when TNT brought it back J.R Returns should have been their starting point IMO.

I'll be watching War of the Ewings tomorrow, again I haven't seen it in years, but hey, it deserves another re-watch before Return To Southfork.
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I love those two sequel Dallas movies.

JR Returns also serves as a very fitting coda to the TV series too.

Enjoy your re-watch of them Pete. :)
 
Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Telly Talk Champion
pete lashmar said:
Yes there is a dedication to him at the end of J.R Returns.
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Yeah just after the freeze frame and before the beginning of the end credits.

I didn't know he had passed away when I originally bought the original VHS release.

When I originally watched it and saw that dedication I can remember thinking well that's it then, there will be no more Dallas.

I didn't think I'd be proved wrong. :)
 
cws

cws

Formerly kcmimichar
pete lashmar said:
Just watched J.R Returns. I haven't seen it in years but absolutely and thoroughly enjoyed it.

It just worked like classic Dallas. John Ross & Christopher felt real with fun 3 dimensional personalities. Sue Ellen was strong & playful. Cliff was Cliff and Pamela was a nice girl without a scheming agenda and Bobby...well.....was Bobby.

This should have been a blueprint for future Dallas. I know they did War Of The Ewings and veered off, but when TNT brought it back J.R Returns should have been their starting point IMO.

I'll be watching War of the Ewings tomorrow, again I haven't seen it in years, but hey, it deserves another re-watch before Return To Southfork.
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In my opinion, it's way better than TNT Dallas.
 
Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Telly Talk Champion
kcmimichar said:
In my opinion, it's way better than TNT Dallas.
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Totally agree.

It wraps up the cliffhanger from Conundrum quite well.

It uses a variant of the title sequence from the show's last few years. However as it's made by Olive Productions, the "A Lorimar Television Production" line isn't present below the gold Dallas logo on the title sequence.

I rather enjoyed it, it was lovely to see Patrick Duffy, Linda Gray, Larry Hagman & Ken Kercheval again.

JR was quite clearly the bad, manipulative rascal he should've been in the TV series later seasons which sadly he wasn't.

Not to run down or be derogatory about the TV series later seasons, Dallas Returns was really a breath of fresh air and felt like classic Dallas. For me some of the more subtle moments made me love it, like JR telling Bobby he liked what he'd done with Jock's picture. God Bless Jim Davis, that man was a Dallas legend.

Arthur Bernard Lewis wrote it and he did a helluva good job. He was another Dallas legend, may he Rest In Peace too. :)
 
cws

cws

Formerly kcmimichar
For the life of me, I don't understand why this could not have been incorporated into the TNT version. It was almost like what happened in the movies didn't happen. I really enjoyed Larry, Linda, and Patrick doing press for the TNT version. I also "liked" that Larry died playing the part he was born to play, but it never stayed true to the original. Also, they didn't have to ruin Cliff. This "continuation" should have been done a lot sooner..God Bless them though because Larry and Ken's health were failing and they still didn't he show!!!
 
Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Telly Talk Champion
kcmimichar said:
For the life of me, I don't understand why this could not have been incorporated into the TNT version. It was almost like what happened in the movies didn't happen. I really enjoyed Larry, Linda, and Patrick doing press for the TNT version. I also "liked" that Larry died playing the part he was born to play, but it never stayed true to the original. Also, they didn't have to ruin Cliff. This "continuation" should have been done a lot sooner..God Bless them though because Larry and Ken's health were failing and they still didn't he show!!!
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For some reason Warner's told the Cyntax Production team to ignore the two Dallas reunion movies.

I honestly don't know why as the movies did use former production team members from Lorimar although by this time (1996) Lorimar had ceased to exist. :)
 
Garry

Garry

Telly Talk Fan
The events of J.R Returns were mentioned in the initial Dallas TNT shooting script by Cidre. But she was not aware that the Ewings had already met Cliff and Afton's daughter Pamela Rebecca in that movie. She wanted to use the character in her own script but know one was to know who she really was. So JR Returns had to be erased from the continuity.
 
pete lashmar

pete lashmar

Telly Talk Addict
garry said:
The events of J.R Returns were mentioned in the initial Dallas TNT shooting script by Cidre. But she was not aware that the Ewings had already met Cliff and Afton's daughter Pamela Rebecca in that movie. She wanted to use the character in her own script but know one was to know who she really was. So JR Returns had to be erased from the continuity.
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Yes, very sad that they did that. But not only did she erase the events of J.R Returns, she carbon copied it for TNT with no one knowing who Pamala was and more importantly who her parents were.
 
Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Telly Talk Champion
Angela Channing said:
J.R. Returns was like a return to form for Dallas after the dire final season(s). The second film The War of the Ewings was nowhere as good and seemed to suggest they were unable to sustain the quality for very long.
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What I didn't like about War of the Ewing's was Bobby lusting after that Jennifer Jantzen character.

I wish they had kept Rosalind Allen's character of Julia Cunningham from JR Returns instead of introducing another character.

John Ross and Christopher weren't in this one and neither was Ken Kercheval. It was nice to see George Kennedy and Steve Kanaly though, although it was odd seeing Steve with dark hair! :)
 
pete lashmar

pete lashmar

Telly Talk Addict
War Of The Ewings was OK but nowhere near the standard of J.R Returns.

No John Ross or Christopher, Ray reduced to a minimal role and no Cliff Barnes at all.

It really was the Bobby, Sue Ellen and J,R show.

My biggest problem with it was Sue Ellen's passion for Ewing Oil as if the writers had absolutely no idea of her relationship with it for over 14 years in the original series.

It was also far too obvious who was trying to kill J.R.

It was a fun romp to watch but not surprising that this was the last outing for the TV movies.

Not the sad and bad ending that TNT Dallas gave us but a very lackluster one after the return to form of J.R Returns.
 
Toni

Toni

Maximum Member
You can kill me right here and now (if you dare), but I think that JRR was a total waste of time and talent. For the following reasons:
- JR could ever have pretended he was dead and hurt his son that way. Ever.
- Classic JR would have found a way to get Ewing Oil for real, and not care about WestStar.
- Swellin showed a lack of self-respect by sleeping with JR just like that. Still an easy girl, after all this time.
- That Julia woman was even more boring that Jenna Skankwade. Even her house looked a bit like Jenna´s.
- Where were Miss Ellie and Clayton? Again he hid deaths to her? What a husband!
- The score over-used the cues written for "Killer at Large" (Season 7 premiere).

WOTE was even more absurd, and Cliff´s absence was regrettable.
 
cws

cws

Formerly kcmimichar
pete lashmar said:
War Of The Ewings was OK but nowhere near the standard of J.R Returns.

No John Ross or Christopher, Ray reduced to a minimal role and no Cliff Barnes at all.

It really was the Bobby, Sue Ellen and J,R show.

My biggest problem with it was Sue Ellen's passion for Ewing Oil as if the writers had absolutely no idea of her relationship with it for over 14 years in the original series.

It was also far too obvious who was trying to kill J.R.

It was a fun romp to watch but not surprising that this was the last outing for the TV movies.

Not the sad and bad ending that TNT Dallas gave us but a very lackluster one after the return to form of J.R Returns.
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Even though War of the Ewing's wasn't that great, I would take that over the TNT version any day!!!
 
cws

cws

Formerly kcmimichar
Toni said:
You can kill me right here and now (if you dare), but I think that JRR was a total waste of time and talent. For the following reasons:
- JR could ever have pretended he was dead and hurt his son that way. Ever.
- Classic JR would have found a way to get Ewing Oil for real, and not care about WestStar.
- Swellin showed a lack of self-respect by sleeping with JR just like that. Still an easy girl, after all this time.
- That Julia woman was even more boring that Jenna Skankwade. Even her house looked a bit like Jenna´s.
- Where were Miss Ellie and Clayton? Again he hid deaths to her? What a husband!
- The score over-used the cues written for "Killer at Large" (Season 7 premiere).

WOTE was even more absurd, and Cliff´s absence was regrettable.
Click to expand...
Cliff's absence was regrettable! Again, the 2 TV movies were IMO... better than the TNT "continuation".
 
K

Karin

Moderator
Staff Member
I think JR Returns would have been a good ending to the show if they had brought back Pam as the Julia character (I suspect she was supposed to be Pam in the original script. It would explain why she knew Afton and took care of Pamela Rebecca). Also they should have brought back Ray and also Lucy.

I actually prefer Dallas TNT over War of the Ewings!
But I think Dallas TNT should have started with Pamela Rebecca getting married to John Ross, not Christopher and we should have known from the start who she was and seen her parents. It would have been like Bobby/Pam's forbidden love story all over again. It would have worked.
 
pete lashmar

pete lashmar

Telly Talk Addict
Just finished Return to Southfork and had a tear in my eye as they all arrived.

It's a lovely tribute but far too scripted, it would have been nice to hear then talk about things more naturally.

But worth it just to see them all arriving at Southfork at the beginning, especially with VP there too.
 
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