Leonard Katzman: The Producer & Executive Producer from Season Ten Onwards

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

We all know that Dallas was at it's best when Katzman was Producer and Philip Capice was the Executive Producer of Dallas for the show's first eight years.

Katzman temporarily departed the show for season nine, replaced by James H. Brown as Producer.

He returned for season ten on the proviso that Philip Capice was shown the door, as well as the return of Patrick Duffy at the insistence of Larry Hagman. For the show this was the turning point where the quality of the writing after season ten took an abrupt nose dive.

What are your opinions of the choices Katzman made in the writing when he took total control. The Wes Parmalee Jock Ewing storyline (one of my favourites!), the BD Calhoun terrorist storyline, as well as the way they wrote Victoria Principal off the show and being subjected to the whole mummy Pam storyline in season eleven. And of course all the other silly plots like the Haleyville storyline.

Personally I don't think Katzman had what it takes to be the showrunner once he became Executive Producer. What are your opinions of him? I honestly believe that the reason Dallas became so bland and mediocre in it's last four seasons were down to Katzman's creative choices in the writing, like weakening the character of JR. What do you all think of him?

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I see you're all about the Parmalee. Just as I'm all about the S.A.D.

Technically, Katzman was replaced by Peter Dunne.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

I see you're all about the Parmalee. Just as I'm all about the S.A.D.

Technically, Katzman was replaced by Peter Dunne.

Peter Dunne was Supervising Producer for season nine whilst James H. Brown was the Producer.

So technically Brown did replace Katzman!

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Peter Dunne was Supervising Producer for season nine whilst James H. Brown was the Producer.

So technically Brown did replace Katzman!

I know what the titles say.

Katzman was the show-runner, as was Dunne. Brown wasn't -- he was a writer with a "producer" credit.

Hope that helps.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

I know what the titles say.

Katzman was the show-runner, as was Dunne. Brown wasn't -- he was a writer with a "producer" credit.

Hope that helps.

So does that mean Katzman was a writer when he had the Producer credit too then before he replaced Philip Capice as Executive Producer for season ten?

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

So does that mean Katzman was a writer when he had the Producer credit too then before he replaced Philip Capice as Executive Producer for season ten?

Well, of course Katzman was a writer. These producer titles are always confusing -- sometimes it's "just" a writer, sometimes it's a show-runner who also writes, sometimes it's the hooker placed on staff by someone at the studio.

Except for the dream season, Katzman was always the show-runner, whether he was credited as "producer" (thru 1985) or "executive producer" (from 1986 onward). Philip Capice (and Lee Rich, earlier) were executives who, apparently, got as involved with the creative aspects of the show if and when they felt like it. Larry, of course, took an "EP' credit to make even more money.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Well, of course Katzman was a writer. These producer titles are always confusing -- sometimes it's "just" a writer, sometimes it's a show-runner who also writes, sometimes it's the hooker placed on staff by someone at the studio.

Except for the dream season, Katzman was always the show-runner, whether he was credited as "producer" (thru 1985) or "executive producer" (from 1986 onward). Philip Capice (and Lee Rich, earlier) were executives who, apparently, got as involved with the creative aspects of the show if and when they felt like it. Larry, of course, took an "EP' credit to make even more money.

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

I assume Katzman got total authority over the show once Philip Capice was shown the door for season ten.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

I assume Katzman got total authority over the show once Philip Capice was shown the door for season ten.

Yes, and Capice was reportedly Katzman's reason for leaving in the first place. David Jacobs mused that Katzman and Capice had exactly the same approach to TV, even though they didn't get along. Capice got along well with the ladies, but Larry couldn't stand him (calling him a "talentless SOB") and Capice was indeed seen as being a bit high-handed. Katzman had a better bedside manner with the actors but, like most producers I guess, you didn't cross him.

 

[pete lashmar]

Larry's attitude towards Caprice is nothing short of stunning!

He always said that Dallas was a global success because of Katzman, he licked his arse every chance he got when interviewed, yet when Katzman was fully in charge the show dived and died.

Let's be honest Larry & Lennie were besties, Larry could do what he wanted on set and Katzman looked the other way. It was like bullies at school.

During Katzman's watch the show plummeted with dull and bland storylines, actors were hired that had huge difficulties with the material they were given, beloved actors/characters were fired left right and centre and the ones that remained were watered down so much that viewers just turned off.

I honestly cannot think of one single plot that really stood out from those last few seasons, they were either disguised repeat fodder or as dull as dishwater .

Caprice's exit from the show really showed who was the mastermind behind it - on his watch the show gained enormous global success. If some cast members felt rubbed up the wrong way by him well I say tough because if it wasn't for his work ethic Dallas wouldn't have been the success it was.

I bet the big bosses who made the big decisions regretted Caprice going big time, but then again, by season 12 no one seemed to give a toss about the show, it's plots, it;s characters or it's legacy.

 

[Rove]

If Warner Bros releases Dallas on Blu-Ray I'll have the opportunity to immerse myself in this thread. My personal collection finishes with Swan Song. From memory the return of Lenny and the departure of Phil was the beginning of the end of Dallas. It limped to Conundrum.

 

[Rove]

yet when Katzman was fully in charge the show dived and died.

And let's not forget the nepotism which was allowed to creep into Dallas. This from Wikipedia...

"Mitchell Wayne Katzman was promoted to co-producer as of season 12, while Frank Katzman (the other son of Leonard Katzman) and John Rettino (Leonard Katzman's son-in-law), served as associate producers during seasons 13 and 14. Additionally, Katzman's PA Louella Lee Caraway was credited as executive coordinator for the final three seasons."

This should never have been allowed by the big brass.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

Louella Lee Caraway was credited as executive coordinator for the final three seasons.

at least poor Louella, having been unceremoniously sacked by JR (in more ways than one), was able to land a nice position for a while after all she'd gone through

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

We all know that Dallas was at it's best when Katzman was Producer and Philip Capice was the Executive Producer of Dallas for the show's first eight years.

Katzman temporarily departed the show for season nine, replaced by James H. Brown as Producer.

He returned for season ten on the proviso that Philip Capice was shown the door, as well as the return of Patrick Duffy at the insistence of Larry Hagman. For the show this was the turning point where the quality of the writing after season ten took an abrupt nose dive.

What are your opinions of the choices Katzman made in the writing when he took total control. The Wes Parmalee Jock Ewing storyline (one of my favourites!), the BD Calhoun terrorist storyline, as well as the way they wrote Victoria Principal off the show and being subjected to the whole mummy Pam storyline in season eleven. And of course all the other silly plots like the Haleyville storyline.

Personally I don't think Katzman had what it takes to be the showrunner once he became Executive Producer. What are your opinions of him? I honestly believe that the reason Dallas became so bland and mediocre in it's last four seasons were down to Katzman's creative choices in the writing, like weakening the character of JR. What do you all think of him?

View attachment 36951

The departure of VP was probably inevitable. Susan Howard, I suspect wanted to stay, but was let go
Season 10 wasn't bad, but the show did begin to decline.
The departures of cast members was a disadvantage, but what replaced it wasn't too good.

Season 11 was the last great cliffhanger, great finish to an uneven season.

Seasons 12-14 really declined.

The range war story was interesting, but it marked the departure of Jeremy Wendell, probably the Ewings most
formidable adversary.

The reinvented Cliff Barnes was a nice touch, but he once again reverted to comic buffoonery

The introduction of James as JR's son was a decent idea, but the writing was not up to par.

April Stevens was a worthwhile character on the show, but the Bobby/April pairing was a reach
although not as bad as Ray/Jenna.

What if... Katherine was reintroduced as an Alexis type adversary, A Julie Grey brother or sister emerged
looking for payback, Amanda had a son or daughter by Jock, or Garrison had a son or daughter
and they became part of the story.

Jamie was OK, I wouldn't have written her out.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Larry's attitude towards Caprice is nothing short of stunning!

He always said that Dallas was a global success because of Katzman, he licked his arse every chance he got when interviewed, yet when Katzman was fully in charge the show dived and died.

Let's be honest Larry & Lennie were besties, Larry could do what he wanted on set and Katzman looked the other way. It was like bullies at school.

During Katzman's watch the show plummeted with dull and bland storylines, actors were hired that had huge difficulties with the material they were given, beloved actors/characters were fired left right and centre and the ones that remained were watered down so much that viewers just turned off.

I honestly cannot think of one single plot that really stood out from those last few seasons, they were either disguised repeat fodder or as dull as dishwater .

Caprice's exit from the show really showed who was the mastermind behind it - on his watch the show gained enormous global success. If some cast members felt rubbed up the wrong way by him well I say tough because if it wasn't for his work ethic Dallas wouldn't have been the success it was.

I bet the big bosses who made the big decisions regretted Caprice going big time, but then again, by season 12 no one seemed to give a toss about the show, it's plots, it;s characters or it's legacy.

Paulse Paulsen... Must .... have .... Paulsen.

When Katzman and Art Lewis left with Duffy in 1985, Capice refused to give Paulsen the show-runner position. (Instead, KNOTS' Peter Dunne was brought in -- and Dunne, though talented, seemed to think DALLAS needed to be reformed, and he blew it.)

Katzman seemed to recognize how good Paulsen's sense of seasonal structure was and, as such, gave Paulsen a lot of leeway.

But there wasn't a post-'WSJR?' season that worked in which Paulsen wasn't involved. And when Katzman made the decision to let DALLAS turn overtly parodic, Paulsen left the show. And it never recovered.

Capice leaving was mostly fine. But after Katzman had claimed the throne, he slipped into that arguably narcissistic presumption that as long as he was in charge, everything was AOK.... So if Capice's leaving had a cost, it was that it no longer left Katzman anyone to fight against. So he got fat and lazy.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

If Warner Bros releases Dallas on Blu-Ray I'll have the opportunity to immerse myself in this thread. My personal collection finishes with Swan Song. From memory the return of Lenny and the departure of Phil was the beginning of the end of Dallas. It limped to Conundrum.

Well with hindsight season ten where he returned to helm the show was probably the last great season of the show but once he let go Susan Howard and Victoria Principal left that's when his creative writing choices started to make people switch off!

 

[alexpaige]

I know what the titles say.

Katzman was the show-runner, as was Dunne. Brown wasn't -- he was a writer with a "producer" credit.

Hope that helps.

Sorry to jump in here but a few late clarifications:

Brown wasn't a writer, he was a producer (in the technical sense; ie the "line producer" of the show) who had previously produced other TV including the Seven Brides for Seven Brothers series ... and a former assistant director from film. He was brought on board to handle the technical aspects of producing Dallas while Dunne was responsible for the showrunning/writing side.

There is another James H. Brown (James Harmon Brown) who was a writer on Dynasty and Guiding Light, but that is a different person. The Dallas James H Brown is the one whose obit from the LA Times can be found here: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/latimes/name/james-brown-obituary?id=20419220

Leonard Katzman never regarded himself as a writer but as a producer - despite the fact that he wrote plenty of Dallas and masterminded the storylines (with Art Lewis and later joined by Paulsen). Who contributed what percent of the stories during those years, and therefore who is to blame for the show's decline, is subject to speculation but will probably always be a mystery as unfortunately Katzman never gave a really indepth interview about Dallas during his lifetime.

I often think it would be a good idea to interview his son Mitch (who is easy enough to find on Facebook) who would probably be the best person to give some real insight into just how much of the show came from Katzman vs Capice especially in those earlier years.

From what I can gather, though, Capice (and Lee Rich) were never heavily involved in the storytelling side of things day to day. They were, as Snarky says, executives (suits) who set forth occasional decrees from on high. One can see how Katzman, down "on the ground" with the cast and crew and spending time in Dallas on location every year, would resent this (I doubt Capice ever went to Dallas with the show, even for season 1).

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Sorry to jump in here but a few late clarifications:

Brown wasn't a writer, he was a producer (in the technical sense) who had previously produced other TV including the Seven Brides for Seven Brothers series ... and a former assistant director from film. He was brought on board to handle the technical aspects of producing Dallas which Dunne was responsible for the showrunning/writing side.

There is another James H. Brown (James Harmon Brown) who was a writer on Dynasty and Guiding Light, but that is a different person. The Dallas James H Brown is the one whose obit from the LA Times can be found here: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/latimes/name/james-brown-obituary?id=20419220

Leonard Katzman never regarded himself as a writer but as a producer - despite the fact that he wrote plenty of Dallas and masterminded the storylines (with Art Lewis and later joined by Paulsen). Who contributed what percent of the stories during those years, and therefore who is to blame for the show's decline, is subject to speculation but will probably always be a mystery as unfortunately Katzman never gave a really indepth interview about Dallas during his lifetime.

I often think it would be a good idea to interview his son Mitch (who is easy enough to find on Facebook) who would probably be the best person to give some real insight into just how much of the show came from Katzman vs Capice especially in those earlier years.

From what I can gather, though, Capice (and Lee Rich) were never heavily involved in the storytelling side of things day to day. They were, as Snarky says, executives (suits) who set forth occasional decrees from on high. One can see how Katzman, down "on the ground" with the cast and crew and spending time in Dallas on location every year, would resent this (I doubt Capice ever went to Dallas with the show, even for season 1).

Capice fired Jerry Immel so that speaks to Capice's reputation of being high-handed.

Howard Lakin never impressed me much as a writer, certainly not a head writer, including his work on other shows. But Katzman permitted Lakin's tripe in the closing seasons.

There is another James H. Brown (James Harmon Brown) who was a writer on Dynasty and Guiding Light, but that is a different person. The Dallas James H Brown is the one whose obit from the LA Times can be found here: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/latimes/name/james-brown-obituary?id=20419220

I didn't realize they weren't the same James H. Brown.

 

[alexpaige]

Didn't Katzman fire Jerrold Immel too?? Just sayin' ...

I think it's pretty clear that for the last few seasons they had really run out of ideas and were happy enough for Lakin to come on board and see if they could get a bit more mileage out of the show by taking it in the same quasi-camp direction he had done with Falcon Crest.

The problem is that TV shows have a limited life, and producers know when the end is nigh ... because they know when the well has run dry and they are struggling for new ideas. Dallas, like almost all shows, was kept on for three or four seasons longer than its natural life.

The writer of an LA Times article from 1988 hit the nail on the head when noting:
"With total control has come responsibility for keeping "Dallas" alive. After 10 years and 276 episodes (as of tonight), Katzman said, that can be difficult.
"It's a blessing, but it's also similar (to the saying): 'If I'd known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of my body. We wouldn't have used up all our great material. How often can Sue Ellen and J. R. split up, then come together?'"
"Katzman added that audiences now want what amounts to a contradiction: plenty of new plot twists, but nothing that violates their own conceptions of the characters."

If you think about it, this a real problem for every long-running series, and usually what spells its end.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Didn't Katzman fire Jerrold Immel too?? Just sayin' ...

I think it's pretty clear that for the last few seasons they had really run out of ideas and were happy enough for Lakin to come on board and see if they could get a bit more mileage out of the show by taking it in the same quasi-camp direction he had done with Falcon Crest.

The problem is that TV shows have a limited life, and producers know when the end is nigh ... because they know when the well has run dry and they are struggling for new ideas. Dallas, like almost all shows, was kept on for three or four seasons longer than its natural life.

The writer of an LA Times article from 1988 hit the nail on the head when noting:
"With total control has come responsibility for keeping "Dallas" alive. After 10 years and 276 episodes (as of tonight), Katzman said, that can be difficult.
"It's a blessing, but it's also similar (to the saying): 'If I'd known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of my body. We wouldn't have used up all our great material. How often can Sue Ellen and J. R. split up, then come together?'"
"Katzman added that audiences now want what amounts to a contradiction: plenty of new plot twists, but nothing that violates their own conceptions of the characters."

If you think about it, this a real problem for every long-running series, and usually what spells its end.

Well, yeah, I'm obviously not a total defender of Katzman.

But sometimes it's about who the writers are. It sounds like Paulsen didn't want to go in a camp direction, and wanted to leave DALLAS (even before he got the offer to be showrunner for Season 9 DYNASTY). When Paulsen left DALLAS, Larry snarked in the press that the exit was probably a good thing because Paulsen supposedly didn't have a sense of humor.

So, y'know, we saw what happened. Paulsen was able to creatively re-energize DYNASTY despite it being in disarray for years (albeit the audience was already gone and it was too late to save it from the axe). Lakin couldn't save -- or help save -- anything.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

I feel like what happened is that they'd had a wildly successful show for years, and those that remained as the budget was cut were kind of just past the point of really putting 100% effort and focus into making it 'great', and were just riding out the last few years having fun and making great money while they could.

It's probably easier making a semi-comedy show, especially when most of the new cast is either totally 'green' newcomers like Sasha Mitchell, et. al., who may or may not be able to do drama at all, or old pros looking for a nice fun little gig, ala Denver Pyle or Barbara Eden.