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Message: <blockquote data-quote="alexpaige" data-source="post: 356515" data-attributes="member: 55379">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.</blockquote>

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