On which cliffhanger would you have ended DALLAS?

[Snarky Oracle!]

Where would you have ended the original DALLAS? I'm sympathetic to the argument that Bobby's short-lived death in 1985 was a proper stopping point, especially in light of how the series stumbled -- repeatedly -- during the last half of its run.

But I, for one, would have hated to have missed Season 10 with its outrageous resurrection of "Jock" and the terrorism campaign of B. D. Calhoun.... Sure, I wish the doomed Donna Reed debacle had never occurred, and that Bobby was revived without the dream scenario, but I still didn't want to miss Season 10.

So, me, myself and I (who talk frequently) am torn between Pam's crash exit (metaphorically careening into a tanker on a highway in the badlands) being the end of the show, or possibly concluding Sue Ellen shooting JR in Alexis' high-rise building because Season 11, though flawed and ill-paced, was the last year that felt even remotely like DALLAS. (I would have the tanker that took out Pam to be revealed to have been coincidentally owned by JR, doing illegal business after Ewing Oil was slapped down by the feds -- a fact JR spends much of S11 running around trying to keep from Bobby, until Bobby inevitably finds out and then finds himself also trying to hide this to protect the family and prevent further censure from the government).

Or maybe Sue Ellen leaving Texas once-and-for-all at the end of Season 12 (especially if her "movie" plotline had been done more seriously and with less shlocky improbability).

When would you have ended DALLAS -- would you have stuck it out all the way through "Conundrum" as most viewers refused to do??

 

[Laurie Marr]

It started with that small red convertible merc on a highway and that’s where it could (and perhaps should) have ended.

 

[Grangehill1]

Instead of Sue Ellen being blown up I think it should be renamed Bobby in the shower. If the show had of ended then it would have been the greatest WTF moment in television

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I do have the fantasy of the program ending when, after we think JR has committed suicide, the picture ripples into the same footage of Pam, five years earlier, waking up and going to the bathroom, opening up the door of the shower, and finding Mark dead on the tile floor --- screams of "Maaaaaaaaaark! and the camera pans in on the drain. No music, fade to black. (Although the footage of dead Mark was reportedly never shot). But it would permit all the controversy over Pam's dream which stalked the last half-decade of the show to be re-contextualized with yet another dream in a way the "It's A Wonderful Life" finale scenario never quite did.

Had DALLAS run one more season, I like the idea of much of the family falling down into the well at Section 40 after they open it up for drilling against the wishes of Miss Ellie, a year dead,

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

I would've ended the show at the end of season thirteen. JR getting dragged back to his Sanitarium room after James left him in there.

Perfect way to leave the show up in the air rather than the messiness of Conundrum a year later.

 

[Chris2]

End it just before Pam’s crash, with that scene with JR finding out that Wendell was behind the loss of Ewing Oil, and vowing to rebuild.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

I voted "Bobby Dies" above and also like the "Bobby in the shower" one mentioned above, but... can't help myself:

the world will never know if Jock gave in!

 

[Michelle Stevens]

Not really a cliffhanger but the end of the movie Dallas: JR Returns would have been a good exit for the series knowing what we know now.

I would've ended the show at the end of season thirteen. JR getting dragged back to his Sanitarium room after James left him in there.

Perfect way to leave the show up in the air rather than the messiness of Conundrum a year later.

That finale would have been the easiest to start the TNT Dallas with JR not speaking for years.

 

[Monzo]

I don't have any bad feelings about Dallas last few seasons. Did I love it? Not really, but I wouldn't want to miss a single episode. To me, what defines a hit show is that it overstays its welcome. In US TV history, 9 dramas have been the top-rated shows of the season: Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Bonanza, Marcus Welby MD, Dallas, Dynasty, ER, CSI & NCIS. Did any of these shows end when it was still great?

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Did any of these shows end when it was still great?

Some of GUNSMOKE's best work was in its twentieth and final season when Lenny Katzman was still producing it (although when he left mid-year, the show dropped a bit).

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

None of them.
Maybe I am too optimistic, but I would have had JR reclaim Ewing Oil, take over Weststar, combine the two,
have a serious talk with Sue Ellen, and the two of them agree to be on good terms, start to mentor John Ross, and show a
kinder side than Jock showed him.
Bobby takes over the ranching side, builds it into a juggernaut
Cliff returns to his better nature, sets up a charitable foundation to
honor Digger
Jock is alive, and returns to Southfork, much to the amazement of JR and Bobby.
There really is a Jason Ewing who is the offspring of Jock and Amanda
Donna and Ray reconcile
Miss Ellie discovers an ill Pam's wherebouts, and the two of them live together
and support each other
Don't care about Clayton, have him leave when Jock turns up alive
Gary and Valene move back to Southfork.

 

[Mustard]

Pam and the oil tanker. Although I would have been fine with her just driving into the sunset instead of the oil tanker and the series ending at that point.

 

[Mustard]

I don't have any bad feelings about Dallas last few seasons. Did I love it? Not really, but I wouldn't want to miss a single episode. To me, what defines a hit show is that it overstays its welcome. In US TV history, 9 dramas have been the top-rated shows of the season: Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Bonanza, Marcus Welby MD, Dallas, Dynasty, ER, CSI & NCIS. Did any of these shows end when it was still great?

Dynasty's last season (Season 9) was probably its best for years in terms of plotting and character development, i.e. since Season 2. I don't really know what happened with Dynasty when it started to go wrong. It had a very good Season 1 and an excellent Season 2 bursting with future potential, but then it suddenly started going off the rails pretty fast in terms of the standard of plotting and acting. After Amanda Carrington arrives in Season 5, Seasons 5 and 6 were great in terms of being very captivating and OTT, but not really in terms of story plotting. Season 7 was the worst, being both poorly plotted and much duller.

Dallas was just miles better than Dynasty in how it did plotting and character developments. The family and character dynamics were also far better on Dallas, enough to give the series loads of fuel for years and years. Dynasty had problems with the dynamics of their series from Season 3, but that got ignored because of the improving ratings.

Knots Landing did the best job of not declining much. It was still a good show at the end of its 14 seasons, and had a happy ending with Gary and Valene living together on the Cul-de-sac, as Abby returns to live there also after a few years in Japan.

 

[Willie Oleson]

When Sue Ellen shoots JR it really feels like, okay, everything's happened now, and the word "Ewing" is the final piece of dialogue.
It's not very important to know what will happen next but at the same time there's the prospect of Pam's return. But since it's not the Pam we want to see it's better not to show it at all.

I'm not saying that this should have been the end, but it would have been a very tasteful and soapy finale. Very surprising that I'm the only one who voted for this season (or series) finale.

JR in the sanitarium would be my second choice if it had felt bigger and darker.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

None of them.
Maybe I am too optimistic, but I would have had JR reclaim Ewing Oil, take over Weststar, combine the two,
have a serious talk with Sue Ellen, and the two of them agree to be on good terms, start to mentor John Ross, and show a
kinder side than Jock showed him.
Bobby takes over the ranching side, builds it into a juggernaut
Cliff returns to his better nature, sets up a charitable foundation to
honor Digger
Jock is alive, and returns to Southfork, much to the amazement of JR and Bobby.
There really is a Jason Ewing who is the offspring of Jock and Amanda
Donna and Ray reconcile
Miss Ellie discovers an ill Pam's wherebouts, and the two of them live together
and support each other
Don't care about Clayton, have him leave when Jock turns up alive
Gary and Valene move back to Southfork.

But how are you going to bring Jock back without Jim Davis?

As much as I'd like to have seen the character return who could do the role justice ?

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

But how are you going to bring Jock back without Jim Davis?

As much as I'd like to have seen the character return who could do the role justice ?

Well, I guess Steve Forrest is the obvious answer.

Some other possibles -Buddy Ebsen, Forrest Tucker, James Arness, Chuck Connors, Ben Johnson, Lorne Greene (prior to 1987),
Richard Farnsworth, Burt Lancaster ,Gregory Peck, Kirk Douglas

 

[Ewing4]

I like the idea of having the end being Miss Ellie passing away as it brings some closure and gives her a proper ending. The last season saying she was traveling in Europe and didn’t want to come back to Southfork was so ridiculous, Miss Ellie would never leave Southfork
I think changing the ending episodes to season 11 and finding out Miss Ellie is sick, and when she passes JR and Sue Ellen make up. Bringing back Lucy, Ray and other past cast members to give some more closure to the series. Of course having a few curve balls at the end like Miss Ellie leaving Southfork to Bobby and Gary, but not JR having never forgiven him for almost losing it in the East Asian oil deal. And maybe some other secrets coming to light that could leave some things up in the air for future specials and revivals.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

Well, I guess Steve Forrest is the obvious answer.

Some other possibles -Buddy Ebsen, Forrest Tucker, James Arness, Chuck Connors, Ben Johnson, Lorne Greene (prior to 1987),
Richard Farnsworth, Burt Lancaster ,Gregory Peck, Kirk Douglas

maybe Jack Palance could have pulled it off? This was filmed several years after Jock’s death, but kind of in the ballpark of a hammier “rancher Jock”:

 

[captainarcher]

after Pam's accident, the series is a mess, the new cast is awful, the light is bad, the storylines are lame. I always try to give the last seasons a chance but for me every time I try to watch , I quit !

 

[tommie]

I voted "Bobby Dies" above and also like the "Bobby in the shower" one mentioned above, but... can't help myself:

the world will never know if Jock gave in!

Yes, only the final shot should've been on Muriel - the most beloved and untainted DALLAS character!