Opinions Of The Barnes/Wentworth Family.

DallasFanForever

Telly Talk Supreme
I liked the Barnes-Wentworth family. I just wish that we got to see more of them other than Pam and Cliff. I felt that the Katherine character had a lot more life left in her, as did Digger and Rebecca. Once Pam was gone and it was just Cliff the feud with the Ewings no longer served a purpose.
 

pete lashmar

Telly Talk Addict
I liked the Barnes-Wentworth family. I just wish that we got to see more of them other than Pam and Cliff. I felt that the Katherine character had a lot more life left in her, as did Digger and Rebecca. Once Pam was gone and it was just Cliff the feud with the Ewings no longer served a purpose.
They really backed themselves into a corner with Katherine, after the murder attempt on Bobby they just couldn't have her around anymore.

It would have been much better if we, the viewers found out she shot Bobby but it wasn't revealed in the show at all...or at a much later date.

Having Katherine go after Cliff for control of Wentworth could have been great fun.

But they turned her into a stark raving maniac.
 

Jock's Ghost

Telly Talk Well-Known Member
Good points.

I would add that Katherine had a right to be angry.
Her Mother gives Cliff the royal treatment in her company, one that her Father built,
and puts Pam as first in line as well.
Katherine had more of a right to her Father's company than Cliff and Pam combined.
It is a shame that the writers took Katherine down a bad road.
I think that a sane Katherine could have been a formidable adversary
to Ewing Oil, or a strong ally to JR, or if paired with Bobby, could have defeated JR
without all the Walt Driscoll/McLeish Bros drill subplots

I would give Kudos to Morgan Brittany for her performance
Had they dialed Katherine down a bit, given her some maturity, keep the unrequited love for Bobby, but make her the Barnes version of JR, she would have been incredible. I never liked that she killed bobby. It made sense, but I didn't like it.
 

Jock's Ghost

Telly Talk Well-Known Member
They really backed themselves into a corner with Katherine, after the murder attempt on Bobby they just couldn't have her around anymore.

It would have been much better if we, the viewers found out she shot Bobby but it wasn't revealed in the show at all...or at a much later date.

Having Katherine go after Cliff for control of Wentworth could have been great fun.

But they turned her into a stark raving maniac.
Katherine was clever gal. Would have been a great way for her to frame Jenna for it, and Jenna commits suicide in prison! BAM! Get rid of one of the worst actors of all time. Bobby's stuck with a daughter and Katherine becomes her "evil" stepmother...... bam!
 

Jock's Ghost

Telly Talk Well-Known Member
I get that but I dispute it is all I'm saying. Cliff owned a company that was worth considerably more than JR's remaining remnants of Ewing Oil. JR committed suicide and was still so obsessed with Cliff that he pinned it on him.

Bobby lost the love of his life, her replacement and was eventually saddled with a boring broad who lied to him about essentially everything.

Jock died tragically and never got over his hatred of the Barnes family.

Miss Ellie had to live with her obnoxious children for her entire lifetime and was left trying to solve murder mysteries...haha.

My point was, the Ewing's were crazy and had horrible fates as well.
JR sent Cliff to prison so he sorta got what he always wanted., Say what you will about the sequel series, it at least gave JR a proper goodbye, unlike say.... Christopher Ewing.
 

Jock's Ghost

Telly Talk Well-Known Member
Did you like or dislike them? Let’s be honest, they all had some crazy in them and it all involved the Ewing’s. They all started out as good people, but as time wore on, every last one became extremely flawed and obsessed with one thing or another. Pam with having a baby, Cliff and later Rebecca with JR and Katherine with Bobby. I think they should have brought back Jimmy to give the Barnes’ some balance as a level headed voice of reason.

This might be another topic, but after numerous re-watches, one thing I’ve noticed, Dallas went out of their way to give everyone a fatal flaw but the Ewing’s.
Be a boring show without all that. Think of how many family members, friends and coworkers do the same dumb ass stuff, probably on a smaller scale of course.
 

Toni

Maximum Member
Katherine was clever gal. Would have been a great way for her to frame Jenna for it, and Jenna commits suicide in prison! BAM! Get rid of one of the worst actors of all time. Bobby's stuck with a daughter and Katherine becomes her "evil" stepmother...... bam!
:10: :bravo: :bravo1: :spinning::spinning::spinning::spinning::spinning::spinning:
 

Jock's Ghost

Telly Talk Well-Known Member
Digger's sister Maggie.


Digger seems like a good person when sober, and even sometimes when drunk. Being married to him must be a very different experience, though. Digger let bitterness consume him really, and he was a wanderer when drunk so pretty useless with responsibility.
Sounds like had no reason to lash out at his children. Rebecca cheated on him, told him she was carrying HUTCH McKINNEY's child, Pam... gee, I wonder why he went nuts.
 

Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Telly Talk Champion
With the exception of SUE ELLEN, ALL of the female characters got shit on. Donna, not so much, but Rebecca, Katherine, Pam, Ellie, Lucy.... April.
Pam, like Fallon on DYNASTY were treated the absolute worst in the dumbest of all storylines.

Yeah and Pam's worst storyline was actually after Victoria Principal had left. That ridiculous mummy Pam storyline of season eleven. What made it worse was we were teased by an appearance by Katherine at the hospital but the storyline went nowhere! And then Pam disappears! Was Katherine responsible? We were later led to believe that she wasn't but as with Dallas who knows what really happened!! :)
 

lbf522

Telly Talk Well-Known Member
I agree that they could have written Katherine better than she did. Not obsessed over Bobby and bedding JR. She had every right to resent her mother bringing Cliff into her father's company and then in her will gives Cliff and Pamela a third of a company that they have no right to and should be completely Katherine's. They should have made Katherine a powerhouse of her own and not make her a joke like with Holly Harwood. She should have challenged her mother's will.

As for Cliff and Pamela, there should have been more Barnes to compete with the Ewings and Pamela not being Digger's biological daughter was a twist but not one that I liked either. I liked the David vs Golitath aspect with Cliff versus the Ewings and it was a shame the writers made Cliff a loser later on.
 

Jock Ewing Fan

Telly Talk Star
With the exception of SUE ELLEN, ALL of the female characters got shit on. Donna, not so much, but Rebecca, Katherine, Pam, Ellie, Lucy.... April.
Pam, like Fallon on DYNASTY were treated the absolute worst in the dumbest of all storylines.
I thought Sue Ellen had a difficult time early but she grew stronger.
You are right, the female characters, except for Donna, seemed to have obstacles
 

alovelylady7991

Telly Talk Member
I believe the series began as a simple "Romeo & Juliet" saga - retold in Texas - and those early seasons' stories used the shows' entire canvas of characters to bring the Barnes/Ewing feud to life - but once "JR" became a breakout character - the "family" feud quickly devolved into various "JR vs. Cliff" battles - especially once "Jock" and "Digger" were killed off and it was revealed that "Pam" didn't belong to "Digger" (with Hutch McKinney being Pam's bio-father).

It's for certain that the feud had lost much of it's creative fuel - about the time Victoria Principal exited the series.

The best way to have rekindled that "Barnes vs. Ewing" fire?

It could have been "Cliff" - instead of "Ray" - who eventually married the beyond bitter Jenna Wade - a move that would have meant that a "Barnes" was the gatekeeper to a "Ewing" - little baby "Lucas" - and in weaponizing that baby - actually legally adopting the child as a "Barnes" - "Cliff" would have real power over Bobby and Miss Ellie and maybe even JR - especially - if it was revealed that all "Ewing" grandchildren were to be given equal ownership of "Southfork" in Miss Ellie's will - she being steadfast that "Lucas" would certainly have his birth-right - just like her other grandchildren - "Barnes" now or not.

Imagine the TNT series - that had included a handsome, smart and somewhat smarmy "Lucas Barnes" character - causing major upset to "John Ross" and also making "Christopher" to feel even more like an outsider? Including "Lucas" would have been another way to maintain the balance of story in favor of the "Ewings" instead of the "Rylands".
 

Crimson

Telly Talk Star
I think one of the reasons most DALLAS fans are fond of Digger, Rebecca and Katherine as characters is because none of them stuck around too long. The writers of DALLAS weren't great at repurposing or extending secondary characters. If those characters had lingered longer, we'd likely now be complaining about how they were "ruined".
 

Jock Ewing Fan

Telly Talk Star
I think one of the reasons most DALLAS fans are fond of Digger, Rebecca and Katherine as characters is because none of them stuck around too long. The writers of DALLAS weren't great at repurposing or extending secondary characters. If those characters had lingered longer, we'd likely now be complaining about how they were "ruined".
You are probably correct. I still think there could have been more story for them, but unless Dallas is rebooted with a new cast
(Let's hope not) their places remain where they are
 

Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Telly Talk Champion
I liked the Barnes-Wentworth family. I just wish that we got to see more of them other than Pam and Cliff. I felt that the Katherine character had a lot more life left in her, as did Digger and Rebecca. Once Pam was gone and it was just Cliff the feud with the Ewings no longer served a purpose.

Yeah that's true which is why the show had to be taken in another direction.

I too wish that they'd done more with Katherine because Morgan Brittany is a terrific actor. :)
 

Billy Wall

Telly Talk Dream Maker
Speaking of Katherine. After she shot Bobby, there was a situation that might have contributed to Katherine going crazy that I and others have brought up in the past. Until a few days ago, I wasn’t aware they touched base on it. She was arguing with Cliff and she told him that it wasn’t right for him and Pam to inherit a third of a company HER father started.

I give credit to the writers of Dallas because they have the pulse of the viewer. They probably knew what a lot of fans were saying and did something about it. They did the same thing with Ray and Lucy years later.
 
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