Pam’s reasoning for selling Christopher’s shares to Wendell

[Chris2]

It stinks. She tells JR that Wendell’s offer is better due to the Weststar stock. That kid is already rich due with owning 30% of Ewing Oil and will inherit his mother’s share of Wentworth. How much goddamned money does he need? And is the Weststar stock worth selling out the Ewing family? Pam knows damned well that Bobby wouldn’t have approved of selling out to Wendell about 30 seconds after he expired. But, hey, Weststar stock!

 

[rkhullar]

Here's the thing about that I think she realized that towards the end. She was willing to butt heads with Jr because she realized that that was Bobby share and Bobby would have wanted his kid to have it and to fight for it. I think it was more Cliff Barnes trying to Jack with the whole thing than anything else. But even she couldn't be Jr I mean at the end she sold the shares to him anyway so it pretty much goes to show that Jr is hard to contain no matter who's running things and she was not even as competent as Bobby was. What I mean is because and this is not to sound sexist but females usually are not as aggressive on things like this or at least in that generation they weren't. Maybe now women of today would say hey I'm standing up to Jr Ewing and you saw how Bobby did it and even then Bobby couldn't put Jr in control no one can. But I think Pam's personality and just the fact that I think she just wants to get along you could kind of see how Jr was going to win this fight. Again I apologize if my comments were somewhat misogynistic but I don't think you know generations ago that women were his business driven as they are now. Perhaps now if that situation were to occur a woman businessman would be more likely to stand up to JR Ewing but back then.....

 

[rkhullar]

Beat not be

 

[Seaviewer]

females usually are not as aggressive on things like this or at least in that generation they weren't.

This was the generation of Abby Ewing, Alexis Colby and Angela Channing. I'm not saying that Pam should have been turned into a master manipulator like the three of them, but she had a quiet strength that could have been called upon when necessary if the writers had wanted to go that way.

 

[Jimmy Todd]

This was the generation of Abby Ewing, Alexis Colby and Angela Channing. I'm not saying that Pam should have been turned into a master manipulator like the three of them, but she had a quiet strength that could have been called upon when necessary if the writers had wanted to go that way.

And that could have been acknowledged and part of Pam's story arc that season. She's not an experienced businesswoman and not a naturally ruthless manipulator. She struggles with learning to deal with JR in business and maintain her values. It's a "David and Goliath" theme and would have been a fresh, new era for Dallas.

 

[Jon Ewing Jr.]

What was it J.R. said? "That woman (Pam) has a habit of getting unearned money."
At this point Pam was just plain greedy.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

I never quite understood why Pam "controlling Christopher's shares" meant she had to be in the office every day. It wasn't a situation like the season where Bobby and JR were independently running their own half of the company.

Did she have some kind of title like 'partner'? Was her main role there to make sure JR didn't figure out how to diminish the worth of Christopher's share by moving assets elsewhere, e.g. different companies like Petro State or whatever? Or else keep an eye on things so JR didn't do his typical "jeopardize Ewing Oil with some unnecessarily risky venture" thing that he did about every other year?

I'm not sure how things would be structured at a private company like that, but would she have had the power to hire a proxy to essentially 'run her share' of the company? I've thought that Wendell's sidekick Dave Stratton might have been an intriguing choice for that - let's say he realized after years that he'd always be under Wendell's thumb and would never get a crack at the top spot. Pam could convince him to take on a new challenge at Ewing Oil. Also, he seemed to have a bit of a crush on Pam a few years earlier... let's say Mark Graison didn't magically reappear and there was both romantic tension with Pam and business conflicts with JR and Wendell. The actor playing Stratton wasn't 'eye candy' like Mark or Bobby, but maybe he had the acting chops to pull off a big role like that?

 

[Chris2]

I could buy JR and Bobby being co-presidents of Ewing Oil each with 30% of the company. But I agree in reality Pam wouldn’t have just stepped in as co-president. JR would have just needed to get a few other family members to vote for him as president. A real life scenario would have had either JR or Bobby trying to buy out their family members’ shares to gain full control after the contest was over. But of course, having Pam be his partner was much more dramatically intriguing.

 

[rkhullar]

This was the generation of Abby Ewing, Alexis Colby and Angela Channing. I'm not saying that Pam should have been turned into a master manipulator like the three of them, but she had a quiet strength that could have been called upon when necessary if the writers had wanted to go that way.

Yes I think so because she was the one that gave Bobby the strength to believe he was good enough but again it was tempered by the fact that when Bobby did go for it she divorced him over it. Remember the factor of Cliff Barnes weighs in here which is why I believe the writers didn't go that direction. I do believe that your point is valid in that say she had gone that direction. Then there would be times where she would be with Cliff and others where she would reign him in and I guess that would make JR even that much more devious of when to unite with Bobby and when not. I guess maybe the writers just didn't see that as possible but come to think about it who knows.

 

[rkhullar]

Yes I think so because she was the one that gave Bobby the strength to believe he was good enough but again it was tempered by the fact that when Bobby did go for it she divorced him over it. Remember the factor of Cliff Barnes weighs in here which is why I believe the writers didn't go that direction. I do believe that your point is valid in that say she had gone that direction. Then there would be times where she would be with Cliff and others where she would reign him in and I guess that would make JR even that much more devious of when to unite with Bobby and when not. I guess maybe the writers just didn't see that as possible but come to think about it who knows.

To kind of add to that she had a hard time reigining in Cliff or standing up to JR even in the dream season. So if you made her cunning like those guys could JR have taken advantage of it. He might have been beaten a few more times but they would have been minor and it would have forced him to be that much more machievilan which is why your point is well taken.

 

[Seaviewer]

I never quite understood why Pam "controlling Christopher's shares" meant she had to be in the office every day. It wasn't a situation like the season where Bobby and JR were independently running their own half of the company.

Did she have some kind of title like 'partner'? Was her main role there to make sure JR didn't figure out how to diminish the worth of Christopher's share by moving assets elsewhere, e.g. different companies like Petro State or whatever? Or else keep an eye on things so JR didn't do his typical "jeopardize Ewing Oil with some unnecessarily risky venture" thing that he did about every other year?

I'm not sure how things would be structured at a private company like that, but would she have had the power to hire a proxy to essentially 'run her share' of the company? I've thought that Wendell's sidekick Dave Stratton might have been an intriguing choice for that - let's say he realized after years that he'd always be under Wendell's thumb and would never get a crack at the top spot. Pam could convince him to take on a new challenge at Ewing Oil. Also, he seemed to have a bit of a crush on Pam a few years earlier... let's say Mark Graison didn't magically reappear and there was both romantic tension with Pam and business conflicts with JR and Wendell. The actor playing Stratton wasn't 'eye candy' like Mark or Bobby, but maybe he had the acting chops to pull off a big role like that?

I think controlling Christopher's shares made her de facto partner with the same rights that Bobby had. I imagine she could have hired a proxy for her proxy but could she have trusted that person not to be intimidated or bought off by JR?

 

[rkhullar]

I think controlling Christopher's shares made her de facto partner with the same rights that Bobby had. I imagine she could have hired a proxy for her proxy but could she have trusted that person not to be intimidated or bought off by JR?

In a way she could have had Mark Grayson do it. If you think about it there was one scene where Mark Grayson did address Jr over some research that Jr made her do. They just didn't go forward with it because Grayson was more about their romantic relationship than anything else and I agree with you that they should have done it that way. It would have been interesting to see Grayson and Jr go at it more and more

 

[Seaviewer]

In a way she could have had Mark Grayson do it. If you think about it there was one scene where Mark Grayson did address Jr over some research that Jr made her do. They just didn't go forward with it because Grayson was more about their romantic relationship than anything else and I agree with you that they should have done it that way. It would have been interesting to see Grayson and Jr go at it more and more

I didn't say they should have done it, only that they could. I still think Pam vs JR if done properly would have been an interesting contest to say the least.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

What was it J.R. said? "That woman (Pam) has a habit of getting unearned money."
At this point Pam was just plain greedy.

Completely true. Pam never generated an entrepreneurial penny from a business that she started, or grew the businesses that she inherited (Cliff. for better or worse,
and maybe sometimes after significant failures did proactively grow Barnes Wentworth).

Pam was hypocritical, in that she urged Bobby to become more involved in Ewing Oil, then wouldn't support him in the Battle for Ewing Oil.
I know that there were extenuating circumstances, but the answer is not to flee Southfork, go to Europe, keep company with another man,
and blame Bobby for her Mother's passing when Bobby had no part in it.

If Pam was so strong, why did she complain to Bobby about not defending her during the argument at Southfork
when JR told her she was out of line about Miss Ellie wanting to break Jock's will!

Pam was a whiner and a hypocrite. She was fine with the wealth and privilege when it suited her (just like Miss Ellie) , but not when Bobby needed her, or when
Ewing Oil had a business deal/activity that she didn't like.

I would even say that Cliff had a legitimate point about the drill. She did eventually help Bobby, but at Cliff's expense.

 

[Jon Ewing Jr.]

What was sad was Bobby supported her when she went crazy and even went to extreme lengths with Christopher, and it wasn't but a year later that she was on the verge of shacking up with Marc Graison in the South of France.
I personally was one that was glad when Bobby rediscovered Jenna Wade. They should have stayed together..

 

[Chris2]

Bobby and JR were co-presidents because together they controlled a majority of the company. It was what they had agreed to. That didn’t mean that JR had to have the same agreement with Pam. He could have gone to the other owners to find a majority to give him sole control. I guess practically, it was easier for him to partner with Pam than to get some combination of Ellie, Gary, Ray, and Jack to support him. They each owned 10%, so he would have needed three of them.

 

[Toni]

I think Pam shouldn´t have chosen selling to Skeletor just for the money, nor that she was a hypocrite. That wasn´t the problem of that season. The problem is that J.R. almost did nothing once she was settled in Bobby´s armchair. Old J.R. would have planned a big catastrophic deal for her that would have made her look like a joke of a businesswoman. He did it with Gary, Bobby, the whole cartel and Holly Harwood.

But what he did instead was setting up that awful Matt Cantrell storyline and just "hint" that he woudn´t care if Pam never came back to Dallas. Dumb dumb dumb. The fact that he was being conned by the Nero woman was anecdotal: the best J.R. was the one who used both hands to sink all his enemies, even better if all at once (the Asian revolution). So probably there were other factors behind the scenes that prevented that to happen (aside from VP´s back injury, that only kept her missing in one episode).

Mark Graison´s company seemed to run itself so maybe that´s what they think Pam should be doing too with Ewing Oil. After all, she had a reputation to not commit to any job she ever had... (Store, aerobics, PR at Barnes-Wentworth). IMHO it was worse what they did (not) to Jack. Ok that he wasn´t an executive but in theory he knew about oil like his sister. But TPTB decided to waste him for one long year as a romantic cowboy easy to manipulate by J.R. at the Marinos fiasco. If he had been given more of an edge, then he might have been seen as much more than a Bobby clone.

I would love to read an interview in-depth about the making of the Dream Season. It had such a promising, even engaging start (10-12 first episodes) that it was a bit letdown the way it lost gas just when Cantrell entered the scene. At that point, everybody seemed to begin to act out-of-character: divorcee Sue Ellen returns to her old guest room at SF (that was one of the lowest points of her) and dumps Dusty; Pam believes that emeralds may be of interest for an oil company; Jenna goes delusional and thinks "Bobby loved emeralds"; Miss Ellie buys Clayton´s companies anonymously; all of it was painful to watch. Oh and John Ross was used only to publicize the Oreo biscuits...

It´s sad to know that everybody left expected good things from the DS, especially Victoria. Probably, the Pam character originally was so strong and appealing that it was hard for the writers to keep up a good storyline for her. They eventually stopped trying. Just my 2 cents... and it only got worse the next year (nitwit Pam dreamed a whole season...)

"We´re having a déjà vu... I wonder why..."​

 

[rkhullar]

I didn't say they should have done it, only that they could. I still think Pam vs JR if done properly would have been an interesting contest to say the least.

No not really because he was still sneaking things off of her with respect Angelica Nero she had no idea what was going on with that Mariner shipping and how he did that to the cartel and then she found out way too late. How he sent her with Matt Cantrell to South America just to get her off his back. See she needed guidance and I think Mark Grayson was more into his romantic relationship and not really watching Jr and it's funny how even in South America Jr still had control of the situation went down there just to fix that whole mess when Matt Cantrell called him. So I disagree there humbly

 

[rkhullar]

You guys make excellent points. I do think that Pam being considered an angel is an overstatement and I think you guys made me realize that. But at the end of the day even though she was a person that never earned it as you say even with Cliff Barnes stupid stunts he did make money for Barnes Wentworth you have to understand what like I said she was a person that wanted to go along and get along and I think that that kind of person damn for sure could not stand up to Jr least of anyone. I think her conscience came to her and she knew selling to Wendell was not what Bobby wanted and Jr played on it because the rest of the family may have owned Ewing oil but they weren't really a part of it. They weren't involved in the actual decision making over the longer term. After Jack's will and after the fight that was strictly Bobby and Jr and Pam basically took Bobby's place. If Bobby had his best could not control Jr and this lady who as you say didn't earn it didn't really understand business was now going to take Jr on this result was inevitable. Like I said in order to make Pam that conniving person again she was a positive person a confident person but not a conniving person and that's the thing that you needed to stand up to Jr. So for her to change into that Abby Ewing type kind of personality all of a sudden it just wouldn't be consistent with who she was throughout the show to begin with

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

By this time, Pam's character was deteriorating, she had strayed too far from the pre-Ewing Oil battle Pm.

A thought. When VP left, Pam could have been recast (Morgan Fairchild), as result of plastic surgery. The new Pam could have
had psychological changes, and become cold, ruthless, unfeeling, manipulative, even more self-centered.
This could have led to a new Barnes-Ewing feud with the tactics becoming more extreme.
Not to mention Pam reeking havoc with Sue Ellen, Ray and Donna (they should have kept Donna), and others.
Jenna could have had a better role, becoming involved in the battle, maybe seducing Cliff to get close enough to
create a rift between him and Pam, or to hold Pam responsible for remarrying Bobby.
And Katherine could have been a major player in the battle, while Jeremy Wendell tries to take advantage of the chaos...
and Jock's return! The possibilities could have been monumental