Poor Jamie

[Grangehill1]

Poor Jamie seemed to exist only to have a life of misery heaped upon her

JR goes out of his way to make her life miserable when she first arrives.

Then she foolishly marries Cliff who only wants her for the Ewing Oil shares.

Cliff treats her like dirt and cheats on her with April. Then she dies off screen in a rock climbing accident.

Even in the dream season, although she has brief happiness, she ends up being flattened by a million oil barrels and then blown to smithereens by a car bomb.

Was there ever a character that endured such misery?

I follow Jennilee Harrison on Facebook and she’s great and loves interacting with fans. But I have never seen a full in depth interview with her and I would love to hear her thoughts on being killed off twice and how she went from being a major player in the dream season to just cameos the following year.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

bad things happen to pretty much every outsider who comes to Southfork to live even temporarily. Clayton got off easy by merely becoming a milquetoast “Mr. Ellie” with a legion of non-fans here.

DALLAS could easily be reframed as a horror series!

(and Jamie should have died at least 2 or 3 more times!)

 

[Monzo]

The writers really went out of their way to make the audience feel as little sympathy as possible for Jamie. The most cruel thing they did was kill her off, even though the writers already knew Ewing Oil would be history by the end of the season. Jamie's death was therefore completely pointless in the long run.

What I understood least about Jamie's personality was her friendship with Sue Ellen. Apparently, this forced friendship was solely about creating conflict between JR and Sue Ellen, but if they wanted to develop Jamie into a character with a future in the show (especially if original characters would leave Dallas), they should have made her friends with Lucy if they wanted a bitchy Jamie, or friends with Donna if they wanted a more upright Jamie. Both would have been more interesting than seeing Sue Ellen and Jamie as BFFs.

 

[lbf522]

The writers really went out of their way to make the audience feel as little sympathy as possible for Jamie. The most cruel thing they did was kill her off, even though the writers already knew Ewing Oil would be history by the end of the season. Jamie's death was therefore completely pointless in the long run.

What I understood least about Jamie's personality was her friendship with Sue Ellen. Apparently, this forced friendship was solely about creating conflict between JR and Sue Ellen, but if they wanted to develop Jamie into a character with a future in the show (especially if original characters would leave Dallas), they should have made her friends with Lucy if they wanted a bitchy Jamie, or friends with Donna if they wanted a more upright Jamie. Both would have been more interesting than seeing Sue Ellen and Jamie as BFFs.

Nice analysis. First of all, the writers did not seem to do much with its female characters as they could have as was shown with Katherine Wentworth, Holly Harwood, and Marilee Stone and we know how they did with Lucy. The examples you give here having Jamie either be like what Lucy was in the mini series or be friends with Donna and be upright. Either scenario would have been great to see.

I agree that it was hard to have sympathy for Jamie with her coming to Southfork uninvited, her overall attitude, and her acting upset at JR's understandable concerns and finally her moving onto the ranch as if she is belongs there and of course he helping Cliff take Ewing Oil from the Ewings.

I did like the Dream Season where Jamie and Cliff did come to fall in love with each other and her going to JR and asking him not to destroy Cliff. That scene at the Ewing BBQ where it seemed like JR and Cliff were at least putting the Barnes-Ewing Feud to rest.

As I have said in other threats, I wish the writers had introduced us to Jason Ewing.

Yes I would also hope one day that Jenilee Harrison speaks on her time on Dallas.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Nice analysis. First of all, the writers did not seem to do much with its female characters as they could have as was shown with Katherine Wentworth, Holly Harwood, and Marilee Stone and we know how they did with Lucy. The examples you give here having Jamie either be like what Lucy was in the mini series or be friends with Donna and be upright. Either scenario would have been great to see.

I agree that it was hard to have sympathy for Jamie with her coming to Southfork uninvited, her overall attitude, and her acting upset at JR's understandable concerns and finally her moving onto the ranch as if she is belongs there and of course he helping Cliff take Ewing Oil from the Ewings.

I did like the Dream Season where Jamie and Cliff did come to fall in love with each other and her going to JR and asking him not to destroy Cliff. That scene at the Ewing BBQ where it seemed like JR and Cliff were at least putting the Barnes-Ewing Feud to rest.

As I have said in other threats, I wish the writers had introduced us to Jason Ewing.

Yes I would also hope one day that Jenilee Harrison speaks on her time on Dallas.

I think that it would have been a good idea to cast Jason Ewing. It could have led to some good scripts

 

[the-lost-son]

Yes I would also hope one day that Jenilee Harrison speaks on her time on Dallas.

I have been to the last two Southfork experiences and Jennilee Harrison was there, too. She is a really nice person and was very appreciative of the fans attending. She spoke very highly of the show, too.
But I wouldn't expect too much insight of a potential interview though. Like most if the actors present, I don't think she has watched the series since then. I somehow think that most of the actors probably haven't even watched the show back in the day either or maybe only some parts here and there.
During panels questions about writing the show were mostly answered with shrugged shoulders.
It was a job a long time ago and for JH, a job only for +/- 2 years.

 

[Grangehill1]

I have been to the last two Southfork experiences and Jennilee Harrison was there, too. She is a really nice person and was very appreciative of the fans attending. She spoke very highly of the show, too.
But I wouldn't expect too much insight of a potential interview though. Like most if the actors present, I don't think she has watched the series since then. I somehow think that most of the actors probably haven't even watched the show back in the day either or maybe only some parts here and there.
During panels questions about writing the show were mostly answered with shrugged shoulders.
It was a job a long time ago and for JH, a job only for +/- 2 years.

But on her face book she has so many stories. Bizarre stories like a gun man getting onto set to get to Ken kercheval! So she’s got a good memory

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

I have been to the last two Southfork experiences and Jennilee Harrison was there, too. She is a really nice person and was very appreciative of the fans attending. She spoke very highly of the show, too.
But I wouldn't expect too much insight of a potential interview though. Like most if the actors present, I don't think she has watched the series since then. I somehow think that most of the actors probably haven't even watched the show back in the day either or maybe only some parts here and there.
During panels questions about writing the show were mostly answered with shrugged shoulders.
It was a job a long time ago and for JH, a job only for +/- 2 years.

It is always interesting to me how some actors seem to know less about their characters than the fans, after they have put so much time and effort into the development of such characters. Maybe it has to do with the passage of time, and how actors need to play other roles to make a living.

 

[CeeCee72]

I think the writers intended to go in a totally different direction with Jamie then what they eventually wrote. Don't forget, Jenna was extremely suspicious of Jamie at first. It seemed as if they were setting her up to be some sort of imposter and then abruptly changed their minds. At that point, I'm not ever sure THEY knew what to do with the character.

 

[Soaplover]

I remember the scene between Jenna and Jamie where Jenna was quizzing Jamie about what she knew about her father and after Jamie gave the wrong answer.. Jenna said out loud that she was wrong, but nothing was developed beyond that.

I viewed JR's attitude toward Jamie to be in character because a random stranger shows up claiming to be a Ewing, he wouldn't be rolling out the welcome mat. I could have seen Sue Ellen view Jamie as a pet project since Jamie was very rough around the edges while Jamie would be taken in by someone like Sue Ellen. Normally Lucy should have been more involved, but the writers kept her isolated in that working in a diner story instead of having her be around the family offering her two cents and mixing it up (i.e. her romance with Mickey, her drunkenly exposing Peter and Sue Ellen, etc).

Ironically, the final 12 or so episodes Jamie was in during the post dream season was the clearest direction and focus she'd gotten as a character since she'd first arrived. A woman that has a natural instinct and ability in the oil industry, but having her ideas stolen by a man (Cliff), but the show was more intent on writing her out instead of developing that arc further.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

I remember the scene between Jenna and Jamie where Jenna was quizzing Jamie about what she knew about her father and after Jamie gave the wrong answer.. Jenna said out loud that she was wrong, but nothing was developed beyond that.

Yes, I remember that. It would have been more interesting if Jamie was an imposter, and maybe the REAL Jamie arrives with a still living Jason,
looking for the imposter, Ellie is given more to do because her and Jason are a link to the past, Clayton is in the middle of a major drama.
That could have set the stage for some great stories, especially if Jason/real Jamie team up with Cliff, ownership of Ewing Oil is an issue (again) and imposter Jamie becomes an unlikely Ewing ally

Fan fiction maybe, but...

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

Yes, I remember that. It would have been more interesting if Jamie was an imposter, and maybe the REAL Jamie arrives with a still living Jason,
looking for the imposter, Ellie is given more to do because her and Jason are a link to the past, Clayton is in the middle of a major drama.
That could have set the stage for some great stories, especially if Jason/real Jamie team up with Cliff, ownership of Ewing Oil is an issue (again) and imposter Jamie becomes an unlikely Ewing ally

Fan fiction maybe, but...

ah yeah, I’ve never been a fan of Jason and his offspring popping up out of nowhere to foul up the perfectly simple “origin story”, but… if it led to the above or similar I think I’d be all for it!

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

ah yeah, I’ve never been a fan of Jason and his offspring popping up out of nowhere to foul up the perfectly simple “origin story”, but… if it led to the above or similar I think I’d be all for it!

I really disagree with those who have this attitude... I'm not a huge supporter of Jamie/Jack/Jason necessarily (they don't bother me much, either) but finding out that Jock had a brother involved in his wildcatting days is not a "retcon" or "fan fiction" or a contradiction from "the origin story" just because it's new information from the past that we haven't heard before.

That's like saying Amanda Ewing was a "retcon/fan-fiction/origin-story-betrayal" because they hadn't mentioned it until The Dove Hunt.

Why don't people realize it's not the same thing...? Adding information isn't changing information.

A retcon/origin-story-betrayal is, say, Alexis asserting that she and Blake were married 7 years, 8 years, 10 years, were not married at all, never even met until Friday -- and asserting all this only two episodes apart.

Just as we all remember Jamie's opening line upon arriving at Southfork: "Which one of you bitches is my mother??"