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Dallas the TV series
Dallas - The Original Series
Ray in season 10.
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<blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 432142" data-attributes="member: 22"><p>I remember watching an episode from this season where Pam gets angry at Cliff for making her choose between the Barnes and the Ewings, and my housemate at the time, who was only a casual <em>Dallas</em> viewer, said something like, "Is she still complaining about <em>that</em>?" But that's exactly what I loved about <em>Dallas</em> -- the recurring themes, the inescapable conflicts which I felt were the heart of the show. I guess the trick is to revisit the "same old things", but in different ways, and I think <em>Dallas</em> was largely successful at that (especially during this season).</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Well, pretty much everyone "matured and grew" during the course of the Dream Season, so much so that they were hardly recognisable as the same characters. During their Down's Syndrome/deaf kid storyline, Steve Kanaly and Susan Howard could have been playing any generic TV couple in any treacly Movie of the Week. It's hard for characters to grow and mature in Soap Land without the idiosyncrasies that made them interesting in the first place being completely ironed out. Take away those fatal character flaws and everyone becomes a bit bland and boring and interchangeable. <em>Knots Landing</em> is the exception here: somehow, Gary Ewing kept evolving and developing while still being really interesting to watch. He never lost his edge, I guess.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I think Ray did keep trying -- mostly to emulate Jock, be it in business or as a father figure -- but his tragedy is he wanted it all too much and at the same time didn't feel he was worthy, and that's why he'd screw up (or react so badly when things screwed up around him, as they have a tendency to do in soap opera). To me, that's more a poignantly effective character arc than "man conveniently overcomes insecurities and gets a sentimental adoption storyline that any stock character in any stock drama could have".</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="James from London, post: 432142, member: 22"] I remember watching an episode from this season where Pam gets angry at Cliff for making her choose between the Barnes and the Ewings, and my housemate at the time, who was only a casual [I]Dallas[/I] viewer, said something like, "Is she still complaining about [I]that[/I]?" But that's exactly what I loved about [I]Dallas[/I] -- the recurring themes, the inescapable conflicts which I felt were the heart of the show. I guess the trick is to revisit the "same old things", but in different ways, and I think [I]Dallas[/I] was largely successful at that (especially during this season). Well, pretty much everyone "matured and grew" during the course of the Dream Season, so much so that they were hardly recognisable as the same characters. During their Down's Syndrome/deaf kid storyline, Steve Kanaly and Susan Howard could have been playing any generic TV couple in any treacly Movie of the Week. It's hard for characters to grow and mature in Soap Land without the idiosyncrasies that made them interesting in the first place being completely ironed out. Take away those fatal character flaws and everyone becomes a bit bland and boring and interchangeable. [I]Knots Landing[/I] is the exception here: somehow, Gary Ewing kept evolving and developing while still being really interesting to watch. He never lost his edge, I guess. I think Ray did keep trying -- mostly to emulate Jock, be it in business or as a father figure -- but his tragedy is he wanted it all too much and at the same time didn't feel he was worthy, and that's why he'd screw up (or react so badly when things screwed up around him, as they have a tendency to do in soap opera). To me, that's more a poignantly effective character arc than "man conveniently overcomes insecurities and gets a sentimental adoption storyline that any stock character in any stock drama could have". [/QUOTE]
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Dallas the TV series
Dallas - The Original Series
Ray in season 10.
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