Should DALLAS have had seasons of the year?

[Snarky Oracle!]

PEYTON PLACE had then, the DYNASTY producers decided not to reflect Denver's smowy winters almost at all, and during the 1978 mini-series, CBS foolishly had DALLAS reshoot the scene with Ray dunking Pam in the lake (which originally had snow) because the mini-series had been "written for heat" --- even though snow was often on the ground. (How many hurricanes happen during a blizzard?)

Would DALLAS have otherwise benefitted from having seasons -- especially, I want to say, in the later years?

They made a stab at doing autumn during the dream season, but that year was so bloated with pretention that the effort to show the studio Southfork in the fall felt, as with those brief cameos on the stairwell, like an affectation.

I think dealing with seasons of the year could have helped the closing period of DALLAS stay grounded and more organic than it did.

Opinions?

 

[Michelle Stevens]

I think seeing the differing season of the Dallas area would have been a nice touch. Being how Dallas was usually broadcast from September through May on it's original run it is as if we only saw Dallas weather being summer. Maybe a "Winter Is Coming" theme in the later seasons would have been a good idea.

 

[Billy Wall]

They liked showing off the beauty of Southfork too much to have winter scenes.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

I don't think it would've made any difference to acknowledge seasons of the year on Dallas.

It was much better just keeping the show neutral.

Halloween, Christmas etc weren't acknowledged on the show either and to be honest if they had it would only have detracted from the show's storylines.

Dallas did it right from the get go. Don't acknowledge the seasons at all.

 

[CeeCee72]

I don't think it would've made any difference to acknowledge seasons of the year on Dallas.

It was much better just keeping the show neutral.

Halloween, Christmas etc weren't acknowledged on the show either and to be honest if they had it would only have detracted from the show's storylines.

Dallas did it right from the get go. Don't acknowledge the seasons at all.

I tend to agree.

Although (and this is a problem with many soaps and dramas). The lack of signs to show us "when" it was sometimes made it hard to keep track of how much actual time passed on the series.

Time seemed to stand still sometimes.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

One of the few strong points of the 2012-2014 continuation was the autumnal/wintry vibe, I thought.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

One of the few strong points of the 2012-2014 continuation was the autumnal/wintry vibe, I thought.

Wrong Forum to be posting this in.

I forgive you.

As Bobby's Ewing's real son, I can see where you're coming from.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I think seeing the differing season of the Dallas area would have been a nice touch. Being how Dallas was usually broadcast from September through May on it's original run it is as if we only saw Dallas weather being summer. Maybe a "Winter Is Coming" theme in the later seasons would have been a good idea.

Although the season doesn't have to line up with when he episode originally aired necessarily. I mean, 83/84 year of DALLAS had "summer" episodes airing through December (the Chris Atkins camp counselor plot).

For me, the wintry vibe of the 1978 miniseries and the TNTnuDALLAS reboot offered up the "grimy Texas back roads" thing in a way the '80s show rarely did.

They liked showing off the beauty of Southfork too much to have winter scenes.

But fall and winter can be beautiful too in their own ways, yes?

And while I appreciate the early seasons avoiding holidays or too many cultural references (which tended not to work on DALLAS and yet did work in the early-seasons of oldDYNASTY before it quickly started sucking) I might have liked certain celebrations popping up in DALLAS' closing years -- had the tone and the narrative not started stumbling instead. (I could see an American Thanksgiving at Southfork circa 1988, or even Christmas in 1989 with Ellie and Clayton dressing as Santa & Mrs Claus, a prerequisite before the program was cancelled).

It's been said before (by people here on this site) that DALLAS failed to grow creatively in the last half of its run, and that's hard to disagree with. But Katzman's rigid sense of creative non-experimentation kept the series in a frustrating headlock which ultimately turned to unfocused silliness -- a silliness which was far worse than, say, permitting camera movements and doing away with studio flat-lighting.

You need a little Bradford May to counter the blandness of a Robert Caramico.

 

[Willie Oleson]

It's really amazing how much atmosphere weather can add to scenes.
Autumn leaves for those "pondering the summer mistakes" e.g. the end of Sue Ellen and Peter's affair.
Wintry scenes for one of Cliff's down-on-his-luck stories, rain and thunder to emphasize Katherine's frustration.

It was much better just keeping the show neutral.

Pastel weather?

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Yes. A lot of people glaze over at the use of terms like "emotional subtext" and discussion about cinematography, interpreting that kind of terminology as "pretentious" -- often countering that "well, I just pay attention to the story" -- but their involvement in "the story" can vary dramatically with how that story is directed, photographed, scored and, naturally, acted.

When Bradford May filmed Season 7 (per DVD count) it added so much dimension to DALLAS that it was almost deafening ---- it didn't hurt that 1983 was probably the creative zenith for the show and that the Katzman-Paulsen-Lewis triumvirate of writers were doing their best work... But from the first episode that fall, after the fire, I was bowled over by how "real" the show felt, how big the silences were, how profound it all suddenly was.

According to Paulsen, quite believably, Uncle Lenny hated it and only wanted dull flat-lighting because DALLAS "was a cartoon" -- a goal Katzman would eventually fulfill, even though a cartoon was not exactly what the audience preferred, and they started tuning out when that noble artistic choice was ultimately realized.

Same with seasons of the year. They exist in real life and those seasons are largely about atmosphere. And that can connect the fictional scripted drama in some way to the reality of Life on Earth which might not otherwise be achieved.

It's why Charlene seems like a better actress when she's out under the sunlight.