As the series went on, the writers made both Ellie and Jock out to be nicer people than what we saw at the beginning of the series. Ellie lecturing JR and Bobby on how they didn’t live up to Jock’s moral standards was silly. This is the Jock who was complicit in having Jonas Culver institutionalized so he and Sam Culver could take control of his land. Jonas committed suicide while he was locked up. Not very nice. This is also the Jock who said that women belonged in the bedroom not the boardroom and that Ewing Oil’s head of marketing was “uppity.” And the same Jock who drove the farmer from “The Dove Hunt” into bankruptcy by leaning on the farmer’s customers not to buy his crops, again so that Jock could snatch the land. And of course, we had the original premise of Jock taking full financial control of the oil claim he discovered with Digger, before that was retconned to make Jock look like a saint.
Ellie wasn’t always wonderful early on either. We’ve already discussed her part in keeping Lucy from Valene. Sue Ellen told a friend once that when Ellie Ewing called, you didn’t keep her waiting. That leads me to believe that Sue Ellen did keep her waiting once and dealt with Ellie’s not-so-pleasant side. We also saw this side of her when she froze out Ray after it was revealed he was a Ewing, and when she was nasty to Donna after Donna found out about the Jonas Culver situation.
Even the CBS promos advertised the mini-series as being about, among other things, "the gracious but ruthless parents."
I didn't mind so much Ellie and the family whitewashing Jock post-mortem (or Ellie herself) because that's what families often do. But when the show itself began to do it (young Jock Ewing was anti-KKK?? I don't think so!) it became a little bit of a problem -- but I think the writers were concerned about besmirching Jim Davis after his death, since the dumber sector of the audience tends to confuse the character with the actor.
I think it's a brilliant suggestion
@Snarky Oracle! and what
@Jock Ewing Fan said it part of what makes it brilliant. It would open up so many layers of all three characters. Miss Ellie being hypocritical, having a dark side and not having the votes or know how of the oil business could be part of the story. JR would be scheming and Bobby would be caught in the middle. It wouldn't havr to be permanent, which would be beneficial to the story. It would also draw in Clayton and Sue.Ellen. if Donna was still she could be a good part as Miss Ellie's best friend, and a very savvy one at that.
Also, anything to give Miss Ellie something substantial to do.
All of the female characters on DALLAS eventually came into their own -- except Miss Ellie. And I always, always thought that was a mistake. Especially in the later seasons, when they actually began writing
less for her instead of better.
Not that Ellie needed to turn into a boss bitch exactly, but ... maybe. For a spell. Having her controlling Ewing Oil at some point, eliciting the aid of Bobby in the details here-and-there, would have been something I'd like to see, at least temporarily.
That's why David Jacobs' idea for the prospective DALLAS movie twenty years ago of Miss Ellie having a TV talk show seems to me a good idea for the series at some point (smells like Season 13). After the Ewing-Valdez tanker disaster and the resulting oil spill, JR goes on The Roy Ralston Show for PR purposes, but it doesn't work all that well. But once Ralston then meets Ellie at, say, The Oil Barons Ball and he's utterly charmed by her, JR brings his mama onto the Ralston talk show a couple of times, she's a hit, and, shortly thereafter, when Ralston's show finally goes national, the local station, wowed by the audience's affection for her, offers Miss Ellie Ralston's time slot... Ellie frets about whether or not she should do it, Clayton is wary of the whole thing, Bobby smirks patronizingly as he always does whenever any woman wants to do anything, but JR wholeheartedly encourages the venture (which makes Clayton even more wary) because JR sees the show as an opportunity to influence public opinion in a way he'd like.
Ellie takes the job, and delights east Texas with her chatter, recipes, celebrity interviews and homespun wisdom -- until she begins revealing her own liberal political leanings and environmental concerns, horrifying JR along with the Dallas oil cartel. So, Mama being unassailable to his criticisms, JR begins scheming to pull the plug on SOMEONE'S IN THE KITCHEN WITH ELLIE as fast as possible -- Miss Ellie almost dying as a result of her eldest son's manipulations.
She survives, but leaves her TV talk show before the end of the season.
But then, I always saw Miss Ellie as the secret star of DALLAS.
