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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Snarky Oracle!" data-source="post: 366384" data-attributes="member: 57984">I know that "glitz" was not the original focus for DALLAS, and that was probably a good thing. The Ewings were a somewhat redneck, nouveau riche Texas family (except for Miss Ellie, who seemed like she might have had some brief ivy league exposure in her youth) and their orientation was more about making money than haute couture or decor.But --- really? The early studio sets were soooo tacky it almost defies belief, especially for a multi-million dollar family.I mean, were they really gold-plated trailer trash, the Ewings?Even before DYNASTY ever existed, we used to snicker over the paltry sets on DALLAS... The Ewing Oil offices looked like dentists' offices (albeit way up there in the air) and the rooms at Southfork were ridiculous -- I didn't really mind the downstairs so much, the floral dining room, the paneled living room (despite those ceramic dogs which spoke to Elie whenever she was alone), but the bedrooms were an architectural fright -- especially JR and Sue Ellen's bedroom, with its powder blue walls, and white wicker furniture, its dying plants, the vomit brown carpet and the bric-a-brac (what is that exactly??).Perhaps if they'd reproduced in a Hollywood set at Lorimar from the rooms they'd used in the Swiss House for the 1978 miniseries (or those darker offices) it might've worked. But once they switched Southforks, and then used the Calder House interiors (which were a bit more '70s informal rustic than that home would later become) and then based the studio sets on those (plus those tiny, two-bit high-rise offices) the effect was absurdly gauche and decidedly down-market.Now, I realize that all the money in the world can't buy an ounce of class or a shred of good taste, and some affluent people choose to live below their means, but would Miss Ellie really permit her family to exist that way??And when the producers re-constructed the Calder House decor in Hollywood, they didn't even spiff them up a little bit! Even the Calder House owner marveled at how close the studio reproductions were, unable to tell the different between the studio sets and her own home except for the placement of a few vents and light switches ("they even copied those awful brocade drapes," she marveled).But I have to go back to JR and Sue Ellen's original bedroom -- is this why Sue Ellen become an alcoholic? Or did her alcoholism simply encourage the filthy mess she lived in?Only when DYNASTY came in and quickly rose in popularity, and the 1980s began to define itself as a wealth-obsessed decade, did the wardrobe and sets on DALLAS begin to improve --- fortunately, rarely going too far, always maintaining a high-end, semi-rural rustic appeal which conveyed a demure, Texas-centric opulence (although the dream season got a little cluttered with excessive set pieces and the gowns often over-the-top). In contrast, DYNASTY's mansion, despite being bigger and "more glamorous," quickly came to look and feel like a mausoleum, dull and colorless (the production design on THE COLBYS spin-off was much more interesting).But what gives? Or gave??"Swellllllin -- this place is a frickin' dump...! And I figure it's gotta be all yer fault..."<img src="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/10/b0/4e/10b04e8afbfaa3a78c80d347695a59a0.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 604px" /><img src="https://i.pinimg.com/736x/f9/f5/38/f9f538c22a110c2d768d703c5279c2cf.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 603px" /><img src="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1d/68/3c/1d683c42a865a23ad84f91fec7292b5a.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?