Was DALLAS a cartoon?

[Snarky Oracle!]

Leonard Katzman reportedly saw DALLAS as a "cartoon" and so did Larry. But were they right?

I mean, sure, there were periods where the show slid into cartoonishness, but those were not generally the fans' favorite seasons..

But was it right for the producers to view the series that way over all?

 

[DallasFanForever]

But was it right for the producers to view the series that way over all?

I’m not sure if it was right to view it that way but I can definitely see why they would. Soaps have always imitated real life and real life can be a cartoon at times so I get it.

 

[cws]

I think Larry had said it become like a cartoon towards the end of the series. I also remember John McCook ( from the Bold and the Beautiful) referring to the show as a cartoon as well. I guy that is what happens when you play a character for a long time!!

 

[James from London]

The 79/80 season, which is Old DALLAS at its most thrillingly intoxicating, had a kind of larger than life cartoon vibe which I loved. It was the year I became obsessed with the series. I was just on the cusp of childrens' and adult drama, and DALLAS bridged the gap between the two perfectly. In an episode like 'Divorce Ewing Style', scheming characters like JR and Kristin feel wonderfully, comedically cartoonish in the best way while Jock and Miss Ellie, who remain so incredibly, hilariously gullible throughout, don't come across as cardboard morons, but as characters worthy of THE SIMPSONS.

'A House Divided' in particular is perfect comic book DALLAS - full of big close ups and big emotions, threats and ultimatums. The action is non-stop, and as the episode builds, there's an increasing sense of a world coming off its axis, a centre unable to hold. This feeling is complemented by the episode's colour scheme. There are lots of shadows and half lit faces, while the women are dressed in deep reds, purples and pinks. The effect is both dark and sinister, and lurid and vivid. I love the purplish light on Bobby's face as he turns towards the camera to deliver his "I've put up with all the wheeling and dealing and backstabbing that I'm going to …" speech. I can so imagine that shot as part of a cartoon strip.

 

[Crimson]

DALLAS was a melodrama which, like cartoons, are over-the-top exaggerations of real life. Calling live action drama a cartoon usually carries a negative connotation that would seem more applicable to the series in its decline, but at its literal level the word is neutral. But then if we're going to take the word literally, DALLAS wasn't animated; therefore, no.

Cartoon-ish as an adjective? Maybe. Cartoon as a descriptive noun? No.

 

[Billy Wall]

Compared to a serious type of drama like The Godfather, most actors, directors and producers would probably consider most soaps (daytime and nighttime) to be cartoonish.

Sure, Dallas made them all rich and famous, but they’re all professionals and know a serious drama when they see it.

But don’t get it twisted, Dallas was one of the greatest TV shows of all time.

 

[Karin]

I've never thought of Dallas as a cartoon. It's a primetime soap opera/drama series that is closer in style to the classic Douglas Sirk Melodramas of the 1950s. Just like a melodrama it is the characters relationships to each other that is at the center of the story.

Still with that said, I do love the humour in Dallas and some of it is as funny as a sit. com so I guess it would be more fair to say that Dallas mixes the genres of soap opera, melodrama and comedy.

 

[Angela Channing]

I recently read an article in which the producers of the TV series Succession said their show was a comedy and Kieran Culkin, who plays one of the main characters, said he played it like a comedy. I found this strange because I always saw the series as a serious drama, albeit one with a lot of humour. Similarly, I never saw Dallas as being anything other than a serious drama even though at times it was over the top and stretched credibility. Like Succession, I wouldn't enjoy Dallas as much if I viewed it as anything other than a serious drama.

So I think for TV shows, it's more important what viewers make of them rather than how the producers view their show.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

I wouldn't say, cartoon, more melodramatic, maybe even ironically humorous

 

[Garry]

I always view Dallas for what it is - mindless entertainment, so the cartoon analogy is somewhat justified.

Viewers laughed along with Dallas in its golden years but the later seasons proved that the show was becoming a parody of itself. Mind you even with J.R in the sanitarium and a series finale Hanna Barbara would have been proud of, Dallas went as dark as it ever could in that final year.

 

[Barbara Fan]

I took Dallas very seriously in the early days but then Bobby returned and it became the butt of so many jokes

It always had done but more so in 1986 onwards

 

[Willie Oleson]

Cartoon-ish as an adjective? Maybe. Cartoon as a descriptive noun? No.

The OP doesn't really tell what kind of cartoon DALLAS was supposed to be, as per Katzman and Hagman's comments. Well, reportedly.
Some forum members interpret "cartoon" as the Looney Tunes kind but that's only one of the many genres in comic art.
Since some movies and TV series actually are based on comic books you could easily reverse it and turn DALLAS into a drama comic series.

As James described it

I love the purplish light on Bobby's face as he turns towards the camera to deliver his "I've put up with all the wheeling and dealing and backstabbing that I'm going to …" speech. I can so imagine that shot as part of a cartoon strip.

I could easily see it as one of those iconic comic strip close-ups with a text balloon.

Since I'm a little bit more familiar with the big rival soap DYNASTY I would say that Krystle and Claudia struggling with the gun scene (not to mention Nick Toscanni's "my god!" close-up) is a good example of soap comic, but not because it's comically.
And how about Blake asking Cecil Colby (in his wizard of oz disguise) "who ARE you?!"

But then there are also a million things that simply can't be captured in drawn images, regardless of how good or bad the movie/series is. Therefore I only partially agree that soaps have a cartoon style quality.
The soap self-parody is a different topic imho. I guess it was a response to the soap fatigue and the idea that soap opera was something to laugh at, and then when they actually responded to that consensus they inadvertently stopped being funny. And that makes sense because you've got to be a step ahead of your audience, not behind it.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

I’ve long considered Dallas to be Lorimar’s answer to Woody Woodpecker

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I guess it was a response to the soap fatigue and the idea that soap opera was something to laugh at, and then when they actually responded to that consensus they inadvertently stopped being funny.

That part pf your point is pretty good.

 

[Barbara Fan]

turn DALLAS into a drama comic series.

Dallas was turned into a comic series in UK newspapers in early 80s

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

JR and Cliff.

 

[Laurie Marr]

The ‘cartoon’ quips from the producers often struck me as a defence mechanism to rescue them from the ignominy of lavishing their manly talents on a mere soap. It was melodramatic certainly but without the Grand Guignol posturing of ‘Dynasty.’ It was also framed in a way that looked like a comic strip - and had the palette too on occasions, as JFL astutely observes.

And yet Dallas often played against its soapy generic structures. At its best it could often reveal a complexity in charactersation that blurred boundaries between heroes and villains. It engaged with some universal themes very competently - even if it was against a backdrop of some exotic plotting.

 

[Willie Oleson]

And yet Dallas often played against its soapy generic structures.

There's no reason why a soap opera shouldn't have good writing and acting, I've seen excellence in many soap operas but it helps if there's a good back story.
The marriage of Jock and Miss Ellie, and the divorce of Blake and Alexis, have that kind of ambiguity that totally justifies a soap opera. Could it be that JR's character is dominated by the Southworth genes and that Bobby is the most "Ewing" of them all?

The ‘cartoon’ quips from the producers often struck me as a defence mechanism to rescue them from the ignominy of lavishing their manly talents on a mere soap.

That's complex thinking! Maybe you're right, maybe Pam's Bat mobile was supposed to signal that they were "just having fun with it". Of course there are many ways to "have fun with it", and even Grand Guignol has to be done right to make it work on screen.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

There's no reason why a soap opera shouldn't have good writing and acting, I've seen excellence in many soap operas but it helps if there's a good back story.
The marriage of Jock and Miss Ellie, and the divorce of Blake and Alexis, have that kind of ambiguity that totally justifies a soap opera. Could it be that JR's character is dominated by the Southworth genes and that Bobby is the most "Ewing" of them all?

this is why I really dislike the Jason Ewing retcon. Why foul up a great, ambiguous backstory just to introduce a couple of new, mediocre cast members and initiate "the fight for Ewing Oil, Part 58"?

Think of Jock's "real power is something you take" speech to Bobby a few seasons prior. Was he subtly admitting that maybe he *did* take Digger's half in a not entirely fair way?

 

[Willie Oleson]

this is why I really dislike the Jason Ewing retcon. Why foul up a great, ambiguous backstory just to introduce a couple of new, mediocre cast members and initiate "the fight for Ewing Oil, Part 58"?

It must be very difficult to write a long running drama series and stick with the original foundations. But I think I would have retconned them as Amanda Ewing's kids.