Dallas Top Ten Ways To Have concluded the Original Series.

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

I kind of surprised myself by going with “the whole thing was Pam’s dream”… with one minor change, though: it’s actually real up until the point when Ray throws her into that dismal-ass freezing pond in the pilot episode.

What we didn’t see is that Pam hit her head and was knocked unconscious, going into full cardiac arrest, lungs full of awful brown water. Bobby jumps out of the car as JR pulls up to the little shack, presumably to catch the ex-lovebirds in the act.

After a surreal but cheap-looking transition near the end of the finale, which until then was an even dumber version of Conundrum with Joel Grey and everything, we finally see this footage, culminating in a frantic “Bobby performs CPR” sequence.

(They actually filmed this entire sequence in early 1978, holding it for just the right moment all those years. )

We cut abruptly to Pam, played inexplicably by Joan Rivers, waking up in the hospital after 13 years in a “dreaming coma”, with all kinds of tubes and wires attached to and passing through her. “I feel like a damn TV station!”, she exclaims, followed by the Phil Capice freeze-frame. (somehow he ended up back in charge for the last episode)

(seen above: a concussed Pam howls in agony before slumping unconscious into an icy near-grave)

 

[Rove]

A perfect ending?
Swan Song (Bobby's death-bed scene)
​

If Barbara Bel was still playing the role of Miss Ellie that season the hospital scene would have ended Dallas on such a powerful note. Forever known as gripping television.

 

[Bobby Southworth]

I have played this over and over in my head for years...but...I still have to say that the show should have ended at the end of season 13. I agree with Luke. Up to that point, the BIGGEST thing they got wrong was the way of Pam's exit, and Bobby's reaction. They kinda, but not really made up for this with the whole Pam lookalike thing, but at least Bob finally showed some emotion about the situation. Not that there weren't other things they got wrong, but having JR locked away in the sanitarium would have been kind of comical because of him doing it to Sue Ellen, or always threatening to do it to her.
From this point on, the series was just running on fumes. No More Miss Ellie. She doesn't come back for April's death, and she doesn't come back when everyone thinks JR is dead in "JR Returns". Come on, this is just silly and unrealistic. The last season was mostly dire, and the reunion movies, especially the latter one seem amateur.
The revival series could have been great had the developer actually watched more than a handful of episodes of the original series. However, Cliff being homicidal, to the point of blowing up his own daughter? He had an adopted son we never saw in the original series?? arrghh... The frustrating thing is that the revival could have worked. There were strong points. I'd happily do away with the two reunion movies had the revival been done a little differently. I liked the Rylands. Elana should have been Teressa's daughter. However because of the things they got wrong, I can't go with the revival, and I can't really go with the last season of the original series or the movies either, so.. I say they should have known when to say when, and called it quits in 1990, before the show was actually cancelled.

 

[jmn3]

That last season of Dallas was truly the pits. I’ve heard the excuses about not knowing if it was the finale or not but they had to realize this wasn’t going to go on much longer. What the heck would a 1991-92 season have looked like at that point? Who would be the cast? What would be the point?

In a perfect world, they would have somehow wrapped up the garbage storylines of the 1990-91 season early and then did 2-3 episodes to wrap up the entire series. The final season cast is meaningless aside from Bobby, JR, and Cliff. I would rather have seen some reason created to bring back a majority of the cast we actually cared about. I could envision some sort of BBQ at Southfork with everyone there. It all seems rather uneventful and seemingly a happily ever after for all these people. It gives an excuse to see Miss Ellie, Clayton, Sue Ellen, Lucy, Ray, Jenna, all the supporting characters like the secretaries, Punk and Mavis, Marilee, etc.

Then in the final moments, JR gets a letter that leaves him speechless muttering “my God what have I done?” He goes outside to seemingly address whatever was in the letter with Bobby when a helicopter starts descending upon the backyard. It’s creating a ton of noise and wind and is clearly unexpected by everyone. In the final scene, we see JR Cliff and Bobby front and center with the rest of our core characters behind them all trying to figure out who is on the helicopter. We see the point of view of someone exiting the chopper staring at the crowd and zoom into the three:

JR: “No”
Cliff: “Oh my God!”
Bobby: “Pamela!?”

Freeze on their faces…credits roll

You don’t even need VP to come back to do this (but it would also work with her making a non speaking appearance for that last second). I would rather have seen the show either get a few extra episodes or cut some of the garbage episodes and replace them with a true wrapping up of the storylines and characters the show was based on.