Billy Wall
Telly Talk Dream Maker
Did anyone else notice that in some of the early office scenes, there was noticeable movement outside of the window? If it was a video screen, it was quite well done by 70’s standards.
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Were Some Of The Early Ewing Office Scenes On Location?
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Snarky Oracle!
Telly Talk Supreme
Yes, the miniseries' office scenes were from an actual high-rise in downtown Dallas, and the first ten or so episodes from Season 2 (DVD) were also filmed entirely on location in Texas -- including the interior Southfork scenes and the new "dentist's" office scenes at Ewing Oil (with no explanation offered as to why Southfork's exterior and interior had changed so much, nor the interior offices).
Mid-season, they returned to Los Angeles with the studio reproduction of those offices and Southfork's interiors ready to shoot. And, of course, the fake pool terrace area with the 40-watt bulb hanging over the set.
What's funny is that the panoramic views outside JR's and Bobby's offices couldn't have possibly been in downtown Dallas, but instead some building just north of the city -- like, perhaps, the building where Barnes-Wentworth was later located... And when Ewing Oil's offices were redone in 1982, suddenly their windows were surrounded by skyscrapers (it was a studio set, of course) as if they'd changed buildings, but the exteriors of the same building on Elm Street (just a couple of blocks east of where JFK was shot) were still used for several more years.
There is a highly detailed thread here on DALLAS filming locations and it has everything you could ever want to know (in fact, it ought to be a sticky thread, it's so thorough).
The fake transparency/photo outside JR's window in the 1981/82 seasons improved remarkably over the previous painting of the same view, but it only lasted a year.
Mid-season, they returned to Los Angeles with the studio reproduction of those offices and Southfork's interiors ready to shoot. And, of course, the fake pool terrace area with the 40-watt bulb hanging over the set.
What's funny is that the panoramic views outside JR's and Bobby's offices couldn't have possibly been in downtown Dallas, but instead some building just north of the city -- like, perhaps, the building where Barnes-Wentworth was later located... And when Ewing Oil's offices were redone in 1982, suddenly their windows were surrounded by skyscrapers (it was a studio set, of course) as if they'd changed buildings, but the exteriors of the same building on Elm Street (just a couple of blocks east of where JFK was shot) were still used for several more years.
There is a highly detailed thread here on DALLAS filming locations and it has everything you could ever want to know (in fact, it ought to be a sticky thread, it's so thorough).
The fake transparency/photo outside JR's window in the 1981/82 seasons improved remarkably over the previous painting of the same view, but it only lasted a year.
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Lastkidpicked
Telly Talk Dream Maker
Very good point! The offices seemed smaller and even Southfork seemed more cramped.
Although this did give the early seasons more of a "gritty" feel.
Billy Wall
Telly Talk Dream Maker
Just watching a the “who done it” episode and the shot outside of Bobby’s office is ridiculous. Ewing Oil would have had to been in a residential neighborhood for that view as there was nothing but trees and houses. Lol
Yes the inside of Southfork rooms should have been much bigger than what we saw in the beginning.
Taylor Bennett Jr.
Telly Talk Winner
sometimes when someone closes a door in JR’s office or JR and Sue Ellen’s bedroom it’s so obvious that it’s a lightweight particleboard door that it breaks my suspension of disbelief. The door to JR’s office at Ewing Oil should be *substantial*, not something a 70 year-old Don Starr has to be careful not to slam too hard as the outraged Jordan Lee.
Lastkidpicked
Telly Talk Dream Maker
HAHAHAHAHA! I think Jordan Lee was born 70 years old.
If any of you are in the area, you can check out the offices today. Things may have tightened up now, but when I was in the neighborhood a few years ago nobody stopped me from riding the elevator up and looking around.
http://www.tellytalk.net/threads/ewing-oil-offices-for-rent-in-real-life.4591/
Snarky Oracle!
Telly Talk Supreme
Yes, the doors.
The early years of DALLAS were so no-frills that we chuckled about it -- and long before DYNASTY ever started.
The bedroom doors at Southfork were so flat and bland and indecorous (Patrick called them "ugly") that that, and the tract house ambiance, made the Ewings look like they were one step up from a trailer park. Which may have been right for most of the family, but would Miss Ellie have permitted that? Perhaps those ceramic dogs were her only was of rebelling.
The early offices, though high up in a skyscraper, were equally laughable. I always want to see something that glamorizes them slightly -- like a foot-wide white marble outline around JR's door (to match that little table).
DallasFanForever
Telly Talk Supreme
It amazes me what we notice now on these rewatches. I guess back then we never paid attention to or even thought about this stuff. 45 years later and we are still finding things to talk about. That’s why I love these kinds of threads.
Lastkidpicked
Telly Talk Dream Maker
You just summed up my entire reason for being on here in two sentences.
Very well said.