Were you disappointed when Digger wasn't Pam's Father?

[LMLDallas78]

Makes me wonder about Digger's true feelings for Rebecca.
When Pam was telling him and Cliff about Miss Ellie's mastectomy, Digger has to rush off to see her.

Pam says how much he's always loved Ellie and Cliff says well he loved Momma too but Pam questions that by saying Digger has never said that and hardly ever refers to Rebecca and if he does it's not with the same passion or feelings as with Ellie. Cliff reminds Pam that Ellie is very special to Digger as she was his first love.

Love it when Digger visits Ellie in the hospital and Jock sees him but allows them time together. Jock explains later it's because he didn't want Ellie to be upset. Ellie says Digger may have his shortcomings but is always honest with her, more than Jock has been regarding Amanda.
Jock calls Digger "A liar and a bull thrower!"

Digger helped Miss Ellie through this tough time and in the end when he spouts off about how Jock treated him, she can see she was unfair how she's treated Jock.

I wonder if Digger ever did love Rebecca in the same way as Miss Ellie?

 

[tommie]

There are very few things in the first half of DALLAS that I dislike, but I hate Digger's deathbed revelation. It's bad enough that it undermines the very foundation of the show by making Pam not-a-blood-Barnes, but the writers never did anything with it. It was a narrative non-sequitur.

But, on the other hand, it's always made it easy for me to just disregard it. I write it off as Digger's booze-addled mind playing tricks on him on his deathbed.

Pretty much. It's like Adam being revealed to be an impostor on Dynasty (though they did retcon that back) - utterly pointless and didn't really lead to anything that couldn't be achieved without the relevation. I wish Rebecca would've set it straight and just said that Digger just thought he wasn't the father.

 

[DallasFanForever]

I wonder if Digger ever did love Rebecca in the same way as Miss Ellie?

I don’t think he did. I always got the impression Miss Ellie was his true love, not just his first love. I’m sure he loved Rebecca but I don’t think it was ever the same.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

Pretty much. It's like Adam being revealed to be an impostor on Dynasty (though they did retcon that back) - utterly pointless and didn't really lead to anything that couldn't be achieved without the relevation. I wish Rebecca would've set it straight and just said that Digger just thought he wasn't the father.

in the flashback scene we saw, Digger certainly thought he was the father initially. Sure he was a drunk and went on 'benders', but Rebecca was pretty far along at the time... surely he would have known something was up if Rebecca was pregnant for months and they hadn't been sleeping together at all. He wasn't *that far* removed from reality, was he?

It seems like a firm possibility that Digger was indeed the father and Rebecca claimed that Hutch was the father in that scene because it was essentially an "I'm leaving you for this guy" confrontation.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

in the flashback scene we saw, Digger certainly thought he was the father initially. Sure he was a drunk and went on 'benders', but Rebecca was pretty far along at the time... surely he would have known something was up if Rebecca was pregnant for months and they hadn't been sleeping together at all. He wasn't *that far* removed from reality, was he?

It seems like a firm possibility that Digger was indeed the father and Rebecca claimed that Hutch was the father in that scene because it was essentially an "I'm leaving you for this guy" confrontation.

Yeah, in the flashback Rebecca says"Hutch is the Daddy!" which pretty much admits that Digger isn't the father of the unborn baby. However Digger was drunk at the time, so it's possible his memory of the events could be wrong. What goes against this is his reason for shooting Hutch when Rebecca knocks the gun out of Hutch's hands and Digger grabs it, unless it was a tragic accident after all.

 

[Crimson]

It seems like a firm possibility that Digger was indeed the father and Rebecca claimed that Hutch was the father in that scene because it was essentially an "I'm leaving you for this guy" confrontation.

Right; it's why I don't give much consideration to the revelation -- it's ambiguous enough to ignore. The recollections of an unreliable witness (a dying drunk) about the confessions of another potentially unreliable witness (Rebecca, possibly lying about the paternity to escape Digger), combined with absolutely no impact to future storylines, and the whole thing is dumb but meaningless.

The bigger problem is that Digger even needed to die to introduce Rebecca. A drunken, offhanded comment by Digger than he knew where Rebecca was could have been enough to send Pam searching for her mom.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Right; it's why I don't give much consideration to the revelation -- it's ambiguous enough to ignore. The recollections of an unreliable witness (a dying drunk) about the confessions of another potentially unreliable witness (Rebecca, possibly lying about the paternity to escape Digger), combined with absolutely no impact to future storylines, and the whole thing is dumb but meaningless.

The bigger problem is that Digger even needed to die to introduce Rebecca. A drunken, offhanded comment by Digger than he knew where Rebecca was could have been enough to send Pam searching for her mom.

A pity Digger didn't say that the baby was put up for adoption and went to a good family.

That would've sown the seeds for a better storyline.

 

[Mustard]

So if Pam wasn’t really Digger’s daughter then how did she carry the neurofibromatosis? I know she was diagnosed with it after the second miscarriage but she couldn’t have gotten it from Digger as we were told. Or was it a misdiagnosis? I always assumed the miscarriages were due to falling out of the hayloft and off the horse, etc. but then came the diagnosis that she’d never have children due to that disease I’m tired of typing out. I wonder what made her finally know she could have children at the end of season 10? What had changed?

Pam was only diagnosed with neurofibromatosis because she was believed to be Digger's biological daughter at the time, as neurofibromatosis is genetically passed from parent to child. I can only assume that the writers painted themselves into a bit of a corner in the sense that they wanted to keep the possibility open for Pam to have a biological child in the future without the neurofibromatosis complication, which is why the whole Pam paternity thing was done. However, as they ended up with storylines where Pam never became a biological mother anyway, it was a complete waste.

The whole thing of Hutch McKinney being Pam's biological father is the number 1 worst storyline in the 1978-1983 period of Dallas, without question.

 

[LMLDallas78]

So if Pam wasn’t really Digger’s daughter then how did she carry the neurofibromatosi

That's the burning question that was never totally resolved.

Or was it a misdiagnosis?

One would assume not, not at the time anyway before we knew about Digger not being the Daddy. No tests were carried out on Cliff and Pam only a little history and they "were lucky" as it missed those two.

I always assumed the miscarriages were due to falling out of the hayloft and off the horse,

We can assume that's correct, but there was a risk of carrying to full term as well as losing a child within the first year.

then came the diagnosis that she’d never have children due to that disease

We can now assume Pam had tests which would by now be somewhat more advanced and was told there was no reason why she wouldn't naturally carry a child to term. Wasn't she returning from the doctors before her accident?

So much of that story was simply left out and forgotten about. There were plenty of dramatic storylines where Pam could have had a baby or even just normal storylines.

that disease I’m tired of typing out.

I wonder what made her finally know she could have children at the end of season 10?

The more advanced tests as I mentioned above is all I can think and she was was probably mentally ready now and not so terrified of miscarriage.

 

[KayLloyd]

Digger is Pam's father as much as Bobby is Christopher's father.

Well said! Hutch McKinney and Jeff Fairaday were just sperm donors, Digger and Bobby were the real fathers. I have a friend who asked her sperm donor biological father to walk her down the aisle at her wedding instead of her adopting father and it broke her adopting father's heart. I lost all respect for her biological father for not telling her that her adopting father deserved that honor, not him.

 

[DallasFanForever]

Wasn't she returning from the doctors before her accident?

Yes, she was. Sadly it would be her last ever conversation with Bobby. I think she told him she’d be home in ten minutes. Then, well, you know the rest.

 

[Chris2]

Did Hutch McKinney have any other children? If so, were they as whiny as Pam could be?

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Yes, she was. Sadly it would be her last ever conversation with Bobby. I think she told him she’d be home in ten minutes. Then, well, you know the rest.

Yeah, well take comfort from the fact that she didn't die.

And as for her disappearance from the hospital, it wasn't someone from Wentworth Industries who arranged it. It was my Step Father Mark Graison who got her out of there. He was also responsible for the fake Pam that Jordan Lee thought he saw and who Cliff later saw when he tried to get her to come back to Dallas. That was an actress and a model who bore a resemblance to Pam.

Pam of course is alive and well and remarried to Mark Graison, living with myself and my half brother Christopher. So none of you please feel bad about her we're all very happy together.

 

[LMLDallas78]

Did Hutch McKinney have any other children? If so, were they as whiny as Pam could be?

I hope he didn't!

 

[Seaviewer]

The bigger problem is that Digger even needed to die to introduce Rebecca. A drunken, offhanded comment by Digger than he knew where Rebecca was could have been enough to send Pam searching for her mom.

A confrontation between Digger and Rebecca at some point would have been interesting.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

A confrontation between Digger and Rebecca at some point would have been interesting.

I wonder if the creation of Rebecca Wentworth wasa response to having someone in the Barnes family as a more formidable version of Digger.
If so, it was underdeveloped. I wish we had seen a more driven Rebecca to battle the Ewings.

 

[DallasFanForever]

I wonder if the creation of Rebecca Wentworth wasa response to having someone in the Barnes family as a more formidable version of Digger.
If so, it was underdeveloped. I wish we had seen a more driven Rebecca to battle the Ewings.

The introduction of Rebecca was a very positive one for me. The character definitely had its flaws, but ultimately she did put the Barnes family on a higher level with all of her money and power. My only regret is the character wasn’t around longer as I felt there was a lot more they could’ve done with her.

 

[LMLDallas78]

someone in the Barnes family as a more formidable version of Digger.

Yes definitely, Digger was the chopsy drunk loser with guts and attitude.

Rebecca was much more than Digger in a dress, she was hard faced and fierce. Never afraid to stand up to Miss Ellie and make threats.
Both of them also had an endearing softer side especially Digger.

As suggested by @Seaviewer it would've been great to see these two share some scenes.

 

[Snowcat]

I agree with this statement. Digger could’ve been much more utilized as a character after Jock’s death. Perhaps he tries to get close to Miss Ellie again at one point, giving Clayton a good fight for her.

If Digger was still alive when Jock died there would have been less of a need for Clayton

 

[Snowcat]

I never had a problem with this storyline because for all practical purposes, Digger was her father. But this started Pam’s mental breakdown. I do wish we had more seasons with Rebecca and Digger. I would have loved to see them interact. But I don’t know if Rebecca would have come clean about who she was if Digger was still alive