What if Seasons 6 and 7 never happened?

[Snarky Oracle!]

Many people seem to agree that Seasons 6 and 7 (Per DVD count) -- the 1982 to 1984 era -- of DALLAS was likely the best two year period of the series, the Katzman.Lewis/Paulsen triumvirate guiding the plotlines.

But what if that period in the series never happened --- or happened differently?

In 1982, DALLAS was already a legend in its own time, flush with the recent memory of the 'Who Shot JR?' plotline which created an international furor in 1980.

Yet the two years which stretched from, approximately, Cliff's suicide attempt through Bobby's shooting, became the gold standard for DALLAS and may have been responsible for sealing its legend.

How would DALLAS, even by the fans, be remembered if the 1982-1984 section of the program had not unfolded as it did? Would it just be that old show where JR got shot and really nothing else (which, by the way, is indeed how non-fans recall DALLAS, if at all)?

 

[Mustard]

I personally think Seasons 5 and 6 DVD are the very best, as 5 has the J.R. vs. Cliff feud at its peak. Season 7 DVD is mostly just as good as 5-6, and I do like the Cliff/Mark/Pam/Afton dynamic that season, but the first signs of creative decline are during that season also, with the Charlie parentage thing being redone. Season 8 DVD has far clearer signs of decline, especially the Jenna's trial period. I consider Season 9 DVD a big return to form with new dynamics. Of the earlier seasons, Season 3 DVD is the best, then 1-2 DVD and then 4 DVD.

I agree that 6-7 DVD saw the most changing in dynamics. At the time of Cliff's suicide attempt, the dynamic at Southfork was still largely what it had always been, minus Jock. 6 and 7 saw huge changes in all that.

How would DALLAS, even by the fans, be remembered if the 1982-1984 section of the program had not unfolded as it did? Would it just be that old show where JR got shot and really nothing else (which, by the way, is indeed how non-fans recall DALLAS, if at all)?

Dallas was a big hit back then, even before the Battle for Ewing Oil. It only fell apart later so badly because of the dream revelation, which caused the vast majority of the audience not to take Dallas seriously anymore. The minority who got passed it were mostly finished off by Pam's exit, or by Sue Ellen's exit, or by the decline in quality (impossible not to notice by Season 13 DVD at the very latest), perhaps even by Miss Ellie's exit. Only the real hardcore fans stuck it out until the very end with Conundrum. In Britain, Season 14 DVD episodes were shown on Sunday afternoons and got really bad ratings, even though the last episodes of Season 13 DVD were getting double bill evening airings during the 1990 FIFA World Cup (Italia '90).

If Dallas had ended earlier, i.e. not going beyond Season 10 DVD at the latest, I think audience memory of the good bits of Dallas would be stronger, but they would have been much stronger still had that dream revelation never happened. They had something magical with Dallas, and which connected with the times, and it was later ruined. You can't just get that back, either. The earlier seasons were important for slowly showing us the Ewing world. Seeing the Ewing world fall apart so much in Seasons 5-7 DVD becomes good drama only because you care about what it all stood for originally in those early seasons.