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<blockquote data-quote="Michael Torrance" data-source="post: 212269" data-attributes="member: 719">Once DALLAS went from a self-contained series of episodes to a night-time soap, predictability set it, because as [USER=82]@Toni[/USER] said, that is part of the genre. I mean, DALLAS was already quite predictable even in the self-contained episodes when it was obvious J.R. would end up winning every time. In fact, predictability is what soap viewers--and viewers in general--expect. On a crime drama, you expect the police to solve the crime and the perpetrator to be locked away. On DALLAS, you expect that even though everyone knows J.R. is not to be trusted, they are complete idiots and fall for his tricks again. DALLAS&#039; creativity early on was to challenge that in-built predictability and made the viewers doubt whether their understanding of the genre was enough to figure out the curve balls thrown by the writers. Yes, J.R. is on top in business, but is Sue Ellen carrying his child, or Cliff&#039;s? The Barnes are just white trash, but what about the absent mother who is suddenly the head of a powerful conglomerate? And as already mentioned, the battle for Ewing Oil was another twist. I think Bobby&#039;s death was the ultimate gift for the show in terms of having a chance to defy expectations. And the dream resolution showed that they no longer cared about challenging the in-built predictability of the genre, but they embraced it. And that was the end of it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Michael Torrance, post: 212269, member: 719"] Once DALLAS went from a self-contained series of episodes to a night-time soap, predictability set it, because as [USER=82]@Toni[/USER] said, that is part of the genre. I mean, DALLAS was already quite predictable even in the self-contained episodes when it was obvious J.R. would end up winning every time. In fact, predictability is what soap viewers--and viewers in general--expect. On a crime drama, you expect the police to solve the crime and the perpetrator to be locked away. On DALLAS, you expect that even though everyone knows J.R. is not to be trusted, they are complete idiots and fall for his tricks again. DALLAS' creativity early on was to challenge that in-built predictability and made the viewers doubt whether their understanding of the genre was enough to figure out the curve balls thrown by the writers. Yes, J.R. is on top in business, but is Sue Ellen carrying his child, or Cliff's? The Barnes are just white trash, but what about the absent mother who is suddenly the head of a powerful conglomerate? And as already mentioned, the battle for Ewing Oil was another twist. I think Bobby's death was the ultimate gift for the show in terms of having a chance to defy expectations. And the dream resolution showed that they no longer cared about challenging the in-built predictability of the genre, but they embraced it. And that was the end of it. [/QUOTE]

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Who played Sue Ellen in Dallas?