Who shot Bobby? Cleverly executed homage or jaded and unoriginal?

[Toni]

That cliffhanger also proved that Bobby hardly had much blood in his veins... at least not at first sight!

 

[CeeCee72]

I liked the cliffhanger, I liked a few things about the mystery of who did it. I hated some of the way it was executed.

The best thing about it is how vulnerable it made JR. We saw both terror and guilt because he thought the bullet was meant for him and hurt Bobby instead. I liked how they used it to put Donna at Ewing Oil. I loved how they used it to help JR and Sue Ellen reconnect. I liked how JR uses it as an opportunity to set up Cliff.

But...

I hated the whiny hospital bedside scenes with Jenna. I hated watching Pam look so desperate by forcing herself on Jenna at the hospital when she had no business being there. I hated that Miss Ellie couldn't be bothered to come back from her trip to be with her son. And although I liked that Katherine did it, I hated the camp and over the top reveal.

I thought the homage to Who Shot JR was clever, but they could have handled a lot of the fallout better.

 

[Chris2]

I hated that Miss Ellie couldn't be bothered to come back from her trip to be with her son.

She was too busy getting a new face.

And although I liked that Katherine did it, I hated the camp and over the top reveal. I thought the homage to Who Shot JR was clever, but they could have handled a lot of the fallout better.

Dallas was good at setting up cliffhangers, but it was never very good at handling the resolutions.

 

[DallasFanForever]

At the time I was 9 so it was the very first cliffhanger I remember watching. The grownups in the house were all convinced J.R. was getting shot again. They were all quite surprised by the reveal when that chair spun around. Personally, I thought it was cleverly done but I can understand why some people would find another shooting cliffhanger unoriginal.

 

[Crimson]

At the time I was 9 so it was the very first cliffhanger I remember watching.

Yes, more or less the same for me. I had been aware of "Who Shot JR?" only as a catchphrase, but I didn't actually watch it. Was Bobby's shooting a flagrant attempt at recreating the earlier cliffhanger? Probably, but at least they leaned into the redundancy with the obvious homage.

Dallas was good at setting up cliffhangers, but it was never very good at handling the resolutions.

I wonder if the producers and writers knew the outcome of their cliffhangers when they wrote them, or did they just figure it out 3 months later?

 

[CeeCee72]

I wonder if the producers and writers knew the outcome of their cliffhangers when they wrote them, or did they just figure it out 3 months later?

With "Who shot JR?" I feel like the culprit was decided way before the reveal, probably when they scripted the shooting. I mean of all the suspects, Kristen was the only truly expendable suspect. It had to be her. The rest of them were all major parts of the show.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

With "Who shot JR?" I feel like the culprit was decided way before the reveal, probably when they scripted the shooting. I mean of all the suspects, Kristen was the only truly expendable suspect. It had to be her. The rest of them were all major parts of the show.

That's the reverse of what they say happened, anyway. The producers all claim that they had to come up with the shooting cliffhanger on the spot because the network wanted 2 or 3 more episodes for the season than expected ("so we just said 'let's shoot the son-of-a-bitch and figure out later who did it'") and they had 8 long months to decide who the culprit was -- although I'm sure it didn't take that long.

With Bobby's shooting, they undoubtedly knew going in who did it.:

 

[DallasFanForever]

That's the reverse of what they say happened, anyway. The producers all claim that they had to come up with the shooting cliffhanger on the spot because the network wanted 2 or 3 more episodes for the season than expected ("so we just said 'let's shoot the son-of-a-bitch and figure out later who did it'") and they had 8 long months to decide who the culprit was -- although I'm sure it didn't take that long.

With Bobby's shooting, they undoubtedly knew going in who did it.:

I know most might not agree but there’s something really interesting about doing the cliffhanger before knowing who they were going to make the culprit. I know it kind of goes against the whole idea of long term planning but when you can basically pull that off without knowing what the proverbial punchline is going to be and it still turns out right that’s very impressive.

 

[Jock's Ghost]

Has there ever been another secondary character (Katherine) who had such an impact throughout the history that is Dallas. I cannot think of any. Despite being killed off mid-sentence in TNT Dallas just the fact she scores a mention is testament to the longevity and influence of Miss Katherine Wentworth.

She went away too fast... Loved her, like Victoria, she was a good yeller. Donna Howard too. Still wish she had stayed on, become Cliff's true nemesis.

 

[Jock's Ghost]

I remember watching it when it originally aired and was like, HOLY SH!*$ as Bobby thumps to the floor. Loved it at the time, made for a long summer.