Who was the worst mother?

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Miss Ellie!

For starting the whole saga...

...thank you.​

Well she did give birth to the devil incarnate himself.

Damian Thorn has nothing on JR Ewing!

 

[Monzo]

As for Sue Ellen, I can excuse a lot of things because she was either sick or it happened in the heat of the moment, but there's one thing she shouldn't have done if she wanted to be a good mother: shoot the movie about JR.

John Ross was at an age where the film would have hurt him. Sue Ellen might have been able to prevent John Ross from seeing it in the cinema, but sooner or later it would have happened when the film had been released on VHS. In addition, his classmates could have bullied him because they would have certainly seen the movie. By season 12, Sue Ellen's character was developed in such a positive direction that I never understood that in the months she was involved with the movie, she never really thought about the consequences for John Ross.

 

[LMLDallas78]

but there's one thing she shouldn't have done if she wanted to be a good mother: shoot the movie about JR.

I didn't ever believe she would really release that film.

I imagine making it gave her some closure in coming to terms with her life with JR and she was then able to put that past behind her and move on.

She enjoyed showing him the end result once the film was made then enjoyed holding the threat of releasing it over him. She felt in control and revelled in making him squirm just a little.

 

[DallasFanForever]

As for Sue Ellen, I can excuse a lot of things because she was either sick or it happened in the heat of the moment, but there's one thing she shouldn't have done if she wanted to be a good mother: shoot the movie about JR.

At least she did the right thing and never released it, although I think a good plot would’ve been the movie showing up again later on during TNT Dallas. I like the idea of it coming back to haunt her, John Ross and even J.R. in some capacity.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

the movie storyline was so silly… “I’m so over my ex that I’m going to waste hundreds of thousands, probably millions of dollars and months of my and many others’ time to make a movie that I probably won’t release, just so that I can have some sort of weak blackmail leverage over him that he probably won’t care about and indeed will forget about almost immediately! At least I’ll meet a British screenwriter with a leather jacket who’s shorter than me to marry who everyone likes in other roles but not this one. Sure, I’ll have to give up my son, but I’ll be able to hop over to Switzerland to visit Ray and Jenna and Charlie, so that’s pretty much a wash.”

 

[Toni]

At least she did the right thing and never released it, although I think a good plot would’ve been the movie showing up again later on during TNT Dallas. I like the idea of it coming back to haunt her, John Ross and even J.R. in some capacity.

In my fanfic "Ewing Empire", JR had left to John Ross a copy of the movie in his will to be delivered in his 21st birthday, so he could see "what kind of woman your Mama really is". John Ross later discussed it with Swellin but nothing else happened. It was the product of her revenge impulses actually.

 

[Ollie james]

Must be miss Ellie she was such a bad mother that none of her kids noticed her walking around with a different head for a year. Jenna comes second for giving birth to that annoying brat Charlie.

 

[Snowcat]

I changed my vote from Rebecca to Pam. Abandoning your children is inexcusable. But Rebecca was in an abusive, dangerous relationship. You’re right, Pam’s reason for leaving was she was no longer pretty. She also knows the pain of being abandoned by your mother. Reading your list made me realize how childish Miss Ellie was. She really just wanted her way. Insisting your adult sons live with you, really? In the same vane she gave joint ownership of Southfork to Clayton. She really should have discussed it with her kids first. It was a complete slap in the face to Jock. Say what you will about Jock. But he always gave first consideration to what she wanted

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Must be miss Ellie she was such a bad mother that none of her kids noticed her walking around with a different head for a year. Jenna comes second for giving birth to that annoying brat Charlie.

I'm glad you agree Ollie, Charlie did my ruddy head in growing up.

She didn't like me getting an action man for Christmas one year, she said it reminded her of Bobby Ewing.

She also didn't like my first car for some reason, it was a lovely red Mercedes SL.

My half sister has no taste.

 

[Rove]

Well she did give birth to the devil incarnate himself.

I would have thought Miss Ellie would be leading the vote scoring considering she started this whole saga by choosing Jock - rather than Digger - simply because he had the means of saving Southfork. It's why when Rebecca returned to Dallas I had high hopes the writers would create this love triangle between Clayton, Miss Ellie and Rebecca. It could be suggested Rebecca was second choice for Digger and there was resentment still lingering after all those years.

Except now - all these years later - Rebecca was wealthy in her own right and had the means of causing problems for Miss Ellie and the Ewing family after Cliff's attempt at suicide. Brilliant scene between Rebecca and Miss Ellie at Southfork by the way. There should have been more of it as Miss Ellie was now the protectionist and no one was going to cause problems for the Ewing family. I was loving the drama around this time.

 

[Ollie james]

I'm glad you agree Ollie, Charlie did my ruddy head in growing up.

She didn't like me getting an action man for Christmas one year, she said it reminded her of Bobby Ewing.

She also didn't like my first car for some reason, it was a lovely red Mercedes SL.

My half sister has no taste.

Your better off without her man

 

[Willie Oleson]

You’re right, Pam’s reason for leaving was she was no longer pretty.

Maybe it's interesting to remember that Jock and Miss Ellie's marriage almost collapsed under the emotional weight of Miss Ellie's mastectomy.
Then for Pam to be burnt beyond recognition I think they took things up a notch.
That still doesn't make it the most realistic decision but from a soapy point of view it's not so difficult to buy into it.

 

[DallasFanForever]

I had high hopes the writers would create this love triangle between Clayton, Miss Ellie and Rebecca

I would’ve liked to have seen this as well. They did tease it a little and I suspect had the Rebecca character been kept around we might’ve gotten it. They were three terrific actors and it definitely could’ve made for great drama. Rebecca with all her money and power taking on Miss Ellie for Clayton’s affection, and it puts Pam right in the middle between two women she adored.

 

[Karin]

Most of our Dallas moms aren’t exactly mother-of-the-year material. Let’s discuss. Our nominees are:.

MIss Ellie. Her sins include:

• Blatantly favoring the fair-haired Gary and letting Jock raise JR.
• Her weird obsession with keeping her adult sons on the ranch and referring to their moving out as “losing” them.
• Raising her granddaughter while denying the girl’s actual mother any access to her.
• Being nasty to her stepson Ray when his father was first revealed.

Pam. Her sins include:

1. Abandoning Christopher and cutting off contact because she’s not pretty anymore.
2. Helicopter-parenting Christopher in order to deal with her husband having a child with another woman.
3. Taking Christopher away from his home - Southfork - to live in a hotel suite while gallivanting with The Pornstache.

Rebecca. Her sins include:

• Abandoning Cliff and Pam to their drunken murderer of a father so she could go off and find herself.
• Stoking the flames of the Barnes Ewing feud in order to get revenge for her son.
• Giving 2/3 of her daughter Katherine’s rightful inheritance to Katherine‘s half siblings.

Sue Ellen. Her sins include:

• Drinking heavily while pregnant with John Ross (fetal alcohol syndrome, anyone?)
• Refusing to bond with her infant son and letting Auntie Pam do it instead.
• Shooting her son‘s father.

Jenna. Her sins include:

• A lack of transparency around who her daughter’s father was, multiple times in the series.
• Allowing her new husband to try to overparent her teenage daughter as if he were the girl’s father (and not putting an end to his unhealthy obsession with her social life).
• Packing her daughter off to a Swiss boarding school because the girl didn’t get along with her stepfather.

I've added Patricia and Other as options to the poll. Some other posters have already pointed out Patricia's sins.

If you want to vote for any other woman not listed in the poll please share your reasons for voting with us.

 

[Ewing4]

I’m going with Pam for abandoning her little boy, who was already upset over being adopted. The reason I think her leaving is worse than Rebecca is because she went through this by her and it affected her so much she had to be temporarily committed in a psychiatric hospital. How could someone who went through this do the same to her son.

 

[Rove]

Then for Pam to be burnt beyond recognition I think they took things up a notch.

My sinister darker side suggests the writers deliberately disfigured Pam as a means of having a go at Victoria because she was so damn beautiful.

 

[lbf522]

Ellie for playing favorites with her sons and being out with it. Rebecca who did not reach out to Pamela and Cliff until after her wealthy husband had passed and later screwed over her daughter Katherine in her will when she gave Cliff and Pamela a portion of her late husband's company they had no right to.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

I’m going with Pam for abandoning her little boy, who was already upset over being adopted. The reason I think her leaving is worse than Rebecca is because she went through this by her and it affected her so much she had to be temporarily committed in a psychiatric hospital. How could someone who went through this do the same to her son.

She was terrified that she would scare her little boy because of her injuries sustained during the car accident.

Put yourself in Pam's place, if you were badly injured and burnt during a car accident in which the vehicle exploded into flames would you want a young child to see you in that state?

Pam left out of love for her family buddy. She wanted them to remember her as she was before the accident.

 

[Toni]

She was terrified that she would scare her little boy because of her injuries sustained during the car accident.

Put yourself in Pam's place, if you were badly injured and burnt during a car accident in which the vehicle exploded into flames would you want a young child to see you in that state?

Pam left out of love for her family buddy. She wanted them to remember her as she was before the accident.

It would've been fun if they had made Pam look like Jenna after surgery a la WC Dynasty...

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

It would've been fun if they had made Pam look like Jenna after surgery a la WC Dynasty...

You've got to be kidding.

My Mom was only interested in herself.

Being put in the Fletcher Sanitarium opened my eyes to how self obsessed she really was.

As a Mother she was a poor excuse, she favoured that brat Charlie over me.

To be honest I was glad she got rid of me, but then she never liked the fact I was gay.

That opened my eyes to her and despite her being my real Mom, I came to realise that I wanted nothing more to do with her.