Chase Gioberti
Telly Talk Fan
Yeah why wouldn't JR immediately have McSween or Rattigan give the sheriff a taste of his own medicine?
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Worst Dallas storyline in the show's run
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Yeah why wouldn't JR immediately have McSween or Rattigan give the sheriff a taste of his own medicine?
LMLDallas78
Telly Talk Enthusiast
Definitely stupid Haleyville and Laurel Ellis and anything after season 12 that I've never re-watched. I refuse to put myself through the agony and torture of seeing what happened to my beloved Dallas.
southfork88
Telly Talk TV Fanatic
Obviously I am a masochist, given that the last few seasons, although incomparable with the previous ones, I continued to watch them over the years. The most absurd story of all is JR in the sanatorium.
Spooky Owl!
Telly Talk Supreme
O, no no no. The Wes Parmalee plot, though outrageous, was at the epicentre of everything DALLAS was!
Luke_Krebbs_Ewing
Telly Talk Champion
You're not a masochist buddy. I watched Dallas right to the bitter end too. I think subconsciously we were both hoping the show would improve and return to the form of it's earlier seasons.
We were probably hoping both Victoria Principal and Linda Gray would return. Maybe they'd even get Steve Kanaly to come back. When the show morphed into the JR & Bobby show that's when Dallas was really over because those two are not the be all and end all of Dallas. The show was much more than JR & Bobby.
DallasFanForever
Telly Talk Supreme
In no particular order......
1. Haleyville
2. The range war
3. J.R. at the sanitarium
4. Peter and Sue Ellen
5. Pam visiting a fortune teller (okay, not a storyline really but it just looked so ridiculously out of character for her)
6. Jenna and Ray
7. Jenna’s trial
8. Murder, Miss Ellie wrote
9. Clayton and Laurel
10. Leslie Stewart
11. Mummy Pam
1. Haleyville
2. The range war
3. J.R. at the sanitarium
4. Peter and Sue Ellen
5. Pam visiting a fortune teller (okay, not a storyline really but it just looked so ridiculously out of character for her)
6. Jenna and Ray
7. Jenna’s trial
8. Murder, Miss Ellie wrote
9. Clayton and Laurel
10. Leslie Stewart
11. Mummy Pam
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Jock-O-Lantern
Telly Talk Dream Maker
I don't know about the worst, but one of the most aggravating storylines was when Pam just wouldn't tell Bobby about the neurofibromatosis. Bobby was very understanding and she refused to just tell him the situation.
LMLDallas78
Telly Talk Enthusiast
Definitely agree with your list, apart from no.4
I think I'm the only one who liked this storyline, wish it had been done in a more convincing way though and without the promise that Christopher Akins was going to be such a stud and having us guess who he might take to bed.
He played his part well if Peter was meant to be a petulant, obsessed young man, but a stud he was not.
Barbara On A Broomstick
Admin
Some of the worst for me
Liz Tayloys son and the boring Art Gallery
Dallas in Europe -Vanessa, James and the lost love of his life! Yeah right!
The McKay clan, father, son and daughter
Bobby with anyone after Pam,
Lisa Alden
The Mafia story, April and Nicholas zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Sue Ellens boring movie, worst cliff hanger ever! zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
- Anything in the final season - gosh it was awful and totally forgettable
- Bringing Miss Ellie back from honeymoon in s7 original with the personality of a shop mannequin doll
- Haileyville - Cally was so painful!
- JR in the sanitorium
- Miss Wooden top Laurel Ellis and her bonsais / Shulton
- The Range war zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz - Bobby looking like the milk tray man
- Angelica, Grace and co
- Lesley Stewart s3 original, who cared? not me.
- S3 Sue Ellen/Clint, Pam, Alex ward pairings zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
- Sue Ellen and Peedurr - yuk!
Liz Tayloys son and the boring Art Gallery
Dallas in Europe -Vanessa, James and the lost love of his life! Yeah right!
The McKay clan, father, son and daughter
Bobby with anyone after Pam,
Lisa Alden
The Mafia story, April and Nicholas zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Sue Ellens boring movie, worst cliff hanger ever! zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
LMLDallas78
Telly Talk Enthusiast
Love your way with words!
Brilliant.
The best part about Lesley Stewart story was a scene between JR and Sue Ellen;
Sue Ellen; "Have you had her yet?"
Sue Ellen smirks realising he hasn't yet.
JR; "Sue Ellen you have a trashy mouth".
Classic bitchy dialogue between those two.
Jock Ewing Fan
Telly Talk Star
I agree for the most part, although I liked the Range War story. I would say that it could have been better developed
Spooky Owl!
Telly Talk Supreme
Not sure I agree about that one. It's a brief moment, Pam is in an emotional quandary (and, hence, desperate) and getting the shakes.
Bringing in supernatural elements to a show is tricky, and whether it works or not is a matter of balance. The tone has to match the personality of the show itself.
I like the way DALLAS did Pam's trip to the psychic in 1984. There was a shrouded, hushed mood over the scene. It was all underplayed, and I'm not sure they even mentioned it again.
That's why it worked. Less was more. Hint at the supernatural ... and then move on.
Three years earlier, DYNASTY had a trip to a psychic -- Alexis in Rome with Adriana -- and, true to the series, it was far less subtle, and more hyperbolic like the show around it. And this also worked, because DYNASTY was still good and hadn't yet stumbled... Later, they brought in another psychic to search for Steven, but the increasingly muddled flavor and structure of the series prevented it from coming off very effectively. (I'd push DYNASTY to the limit, myself, as many posters know: I'd have Krystle's headaches, courtesy of Alexis, turn Blake's second wife into a clairvoyant healer in Season 8 just shortly before leaving the show, played completely straight and camp-free, a tip of the hat to the old Obi-Wan Kenobi sentiment to Darth Vader that 'if you strike me down, I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine'.... And by the final Season 10, which never happened, Adam finds an ever-so-slightly glowing crystal skull amongst The Collection, quietly and dutifully delivering it to his mama, Alexis, and then mother-and-son gently prod Jeff for historical geologic information about such artifacts, unaware that "the Europeans" searching for the Collection are actually looking for the skull itself.)
Then on FALCON CREST, a show where supernatural topicality might seem to "fit" more easily, I wouldn't really inject much of it into the narrative if only because it seems too obvious. I'd keep the show basically on the straight-and-narrow earthbound groove of murder mysteries, nazi treasure and spontaneous human combustion. Although the effects of nuclear waste buried under the vineyards would explain all the brain tumors, especially in Season 7, and even Melissa's hallucination that her baby was sired by Martians during an alien abduction -- which no one really believes -- probably never happened.
Did naturalistic KNOTS LANDING ever go there, even hinting at the supernatural (aside from that early haunted house episode which paid homage to Lilimae's THE HAUNTING experience)? It's hard to imagine it did, but I can't remember.
The only way to make this kind of material successful is, usually, to imply it. Have those supernatural elements develop in the background (if at all) where most of the characters are unaware of it, those who are aware of it tend to dismiss it as foolish, and even the characters most-willing to consider it find themselves ambivalent and unsure. Then, later, after the subject and plotline has been dropped, have the previous prognostications turn out to be absolutely true without the show ever overtly acknowledging it, leaving it to the more astute viewers to notice on their own.
So it's about balance. And what innately fits the show's identity.
"I predict another Capricorn/Aquarius Rising will also get dumped in a lake in her pilot episode three years from now...!"
Rove
Telly Talk Warrior
I agree. We all knew Jim Davis had passed away. From his death the character of Jock was used in a substantial way to further the story of Dallas and drew everyone into the fight for Ewing Oil. These were some of the series best years. Then the writers thought it would be a great idea to tinker with that.
It just wasn't needed in my opinion.
Piggyrella Sanderson
Maximum Member
Not sure I agree about that one. It's a brief moment, Pam is in an emotional quandary (and, hence, desperate) and getting the shakes.
Bringing in supernatural elements to a show is tricky, and whether it works or not is a matter of balance. The tone has to match the personality of the show itself.
I like the way DALLAS did Pam's trip to the psychic in 1984. There was a shrouded, hushed mood over the scene. It was all underplayed, and I'm not sure they even mentioned it again.
That's why it worked. Less was more. Hint at the supernatural ... and then move on.
Three years earlier, DYNASTY had a trip to a psychic -- Alexis in Rome with Adriana -- and, true to the series, it was far less subtle, and more hyperbolic like the show around it. And this also worked, because DYNASTY was still good and hadn't yet stumbled... Later, they brought in another psychic to search for Steven, but the increasingly muddled flavor and structure of the series prevented it from coming off very effectively. (I'd push DYNASTY to the limit, myself, as many posters know: I'd have Krystle's headaches, courtesy of Alexis, turn Blake's second wife into a clairvoyant healer in Season 8 just shortly before leaving the show, played completely straight and camp-free, a tip of the hat to the old Obi-Wan Kenobi sentiment to Darth Vader that 'if you strike me down, I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine'.... And by the final Season 10, which never happened, Adam finds an ever-so-slightly glowing crystal skull amongst The Collection, quietly and dutifully delivering it to his mama, Alexis, and then mother-and-son gently prod Jeff for historical geologic information about such artifacts, unaware that "the Europeans" searching for the Collection are actually looking for the skull itself.)
Then on FALCON CREST, a show where supernatural topicality might seem to "fit" more easily, I wouldn't really inject much of it into the narrative if only because it seems too obvious. I'd keep the show basically on the straight-and-narrow earthbound groove of murder mysteries, nazi treasure and spontaneous human combustion. Although the effects of nuclear waste buried under the vineyards would explain all the brain tumors, especially in Season 7, and even Melissa's hallucination that her baby was sired by Martians during an alien abduction -- which no one really believes -- probably never happened.
Did naturalistic KNOTS LANDING ever go there, even hinting at the supernatural (aside from that early haunted house episode which paid homage to Lilimae's THE HAUNTING experience)? It's hard to imagine it did, but I can't remember.
The only way to make this kind of material successful is, usually, to imply it. Have those supernatural elements develop in the background (if at all) where most of the characters are unaware of it, those who are aware of it tend to dismiss it as foolish, and even the characters most-willing to consider it find themselves ambivalent and unsure. Then, later, after the subject and plotline has been dropped, have the previous prognostications turn out to be absolutely true without the show ever overtly acknowledging it, leaving it to the more astute viewers to notice on their own.
So it's about balance. And what innately fits the show's identity.
"I predict another Capricorn/Aquarius Rising will also get dumped in a lake in her pilot episode three years from now...!"
Those clichéd scenes with a psychic are ok if done once and never mentioned again (as did both "Dallas" and "Dynasty"). I loved Pam´s visit to Lydia because it made Trampy Mandy look like the dumb b*tch she was, since she recommended her to poor Pammy. Also, it sort of connects with the end of that season ("Swan Song") with Bobby returning to her, and even with Mark coming from the dead in the Dream Season, not to mention the whole "Is Mark alive?" that led to Hong Kong.
Re "Dynasty", having such an amazing actress as Swedish Viveca Lindfords playing this one-scene role says a lot about the casting directors and Aaron Screwing too: she died with 150 credits of movies and series in her resume, and even won an Emmy. Shame shame shame Dy-nasty!
"Knots" had that tart of an aunt Betsy as an aficionado to paranormal things, and I think Lilimae was a bit like that too, though more instinctively. And "Falcon Crest" showed Emma making love to her dead lover through her psychic Karlotti (that´s having faith in the medium!!). I guess that voodoo doesn´t count as psychic, otherwise "Flamingo Road" would also count...
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Lastkidpicked
Telly Talk Dream Maker
That episode seemed a little out of place, but it did serve an important purpose.
It showed that even though Pam was married to Bobby, it would always be Pam against the Ewings. Look at how Bobby instinctively took their side against Pam, and didn't stand up for her until the very end when they finally had proof.
Lastkidpicked
Telly Talk Dream Maker
Do you remember when there was an active poster on here with the screen name "Dr. Elby's Hair"?
Good times . . .
Or when @Sarah started a poll titled "Dallas' most frightening character, and i don't mean Dr. Elby's hair."
BHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I love you people. Don't ever change.
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Barbara On A Broomstick
Admin
I just couldnt get used to seeing Corabeth Godsey from the Waltons as Pams Psychic! It was just wrong, she belonged in a 1940s drama in Virginia - not modern day Dallas
LMLDallas78
Telly Talk Enthusiast
Yes, when I look back at past threads there were certainly some funny ones amongst all the fantastic ones.
Wish I'd been on here then, but I'm thankful I am now.
Wish I'd been on here then, but I'm thankful I am now.