Snarky Oracle!
Telly Talk Supreme
When he gets back from Paris.
Would You Take Back The Later Years?
- Thread starter Bobby Southworth
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bmasters9
Telly Talk Mega Star
If you were given the chance to make that for television, who would you cast in the major roles? I'd cast Joey King in the Marilee role, and Sabrina Carpenter in the Eleanor role, for reasons unknown.
stevew
Telly Talk Star
Nice picks.
Josh Henderson as John Ross
Blake Lively as Amy
Corey Fogelmanis as Jay
Chloë Grace Moretz as Ellie
Jamie Dornan as Christopher
Ashton Kutcher as Lucas
Katie Holmes as Blake
Trevor Stines as Jeremy
Odeya Rush as Marilee
Rove
Telly Talk Warrior
This would have been just as disastrous as the declining years. What would be the point? Viewers had become accustomed to Dallas being a serial. Was The New Dallas going to become Dallas, She Wrote?
That would have been a setup with much more potential than what we got - one more decent season with Patrick and then a bunch of boredom.
Seaviewer
Telly Talk Warrior
Agreed. I wouldn't wipe away the later seasons; it's just a shame they aren't better.
Mel O'Drama
Admin
If memory serves, many of the episodes from the Eleventh Season (beginning with the aftermath of Sue Ellen shooting JR) do indeed feel reasonably self-contained. There is still continuity, but many of those episodes end with a quip or a minor victory rather than a big cliffhanger. Suddenly, it didn't feel quite so important to tune in the following week.
Even the season finale, with Sue Ellen leaving had a sense of denouement. It was probably Dallas's least cliffhanger-y finale. They may not have gone the whole New Dallas route, but from Autumn 1988 it could be argued the powers that be were highly conscious that the series wasn't going to last forever and were considering ways to soften the blow.
Sarah
Moderator Emerita
I don't know if there is any point but I most certainly would take back and change nearly everything from mid season 10 onwards. I get that we can't stop people from leaving but I do feel many more could have been encouraged to stay with better storylines or different conditions, especially the lead females.
Laurie Marr
Telly Talk Well-Known Member
I wish the last few seasons were better, but the show had to modify to the change in viewer tastes (the arrival of the Cosby juggernaut), the change in form (mainstream shows were moving away from 2-shot over the shoulder talking heads) not to mention the inevitable departure of cast members and the diminishing returns of the central ‘feud’ storyline. To be fair to Dallas it tried to alter the tone and tempo of the show, I just wish it had made better choices.
Kenny Coyote
Telly Talk Star
I liked Afton. She may not have been highly intelligent or educated, but she was highly intuitive and perceptive. She tried to encourage Cliff to stop trying to fight the Ewings and concentrate on his own career - building his company the best way he knew how. He wouldn't, and it cost him. Afton was the one who thought that Cliff needed to change his crew in Gold Canyon 340. Cliff never considered he had the wrong crew. He wouldn't give Afton credit for the idea but he did use her idea, he changed his crew and within a few days the new crew struck oil.
Afton was perceptive enough to realize Cliff was in love with Sue Ellen when even Clayton himself didn't realize it. She immediately picked up on the fact that JR still wanted Sue Ellen back, even when they had recently gotten divorced for the first time. Afton told Mitch how he was ruining his marriage to Lucy. He either wouldn't couldn't change, but years later when he saw Lucy, before they remarried, he admitted to her that he had been very stubborn back then. Mitch was in medical school. Cliff had a law degree. Clayton owned a huge refinery. JR had a degree from UT and ran Ewing Oil. Afton perceived what they didn't have the ability to.
I think Bobby would have thought of Afton, who had been with Cliff as "fouled", like he did with Holly Harwood because she had slept with JR several times.
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Sarah
Moderator Emerita
Can't stand her. Hypocrite of the highest order. If she was that perceptive, she should have picked up on the fact that sleeping with another woman's husband in their marital bed wasn't that intuitive. And then to slate Sue Ellen with the 'Cliff is MY man' line. It's made out that she was practically psychic with her 'abilities to feel' but the only real thing she had any acute sense over was her own love life or sticking her nose in other people's.
Just go away Afton.
Just go away Afton.
Snarky Oracle!
Telly Talk Supreme
Bobby told April that he'd "grown up" and no longer had that standard. So why wouldn't he for Afton? Besides, I smell potential chemistry.
Toni
Maximum Member
Afton was not a clairvoyant, she was a nasty-minded hillbilly... She wasn´t right about Clayton, he saw Sue Ellen as "the daughter she never had". Then came Afton and got him all confused... Then about Katherine, well, you had to be blind, deaf, stupid and naive to not see her wicked ways... (Pam was one of these things, by the way...). Afton slept with his brother´s wife´s uncle the day they married in his bed, can you go any lower...? Then she sold himself to J.R. so he could control Cliff, and turned to slimeball Vaughn to take a revenge on J.R. when she was dumped! And, after Cliff´s attempted suicide, she said to Sue Ellen "I want him and his MONEY". And who knows what kind of mind tricks she used to get into Rebecca´s testament... (just kidding...). I call that a golddigger (when I want to be classy!)... She could have joined Mandy Winger and started their own call-girl business...
"Call us: 500 696969..."
Kenny Coyote
Telly Talk Star
He bought his "daughter he never had" an engagement ring. Seems like incest.
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Sarah
Moderator Emerita
Afton was not a clairvoyant, she was a nasty-minded hillbilly... She wasn´t right about Clayton, he saw Sue Ellen as "the daughter she never had". Then came Afton and got him all confused... Then about Katherine, well, you had to be blind, deaf, stupid and naive to not see her wicked ways... (Pam was one of these things, by the way...). Afton slept with his brother´s wife´s uncle the day they married in his bed, can you go any lower...? Then she sold himself to J.R. so he could control Cliff, and turned to slimeball Vaughn to take a revenge on J.R. when she was dumped! And, after Cliff´s attempted suicide, she said to Sue Ellen "I want him and his MONEY". And who knows what kind of mind tricks she used to get into Rebecca´s testament... (just kidding...). I call that a golddigger (when I want to be classy!)... She could have joined Mandy Winger and started their own call-girl business...
"Call us: 500 696969..."
:bravo1::bravo1::bravo1::bravo1::bravo1::bravo1::bravo1::bravo1:
Yeah, Mystic Meg she ain't.
Kenny Coyote
Telly Talk Star
Sarah, I know you don't like the women who slept with JR like Afton and Holly, so I'm wondering what did you think about Dusty and Cliff?
Sarah
Moderator Emerita
Good question Kenny.
I liked Dusty a lot - he wasn't a horrible person like the aforementioned women. He loved Sue Ellen. He was a good man, didn't have to resort to nasty tricks to get what he wanted.
I love Cliff but not for his relationship with Sue Ellen - although I do believe he loved her at one point - I love the character of Cliff and also think he is a good man despite his war with JR. That's as honest as I can be.
If you're asking do I not automatically dislike people for being involved with a married couple - no I don't. I base it purely on how I feel about the person. I like April for example, I like Cally, I don't hate Katherine. But in my opinion, Mandy, Holly and Afton had horrible personalities and horrible character traits, too many to mention. That's my reason for the dislike (and of course hurting Sue Ellen in the most horrible of ways), not just purely the affair itself. And yes part of my dislike is based on my love for Sue Ellen. And I'm not ashamed of that!!
That's the best way I can explain it
I know it's scew whiffed to some people but I really couldn't give a crap anymore. It's the same logic as people who hate April or Jenna as far as I'm concerned and they were much nicer people than the above mentioned wannabees.
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Knots Blogger
Eternal Member
For me the later years are almost 100% terrible, I was in legitimate pain trying to get through them the first time, and that’s one of the main reasons I’ll always prefer Knots. KL wasn’t always a work of artistic brilliance and it had its off seasons (8 and 13), but for me, Bobby gets hit by that car in 1985 and it’s a steady decline from there. Ironically, of the season 9-14 package, I would say 9 is the best season, and of course that’s the one they erased. Then I think 10 is worse than 9 and 11 is worse than 10 and so on and so forth. I also think the embarrassing ratings decline speaks to the shows poor quality at that point. Dallas was either #1 or #2 from 1980 to 1985; if it had ended there it would easily be remembered as one of the most successful shows ever, but by 1991 I’m pretty sure the show ranked #63. KL’s Ratings declined but never that badly.
Kenny Coyote
Telly Talk Star
It's business and a show like Dallas wouldn't have stopped in 1985 with a 21 rating. They didn't know that they wouldn't have more seasons at the top, and even in 1987 they had an 18.6 rating. Season 11 dropped to 15.2 but they didn't know they wouldn't increase the next year. Besides, the shows today would kill for a 15.2 rating!
Luke_Krebbs_Ewing
Telly Talk Champion
I definitely wouldn't negate the Wes Parmalee storyline of season ten.
I still think he was really Jock Ewing & left because he wanted to spare the family any more pain.
Steve Forrest was a good actor, he would've been a great Jock Ewing.
I found out recently that Steve Forrest was told that he was going to be the new Jock Ewing. Such a shame the Producers backtracked & wrote him out.
I still think he was really Jock Ewing & left because he wanted to spare the family any more pain.
Steve Forrest was a good actor, he would've been a great Jock Ewing.
I found out recently that Steve Forrest was told that he was going to be the new Jock Ewing. Such a shame the Producers backtracked & wrote him out.
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