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How about a Dallas reboot?

Elizabeth Ewins

Telly Talk Member
Dynasty has its reboot why not Dallas. But this time do it properly. I want it to have original dallas charactors like Miss Ellie,Jock and JR and Bobby and SueEllen and Pam. I want it to be very much like the original Dallas with well written charactors and charactor driven storylines. The cast will be new. Cidre will not be anywhere near it. The sets will be better.Do you think that this could work?
 

Kenny Coyote

Telly Talk Star
Dynasty has its reboot why not Dallas. But this time do it properly. I want it to have original dallas charactors like Miss Ellie,Jock and JR and Bobby and SueEllen and Pam. I want it to be very much like the original Dallas with well written charactors and charactor driven storylines. The cast will be new. Cidre will not be anywhere near it. The sets will be better.Do you think that this could work?

First of all I want to congratulate you on "Cidre will not be anywhere near it" because that is crucial!

As for do I think it could work, I'll tell you what in my opinion has the best chance to work. I'd like to see a Dallas series that would focus on an earlier time period. The first Dallas began with the day that Bobby brought his brand new wife - Pam - to Southfork. The Dallas series I have in mind would start earlier but not as early as "Dallas: The Early Years." This Dallas would start with the day that Pamela Barnes was born so that we could see what things were like for Pam and Cliff growing up as well as see what things were like at Southfork when JR, Gary and Bobby were still little boys.

I'd love to see the time period starting with that for several reasons:

1. It would be fascinating to see Jock and Miss Ellie raising JR, Gary and Bobby so that we could see the things they did that contributed to shaping them into the men those boys became. We'd see how Jock treated JR and see JR's early interest in working for his dad, starting with Jock taking JR into the oil fields to see what a gusher looked like and experience the excitement of actually striking oil. We'd see the beginnings of Jock's problems with Gary as well as Miss Ellie's relationship with Gary. We'd see how when Bobby was just a toddler the way Jock treated him and showed favoritism toward Bobby by doing things like spoiling him.

2. It would be exciting to see Jock becoming a self made man. he didn't inherit anything. By this time Ewing Oil would already be a successful oil company but still a relatively small company compared to what it became. Seeing Jock build Ewing Oil from a small company into an empire would be great! It would also be fascinating to see just how much of a "hardball player" Jock was regarding how tough he treated competitors. how he treated his friends in the oil business, and exactly how ruthless he was. Was he almost as ruthless as JR or maybe even just as ruthless in his own way? Where did Jock draw the line when it came to his personal code of business ethics? Did he do illegal things and of so, what kind of illegal things? How far into the illegal side of things would Jock go to build his company? How did Jock treat his employees? If Jock was going to run somebody out of business did he even warn them that he would be coming after them? Did he fight fair?

3. What was Jock and Miss Ellie's home life like back then? Remember that Miss Ellie's main reason for marrying Jock was to save Southfork from the auction block. How did Jock get Miss Ellie to fall in love with him more and more as time went by? What kind of a mother and father were Miss Ellie and Jock when the boys were little? What was their social life like such as the beginnings of their friendships with Punk and Mavis Anderson? What did Miss Ellie do while Jock was at work besides raise the boys?

4. Meanwhile, what were things like in the Barnes household as Cliff and Pam were growing up? What was it really like for them to have Dogger as a father and what were some of the things that Digger did to instill such a deep hatred of the Ewings into Cliff? What kind of a substitute mom was Aunt Maggie for Pam and Cliff? How did Cliff and Pam deal with such a tough childhood and how did Cliff treat his baby sister Pam?

5. They could even show the Wade ranch - the ranch next to Southfrok where Jenna grew up. We could see Jenna's dad's friendship with Jock and Jenna's childhood romance with Bobby.

I'd love to see all these things. In general I like to see series that go back to a certain period of the past and show us what life was like in those days. By showing JR, Gary, Bobby, Cliff, Pam and Jenna as children, we wouldn't have the problem of actors trying to live up to the performances given by actors such as Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy, Ken Kercheval and Victoria Principal. The characters as adults in the original Dallas were such iconic characters and they were portrayed so perfectly by the actors who played them that it would be incredibly difficult for the actors in the new show to live up to the performances turned in by the actors who played these iconic characters. This way, by showing them as children, there wouldn't be the problem of having the direct comparisons drawn between the actors playing them in this series compared to in the original Dallas series.
 
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Rove

Telly Talk Warrior
I'd like to see a Dallas series that would focus on an earlier time period.
I suggested in another thread I'd like to see Dallas go back even further. Either with the Ewing family, because we know so little about Jock's past apart from his brother Jason or a story involving the Southworth family. I envisage a sweeping saga surrounding the American Civil War or the tipping point between cattle ranching and the discovery of oil. I suppose this has been dealt with in some respect with "Dallas: The Early Years."

I'm suggesting windswept grasslands and cinematography that takes your breath away.
 

Sea - Boo! - Er

Telly Talk Warrior
I'm not interested in either a reboot or a prequel. If they can't find a way to go forward, forget it.
 

Rove

Telly Talk Warrior
If they can't find a way to go forward, forget it.

I agree. I've never had an interest in a Dallas reboot. I'd feel like I'm shortchanging the talents of Jim Davis, Barbara Bel Geddes, Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, Patrick Duffy, Victoria Principal, Steve Kanaly and Charlene Tilton. I'll continue to dust off my Lorimar Dallas DVD collection and re-watch the best years of a great yarn on a regular basis.
 

Jabari Lamar

Telly Talk Fan
I think a modern-day reboot, ala the CW's Dynasty, absolutely could work, under the right circumstances (the right people both in front of and behind the camera, right network/streaming service, right timeslot, etc.), and it's really the only realistic possibility for the future, as opposed to 2nd continuation or some kind of prequel set in the past. Although I guess there's also the revived possibility of a feature film, as was attempted for years, before the TNT revival. It may be awhile, even decades, but I wouldn't discount the idea. Shoot, we're about to get a Bewitched reboot. So anything's possible.
 

Jabari Lamar

Telly Talk Fan
For many of us fans of real DYNASTY, the peach Dynasty is as much Dynasty as Yoohoo is milk.

To be clear, I was simply comparing it based on what it is, a complete reboot, starting over from scratch, rather than a continuation of the original series. And I'm just saying that is the most likely option if "Dallas" is ever to return in some form, be it TV or film. And I think it can work, as the core story of Dallas (sibling rivalry) is pretty timeless and universal, depending on those various factors I mentioned.
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Another one, I fear, that will have the name and precious little else.

Let's not pretend that the original was some kind of masterpiece. Interestingly enough, back in 2014 NBC did try to revive Bewitched in a show that would have been a continuation of the original, with the lead character being Samantha and Darren's granddaughter. But the upcoming new one, produced by the creator of Blackish, will have a new Samantha and Darren, except this time they're also an interracial couple (she's Black, he's White), in addition to being an "interspecies" couple.
 

Rove

Telly Talk Warrior
Watching the above video proves once again why Dallas was the juggernaut it was around this globe. I hate videos like this as they feed my addition to watch the classic series once again. Horrible person for uploading it :)

And may I add. This video proves why a reboot would never work. How could anyone assemble/replicate the magic cast?
 
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stevew

Telly Talk Star
I’d love to see the original Dallas back on the air in reruns 5 days a week. Start with the Early Years and proceed right to the last movie. I know this isn’t likely but I’d love to see it. I think it would also get a lot of talk here if as a community we all watched it again at the same time.

Could soapchat.net actually stream it that way, maybe with commercials or a small fee and see if it takes?
 
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Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Telly Talk Champion
Dynasty has its reboot why not Dallas. But this time do it properly. I want it to have original dallas charactors like Miss Ellie,Jock and JR and Bobby and SueEllen and Pam. I want it to be very much like the original Dallas with well written charactors and charactor driven storylines. The cast will be new. Cidre will not be anywhere near it. The sets will be better.Do you think that this could work?
Yes it could work.

It's the only option for Dallas now as most of the existing cast members are too old now.

I think we will see a reboot of the show at some point, probably within the next five years or so. :)
 

the-lost-son

Telly Talk Well-Known Member
For me personally - it's a no. The bloom is off the rose.

But today the TV business is hard to judge and predict. I know teenagers who are great fans of CW Dynasty - and who have no clue that there was a show with that title in the 80s.

As streaming providers target an international audience everything is possible. I think a concept like Cobra Kai (a netflix series based on the 80s movie Karate kid, 10 (30 minutes) episodes each year) can be possible for almost anything.

Furthermore it doesn't seem that the "old" fanbase is that important anymore. Reboots of Highway to heaven, Little house on the prairie etc. are being planned and the average viewer back then is probably now out of the usual target age group.

I'm not sure if Dallas could work in the current Zeitgeist for me. I considered it male-driven, sometimes chauvinistic show about a family and its empire. Race and sexual preferences were not in the focus. I see it set more in the 80s (comparable to Madmen in the 60s for which I can't image in a today's version either).

I fear if it ever comes back it might be sth. I don't like. With many iconic actors/characters gone one has to wonder why a reboot should be named Dallas if it has little/nothing in common with its predecessor - but if the brand is regarded as strong enough - it will be done.
 
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Sarah

Moderator Emerita
I had heard J-Lo's name attached this Dallas movie but I would have envisaged her playing Pam, not Sue Ellen. I also heard the movie was going to be a parody. That would have been just wrong.
Would have been (and I promise and guarantee this) highly embarrassing for anyone to go the cinema with me as I promise and guarantee there would have been expletives and borderline violence (from me).

At least when questioned about J-Lo, Larry did say ‘not next to her’ in reference to Linda, when Terry Wogan asked him how he felt about it.
 

Rove

Telly Talk Warrior
I'm not sure if Dallas could work in the current Zeitgeist for me. I considered it male-driven, sometimes chauvinistic show about a family and its empire
An interesting thought. Sometimes when I view Jock Ewing youtube videos and read the comments section it's noted by a few how the world would be a better place if we had real men like Jock in it. Could a chauvinistic character work in todays world? You bet...but it's a delicate balance. We only have to look at a character like JR. Men wanted to be like him, women wanted to be with him.

Can I currently name a strong male character on a series who I admire? No. Well nothing that automatically springs to mind. I've always been curious about this male dominated side of Dallas some speak about. Surely if that was the case then it wouldn't have been as popular with women viewers, yet they were watching in droves.
 
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