Did the Margaret Michaels scene make a difference?

[Grangehill1]

Did the scene with the recast Pam and the Doctor make a difference? In story terms should it have been left ambiguous what happened to Pam?
Was that scene needed or did it complicate things?

 

[James from London]

Did the scene with the recast Pam and the Doctor make a difference?

How funny, I posted this only yesterday:

“Forget you ever had a sister … We’re never gonna see each other again.” This news is so devastating to Cliff that it literally splits him into two people — the fumbling, flappy one we’ll continue to see on screen and the one who coldly commits the evil deeds we’ll eventually learn about in New DALLAS.

 

[Chris2]

It made it worse, because Cliff (and Bobby) knew it would be out of character for her to declare that she was cutting ties with everyone, including her beloved son. Cliff just accepts the cold treatment and her “we’re never gonna see each other again” pronouncement and slinks off? Not likely. Pamela was the closest person in the world to him. He would have stayed there and hounded her until he found out the truth. And Bobby would have gone to see her too and demand an explanation.

In reality, they were trying to woo Victoria back in between seasons, so that’s why the 87-88 season ended with Cliff in pursuit of Pam. So they had to tie it up somehow after Victoria refused to return. But what a crappy way to do it.

I always thought it would have been better for Bobby to find out where she is a few years after the accident and track her down. From afar, he observes her and realizes that she has made a new life for herself where is married to a man with a happier family situation. So he never makes contact with her and leaves her in peace. Unfortunately, that doesn’t solve the problem of her abandoning her child. It would work better if Christopher didn’t exist.

 

[pete lashmar]

I got the feeling that they left the Jordan Lee reveal "I saw Pam" hoping they'd get VP back the following season, but they didn't and so rushed to produce a scene so the audience were not left hanging - but it didn't work and was completely pointless in my opinion.

I thought she looked and sounded absolutely fine, but I don't know what her overall acting was like generally, but I would have been quite happy to accept her back as Pam full time based on what I saw. The producers made a mistake there.

 

[Rove]

The exit of Victoria from Dallas still works us up into a frenzy doesn't it? In hindsight I would have left us the audience guessing to the circumstances surrounding Pam's disappearance from the hospital, especially so when we learn Katherine is back in town. For the next few years Bobby tortures himself in his desperate attempt to find Pam only for investigations to come to naught. I understand many have commented on Pam never wishing to dessert her son but upon reflection this would have mirrored her own mothers desperation in leaving Digger all those years ago. History repeating itself...so to speak.

The appearance of Margaret Michaels reeked of desperation. Whether this was pressure from fans back in the day or producers wishing to tidy up loose ends is still a hot topic of conversation. Many of us feel the need for closure. In the case of Pam we never received that until TNT Dallas rolled around.

 

[Karin Schill]

I think the worst part about it was that first they recast the actress as Pam. Then a few seasons later they recast her as Jean - the Pam lookalike.

I honestly thought that Bobby had seen Pam when he saw the look a like in the restaurant and for a whole week I was so excited to see what would happen when Pam finally returned to her family. Only to be let down with the awful silly look a like plot.


They could have still used MM for the beginning of season 12 (DVD) when they failed to get VP back. But she could have played a look a like then. So Cliff would meet her and be all like "You're not my sister". It would have been better.

So I think they should have left Pam's fate a mystery and then tried to get her to come back for the final episode to wrap the show up. It would have been so much better than what we got.

 

[Sarah]

I liked the scene, as it attempted to give some clarification as to why Pam had just up and left Bobby and Christopher.

 

[Clubsoda]

It meant nothing to me as I didn't believe her as Pam therefore the scene felt empty and invalid in the same way Donna Reed felt as Ellie.

Apparently Duffy saw Michaels and wanted to know if she was an actress and available for this scene.

That just showed how little he cared about Pam's fans if he thought we'd be fooled into caring just because she bore a slight resemblance to Victoria.

When Victoria made it clear she wasn't ever returning they should've just had us find out Pam had died offscreen in the late 80s.

 

[WeldonBallou]

I think the worst part about it was that first they recast the actress as Pam. Then a few seasons later they recast her as Jean - the Pam lookalike.

I honestly thought that Bobby had seen Pam when he saw the look a like in the restaurant and for a whole week I was so excited to see what would happen when Pam finally returned to her family. Only to be let down with the awful silly look a like plot.


They could have still used MM for the beginning of season 12 (DVD) when they failed to get VP back. But she could have played a look a like then. So Cliff would meet her and be all like "You're not my sister". It would have been better.

So I think they should have left Pam's fate a mystery and then tried to get her to come back for the final episode to wrap the show up. It would have been so much better than what we got.

It was an unfortunate and very silly way for Bobby to get "Pam" out of his system with a look-a-like. Haven't we heard this sometime before say in the 5-episode mini-series (season 1)? "Call me her name". CBS was just like "okay lets just sling some more soft-porn(ish) scenes for ratings because all the youth wants to see is skin in 1989-90.

 

[Laurie Marr]

It really shouldn’t have worked as there had been so many imposters so recently (Reed, Parmalee) - but it did. The actor playing Michaels/Pam did a good job and it had drama when I was prepared for schlocky drivel. I’m still surprised by it.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Funny about this scene...

I do kind of view it as being along the same lines as Wes Parmalee --- is she or isn't he/she Jock/Pam? The question is as intriguing as all the possible answers.

But then, almost everything after Pam's Dream is negotiable (or shortly before, for that matter, given Donna Reed's brief casting).

It's like visiting Southfork today: something's missing, but the ghosts hang large.

I thought the scene with Margaret Michaels was well-done, hauntingly scored, and, yes, surprisingly effective... But was it really Pam? I could even devise a rationale for it being an early and elaborate attempt to rein in Bobby, going through Cliff, of Jeanne O'Brien. But when Bobby said, "Goodbye Pam" after his final scene with Jeanne, I had the feeling that the writers were also saying goodbye to Pam, and that's pretty much what they did.

We need some wrap-up for Pam before 2013. I vote for their finding out Pam might be dead before 1991, with neurofibromatosis being the culprit -- she was Digger's daughter after all!

Likewise, JfL had a good plot idea with Miss Ellie confessing on her death bed that JR was Digger's son, leaving JR meaner than a hornet at being Pam's and Cliff's half- brother! (Don't worry -- we can have DNA tests undo it by series' end).

 

[Garry]

We need some wrap-up for Pam before 2013. I vote for their finding out Pam might be dead before 1991, with neurofibromatosis being the culprit -- she was Digger's daughter after all!

You're having a Cidre attack there Snarky. Pam's real daddy was Hutch McKinney.

Dallas was on the downward curve by 1988 so I welcomed seeing Margaret Michaels in the Pam role. It was actually a believable recast for once. She could have injected some much needed life back into the show.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

You're having a Cidre attack there Snarky. Pam's real daddy was Hutch McKinney.

But that's what Rebecca told Digger --- who knows if it was true.

Dallas was on the downward curve by 1988 so I welcomed seeing Margaret Michaels in the Pam role. It was actually a believable recast for once. She could have injected some much needed life back into the show.

Recasts of core characters just don't work in prime time shows. I don't count Wes Parmalee because that was appropriately left up in the air.

 

[Chris2]

Recasts of core characters just don't work in prime time shows.

Tell that to Sharon Gless, Meredith Baxter, Jack Coleman, among others. But it’s hard to make it work, especially when the character has been played for 10 years by another actor.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Tell that to Sharon Gless, Meredith Baxter, Jack Coleman, among others. But it’s hard to make it work, especially when the character has been played for 10 years by another actor.

I'll certainly tell it to Jack Coleman.

 

[Rove]

It meant nothing to me as I didn't believe her as Pam

I have to agree. Like Miss Ellie I only ever see Barbara Bel Geddes playing the role, not Donna Reed. Victoria Principle IS Pam...no one else. It was the same when the producers decided to mess with fans with the introduction of Steven Forrest as Wes Parmelee, thinking he was Jock when we all knew Jim Davis had passed away.

But then most on this site understand my feelings on recasts.

 

[Swami]

Between recasting Miss Ellie, resurrecting Bobby and Pam departing in such a vague way, the producers were in no-man's land, with the benefit of hindsight Pam should have been killed off if it was likely Victoria did not intend to return.

Likewise, I feel an on-screen funeral for Jock would have been better at the time.

Swami

 

[Billy Wall]

Likewise, I feel an on-screen funeral for Jock would have been better at the time.

Swami

They definitely could have worked in a few photos of Jim Davis’ funeral into a later episode in a classy way.

 

[Barbara Fan]

The appearance of Margaret Michaels reeked of desperation.

yes, There was no way she was Pam and it was embarassing to even think that people could accept it. One to FWD

Likewise, I feel an on-screen funeral for Jock would have been better at the time.

My understanding is that if there isnt a body - its not a funeral and Jocks body was never found

I knew a boy who fell over board a boat in Greece on holiday and he wasnt found but there was a memorial service for him instead held several months later

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

My understanding is that if there isnt a body - its not a funeral and Jocks body was never found

I knew a boy who fell over board a boat in Greece on holiday and he wasnt found but there was a memorial service for him instead held several months later

If a person does indeed go missing & a body is never found then all that can legally be done is a memorial service.

A funeral can only go ahead if there is a body to bury.

The TNT Dallas series also goofed by having a headstone for Jock. You can't have a headstone without a grave, unless JR or Bobby paid for one as a memorial to have beside their Mother's grave. However if one of them did, the wording on the grave should've began with 'In Memory of' or 'In Memorium of' which I don't believe it did. Of course maybe it is an actual grave & contains Wes Parmalee's body, he was Jock Ewing after all.