Almost 7 million watched the June 13th, 2012 premiere and .............

[Presea]

I don't blame you for not remembering, I cannot remember anything other than it was Christopher and Elena.

'

Dear god, those lights are hideous!

 

[Monzo]

I wasn't planning on watching TNT Dallas once more, but since I already got season 3 on dvd, because it looked like season 3 would never air in my area at that time, I bought season 1 on sale and give it another try.

First 20 minutes of episode 1 are awful. When JR "wakes up" it gets better, but I remember how excited I was watching it back then. It took me some time during season 1 to realize TNT Dallas is not so great, but this time it is just the opposite. There is not a single scene in episode 1 that's great or even good, some are nice, but that's about it.

 

[stevew]

"Twisty turny cliffhangers"!? Getting off in the writers' room!? And a rather obsessive focus on pairings, I might add. What the heck was wrong with Cidre!? This just proves that she did not know what she was doing at all!

It really does come down to the story it self being so damn frustrating. There were a lot of things to complain about, like the change in the lay out of the house, Bobby going all wonky, but at the end of the day, it was a very frustrating story and no one want to follow such a thing. Some blame the executives but at the end of the day it was Cirdre's call to stand up to them, walk away, or capitulate. The buck stops someplace.

 

[Rove]

When JR "wakes up" it gets better

When the new showrunner was informed to ignore the reunion movies, they weren't kidding. It was if time had stood still still from the moment we hear the gunshot in "Conundrum" and Bobby enters JR's bedroom and exclaims, "Oh my God!"

I would have started the continuation with JR in a position of power rather than weakness. It tells the audience the old bastard is still with us but what dirty deeds has he been up to for the past 14 years. The new showrunner was lead to believe the continuation was about the next generation but I suspect many were itching to see good 'ole JR.

 

[Pamela_E]

A simple answer. There are still millions of fans around the globe that watched the original series run 1978-1991. When the Dallas TNT premiere episode began the writers did everything possible to alienate those fans. This is why most did not return for episode two. Attempting to rewrite Dallas history by alluding the Ramos family had grown up with the Ewing's was laughable.

I disagree about millions of fans, of course it started with a curiosity factor and wasn't able to hang on to people.

I'm sure the fans of Dynasty on Netflix are mostly not the people who watched the original.

Most people are probably watching Dynasty because Fallon is the focus. Dallas lacked a focus.

The original show was really about Pamela, she took us into that world. It was simple.

Most people don't even remember original Dallas in great detail, you are talking about a few super fans.

Also the timing was off, live viewing was dying on its ass. The TNT ratings were the deciding factor, but it was dying in every country. It had great ratings on Channel 5 at the start, eventually they wanted to ditch it as the ratings were so bad but were caught up in a life of series contract.

If I had not been on this forum I wouldn't have bothered watching it. I found it soulless.

 

[stevew]

When the new showrunner was informed to ignore the reunion movies, they weren't kidding. It was if time had stood still still from the moment we hear the gunshot in "Conundrum" and Bobby enters JR's bedroom and exclaims, "Oh my God!"

I would have started the continuation with JR in a position of power rather than weakness. It tells the audience the old bastard is still with us but what dirty deeds has he been up to for the past 14 years. The new showrunner was lead to believe the continuation was about the next generation but I suspect many were itching to see good 'ole JR.

Could not agree more. This was the time he should have been the Jock of the original series - sort of retired, but sort of behind everything, sitting on top of a company that makes up all the pieces of original series we saw, Ewing Industries: Ewing Oil, Wentworth Tool and Die, West Star, Cattleman's Bank, etc. Then go from there - that would have been fun. I think they forgot about the FUN that was support to be part of the show.

 

[stevew]

I disagree about millions of fans, of course it started with a curiosity factor and wasn't able to hang on to people.

I'm sure the fans of Dynasty on Netflix are mostly not the people who watched the original.

Most people are probably watching Dynasty because Fallon is the focus. Dallas lacked a focus.

The original show was really about Pamela, she took us into that world. It was simple.

Most people don't even remember original Dallas in great detail, you are talking about a few super fans.

Also the timing was off, live viewing was dying on its ass. The TNT ratings were the deciding factor, but it was dying in every country. It had great ratings on Channel 5 at the start, eventually they wanted to ditch it as the ratings were so bad but were caught up in a life of series contract.

If I had not been on this forum I wouldn't have bothered watching it. I found it soulless.

Well said. I think a better statement would have been millions were interested, either because they were that supper fan, an old fan with curiosity, someone who just knew the name and wanted to see if it was as good still as people said it had been - that kind of thing.

100% agree - ZERO focus. Though I think Pam was the focus for the start of Dallas it soon became JR (though for some it remained Pam and they missed an opportunity with Bobby gone to refocus it back on Pam vs. JR). TNT needed a focus person but what they had was John Ross they wanted to hurt, Chris they made some whinny brat and Bobby who couldn't get out of things - that's the best the focus got. I think for them it was a question - who should be focus on? To me the answer wasn't the old people, anymore than it was in the original. Jock didn't side with JR or Bobby/Pam - he went back and forth between the two. For that set up to work with "Uncle Bobby" they needed to drop the Hamlet crap and make John Ross the good guy (Bobby) and Chris the bad guy (JR) - like Jacobs said, but they wouldn't do that, do what would have given the show focus.

And agreed as well - it needed a streaming option and not worry about live ratings.

 

[Monzo]

I listened to audio commentary of the pilot for the first time. Cynthia Cidre and director Michael M. Robin talked about it. I got a feeling he knew what he was talking about, but Cynthia said "I can't remember" a couple of times and asked him about stuff from the pilot. If Cynthia Cidre didn't remember her own work it's no surprise she ignored so much history from the original show.

 

[stevew]

I listened to audio commentary of the pilot for the first time. Cynthia Cidre and director Michael M. Robin talked about it. I got a feeling he knew what he was talking about, but Cynthia said "I can't remember" a couple of times and asked him about stuff from the pilot. If Cynthia Cidre didn't remember her own work it's no surprise she ignored so much history from the original show.

Interesting point.

 

[Ollie james]

I watched every episode to be honest. Having suffered the last few seasons of the original this was an improvement. Comparing it to prime Dallas before the dream is always settings the bar pretty high. But being honest it was a reboot of a show that was already damaged by the people who should have known better and cared more.

 

[Werewillie Oleson]

Most people are probably watching Dynasty because Fallon is the focus

And also one of the (many) reasons for me to tune out. She's the very definition of "soulless" - not to mention mega-irritating.

The original show was really about Pamela, she took us into that world. It was simple

It literally started with the traditional "outsider arrives at the scene of" but apart from that I've watched the first two years including the mini-series as The Lucy Show.
And then it doesn't take long before JR becomes the main protagonist.
I don't find Pam as pivotal to the Dallas saga as Valene was to Knots Landing, or Krystle to Dynasty. Consequently, when Krystle was being "sidelined" after season 2 the result seems far more devastating (to use a melodramatic term) than Pam taking a back seat in season 3.

But at the end of the day these soaps usually are about esemble casts. I'd be hard-pressed to point out the "focus character" in PEYTON PLACE, FALCON CREST or THE YELLOW ROSE.
Ironically, I think NuDALLAS did have a focus character

How could you have missed this? Maybe he wasn't in every storyline (and shouldn't be) but I think he was connected to most characters and storylines, either directly or via-via. Just like daddy in Lorimar DALLAS.

As a modern-day DALLAS saga I found it utterly exhilarating, while NuDYNASTY is supeficial, boring or downright unwatchable - and often a combination thereof.
EMPIRE was the real DYNASTY remake as it brought all the pomposity and wickedness of original DYNASTY into the 21st Century, but with a raw and sympathetic undercurrent that made it relatable enough for the glamorous American prime time soap genre.
BLOOD & OIL had similar qualities but, alas, it wasn't given the chance to grow.

 

[Rove]

She's the very definition of "soulless" - not to mention mega-irritating.

I wonder sometimes if the writers/producers of new Dynasty get the fact we are laughing at it. I firmly believe they think new Dynasty is high stakes drama but it's having the opposite effect. But that's a topic of conversation in another thread.

 

[Werewillie Oleson]

I wonder sometimes if the writers/producers of new Dynasty get the fact we are laughing at it

I firmly believe they think new Dynasty is high stakes drama

That seems like a contradiction to me, but I think I understand what you're saying.

Netflix's Sci-Fi series ANOTHER LIFE is a million times worse than DYNASTY, but there's something genuinely passionate about the way the actors are trying to make this train-wreck-in-space look like the best sci-fi drama ever, and that's also what makes it so funny. Sometimes I need to pause the video because I'm howling with laughter.

DYNASTY appears to be designed after the late 90s/early 00s popular dramedies. In my opinion, even the better shows in that genre haven't aged very well (with the exception of SISTERS) and that's why CWDynasty feels retro for all the wrong reasons, and that's also why it can't be a parody or satire on the 80s prime time soaps.
It's just not funny at all (although Anders has his moments, I have to admit).

 

[James from London]

I wonder sometimes if the writers/producers of new Dynasty get the fact we are laughing at it. I firmly believe they think new Dynasty is high stakes drama but it's having the opposite effect. But that's a topic of conversation in another thread.

I feel the opposite. If they took it seriously, I might take it seriously -- or laugh at the ridiculousness of it, or both -- which is pretty much what I used to do with the '80s soaps. But I get the feeling that New DYNASTY thinks its being hilarious and oh so clever, and it's precisely that self-congratulatory smugness that kills it stone dead for me.

 

[Rove]

and that's also why it can't be a parody or satire on the 80s prime time soaps.

Agreed.

 

[Miss Texas 1967]

I listened to audio commentary of the pilot for the first time. Cynthia Cidre and director Michael M. Robin talked about it. I got a feeling he knew what he was talking about, but Cynthia said "I can't remember" a couple of times and asked him about stuff from the pilot. If Cynthia Cidre didn't remember her own work it's no surprise she ignored so much history from the original show.

I agree. They didn't seem to care for the source material or even their own material at times. Wrong hands for the show to be in from the start.
I wrote the following in another thread (http://tellytalk.net/threads/just-finished-re-watching-dallas-tnt.3307/page-4#post-175789)

As for the pilot commentary itself, it wasn't terrible, but there was misinformation from the first scene. CC seems to have forgotten (or doesn't know) that JR had a crew out doing tests on the oil under Southfork in the original show, it wasn't some big locked up secret since the days of Aaron Southworth. What really bothered me was the conversation about the big family meal scene. It was too much work to ever think about doing something like that again, never mind the original show was built on family drinks and meal scenes and was better for it, this was a new show and the family we all knew and loved is no more, sorry. Not a fan of the fact they basically said the original show wasn't shot in Dallas outside of Southfork either, like yeah sure, they did a lot of filming in California, but it wasn't completely inauthentic, just look at the locations thread on the original series board.

 

[Monzo]

In audio commentary Cidre & Robin claimed they made sure that floor plan was the same as the Southfork ranch we loved. I don't see that, maybe the the stairs, but the rest is too large IMO.

It was also said they honored original show's directing by using close-ups. Least of all I liked diaglogues and directing about TNT Dallas the most. In 2012 Grey's Anatomy was still big and to me Dallas pilot felt more like Grey's Anatomy than original Dallas in directing. When "Turning Tables" was played way too loud at the end of the episode it was Grey's and not Dallas.

Cidre said the only way Bobby wanted to sell Southfork is by making him sick, so they had to do it.

 

[Miss Texas 1967]

In audio commentary Cidre & Robin claimed they made sure that floor plan was the same as the Southfork ranch we loved. I don't see that, maybe the the stairs, but the rest is too large IMO.

Gonna quote myself again because this irked me too.
There's also a later scene where Bobby is annoyed with John Ross wanting to change the layout of the house. John Ross was being a cocky asshole but Bobby at that point had let Ann change the entire house around it seemed so what he was so connected to from the past we'll never know.

Just finished re-watching Dallas TNT

But the quick slide in ratings should have raised the alarm bells. Show-runners/producers might like to think their offering their best but vested (or lack thereof) eyeballs don't lie. In the end CC begs for mercy (money) and promises "a Ewing will die" cliffhanger in the vain hope her creation...

tellytalk.net

There was an entire spiel about how they'd spent time studying the old home layout and the real interior and imagined that for the present since Ann was the new mistress of Southfork and since she and Bobby had been married a while she had taken it upon herself to redecorate and knock a few walls down. Sure, sure, that's fine I guess, but switching the entire layout of the house was beyond bizarre and sort of makes me think they didn't actually look too closely at the original show even if they said they did. Why would anyone put Bobby's office open to the foyer where the dining room used to be? Then the opposite room that used to be the living room became the kitchen/dining room (I think, do I have that right?). Or having all the bedrooms appearing to be on the ground floor by the windows but in other scenes seeming to be upstairs.

I haven't yet rewatched season 2 or 3 and the original show was by no means consistent with reality or even consistent in it's own universe at times, but I find the TNT show much harder to wrap my head around the layout than the original because it's firstly not that easy to follow the characters from one set to another (the beauty of the living room--->foyer--->dining room walk was lost) but also because it was different to what had already been established years ago and therefore what your brain expects when watching a scene taking place in whatever room at Southfork.

 

[stevew]

I watched every episode to be honest. Having suffered the last few seasons of the original this was an improvement. Comparing it to prime Dallas before the dream is always settings the bar pretty high. But being honest it was a reboot of a show that was already damaged by the people who should have known better and cared more.

1000% agree

 

[stevew]

And also one of the (many) reasons for me to tune out. She's the very definition of "soulless" - not to mention mega-irritating.

It literally started with the traditional "outsider arrives at the scene of" but apart from that I've watched the first two years including the mini-series as The Lucy Show.
And then it doesn't take long before JR becomes the main protagonist.
I don't find Pam as pivotal to the Dallas saga as Valene was to Knots Landing, or Krystle to Dynasty. Consequently, when Krystle was being "sidelined" after season 2 the result seems far more devastating (to use a melodramatic term) than Pam taking a back seat in season 3.

But at the end of the day these soaps usually are about esemble casts. I'd be hard-pressed to point out the "focus character" in PEYTON PLACE, FALCON CREST or THE YELLOW ROSE.
Ironically, I think NuDALLAS did have a focus character
View attachment 28890
How could you have missed this? Maybe he wasn't in every storyline (and shouldn't be) but I think he was connected to most characters and storylines, either directly or via-via. Just like daddy in Lorimar DALLAS.

As a modern-day DALLAS saga I found it utterly exhilarating, while NuDYNASTY is supeficial, boring or downright unwatchable - and often a combination thereof.
EMPIRE was the real DYNASTY remake as it brought all the pomposity and wickedness of original DYNASTY into the 21st Century, but with a raw and sympathetic undercurrent that made it relatable enough for the glamorous American prime time soap genre.
BLOOD & OIL had similar qualities but, alas, it wasn't given the chance to grow.

Well said.

I don't know about the other two - but Angela Channing was the "focus" for Falcon Crest - yes it took everyone and yes Lance, and Chase and Maggie and Richard were all important but it was the Angela show.

As for TNT Dallas I agree with you regarding John Ross - but felt the writers did not realize this or if they did, they were determined to make that not the case.