Could TNT dallas have worked better if...

Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Telly Talk Champion
Sarah said:
Whose mother ran off after and accident and left his father - again?
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How dare you say this about Pam.

I'll report you to the Mod's for this!

Oh! Wait a sec! :(
 
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J

Jabari Lamar

Telly Talk Fan
ChrisEwing2003 said:
Sorry if I offended, I just don't like David Jacobs idea for the revival series and don't get why its ok for him to ignore canon. I also just didn't want to keep arguing in circles.
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Don't worry, absolutely no one was offended.

And let's face it, "arguing in circles" is a large part of how these forums stay active. We've got a small group of people here talking about an old TV series and it's short revival. It's not like there are any new episodes to discuss, so a lot of topics get repeated. Should Bobby have stayed dead? What's the better way to bring Bobby back instead of dream? What's the real reason Victoria Principal never came back? Should Wes Parmalee have been Jock? How would you have written the final episode? Can another revival work? etc.
 
Pamela_E

Pamela_E

Admin Emerita
What kind of show could new Dallas have been?

A serious high brow drama in the vein of Mad Men.

A teen focused drama

A camped up ott show.

There were so many options but ultimately it tried to be everything to everyone and ended up in a pickle.

Personally I believe the casting was all wrong for the Ewing kids. They lacked depth. Although I thought Jordana was good and also the actress who played Ann's daughter.

I felt both John Ross and Christoper were miscast. Josh Henderson was nice enough but not strong enough to carry the show. Christopher lacked any form of personality.

These guys were meant to be core of the show and it just didn't work.

The history of the show played no part in its failings. People watch something because it's good not because Teresa is still the maid from a century ago or that they played around with the history.

It just wasn't very good in drawing it's characters.

There was also something very 1990's about it. Maybe back then a threesome would be shocking but in 2012 it felt contrived and done to shock us. Thus compromising characters like Pamela.

There was basically no one to like, nobody to root for. There wasn't a couple anyone really cared about.

All the characters were one dimensional.

I find it bizarre that you have a character like Christopher, , one mother dead in a pool, the other vanished. All this rich history and yet he was as dull as dishwater.

He could have been the new Gary Ewing, nice but flawed.

John Ross was written like a teenager who just left high school. Wasn't he meant to be about 33?

Anyway, the issue was casting but more the fact the characters were just boring pr all over the place.
 
ChrisEwing2003

ChrisEwing2003

Telly Talk Member
Jabari Lamar said:
Don't worry, absolutely no one was offended.

And let's face it, "arguing in circles" is a large part of how these forums stay active. We've got a small group of people here talking about an old TV series and it's short revival. It's not like there are any new episodes to discuss, so a lot of topics get repeated. Should Bobby have stayed dead? What's the better way to bring Bobby back instead of dream? What's the real reason Victoria Principal never came back? Should Wes Parmalee have been Jock? How would you have written the final episode? Can another revival work? etc.
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Yes I get that, but I personally do not want to keep going in circles in this particular topic. We are not going to agree. You think David Jacob's is a good idea for the revival of Dallas. I think it is a terrible idea that goes against the canon for no good reason other than just for the sake of it. I do not want to keep repeating our talking points.
 
J

Jabari Lamar

Telly Talk Fan
ChrisEwing2003 said:
Yes I get that, but I personally do not want to keep going in circles in this particular topic. We are not going to agree. You think David Jacob's is a good idea for the revival of Dallas. I think it is a terrible idea that goes against the canon for no good reason other than just for the sake of it. I do not want to keep repeating our talking points.
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Well, you just did...
 
J

Jabari Lamar

Telly Talk Fan
ChrisEwing2003 said:
Yes I did. I do not think there is anyway that we are ever going to see eye to eye. That is why I don't want to keep arguing in circles. We are never going to get anywhere other than where we already are.
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And now we've reached the point where we're just going in circles about not want to keep going in circles. #peakinternet
 
stevew

stevew

Telly Talk Star
Jabari Lamar said:
Except it wouldn't really be going against canon, as the last time we saw either boy they were kids, barely teens. Sure, John Ross seemed a bit bratty back then, but a lot can change in 20 years as they grew up. And Jacobs' idea wasn't switching them "just for the sake of it", as he explained it, it made sense from a character standpoint. You can talk to people who’ve been adopted, many do experience some feelings of not really belonging in their family. Christopher having this nagging insecurity about not being a “real Ewing” could motivate him to want to prove himself by becoming the biggest most successful oilman ever, just like his uncle J.R. and grandpa Jock, no matter what he has to do or whom he has to destroy to do it. And then you have John Ross, growing up in the shadow of his father, whom he saw treat people like dirt, including his mother. And, especially since they ignored the films, he lost Ewing Oil and ended up along in a nursing home, of course he’d want to be nothing like him, and strive to be a good honest businessman, like his uncle Bobby, to repair the damage he feels that his father did to the Ewing name. So you have these two cousins in business together, but Christopher wants to focus on oil while John Ross wants to look to more environmentally friendly alternative energies, each of them thinking they’re doing what’s best for the family legacy, turning against their own fathers while trying to be like each other’s father. Meanwhile each father is looking on in disgust at what his son has become, and blaming their brother. J.R. thinks Bobby is turning John Ross into a wimp like him, Bobby thinks J.R. is turning Christopher into a monster like him. Boom! You’ve got multi-layers of conflict! John Ross vs. Christopher, John Ross vs. J.R., Christopher vs. Bobby, which brings us back to J.R. vs. Bobby. The drama practically writes itself.
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Plus with such a turn you’re got more than a fight, you’re got real struggle:

Bobby struggles with the fact he’s got to leave SF to John Ross, he trusts him with it but feels guilty.

JR struggles with his promise to John Ross but can’t stand the thought of leaving his son anything when he seems as not bring as tough (his opinion not mine) as Jock and himself.

John Ross struggling with guilt over how he treated Christopher when they were younger so no matter what he has Chris’s back.

Christopher believing JR treated him like he wasn’t a Ewing, fighting with his dad over business, but John Ross always accepts and defends him, and now that he has that he will do anything (and for him anything is really anything) to stand up for his cousin.

John Ross to Bobby, “I get what you’re saying but this is Christopher. If he needs to burn down South Fork I’ll bring the matches. He means more than this land. Don’t you get that Uncle Bobby? Look at what my father did to him. What his mother dying did.”

Christopher to JR, “It’s not that I don’t agree with you but it’ll destroy John Ross and I’ll kill you where you stand before I allow that to happen. He’s the only one I’ve got in this world and I won’t let you hurt him just to toughen him up.”

Bobby to JR. “John Ross risked his life to put out that fire just like daddy would have done. He’s ten times the man you ever were.”

JR to Bobby, “I’ve got to admit that boy of yours is something else. Maybe we need to do another paternity test because I’m thinking he might just be mine after all, Bob.”
 
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Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

Telly Talk Champion
Jabari Lamar said:
And now we've reached the point where we're just going in circles about not want to keep going in circles. #peakinternet
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Digger Barnes was good at going in circles.

Especially when he was singing Yellow Rose of Texas and trying to do his best Fred Astaire dance routine whilst drunk as a skunk! :)
 
J

Jock Ewing Fan

Telly Talk Star
ChrisEwing2003 said:
Who is the one that grew up with the vindictive parents that used their son as a weapon against the other one? John Ross, Who is the one that left Southfork because he wasn't the center of attention in J.R.'s eyes? John Ross. That same argument about motivation could be used for John Ross just as well. He could want to be the biggest oilman to prove that he's better than James Beaumont, the first born son of J.R. Ewing. Or is James Beaumont another casualty of ignoring the canon when it is convenient?
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You make some good points.
John Ross didn't exactly have the Cleavers as parents and it stands to reason that this would have consequences for how he developed.

The new series probably didn't have the budget it needed, but I would like to have seen Lucas, Margaret, James, Callie's son, and maybe create a son or daughter
from Lucy, not to mention any of Gary's other sons/daughters.
I didn't care for the demonization of Cliff- he was a selfish, flawed character, but the oil rig explosion was going too far.
I think Katherine should have been alive with a son or daughter causing havoc.
A son or daughter of Jeremy Wendell seeking revenge.
Another son or daughter of Digger ( by a random woman, not Rebecca)
 
Spooky Owl!

Spooky Owl!

Telly Talk Supreme
I love Josh Henderson, even though it's hard to believe he spent several years in a British prep school (although I'd accept that he rejected that training and over-embraced his Texan roots) so while I would have considered Jacobs' JohnRoss-is-good/Christopher-s-bad "flip," I'm glad they didn't do it that way.

I could have accepted Cliff's spiral into mental illness had they acknowledged it (I might have explained that his neurofibromatosis had kicked in, and cancer overtook his brain -- just as I would have ultimately said the disease killed oldPam -- sorry, Victoria -- meaning she was Digger's daughter all along!) .

I liked the autumnal/wintry vibe of nuDALLAS (just as I did in the 1978 miniseries) as it gave the show a more ominous, Texas backroads flavor.

But Cidre and company seemed to have minimal interest in the original characters, giving them a backseat to her new ones... The few family scenes they did actually worked pretty well, but they didn't seem to notice, so there were very few of them.

Ann and her casting hit the wrong note entirely.

The best the show ever got was actually the last-half of Season 2 after Larry died, because their "JR's masterpiece" and "What ever happened to oldPam?" story arcs were inspired, suggesting the new show had finally found its voice (which Duffy said himself) despite JR's death --- after all, the original show found a way to make Jock's death into a major force in oldDALLAS for several years. But alas, the new show seemed to be tone deaf, and Season 3 backslid.

Sue Ellen's scenes with John Ross really crackled, and that seemed to be where the show's energy wanted to go. But the brass didn't appear to notice.

I also liked Mama Ryland and her ho-house sensibilities, if only because Judith Light is always so wonderful. Mitch Pileggi was pretty good, too.

But the Ewings were forced into the backseat of the bus. And it just didn't work.

OldDALLAS was produced by a white guy who was interested in white guys; nuDALLAS was produced by a Hispanic woman who seemed to be interested in that --- could that have worked? Maybe. But it didn't.

Sure, some fans of the original were too specific in their demands that the new show be like the first show, and that isn't realistic or even possible. But nuDALLAS flew off in to too different a direction and didn't know what it wanted to be... The complaints that Southfork's interiors were unrecognizable would have been largely neutralized had nuDALLAS itself been a little better, but no such luck. So it became a physical metaphor for the creative problems.

But, oh, the potential.

Then again, the closing years of oldDALLAS made similar mistakes, which is why it crashed and burned in the manner it did.

josh.jpg
 
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