TNT Dallas For Beginners

Zable

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Heads-up guys: @Karin Schill has posted a couple of videos of Patrick Duffy at this month's Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention in Maryland, USA

In the 2nd video, just after 8 mins into it, Patrick tells what happened to end TNT Dallas. …What struck me most was that The Three Musketeers had loved Cidre’s script that was sent to them, out of the hundreds of “atrocious” scripts they’d seen over the 20+ years after Lorimar Dallas ended. And of the TNT network, Patrick says: “They are not making good decisions.”

http://soapchat.net/threads/new-q-a-with-patrick.3383/#post-82888
 

James from London

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Patrick tells what happened to end TNT Dallas. …What struck me most was that The Three Musketeers had loved Cidre’s script that was sent to them

Thanks for that. Lovely to hear him talk so fondly of New DALLAS.
 

Rove

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As Willie continues to critique TNT Dallas I've noted the obvious and why many viewers had issues with this continuation. Where are the Ewings? Look at all those characters (screen shots) sucking the life out of what was meant to be about the trials and tribulations of the Ewing family.
 

Willie Oleson

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Previously, on TNT Dallas For Beginners
Carlos Del Sol is the secret leader of the Mexican Cartel?
He's not, my mistake. And it's not because I think "all Mexicans look the same".
I really thought I had seen him before.
But he could have been El Popoporozo!

upload_2017-9-22_22-37-49.png


It looks like the last 3 episodes will be the most violent and action-packed
It was, but it was so much more than that.

Both families are devastated when they learn what's happened to their loved ones, and when people share the same pain, it brings them closer together.
upload_2017-9-22_22-45-58.png

To watch Judith Ryland falling apart was a treat, and by that I mean Judith Light's performance. It looks really amazing.

Normally I don't expect main characters to be killed off just like that, but when I heard that gunshot...
upload_2017-9-22_22-53-10.png

For a second I thought, OMG, did they do it? Please don't kill my favourite Dallas girl!

Mr and Mrs Ewing try to persuade the royal family again to finance the Ewing Global take-over.
And the only way to do it, was for John Ross to let himself be humiliated by his wife, hoping this would impress Nasir, son of the sheik.
upload_2017-9-22_22-58-54.png

Well, it worked:)

I don't know why, but somehow this image belongs in my compilation of impressions.
upload_2017-9-22_23-3-37.png

Ah yes, it was Bobby's super-clever solution to Luis' drug smuggling problem. If it worked, Emma would be free.

But instead, they release Ann.
Judith is furious. "He saved that bitch wife of his. He betrayed us".
When Ann arrives at Southfork, Sue Ellen asks her if she wants something to eat or drink.
Sue Ellen clearly struggles when Ann asks for a glass of bourbon.
upload_2017-9-22_23-18-59.png

But John Ross comes to her rescue and fixes the drink for Ann. It's a nice detail, considering all the rampage that's going on.

And how did they manage to make this look romantic and sexy?
upload_2017-9-22_23-27-47.png

There was something in the air that night, the stars were bright Fernando

This was the final scene of episode 3.14.
upload_2017-9-22_23-34-47.png

At this double gunpoint I was so excited I almost threw up.

End of Part I.


 

James from London

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At this double gunpoint I was so excited I almost threw up.

Ha! I don't know how to explain it but there was something physically exciting about watching New DALLAS. It's the same kind of rush I used to get watching the old series as a kid.
 

Willie Oleson

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Absolutely, James! When I watched them loading the drugs into the train, I swear I could smell Mexico.

Beginning of Part II, the mid-review premiere.

One of the many reasons why TNT DALLAS shouldn't have been cancelled:
upload_2017-9-23_0-28-51.png

SoapLand's new "Mr and Mrs Unhappiness". Oh, the possibilities!

Is there room for more female trouble? Why, yes of course!
upload_2017-9-23_0-29-53.png

"I'm so glad to meet Bobby's latest wife".

Pamela Rebecca Barnes thinks she's going to have controlling interest in Ewing Global.
upload_2017-9-23_0-34-48.png

Ha-ha, she's not. But she makes it very clear that this is the start of a whole new feud.

The other Dallas junior who misses the boat - despite three seasons of wheeling and dealing - is John Ross.
upload_2017-9-23_0-40-16.png

The next generation is put in its place by the old-timers - and those are tears of anger!

But since there's no business like someone else's business...
upload_2017-9-23_0-48-42.png

...John Ross Feat. Madam Judith are back in the picture, and they're going to be very involved with Ewing Global.
Especially when it concerns the Artic leases, of course.

The Cartel has been defeated, but Nicolas Trevino somehow has managed to slip through the cracks.
upload_2017-9-23_1-1-19.png

There's something fabulous about him, something..."Fantasy Island".
What if his mother - played by Barbara Carrera - is still alive? Oh, the possibilities!

Boom!
upload_2017-9-23_1-6-33.png

You bastards!


And I'm feeling like:
upload_2017-9-23_1-10-4.png

They cancelled my precious!
 

James from London

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I didn't/don't want this thread to be over, just like I didn't/don't want New DALLAS to be over.
 

Zable

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Nicolas Trevino somehow has managed to slip through the cracks. There's something fabulous about him, something..."Fantasy Island"!

Yeah, well Mr Rourke was a man of many talents & many disguises.

To me it would seem more logical that Cliff loses control when it's discovered his only child and daughter is about to marry a Ewing. The horror :eek:
Christopher visits Cliff in jail to confront him with the peculiar connection between Cliff and Nicolas Trevino.
What if his (Nicolas's) mother - played by Barbara Carrera - is still alive? Oh, the possibilities!

In my head, Nicolas was/is the son of the said to be (on Lorimar Dallas) dead-in-Mexico Jamie Ewing and, perhaps, Cliff Barnes. I do so love triple identities. :D
 
K

Karin Schill

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Thanks for sharing all your thoughts with us @Willie Oleson . I've enjoyed reading your posts about Dallas TNT. I get why you feel that way now when it's over. I was also really sad when the new show was cancelled. But most for the potential of plots that we never got to see. I mean Lucas was supposed to show up in season four...

Ha! I don't know how to explain it but there was something physically exciting about watching New DALLAS. It's the same kind of rush I used to get watching the old series as a kid.

I get what you are saying. It used to be that way for me when I was a kid. It was exciting watching Dallas. Since it was one of the first grown up shows I was allowed to watch it felt like I was peaking into a grown up world. More than that I was so invested in the characters and what happened to them that I was often sitting on tenter hooks with a chill running down my spine.

I found the plot where Clayton and Miss Ellie's friends were killed off very scary and the worst was when April was kidnapped and later killed. I wanted Bobby to rescue her. My parents were so sure he was going to rescue her. I wasn't. But the outcome of that plot was still a shocker.

Sadly I noticed pretty soon watching Dallas TNT that the special Dallas feeling I had back then didn't return. I am not sure exactly why. Maybe it's because I am adult now and have watched lots of other shows that's been more exciting. Maybe it's because I've written my own Dallas fanfic since the 1990s and therefore didn't care as much what happened to the characters on the show as I viewed the whole thing as an alternative universe. Or maybe it's because the pacing of the new show was so fast that I never got the time to invest properly in the plots and characters. There were some moments that got to me and brought out real emotions.

I was sad when JR died. Even though I sorely missed flashbacks in the masterpiece episode and at first I was disappointed in it since I had wanted to bawl my eyes out. But I only got a little teary eyed. Maybe I cried one tear. But that was it. It just didn't get to me like the show of the 1980s did. It wasn't emotional enough for me.

I was angry when it was revealed that Pam had been dead since 1989. I hated that plot.

I was excited when John Ross and PamBecca got married. I wanted a couple to ship on the new show and they had potential. But sadly it was squashed by the Emma affair before I ever truly began to ship them.

I was annoyed when they turned Cliff into a baby killing monster and kept him locked up in jail. He was not the goofy Cliff I loved from the original show.

Anyway by the time the end came I was rolling my eyes at the "Which Ewing Will Die" plot. I didn't like that plot stunt at all as it was clear to me how little the producers knew what the Dallas fans wanted to watch. I mean no real fan wants a Ewing to die.
 

James from London

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If loving New DALLAS means I’m not a real DALLAS fan then that’s fine by me!
 

Zable

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@Karin Schill I think you (and some of us earlier) spoilt some things which weren't meant to be spoilt for TNT beginners.
 

Willie Oleson

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I didn't like that plot stunt at all as it was clear to me how little the producers knew what the Dallas fans wanted to watch.
If they had asked 10 Dallas fans what they wanted to watch, they probably would have gotten 10 different answers. It's just not very helpful, especially if you're going to re-create a rather old-fashioned concept for a 21st century audience.
I'm not going to argue anyone's personal taste or preference, but some of the demands are just not very realistic. Save the hobby for the fan-fic forums.

I still remember the first rumours about the new Dallas movie, and thinking back, I realize I would have expected it to look a bit like TNT's version.
A film-ish, distilled "Dallas" world.

I was excited when John Ross and PamBecca got married. I wanted a couple to ship on the new show and they had potential
So we agree, and yet I already get the impression that we want different things to come from it. Who should they please, you or me?

If loving New DALLAS means I’m not a real DALLAS fan then that’s fine by me!
I refuse to let myself be manipulated or limited to such extremes.
To quote Harris Ryland: "maybe it's time for us Rylands to try to coexist". I like both shows, for exactly the same and very different reasons.

I had not expected it to be as awful as described by some fans, but - to be honest - I also had not expected it to be so good and entertaining.
I am very, very impressed, so here's a "Thank you!" to everyone who was involved with this show.
 

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One of the many reasons why TNT DALLAS shouldn't have been cancelled:
View attachment 6364
SoapLand's new "Mr and Mrs Unhappiness". Oh, the possibilities!

Absolutely. I've found myself daydreaming about those two a lot recently, not in a kinky way (*although...) but because of those possibilities - to think where it all could go! I'd certainly give anything to see Henderson play John Ross again.

And thanks for the thread Willie, I'm looking forward to rewatching more than ever now.

Dallas6.jpg


Dallas7b.jpg


*Good, good times!
 
K

Karin Schill

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If loving New DALLAS means I’m not a real DALLAS fan then that’s fine by me!

That's not what I said. I just said that no real Dallas fan wanted a Ewing to die. I think most of us can agree on that it was not the right thing to say to advertise the episode and get people to look forward to watching the final episode. If anything that piece of advertising made me dread watching the episode as I didn't want any of them to die! :(

@Karin Schill I think you (and some of us earlier) spoilt some things which weren't meant to be spoilt for TNT beginners.

I know some people posted spoilers in this thread but you are pointing your finger at the wrong person. If you look at my posts you'll see I only commented in details on things that Willie had already watched. :innocent:

If they had asked 10 Dallas fans what they wanted to watch, they probably would have gotten 10 different answers.

That's a good point. Yet I do think there is such a thing as a canon reading of a show that exists within particular sub-groups of fans. But since I haven't done a reception study of Dallas I leave that to someone else to say what those readings might be.

However from reading the original comments on the episodes as they were being broadcast I remember that there seemed to be a consensus among many of us what we liked and didn't like about the new show. It's a pity we've lost all those threads as it would have been interesting to go back to in time and see if people change their minds after their first rewatch.

So we agree, and yet I already get the impression that we want different things to come from it. Who should they please, you or me?.

I am not sure what you wanted out of it and I do realize that they can't please everybody. But considering that a lot of viewers tuned out in the beginning of season three I think it's not a wild guess to say that some of the fans that quit didn't like the direction PamBecca and John Ross took.

Personally I would have wanted a better build up of them as a couple. Like let's give them more time to be happy together before they run into problems. I think that's a reason why I loved JR/SE so much on the original show. Because no matter of how miserable they were at times they did have their honeymoon periods when things were great too and that made the fall out so much more emotional to watch when it happened as I was invested in their story.

Think for instance of the season when they get remarried. Then they are happy together until she finds him in bed with Holly and realize he hasn't changed at all.

So well my main problem with Dallas TNT wasn't the plots but the pacing. It all happened too quickly for my taste with too many plot twists that I didn't have the time to get emotionally invested in the couples and characters.

Although I can admit that I really hated some of the plots too. Like that ridiculous threesome that some of you seem to love so much! :eek:

Yet the bottom line is. I don't hate Dallas TNT. I liked the show and I was supportive of it when it was on the air. It's just in retrospect that I am feeling disappointed because I feel like it got off course in the end of season two. It was very uneven, some stuff was brilliant and some pretty awful. Moreover there was a lot of potential that was never used. I wish we had seen Lucas for instance. But most of all I am disappointed it was cancelled prematurely, as I think we would have deserved a better ending than what we were given.
 
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Rove

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If loving New DALLAS means I’m not a real DALLAS fan then that’s fine by me!
James if you, like Willie, enjoyed TNT Dallas that's fine by me. It was never going to live up to the original in my mind. When I say that I'm speaking of of those first several seasons of Lorimar Dallas as the Dream Revelation and what came after it just about killed it for me.
If I had to choose what was good about TNT Dallas? It would have to be the kitchen scene between John Ross and Sue Ellen. That one scene alone illustrated the potential what could have been.
 

Rove

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Sadly I noticed pretty soon watching Dallas TNT that the special Dallas feeling I had back then didn't return. I am not sure exactly why. Maybe it's because I am adult now and have watched lots of other shows that's been more exciting.
I had the same reaction. In my circumstance though I had hoped TNT Dallas would somehow correct the issues I had with the last seasons of Lorimar Dallas and the Dallas Reunion movies. Return the series to how good it was in those early years. I'll admit my expectations were possibly set at a level no writer/producer/showrunner was going to match.

When it came to JR's funeral I really should have felt something, anything. It just didn't come. Isn't it interesting to watch how the real life deaths of Jim Davis and Larry Hagman were dealt with accordingly by Dallas. I remember watching with real emotion the impact Jim's (Jock's) death had on Dallas, especially Miss Ellie. Did the writers of TNT Dallas actually watch Lorimar Dallas and that other powerful kitchen scene with Miss Ellie, finally accepting the death of Jock? Co-incidence?

When it came to JR's funeral I had no emotional attachment. Perhaps it was the setting. Some nondescript location in the bush. Just a dozen or so chairs and characters that had no rightful place to be there. The current location of the grave markers for JR, Eleanor Southworth Ewing Farlow and Jock at Southfork Ranch should have been the location for filming JR's funeral. Having that house in the background would have tugged at the heart strings.

Anyway. With Lorimar Dallas, the Reunion movies and now TNT Dallas there are many things which some of us like and dislike, it's what makes the journey interesting.
 

Rove

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I mean Lucas

...just so many missed opportunities. Ray walks into a scene and no mention is made of Jenna, Charlie or Lucas. "Hey Ray?" "Do you keep in contact with Donna and Margaret?" Lucy arrives and nothing is spoken of her life. Was she still married to Mitch? Did Lucy have children? Then out of the blue Cally arrives. Anyone else would have been curious about that child of hers but Sue Ellen is all class - or clueless - and makes no mention of it.

But at least we got to enjoy the Ramos family :brick:
 
K

Karin Schill

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Honestly I think Sue Ellen was clueless about the child JR had with Cally. I don't think either John Ross or Sue Ellen knew about it.

But yeah I agree, the guest appearances of the original cast could have been handled a lot better. All it would have took was a couple of lines to bring us up to date on their lives. But the writers simply didn't care enough to add that.
 
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