Dallas Character Wes Parmalee story with hindsight

[Barbara Fan]

And some have even made the argument that she was more important than Bobby.

Pam was far more important than Bobby (and i loved Pat D back in the day)

Pam/VP was the most important female cast member on the show and the LINK to it all - past/present history and she joined all the links and stories of skulduggery of Barnes and Ewings together - She was intertwined with it all and the show lost that shen she left

Made Pamela Barnes her own and couldnt be replaced by anyone

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

better tha what we got. I didnt mind Reed, she was solid actor.

Steve Forrest was a solid actor too.

If anyone was going to take over the role of Jock it should've been Steve Forrest. He just exuded the Ewing patriarch whenever he was on screen.

He even touched his chin on occasions the exact same way Jim Davis did in the role, I guess the Producers wanted to subtly remind everyone that this was indeed Jock before they decided not to follow through on it.

Anything that would have avoided the Pam/Mummy storyline would be have been superior. Imagine Pam has the wreck, as VP the bandages come off, she's MM. Slightly different looking, but that's due to the burns. The audience would have had several episodes to get used to Principal being gone.... the recast Pam would have been a different character anyway due to the trauma., but MM did was an excellent dead-ringer. It would have worked so much better and smoother. The better drama all around.

Except the Producers had lived through the debacle of having Donna Reed as Miss Ellie which hadn't gone down well with the viewers. Neither for that matter was having Steve Forrest stay on as a recast Jock which probably would've worked if Patrick Duffy had not returned and the character of Ben Stivers would've been Jock.

Even though they tried again with Steve Forrest as Wes having Patrick Duffy back as Bobby had a detrimental effect on this storyline. A shame as Steve Forrest could've been a great Jock Ewing.

 

[LMLDallas78]

The original ensemble Dallas cast who we all loved. It was always going to be tough when one of them left.

To re cast any of them would be hated by most and favoured by few.

For me Jock couldn't be replaced, it just would've seemed wrong after losing Jim Davis, that was my young view. During the original airing the Wes Parmalee story irritated me. I've enjoyed it more through older eyes.

Found it hard to accept Donna Miss Ellie because she wasn't anything like Miss Ellie.

Didn't particularly miss Bobby that much.

Sad to see Pam go but got over her very quickly.

I'll always love the original cast and to me they were all as important as each other in those early days.

 

[the-lost-son]

The show died for me when VP/Pam left. She was the link to it all. But with some smart writing which stopped basically +/- 2 years before, it could have worked.
Have Christopher's share at Wentworth, Tool&Dye be administered by Bobby.
Bobby, Cliff and maybe Katherine (or some proxy) at Wentworth (when EwingOil was gone).
Pam's exit out of the blue was just cheap, without rhyme or reason, there was no build-up and the rest in the following season was just an insult to any intelligence.
There is nothing wrong to leave Pam's fate open (especially after BBG and Duffy returning). Plane crash, explosion etc , no body etc. But the writing, the cheap, daytime-like execution never worked.

In regards to Wes Parmalee I don't share the opinion about the storyline's ambiguity. There was never any hint that Wes/Ben could be Jock at all "after he left" (despite X-rays etc.) The storyline was closed definetely after +/-10 episodes and never
revisited. It was an unusual way to end that storyline at that time.
I would have preferred if so. still had doubts if Wes could be Jock.
Maybe Ray could get to close to Donna again (writing another book about Jock) (instead of hooking up with Jenna ).
When JR lost Ewing Oil he could try to use him to keep it away from the government somehow.

Nonetheless instead of just forgetting the character after his +/-10 stint I wish they would have killed him off with his body found on Southfork.
Was it Clayton? (Putting a strain on his marriage to Ellie)
Basically every character should have been given a motive with flashbacks

My ideal murderer would have been Lucy to spice up her role. She wanted to protect her family and not lose another one with the interference of our beloved fraudster.
Have righteous Ray&Bobby help to cover it up for Miss Ellie's sake putting a strain on everyone

 

[Seaviewer]

No one could play Sue Ellen better than Linda Gray and I am unanimous in that.

I didn't say Joanna Cassidy would be better but I think she could have been a suitable replacement if needed.

Pam was far more important than Bobby (and i loved Pat D back in the day)

Pam/VP was the most important female cast member on the show and the LINK to it all - past/present history and she joined all the links and stories of skulduggery of Barnes and Ewings together - She was intertwined with it all and the show lost that shen she left

Made Pamela Barnes her own and couldnt be replaced by anyone

The trouble is that there are two conflicting imperatives here. VP was leaving but Pam could have stayed.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I don't think the Joanna Cassidy suggestion is entirely serious -- but if Swellin was driving that propane/butane truck Pam crashed into, then, who knows?

I always want Cassidy as the double Alexis hired to follow Rita Lesley to bring question to Krystle's claims of being impersonated in Season 6 of DYNASTY.

Linda, Linda or Joanna -- which Scorpio Rising is which...?

Perhaps Gray can moonlight as Sally Mae Bullock#3...

 

[Jock's Ghost]

Pam should just have been recast. Simple and would have left no fallout. Those crybabies against it never watched Daytime soaps when often times, the replacement was the bigger, more popular actor. Dallas did good with recasts- save one- Pricilla as Jenna was the real screwing of the pooch. Worse than Donna Reed, who was fine, had they dressed her correctly. Her acting certainly was better than BBG.

 

[Toni]

Pam should just have been recast. Simple and would have left no fallout. Those crybabies against it never watched Daytime soaps when often times, the replacement was the bigger, more popular actor. Dallas did good with recasts- save one- Pricilla as Jenna was the real screwing of the pooch. Worse than Donna Reed, who was fine, had they dressed her correctly. Her acting certainly was better than BBG.

 

[DallasFanForever]

Daytime soaps when often times, the replacement was the bigger, more popular actor

Very true, but I’ve always felt that recasting a top daytime star was much easier for the fans to accept than replacing a prime time one. The daytime shows were on every day, running about 250 episodes per year. There was much more time to get used to the new actor, whereas in a 25-30 episode prime time series that obviously wasn’t the case.

Many of the daytime recasts weren’t popular over the years, but I think the fans were much more conditioned, and willing, to accept the new actors eventually. Seeing the recast perform every day certainly helped with that in my opinion.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Very true, but I’ve always felt that recasting a top daytime star was much easier for the fans to accept than replacing a prime time one. The daytime shows were on every day, running about 250 episodes per year. There was much more time to get used to the new actor, whereas in a 25-30 episode prime time series that obviously wasn’t the case.

Many of the daytime recasts weren’t popular over the years, but I think the fans were much more conditioned, and willing, to accept the new actors eventually. Seeing the recast perform every day certainly helped with that in my opinion.

Exactly. It just doesn't work for primetime shows.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

They should have followed through with Wes as Jock Ewing.
It would have provided a good storyline for BBG, Howard Keel and Steve Forrest, rather than have the main function of
Miss Ellie and Clayton to be constantly arguing with JR
The new battle for Ewing Oil could have been Jock against JR and Bobby,
with Cliff and Jeremy Wendell playing both sides against the middle
with Ray caught between loyalties

It would have led to a better quality show, as opposed to the substandard seasons 11-12 and the almost worthless seasons 13-14

 

[LMLDallas78]

Pam should just have been recast.

I might've been able to cope with that, but many wouldn't.
Appreciating and being fond of a well established and much loved character as well as the actor doesn't make anyone a crybaby just because they would struggle to accept another in that part.

As others have said Primetime soap completely different league than daytime.

I would've preferred more likeable, convincing love interests for Bobby which was always going to be tough.

Her acting certainly was better than BBG.

Not on Dallas it wasn't.

 

[Jock's Ghost]

The recast is still bette than what we got which was confusing, unfocused, illogical shit.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

The recast is still bette than what we got which was confusing, unfocused, illogical shit.

But that wasn't because they didn't recast.

Victoria left when she did because she didn't want to be overwhelmed with all that confusing, unfocused, illogical shit.

 

[Brian Kinney]

Did we ever discuss what a big twist it would've been if Lady Jessica had returned for the Wes Parmalee story? Clayton's reactions could've been great fun.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Did we ever discuss what a big twist it would've been if Lady Jessica had returned for the Wes Parmalee story? Clayton's reactions could've been great fun.

Maybe she could have killed him, truly believing Wes is Jock -- one of the many Texas oil men who'd impregnated her back in the '40s and then took off, the extortion checks ending once Jock died in 1981, which Jessica assumed was a plot to finally get out of paying her.

And, who knows? Maybe she's right?

Ellie just dithers.

 

[DarkVader]

I am in the middle of this storyline. It is absolutely horrible, they should have left whatever they were trying to do with Ben Stivers/Wes Parmalee behind in the "dream season".... then near the end of the episode I watched today Sheree J. Wilson makes her first appearance as "April" and I thought to myself: "This is it. This show is coming to its end."

And don't even get me started on that B.D. Calhoun nonsense.

For me, it's easily one of the worst seasons of the show. I don't find myself binge-watching it like the others. I'm watching one or two episodes a week compared to having a weekend binge or watching 4 to 5 episodes in a day like I was doing with previous seasons.

Victoria was smart to get out when she did.

 

[DallasFanForever]

I am in the middle of this storyline. It is absolutely horrible, they should have left whatever they were trying to do with Ben Stivers/Wes Parmalee behind in the "dream season"....

I liked the storyline but wasn’t a fan of the very abrupt ending. Although, looking back on it now, maybe the ambiguity of it all was really a stroke of genius. I mean here we are 37 years later still debating if Wes was Jock.

And don't even get me started on that B.D. Calhoun nonsense.

Not my favorite storyline but I can’t deny its importance considering what it led to. Whether having the Ewings lose Ewing Oil was a wise decision or not, the B.D. story gave us some great scenes involving the Justice Department and the death of the company. Killing Ewing Oil might not have been the wisest decision, but it did give us some great drama and the B.D. storyline is what leads to that.

For me, it's easily one of the worst seasons of the show.

For me it’s a highly flawed season, and I feel that way from the very first scene. Unfortunately we are in the minority with this opinion.

I also didn’t like the dark cloud that was Jenna’s baby hovering over Bobby and Pam all season. I felt they deserved their happiness after everything they had been through, but of course with VP leaving at the end of the season and this being her swan song (sorry) it really doesn’t matter because Bobby and Pam were destined to end tragically anyway.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

For me, it's easily one of the worst seasons of the show. I don't find myself binge-watching it like the others.

It's one of the best seasons of the show, the stupid dream opening notwithstanding. And it may have the most re-watch value of any year, outrageous as some of it was.

It was the year thee show came closest to self-parody which actually worked.

 

[Bobby Southworth]

Donna Reed didn't work, in part because she played the part almost entirely differently. I know she was a good actress, but how did anyone think playing a character that had been around for 7 seasons differently was going to work?? We will never know what might have been had she stuck to the original character. Could you imagine Reed's version of Miss Ellie married to Jock? Miss Ellie was a warm, but somewhat feisty woman, at least in the earlier seasons. That was part of the foundation of the show,

As for Victoria. Part of me thinks a recast could have worked. The other part says they just should have handled her exit better. Maybe she should have just gone missing? More so, no matter how she left, Bobby should have been written to, I don't know, give a damn? Instead, he cared for five minutes, and then felt sorry for himself, and basically acted stubborn and more or less forgot about her. That is where they went wrong.