Who must be in a continuation of the 3rd Generation?

Who must be in a continuation of the 3rd Generation


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Michelle Stevens

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I thought it would have been an interesting dynamic to have John Ross, James and Jimmy, and Cally's child all fighting for control of JR's interest and legacy in whatever he had in Ewing Oil/Energies, Southfork, etc. I'm sure good writers could have made it work.
 

Jabari Lamar

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My only problem is that most of these shows seem to need much younger characters in the mix-

You keep saying that, but I'm not sure I agree. I mean, I think it depends on what kind of show you're doing and what audience you're going after. If you're going for the CW audience like the Dynasty reboot maybe you want leads in their 20's, but the type of shows I look to as models of how I'd bring back Dallas are House of Cards, Billions, and Succession. The later in particular is probably the most Dallas-like, as it's focused on the machinations of a super-wealthy family who run a media conglomerate, similar to the real life Murdochs. The two youngest family members on that show are in the early 30's. Replace media with oil/energy and that's the show about The Ewings.
 

Rove

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depends on what kind of show you're doing and what audience you're going after.
Dallas is a legacy series. There is already a captured audience just waiting to catch up with televisions first family. I'd position Dallas in the 49 and above era. Teenagers can have their CW Dynasty. My Dallas would be skewed as adult contemporary drama. I wouldn't be treating John Ross as a man still struggling with teenage angst. I would however like to explore John Ross in a business world with the ghost of JR following him.
 

Jabari Lamar

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I'd position Dallas in the 49 and above era. Teenagers can have their CW Dynasty. My Dallas would be skewed as adult contemporary drama.

I basically agree, although I'd skew a little bit younger. Obviously this is all hypothetical and never gonna happen, but say if I were reviving this series at the start of next year, and we're continuing from Dallas TNT then the main leads, John Ross, Christopher, their wives, are late 30's/early 40's at this point. Secondary legacy characters, like Lucas, Cally's son, and Margaret would be early 30's.

I wouldn't be treating John Ross as a man still struggling with teenage angst. I would however like to explore John Ross in a business world with the ghost of JR following him.

That's what's Steve W.'s also saying. It's just that he also thinks the show would need some teens/early-20's characters, and wants to do that by introducing a 4th generation of Ewings. But I don't see any natural characters that fit that mold, and wouldn't want to rush to John Ross having some 20 year son already, when I don't think it's essential at this stage.
 

Rove

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and wouldn't want to rush to John Ross having some 20 year son already, when I don't think it's essential at this stage.
Hypothetically it's possible but I'd see it as plot driven rather than character driven which is where TNT Dallas failed. I do see John Ross and for those advocating Christoper surviving the explosion as having children as it seems a natural fit where the Ewing family would be today. Characters like Lucas, Margaret and Cally's child are part of Lorimar Dallas so there would be no surprises there. Let's explore their characters rather than ignoring them or creating new characters like the Ramos or Ryland family...another fail in my opinion.

I've noted many are suggesting the return of James. I didn't like him in Lorimar Dallas - mainly due to poor casting - and I'm dead against recasts and so I find his character is not required. I wouldn't ignore the character like those creative types behind TNT Dallas did with others I'd simply use their brilliance in killing off a character mid sentence...think Katherine.
 

Jabari Lamar

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Hypothetically it's possible but I'd see it as plot driven rather than character driven which is where TNT Dallas failed.

I agree with that. It would be one thing if we were ignoring Dallas TNT, and just doing a "Dallas: The Next Generation" that, let's say, re-instates the reunion movies and picks up from there, then you can fill in the history were he married young, but if we're continuing from TNT then you have to now add in some contrived secret child that he had at 18 or whatever that is now in his life.

I do see John Ross and for those advocating Christoper surviving the explosion as having children as it seems a natural fit where the Ewing family would be today.

Yes, in my scenario, sometime in between Dallas TNT and now, John Ross and Pamela reconciled so when the show starts they're just back to being happily married (that's one benefit of the time-lapse, we don't have to waste time actually going through all that), and by now they could have a young son, under 5 years old. Likewise, my idea for Christopher is at this point he and Elena are also married raising her son, Andrew Ewing (named after her deceased brother), who would be around 6, with Christopher accepting the boy as his son even though he thinks he's really Nicolas' (who's long-dead) son, although only Elena and John Ross know that there's a slight chance that he's the boy's father (this neatly echos Christopher's own upbringing, where Bobby raised him even though he's not his biological father and his uncle J.R. used to suspect that he might be his father). Again, the time-lapse helps as we don't have spend time setting that all up, just begin with this status quo and a few lines of dialog can fill the viewers in.

I still don't have any ideas about J.R.'s daughter which, if we're following Dallas TNT, probably should be addressed.

Characters like Lucas, Margaret and Cally's child are part of Lorimar Dallas so there would be no surprises there. Let's explore their characters rather than ignoring them or creating new characters like the Ramos or Ryland family...another fail in my opinion.

Well, like Cris2 said, the show can't just be all-Ewings, there do have to be some outside characters for them to interact with, as acquaintances, allies, and of course enemies. The Rylands are a fine addition as business rivals to the Ewings. Harris was a particularly good villain at first, with a natural connection to the Ewings through Anne, the show just went off the rails with them starting when Anne shot him point-blank and he somehow not only survived but she didn't go to jail for attempted murder. Then they introduced the crazy mother, who I also liked at first, but then again they went to off-script with the openly running a brother and collaborating with drug cartels.

I was also fine with the introduction of Elena and the Ramos family but the mistake was in trying to shoe-horn them into original Dallas history (at the very least, they could have made Elena Theresa and Raul's son, but the contrived plot in season 3 of trying to make her hate the Ewings because of some old scheme of J.R.'s didn't make sense.

I've noted many are suggesting the return of James. I didn't like him in Lorimar Dallas - mainly due to poor casting - and I'm dead against recasts and so I find his character is not required. I wouldn't ignore the character like those creative types behind TNT Dallas did with others I'd simply use their brilliance in killing off a character mid-sentence...think Katherine.

I'm more interested in his son Jimmy, who would be grown now. Another blank-slate character who could be written any way we see fit. But, as I said, that's if we come up with a good story and reason for bringing him in. I do have an easy plot to explain away James' absence from the family, if necessary. Sometime during those 20 years in between Dallas and DallasTNT, James was in a serious motorcycle accident and J.R. flew down to see him in the hospital. James needed a blood transfusion so J.R. offered but that's when they found out he wasn't a match, meaning James wasn't his son after all. They never did confirm that on the original show, and yet you to figure that if Vanessa's husband raised James as his own, then that means it was possible that he was the father, meaning him and Vanessa had been having sex around the time James would have been conceived, or else he would have known something was up when she became pregnant. Maybe Vanessa just assumed J.R. was the father, perhaps because she and her husband had been married for years at that point and she'd never gotten pregnant before, but it just turned out she was wrong. After that was revealed, J.R. and James simply lost touch.
 
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