Why did Katzman decree that DALLAS go "campy" in its closing years ?

[TaranofPrydain]

But most of all - the TV industry in the late 80s was creatively dead - it was all sitcoms and self-contained shows.

Twin peaks started to take us out of these dire years.

Oh, there were some other new dramas in the late 80s that were trying something a bit loftier: LA Law, thirtysomething, China Beach, Beauty and the Beast, Midnight Caller. But, LA Law aside, they didn't get high Nielsen ratings, so few outside of the Emmy committee really noticed what they were bringing to the table.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

The Paulsen Effect has been mentioned several times in several threads throughout the years. What was it that he had license to do that, for example, Art Lewis didn’t? What creative input do we know of that we can we definitively attribute to Paulsen?

Paulsen was particularly good at structure.

When he left DALLAS in Spring 1988 to go produce DYNASTY, it was said in the media that "a DALLAS head honcho" was taking over its rival soap.

My initial thoughts were: why bother at this point?, and I assumed he was just being brought in to take the blame for DYNASTY's imminent cancellation. (And some did).

I'd seen his name before many times on several shows, mostly DALLAS (and KNOTS' Season 7). But when I saw the very first episode of Season 9 of DYNASTY that November 1988, it was clear this was indeed the same writer-producer who'd so impacted DALLAS' best post-'WSJR?' years.

And he was.

Katzman apparently recognized Paulsen's structural skill near the latter part of the 80/81 season of DALLAS when Katzman had assembled a group of staff (and non-staff, I think) writers who had worked on the show in order to brainstorm their way out of a corner they'd written their way into. And, Paulsen being Paulsen, did it. And from that point on, Paulsen had a lot of influence.

 

[Laurie Marr]

I think Paulsen's modesty may have something to do with this. In the interviews I have read where he discuses the show (the most extended interview, of course, being the one conducted by our own dear James FL) Paulsen gives a lot of the credit to Katzman for the disciplined planning of Dallas and for effectively teaching him how to write a tightly structured show. And, yes, Paulsen's lamentably short tenure as Dynasty showrunner demonstrated his credentials admirably. But I do think there was a productive synergy with Katzman (Lewis to a lesser extent) that is to both men's credit and maybe there's a temptation to overlook Katzman's equally vital contribution to the success of Dallas's glory years when looked at from the perspective of the later years.

Anyway, Paulsen still gets the prize for the pithiest summary of why Dallas at its best was so good: "DALLAS was about a dining room table."

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

maybe there's a temptation to overlook Katzman's equally vital contribution to the success of Dallas's glory

I dunno. I think Katzman gets lots of credit. Most folks seemed unaware of who Paulsen even was and his contribution until Art Swift, James from London, and Garry von Roy from DallasFanzine interviewed him.

The people attached to DALLAS or DYNASTY still seem clueless, frankly. When one of the interviewers (I can't remember which) was told by Paulsen to say "hi" to Larry -- and they did -- Larry sniffed dismissively that, "Well, Leonard Katzman was the brains of the show" (or words to that effect).

Pearls. Swine. May the swine choke on them.

And don't even get me started on Michael Filerman.

 

[Rove]

Anyway, Paulsen still gets the prize for the pithiest summary of why Dallas at its best was so good: "DALLAS was about a dining room table."

I've never heard that attributed to David before but it explains why we had such great scenes with the Ewing family at Southfork. David - like most original fans of Dallas - possibly grew up with the family seated around the dinner table engaged in animated conversation, especially so when teenagers, becoming young adults, would express an opinion different to their parents.

TNT Dallas didn't understand this as much. But then that horrid layout of new Southfork didn't lend itself for moving conversations unlike Lorimar Dallas days. In those days the conversation flowed from the living room to the dining room or vice-versa with the staircase often becoming the showcase for drama.

The writers didn't just put pen to paper but understood how to use a house and furnishings to great effect.

 

[WarriorsFan]

Oh, there were some other new dramas in the late 80s that were trying something a bit loftier: LA Law, thirtysomething, China Beach, Beauty and the Beast, Midnight Caller. But, LA Law aside, they didn't get high Nielsen ratings, so few outside of the Emmy committee really noticed what they were bringing to the table.

LA Law never finished in the seasonal Top 10, it's peak was #12 in 1987/1988.

There was a dearth in dramas from 1987, when Dallas was no longer a Top 10 show, until 1994, when ER premiered.

ER was the first drama since Dallas to have three seasons as the #1 show, but ER success did not spur dramas making a comeback the way that The Cosby Show success spurred sitcoms making a comeback a decade earlier. ER was to the second half of the 1990s what Dallas was to the first half of the 1980s.

 

[Laurie Marr]

As an addendum to the Paulsen stuff: he was very clear that 'campy' was not the way to go. I think I recall him sating in an interview that Dallas could never be 'jokey' and that writers new to the show (especially when they were writing for JR) made this error which then had to be rectified in rewrites.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

As an addendum to the Paulsen stuff: he was very clear that 'campy' was not the way to go. I think I recall him sating in an interview that Dallas could never be 'jokey' and that writers new to the show (especially when they were writing for JR) made this error which then had to be rectified in rewrites.

And yet Paulsen acknowledged that Katzman saw DALLAS as a cartoon (and one of the reasons Katzman hated Bradford May's artsy camera work in Season 7 -- although the audience, which didn't want DALLAS to be a cartoon, very much liked May's visuals .... Like Katzman, Aaron Spelling wanted bland flat-lighting, too).

 

[kenneth]

If I have to sit through the sanitarium one more time I will need a sanitarium.

 

[Laurie Marr]

And here is a somewhat contentious view: despite making his name in 'I Dream of Jeanie,' I never found Hagman to be very accomplished at comedy. His performances were mostly too knowing and too mannered - in fact, yes, even 'cartoonish.' Hence, the 'double-take' being a ubiquitous Hagmanism.

 

[DallasFanForever]

And here is a somewhat contentious view: despite making his name in 'I Dream of Jeanie,' I never found Hagman to be very accomplished at comedy. His performances were mostly too knowing and too mannered - in fact, yes, even 'cartoonish.' Hence, the 'double-take' being a ubiquitous Hagmanism.

I always felt he was better at subtle comedy more than he was the style of comedy on IDOJ or the later years of Dallas. Sarcastic, fast thinking witty one liners were more his thing in my opinion. Just an observation.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

And I just tend to assume Paulsen has a Scorpio Rising -- the creative clarity, and the fact they never want to give you their birth times.

And here is a somewhat contentious view: despite making his name in 'I Dream of Jeanie,' I never found Hagman to be very accomplished at comedy. His performances were mostly too knowing and too mannered - in fact, yes, even 'cartoonish.' Hence, the 'double-take' being a ubiquitous Hagmanism.

I thought Larry was a good physical comedian. But his line delivery in both IDOJ and DALLAS is pretty much the same -- and he keeps each of his lady partners in a bottle.

 

[Rove]

and he keeps each of his lady partners in a bottle

...what a great observation. Brilliant.