If Dallas Had Taken A More Positive Approach

southfork88

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By having Bobby having the dream it changes the whole dynamic.

Bobby did go into cardiac arrest at the end of Swan Song - he saved Pam and Catherine was killed, nothing changes there, but by having Bobby wake from a coma it gives the idea just a little bit more legitimacy. It also means that SOME of the storylines, such as Ray & Donna's adoption can continue because they would have visited him in his coma to talk to him and it leaked through - instead of doing a complete re-set the show could continue some plots and dismiss others.

It never made sense to me that Pam had the dream when the most obvious idea was Swan Song happened and Bobby was in a coma,

Thanks for making me better understand the variant to Pam's dream. In reality, the Dallas dream season involves all the characters in a meaningful way. So, was true the Jamie's death, Mark's return, the outbreak of the Ewing offices, assuming everything was a Bobby nightmare? Did the only story of Ray, Donna and Tony really happen? I am less convinced of the dream than Pamela, although I would have better tolerated Bobby's death.
 

Kenny Coyote

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Making it Bobby's season would have prevented us to have Donna pregnant again, Mandy back with J.R.

That's not a good thing. When Donna got pregnant again, it made the story of whether Ray and Donna would or wouldn't unite even more meaningful. Anything that gets Mandy back with JR is great as far as I'm concerned. The big mistake the producer made there was he kept being tentative about JR divorcing Sue Ellen and marrying Mandy. JR and Sue Ellen were in a horrible marriage. There was no hope for their marriage to get better by season 10 because it had been irreparably damaged. It's alright though because they're both going to get a chance at happiness again. JR has fallen in love with Mandy and is going to marry her. Mandy and JR are genuinely happy together. It would have been great but the producer couldn't commit; he couldn't pull the trigger and say "Alright, we're going ahead with this"! So instead we see more of the same misery JR and Sue Ellen have in their special kind of marriage. What a bold, creative decision that was.

A positive approach for Dallas would be to not rehire Patrick Duffy after Bobby died. A positive approach would be to decide that they are not going to kill the credibility of he series by having a season where they tell us: "What you saw last season didn't happen." How about treating the fans with some respect?
 
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GillesDenver

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I prefer watching JR and Sue Ellen being miserable together than watching JR and Mandy being happy together. The dream season was all about everyone be nice with everyone and it was a bore, even though I suppose we can say it was "creative" because of all the new dynamics between the characters.

A positive approach for Dallas would be to not rehire Patrick Duffy after Bobby died. A positive approach would be to decide that they are not going to kill the credibility of he series by having a season where they tell us: "What you saw last season didn't happen." How about treating the fans with some respect?
I agree that letting Boby dead was better. Now, I was simply explaining why Bobby's dream would have been less hurtful for the show than Pam's dream, I did not write anything about being more positive and/or being more respectful.

Also, what you are suggesting with your "more positive approach" (i.e. a more boring show) would have terminated the show faster than Bobby's return from the dead.
 

Kenny Coyote

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Also, what you are suggesting with your "more positive approach" (i.e. a more boring show) would have terminated the show faster than Bobby's return from the dead.

You misunderstand the objective of taking a positive approach and what it would entail. The idea is explained throughly in the thread starting post. The people who read it and responded understood it wouldn't be boring. When you have creative ideas and develop a show in a positive direction to where you see the characters develop, things get exciting. My idea of boring would be to offer no intellectual substance whatsoever and just mindlessly click on a red X because the person while on some level the person feels he or she disagrees, they haven't put forth the requisite thought necessary to actually develop and then offer a different opinion.
 
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Lastkidpicked

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I'm going to throw something out there that sounds pretty far out, but stay with me anyway:

There was a season where the writers seemed to be dropping hints about Bobby going out on his own. He would make comments about starting from scratch and building a company the way that Jock did.

So, when Patrick Duffy came to the producers and said he wanted to leave Dallas to try other projects, what if they offered him a made for TV movie. Or his own miniseries, similar to how Dallas started.

This could have taken a positive approach in two ways: Imagine watching a mini-series or movie of the week showing Bobby Ewing starting fresh.

We see Bobby meeting with landowners in the local diner, trying to tie up the leases. And we see him interviewing and hiring people as he staffs up his new company. It would be fun to watch!

And here's the second way that this positive approach would be good. Think of the fun guest stars who could pop in. Bobby asks Punk Anderson for advice. Barbara Bel Geddes comes by to see Bobby's new company. This would inject some excitement for people to go back to watching the original Dallas, which would still be on every Friday night.

This could have been a lot of fun!
 

Kenny Coyote

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I'm going to throw something out there that sounds pretty far out, but stay with me anyway:

There was a season where the writers seemed to be dropping hints about Bobby going out on his own. He would make comments about starting from scratch and building a company the way that Jock did.

So, when Patrick Duffy came to the producers and said he wanted to leave Dallas to try other projects, what if they offered him a made for TV movie. Or his own miniseries, similar to how Dallas started.

This could have taken a positive approach in two ways: Imagine watching a mini-series or movie of the week showing Bobby Ewing starting fresh.

We see Bobby meeting with landowners in the local diner, trying to tie up the leases. And we see him interviewing and hiring people as he staffs up his new company. It would be fun to watch!

And here's the second way that this positive approach would be good. Think of the fun guest stars who could pop in. Bobby asks Punk Anderson for advice. Barbara Bel Geddes comes by to see Bobby's new company. This would inject some excitement for people to go back to watching the original Dallas, which would still be on every Friday night.

This could have been a lot of fun!

That could have been tremendous! I think it would have worked, but my question is: Why not do it as part of Dallas and make it part of the overall story? I believe Dallas was far stronger together than if it had been split apart because all these stars have drawing power as far as the viewers they pull in. Patrick Duffy on his own on the credits brings in a certain number of viewers, but you combine him with the rest of the Dallas cast an instead of ending up with two shows, each a moderate success, you have a show that's doing phenomenally well.

If it were made part of Dallas, again, it's a situation where instead of just having horrible thing after horrible thing happen to the Dallas characters you instead have them do something new and fresh that's positive! It gives the fans something to be happy about. Bobby is maybe now going to truly find his ideal career. Bobby had been a dilettante, quitting one thing, then going to another, then quitting that and on and on. He hadn't found anything he loved enough to stick with it. Well, what if this turned out to be the thing he loved to do for a living? He'd be happy, and the fans like Bobby, so they're happy. Now, just because Bobby is happy doesn't mean he doesn't have one hell of a challenge in front of him, does it? He's going to have to deal with all sorts of people trying to take advantage of him because instead of running a great big company, he's just starting his own company and that's where the conflict comes from!

Either way, whether you have it as a separate show or as part of Dallas, it's something I would have loved to have seen!
 

Lastkidpicked

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I think it would have worked, but my question is: Why not do it as part of Dallas and make it part of the overall story?

The reason it would have to be a standalone movie of the week, or a stand alone miniseries is that Patrick Duffy said that he wanted to get out and see what else show business had to offer him.

This is a way for him to step outside of the Dallas series to see how he would do on his own.
 

Seaviewer

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If those plots were part of the dream season, what else could you do?
It was a rhetorical question but my point was that another explanation would have avoided the need to erase anything. And making it Bobby's dream so that some is in and some is out would unnecessarily complicate things even further.
 

Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

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That's not a good thing. When Donna got pregnant again, it made the story of whether Ray and Donna would or wouldn't unite even more meaningful. Anything that gets Mandy back with JR is great as far as I'm concerned. The big mistake the producer made there was he kept being tentative about JR divorcing Sue Ellen and marrying Mandy. JR and Sue Ellen were in a horrible marriage. There was no hope for their marriage to get better by season 10 because it had been irreparably damaged. It's alright though because they're both going to get a chance at happiness again. JR has fallen in love with Mandy and is going to marry her. Mandy and JR are genuinely happy together. It would have been great but the producer couldn't commit; he couldn't pull the trigger and say "Alright, we're going ahead with this"! So instead we see more of the same misery JR and Sue Ellen have in their special kind of marriage. What a bold, creative decision that was.

A positive approach for Dallas would be to not rehire Patrick Duffy after Bobby died. A positive approach would be to decide that they are not going to kill the credibility of the series by having a season where they tell us: "What you saw last season didn't happen." How about treating the fans with some respect?

With hindsight they shouldn't have brought Patrick Duffy back. It nixed the Ben Stivers (Wes Parmalee in season ten) reveal that he was really Jock Ewing. I've often wondered what Dallas would have been like without that infamous shower scene tacked onto the end of season nine.

Bringing Jock back as a foil for JR would've been a much better idea than resurrecting Bobby especially as the explanation the Producers went with was completely ludicrous & insulting to the audience. I think it would've strengthened the show with Jock back. There may not have been too much of a fan backlash with Jock returning by himself. But doing it the way they actually did it by resurrecting both Bobby & then Jock in the same season so soon wasn't probably going to work. The backlash of course didn't help the show & I think the Producers were wrong to listen to the fan's. They should've perservered with the storyline & not wrote it off the way they did. If they were gonna bring him back in season ten I think they missed a trick by not waiting until much later in the season before doing it. Like they did in season nine. Having Jock back would have certainly altered the positive dynamic of the future storylines of Dallas for the better. :)
 
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Lastkidpicked

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Bringing Jock back as a foil for JR would've been a much better idea than resurrecting Bobby especially as the explanation the Producers went with was completely ludicrous & insulting to the audience. I think it would've strengthened the show with Jock back.

Great point, @Via The Void

If there was a fan backlash, and they decided that no other actor could replace Jock, then how about this:

Wes Parmalee insists he is Jock, but J.R. doesn't believe him. The problem for J.R. is that enough people start to believe that Jock really has come back that they start doing business with him.

Jeremy Wendell publicly states that Jock is back. This causes other people to start believing it.

This does two great things for the show-- It provides a whole new character who is strong enough to fight J.R.

Also, it gives fans reasons to argue and discuss, is this really Jock?

Could have made for some fun seasons!
 

Luke_Krebbs_Ewing

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Great point, @Via The Void

If there was a fan backlash, and they decided that no other actor could replace Jock, then how about this:

Wes Parmalee insists he is Jock, but J.R. doesn't believe him. The problem for J.R. is that enough people start to believe that Jock really has come back that they start doing business with him.

Jeremy Wendell publicly states that Jock is back. This causes other people to start believing it.

This does two great things for the show-- It provides a whole new character who is strong enough to fight J.R.

Also, it gives fans reasons to argue and discuss, is this really Jock?

Could have made for some fun seasons!

Dropping Steve Forrest but leaving Patrick Duffy on board as a resurrected Bobby Ewing is what really damaged Dallas.

Even if Season ten had continued as it originally started with Duffy returning, the Producers should not have listened to the fans & dropped Steve Forrest because having Jock back was the kick up the backside Dallas needed to sustain it's longevity.

Writing Steve Forrest & his reveal as being Jock off was the wrong thing to do because Duffy's mishandled return ultimately cost Dallas it's popularity. At least the explanation for Wes being Jock was sufficently possible but the explanation for Bobby's resurrection was nothing short of being outlandish & insulting. And the backlash at the time by the fans thought that replacing Jim Davis with Steve Forrest was insulting. It was actually more insulting by writing off a complete season as a dream by Pam!! :(
 

Kenny Coyote

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The reason it would have to be a standalone movie of the week, or a stand alone miniseries is that Patrick Duffy said that he wanted to get out and see what else show business had to offer him.

This is a way for him to step outside of the Dallas series to see how he would do on his own.

A TV miniseries could have been a transition for him to get into movies. He might have taken that offer if they had made it, because if it had done very well, it would have proven he could attract a large audience without having the huge cast of Dallas co-stars helping him.

That would have given Patrick Duffy a better shot at becoming the movie star he wanted to be. Not that it would have guaranteed he'd have been offered a starring role in a movie, because they're still two separate worlds. Ultimately, a movie star's job is to motivate you to want to pay to see him. That's why movie stars are held in higher esteem than TV stars. It's because in order for you to watch a movie star do his job, you have to leave the comfort and safety and security of your house, drive to a theater, pay and then sit in the theater. Whereas, if you watch a television star, it takes all the effort of turning on your TV and switching to that particular show. Dramatically different. Patrick Duffy had not yet convinced Hollywood that he was marketable as a movie star. If he had, he never would have returned to Dallas.
 

Kenny Coyote

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Dropping Steve Forrest but leaving Patrick Duffy on board as a resurrected Bobby Ewing is what really damaged Dallas.

Even if Season ten had continued as it originally started with Duffy returning, the Producers should not have listened to the fans & dropped Steve Forrest because having Jock back was the kick up the backside Dallas needed to sustain it's longevity.

Writing Steve Forrest & his reveal as being Jock off was the wrong thing to do because Duffy's mishandled return ultimately cost Dallas it's popularity. At least the explanation for Wes being Jock was sufficently possible but the explanation for Bobby's resurrection was nothing short of being outlandish & insulting. And the backlash at the time by the fans thought that replacing Jim Davis with Steve Forrest was insulting. It was actually more insulting by writing off a complete season as a dream by Pam!! :(

I always enjoy reading your opinions on bringing back Jock, @Via The Void, because even though we disagree on most of it, you always make a good case for your side of the argument. Here's what I do agree with: Like you, I don't think producers and writers should allow the fans to tell them how to make their show. Realize that all of us here are the real hardcore fanbase of Dallas, or we wouldn't still be talking about it 29 years after it ended! The way I you think or the way you think about Dallas, or the way the rest of the forum thinks about Dallas is not necessarily representative of the way the majority of Dallas viewers, the more casual fans, thought about Dallas. It would be interesting to get 20 or 30 people who were casual Dallas fans and maybe quit watching at some point. All of us here watched to the end, as far as I know. A lot of people quit watching Dallas before it ended and I'd like to know what particular things made them quit watching. I suspect Bobby and Pam getting divorced was one. I have a friend who quit watching when Bobby "died." I'm sure others quit when they announced "it was all a dream."

The people who write letters telling the show what they want to see are not a good representation of what the typical, casual fan wants to see and they make up probably 90% of the audience. If a show changes its plans to please the 10% of very dedicated fans, they may do something that alienates the other 90% of their fans.

I didn't like the idea to have Jock return after almost 6 years of being "dead" but not because I thought it was an insult to Jim Davis. That never even occurred to me. I just thought it was impossible to believe an entirely different man playing the role and saying "I am Jock" in a way that sounded like nothing like Jim Davis. He also would have had terrible scars. When Pam was burned, she had plastic surgery and still didn't even want to be seen because she was so scarred. Had Jock also been seriously burned as he claimed, his face would also been scarred terribly.
 

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Patrick wanted to leave. The writers decided to kill his character off. Maybe I’m simplistic (I’ve been called that before and not taken offence) but that should have been the end of it. The whole series lost its integrity when Bobby was brought back following Pam’s “dream”. Susan Howard had it right when she said in interview that was the beginning of the end for what was such a great show. I like the idea of giving Bobby a spin off show or movie but that wasnt the way that the writers/producers went. The audience became disillusioned despite the best efforts of the rest of the cast. It was a great shame in my view.
I can see the argument for JR and Mandy making a go of being together but this is where the strong acting and chemistry of Larry and Linda interfered because the fans just wouldn’t have tolerated it- me included lol :)
 

Herofan

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By having Bobby having the dream it changes the whole dynamic.

Bobby did go into cardiac arrest at the end of Swan Song - he saved Pam and Catherine was killed, nothing changes there, but by having Bobby wake from a coma it gives the idea just a little bit more legitimacy. It also means that SOME of the storylines, such as Ray & Donna's adoption can continue because they would have visited him in his coma to talk to him and it leaked through - instead of doing a complete re-set the show could continue some plots and dismiss others.

It never made sense to me that Pam had the dream when the most obvious idea was Swan Song happened and Bobby was in a coma,

I’m not a writer, so I don’t have it all worked out, but I do like the idea of it being Bobby’s dream and some plot items staying intact during the season; that would be interesting.
 

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The writers decided to kill his character off.
It's my understanding that it was Patrick who insisted on Bobby getting a definitive death scene. Which makes it all the more remarkable that he would agree to wipe it away like that.
 

Kenny Coyote

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It's my understanding that it was Patrick who insisted on Bobby getting a definitive death scene. Which makes it all the more remarkable that he would agree to wipe it away like that.

You're absolutely right. Patrick Duffy insisted that Bobby have a definitive death scene. I've gotta think that at least part of that was his idea to motivate himself to work harder on achieving his next goal, to become a movie star. There is a temptation to not go all out when you know you have a plan B. It's an escape plan for when things start getting tough. Then you know: "I don't have to make this work because I have a safety net."

I don't believe in operating that way. I don't believe in "plan B." It makes failure very likely. Without a plan B you have no choice but to eventually succeed. No matter how many times you fail you must continue to move in a forward direction towards achieving your goal.

Patrick Duffy decided to come back to Dallas after less than a year of going after his goal. That worked out for him only because they decided to go to such extreme lengths as to say an entire season never happened and kill the credibility of their show so that he got his plan B anyway. It worked out alright for him because they did that for him. What if they hadn't? How much more motivated would he have been to do whatever was necessary to make his plan A work? Extremely.
 

Chris2

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I’m not a writer, so I don’t have it all worked out, but I do like the idea of it being Bobby’s dream and some plot items staying intact during the season; that would be interesting.

They could have also had Bobby wake up to some very different situations and we as the viewers gradually learn what happened and what led up to them. Maybe Ewing Oil is gone. Maybe Pamela has moved away from Dallas.
 
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