The timescale of Katzman and Duffy returning to the show

[Mustard]

Bobby's death was a great way to go. I can't believe they undid it. Bobby was apparently brought back for "ratings", but the Season 9 DVD ratings weren't that bad, and the ratings for the following seasons once Bobby was back were a lot worse.

For me, the dream season was a breath of fresh air. Dallas was going into new dynamics.

 

[the-lost-son]

According to Barbara Curran's book

"Larry Hagman, who called season 8 the show's worst", set out in early '86 to get them both (Duffy and Katzman) back. "

"In April' 86 Hagman told a TV Guide reporter Katzmann'll be back."

"In February '86 Hagman invited Duffy for lunch to bring him back to Dallas."

On April 9' 86 CBS announced that Duffy was returning to the cast of Dallas for the upcoming May 16 cliffhanger.

"Photographs of Hagman watching Duffy remove facial bandages appeared in the July 1, 1986 edition of Star."

The magic and the problem of Dallas was the combination of Capice and Hagman. After 7 years they couldn't deal with each other anymore and none of them managed to run the series on his own. It was weird that they chose Katzman as savior of Dallas although the rating's decline (in season 7) started on his watch. Additionally he chose to make 30 episodes all a dream although he was responsible for it as an advisor (he was responsible for the Nero-plot, but did not think it would last the full season). .

On top of all, there is variety of problems which started Dallas's slow death (depending on your point of view between Bobby's death, dream resolution, VP's exit):

- the change of TV industry and an audience stopping to be obsessed by Primetime soaps
- most of all uninspired, repetitive writing after many years of groundbreaking storytelling
- an aging, financially saturated cast on the one side and budget cuts removing familiar faces for questionable casting decisions
- unpopular hairdos, fashion
- reduced location shoots (to zero in the end) due to a saturated cast and budget costs
- horrible picture quality starting from season 9 (10dvd) onwards

In my opinion the time period between late 80's and early 90's is a transition time which didn't produce any groundbreaking TV (for me at least). Otherwise series like Dallas would have been canceled several years earlier.

 

[the-lost-son]

Bobby's death was a great way to go. I can't believe they undid it. Bobby was apparently brought back for "ratings", but the Season 9 DVD ratings weren't that bad, and the ratings for the following seasons once Bobby was back were a lot worse.

For me, the dream season was a breath of fresh air. Dallas was going into new dynamics.

According to Barbara Curran's book, CBS regarded season 9 (DVD 10) as a rating's success because they had to compete against Miami Vice (although the ratings did not improve compared to the dream season). I think that's one reason why JR, Bobby and Ray were running round with guns for BD Calhoun.

I would have loved if they brought Bobby back exactly like in this article which showed Hagman taking off Bobby's bandages. We would have gotten reunion scenes with the whole family plus a new love triangle between Pam now married to Mark.

At this stage though both Hagman and Duffy were probably too powerful for unorthodox, creative storytelling. PD even negotiated to have creative control over his resurrection storyline.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

The damned women!

I watched PD on an episode of ET recently and he actually referred to Bobby as "God"...saying, "they killed God"...lmao! I don't think he realizes what a jerk Bobby Ewing was a lot of the time. He also referred to one of the characters as a "tart"...which as a woman, I find that very offensive and sexist. Ugh!

He has such an over-inflated sense of self worth when it comes to DALLAS. It's also weird listening to him in interviews and he almost acts as though Victoria didn't exist. It was just the three Musketeers and he and Larry single-handedly made the show a success...like he always touts how the ratings fell when he left but then came way back up for the five years afterwards. I'm pretty sure the last season's of the show had lower ratings than the season he was gone (minus the first year he came back).

On a side-note, I think it's karma that his two screen wives made hundreds of millions of dollars on their own and he didn't.

Patrick saying that 'Pam's goodness is secondary to Bobby's goodness' seemed a really unnecessary comment. Just weird.

 

[Rove]

Photographs of Hagman watching Duffy remove facial bandages

Not having access to Barbara Curran's book was the photographs of Bobby removing bandages to throw the scent off how his character was returning?

 

[Rove]

The magic and the problem of Dallas was the combination of Capice and Hagman

That's my gut feeling after reading posts in other threads on this site over the years. It's my opinion Phil had a sense of creating characters displaying depth and which viewers could relate to. As the series progressed and more importantly after Phil had left then the floodgates of silliness was released. Funny how Executive Producers and Actors wish to cling to the early success of Dallas yet mention nothing about their influence on the declining years.

 

[Chris2]

While Dallas’ ratings were slightly lower for 86-87 (21.3 rating) as opposed to 85-86 (21.7 rating), the ratings for the fall 1986 episodes were stronger than the spring 86 episodes. Some of the spring 1986 episodes were no longer in the top 15. And this was before Dallas went up against Miami Vice. The reason CBS was willing to pay for Duffy’s return is that the ratings really started to free fall in the latter half of 85-86, as the audience was deserting the show. It’s only because the ratings at the beginning of the dream season were still strong that the show ranked in the top 10 for the year.

 

[DallasFanForever]

While Dallas’ ratings were slightly lower for 86-87 (21.3 rating) as opposed to 85-86 (21.7 rating), the ratings for the fall 1986 episodes were stronger than the spring 86 episodes. Some of the spring 1986 episodes were no longer in the top 15. And this was before Dallas went up against Miami Vice. The reason CBS was willing to pay for Duffy’s return is that the ratings really started to free fall in the latter half of 85-86, as the audience was deserting the show. It’s only because the ratings at the beginning of the dream season were still strong that the show ranked in the top 10 for the year.

This makes sense to me. Other than the first several episodes and the last several of the dream season, I never thought it was that strong of a season to be honest. I get bored with it for a long stretch in the middle so I can see why many viewers were tuning out. That doesn’t surprise me.

 

[the-lost-son]

Not having access to Barbara Curran's book was the photographs of Bobby removing bandages to throw the scent off how his character was returning?

Exactly, The article can be found via ultimatedallas.com.com in the article/press section. I would have linked it but the page seems to be down at this moment. (It's only mentioned in the book, the article is not included.)

 

[Seaviewer]

What should have happened was for them to have held back Patrick’s return to season 10 and then spend time developing how to bring him back in a realistic way. But they essentially gave themselves no options by shooting the shower scene and hurriedly adding it onto the end of season 9

I agree with the sentiment but obviously the decision had already been made when they shot the shower scene.

I would have loved if they brought Bobby back exactly like in this article which showed Hagman taking off Bobby's bandages. We would have gotten reunion scenes with the whole family plus a new love triangle between Pam now married to Mark.

Also agree. Amazing that they had both scenarios in front of them - and chose the dream.

 

[Rove]

It’s only because the ratings at the beginning of the dream season were still strong

I wonder if viewers - like me - were expecting an explosive season. It made sense after the death of Bobby to have Pam assume controlling interest in Christopher's share of Ewing Oil. The history between these two was there. Pam had threatened JR to team up with Cliff and Jamie to take Ewing Oil away after his meddling in her search for Mark. It all made sense to us but then nothing came of it.

While this thread is about the discussion of Katzman and Duffy returning to Dallas I'm curious to know Victoria's plans to leave. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't she state she gave them 2 years notice? If this was the case then it could explain why Pam was sidelined for much of the dream season. The Pam I knew would never have offered to sell Christopher's share back to JR.

I'd love to see someone with inside knowledge create a script and turn it into a mini-series focusing on the external/internal politics wreaking havoc on what was once riveting television. I'd watch.

 

[Chris2]

Yep - I felt the same way about the dream season. I was interested in the early part of the season as Pam became a partner at Ewing Oil. But I got bored with all the stuff with the emeralds and the dull Ewing cousins. They had an opportunity to reinvent the show without Bobby and they blew it (they also should have reinvented the show when Pam left instead of trying to do the same show with a big Pam-sized hole in it).

I don’t believe Victoria she talks about giving her two years notice. She was actively negotiating for another deal in 1987. If she truly said that early she was absolutely leaving, then there’s no way they would have had Bobby and Pam remarry in the fall of 1986, because it left them scrambling to write Pam out.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Pat Duffy's return also effectively nixed Steve Forrest remaining on the show as a recast Jock Ewing.

 

[the-lost-son]

I agree with the sentiment but obviously the decision had already been made when they shot the shower scene.

Also agree. Amazing that they had both scenarios in front of them - and chose the dream.

It‘s unclear if it was ever really intended to use a different explanation than the dream.

Some other quotes:

In June a CBS vice president said that a „willing suspension of disbelief“ was necessaryfor viewers to accept Duffy‘s return. In the same month Duffy said that he would play Bobby and not another character.

Steve Kanaly thought that the storyline asks the audience to accept a lot.

Only Duffy, his wife and Katzman knew how Bobby comes back.

Jennilee Harrison received a telegram after the season to disregard the previous which stated her departure from the series (because she died).

Katzman taped several alternate decoys. Hagman hoped that the „Bobby never died solution“ would be used.

John Beck was let go directly after the season.

Writer David Paulsen called the dream solution absolutely perfect.

Priscilla Presley, Linda Grey and Joan van Ark were less enthusiatic about Bobby‘s return for several reasons.

Katzman later said „I‘ll go to my grave convinced that this was the only way to do it.“

Howard Keel called the dream scenario appropriate because the whole season was a nightmare.

Duffy agreed to return for season 9-11 fir 35,000Dollars per episode raise to 75,000 Dollars per episode, a one million signing a bonus and control over the storyline resurrecting Bobby.

 

[Rove]

Katzman later said „I‘ll go to my grave convinced that this was the only way to do it.“

As long as he was happy. The viewers however had other ideas. It will take a lot convincing me otherwise the "Dream Resolution" was the right idea. There was a whiff of revenge about it as some were shown the door.

 

[the-lost-son]

Although it will stay a maystery I think it‘s very likeley that:
- the dream explanation was determined as early as April ‚86 (no changes to the series‘ finale, John Beck let got, Harrison re-hired)
- Patrick Duffy had final say about the storyline
- there seems to be rift in the cast between the ones who liked/didn‘t object to the dream solution (Hagman, Principal, Keel) and the ones whose storylines were affected/stopped (Howard, Kanaly, Grey, Presley)
- Duffy‘s financial demands and the following years‘ declining ratings/reduced affected the cast as well

the longterm affects were severe and it remains questionable if the pros ouweigh the cons

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Writer David Paulsen called the dream solution absolutely perfect.

Paulsen is a company man -- what he says and what he thinks are two different things. He would never have used the dream scenario were he running the show himself, no matter how much he defends it for Lenny.

 

[Mustard]

Yep - I felt the same way about the dream season. I was interested in the early part of the season as Pam became a partner at Ewing Oil. But I got bored with all the stuff with the emeralds and the dull Ewing cousins.

A breath of fresh air, I thought. Something different.

They had an opportunity to reinvent the show without Bobby and they blew it (they also should have reinvented the show when Pam left instead of trying to do the same show with a big Pam-sized hole in it).

Did you really miss Bobby in Season 9 DVD? I can't say I did, as much as I liked the character before. Pam going was a disaster for Dallas.

I don’t believe Victoria she talks about giving her two years notice. She was actively negotiating for another deal in 1987.

Victoria did say in 1985 that she was intending to leave in two years, but she also wasn't completely opposed to the idea of staying on in the right circumstances. However, she didn't think those circumstances were likely to be right, feeling that the quality of the writing and plots had dropped.

If she truly said that early she was absolutely leaving, then there’s no way they would have had Bobby and Pam remarry in the fall of 1986, because it left them scrambling to write Pam out.

Victoria said they forgot what she had said in 1985 about leaving in two years, or didn't take her seriously about leaving in 1987. And it seems they panicked in the second half of Season 10 DVD when they realized that she was serious, with some rumours saying that she had her arm twisted quite a bit just before she left Dallas in an attempt to get her to stay on.

They seriously botched Pam's departure by the way. Even having her mysteriously disappear, never to be seen again, would have been better than what they did.

 

[Rove]

Did you really miss Bobby in Season 9 DVD?

On a recent re-watch of the "Dream Season" I wasn't missing Bobby. I felt his death - much like Jock's - was being used to showcase the actors range and how it affected the characters.

 

[Rove]

had her arm twisted quite a bit just before she left Dallas in an attempt to get her to stay on.

I had read somewhere she would have been the highest paid actress on American television...and she still walked