Could TNT dallas have worked better if...

Bobby Southworth

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A different't actor played Christopher for starters, and Teressa was the mother of the Ramos kids. At least Teressa had roots in original Dallas, Ryland was a good character, along with his mother, and daughter, so it's not that I didn't care for any of the new additions, but I wonder if the Ramos characters would have been more tolerable if there was at least a tie to the original show. Also, had Cliff been truer to his original Dallas character, and perhaps not become a sociopath. Last, but maybe not least, if they had used the original interior to Southfork.
 
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DallasFanForever

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I think those are all good ideas that could’ve helped but ultimately I don’t think it would’ve made much difference. They would’ve had to do a lot more to make it feel like Dallas and not a weekly crime drama and that wasn’t going to happen with the people that were running it.
 

Monzo

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I agree with you, but I think dialogues and directing were a major problem. The way characters talked was too superficial, it wasn't fun like in the original. And these zooms (don't know if it's the correct term) during close-ups were confusing. On paper TNT Dallas wasn't as bad as on TV. Dallas should have stayed in it's bubble, so no organized crime.
 
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Seaviewer

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Lack of ties and downright inconsistency with the original show is my main complaint about TNT Dallas, so, yes, little things like making the Ramos family related to Teresa and Raoul, and some explanation for Cliff's behavior, would have helped a great deal.
Also, unlike some others, I didn't find any fault with Jesse Metcalfe's acting, but I did think he looked too much like a Ewing when he was supposed to be adopted.
 

Bobby Southworth

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Lack of ties and downright inconsistency with the original show is my main complaint about TNT Dallas, so, yes, little things like making the Ramos family related to Teresa and Raoul, and some explanation for Cliff's behavior, would have helped a great deal.
Also, unlike some others, I didn't find any fault with Jesse Metcalfe's acting, but I did think he looked too much like a Ewing when he was supposed to be adopted.
It's funny you mention that about Jesse looking too much like a Ewing when being adopted. I had that thought as well, then thought about the fact that he may have some of Kristin's features, however, Joshua Harris did not. laugh. Maybe he started out looking like his dad..a little..Jeff Farraday? and later tends to resemble his mother. To be fair to Metcalf, I'm not sure if his acting was the problem, or what was being written for him. I haven't really seen him in anything else. I just felt like they went with models when doing the casting for the younger generation. I did think Josh Henderson was good as John Ross, so maybe just better marerial to work with?
 

pete lashmar

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To to blunt, there were far too many issues with TNT that nothing could save it.

Any continuation of Dallas needed to be solidly rooted in the show's history but CC decided she knew better and just went off on her own journey which trampled on the legacy of the show.

Poor scripts, dire dialogues, miscast actors and some terrible "new" additions created a hotch potch that turned viewers off in their droves.It alienated most fans of the original and wasn't watchable for any new viewers...so it failed on all fronts.

There were some good ideas, and a couple of juicy plots but they didn't matter because the show was a complete mess.

I'll be honest, when it first aired I was so excited and loved seeing the show back, but as the show went on I became more and more aware of it not being Dallas. I'm all for updates and changes, but Dallas is one show that never did change or updates well and that's why it died a death in the first place.

If they had started with Miss Ellie's funeral it would have at least given the show some solid new roots, with the Ewings gathering and facing a new wind of change, but instead we got introduced to a family we had never known, who were completely unlikable and most of the screen time was on them..

Jessie, as lovely as he is to look at was void of any charisma and just came across as a dull, lame lamb that needed to be put out of his misery.

But the worst decision IMO was not swapping the sons, Christopher should have been the powerful one and John Ross the jock, it would have lead to so much more conflict for them and their families.
 

ChrisEwing2003

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But the worst decision IMO was not swapping the sons, Christopher should have been the powerful one and John Ross the jock, it would have lead to so much more conflict for them and their families.
Are you meaning Christopher as the JResque character and John Ross as the Bobbyesque character? If this is the case why does Cidre gets lectured for not getting details right, and David Jacobs gets praised for going against the canon just for the sake of it?
 

Jabari Lamar

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Are you meaning Christopher as the JResque character and John Ross as the Bobbyesque character? If this is the case why does Cidre gets lectured for not getting details right, and David Jacobs gets praised for going against the canon just for the sake of it?
Except it wouldn't really be going against canon, as the last time we saw either boy they were kids, barely teens. Sure, John Ross seemed a bit bratty back then, but a lot can change in 20 years as they grew up. And Jacobs' idea wasn't switching them "just for the sake of it", as he explained it, it made sense from a character standpoint. You can talk to people who’ve been adopted, many do experience some feelings of not really belonging in their family. Christopher having this nagging insecurity about not being a “real Ewing” could motivate him to want to prove himself by becoming the biggest most successful oilman ever, just like his uncle J.R. and grandpa Jock, no matter what he has to do or whom he has to destroy to do it. And then you have John Ross, growing up in the shadow of his father, whom he saw treat people like dirt, including his mother. And, especially since they ignored the films, he lost Ewing Oil and ended up along in a nursing home, of course he’d want to be nothing like him, and strive to be a good honest businessman, like his uncle Bobby, to repair the damage he feels that his father did to the Ewing name. So you have these two cousins in business together, but Christopher wants to focus on oil while John Ross wants to look to more environmentally friendly alternative energies, each of them thinking they’re doing what’s best for the family legacy, turning against their own fathers while trying to be like each other’s father. Meanwhile each father is looking on in disgust at what his son has become, and blaming their brother. J.R. thinks Bobby is turning John Ross into a wimp like him, Bobby thinks J.R. is turning Christopher into a monster like him. Boom! You’ve got multi-layers of conflict! John Ross vs. Christopher, John Ross vs. J.R., Christopher vs. Bobby, which brings us back to J.R. vs. Bobby. The drama practically writes itself.
 

ChrisEwing2003

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Except it wouldn't really be going against canon, as the last time we saw either boy they were kids, barely teens. Sure, John Ross seemed a bit bratty back then, but a lot can change in 20 years as they grew up. And Jacobs' idea wasn't switching them "just for the sake of it", as he explained it, it made sense from a character standpoint. You can talk to people who’ve been adopted, many do experience some feelings of not really belonging in their family. Christopher having this nagging insecurity about not being a “real Ewing” could motivate him to want to prove himself by becoming the biggest most successful oilman ever, just like his uncle J.R. and grandpa Jock, no matter what he has to do or whom he has to destroy to do it. And then you have John Ross, growing up in the shadow of his father, whom he saw treat people like dirt, including his mother. And, especially since they ignored the films, he lost Ewing Oil and ended up along in a nursing home, of course he’d want to be nothing like him, and strive to be a good honest businessman, like his uncle Bobby, to repair the damage he feels that his father did to the Ewing name. So you have these two cousins in business together, but Christopher wants to focus on oil while John Ross wants to look to more environmentally friendly alternative energies, each of them thinking they’re doing what’s best for the family legacy, turning against their own fathers while trying to be like each other’s father. Meanwhile each father is looking on in disgust at what his son has become, and blaming their brother. J.R. thinks Bobby is turning John Ross into a wimp like him, Bobby thinks J.R. is turning Christopher into a monster like him. Boom! You’ve got multi-layers of conflict! John Ross vs. Christopher, John Ross vs. J.R., Christopher vs. Bobby, which brings us back to J.R. vs. Bobby. The drama practically writes itself.
Who is the one that grew up with the vindictive parents that used their son as a weapon against the other one? John Ross, Who is the one that left Southfork because he wasn't the center of attention in J.R.'s eyes? John Ross. That same argument about motivation could be used for John Ross just as well. He could want to be the biggest oilman to prove that he's better than James Beaumont, the first born son of J.R. Ewing. Or is James Beaumont another casualty of ignoring the canon when it is convenient?
 

Rove

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Christopher having this nagging insecurity about not being a “real Ewing”
...and the introduction of Lucas might have spurred on those insecurities. Lucas could have been a game changer with TNT Dallas if he stepped off that plane at the end of Season 1 instead of Cliff. Imagine if Lucas had somehow met up with Pamela Rebecca Barnes in Europe and had devised a plan to destroy the Ewing family from the inside out. Who cares why Lucas might have wished this but the joy is in discovering why.
 

Rove

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Or is James Beaumont another casualty of ignoring the canon when it is convenient?
In the TNT version I'm afraid so...much like everything else. James Beaumont could have been another inclusion if the role was recast with a solid performer. This is one recast I would have given the tick of approval.
 

Jabari Lamar

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Who is the one that grew up with the vindictive parents that used their son as a weapon against the other one? John Ross, Who is the one that left Southfork because he wasn't the center of attention in J.R.'s eyes? John Ross. That same argument about motivation could be used for John Ross just as well.
Sure, could be. But those seem like better reasons for him to want to not be like his parents. A lot of folks here site the big showdown between John Ross and Sue Ellen where he's shouting "I'm not my father!" as a powerful emotional scene, and it was well-acted between Josh and Linda, except the problem for me was that he was acting like his father, by cheating on his wife, which is what Sue Ellen was confronting him on. I think there was more potential for drama if you had John Ross as someone that trying his best to live down his father's reputation and do good, but everyone assumes that he's just like his father so they don't trust him. Meanwhile he sees Christopher gliding through life because he's Bobby Ewing's son, so everyone trusts him, yet he's the one who's quick to stab anyone in the back to get what he wants.


He could want to be the biggest oilman to prove that he's better than James Beaumont, the first born son of J.R. Ewing. Or is James Beaumont another casualty of ignoring the canon when it is convenient?
Even in-canon, James had no real interest in the oil business, which is why he eventually left. I wouldn't necessarily ignore him, if a good story could be come up for him, but I wouldn't go out of my way to include him beyond maybe some casual mentions, he's off in Vienna or wherever with his own family. So he'd be no worry for adult John Ross.
 

ChrisEwing2003

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Sure, could be. But those seem like better reasons for him to want to not be like his parents. A lot of folks here site the big showdown between John Ross and Sue Ellen where he's shouting "I'm not my father!" as a powerful emotional scene, and it was well-acted between Josh and Linda, except the problem for me was that he was acting like his father, by cheating on his wife, which is what Sue Ellen was confronting him on. I think there was more potential for drama if you had John Ross as someone that trying his best to live down his father's reputation and do good, but everyone assumes that he's just like his father so they don't trust him. Meanwhile he sees Christopher gliding through life because he's Bobby Ewing's son, so everyone trusts him, yet he's the one who's quick to stab anyone in the back to get what he wants.



Even in-canon, James had no real interest in the oil business, which is why he eventually left. I wouldn't necessarily ignore him, if a good story could be come up for him, but I wouldn't go out of my way to include him beyond maybe some casual mentions, he's off in Vienna or wherever with his own family. So he'd be no worry for adult John Ross.
Fine we are just going to have to agree to disagree. I do not want to keep going in circles.
 

Jabari Lamar

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It's all just hypothetical musings among fans, like all the "better ways to bring Bobby back than the dream solution" or "what if Wes Parmalee was revealed as Jock" and others such discussions in the main series forum. It's not like any of us can go back in time and actually rewrite the stories. So it's ultimately irrelevant.
 

Sarah

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Who is the one that grew up with the vindictive parents that used their son as a weapon against the other one? John Ross, Who is the one that left Southfork because he wasn't the center of attention in J.R.'s eyes? John Ross. That same argument about motivation could be used for John Ross just as well. He could want to be the biggest oilman to prove that he's better than James Beaumont, the first born son of J.R. Ewing. Or is James Beaumont another casualty of ignoring the canon when it is convenient?
Whose mother ran off after and accident and left his father - again?
 
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