Dallas Random Thought Thread

[Billy Wall]

After reading the last few post, I watched "the search" episode again. One of Dallas' best episodes IMO. This is a nitpick, but the only thing they got wrong on that episode was playing the theme music at the end. It should have been a silent closing.

 

[Billy Wall]

I know Texas has some palm trees, but this IS NOT Texas. Lol

 

[Billy Wall]

Never noticed someone else played Jordan Lee before Don Starr. That's Jordan.

 

[DallasFanForever]

It's night and day.

Sadly I don’t remember the cliffhanger of Sue Ellen shooting him generating any hype at all that summer. It was actually quite laughable. I don’t think anyone took it seriously and we pretty much knew it was going to be resolved the way it was and in only one episode. It was definitely night and day compared to the early years.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Never noticed someone else played Jordan Lee before Don Starr. That's Jordan.

View attachment 54052

I never realized that. Don Starr was quite good as Jordan.
His exit seemed contrived and out of character though

 

[DallasFanForever]

His exit seemed contrived and out of character though

Contrived and out of character is absolutely correct but I will say at least he was given an exit that actually meant something compared to so many of the others that didn’t even get that. I know that final season is mostly forgettable but he was a part of a major storyline on the way out.

 

[CeeCee72]

One more in a long line of familiar and well loved characters being killed off the Bobby and JR show.

 

[Seaviewer]

My rewatch has given me a new perspective on April. I hadn't noticed before how she always had that "public vs private persona" thing that William Devane talked about re Greg Sumner.
Even from the beginning when she comes off so blustery, we then see her sad and alone in her apartment and see that it was really only bravado. It was not so much a change of personality as time went on as a relaxation as she warmed up to those around her.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Writing Digger out was a big mistake, I always thought.
Imagine...
When Jim Davis passed, Digger could have had a much more impactful role.
What if Digger sniffed out oil, Cliff and Digger formed a company, and Digger sobered (at least temporarily)
and battled the Ewings while the company was in a somewhat instable state without Jock?
It could have been interesting

 

[DallasFanForever]

My rewatch has given me a new perspective on April

I grew to like her more the longer she stayed. I think I preferred her as a vixen but she seemed to play both sides of the character very well. I always felt sorry for her when she would get exactly what she wanted yet then you’d see how lonely she was and suddenly all that money didn’t really matter to her because she was still all alone.

 

[xab]

Too bad Sue Ellen and JR are fictional characters. I'be willing to study their natal chart (I mean astrology). I'd bet
JR's Mid heaven is loaded with a strong Mars/Pluto conjunction opposite to his Sun in house 4 ( roots, family etc) ... Or Maybe a prominent house 8 , the house of Sex, power, ambition, death, manipulation...
And Sue Ellen might have struggled her whole life with a Neptune square (or maybe opposite) to a Soleil Venus conjunction... Charisma and beauty, but a chronic blindness when it comes to love... Addictions (vodka) are related to Neptune too... If SE is Linda's age, Neptune was in Virgo in 1940. I could easily picture a Pisces Sue Ellen, Virgo rising (being born around March 11, 1940)... But with Venus in Taurus in March, no Sun / Venus conjunction possible. But we still have a very interesting Neptune / Mercury and Sun opposition (wasn't SE's mind foggy sometimes... ? With an erratic behavior and bad choices... ?)
And besides Lilith / black moon is conjunct to mercury in pisces.
A Moon in Aries / House 8 conjunct to Saturn fits SE's relationship with her mother (Moon symbolizes the mother in Astrology)
It seems perfect...
This is how I see Sue Ellen (chart in attached file)

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

I grew to like her more the longer she stayed. I think I preferred her as a vixen but she seemed to play both sides of the character very well. I always felt sorry for her when she would get exactly what she wanted yet then you’d see how lonely she was and suddenly all that money didn’t really matter to her because she was still all alone.

Good perspective on April.
I thought she was a good supporting character, certainly better than most of the season 11-14 new arrivals.
The pairing with Bobby wasn't the best, I would say, but the previous stories with her were quite good

 

[DallasFanForever]

When watching back then I felt she and Bobby were actually a good couple. Upon multiple rewatches I find them less interesting now and they feel kind of forced. Not really her fault though. I think anyone post-Pam would have a hard time measuring up.

 

[Snowcat]

Finished Season 10! It started off very weak, got compelling with Paramalee, and had a good finish with the DOJ stuff. JR was a shark again when he realized he was being set up and recorded. Very clever.
Miss Ellie was an asshole in these final episodes, reading the boys the riot act. She's their mother- she would stick by them no matter what. NONE of them knew the extent of JR's doings so it made no sense for their outrage. Then when she starts crying and jerk off Clayton tore into JR, that was a load of shit. Clayton was worse of a character than Lucy. Shoved in there for no reason, a PLOT CHARACTER. He should have died off this season and made room for JOCK.
I never really disliked Mandy, but JR's fascination with her was dumb. Debra Shelton was a fine enough actor, just useless and her stuff always gets the fast-forward button.
I didn't find myself disliking April as much this time around. Although her constant smirk is annoying.
Jeremy Wendell was great as the bigger shark.
Two of the season's most obvious sticking points were Patrick and Victoria- BOTH felt off. Bobby is barely around while JR is getting in trouble and Pam screams and yells at Cliff and the Ewings. Victoria you could tell was tired. She was bored and written strangely. It's odd how she and Duffy both are NOT the same at the end of S8 and S10. NOT a long time between them yet so very different. I blame Hack Katzman. .

I so wanted Clayton to die and Jock to be back. He would’ve kicked JR’s butt in the way that only Jock can when he lost Ewing Oil. He would have been able to help them get it back. But I don’t know if Parmalee would have had the same presence with the family as Jim Davis had. I think it could have been beautiful when the boys finally realize their Daddy was back

 

[Snowcat]

Bobby explained to Pam that he stood right there and did nothing while he knew JR was up to no good.

As for Miss Ellie. She had a glorified view of Jock. I'm not going to say that she was totally a "Bambi in the woods" per se, but she really didn't know just how ruthless her husband was. When she once said, "Jock would never...." JR responded, "You have no idea what daddy has done." Or something to that effect. When Donna told her about Jock and Sam Culver, Miss Ellie was like "My Jock would never...."

Again, Miss Ellie wasn't totally blind and she knew that they weren't perfect, but I don't think she was privy to a lot of the things Jock and later JR was doing.

Agree that Miss Ellie was in the dark about a lot of what Jock did. But I don’t think Jock would have gotten involved with terrorists. Jock was an aggressive businessman. But he didn’t take the gambles JR did

 

[Snowcat]

The death of Jim Davis was the ONE case departure that Dallas got right. They bumbled the exits of BBG, Duffy, and Principal so badly the show never recovered. At least Davis got a respectable send-off, the fans saw the family mourn him, and his death resulted in the greatest storyline in Dallas history.

Part of the difference is Jim Davis died. He couldn’t come back. I think that’s why it was treated so tastefully.

 

[Snowcat]

I totally agree that the Jock we knew would’ve handled things much differently but I did like how they wrote it with him being all mysterious at first and not just blurting out who he was supposed to be. I thought it added to the story.

I disagree. Jock loved his family above all. I think that was the thing we all loved about Dallas is the family bond despite the scheming. They always stick up for each other Against the outside. That was Jocks influence. I can believe Jock would return and not reveal himself just to be near his family again. I could see Jock calling Punk Anderson and asking him to plant the story about who they thought Wes Parmalee was. I could see him walking away rather than hurt anyone further, especially Miss Ellie.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

I like Conundrum more than most people I think. Granted, it wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either.

My alternative ending.

A despondent JR is looking at a picture of Jock, and talking about his life and how he misses Jock.

Bobby walks in the room and says to JR something like
'Somebody wants to talk to us, and I think we need to listen'
Steve Forrest/Jock says something like 'We are going to get my company back from Barnes.
Time to go to work!'

 

[CeeCee72]

I like Conundrum more than most people I think. Granted, it wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either.

My alternative ending.

A despondent JR is looking at a picture of Jock, and talking about his life and how he misses Jock.

Bobby walks in the room and says to JR something like
'Somebody wants to talk to us, and I think we need to listen'
Steve Forrest/Jock says something like 'We are going to get my company back from Barnes.
Time to go to work!'

That would certainly have been better than what we got.

 

[DallasFanForever]

I don’t think Jock would have gotten involved with terrorists. Jock was an aggressive businessman. But he didn’t take the gambles JR did

I think Jock knew where the line was not to cross. He was no saint but I don’t think he would’ve put Ewing Oil in the same predicament J.R. did.