Swansong

[Grangehill1]

Why does Swansong feel like no other episode of Dallas. Even now, all of these years later there’s something clearly ‘different’ about it.

Structurally it’s also like no other episode and I can’t quite put my finger on the reason why. Every scene moves the story on and there’s no filler - is that it?

If only the show had ended at this

 

[Claude Dallas]

Duration 70mn, written and directed by Leonard Katzman, and of course the end of an era with Bobby's death.
At that time nobody know he will ever return. So it like a... swansong...

 

[Sea - Boo! - Er]

It doesn't play like just another link in a never-ending chain. It has definite conclusion.

 

[Rove]

If only the show had ended at this

In retrospect I agree, but only because of what Dallas became especially after Pam's tanker crash...but even that was handled appallingly. If only Barbara Bel Geddes was in that season leading up to Swan Song then yes, this episode offers me a finality to Dallas.

Would I have missed Dallas if it ended here? Absolutely. If it did I strongly believe Dallas would forever be known as one of the best television series ever to grace the small screen.

 

[Spooky Owl!]

Don't bring in Donna Reed. If you resurrect Bobby, don't use the dream scenario.

And end on Pam's crash (because I don't want to miss Season 10) or, at most, end on Sue Ellen shooting JR in his high-rise apartment. (I'd extend that to Sue Ellen leaving Texas in 1989, but her last year -- with Halleyville and chain-gangs and motion pictures aplenty --just was too silly to end on.

P.S. -- Yes, "Swan Song" was 70 minutes long (as opposed to 47) but that meant it would be forever chopped-up in syndication --- so make it a full two-episode length.