What if JR had not died

[lbf522]

It's the one constant throughout the story of Sue Ellen. She always found a way of burning a friendship, especially if she and JR were having good relations. The claws were out and the venom would spray at anyone criticizing her beloved. But when separated or divorced she wished to be everyone's best friend.

But this is what I love about the character. She loved. She hated. She drank. There was never a dull moment when Sue Ellen was around. Damn I miss this character.

I agree. Look at the numerous times Sue Ellen turned on Bobby and sided with JR and still Bobby was always there for her.

 

[Rove]

I would have preferred something like with Jock's death. Any thing other than JR dying in some seedy Mexican hotel.

What was Cidre's fascination with Mexico? Drug cartels, mafia storylines have been done to death on Soaps. Grrrrr! That whole experience was a real turn off for me.

 

[lbf522]

I agree Rove. Cidre's obsession with Mexico bothered me as well. If she wanted to write a Mexican drama fine then she should have but not destroy Dallas.

 

[Jabari Lamar]

I think they handled J.R.'s death as best they could. And it was the right choice to kill the character, and resolve it by the end of season 2. I don't think trying to drag it out longer would have worked. The problem is what came after that. Season 3 should have been a real fresh start of the series. As even David Jacob said at the time, that's when the younger cast should have stepped up, and been the focus, getting back to the John Ross vs Christopher as business rivals premise that was initially promised. Instead it got off-track with all the drug cartel stuff.

 

[Laurie Marr]

Given the circumstances they found themselves, the writers did a bravura job of re-plotting the rest of that Season. I recalled at the time in a rather bittersweet way that one of the more outlandish theories during the original ‘Who Shot JR?’ phenomenon was that JR had paid Harry McSween to pump him full of lead so he could frame one of his enemies.

 

[Sarah]

If JR had not died, he would be with Sue Ellen.

Linda told the story of how one of the last ever scripts before Larry died had 'JR and Sue Ellen going into the bedroom, and closing the door...'

My heart.

 

[Justine]

I think they handled J.R.'s death as best they could. And it was the right choice to kill the character, and resolve it by the end of season 2. I don't think trying to drag it out longer would have worked.

I agree. I think, if the writers had failed to acknowledge Larry's death on the show, it would have felt disrespectful and we wouldn't have been blessed with the fabulous 'I'm a bit drunk now' performance from Linda at the funeral.

 

[Rove]

had 'JR and Sue Ellen going into the bedroom, and closing the door...'

What was going to happen behind that door?

 

[Sarah]

What was going to happen behind that door?

 

[Karin Schill]

Well I think the idea was to leave that up to the viewers imagination. But it was implied that JR/SE were about to get back together and since we can't have "older people" kissing on TV it would have been filmed in a way to get around that. Seriously though I think most fans would have welcomed a JR/SE kissing scene. In fact I think cutting out the one that was filmed for the BBQ was a big mistake.

 

[Michael Torrance]

What was Cidre's fascination with Mexico? Drug cartels, mafia storylines have been done to death on Soaps. Grrrrr! That whole experience was a real turn off for me.

We have talked about it in another thread
http://soapchat.net/threads/tnt-dallas-a-caricature-of-the-original.6015/page-4#post-142224
http://soapchat.net/threads/tnt-dallas-a-caricature-of-the-original.6015/page-4#post-142225

 

[Michael Torrance]

I think they handled J.R.'s death as best they could. And it was the right choice to kill the character, and resolve it by the end of season 2. I don't think trying to drag it out longer would have worked. The problem is what came after that. Season 3 should have been a real fresh start of the series. As even David Jacob said at the time, that's when the younger cast should have stepped up, and been the focus, getting back to the John Ross vs Christopher as business rivals premise that was initially promised. Instead it got off-track with all the drug cartel stuff.

I agree that they were handed a very tough deck of cards, and they did play them as much as possible. But the next generation was the reason why a Dallas continuation made sense 21 years after the end of the original, because they had set it up with the cousins/sons of the two rival brothers--it was also why a Dynasty continuation could not have happened after all these years, hence the reboot.

 

[Rove]

because they had set it up with the cousins/sons of the two rival brothers

Only for one of those cousins/sons to be blown up in an attempt by Cidre to get her continuation..except it blew up in her face and now after 40 years of investment this is what Dallas fans are left with

 

[Michael Torrance]

Only for one of those cousins/sons to be blown up in an attempt by Cidre to get her continuation..except it blew up in her face and now after 40 years of investment this is what Dallas fans are left with

Somebody could ignore all of season 3 like Cidre ignored the Dallas movies. It is just an issue of whether Warner has any interest to resurrect the Dallas brand.

 

[Kenny Coyote]

Somebody could ignore all of season 3 like Cidre ignored the Dallas movies. It is just an issue of whether Warner has any interest to resurrect the Dallas brand.

Better yet they could ignore seasons 1,2, and 3 of the cider project.

 

[JR Ewing Fan]

Better yet they could ignore seasons 1,2, and 3 of the cider project.

It's what I do. TNT Dallas was set in an alternate Universe.

 

[Swami]

Most "What ifs" are academic but this one is even more so. Surely no-one would have countenanced recasting the role of JR, especially after Larry Hagman's death.

It would have been a mockery if they had even considered.

Swami

 

[stevew]

As a practical matter, I doubt that there would be enough unused footage to put together but maybe they could have kept him alive offscreen, planning operations from the shadows, giving instructions to Bum via one-sided phone calls.

The Bold & The Beautiful's original Sally Spectra has survived Darlene Conley for years now.

I agree with this. They should have taken there time. I think they could have used the shooting to set things up - JR dying of stage 4 cancer (only God can take him out) sets up a plan to push John Ross into being a “man” and taking Ewing Oil, Ewing Energies, Barns Global, West Star, Southfork, Ryland Shipping and all of “Dallas.” Behind the scences he’s dying and Bum and Carlos carry out his wishes while Sue Ellen cares for him in his final days. It could have been touching instead of a crime drama.

 

[stevew]

Slightly off topic but I recently read that myself. I thought that's an odd thing for the producers to leave hanging out there. Something similar happened recently in Neighbours (a show I don't watch) but read an article how the writers were going to deal with the death of an old character, two years after the death of the actor.

But back to this topic. Considering the circumstances surrounding Larry's ill health and death the creative types of TNT Dallas decided they needed to kill off J.R. Was this a knee-jerk reaction? Possibly. Could they have continued with the series where JR is alive off-screen for a little while longer? Yes. Especially if the writers continued with the story JR had been searching for Pam for several months. Nothing like a good yarn involving two of the most iconic characters to breath life into this series. Missed opportunity.

The original writers did it with Jock - legtbus waiting for a very long time after the actor died.

 

[stevew]

THE COLBYS ended up using Connie in season 2, and she actually had a pivotal role in a plot from the past, though Barbara Stanwyck left --and that is more than the tangential way B&B has weirdly kept Sally alive drinking margaritas somewhere in Mexico. I think TNT Dallas could have kept JR longer as a shadow looming over the family same as Pam did, but frankly I think Cidre thought it was a blessing in disguise. After Hagman died, the de-Ewingization of the show accelerated, to the point that by the time the title sequence was completely like the original in season three, almost nothing else was.

Good point regarding “de-Ewingizing.”