Who Was The Dumbest Character On Dallas?

[Lastkidpicked]

At the end of the dream season Jack was actually pretty dumb, giving up his car and other possesions and just leaving town.

Jack could have been a great character. Do you remember what he said to J.R?

"I never had money so I don't need money. I like having fun. And it would be fun to stick around and be a thorn in your side."

They could have done some great storylines with this! Imagine an adversary for J.R. who fought with J.R. just for the fun of it.

 

[Rove]

the viewer.

Willie are you suggesting post dream season? I would wholeheartedly agree with you.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Willie are you suggesting post dream season?

No.

Gary, I don't wanna be in that show anymore. It makes me feel dumb.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

the viewer.

Oh yeah, the viewers were all dumb!!

They tuned in and watched the show, grew to love the characters and ended up becoming massive fans.

I stand up proud as a big, old, dumb Dallas fan!!

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Willie are you suggesting post dream season? I would wholeheartedly agree with you.

Yeah post dream season I think he means the dumb fans that think Wes Parmalee was really Jock Ewing!

Oh wait a sec, I didn't mean to post this!!

<Runs & hides!!>

 

[Rove]

Yeah post dream season I think he means

Well you never know with @Willie Oleson and his hand grenade two worded comments. I took it as Post Dream season and calling us out for being 'dumb.' I look back and think my God how stupid was I continuing to watch the dribble that Dallas became. But I stuck it out because I was emotionally connected to the characters. Of course with word Warner Bros are cleaning up the original print in readiness for streaming or DVD/Blu-Ray release I will be first in line to revisit all seasons of the Ewing family.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Well you never know with @Willie Oleson and his hand grenade two worded comments. I took it as Post Dream season and calling us out for being 'dumb.' I look back and think my God how stupid was I continuing to watch the dribble that Dallas became. But I stuck it out because I was emotionally connected to the characters. Of course with word Warner Bros are cleaning up the original print in readiness for streaming or DVD/Blu-Ray release I will be first in line to revisit all seasons of the Ewing family.

Well, back when it originally aired we weren't to know or realise when the show was going into decline. It's only since the DVD releases we can watch the seasons and pinpoint where the show was starting to go into decline.

Yeah I can't wait for a Dallas blu-ray release. I won't kid myself because even though I've got the original DVD releases, the newer one sided full collection which I have two copies of now; I know I will definitely be buying a blu-ray Dallas collection when one comes out. You can never have too much Dallas.

 

[DallasFanForever]

Well you never know with @Willie Oleson and his hand grenade two worded comments

@Willie Oleson loves to drop the bomb on us at least once every Dallas thread. And I gotta say, I respect that immensely. I think it keeps us honest. There’s something really cool about launching that grenade and running for cover and then laughing at us while sitting it out in hiding and Willie does this so well. I look up to this person. And like Charlie Brown with the football every holiday, we keep falling for it like a bunch of idiots. So technically, he’s also right. We are the dumbest characters.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

@Willie Oleson loves to drop the bomb on us at least once every Dallas thread.

beats having the vengeful Luther Frick get the hammer down on us!

and speaking of Willies (and getting back to the thread's title), good ol' bumbling Willie Joe Garr is most certainly in the running for "dumbest character who appeared on Dallas at least twice before skyrocketing to Hollywood box office megasuccess in a blockbuster 3-way buddy franchise with Judge Reinhold and Eddie Murphy", if nothing else

 

[Jock's Ghost]

Lucy and her door-mate fate... always the losers....
Cliff wasn't dumb, he was arrogant, he got very lucky and then his hubris took over.
Mandy- Oh Mandy.... you came and you gave without taking and wasted a season or two.....
Cally- One of the worst additions in the series zombie years- JR's forced wife. Dumb storyline and dumber character.

 

[Jock's Ghost]

That's what I meant. Lucy didn't have a radar for sensing out guys with bad motives. That wouldn't matter as much if it was just a one night stand or a brief fling, but Lucy would fall in love. It makes sense when you consider that Lucy must have spent most of her childhood feeling a bit lonely, without her parents around, and not people of her generation who could understand her. Pam moving in changed that a bit. Pam did understand a lot of Lucy's mindset. But those years of a loneliness feeling is obviously a big part of Lucy desiring a bloke to look after her. Even her fling with Ray had some of that.


I don't think Lucy ever fell for Roger. My memory is that he came on to her heavy the first time, and she regretted it afterwards. The second time, he showed her the shrine, came on to her even more heavily with more obvious lust involved and she couldn't resist, and then she ended it afterwards, calling their relationship weird. The third time and subsequent times, kidnap and rape, until Bobby and Pam put an end to him. As you say, Roger was a psycho.

Roger came after Lucy, she didn't pursue that dummy.

 

[Billy Wall]

JR could easily go on this list. If he doesn’t have the advantage of blackmail, just how smart was he? Despite his inexperience, Bobby whipped him quite a few times.

 

[Barbara Fan]

Cally- One of the worst additions in the series zombie years- JR's forced wife. Dumb storyline and dumber character.

and bad acting too, one to Fwd - icky storyline that made JR look a pervert! YUK.

 

[lbf522]

JR could easily go on this list. If he doesn’t have the advantage of blackmail, just how smart was he? Despite his inexperience, Bobby whipped him quite a few too many times.

Yes I wish we had seen some of JR's backstory. He could not have been a great businessman if the only thing he is capable of is blackmail. JR had a bad reputation so that could not have helped him in business.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

I think its more complicated than that. JR's rivals conducted business in much the same way quite often,
JR was usually quicker, more driven, more ruthless I suppose.
I think his mistakes were usually the result of ego driven/personal decisions (IE Cliff Barnes encounters)

 

[Billy Wall]

I think its more complicated than that. JR's rivals conducted business in much the same way quite often,
JR was usually quicker, more driven, more ruthless I suppose.
I think his mistakes were usually the result of ego driven/personal decisions (IE Cliff Barnes encounters)

When JR went against someone his own size, he had many losses. Bobby, Jeremy Windell and Clayton weren’t idiots and weren’t afraid of JR. He lost to all. Heck, even when Cliff became more of a threat, he hung a few losses on JR. JR even told Sue Ellen after a loss “Cliff isn’t as dumb as he used to be.”

 

[Trainwreck]

Miss Ellie when she fell for Wes Parmalee was a tragic moment of stupidity. I can’t claim her character as a whole was dumb, but that was one of Dallas’ dumber moments.

 

[Rove]

He could not have been a great businessman if the only thing he is capable of is blackmail

I believe Larry Hagman himself has stated JR was hopeless as a businessman. What the writers did was construct a character where us the viewer had the fun of watching JR wheel and deal but the only thing they seem to come up with was JR orchestrating events or blackmailing people to further his needs. This became a little tiresome after several seasons. When you look at the series more closely JR put himself into compromising positions where another character could easily blackmail him. Even a junior journalist working at The Dallas Morning News could easily have constructed a story exposing JR Ewing.

 

[Trainwreck]

Cliff Barnes was an idiot

 

[Lastkidpicked]

JR could easily go on this list. If he doesn’t have the advantage of blackmail, just how smart was he?

I wish we had seen some of JR's backstory.

I think his mistakes were usually the result of ego driven/personal decisions (IE Cliff Barnes encounters)

What the writers did was construct a character where us the viewer had the fun of watching JR wheel and deal

Very good points!
J.R. was the most entertaining during the years when he ENJOYED the fights. The banter between him and his rivals. Remember the lead up to the "Who Shot J.R." cliffhanger? Vaughn Leland was his usual slimy self, and decided to buy into the action when J.R. knew he would get ripped off.

J.R.'s hilarious line? "Vaughn, there is nobody I'd want in on this deal more than you." HAHAHAHAHAHA! Funny on rewatch when we know what is going to happen to anybody who went in on the deal.

And look at the video posted by @Trainwreck right above this post (and thank you for posting that).

Notice how much J.R. is relishing the fight. He's having a great time!
Those are my favorite J.R. years.