Dallas

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Dallas

With the 1980 episode that answered the question "Who Shot J.R.?," Dallas became the most-watched program in the history of television. The originator of the prime-time soap opera, Dallas' serial stories about the exploits of a Texas oil family provided fodder for water-cooler gossip as well as real bookie-joint wagering. The program enjoyed a 13 year run, making superstars of Larry Hagman, Victoria Principal, Patrick Duffy, and others. The program foundered in the early 1990s and is remembered more than any other program as the epitome of the unabashedly capitalistic Reagan era.

Premiering April 2, 1978 on CBS, the series revolved around the relationships and tribulations of patriarch Jock Ewing and wife "Miss Ellie" (played by Jim Davis and Barbara Bel Geddes) and their three sons: J.R. (Hagman), the deceitful, conniving businessman who with his father ran the family oil company; Bobby (Duffy) a freewheeling playboy as the series began; and Gary (first David Ackroyd, then Ted Shackelford), a weak-willed alcoholic who long ago had fled the family's Southfork Ranch. J.R.'s wife was boozy Sue Ellen (Linda Gray). Bobby, in the series' first episode, eloped with Pamela (Victoria Principal), the sexy daughter of family arch-enemy Digger Barnes. Their marriage set the stage for years of conflict, especially with Pamela's brother Cliff (Ken Kercheval).

In early episodes, the series was structured as a traditional weekly drama; each episode presented a stand-alone story, with Pamela ostensibly the focal point of the narrative. It quickly became clear, however, that wily J.R. was the real favorite of both the series' writers and the audience. By 1979, the series threaded continuing stories through several stand-alone episodes. Alcoholic Sue Ellen turned up pregnant: was the baby J.R.'s or Cliff's? J.R.'s turncoat secretary Julie (Tina Louise) was murdered: would J.R. succeed in framing Cliff for the killing?

The series settled into a Friday at 10:00 p.m time-slot, growing in popularity until the final episode of the 1979-1980 season, when J.R. was shot by an unknown assailant. There was no shortage of suspects: he had spent the season acquiring, then unloading what proved to be worthless Asian oil leases, swindling everyone from the family banker to his own mother in the process; he had driven Bobby and Pam off Southfork; and he had shipped wife Sue Ellen off to a sanitarium, even as he bedded her younger sister.

During that summer of 1980, Dallas fever exploded. "Who Shot J.R.?" was a sensation, the subject of everything from fan speculation to Las Vegas betting. The press scrambled in vain to uncover details of the fall scripts; elaborate security precautions were put into effect at the studio. Producers took no chances; each actor was brought in to film scenes of his or her character "shooting" J.R.

A lingering actors' strike—and Larry Hagman's demand for a raise—threatened the solution to the mystery, but the public finally learned the answer on November 21, 1980. Sue Ellen's sister Kristin, J.R.'s former mistress, had pulled the trigger, infuriated by J.R.'s attempts to run her out of town. Sue Ellen herself solved the mystery, realizing her sister was plotting to frame her for the crime. Unfortunately, Kristin revealed she was pregnant with J.R.'s baby; instead of sending her to prison, J.R. shipped his assailant off to California, where she would have her illegitimate child in secret. The episode set an all-time ratings record: an unprecedented 53.3 Nielsen mark, meaning more than half of America's television households were tuned in—the highest rating in history, a figure exceeded only once in later years.

Dallas was now the most popular series on American television. Actor Jim Davis passed away in early 1981 and Jock was eventually written out of the series. His will set up a power struggle at Ewing Oil that unfolded over most of the 1982-1983 season, arguably the series' creative peak. Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie) departed for health reasons in 1984; she was replaced by Donna Reed. Barely a year later, Reed was reportedly livid to discover she had been fired to make way for Bel Geddes' return. She sued the series' producers.

Meanwhile, J.R. and Sue Ellen divorced, remarried, then divorced again; Bobby and Pam had also divorced by 1984. The characters were moving toward reconciliation when actor Patrick Duffy announced he was leaving the show. In the final episode of the 1984-1985 season, Bobby was killed—murdered by his deranged former sister-in-law, even as he had just professed his undying love for Pam.

Yet even as the series spun its larger-than-life stories, it also managed to capture the real-life flavor of a turbulent decade: the 1982-1983 recession figured prominently in the story; later, the mid-decade mania of big-business mergers and take-overs was reflected on-screen. The fictional Ewing Oil was now worth two billion dollars, but the Dallas franchise itself was priceless to CBS and its affiliates.

The series had begotten one spin-off (brother Gary and wife Val set up housekeeping in Knots Landing in 1979) and a host of imitators, from Falcon Crest to Flamingo Road to Dynasty. Dynasty, in particular, caught the public's fancy. Where Dallas' stories had at least some grounding in real life, Dynasty was simply glamorous, over-the-top high camp. By the end of the 1984-1985 season, Dynasty ran neck-and-neck with Dallas for the number one position in the ratings.

A behind-the-scenes shakeup followed; that Dallas suddenly looked a lot more like Dynasty —soapier plots, more elaborate costumes—was apparently no coincidence. When a Cosby -led sitcom resurgence pushed all the evening soaps down the ratings chart by 1986, the production staff was overhauled again: much of the old guard returned, and Larry Hagman began assuming some creative control over the series. Hagman himself reportedly engineered one of the biggest television coups of 1986 when he personally convinced Patrick Duffy to return to the series. In the final 1985-1986 episode, Pamela awoke from a night's sleep, only to find the long-dead Bobby lathering up in her shower. The audience was left to wonder all summer: Who was that? How did he get there? The cliffhanger was nearly as big a sensation as "Who Shot J.R." had been six years earlier, and the producers hyped it expertly—going so far as to film fake footage, then allowing it to find its way into the tabloids.

"Bobby in the Shower" was an inspired stunt; the resolution was a disaster. In the opening moments of the fall season, it was revealed that Bobby had never died; instead, Pamela had simply dreamt the entire 1985-1986 season. An entire year's worth of narrative and character development were simply wiped out. Fans howled in protest; the move was a critical and creative debacle.

The episode also turned out to be the last great moment of the "prime-time soap" craze. Dynasty's ratings had collapsed; Dallas, while strong, was losing ground. Victoria Principal departed in 1987; several supporting characters were written out about the same time. Everyone from Priscilla Presley to a young Brad Pitt had passed through Southfork by this time, but the characters' antics were becoming sillier. A stranger claimed to be the presumed-dead Jock; he was revealed as an impostor. J.R's dirty dealings finally cost him Ewing Oil; he went into business for himself. In 1988, J.R. was held captive by some good ol' boys in Arkansas; he later married their virgin young sister. The character's 1990 stay in a mental institution (he had infiltrated it to meet a business contact, only to find himself committed by his disgruntled illegitimate son) was a low point.

Yet even in its dotage, the series made waves. Location filming in Europe and the Soviet Union in 1989 drew considerable press; later that year, CBS switchboards lit up when Linda Gray's final appearance as Sue Ellen was interrupted for news bulletins (the network repented by showing the "missing minutes" in late-night several weeks later). An experimental return to single-story episodes in 1988 drew little attention; a try-out of several-episode "story arcs" in 1990 featured a guest appearances by Susan Lucci and a reunion with Hagman's I Dream of Jeannie co-star Barbara Eden. The venerable series ended its run in May, 1991, with a take-off of It's A Wonderful Life where J.R. was visited not by an angel, but by a messenger of Satan (Joel Grey) who, along with favorite characters from the past, presented a series of vignettes demonstrating what life would have been had J.R. never been born. In the series' final scene, the mysterious visitor goaded the character into an apparent suicide attempt.

A pair of mid-1990s reunion movies (J.R. of course had not killed himself, but merely shot a mirror!) failed utterly to capture the spirit of the series in its best day. Inevitably, Dallas's day had come and gone. The free-wheeling, politically incorrect, every-man-for-himself age of the 1980s had long since passed; indeed, Dallas was as much period piece as soap, a true historical artifact that both reflects and explains the culture that elevated it to its legendary status.

—Chris Chandler