Ride on back to Southfork
40 years after Dallas, we still miss J.R. and the gang.
As Dallas turns 40, there’s only one way to celebrate: BIG!
The tumultuous tale of the largerthan-life family behind the Ewing Oil empire premiered April 2, 1978, as a five-episode miniseries, a wildcat exploratory well that turned into a primetime ratings gusher. It ran on CBS for
356 episodes over 14 seasons, turning its actors into international stars and J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) and Southfork Ranch into household names.
But don’t think of over-the-top Dallas as dust-covered TV history. Its influences are everywhere, and they go far beyond a short-lived TNT sequel
(2012-14). If you like Empire (turbulent, ego-saturated family business), Scandal (jaw-dropping interpersonal warfare) or Nashville (iconic city and culture), tip your hat — even if it’s not a Stetson — to the granddaddy of the genre. And a weak-tea reboot of its even glitzier copycat competitor, Dynasty, now airs on CW.
Linda Gray, who played J.R’s wife, Sue Ellen Ewing, says interest in the iconic series never waned.
“It always puts a smile on my face,” says Gray, 77, who heads to a Southfork anniversary reunion this weekend with former co-stars Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing) and Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs). “I went to the post office and picked up fan mail from Hawaii, Belize, Budapest and Romania. It’s absolutely lovely.”
After a promising start, the miniseries was picked up for a full season, became a giant hit after moving to a Friday time slot, and gave viewers the ultimate cliffhanger: Who Shot J.R.?
To commemorate the anniversary, USA TODAY offers 40 fun facts about Dallas. (We’re not even going to try to quantify the number of illicit affairs and alcohol-fueled rages.)
1 rich, dysfunctional family presiding over a business empire.
1 brutal tribal clash: the Ewings vs. the Barneses (In wins and losses, however, this was more on the level of the lopsided Harlem GlobetrottersWashington Generals rivalry.)
9 main family characters specializing in meanness, treachery and, occasionally, acts of kindness. The Ewings: Parents, Jock (Jim Davis) and Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes); their children, J.R., Bobby; their grandniece, Lucy. The Barneses: siblings Cliff (Ken Kercheval) and Pam (Victoria Principal), who married Bobby Ewing. J.R.’s wife, Sue Ellen. Jock’s illegitimate son, Ray.
1 all-time villain: J.R. Ewing, who raised gleeful malevolence to an art form. “Larry had that twinkle. Jack Nicholson has that twinkle,” Gray says. J.R. “could do a despicable, horrible thing, and then he’d give you that little smile and you’d go, ‘Damnit, he’s so good.’ ”
2 casting quirks. Donna Reed played Miss Ellie in the 1984-85 season as Bel Geddes recovered from heart surgery before returning; Robert Foxworth turned down the role of J.R.
1 epic cliffhanger: Who Shot J.R.? The identity of J.R.’s assailant — and pretty much everyone had motive to kill the mean cuss — became a frenzied national guessing game in 1980. After eight months, Sue Ellen identified the shooter: her sister and J.R. paramour Kristin Shepard (Mary Crosby), in an episode that attracted 83 million viewers, one of the biggest TV audiences ever.
2 noteworthy Who Shot J.R.? parodies. The fun one: The Simpsons had its own summer-long cliffhanger with 1995’s two-part “Who Shot Mr. Burns?” centering on its own main villain, Montgomery Burns. The not-sofun one: Saturday Night Live did its own takeoff in a 1981 episode hosted by Tilton, but cast member Charles Rocket cursed on live TV and was fired.
1 “Dream Season.” A year after Duffy left the show in 1985, he wanted to return. There was just one problem: Bobby was killed in the Season 8 finale. So in the Season 9 closer, Pam saw him (beefcake alert!) taking a shower, and the entire season was revealed to be a dream.
5 seasons averaging more than 20 million viewers, with three as the No. 1 series.
1 spinoff: CBS soap Knots Landing, which moved another Ewing son, Gary (Ted Shackelford), to an upscale Southern California cul-de-sac. Affairs and skullduggery were on the menu, but at lower price points.
3 TV movies: a prequel, Dallas: The Early Years (1986); Dallas: J.R. Returns (1996); and Dallas: War of the Ewings (1998), which features perpetually mistreated Sue Ellen temporarily triumphant as one of the people in charge of Ewing Oil.
1 reunion special: Dallas Reunion: The Return to Southfork (2004).
1 reboot: TNT’s Dallas (2012-14), which featured new cast members along with original stars Hagman, Duffy, Gray, Tilton, Kanaly and Kercheval. J.R. succumbed in the series after Hagman’s death in 2012.
4 ’80s copycat soap operas: Dynasty, Falcon Crest, The Colbys, Hotel.
7 heirs who carry a piece of Dallas DNA: Empire; Scandal; Nashville; Grey’s Anatomy (oodles of romantic pairings minus the over-the-top malice); Desperate Housewives (Gray: “Sue Ellen was the original desperate housewife.”); Melrose Place (Heather Locklear’s villain-with-flair, Amanda); and Gossip Girl (how the other halfpercent lives).