2012 April – Dallas Decoder

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 4 – ‘Winds of Vengeance’

April 5, 2012 by Chris Baker 21 Comments

Brian Dennehy, Dallas, Linda Gray, Luther Frick, Sue Ellen Ewing, Winds of Vengeance

Two of a kind

There’s an unlikely symmetry between Sue Ellen and Luther Frick, her tormentor in “Winds of Vengeance.”

Both characters are married to cheating spouses, both avoid acknowledging these infidelities, and both feel humiliated when the truth finally comes out. Sue Ellen is by far the more sympathetic figure, but Frick is a victim, too. This doesn’t excuse his vile behavior, but it helps explain it.

And make no mistake: Frick and his cohort Payton Allen are despicable characters.

Not only do they objectify the Ewing women – Frick plans to rape Sue Ellen, while Allen will choose between raping Pam and Lucy – they also treat them sadistically. Allen yanks Pam off the sofa and makes her dance with him, while Frick forces Sue Ellen, a onetime Miss Texas, to don a swimsuit and her old beauty pageant sash and sing for him.

The latter sequence is the most disturbing moment in an episode full of them. Frick forces Sue Ellen to act against her will and derives pleasure from it. It’s mental rape.

Brian Dennehy is effectively creepy during the singing scene, but the standout is Linda Gray, who painfully sobs her way through the song – Barbra Streisand’s “People” – while wearing almost nothing. This is one of Gray’s gutsiest performances.

“Winds of Vengeance” climaxes when Pam makes Frick realize J.R. and Wanda’s encounter was probably consensual, and then Jock and Bobby burst into the house, attack Frick and Allen and send them away.

But “Dallas” doesn’t allow us to bask in this moment of triumph.

In the episode’s final moments, Jock and Miss Ellie put Lucy to bed and Pam walks away with her head on Bobby’s shoulder, leaving J.R. alone in the living room with Sue Ellen, who has collapsed in tears.

He bends down to help her cover up with a raincoat, but she turns away, stands and slowly walks out of the room.

The message is clear: The woman who just sang about people who need people will be recovering from her ordeal alone.

Grade: B

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Domestic disturbance

‘WINDS OF VENGEANCE’

Season 1, Episode 4

Airdate: April 23, 1978

Audience: 15.3 million homes, ranking 12th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Camille Marchetta

Director: Irving J. Moore

Synopsis: J.R., Ray and the Ewing women are held captive by Luther Frick and Payton Allen, two working Joes who want revenge after J.R. and Ray slept with their women. Frick claims J.R. raped his wife, then realizes their encounter was probably consensual. Allen is about to rape Lucy when Jock and Bobby arrive and rescue the family.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Brian Dennehy (Luther Frick), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Nicki Flacks (Wanda Frick), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Cooper Huckabee (Payton Allen), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing)

“Winds of Vengeance” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: Brian Dennehy, Linda Gray, Winds of Vengeance

The Art of Dallas: ‘Spy in the House’

April 4, 2012 by Chris Baker Leave a Comment

J.R. and Sue Ellen (Larry Hagman, Linda Gray) have a spat in this 1978 publicity shot from “Spy in the House,” a first-season “Dallas” episode.

Filed Under: Art of Dallas, Art of Dallas (Classic), Features Tagged With: Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, Spy in the House

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘There’s Nothing Eating Me Up, Pam!’

April 4, 2012 by Chris Baker 2 Comments

Dallas, Julie Grey, Pam Ewing, Spy in the House, Tina Louise, Victoria Principal

Focus, Julie!

In “Spy in the House,” a first-season “Dallas” episode, Pam (Victoria Principal) sees Julie (Tina Louise) leaving Cliff’s apartment building and begins walking alongside her.

PAM: I want to talk to you.

JULIE: I’m on my way to the office, Pam.

PAM: How long have you been seeing my brother?

JULIE: Who said I’ve been seeing your brother?

Pam grabs Julie’s arm. They stop.

PAM: Hey look, I know you gave Cliff the file – and it seems to be my business now.

JULIE: Pam, if you can’t hold your own with the Ewings – [Begins walking away; Pam quickly catches up to her]

PAM: Is that what’s been eating you up?

JULIE: [Flustered] There’s nothing eating me up, Pam!

PAM: I see, both of us working girls. You settled for what you could have with J.R. and I married Bobby. I did what you were afraid to even try!

JULIE: Listen, will you leave me alone?

Pam again grabs her arm. Again, they stop walking.

PAM: Maybe way back when, if you’d stood your ground, you could have been Mrs. Ewing. What have you got now, Julie? Nothing. Not even your self-respect.

Julie storms off.

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: Spy in the House, Tina Louise, Victoria Principal

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 3 – ‘Spy in the House’

April 4, 2012 by Chris Baker 13 Comments

Dallas, J.R. Ewing, Julie Grey, Larry Hagman, Spy in the House, Tina Louise

The spy who loves him

Julie Grey isn’t just J.R.’s longtime secretary and mistress, she’s also his protégé. In “Spy in the House,” when Julie tires of J.R. taking her for granted, she seeks retribution the only way she knows how – the way he taught her.

Consider: Julie is angry when J.R. mistreats her, but she never confronts him. Instead, she connives behind his back – just like J.R. plotted behind Bobby and Pam’s backs in “Digger’s Daughter,” “Dallas’s” first episode.

And just as J.R. uses Julie for sex, she uses Cliff for sex and revenge. Notice how she leaves the incriminating document at Cliff’s bedside after they sleep together – just like J.R. leaves the $100 bill on Julie’s pillow after their sexual encounter at the beginning of this episode.

Julie’s final scene in “Spy in the House” is also telling. Wracked with shame and guilt, she finally comes clean to J.R., then cleans off her desk and walks out of his life – just like he walks out on Sue Ellen in the episode’s first act.

The denouement makes it clear: Julie, the woman who once longed to become Mrs. J.R. Ewing, has instead become J.R. himself.

Despite the havoc Julie wreaks in “Spy in the House,” Tina Louise’s sympathetic performance leaves us rooting for the character, even if Julie doesn’t root for herself. It’s too bad “Dallas” didn’t make Louise a regular cast member or at least give her more screen time as a guest star. She’s a terrific actress.

As for Larry Hagman, he makes J.R. seem genuinely wounded by Julie’s betrayal, infusing his character with a degree of humility that isn’t always evident as the series progresses.

Julie won’t be J.R.’s last mistress – or secretary – to use his own tricks against him, but the look on Hagman’s face when J.R. learns the truth about her suggests she may be the one who hurts him most.

Emotionally, that is.

Grade: A

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Threesome

‘SPY IN THE HOUSE’

Season 1, Episode 3

Airdate: April 16, 1978

Audience: 11.5 million homes, ranking 40th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Arthur Bernard Lewis

Director: Robert Day

Synopsis: J.R. angers his secretary and lover Julie Grey, who retaliates by sleeping with Pam’s brother Cliff Barnes, a crusading government lawyer investigating Ewing Oil. Julie leaks to Cliff a document that proves the company bribed a state senator, who is forced to resign when Cliff makes the document public. J.R. accuses Pam of being the “spy” and is stunned to learn the real culprit is Julie, who quits in disgust.

Cast: Norman Alden (Senator “Wild Bill” Orloff), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Donna Bullock (Connie), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Hugh D. Gorrian (reporter), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Tina Louise (Julie Grey), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing)

“Spy in the House” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: Larry Hagman, Spy in the House, Tina Louise

TV Critics Had Little Love for the Ewings at First

April 3, 2012 by Chris Baker 4 Comments

Barbara Bel Geddes, Bobby Ewing, Charlene Tilton, Dallas, Jim Davis, Jock Ewing, J.R. Ewing, Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, Lucy Ewing, Miss Ellie Ewing, Pam Ewing, Patrick Duffy, Victoria Principal

What’s not to love?

Television critics never loved “Dallas” – especially in April 1978, when CBS introduced the series as a late-season replacement for “The Carol Burnett Show.”

The New York Times’ John J. O’Connor dismissed “Dallas” as a “daytime soap opera gussied up with on-location Texas settings.” He called the show “enervating” and made the curious observation it offered “innumerable scenes of people getting into, driving or getting out of cars.”

O’Connor also lamented how “the fine stage actress” Barbara Bel Geddes was relegated to “wandering around among the players with about three lines of dialogue,” and he described Charlene Tilton as “sulking sexily through was appears to be an audition for a remake of ‘Baby Doll.’”

According to Barbara A. Curran’s 2005 book “Dallas: The Complete Story of the World’s Favorite Prime-Time Soap,” the Hollywood trade publication Variety assailed “Dallas” as “dull and contrived,” “the TV equivalent of women’s-magazine fiction” and “a limited series with a limited future.”

The Associated Press was a bit kinder, praising CBS for filming “Dallas” in Texas. “[T]he look it gives the show was worth the effort,” wrote the wire service’s critic, who wasn’t given a byline.

This critic also pointed out how “Dallas” was conceived as a star vehicle for “a certain glamorous actress” – Linda Evans, although the review doesn’t name her – and suggested Larry Hagman stole the spotlight from Victoria Principal, who was cast as Pam after Evans was dropped from consideration.

“By far, the meatiest role, at least in the opener, goes to Hagman,” the AP’s critic wrote. “He is deliciously wicked as he attempts to reject Miss Principal from the family bosom by any foul means.”

In the Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper, Blaik Kirby declared Hagman “curls a lip better than anyone,” while the Los Angeles Times’ Cecil Smith asserted the actor’s “smiling villainy is the role you remember.”

Smith also praised Jim Davis’s “flinty ferocity,” but the critic bemoaned how “Dallas’s” first episode spent so much time introducing the characters and their backstories “that there isn’t much room for plot.”

Still, Smith saw some promise in the new series.

“[T]he scene is set,” he wrote, “for some very steamy drama to come on the arid Texas plains.”

What did you think of “Dallas” the first time you watched it? Share your comments below and read more features from Dallas Decoder.

Filed Under: Features, Features Tagged With: Barbara A. Curran, Barbara Bel Geddes, Charlene Tilton, Dallas: The Complete Story of the World’s Favorite Prime-Time Soap, Jim Davis, Larry Hagman, Victoria Principal

The Art of Dallas: ‘Lessons’

April 3, 2012 by Chris Baker 3 Comments

Hal (Larry Tanner), a Southfork ranch hand, and Ray (Steve Kanaly) are seen in this 1978 publicity shot from “Lessons,” a first-season “Dallas” episode.

Filed Under: Art of Dallas, Art of Dallas (Classic), Features Tagged With: Larry Tanner, Lessons, Steve Kanaly

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘Of Course We’re Not Enemies’

April 3, 2012 by Chris Baker 6 Comments

Dallas, J.R. Ewing, Larry Hagman, Lessons

His alone

In “Lessons,” a first-season “Dallas” episode, J.R. (Larry Hagman) sits on his office sofa and chats with Bobby (Patrick Duffy).

J.R.: I want to tell you how you filled your daddy’s heart with joy when you decided to settle down and come into the business with me.

BOBBY: Well, that’s just it. I’m in the business. I think I have a right to know everything there is to know.

J.R.: Do you? Well, it’s not as simple as that. [Gets up and moves to his desk]

BOBBY: I don’t see why, J.R. We’re brothers – we’re not enemies. [Sits on the desk’s edge]

J.R.: No, of course we’re not enemies. But while you were out there sowing your wild oats, I was learning the business. While you were out there playing football and winning all those honors and everything – I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that – but I was here, busting my butt under our father. And let me tell you, he’s not an easy man to work for.

BOBBY: I think I can appreciate that.

J.R.: Can you? [Sits and leans back in his chair] And in the last few years, you’ve been out there spreading the b’s around, wining and dining friends of Ewing Oil, and hanging out with fancy women and, in general, being charming. I’ve been making the company work – and I’ve been making it grow.

BOBBY: Well, that’s true enough. Ever since I can remember, all you ever thought about was running Ewing Oil. Seems to me you’re doing the thing you love best.

J.R.: I am. Yeah, I truly am. [Chuckles] But what I’m trying to say is this: I’ve had to make decisions and I’ve had to make deals that the man who runs the company has to make. And that’s my business – and mine alone. [Leans forward] And as long as I’m running this company, Bobby, that’s the way it’s going to stay. Does that answer your question?

BOBBY: Oh yeah. Answered a few of ’em I didn’t even ask. [Leaves as J.R. chuckles]

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: Larry Hagman, Lessons, Patrick Duffy

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 2 – ‘Lessons’

April 3, 2012 by Chris Baker 10 Comments

Charlene Tilton, Dallas, Lessons, Lucy Ewing, Ray Krebbs, Steve Kanaly

Driving Miss Lucy

For a teenager on television in the 1970s, Lucy manages to find herself in an awful lot of sexual situations. “Dallas” is surprisingly cavalier about this.

In “Lessons,” Pam is the only Ewing who knows Lucy is sexually active, but when she takes it upon herself to straighten out her rebellious niece, Pam’s priority is addressing Lucy’s truancy, not interfering in her sex life. We never see Pam ask Lucy why she is having sex or whether she is protecting herself against the risk of pregnancy and disease.

“Lessons” is also pretty indifferent about Lucy and Ray’s age gap. She’s a high school student and he’s a silver-haired cowboy, but the only acknowledgment their relationship is immoral – if not illegal – comes when Ray tells Pam the Ewings would “kill” him if they discovered he is Lucy’s lover.

In retrospect, all this is pretty shocking.

“Dallas” debuted in an era when television shows routinely dropped moral messages into scripts involving sensitive subjects. Two months before “Lessons” was broadcast, the drama “James at 15” aired an episode in which its lead character, a 15-year-old boy, lost his virginity to a Swedish exchange student. Network censors insisted the boy and girl exhibit remorse after having sex, prompting the show’s head writer to quit in protest.

With “Lessons,” “Dallas” bucks the trend toward “responsible” television. The show renders no judgment on Lucy’s sexuality, trusting viewers to make their own decisions about her choices.

Not dwelling on the script’s provocative aspects allows the producers to concentrate on fleshing out their characters. For example, “Lessons” includes a conversation between J.R. and Bobby that establishes J.R.’s envy over his youngest brother, as well as a nice scene where Miss Ellie and Pam bond over coffee in the Southfork dining room.

But “Lessons’” most enlightening moment is the climactic sequence in the Braddock disco, where Bobby and Pam dance to an electronic version of Jerrold Immel’s “Dallas” theme music.

This is where we learn the biggest lesson of all: Not only is Victoria Principal a terrific actress when “Dallas” begins – she can dance, too!

Grade: B

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No class

‘LESSONS’

Season 1, Episode 2

Airdate: April 9, 1978

Audience: 11.1 million homes, ranking 50th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Virginia Aldridge

Director: Irving J. Moore

Synopsis: Pam learns Lucy is skipping class to be with Ray and makes her attend school. Lucy retaliates by making it look like her math teacher attacked her, but a classmate knows Lucy faked the attack and tries to blackmail her into sleeping with him. Bobby tells Ray to stay away from Lucy and persuades his niece to give Pam a chance.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Donna Bullock (Connie), Jeffrey Byron (Roger Hurley), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Tina Louise (Julie Grey), Jo McDonnell (Maureen), Ryand Merkey (Mr. Daley), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Larry Tanner (Hal), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Paul Tulley (Mr. Miller)

“Lessons” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: Jerrold Immel, Lessons, Victoria Principal

‘Dallas’ and Me

April 2, 2012 by Chris Baker 10 Comments

Me, summer 1980

My earliest memory of “Dallas” isn’t watching it – it’s wearing it.

In the summer of 1980, when I was 6, I was one of the millions of people swept up in the hysteria over J.R. Ewing’s shooting. I begged my mom to get me one of the “I Shot J.R.” t-shirts everyone seemed to be sporting – a tough request for her to fulfill since finding the shirts in kids’ sizes wasn’t easy.

Of course, she somehow got the job done – moms always do, don’t they? – and I proudly wore my shirt during our family’s outing that summer to the local amusement park, where I remember getting my share of strange looks.

I now understand why. I mean, what 6-year-old wears a shirt declaring he shot someone? For that matter, what kind of parent allows their kid to watch a show like “Dallas?” Most baffling of all: Why did I want to watch it?

I’m guessing I became a “Dallas” fan out of inertia. In its early years, the show followed two of my other childhood favorites – “The Incredible Hulk” and “The Dukes of Hazzard” – in CBS’s Friday night lineup, so the first time I encountered the Ewings, my eyes were probably so glazed over, I didn’t notice the absence of green monsters and car chases at Southfork.

I must have started paying attention to “Dallas” around the time J.R. was shot. Once I did, the show captured my imagination and never let go.

At that young age, I was too young to understand everything I saw on “Dallas,” and I suppose that’s why my parents didn’t mind me watching it. Besides, “Dallas” was one show everyone in our house could agree on. Appropriate or not, we watched together. (And as I’ve since discovered, lots of people watched the show when they were kids.)

Today, “Dallas” is like an alternate set of home movies from my childhood.

The show debuted a year before I started kindergarten and ended a year before my high school graduation, so whenever I recall moments from that 13-year span, I can’t help but associate them with what was happening to the Ewings at the time.

My older sister got married and left home a month before J.R.’s shooter was revealed. I started middle school three weeks before Bobby’s “funeral.” Bobby married his second wife April on the night my grandmother suffered a heart attack.

As I got older, I drifted away from “Dallas” – until last year, when TNT announced plans to revive the series with all-new episodes. My DVDs came off the shelf and I rekindled my love affair with the Ewings.

Now, I’m starting Dallas Decoder to relive my “Dallas” memories and maybe figure out, once and for all, why I love the show as much as I do.

This project is proving more fun than I could have dreamed. I’m discovering things about “Dallas” I never noticed before, and my husband Andrew recently began watching the show for the first time, so now I get to see it through his eyes.

Andrew recently watched the “Who Shot J.R.?” storyline play out without already knowing the shooter’s identity. Can you imagine?

Come to think of it, Andrew’s birthday is tomorrow. (He was born 365 days before “Dallas” debuted, which I’ve always considered a sign we were destined to be together.)

An “I Shot J.R.” t-shirt would make a nice birthday gift, but where could I get one on such short notice?

Mom, help!

Why do you love “Dallas”? Share your comments below and read more opinions from Dallas Decoder.

Filed Under: Opinion, Opinion Tagged With: Dallas Decoder, TNT, Who Shot J.R.?

Dallas Styles: Bobby’s Leather Jacket

April 2, 2012 by Chris Baker 8 Comments

‘Digger’s Daughter’

Bobby Ewing’s leather motorcross jacket isn’t as well known as J.R.’s Stetsons or Miss Ellie’s sack dresses, but it’s every bit as durable.

Patrick Duffy is sporting the snap-collared jacket when we meet Bobby in Act I, Scene I of “Dallas’s” Episode 1, “Digger’s Daughter.” The jacket, like the red convertible Bobby is driving, lets the audience know this is a cool young dude.

Bobby Ewing, Dallas, Decline and Fall of the Ewing Empire, Patrick Duffy

‘The Decline and Fall of the Ewing Empire’

The jacket is metaphorical in other ways, too. We hear Pam’s famous line in this scene (“Your folks are gonna throw me right off that ranch”) and we wonder: Are the Ewings going to tan Bobby’s actual hide when they discover he has married a Barnes?

The jacket pops up periodically after “Digger’s Daughter,” including during the sixth-season episode “Caribbean Connection,” when Bobby sneaks into a motel room to gather dirt on one of J.R.’s cronies. This is a very un-Bobby thing to do, so the leather jacket becomes the perfect prop to telegraph his rebellious streak.

Interestingly, even after Duffy leaves “Dallas,” the jacket doesn’t.

Dack Rambo seems to sport the same brown leather during the Duffy-less dream season, a subtle hint to the audience that Rambo’s character, cousin Jack Ewing, was supposed to fill Bobby’s role as “Dallas’s” resident hero.

Duffy wears a leather motorcross in “Dallas’s” final two episodes, “The Decline and Fall of the Ewing Empire” and “Conundrum,” including in the latter’s last freeze frame. The color of this jacket isn’t warm, so I’m not sure it’s the same one Duffy wore during the previous seasons.

The color change is fitting: By the time “Dallas” ends, the show has faded considerably. Why shouldn’t Bobby’s jacket do the same?

Filed Under: Dallas Styles, Dallas Styles (Classic), Features Tagged With: Caribbean Connection, Conundrum, Dack Rambo, Decline and Fall of the Ewing Empire, Digger’s Daughter, Patrick Duffy