2012 July – Dallas Decoder

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘Nobody Beats Old J.R.’

July 3, 2012 by Chris Baker 1 Comment

Dallas, J.R. Ewing, Larry Hagman, No More Mr. Nice Guy Part 2, Who Shot J.R.?

True that

In “No More Mr. Nice Guy, Part 2,” a fourth-season “Dallas” episode, Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) enters the hospital room where J.R. (Larry Hagman) is sleeping.

SUE ELLEN: [Whispering] J.R.?

J.R.: [Awakens] Hi, sugar.

SUE ELLEN: Hi. [Sits on the bed]

J.R.: [Groggy] You been crying?

SUE ELLEN: [Smiles] No.

J.R.: Roclaire’s supposed to be the best in the business.

SUE ELLEN: I know.

A nurse opens the door and indicates it’s time for Sue Ellen to leave. Sue Ellen kisses J.R. and gets up from the bed. He holds onto her hand.

J.R.: Sue Ellen, nobody beats old J.R. You know that.

She turns and leaves.

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, No More Mr. Nice Guy Part 2, Who Shot J.R.?

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 56 – ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy, Part 2’

July 3, 2012 by Chris Baker 6 Comments

Life and breath

“No More Mr. Nice Guy, Part 2” devotes a lot of time to Gary’s homecoming, allowing the “Dallas” producers to put off resolving the “Who Shot J.R.?” mystery a little longer. But even if this is just a delay tactic, it doesn’t feel like one.

Gary has matured a lot since he left “Dallas” for his “Knots Landing” spinoff, and it’s nice to see him return to Southfork a changed man. I especially like the scene where he confronts Sue Ellen about her drinking problem. “No More Mr. Nice Guy, Part 2” aired not long after Gary admitted his own alcoholism on “Knots Landing,” and I’m glad “Dallas” doesn’t ignore this.

Another highlight: the scene where the Ewing brothers reunite at J.R.’s bedside and recall the football games they played growing up. Aside from the fun that comes from imagining these men as boys playing ball on the Southfork lawn, I like how the characters behave exactly the way we would expect them to in this situation: J.R. is nice but not too nice, Gary is polite but cautious and Bobby is cheery and good-natured. They feel like real people here.

Of course, as much as I welcome heartwarming scenes like this, this episode doesn’t ignore the “Who Shot J.R.?” mystery altogether. By the time the closing credits roll, Alan and Vaughn have been cleared as suspects and Cliff and Kristin have each offered unconfirmed alibis, leaving poor Sue Ellen to continue fretting she pulled the trigger in a drunken rage.

Linda Gray does a nice job keeping Sue Ellen’s motivation unclear. Is the character hovering at J.R.’s bedside because she feels sorry for him, or because she feels guilty? Does she object to J.R.’s surgery because she’s afraid he won’t survive, or because she believes he’ll be less threatening if he’s permanently paralyzed? I’m never really sure.

Still, while I appreciate the ambiguity, my favorite moment of all comes when J.R. tries to reassure Sue Ellen before his risky surgery (“Nobody ever beats old J.R. You know that.”). It’s another small-but-sweet moment in an episode that’s full of them.

Grade: A

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Home again

‘NO MORE MR. NICE GUY, PART 2’

Season 4, Episode 2

Airdate: November 9, 1980

Audience: 31.1 million homes, ranking 1st in the weekly ratings

Writer: Arthur Bernard Lewis

Director: Leonard Katzman

Synopsis: J.R. tells the police he doesn’t know who shot him and discovers the attack has left him paralyzed. The police question Cliff and clear Vaughn and Alan as suspects. Sue Ellen continues to believe she may be the shooter. Bobby agrees to run Ewing Oil in J.R.’s absence. J.R. has risky surgery to restore use of his legs.

Cast: Michael Alldredge (Detective Don Horton), Dan Ammerman (Dr. Kyle Roclaire), Tyler Banks (John Ross Ewing), Royce D. Applegate (Sergeant Crabbe), Tami Barber (Bev), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Jeff Cooper (Dr. Simon Elby), Mary Crosby (Kristin Shepard), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Peter Donat (Dr. Miles Pearson), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Fern Fitzgerald (Marilee Stone), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Leigh McCloskey (Mitch Cooper), Jeanna Michaels (Connie), Randolph Powell (Alan Beam), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Ted Shackelford (Gary Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Janine Turner (Susan)

“No More Mr. Nice Guy, Part 2” 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: Linda Gray, No More Mr. Nice Guy Part 2, Who Shot J.R.?

Dallas Drinks: The Rebecca

July 2, 2012 by Chris Baker 2 Comments

This summer, the “Dallas” fans at Dallas Decoder and Cook In/Dine Out are offering “Dallas Drinks,” a series of cocktails inspired by the characters from TNT’s new series. This week: The Rebecca, a drink that packs a lot of punch – just like Julie Gonzalo’s performance.

Filed Under: Dallas Drinks, Features Tagged With: Julie Gonzalo, TNT

The Art of Dallas: ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy, Part 1’

July 2, 2012 by Chris Baker Leave a Comment

Miss Ellie and Jock (Barbara Bel Geddes, Jim Davis) confer with Dr. Pearson (Peter Donat) about J.R.’s condition in this 1980 publicity shot from “No More Mr. Nice Guy, Part 1,” “Dallas’s” fourth-season opener.

Filed Under: Art of Dallas, Art of Dallas (Classic), Features Tagged With: Barbara Bel Geddes, Jim Davis, No More Mr. Nice Guy Part 1, Who Shot J.R.?

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘The Company Isn’t Worth My Family’

July 2, 2012 by Chris Baker Leave a Comment

Barbara Bel Geddes, Dallas, Jim Davis, Jock Ewing. Miss Ellie Ewing, No More Mr. Nice Guy Part 1, Who Shot J.R.?

That’s that, Jock

In “No More Mr. Nice Guy, Part 1,” “Dallas’s” fourth-season opener, Miss Ellie and Jock (Barbara Bel Geddes, Jim Davis) talk while leaving Dallas Memorial Hospital.

ELLIE: Jock, now that Bobby’s back, you’ve got to find a way to keep him here.

JOCK: I don’t know how. He was mad as hell at me when he left.

ELLIE: Well, that was because he felt you’d given him a job to do and then you didn’t stand behind him.

JOCK: Well, I couldn’t. When he opened Ewing 23, he made Cliff Barnes a partner in the profits. After what that man’s done to us, no way.

ELLIE: Does Ewing Oil have to cost us another son? Jock, I know how important the company is to you, but I’ve lost Gary and now, unless you stop him, Bobby will leave again.

JOCK: Ewing Oil has been my life, Ellie.

ELLIE: And J.R. may be dying because of it. [Jock puts his hand on her shoulder.] I don’t think the company is worth my family. I want Bobby home, no matter what it costs Ewing Oil.

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: Barbara Bel Geddes, Jim Davis, No More Mr. Nice Guy Part 1, Who Shot J.R.?

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 55 – ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy, Part 1’

July 2, 2012 by Chris Baker 18 Comments

Dallas, Dr. Miles Pearson, No More Mr. Nice Guy Part 1, Peter Donat, Who Shot J.R.?

Hurry up, doc

The Ewings go through “No More Mr. Nice Guy, Part 1” not knowing who shot J.R. or whether he’ll survive the attempt on his life, and this uncertainty lends the episode a paranoid, almost Hitchcockian vibe. Poor Sue Ellen looks positively dazed. What frightens her more: the possibility that her husband will die – or that he’ll live?

I also can’t help but wonder if some of the worried looks on the actors’ faces aren’t real. Production on this episode began during the summer of 1980, when Larry Hagman was in seclusion while his agents renegotiated his contract. In Hagman’s absence, the “Dallas” set buzzed: If the actor’s salary demands weren’t met, would J.R. succumb to his gunshot wounds? Would he come out of surgery looking like Robert Culp? Either way, could “Dallas” survive without its biggest star?

No wonder Patrick Duffy is visibly sweating when Bobby arrives at the hospital.

The anxious atmospherics in “No Mr. Nice Guy, Part 1” help distract me from some of this episode’s flaws, beginning with the campy opening, when the shrieking cleaning lady discovers J.R. (By the way: Where’s the blood?) Also, the episode’s action sequences are curiously lethargic: The police car that arrives at the crime scene isn’t moving very fast, the paramedics who bring J.R. into the emergency room aren’t in much of a hurry and the doctors and nurses who treat him are downright plodding.

Of course, “No More Mr. Nice Guy, Part 1’s” biggest weakness is the void Hagman leaves. He appears in just two scenes, which were filmed after his contract was settled and he returned to work. (Extras fill in for Hagman in the scenes where J.R. is seen laying on ambulance stretchers and operating tables.) This makes the episode a kind of precursor to TNT’s “Dallas,” where Hagman’s role is similarly limited.

So even though I appreciate the raw honesty of Valene’s response to her brother-in-law’s shooting (“If J.R. was dead, I honestly could not mourn him.”), I can’t help but think she should bite her tongue. After all, if this episode proves anything, it’s that “Dallas” without J.R. just isn’t the same.

Grade: C

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Invisible man

‘NO MORE MR. NICE GUY, PART 1’

Season 4, Episode 1

Airdate: November 7, 1980

Audience: 29.7 million homes, ranking 2nd in the weekly ratings

Writer: Arthur Bernard Lewis

Director: Leonard Katzman

Synopsis: J.R. is rushed to the hospital, where the Ewings keep vigil. Sue Ellen can’t remember what she did the night he was shot, but Kristin tells her she came to her condo, vowing to kill J.R. After J.R. has life-saving surgery, a detective asks who shot him and J.R. looks at Sue Ellen.

Cast: Michael Alldredge (Detective Don Horton), Tyler Banks (John Ross Ewing), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Sarah Buchannan (Beth Forrester), Christopher Coffey (Professor Greg Forrester), Karlene Crockett (Muriel Gillis), Mary Crosby (Kristin Shepard), Maureen Crudden (candy striper), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Peter Donat (Dr. Miles Pearson), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Nik Hagler (Detective Frost), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Barbara Kain (Nurse), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Virginia Peters (cleaning lady), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Ted Shackelford (Gary Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Joan Van Ark (Valene Ewing)

“No More Mr. Nice Guy, Part 1” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.