Dallas Decoder celebrates “Dallas’s” classic cliffhangers with weekly summertime flashbacks. Collect all 14 images and share them with your friends.
Between the Lines and Behind the Scenes of "Dallas"
Between the Lines and Behind the Scenes of "Dallas"
Dallas Decoder celebrates “Dallas’s” classic cliffhangers with weekly summertime flashbacks. Collect all 14 images and share them with your friends.
Dallas Decoder 
Of all the Dallas episodes that were before my time, this is the one I most wish I could have seen when it originally aired (as opposed to seeing it in a rerun, years earlier, so I already knew the outcome). I mean, part of me, of course, wished that I could have been watching when the whole “Who Shot J.R.?” mystery was in full swing, since that was a nationwide phenomenon, so it must have been exciting to speculate about who the shooter was and how they did it, etc. But this scene must have been a HUGE shock to the viewers who were watching it that night. Everything in that episode is leading up to what looks like another shooting of J.R., with all those people having a reason to want to go kill him, and we see the POV of the shooter going into J.R.’s office, and shooting @ the back of J.R.’s chair, and then BOBBY falls out of the chair. My mind would have been blown.
*typo, that should have been “years later”, by the time I’d seen this episode, I already knew Bobby was the one who would get shot. As I didn’t start watching Dallas until the end of the Season 8 (so @ least I got to experience the shock of seeing Bobby in the shower), and watched the rest of the series until it ended, and then only years later was able to catch up on the show from the beginning via reruns on cable.
J.R., I was watching this episode on the night it aired. I have a vague memory of my mom screaming when Bobby fell out of J.R.’s chair, so I think it blew the minds of a lot of “Dallas” fans.
Here’s another memory: About seven years after the episode’s debut, “Dallas” reruns began airing weekday mornings at 10 on TNT. I recorded the show every day and watched it when I got home from school. Well, wouldn’t you know it, on the day this episode aired, the cable went out at about 10:57 — right when the assailant enters J.R.’s office and begins firing. I was furious! Consequently, I didn’t get to see the climactic gunshots until the reruns moved to TNN several later.
The reruns on TNN are how I got to finally see the show from the beginning.
I was so thankful when TNN picked up the reruns. I think a lot of folks discovered the show from those reruns.
Do you remember when Linda Gray hosted an all-day “Dallas” marathon on TNN? I believe it was New Year’s Day 1999 or 2000. She wore all white, as I recall, and hosted from what was supposed to be J.R. and Sue Ellen’s bedroom set. (It looked nothing like the original, of course.)
Hmmm, no I don’t recall that. But I taped every episode of the show. I remember the one episode I missed was the episode where Ted Shackelford first played Gary, and they set up Knots Landing. I was just tired, and fell asleep before the episode came on and I missed it. I had to wait until the reruns ran all the way to end and the started over again a 2nd time to finally catch that episode.
I don’t remember reruns on TNT but those TNN reruns were wonderful. A lot of time had already passed so it was bliss seeing it all again. In fact a lot of details had faded from memory so much of it was new again. (Though I did remember it was Bobby who was shot.)
Chris,
I don’t think I ever watched any of the all day marathons. But you say Linda hosted from a bedroom that looked nothing like the one on the show. I wonder if that isn’t the “JR” bedroom from the real life Southfork. For those who may not be aware, when Dallas moved to the Southfork we know and love in the second season, they never shot any interiors there. That ended up being a set. So yes you can tour the real Southfork today and rooms are named after the characters even though nothing was ever shot there. Joe Siegler could probably help us out here since he’s seen the ranch.