“Dallas” has delivered a lot of great storytelling over the years, including the story that started it all — Bobby and Pam’s marriage — as well as Miss Ellie’s bout with breast cancer, J.R. and Bobby’s contest for control of Ewing Oil and J.R.’s death. With so much wonderful material to choose from, can you choose a favorite?
Your #DallasChat Daily question: What’s “Dallas’s” best storyline, and why do you love it?
Share your comments below and join other #DallasChat Daily discussions.
Dallas Decoder 
For me, I think the best storyline was when Ray Krebbs was put on trial for Mickey Trotter’s death. Mickey was on life support and Ray pulled the plug out of love and this was not a topic that was talked about much, if at all, on television. I think this was one of Steve Kanaly’s best performances as Ray!
I for 1 like all of the stories Miss Jenny. But have you noticed while the series is quite often talked about as “all about Brother J.R.”, the first actor you see on the screen in Episode 1 & the last actor you see in Episode 357 of the original DALLAS:CBS is Brother Bobby or Patrick Duffy. J.R. might have been the main focus of both shows, but never, i repeat NEVER underestimate Brother Bobby! The 1st person to tell you that would have to of course be his dearly departed Brother J.R.
You make a great point, RJ! Of course, I would NEVER underestimate Bobby, my favorite Dallas character(besides JR, anyway)!!
I think it was when Bobby introduced Pam to the family. They had an uphill battle from then on.
It’s hard to argue against “Who shot JR?” After all that is the one that defined the show and prime time soap as a whole.
But for me it is between the battle for Ewing Oil set up by Jock’s will and Wes Parmilee stealing Jock’s identity.
The battle for Ewing Oil was truly competitive and the back and forth in that was really fun and incredible. It also defined the next five or six seasons including my other choice.
The Wes Parmilee storyline was great too. The writers must have thought so too since they set up during the dream season (Ben Stivers) and then rebooted it and used it during Bobby’s return year. The was probably (someone check my memory here) the first extended time we saw JR and Bobby working together. There were some great perfomances here to with Barbara Bel Geddes playing the tormented widow and Howard Keel finding himself having to leave Southfork.
Two of my favorite storylines. The Battle for Ewing caused so much chaos and set up so many other great storylines.
One of Dallas’s best story lines was the fight for Ewing Oil in the aftermath of Jocks death. There was a lot of drama, and a lot of relationships were tested.
The Wes parmalee storyline . He was obviously a fraud , but he got more credible each week , until u began to wonder whether he could possibly be jock . And steve Forrest was such a great actor anyway.
The whole of season 9 – parmalee into bd Calhoun into the justice department – was my favourite season
Good call Steve. Forrest absolutely sold that role. I can’t help thinking about the Oil Barron’s Ball where he announced to the world he was Jock. He just gave a commanding performance there. Or on the other side of the coin there was that carriage ride where he worked on wooing Ellie. I seem to recall him being quite tender there.
Nine we definitely the strongest season of the second half of the shows run and compares very well to the first half.
The Wes Parmalee storyline was good because he wouldn’t back down. Once he got Miss Ellie to believe just a little bit, everyone else followed, except for JR, Bobby, and Clayton. He even had Ray fooled.
Angelica, Grace, Dmitiri, Nicholas, Alex Garrett, unknown masked party-goers …The Marinos Shipping storyline! Yeah, it and the 1985-86 season went down the drain with Irish Spring suds, but it was a dreamy ride! Angelica Nero, the most lethal character in the show’s history (sorry, Katherine, I love you, but you’re Jackie Evancho next to Lady Nero), kills her way back to Dallas to get revenge on JR and Jack for ruining her doppelganger plot. Teaming up with a mullet-coifed, gum-chewing munitions geek, Angelica (and the people scoring the show – great music!) contributes largely to the most explosive episode of “Dallas” – try sitting still during the finale’s final five minutes – and my favourite episode of television ever!
I’m totally down with that, sunnycd … except for the masquerade ball stuff. Other than that, long live Angelica Nero!
Personally I would have to say the Battle for Ewing Oil because it set up so many other storylines. It led to Bobby and Pam’s divorce, it also led to JR and Sue Ellen getting remarried. It led to the Holly Harwood storyline, Mickey Trotter’s death, and subsequently, Ray’s trial. It led to the suicide of Walt Driscoll, the death of Rebecca Wentworth, and JR’s illegal oil deal with Cuba. It also led to Sue Ellen drinking again, her affair with Peter Richards, and of course, the fire at South Fork that was caused by Ray trying to kill Jr.
My FAVORITE storylines: The story arcs that lasted from the end of Season 1 (DVD2) to the beginning of Season 3 (DVD4)…beginning around the time of the “Red Files” and culminating with “Who Done It?”…all of the mini arcs interwoven together and caused such havoc during that time. Everybody was affected and you HAD to tune in every week. GREAT TV!!! And my other favorite storyline is the Battle for Ewing Oil. Again, interwoven arcs that affected everyone on canvas. Excellent storytelling!
Definitely The Battle For Ewing Oil, for the reasons others have already stated, it basically drove the whole series that years, with multiple storylines spinning out of that main story.
The Battle for Ewing Oil – not just a great story line in itself but it led to so many other great plot developments. Not surprisingly this was when the original show was at its absolute peak in 1982/83.
I also liked the previous season story line involving Sue Ellen becoming disillusioned with Dusty, trying to strike out on her own but gradually being taken in again by JR – whose motives at this time were a mixture of good and bad.
Finally I loved the Bobby/Pam/Jenna love triangle – Jenna was the only other woman who was a match for Pam and during seasons 7/8 it was genuinely touch and go as to which of them he would end up with.
Probably the best storyline on Dallas was Who Shot JR? The first several episodes of the storyline were the best in the series. There were several surprises throughout the storyline as well.
Maybe not the best storyline overall but I did like the affair between Sue Ellen and Peter. There has been a lot of negativity over it but when I think about it it makes sense that not only would SE look outside her marriage to find love and to be made feel, not just sexy, but also younger, and needed. From Peter’s point of view here is a beautiful woman whom he has a crush on. I for one can totally understand why he liked her plus he really did care for her.
In the new Dallas, instead of inventing Ken Richards it would have been more realistic if they had brought back Peter Richards for the business support that SE got from Ken.