The end?
TNT has canceled “Dallas,” more than a week after the series concluded its third season.
The revival of the 1978-91 CBS classic got off to a promising start, debuting in June 2012 with almost 7 million viewers. Ratings dropped when TNT brought the series back the following winter in a tough time slot, a few months after the death of iconic star Larry Hagman.
The show’s stars took to Twitter tonight after TNT announced the news. “Thank all of you wonderful fans for your love and support for these past 3 seasons. We were just canceled. So sad!” wrote Linda Gray.
Tweeted Emma Bell: “Thank you for all the well wishes. It was an honor to be apart of @Dallas_TNT grateful to be a family with such a wonderful cast and crew!”
The “Dallas” writers have been penning scripts for a fourth season, in case the series was renewed. In an interview last week, executive producer Cynthia Cidre discussed plans to bring back a fan favorite from the original show and introduce J.R.’s secret daughter, whose existence was revealed during the third-season finale.
It isn’t clear if Warner Bros., the studio that produces “Dallas,” will shop the series to another home. Keep reading Dallas Decoder for additional coverage in the coming days.
What’s your reaction to “Dallas’s” cancellation? Share your comments below and read more news from Dallas Decoder.
Dallas Decoder 
The new show has been a lot fun. I’ve enjoyed watching it with you. I hope it finds a new home, or at the very least gets a worthy conclusion somehow. One thing I’ve learned from watching Dallas…you can never keep a good Ewing down. They always fight their way back.
This is very sad news. The show had some serious flaws. And obviously the producer had a hard time to address properly all concerns that fans mentioned. Which was a tall order anyway considering that TNT and fans wanted two very different shows. I’ll miss Southfork, some of the characters and some story lines. Some … not so much. But I thought Dallas had a lot going that was salvageable. The characters were all solid; photography was stunning in my opinion. And lots of the actors delivered some awesome work. My favorite in this regard was Ken Kercheval. I thought he was better in the revival than in the entire original run.
I hope the show can indeed get picked up by a more soap-friendly channel who can still cough up enough budget. My concern is that this might be the end forever. It’s hard to revive a legacy. And when it doesn’t work, responsible studios may lose faith in further attempts (see Bonanza).
Hey Chris, thanks so much for your great work with this website. Please keep going. I am still looking forward to your upcoming reviews to the original episodes. Dallas, old or new, is still DALLAS and still worth some TV nights.
Damn! Why dont the Dallas produce their own shows. Beyonce did with that album. I am in no position to stream it online, but they could, and put out the video in box set in the stores. We may be able to get 2-3yrs more of the Ewings. Maybe another channel, with a much better evening choice. Heck, I wouldnt mind seeing it on daytime tv as a serial, i.e. General Hospital. I mean there are other possibilities out there. Think outside the box!
My honest opinion I’m angry AT YOU Stupid people I’m PISSED
I’m as die hard a Dallas fan as you’ll find but let’s tell the truth here, this was NOT a great show. The writers were awful and they had no idea what made Dallas work and what made it different to begin with. The continuity just stunk at the least and was insulting to the audience at the worst (The Ramos family was there all along and we just never saw them? Puh-lease! Why not just do the same story with Teresa’s unexplored family and protect the continuity?) They destroyed established characters, mangled the dynamic between other characters, spent WAY too much TV time on non-Ewings, didn’t have enough members of the Ewing family or of established Ewing rivals, wasted potential gold mines for stories (why kill off Katherine Wentworth, the only character in that universe who hated Bobby, JR & Cliff equally?), made the stories overly convoluted and business deals needlessly confusing and they didn’t even get why fans were annoyed by their changing the floor plans of the Southfork sets and about the missing portraits of lost family members (clearly not understanding that the Jock portrait was character in and of itself). Once Larry Hagman was no longer around to steal every episode the show was in trouble. While it had it’s good moments, by and large this thing was royally screwed up from the beginning. Cynthia Cidre was not the person to bring Dallas back to the masses. She didn’t understand the show, didn’t seem to make an effort to learn about it (and Dallas has GREAT books and websites dedicated to it, the show bible should have written itself), and the truth is, she did a horrendous job as the “seward of Southfork”. We shouldn’t blame TNT, we should blame Ms. Cidre, the fault lies with her.
I too am a die hard fan and couldn’t disagree more with Russ Cress.What his diatribe reveals is that the show was too complex and sophisticated for him. The show was not stuck in the past rather it was an homage to it but advanced the narrative to make it relevant to the times in which we live. To fail to do so would be to confine the Ewings to the outdated doings of an era long gone. Not only was Ms. Cidre a fine STEWARD of South Fork, she brought a solid literary feel to the material and explored the dynamics of a truly dysfunctional family with an understanding and passion missing from most everything else seen on television and on the big screen.
Really? Please explain to me, why if they wanted to introduce the Elena character (which was a perfectly fine idea in theory) that it made more sense to create this Carmen character rather than use the established but unexplored Teresa instead? We are talking about a character who other than a Ewing or Cliff, appeared in more Dallas episodes than any other character yet was an open canvas in terms of exploring her family life. So, how does their decision to tell us that the Ramos clan was there the whole time, make more sense? It was one of the stranger decisions she made (and in the commentary she said “it made sense to me that the Ewings would have a servant who would be an established presence on Southfork and we could explore that” as if it was something new she came up with and she seemed oblivious that such a character (actually 2) already existed. This move made no sense, but if you have a logical defense for it, I’d like to read it.
Another one is the Hunter McKay character who in no way fits in the chronology. There is simply no way that he could have gone to school with John Ross based on the show’s timeline. Not to mention that Carter McKay as “an old business rival of JR’s” is untrue to the history. If you remember, Carter McKay’s big feud was with Bobby, not JR and it was personal not business as he blamed Bobby for his son Tommy’s death. With their intentions for the Hunter McKay character, it would have made more sense and fit the chronology better for that character to be say, Marilee Stone’s son. It fits the time frame better with the John Ross connection and in terms of motive, as he would have a grudge regarding JR’s role in causing his father (Seth Stone) to commit suicide. How does this make sense? (BTW — was anyone really clamoring for the return of Tracy Lawton, a highly forgettable character from the down years of the show?)
How did killing off Katherine make sense? Why was Cliff suddenly this pure evil murderer and why did he re-start the feud which was over at the end of the series? It was too extreme a character switch not to be explained.
Why were many of the character interactions not true to the established history? They got facts wrong with JR & John Ross, Cliff & Pamela, the Cliff/Pamela/Afton dynamic, Sue Ellen & Afton, and more. There were a ton of examples that made it seem like she did not get what made some of these characters click and what their relationships were with each other. She even got the Section 40 stuff wrong and used the wrong number but admitted in the commentary that it was a continuance of an old story about Oil on Southfork which we know as the Section 40 storyline.
The show was certainly not “too complex and sophisticated” for me. In fact my issues are that the show was too lazy when it came to continuity. This is a unique show with a 13 year run, a prequel and a backstory that was written by the creator that goes back 100 years now. That strength of the show was disrespected with a series of lazy writing decisions and an extremely poor job done by whoever is the continuity editor.
You can say that it was better than most other programs on TV today, but the job she did in handling this epic, multi generational family saga simply did not match up with what was done in the original and what was established history which is a bad job by her considering that it’s all part of the same story. That;s the issue, and why your “not stuck in the past” comment doesn’t make sense because Dallas was always about how the effects of the past motivated the action in the present.
But, if you have a defense for making up Carmen rather than using Teresa then let’s hear it because I can’t figure out a logical reason for it and I’ve yet to read one from anyone else. It simply makes no sense.
jdm> You really need to be careful how you word that. To say that Cidre’s radically different version Dallas was “too complex and sophisticated” for die hard fans such as myself or Russ Cree can be taken as an insult of our character.
Cidre managed to take a built in fan base and more than have it in just 40 episodes. I strongly doubt that the show ever picked up many new fans. It needed its nostalgic old fans to survive and all it did was chase them away in droves. So are you saying a show that debuted to seven million fans and closed to two million was “too complex and sophisticated” for five million of those people? If that is the case then so be it. But I didn’t realize it took a complex and sophisticated person to go for revisionist history. I didn’t realize it too a complex and sophisticated person to be turned on by threesomes. (Who knew the porn industry was aimed at complex and sophisticated people all these years?) I didn’t realize it took complex and sophisticated people to want to see storylines like the burning of Southfork recycled. Finally I didn’t realize the complex and sophisticated fan wanted to move away from the core of the show, oil and energy, to drug dealing and Mexican power struggles. (A move I gather Cidre was quite proud of from a recent interview.) If those are the things that the complex and sophsticated want then I guess I am simplistic and dullard.
Don’t they say the customer is always right? Yes this new show has a cult core of rabid followers. Many of them post here on a regular basis. But again when a show has a built in fan base before it ever debuts and loses well over half the built in fan base it debuted to doesn’t that indicate something is a little off? I’ll always believe in my heart of hearts that a well written show that honored this built in fan base could have survived even Larry Hagman’s death. I may be a simplistic dullard but I wasn’t alone. And I’m not even one of the fans who abandoned this show. Despite my displeasure, I went down with the ship. For the droves of built in fans who left this show there are still people like myself or JR Lemar or Russ Cree or Lisa Kay who watched this show out of loyalty to what it was to us all those years ago. I really have to wonder how many of us there were. What if we had left as well? Then what would the final numbers have looked like. They would not have been any higher than the finale pulled in. Even a simplistic dullard can do that math.
I have very mixed emotions about this show. I’m certainly not sad Cidre’s vision has come to an end. I’ll always wonder what this show could have been if a lifelong fan of the show had been the show runner. If any other network does take a flyer on this (and I consider that a long shot) I hope they insist on rebuilding the create team from the ground up and hire professional writers who were fans of the original. I hope they hire professional writers who do know the old show by heart.
But at the same time I realize there is a very good chance I’ve just seen Bobby Ewing and Sue Ellen for the very last time. That does make me very sad.
jdm, I really don’t understand how you can say that Cidre “brought a solid literary feel to the material and explored the dynamics of a truly dysfunctional family with an understanding and passion missing from most everything else seen on television and on the big screen”, especially when she made this recent comment: “Every other day, I’m crying. We have fun. And at the end of the day, somehow the work gets done”. I mean really, does that sound like had an “understanding and passion” about her work? She clearly did not take the legacy of Dallas seriously, she did not study it’s history, she made a mockery of it … and boy did it show.
I agree wholeheartedly with Russ Cress – the fault lies with her.
I hope another network swoops on it, fires Cidre, and employs writers who understand and respect the history of the show. TNT have dropped a diamond and someone needs to pick it up.
In what alternate reality was Cidre ever a fine steward of Southfork? She degraded Dallas by turning it into a violent crime drama. Cut off hands in a gift wrapped box? Really? A threesome? Ridiculous! I lost count of how many people were murdered, and the way these people swapped sexual partners, there really was no feeling or emotion. No character development. It was totally fast paced plot driven and severely degrading to the memory of the original series.
To those who are wedded to the past you might want to just re-watch and re-watch the old shows. To those of us who respect and admire how the Ewings have moved with the times, we can take heart from the interviews given by Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy and Linda Grey. In each interview the actors who were and are, (except for the sad passing of Larry) the heart and soul of Dallas, praised the new Dallas and said they would not have signed on for the new show but for its dedication to be faithful to the spirit of the original.
Totally agree 100%. Cynthia Cidre ruined Dallas. She is a hack with her dark, twisted, warped demented version of Dallas with threesomes, brothels, doggy fetish costumes, chopped off hands, Mecicsn drug lords and more corpses that you could shake JR’s walking cane at.
If someone wants to bring back a show or remake a movie, the formula isn’t that complicated. Good storytelling, pitch perfect casting, and attention to every detail to maintain continuity and authenticity. Cidre missed the mark on all three.
I agree Are there any of the ORIGINAL WRITERS of the show left that can show these so called YOUNGER WRITERS how it’s done??? I NEVER MISSED an episode on the old series. Kept you coming back week after week to see what would happen next.
Russ Cress I don’t think it takes a genius to work the Ramos thing out and it was explained on the show. I watched Dallas in the 80s when I was a kid and the new show inspired me to rewatch the entire original series last year. There was nothing on the current show that made me think they had deviated that far. The original wasn’t perfect, there were some episodes and story lines that were dire and far fetched (I don’t mind far fetched it’s what tv is for) even in the earlier seasons but I still loved it all. I thought in comparison the new series had much better story lines and pacing it’s 2014 not the 80s, times have changed, the Ewings lives have changed, the oil industry is not what it was so of course things would be different on Dallas. This show would have done well if the older fans would realise this and not be expecting a cast full of 70 year olds (I didn’t want to see Ray & Lucy more than they were shown by the way). The new show was clearly meant to be about the new generation of Ewings with the older gen (Bobby, Sue Ellen & JR) as support.
So reading some of the things you had a problem with, I’m just wondering were y’all actually paying attention?
Maybe I could be the first fan to give you a logical explanation for your points – was it ever said that Elena and the Ramos had been living at Southfork the whole time? From the beginning it was obvious to me that they must have moved there after the original show ended in 1991. I also remember Christopher saying in the first episode of season 3 to Elena “you have lived at Southfork since you were 9 years old”. Did it never occur to anyone that Teresa the original cook/maid/whatever could have left the Ewings and been replaced by Carmen and her family? Why would they even need to explain that they changed maids? It’s such a minor detail!
Regarding Hunter Mckay, noone said he was the same age as John Ross – he doesn’t even act the same age. Doesn’t mean they couldn’t have gone to school together or played basketball together. Hunter seemed younger to me. Plus Tracey confirmed in an episode that an old girlfriend of Tommy’s turned up after he’d died with Hunter and his brother. She didn’t say which year that was but that’s irrelevant it didn’t have to happen on the original series. Carter Mckay’s feud was with all the Ewings, yes mainly Bobby at one point but later the feud was with JR he was the one who tricked JR into losing Ewing Oil after all so yes he is an old business rival of JR’s.
I don’t get why people expected the show to be the same as the original when 21 years had passed. It’s not like it picked up from the day JR shot at the mirror. 21 years is a long time and yes people’s character changes too. The so called “character change” of Cliff Barnes for example, it made perfect sense to me that he could become evil and twisted. No explanation needed as to why he restarted the feud. He became very powerful and rich in those 21 years – we all know that power and money can change people in a really negative way and make them more greedy. In the first season he wanted to buy Southfork and also made an offer for Christopher’s patent (& was turned down) and then it turned out he was plotting to get Christopher’s patent using his daughter. He failed and this obviously made him turn sour leading him to the bombing the rig moment. He also saw a chance that the Ewings could get back on top and become a threat to him with the new company and renewable energy. All the things that led up to rig bombing made perfect sense.
Also regarding missing portraits and the Southfork layout – they didn’t have the rights to the old props and portraits since those were owned by CBS and why would the layout of Southfork be the same? Of course they’d change it after so many years it would be silly not to in my opinion. Is your house the same as it was in the 80s?
I will miss greatly miss the show. I am just so grateful we got to see the great JR in action before he passed. Josh Henderson did a fantastic job taking the reigns as a JR in training. It’s a real shame he won’t get a chance to continue.
Yes, Josh Henderson is GREAT as John Ross, no one else could of done the job> he was made to play JR JR
I left out a big continuity killer, someone so nonsensical that most fans seem to pretend he just didn’t exist. If the Frank character fit the timeline, then Cliff Barnes has super powers.
No one has ever said they wanted an entire cast of 70 year olds. That’s not why a Dallas re-start was always a good idea. It is possible to maintain the continuity and introduce a new generation of characters, with this show more than most since so many children were born in the original run that would be 25-35 right now. With good writing and smart planning, it was possible (and easy) to accomplish that.
Of course the house would be remodeled, no one is calling for the original sets. I think all people wanted was for the family room, entrance hall and dining room too maintain it’s layout and feel. You could do this and still modernize it, adding walls isn’t necessary to achieve that. Bobby moving walls to the point the house looked totally different in the dark years but then freaking out at John Ross for wanting to add on to the house so that he and his new wife can have some privacy was bad writing as it made Bobby seem like something he’s never been…hypocritical. (It also would have addressed the criticism of cast and fans about why all these millionaires live in this small house on this big ranch in a realistic fashion).
As far as the portraits go, you are wrong. The Jock Ewing painting has resided for the past 23 years in the entrance hall of Larry Hagman’s house. It would have been easy to make a copy.
On the change of pacing, that’s more about the modern show being 10-13 episodes per season where as the original (due to it’s overwhelming popularity) had orders for 27-32 episodes per year.
Then there is good old Cliff who is now a cartoonish villain. When we last left him, Cliff was a man who was driven to defend his father’s name and accomplishments. Family mattered to him, and he had to deal with the fact that he may not have children because the Barnes’ genetics carry Neurofibromatosis and there was a 50/50 chance that any kids he had would die young. As a result he had a strong relationship with Christopher, his only living relative other than crazy Katherine, and went on a quest to find his daughter when he learned about her. (Who Afton hid from him to keep her out of the feud, but when we saw her in the hospital because of her father, Afton did not react the way someone in that situation would and even disappeared) Then we are supposed to believe that Cliff was willing to risk his pregnant daughter’s life in order to continue with an obsession for revenge which he already got! Cliff won the war for Ewing Oil and yet became an insane madman with no explanation for what pushed him over the edge.
Sorry, but people can bend over backwards for some kind of twisted logic about how Cidre’s writing choices somehow worked but the truth is where the new show had some good moments, the continuity both in character and story was very poor. The thing this show needed more than anything because of it’s unique amount of established history was a superfan type continuity error who understood the show and why things worked especially since Ms. Cidre decided not to watch the DVDs before starting work on the relaunch. I don’t know how anyone can not objectively criticize her for that lazy choice.
The only thing I really agree with you about is Hunter McKay. Although, until the next to last episode, it could be plausible that he appeared later, in the 90s, perhaps, after all, Tracey said Tommy’s old girlfriend showed up with Hunter and his brother, so that would be after the end of the original series. However, he couldn’t have gone to high school with John Ross and Christopher since they are both in their 30s and Hunter was revealed to only be 28 when he died.
Such a shame…this was one “must see” show for me! Maybe TNT will allow another network to pick it up since TNT is the one that put Dallas on the tough night without giving it a decent lead-in and then split its season to end during New fall premieres – not the brightest move! Love the characters and the scripts – maybe Amazon or Netflix will be interested?
Clayton wanted to burried in the Farlow burial plot next to his first wife, and Miss Ellie wanted to be buried in The Ewing Plot with Jock.
Sorry for the wrong spelling
Yes, but Clayton sold the Southern Cross before he ever married Miss Ellie.
Why Cidre was handed the reigns of this show was always beyond my comprehension. Here was a person who spent decades writing action and violence scripts and admitted to never watching the entire original series. When you revive such a huge hit television show that lasted for 13 years, you damn well better have original series advisors and writers on hand who are thoroughly familiar with the original show’s history and characters. You can’t just ignore that sacred history and ignore original characters and rewrite your own history. You’re not going to do anything but piss off Dallas fans. Who do they think was watching this show? Original Dallas fans, that’s who.
Don’t insult my intelligence and try to tell me this Ramos family was living there all along when John Ross and Christopher were little. Oil cartels became drug Mexican drug cartels. Romance became bed hopping threesomes. What the hell was the deal with the gift wrapped chopped off hands? I was waiting for a horse’s head to turn up in John Ross’s bed next. How about that body count? I lost count of how many people were murdered per episode. Ridiculous. They forgot the annual ball was the oil Barron’s, not the cattle Barron’s. Forgot Katherine Wentworth wasn’t really dead. Why wasn’t Clayton Farlow buried next to miss Ellie? How could Cidre refuse to acknowledge Lucas, Bobby’s biological son and a real live next generation blood Ewing on a show that was supposed to be about next generation Ewings? I’m at a loss. I guess the show deserved the axe, except for Josh Henderson. He is a wonderful actor and the best John Ross I could have ever imagined.
Ok I’ve followed Dallas since the old show. WHERE did this LOST SON of Bobby’s show up?? We know it wasn’t from Jenna Wade and as far as I know of their was no one else. His last wife April Stevens was killed in Paris while on their Honeymoon. Can the shows writers give us answers to these questions. Anyone who was a DEVOTED DALLAS FAN KNOWS the whole storyline and the feued between the Ewings & Barnes
Elsie May, I never said Bobby’s lost son showed up. My gripe was the he should have been included in this series. Don’t you remember he had a son named Lucas with Jenna Wade? Wow, you really don’t know your Dallas history too well.
Let’s be polite, everyone.
Lisa Kay nobody said the Ramos family were there all along it was actually mentioned at the start of season 3 that “Elena had lived at Southfork since she was 9 years old”. That would confirm that they Ramos’ arrived after 1991. I had actually worked that out myself before that episode. I didn’t think it was that unclear at all.
I would have thought the reason for the cattle barons ball instead of oil barons was because the oil industry isn’t what it used to be. Times have changed. It’s 2014 and the Ewings were no longer in the oil business at the beginning of season 1 anyway.
Also why would Lucas be acknowledged? I don’t understand why fans keep saying this. He wasn’t important enough to Bobby in the original series as he let him be raised by another man so why would he be acknowledged now?
Regarding Katherine, she may not have died on the original show but remember 21 years had passed – one would assume she would have died in those years. I like that they left this to the imagination because I always thought Cliff could have been lying about that and they left it open to her coming back. I guess we’ll never get to see that now.
The show didn’t deserve the axe. They couldn’t possibly acknowledge every single character and storyline from the original. I’m a fan of both – I watched the original as a child and rewatched it as the entire box set last year. I love both series and am of the understanding that the original was set in a completely different time to the NEW Dallas. I didn’t want to see too many old characters brought back most of which would be in their 80s. It just wouldn’t make good tv. Linda, Patrick and Larry and even Ken were enough for me, they were the important ones. Ray & Lucy were not important I liked that they came back occasionally. I’m glad they brought in new characters and families they had to. The old Dallas brought in new characters all the time. That’s what happens in a series. I didn’t like every storyline or character in the new Dallas but I didn’t like every storyline or character in the old one either. They still both had me on the edge of my seat and for that I am grateful.
Then why did Elena mention Pam as if she knew her? She used to sneak coffee and Pam would always catch her? That would indicate that she was there when Pam was still there, and we know that Pam left when Christopher was 7. There was never any little girl on Southfork when Pam was there. When you try to rewrite back history it just doesn’t work. There was never any Carmen there. We all watched the original Dallas religiously. We knew all the help. There was Teresa and Raoul. It would have made more sense to make Elena the daughter of Teresa.
Why should Lucas be acknowledged? Because he was a next generation blood Ewing, that’s why. I thought that’s what this show was supposed to be about, the next generation of Ewings. It was weak at best to only have two next generations wings on the show. Think of how interesting it could have been to have Lucas come back and play the biological son up against the insecure adopted son. Bobby’s biological son against JR’s biological son? Lucas is a next generation Ewing, even if his last name was Wade or Krebbs. There is also Ray’s daughter Margaret, another next generation Ewing. Instead Cidre wanted to create her own characters and revise history and bring in this secret daughter of JR’s.
A true fan of the original should have been the one to bring the show back. With that said, I think Ms. Cidre did an okay job (there was a lot I would have done differently, though), but I am grateful to her for bringing the Ewings back to us for three more years. You are right, she should’ve had advisers and writers who were extremely familiar with the characters and the history on hand.
I agree with so much of what has been said. The first obvious mistake was the interior layout of the house. It was all wrong and there was nothing of the old Southfork inside the house, not a stick of furniture or a single knick knack to remind us of the original. It was stark and uninviting. It was also odd that no one seemed to live upstairs. In the original, the bedrooms were all located there. The absence of Jock’s portrait was another glaring mistake because it’s absence was something neither JR or Bobby would have tolerated. Frankly, it would have been easy to reproduce. Then there were the storylines. There were too many and they were ALL over the place. They jumped around as much as the younger characters jumped in and out of bed. The characters weren’t allowed to develop as the pacing was too frenetic. Even Jordana Brewster (when interviewed) said she had difficulty keeping track of what was going on. There was entirely TOO much backstabbing, too many subplots, too little Ewings, and too many bad guys. And all with little to no redeeming qualities. Dallas WAS always about family first. A family who happened to run a multimillion dollar (at the time) company. I think the reboot strayed too far away from that and though I watched every episode, I did so because I loved the original and kept hoping the new show would get straightened out. I’m so disappointed that it will never get the chance now. 😦
I’m so disgusted with TNT. I don’t know when the moment was that they decided to completely give up on the show, maybe when JR died, but I feel TNT cheated the fans and all of Dallas TNT by just allowing it to die. To me, when a network sees a promising show take a hit in the ratings due in part to moving it to the fall, and on Monday, etc… you sit down and strategically look at ways of fixing that to assist in the success of the show. You don’t just sit back and watch it fold, how is that even good business? I don’t think another network will pick it up… but part of that is my pessimism right now. TNT owns this failure but something tells me that they won’t lose a seconds sleep over it.
the fact that they did this is a nightmare. I was so looking forward to more. I love this show as much as I did the original one. I am spitting mad.
I am also If it interfers with another show put it on a different day & time slot. Doesn’t take a ROCKET SCIENTIST to figure that one out!!
Another network needs to pick this great show up, what a shame tnt to stop after a riveting cliffhanger
I’m so sad. :..(
I am a fan of the TNT show who only watched the old show because I wanted to learn the origins of my favorite characters. Season 3 was a disappointment but even it had stellar moments. The first two seasons were terrific and very entertaining. When I heard the news do you know who I was worried about? You! You have been such a superfan. Thank you for your efforts. I’m sure your hubby looks forward to having more free time with you. I look forward to further insightful posts on Dallas TNT. One aspect that I am most grateful for is a more diverse Dallas. I don’t think Elena’s character was as well written as she could have been and I think they needed to have cast another actress in the part. I am still thankful they showed us a professional, intelligent Hispanic woman who was integral to the plot.
You’re sweet, Garnet. You don’t need to worry about me. I’ll be okay. I’ll have more to say later, but thanks for your kind words.
I’m holding back my thoughts for awhile. I think I’ll wait until Chris B. elaborates.
Feeling so very, very sad today, along with feeling very cheated out of a proper windup for the characters and their story lines. After that awesome season finale I was so sure that another season was in the cards. I don’t understand how TNT could possibly let this show go but I do thank them for the 3 seasons that we did have and will have, forever, on DVD. I for one, will be pre-ordering S3 on amazon just as soon as they begin accepting orders for it. The fabulous cast and everyone involved with the show should hold their heads high for the extraordinary work that they did. And thank you, too, Chris, for your loyal devotion to this site, it is much appreciated by so many of us Dallas fans, most especially us die-hards from way, way back. And who knows, TNT’s loss may just become another network’s gain…..
Russ Cress i agree with you 100% – as a die hard Dallas addict since 1978 and as someone who has spent a huge fortune on the show and traveliling to meet the cast on various continents and amassed a huge collection since 1980, it totally failed to do it for me.
CC has tarnished the memory and legacy of Dallas and it became a show I no longer loved or even liked and im glad she cant do any more damage, re write Dallas history or introduce any more ludicrous characters/plots who have no place in Dallas. The show lost its way a long time ago and should have ended when Larry died. This time round he was Dallas – he lit up the screen and he was captivating.
Dallas died long ago for me – there was no heart or soul in the show, no likeable characters, and i didnt even recognise poor Cliff Barnes or Bobby the grouch any more.
CC didnt watch Dallas in the 80s and it showed. I feel sad that she made me feel like this about a show which has dominated my life since a young girl, but i couldnt enjoy it and all those plots and characters who were not part of the original made it a joke. It could have been so good but it was a pretty poor continuation.
RIP Dallas – it died with Larry but im glad he got to be JR one more time and died with his boots on.
Im glad she cant tarnish its memory any longer and as Miss Ellie said
“I have my memories (of original Dallas and cast) and my memories are forever”
LONG LIVE DALLAS 1978 – 91
Time to get back to reviewing the great days of Dallas Chris, you stopped with S6 original, lots more to review.
Inloved watching it! Home they re think the cancellation
save the show. As corny as it is we looked forward to it each new season.
Josh Henderson is outstanding as John Ross and Judith Light, whoa… That’s one scarry bitch.
#somebodypickupDallas
I am a devoted fan and I am very upset. I watched the show religiously and if I couldn’t see it at the time slot it was in I recorded it and watched it later. I would like to see the show saved.
I am disgusted that the show has been cancelled, why not make positive changes to save the show? Bring in new writers, get a new executive producer, etc etc I wonder if there is a way to pitch to Warner Horizon a new idea for Dallas and try to get it back on the air but with a new creative writing team?
VERY GOOD IDEA!!
tnt has made a huge mistake,Dallas is one of the greatest around i had a hard time letting go of Dallas the first time around.its so sad we lost JR(Larry Hagman) he was the greatest but we still hav Bobby and Sue Ellen i love them just as much us Dallas Fans will not go easily or quitely. Bring back our Dallas…….#EwingsUnite…#SaveDallas
Please bring Dallas back on t.v
#SAVEDALLAS #EWINGSUNITE #BRING BACK MY DALLAS
TNT if you take this show your just as stupid as A&E was on dropping Duck Dynasty
CMT if TNT wont take it back pick it up run full reruns of the old and new WE LOVE IT TO MUCH TO LET IT GO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bring back dallas
My thoughts are rather scattered right now. There is disappointment, sadness, and resentment. On the other hand, I wasn’t exactly optimistic about the show having a ton of staying power, given the ratings in the latter years of the old series, and the second reunion movie, “War of The Ewings.” When I learned it was being revived, I was thrilled, but I knew they would really have to hit a home run to keep people invested. Three seasons…I wanted more, but I’ll settle and be glad we got it.
I certainly wasn’t in love with every creative decision and liberty CC took with the Dallas mythology. Some of it, hell, a LOT of it, was downright baffling. But I never lost my gratitude over simply having BACK the only nighttime soap I ever cared a damn about. I would have watched it forever, no matter how I felt about the quality of the writing.
The demise of Christopher was a calculated risk that ultimately failed. He died for absolutely nothing now. The only real positive to the end coming now is that Cliff will never get out of jail, and JR’s vindication for losing everything at the end of the old series will remain in tack. I am glad CC set it up that way, either consciously or subconsciously, in the event this would be the final season.
Anything is possible of course, but I’m simply not a positive enough person to think the prospect of the show being salvaged by another network is anything but a pipe dream. I’d love for it to happen, but I won’t expect to ever see another episode of Dallas.
You are right Mac888 and while you say you feel (due to ratings) it did not have “staying power” TRUE fans feel it should have been moved to Wednesday or Friday night before cancelling. Monday night football is rather tough for any show to go up against. The chance was never given. Also, I am very sorry FOR YOU that you are not an optimistic person. My condolences!
I don’t think this is the end of Dallas. The fans (2.7 million) are putting 150% of our effort into saving this iconic show. Before Larry Hagman passed, he worked VERY hard to bring it back to TV. NOW it’s OUR turn to fight for HIM and bring it back. It was his dream and gave him completion in his life. Josh Henderson has done a magnificent job in filling his shoes, and I am SURE Larry has been smiling down on Josh giving him pointers on how to be a scoundrel from above. No this cannot be the end. It’s only just begun!
Um, I’m pretty sure Hagman had nothing to do with bringing the show back to TV. To him it was just a job. One he loved but an acting job none-the-less. He had zero production involvement this time around.
Love Dallas!
It was just getting really good!
Keep Dallas great show
gidget43, I’m not a Negative Nancy as a rule, but I do temper my expectations with realism. I appreciate the efforts people are making to keep Dallas alive, certainly. And if Mr. Duffy does indeed find a new network to get behind the show and give it a fair shake, I’ll be as happy as anyone.
Dan in Wi, from what I understand, Mr. Hagman was pretty instrumental in bringing Dallas back to television. I remember he, Duffy, and Linda were on the Weather Channel doing an interview with Al Roker the day the show returned. They discussed always wanting to bring the Ewings back, but it was a matter of timing, the right scripts, etc. Whether or not Larry was an official producer, I definitely got the impression he was a key figure in making it all happen. Mostly I recall Roker wishing them to get 13 years out of this show as they did the old one, to which Larry laughed and said “I’ll be 94 years old!”
If the TNT series got nothing else right, it gave proper closure to Pamela Jean Ewing. That mystery went on far too long, and while my preference would have been to put Margaret Michaels back on the payroll and ignite what could have been one of the most fascinating storylines in night soap history, I think CC did an absolutely marvelous job of wrapping up her saga once and for all. That alone validated the show’s return for me.
Goodbye & Goodnight!!!
And I thought I was a Dallas aficionado. Well I was and I watched every episode of the old and new. I spent 13 years of my life following the Ewings from 78-91 and I am so glad I did. Was the family dynamic a bit hokey? You bet but obviously it worked. Unless I missed something here, one of the obvious disadvantages that Cidre had in the redux was that she had only, what, 8 episodes per to develop characters and story lines where Leonard Katzman had 23 per season as well as others. There is a lot of synthesizing to be done here and I couldn’t do it to the extent that the people that commented here would want. I didn’t know how to feel when I heard this redux was coming back but once I started watching it I tried to tie the past to the future and in some ways that was a hard thing to do because I had forgotten a lot of the minute details from 23 years ago. As a matter of fact in 1991 I had forgotten minute details from 1978. It was a tough project here but I think it worked. I go back to when Christopher and John Ross were little kids and try to think would I have ever seen them growing up the way they were portrayed now? I don’t know. I tried very much to let this series stand on it’s own somewhat. I’m glad they brought Bobby, and Sue Ellen back. Great to see how many times Sue Ellen can fall off the wagon and be involved in a Southfork conflagration. I’m glad they were able to wrap up JR’s life and how in death he was almost as present as he was in life. When you think about it JR was much older than Jock was when he died and when Jim Davis died it opened up almost 2 seasons of story lines regarding him. His legend was larger than life. If Christopher, indeed, died at the end of this run then I go back to the first time Bobby was presented Christopher by Kristen Shepherds loser boy friend Jeff Faraday. Sad stuff huh? Wonder how Bobby would have taken that news. Did Sue Ellen ever find out about Christopher being her natural nephew?? Also I missed Sly..JR’s gatekeeper. In conclusion I just looked over the 78-91 cast list and there are a couple of hundred characters that appeared in that run. Tough to compete with but if they want to come back on another network or Netflix or wherever I will watch. If the audience is wanting more then you know it was well done.
Reblogged this on worlproavblog and commented:
And I thought I was a Dallas aficionado. Well I was and I watched every episode of the old and new. I spent 13 years of my life following the Ewings from 78-91 and I am so glad I did. Was the family dynamic a bit hokey? You bet but obviously it worked. Unless I missed something here, one of the obvious disadvantages that Cidre had in the redux was that she had only, what, 8 episodes per to develop characters and story lines where Leonard Katzman had 23 per season as well as others. There is a lot of synthesizing to be done here and I couldn’t do it to the extent that the people that commented here would want. I didn’t know how to feel when I heard this redux was coming back but once I started watching it I tried to tie the past to the future and in some ways that was a hard thing to do because I had forgotten a lot of the minute details from 23 years ago. As a matter of fact in 1991 I had forgotten minute details from 1978. It was a tough project here but I think it worked. I go back to when Christopher and John Ross were little kids and try to think would I have ever seen them growing up the way they were portrayed now? I don’t know. I tried very much to let this series stand on it’s own somewhat. I’m glad they brought Bobby, and Sue Ellen back. Great to see how many times Sue Ellen can fall off the wagon and be involved in a Southfork conflagration. I’m glad they were able to wrap up JR’s life and how in death he was almost as present as he was in life. When you think about it JR was much older than Jock was when he died and when Jim Davis died it opened up almost 2 seasons of story lines regarding him. His legend was larger than life. If Christopher, indeed, died at the end of this run then I go back to the first time Bobby was presented Christopher by Kristen Shepherds loser boy friend Jeff Faraday. Sad stuff huh? Wonder how Bobby would have taken that news. Did Sue Ellen ever find out about Christopher being her natural nephew?? Also I missed Sly..JR’s gatekeeper. In conclusion I just looked over the 78-91 cast list and there are a couple of hundred characters that appeared in that run. Tough to compete with but if they want to come back on another network or Netflix or wherever I will watch. If the audience is wanting more then you know it was well done.
Sue Ellen always knew Christopher was her real nephew, though you would never have known it by her seemingly complete lack of interest in his life…and the way It was always sort of implied, for whatever reason, that Chris and John Ross were not really cousins.
TNT cancelled ‘Dallas’ just as it was getting interesting; which was quite a feat, to recoup
from JR’s death & now, Christopher’s! Granted, the audience #’s had declined with Hagman’s absence, but Bobby, Sue Ellen and Judith’s characters seemed to be awfully dominate to be able to draw millions of viewers. Not to mention the young cast members that have captivated the audience in the previous seasons!! We have got to find about JR’s mystery daughter/John Ross’s long, lost sister! Come on Now, Save Dallas!! Bring it back to the original Network-CBS! Because; “CBS Cares!”
My reaction: “say it ain’t so C.B.”
Hey TNT….Are you wanting Honey Boo Boo instead of Dallas ? Doobers!!!