Dallas Decoder’s Persons of the Year: The Fans

Let’s face it: This wasn’t an easy year to be a “Dallas” fan.

Oh, we enjoyed the show plenty. In its third season, the new “Dallas” delivered great moments worthy of the original, including John Ross and Sue Ellen’s instant-classic kitchen-counter confrontation, Pamela’s heartbreaking jailhouse farewell to Cliff and Patrick Duffy’s triumphant return to the “Dallas” director’s chair. Even the much-maligned drug cartel storyline ended on a compelling note: the unbearably tense scene where Luis holds a gun to Emma’s head in a dingy Mexican basement.

But being a “Dallas” fan in 2014 also meant a lot of anxious waiting. Waiting for the ratings report every Tuesday afternoon. Waiting for the show to return during its four-month midseason break. Waiting to find out Which! Ewing! Dies! Waiting for TNT to make up its damn mind about whether or not it was going to reward the series with a fourth season. But as agonizing as all this was, nothing compared to the angst we felt when the network finally decided to drop “Dallas” — an announcement that came less than two weeks after a season-ending cliffhanger that left the fates and fortunes of almost every major character up in the air.

When the sad news came, we could’ve cried into our J.R. Ewing Bourbon — but that’s not what “Dallas” fans are made of, is it? Instead, we came together and embarked on a grassroots rescue effort. For six weeks, we signed petitions, jammed network switchboards, filled the inboxes of television’s top programming executives and tapped out enough #SaveDallas tweets to make our collective fingers bleed. It was a noble effort, and even though we didn’t succeed in finding the Ewings a new home, we did show the world how much “Dallas” means to us.

So when it came time for me to choose Dallas Decoder’s Person of the Year, there was no question who would receive this designation: my fellow “Dallas” fans. Who better to follow the previous honorees, Larry Hagman and Linda Gray? Like a Ewing, you fought with grit and resolve. You gave “Dallas” everything you had — inspiring me and many others along the way. It’s not the prize you deserve — that would be another season of the show — but it’ll have to do.

All of us are heartbroken “Dallas” won’t return next year, but we also know this isn’t the final chapter; it’s just another cliffhanger. Someday, somehow, the Ewing saga will resume. It might take another 21 years to see it, but that’s okay. We’re “Dallas” fans. We’re used to waiting.

Read Dallas Decoder’s list of this year’s other VIPs and share your comments below.