Critiques (Classic) – Dallas Decoder

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 9 – ‘Bypass’

April 12, 2012 by Chris Baker 17 Comments

Barbara Bel Geddes, Bypass, Dallas, Dan Ammerman, Dr. Harlan Danvers, Jim Davis, Jock Ewing

Ticker shock

“Bypass” has a little bit of everything – a health crisis, family squabbling, corporate intrigue. There’s not much romance, but there is a cattle drive.

The small moments in this episode are among its best, beginning with Jock and Miss Ellie’s heart-to-heart in his hospital room. As he lies in bed, with medical tubes taped to his chest, he urges Ellie to “keep the family together” if “anything happens” to him.

Like Jock’s plea with Bobby and Pam to stay at Southfork at the end of “Barbecue,” this scene reminds us how much family means to the Ewing patriarch. Jock is usually so gruff; it’s always nice to see his sentimental side.

“Bypass” also casts J.R. in a softer light. Yes, he does a dastardly thing when he forges Jock’s will so he can drill for oil on Southfork once his father dies, but remember: J.R. sets this plot in motion before Jock gets sick. After the heart attack, J.R. doesn’t have much enthusiasm for the scheme and seemingly goes through with it only after Jeb and Willie Joe pressure him.

Another small-but-revealing moment comes when Sue Ellen arrives at the Braddock emergency room, not knowing which Ewing is being treated there, and is relieved to discover J.R. isn’t the patient. “I thought it was you,” she tells him.

Later, when J.R. expresses regret about bringing Jock to a small-town hospital not equipped to effectively treat him, Sue Ellen reassures him, “J.R., you did the right thing.” Aside from being sweet, this exchange helps blunt the ugliness of Sue Ellen’s behavior later in the episode, when she drunkenly sashays around Southfork and threatens to evict Pam if Jock dies.

But as much as I appreciate the human drama in “Bypass,” my favorite part of this episode is the lightning-fast cattle drive at the top of the hour.

The sequence begins with a grounds-eye view of the herd as it surges forward, trampling the earth and covering director Corey Allen’s camera lens with clods of Texas dirt. Then, when Jock dashes off to round up some strays, Allen keeps the camera fixed on Jim Davis as he rides high in his saddle. It’s almost as if we’re bouncing alongside Jock.

Throw in John Parker’s triumphant score and Robert Jessup’s sumptuous cinematography and you have an exhilarating action sequence. It’s a fine way to open one of “Dallas’s” finest early episodes.

Grade: A

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Power steering

‘BYPASS’

Season 2, Episode 4

Airdate: October 14, 1978

Audience: 10.7 million homes, ranking 52nd in the weekly ratings

Writer: Arthur Bernard Lewis

Director: Corey Allen

Synopsis: Jock suffers a heart attack and is rushed to the hospital. J.R. shows cronies Jeb Ames and Willie Joe Garr a codicil to Jock’s will that gives J.R. permission to drill on Southfork when Jock dies, but Jeb and Willie Joe don’t know J.R. forged it. Bobby takes leave from Ewing Oil to help run the ranch. Jock’s bypass surgery saves his life.

Cast: Dan Ammerman (Dr. Harlan Danvers), John Ashton (Willie Joe Garr), Barbara Babcock (Liz Craig), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Lisa Lemole (Susan), Ed Nelson (Jeb Ames), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing)

“Bypass” 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: Barbecue, Bypass, Corey Allen, Jim Davis, John Parker, Robert Jessup

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 8 – ‘Old Acquaintance’

April 11, 2012 by Chris Baker 14 Comments

Bobby Ewing, Dallas, Jenna Wade, Morgan Fairchild, Old Acquaintance, Patrick Duffy

Devil in a red blouse

“Old Acquaintance” should not be forgotten. This isn’t one of “Dallas’s” all-time best episodes, but it includes one of my all-time favorite “Dallas” scenes: the pep talk Miss Ellie gives Pam when it looks like her marriage to Bobby is on the rocks.

The conversation begins with Pam lamenting Bobby’s preoccupation with his old flame Jenna Wade and her daughter Charlie.

“I knew a woman once,” Ellie says. “Her man couldn’t decide whether or not to do right by her – so she took a horsewhip to him. Helped him make up his mind fast.”

“I don’t think a horsewhip would work with Bobby,” Pam responds.

“I don’t see why not. It worked on his daddy all right.”

It’s fun to imagine Ellie as a young spitfire, whipping Jock into shape. It isn’t a difficult mental picture to draw, either. Barbara Bel Geddes is wonderful as the Ewings’ wise, soft-spoken matriarch, but if you’ve seen her spirited performance in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 classic “Vertigo,” you know Bel Geddes, like Ellie, had a lot of spunk when she was younger.

Speaking of elegant actresses: Morgan Fairchild makes a marvelous Jenna Wade.

Fairchild is remembered as one of the great vixens of 1980s television, so it’s a bit surprising to see how restrained she is here. The actress resists the temptation to make Jenna bitchy. Instead, she plays her as a woman whose machinations are rooted in desperation, not vindictiveness.

“Old Acquaintance” is also memorable thanks to Robert Jessup’s sumptuous cinematography, particularly in Bobby and Jenna’s scenes in the park and during Ellie’s pep talk, when Victoria Principal’s raven hair pops against the backdrop of that green-gold Southfork pasture.

Of course, not everything here works: “Old Acquaintance” makes Pam seem pretty foolish when Bobby takes her to meet Jenna and Charlie at the little girl’s school.

During the visit, Pam sits in Bobby’s car and admires Charlie’s ragdoll Jewel – then accidentally leaves with it. You have to wonder: How does Pam not realize she’s holding the doll when she and Bobby drive away?

Forgetting an old acquaintance is understandable, but come on, Pam. You just met Jewel!

Grade: B

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Blonde in a bind

‘OLD ACQUAINTANCE’

Season 2, Episode 3

Airdate: October 7, 1978

Audience: 9.6 million homes, ranking 58th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Camille Marchetta

Director: Alex March

Synopsis: Jenna Wade, Bobby’s old flame, turns to him when her married lover ends their affair. Bobby suspects he may be the father of Jenna’s daughter Charlie and begins spending his free time with them. Pam confronts Jenna, who admits Bobby isn’t the father, and Bobby and Pam reconcile.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Morgan Fairchild (Jenna Wade), Laurie Lynn Myers (Charlie Wade), Nicki Flacks (Melissa Anderson), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Peter Mark Richman (Maynard Anderson), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing)

“Old Acquaintance” 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: Barbara Bel Geddes, Morgan Fairchild, Old Acquaintance, Robert Jessup, Victoria Principal

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 7 – ‘Reunion, Part 2’

April 10, 2012 by Chris Baker 16 Comments

Charlene Tilton, Dallas, David Ackroyd, Gary Ewing, Joan Van Ark, Lucy Ewing, Valene Ewing

Enter at your own risk

I’m not a big fan of “Reunion, Part 1,” but I love “Reunion, Part 2.” The writing and acting are beautiful.

In this installment’s most memorable sequence, a drunken Digger barrels onto Southfork in his nephew Jimmy’s beat-up sports car and asks Jock to “pay” him for Pam. The Ewings watch as Jock pulls a wad of cash from his pocket and tosses a $100 bill at the feet of his onetime business partner, who scoops it up and proclaims his daughter “sold.”

The attention shifts to Pam, who is humiliated, but I find myself wondering what Gary makes of this embarrassing scene. To him, Digger must seem like a ghost from the future – a vision of the person he’ll become if he doesn’t get away from the Ewings.

Think about it: Gary is already following in Digger’s footsteps. Like Digger, Gary is an alcoholic. Like Digger, he has failed to live up to Jock’s expectations. And like Digger, he has “lost” a daughter to the Ewings.

I believe Gary leaves Southfork at the end of “Reunion, Part 2” not just because he feels pressured by J.R., but also because he doesn’t want to become as embittered as Digger. He says as much when he bids farewell to Valene and tells her, “I’m alright. It took me a long time to realize that. I just don’t belong with them – and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

David Ackroyd is really good in this scene, but Joan Van Ark is magnificent. When Val tells Gary she’s never loved another man like she loved him, you feel her pain.

I also love Van Ark’s performance in the next sequence, when the actress spins on a dime and channels Val’s tears into anger at J.R., who’s been watching her from Southfork’s front porch.

“So what’s my future?” she asks him.

“None around here,” J.R. responds.

“Any choices?”

“Well, $5,000 and an escort out of the state?”

“Any others?”

“An escort out of the state.”

Dialogue this sharp – and acting this good – make me wish scriptwriter David Jacobs and Van Ark had spent more time at Southfork before heading west to “Knots Landing” during “Dallas’s” third season.

The farewell scene is also elevated by Robert Jessup’s cinematography, which makes Southfork’s blue skies and gold-green pastures look stunning. Jessup’s work here reminds us of one of “Dallas’s” great dichotomies: No matter how ugly the characters on this show behave, the scenery around them is always gorgeous.

Grade: A

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Dallas, David Ackroyd, Gary Ewing, Joan Van Ark, Valene Ewing

Goodbye, for now

‘REUNION, PART 2’

Season 2, Episode 2

Airdate: September 30, 1978

Audience: 9.5 million homes, ranking 59th in the weekly ratings

Writer: David Jacobs

Director: Irving J. Moore

Synopsis: Pam is humiliated when her father, Digger Barnes, asks Jock to “pay” him for her. J.R. gives Gary a Ewing Oil subsidiary to run, but when Gary feels pressured, he leaves Southfork without saying goodbye. Val also departs, and J.R. lies and tells the family she asked him for money to leave.

Cast: David Ackroyd (Gary Ewing), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Sarah Cunningham (Maggie Monahan), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Joan Van Ark (Valene Ewing), David Wayne (Digger Barnes)

“Reunion, 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: David Ackroyd, David Jacobs, Joan Van Ark, Knots Landing, Reunion Part 1, Reunion Part 2, Robert Jessup

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 6 – ‘Reunion, Part 1’

April 9, 2012 by Chris Baker 16 Comments

Barbara Bel Geddes, Dallas, David Ackroyd, Gary Ewing, Jim Davis, Jock Ewing, Miss Ellie Ewing, Reunion Part 1

Meet the parents

“Reunion, Part 1” is almost all hat and no cattle. “Dallas’s” second-season opener has a good story to tell, but it spends too much time re-introducing the audience to the Ewings, who had been off the air for four-and-a-half months when the episode debuted.

Consider the lengthy opening sequence, which finds the family lazing around the Southfork swimming pool.

Miss Ellie reminisces about growing up on the ranch and there are small moments to remind us J.R. is greedy, Lucy is bratty and Pam’s relationship with her in-laws is frosty, but nothing happens to advance the plot. Audiences might have welcomed the refresher 34 years ago, but today it looks like filler.

Even Gary, who should be this episode’s central figure, becomes a device to reacquaint us with the regular characters.

When “Dallas” begins, Gary is described as a drunk who beat his wife Valene before abandoning her and Lucy, but in this episode, he’s depicted as a recovering alcoholic who dabbles in painting and horseback riding. By making Gary a gentler soul, “Dallas” is able to draw a sharper contrast between him and his family, reminding us just how cutthroat they are.

But Gary isn’t the only Ewing to undergo a personality change.

With this episode, Sue Ellen is transformed from Southfork’s resident mouse into its version of Lady Macbeth. The scene where she lashes out at J.R. and tells him his “little brother Bobby” is taking away his power offers the first great spat between J.R. and Sue Ellen, who raise marital squabbling to an art form as “Dallas” progresses.

Of course, Southfork itself gets the biggest makeover of all.

“Reunion, Part 1” marks the first appearance of the “real” Southfork – another ranch stood in as the Ewings’ home during the first season – making this the first episode where “Dallas” really begins to look like “Dallas.”

“Reunion, Part 1” is also the first of many “Dallas” installments filmed in Texas during the summertime, and it’s nice to finally see a little sunshine on this show, even though we know the Ewings face plenty of dark days ahead.

Grade: B

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There’s something about Gary

‘REUNION, PART 1’

Season 2, Episode 1

Airdate: September 23, 1978

Audience: 9.3 million homes, ranking 56th in the weekly ratings

Writer: David Jacobs

Director: Irving J. Moore

Synopsis: In Las Vegas, Bobby and Pam run into his long-lost brother Gary and bring him home to Southfork, where Gary’s daughter Lucy is overjoyed to see him. She arranges a reunion between Gary and her mother Valene, whom Lucy has been secretly visiting. J.R., with prodding from his wife Sue Ellen, begins plotting to get rid of Gary.

Cast: David Ackroyd (Gary Ewing), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Hugh Gorrian (Tom), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Philip Levien (Jimmy Monahan), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Joan Van Ark (Valene Ewing)

“Reunion, Part 1” 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: Reunion Part 1

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 5 – ‘Barbecue’

April 6, 2012 by Chris Baker 25 Comments

Barbecue, Dallas, David Wayne, Digger Barnes, Jim Davis, Jock Ewing

Best of enemies

“Barbecue,” the final entry in “Dallas’s” too-brief first season, is probably best remembered as the episode where J.R. accidentally causes a pregnant Pam to fall from the hayloft and lose her baby, but I think it’s notable for other reasons.

This is one of the few “Dallas” installments set during a single day. (“Winds of Vengeance,” the previous episode, is another.) “Barbecue” is also the first time Jock and Digger come face-to-face on the show, and seeing the characters together reminds us how smartly the producers cast the roles.

More than anyone else in the “Dallas” ensemble, Jim Davis and David Wayne look like their characters. Davis is as big as Texas. Wayne is small and pitiful. They are Jock and Digger.

I also love the actors’ use of body language in “Barbecue.” Watch closely when Jock and Digger walk to the bar to toast Pam’s pregnancy. Davis strides with effortless confidence; Wayne’s gait is slowly deliberate – exactly how we expect a broken man like Digger to make his way through the world.

But as much as I enjoy Jock and Digger’s scenes together, my favorite “Barbecue” moment is the gossipy exchange between the Ewings’ caterers, Tilly and Sam.

“How are things out there?” Tilly asks.

“Crazy,” Sam responds.

“Oh that ain’t no news. Tell me some news.”

“She’s on the nest – Digger’s girl.”

“Now that’s news.”

I’ve always believed Southfork’s servants represented untapped storytelling potential. Throughout “Dallas,” we see Teresa the maid and Raoul the butler hovering in background, but they’re more like props than people.

Turning the servants into real characters could have grounded “Dallas” a bit more, allowing them to become the audience’s eyes and ears in the world of the Ewings.

Tilly and Sam fill this role in “Barbecue,” but the characters are never seen again after this episode. Too bad. Aside from being a hoot, Tilly and Sam are also among the few African American faces to appear on “Dallas.”

The good news: TNT’s forthcoming “Dallas” revival is expected to offer more of a “Downton Abbey”-ish view of life at Southfork. One of the new characters will be Carmen Ramos, the Ewings’ cook, played by Marlene Forte.

Who knows? Maybe Teresa and Raoul or even Tilly and Sam will show up to give Carmen pointers on working for those darned Ewings.

Grade: B

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Please don’t go, girl

‘BARBECUE’

Season 1, Episode 5

Airdate: April 30, 1978

Audience: 15.9 million homes, ranking 11th in the weekly ratings

Writer: David Jacobs

Director: Robert Day

Synopsis: At the Ewing barbecue, Bobby and Pam announce her pregnancy, while Jock and Digger reignite their feud. J.R. insults Pam and when he tries to apologize, she falls and suffers a miscarriage. Bobby wants to leave Southfork, but Jock persuades him and Pam to stay.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), James Canning (Jimmy Monahan), Haskel Craver (Sam), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Irma P. Hall (Tilly), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Jo McDonnell (Maureen), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), David Wayne (Digger Barnes)

“Barbecue” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com, iTunes and TNT.tv. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: Barbecue, David Wayne, Jim Davis, Marlene Forte, TNT

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 4 – ‘Winds of Vengeance’

April 5, 2012 by Chris Baker 21 Comments

Brian Dennehy, Dallas, Linda Gray, Luther Frick, Sue Ellen Ewing, Winds of Vengeance

Two of a kind

There’s an unlikely symmetry between Sue Ellen and Luther Frick, her tormentor in “Winds of Vengeance.”

Both characters are married to cheating spouses, both avoid acknowledging these infidelities, and both feel humiliated when the truth finally comes out. Sue Ellen is by far the more sympathetic figure, but Frick is a victim, too. This doesn’t excuse his vile behavior, but it helps explain it.

And make no mistake: Frick and his cohort Payton Allen are despicable characters.

Not only do they objectify the Ewing women – Frick plans to rape Sue Ellen, while Allen will choose between raping Pam and Lucy – they also treat them sadistically. Allen yanks Pam off the sofa and makes her dance with him, while Frick forces Sue Ellen, a onetime Miss Texas, to don a swimsuit and her old beauty pageant sash and sing for him.

The latter sequence is the most disturbing moment in an episode full of them. Frick forces Sue Ellen to act against her will and derives pleasure from it. It’s mental rape.

Brian Dennehy is effectively creepy during the singing scene, but the standout is Linda Gray, who painfully sobs her way through the song – Barbra Streisand’s “People” – while wearing almost nothing. This is one of Gray’s gutsiest performances.

“Winds of Vengeance” climaxes when Pam makes Frick realize J.R. and Wanda’s encounter was probably consensual, and then Jock and Bobby burst into the house, attack Frick and Allen and send them away.

But “Dallas” doesn’t allow us to bask in this moment of triumph.

In the episode’s final moments, Jock and Miss Ellie put Lucy to bed and Pam walks away with her head on Bobby’s shoulder, leaving J.R. alone in the living room with Sue Ellen, who has collapsed in tears.

He bends down to help her cover up with a raincoat, but she turns away, stands and slowly walks out of the room.

The message is clear: The woman who just sang about people who need people will be recovering from her ordeal alone.

Grade: B

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Domestic disturbance

‘WINDS OF VENGEANCE’

Season 1, Episode 4

Airdate: April 23, 1978

Audience: 15.3 million homes, ranking 12th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Camille Marchetta

Director: Irving J. Moore

Synopsis: J.R., Ray and the Ewing women are held captive by Luther Frick and Payton Allen, two working Joes who want revenge after J.R. and Ray slept with their women. Frick claims J.R. raped his wife, then realizes their encounter was probably consensual. Allen is about to rape Lucy when Jock and Bobby arrive and rescue the family.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Brian Dennehy (Luther Frick), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Nicki Flacks (Wanda Frick), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Cooper Huckabee (Payton Allen), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing)

“Winds of Vengeance” 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: Brian Dennehy, Linda Gray, Winds of Vengeance

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 3 – ‘Spy in the House’

April 4, 2012 by Chris Baker 13 Comments

Dallas, J.R. Ewing, Julie Grey, Larry Hagman, Spy in the House, Tina Louise

The spy who loves him

Julie Grey isn’t just J.R.’s longtime secretary and mistress, she’s also his protégé. In “Spy in the House,” when Julie tires of J.R. taking her for granted, she seeks retribution the only way she knows how – the way he taught her.

Consider: Julie is angry when J.R. mistreats her, but she never confronts him. Instead, she connives behind his back – just like J.R. plotted behind Bobby and Pam’s backs in “Digger’s Daughter,” “Dallas’s” first episode.

And just as J.R. uses Julie for sex, she uses Cliff for sex and revenge. Notice how she leaves the incriminating document at Cliff’s bedside after they sleep together – just like J.R. leaves the $100 bill on Julie’s pillow after their sexual encounter at the beginning of this episode.

Julie’s final scene in “Spy in the House” is also telling. Wracked with shame and guilt, she finally comes clean to J.R., then cleans off her desk and walks out of his life – just like he walks out on Sue Ellen in the episode’s first act.

The denouement makes it clear: Julie, the woman who once longed to become Mrs. J.R. Ewing, has instead become J.R. himself.

Despite the havoc Julie wreaks in “Spy in the House,” Tina Louise’s sympathetic performance leaves us rooting for the character, even if Julie doesn’t root for herself. It’s too bad “Dallas” didn’t make Louise a regular cast member or at least give her more screen time as a guest star. She’s a terrific actress.

As for Larry Hagman, he makes J.R. seem genuinely wounded by Julie’s betrayal, infusing his character with a degree of humility that isn’t always evident as the series progresses.

Julie won’t be J.R.’s last mistress – or secretary – to use his own tricks against him, but the look on Hagman’s face when J.R. learns the truth about her suggests she may be the one who hurts him most.

Emotionally, that is.

Grade: A

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Threesome

‘SPY IN THE HOUSE’

Season 1, Episode 3

Airdate: April 16, 1978

Audience: 11.5 million homes, ranking 40th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Arthur Bernard Lewis

Director: Robert Day

Synopsis: J.R. angers his secretary and lover Julie Grey, who retaliates by sleeping with Pam’s brother Cliff Barnes, a crusading government lawyer investigating Ewing Oil. Julie leaks to Cliff a document that proves the company bribed a state senator, who is forced to resign when Cliff makes the document public. J.R. accuses Pam of being the “spy” and is stunned to learn the real culprit is Julie, who quits in disgust.

Cast: Norman Alden (Senator “Wild Bill” Orloff), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Donna Bullock (Connie), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Hugh D. Gorrian (reporter), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Tina Louise (Julie Grey), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing)

“Spy in the House” 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: Larry Hagman, Spy in the House, Tina Louise

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 2 – ‘Lessons’

April 3, 2012 by Chris Baker 10 Comments

Charlene Tilton, Dallas, Lessons, Lucy Ewing, Ray Krebbs, Steve Kanaly

Driving Miss Lucy

For a teenager on television in the 1970s, Lucy manages to find herself in an awful lot of sexual situations. “Dallas” is surprisingly cavalier about this.

In “Lessons,” Pam is the only Ewing who knows Lucy is sexually active, but when she takes it upon herself to straighten out her rebellious niece, Pam’s priority is addressing Lucy’s truancy, not interfering in her sex life. We never see Pam ask Lucy why she is having sex or whether she is protecting herself against the risk of pregnancy and disease.

“Lessons” is also pretty indifferent about Lucy and Ray’s age gap. She’s a high school student and he’s a silver-haired cowboy, but the only acknowledgment their relationship is immoral – if not illegal – comes when Ray tells Pam the Ewings would “kill” him if they discovered he is Lucy’s lover.

In retrospect, all this is pretty shocking.

“Dallas” debuted in an era when television shows routinely dropped moral messages into scripts involving sensitive subjects. Two months before “Lessons” was broadcast, the drama “James at 15” aired an episode in which its lead character, a 15-year-old boy, lost his virginity to a Swedish exchange student. Network censors insisted the boy and girl exhibit remorse after having sex, prompting the show’s head writer to quit in protest.

With “Lessons,” “Dallas” bucks the trend toward “responsible” television. The show renders no judgment on Lucy’s sexuality, trusting viewers to make their own decisions about her choices.

Not dwelling on the script’s provocative aspects allows the producers to concentrate on fleshing out their characters. For example, “Lessons” includes a conversation between J.R. and Bobby that establishes J.R.’s envy over his youngest brother, as well as a nice scene where Miss Ellie and Pam bond over coffee in the Southfork dining room.

But “Lessons’” most enlightening moment is the climactic sequence in the Braddock disco, where Bobby and Pam dance to an electronic version of Jerrold Immel’s “Dallas” theme music.

This is where we learn the biggest lesson of all: Not only is Victoria Principal a terrific actress when “Dallas” begins – she can dance, too!

Grade: B

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No class

‘LESSONS’

Season 1, Episode 2

Airdate: April 9, 1978

Audience: 11.1 million homes, ranking 50th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Virginia Aldridge

Director: Irving J. Moore

Synopsis: Pam learns Lucy is skipping class to be with Ray and makes her attend school. Lucy retaliates by making it look like her math teacher attacked her, but a classmate knows Lucy faked the attack and tries to blackmail her into sleeping with him. Bobby tells Ray to stay away from Lucy and persuades his niece to give Pam a chance.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Donna Bullock (Connie), Jeffrey Byron (Roger Hurley), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Tina Louise (Julie Grey), Jo McDonnell (Maureen), Ryand Merkey (Mr. Daley), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Larry Tanner (Hal), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Paul Tulley (Mr. Miller)

“Lessons” 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: Jerrold Immel, Lessons, Victoria Principal

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 1 – ‘Digger’s Daughter’

April 2, 2012 by Chris Baker 28 Comments

Bobby Ewing, Dallas, Digger's Daughter, Pam Ewing, Patrick Duffy, Victoria Principal

Just married

What a dark place “Dallas” is when we arrive!

“Digger’s Daughter,” the show’s first episode, was filmed in the real-life Dallas in early 1978, when the city was being walloped by its coldest-ever winter.

The result: The straightforward plot – boy marries girl, boy brings girl home, girl outwits boy’s scheming older brother – unfolds against a backdrop of deadened skies and stark landscapes, making it seem moodier and more metaphorical than the show’s producers probably intended.

For example, when Bobby and Pamela bounce up to the Southfork ranch to announce their elopement, Miss Ellie comes to the door wearing a heavy coat. It’s as if she’s warning Pam: This is a cold house, full of cold people. Enter at your own risk.

Later, J.R. stands on Southfork’s darkened front porch, stewing because he fears Bobby and Pam will soon give Jock his long-awaited first grandson. The camera pans above the porch to Bobby and Pam’s brightly lit bedroom window and we see how the couple is literally overshadowing J.R.

Also, when Ray tosses Pam into the freezing pond, is it not unlike the dangerous situation she has plunged into by marrying a Ewing?

Southfork lends itself to the atmospherics, too.

The ranch we know best – the one real-life Texans call the world’s second most famous white house – isn’t seen until “Dallas’s” second season. In “Digger’s Daughter” and the other inaugural episodes, another estate stands in for the Ewings’ homestead.

This Southfork is bigger and feels more mysterious. It sits in a sea of yellow grass, making it look a little lifeless, if not downright haunted.

Some of the performances in “Digger’s Daughter” are as unfamiliar as the setting. Victoria Principal is more relaxed here than in later seasons, and Larry Hagman’s initial outing as J.R. is more sinister than mischievous.

In this episode’s final scene, when J.R. declares he won’t underestimate Pam again, Hagman smiles – not with his mouth, but with his eyes.

It isn’t the J.R. grin we’re used to, but it still leaves us wanting more.

Grade: A

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Oh, brother

‘DIGGER’S DAUGHTER’

Season 1, Episode 1

Airdate: April 2, 1978

Audience: 15.7 million homes, ranking 18th in the weekly ratings

Writer: David Jacobs

Director: Robert Day

Synopsis: Bobby Ewing, son of a wealthy oil-and-cattle clan, marries Pamela Barnes, the daughter of his father’s enemy. Bobby’s brother J.R. tries to break up the marriage by recruiting her ex-boyfriend Ray Krebbs, the Ewings’ ranch foreman, to seduce her, but Pam turns the tables on Ray by threatening to expose his secret affair with Lucy, J.R. and Bobby’s teenage niece.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Donna Bullock (Connie), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Desmond Dhooge (Harvey), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Tina Louise (Julie Grey), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Bill Thurman (Phil Bradley), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), David Wayne (Digger Barnes)

“Digger’s Daughter” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com, iTunes and TNT.tv. Watch the episode and share your comments below.