Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 14 – ‘Survival’

April 19, 2012 by 12 Comments
Bobby Ewing, Dallas, J.R. Ewing, Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy, Survival

Crash of the titans

Larry Hagman and Patrick Duffy appear three times in “Survival:” twice in the first act, when J.R. and Bobby board the Ewings’ private plane and when the aircraft begins its descent into Louisiana swampland, and again in the final scene, when the brothers return to Southfork, battered and bruised.

It’s a testament to the strength of “Dallas’s” ensemble that the show’s biggest stars aren’t missed that much. “Survival” seems designed to showcase “Dallas’s” other cast members, and they make the most of it – particularly Barbara Bel Geddes and Jim Davis, who do some of their finest work in this episode.

In one of my all-time favorite “Dallas” scenes, a tense Miss Ellie is talking with Ray in the Southfork foyer when someone knocks on the door. She opens it to find a snoopy newspaper reporter seeking a quote about the crash.

“Ray, get me the shotgun out of the hall closet,” Ellie says. Holding the gun, she tells the reporter, “Anybody on my land, without invitation, is a trespasser. So unless I see your tail heading out of here right now – and fast – I’m going to blow it off.”

I love the sight of Ellie, wearing pearls, wielding a shotgun and forcing a stranger off her property. The words and images are quintessential “Dallas:” modern people defending old values like land and family.

(TNT’s “Dallas” revival appears to pay homage to this scene in promos for its first episode, when elegant Brenda Strong, playing Southfork’s new lady of the manor, is shown cocking a shotgun.)

In another great “Survival” scene, Jock stands on the darkened Southfork patio and orders Ray to join the search party for J.R. and Bobby. “No matter how it turns out, dead or alive, bring my boys home,” Jock says.

Davis delivers the line with characteristic solemnity, but he pauses briefly before and after the “dead or alive” part, as if Jock has to muster the courage to utter the words. It’s a nice, gravity-adding touch.

Davis also does a nice job at the end of the episode, when Jock receives Ray’s call and learns J.R. and Bobby are alive. With quivering lips and wet eyes, he tells the ranch foreman to “bring them home.”

If you’re able to watch Davis here and not get choked up yourself, you’re a tougher “Dallas” fan than me.

Grade: A

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Dallas, Jim Davis, Jock Ewing, Survival

Call waiting

‘SURVIVAL’

Season 2, Episode 9

Airdate: November 12, 1978

Audience: 15.6 million homes, ranking 18th in the weekly ratings

Writers: D.C. Fontana and Richard Fontana

Director: Irving J. Moore

Synopsis: The Ewings’ plane crashes with J.R. and Bobby aboard. The family spends a tense night at Southfork awaiting word of their fate. Ray brings the brothers home, bruised but otherwise OK.

Cast: Barbra 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), Andy Jarrell (Ken Jackson), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), John Zaremba (Dr. Harlan Danvers)

“Survival” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

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Dallas Styles: Sue Ellen’s Pins

April 18, 2012 by 4 Comments

‘Black Market Baby’

Sue Ellen sports some interesting accessories during “Dallas’s” second season, particularly during her scenes with Cliff.

She meets him in “Black Market Baby,” when she has a big fabric rose pinned to the lapel of her burgundy jacket. The fake flower is an ideal symbol for the beginning of Sue Ellen and Cliff’s relationship, when they pretend to like each other. In fact, their mutual disdain for J.R. is really the only thing they have in common.

‘Election’

In “Election,”Sue Ellen runs into Cliff again when the Daughters of the Alamo sponsors a debate between him and Martin Cole, his opponent in the state senate race. This time, she wears a pin that resembles a bird’s wing – several feathers, fastened together at what appears to be an amethyst base.

It might seem like Sue Ellen is telegraphing her eagerness to spread her wings, leave J.R. and find happiness with someone else. But remember: she’s wearing only one wing – and that’s not going to get her very far.

Neither is her relationship with Cliff.

Filed Under: Dallas Styles, Dallas Styles (Classic), Features Tagged With: ,

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘We’ve Chosen Our Sides’

April 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Bobby Ewing, Dallas, Election, Pam Ewing, Victoria Principal

Running mates

In “Election,” a second-season “Dallas” episode, Bobby and Pam (Patrick Duffy, Victoria Principal) are in their bedroom, discussing her decision to help Cliff’s campaign against a Ewing-backed candidate for state senate.

BOBBY: [Walks toward Pam, who is seated on their bed] Pamela, do you understand what this election means to my family?

PAM: Oh, I understand exactly what it means to your family. It’s a way to get back at my brother!

BOBBY: Now you’re being simplistic Pamela, and you know it. Besides, your brother hasn’t exactly had a hands off policy when it comes to us, now has he?

PAM: Well, what do you expect him to do? If he doesn’t do something, the Ewing family is going to control everyone and everything!

BOBBY: Oh stop it, Pamela! You’re starting to sound like that knee-jerk radical brother of yours. [Begins to leave the room]

PAM: If being a knee-jerk radical means being against exploitation, corruption and greed, I’m proud to be one!

BOBBY: [Walks back toward Pam] Exploitation and corruption of who, of what? Look, my daddy built an empire here because he was smarter than the next guy, and he worked harder – and he was luckier. But anybody with the same qualifications can do the same thing.

PAM: [Stands and faces Bobby] That’s easy to say when you’re born rich. It’s the others Cliff’s worried about!

BOBBY: Oh, Cliff talks a great game but when it comes right down to it, he can play just as dirty as the rest of them.

PAM: [Pauses, then lowers her voice] Well, we see things differently, don’t we?

BOBBY: What I see, Pamela, is what this is doing to us.

PAM: [Sits back down] Well, we’ve chosen our sides.

BOBBY: No. No, not this time. This time, I think we were born into them.

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: , ,

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 13 – ‘Election’

April 18, 2012 by 16 Comments
Cliff Barnes, Dallas, Election, Ken Kercheval

Smear campaign

If ever anyone questioned the politics of “Dallas’s” first families, “Election” should clear things up.

Cliff runs for state senate on a pro-environment, anti-corruption platform. Martin Cole, the candidate the Ewings recruit to run against him, is described as a churchgoer who opposes gun control, abortion rights and higher taxes.

Could it be clearer?

When “Election” begins, the liberal Cliff is cast in a better light than the conservative Ewings. In the first scene, he rejects a big campaign contribution from a sleazy oil industry emissary – even though his shoestring campaign desperately needs cash.

Contrast this with J.R. and Jock. When Cole’s campaign flounders, they resort to dirty tricks, exposing the fact that when Cliff was younger, his pregnant girlfriend died after a botched abortion.

But ultimately, “Election” takes a cynical view of all politics. In the final scene, after Cliff has lost his race, he calls top aide Peter Larson and tells him he’ll run again – but in his next campaign, he’ll take the oil industry’s money. “Peter,” Cliff says, “I just became a realist.”

This is a turning point for Cliff – the moment he decides the ends (beating the Ewings) are more important than the means (honoring your principles). These are the values that will define his character through the rest of “Dallas’s” run.

Of course, “Election’s” harsh judgment of politics shouldn’t come as a surprise. Other early episodes make it clear “Dallas” doesn’t hold politicians in high regard.

“Digger’s Daughter” introduces Bobby as Ewing Oil’s “road man,” who supplies state legislators with broads and booze to get them to vote the company’s way. “Spy in the House” features a state senator who takes bribes. In “Old Acquaintance,” another senator’s mistress jeopardizes his appointment to a federal job.

Crooked politicians like these seem as realistic today as they did in the Watergate era, when “Dallas” debuted.

Just as timeless is “Election’s” references to the importance of television advertising in politics, although Jock goes a little overboard when he urges Cole to buy more airtime. “I want to see your face every time I turn that damn thing on,” the old man barks.

It’s the only thing in this episode that doesn’t really ring true. I mean, has anyone ever wished for more political ads on TV?

Grade: A

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Bobby Ewing, Cliff Barnes, Dallas, Election, Ken Kercheval, Pam Ewing, Patrick Duffy, Victoria Principal

Welcome to the real world

‘ELECTION’

Season 2, Episode 8

Airdate: November 5, 1978

Audience: 11.5 million homes, ranking 48th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Rena Down

Director: Barry Crane

Synopsis: Cliff’s run for state senate divides Pam and Bobby. After J.R. exposes skeletons in Cliff’s closet and he loses, Cliff vows to play dirty during his next campaign.

Cast: Robert Ackerman (Wade Luce), Norman Bartold (Evans), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Joshua Bryant (Peter Carson), Allen Cae (Martin Cole), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Don Starr (Jordan Lee), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Buck Young (Seth Stone)

“Election” 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: , , ,

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘I Hate This Family!’

April 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Charlene Tilton, Dallas, Lucy Ewing, Pam Ewing, Runaway, Victoria Principal

Pout it out

In “Runaway,” a second-season “Dallas” episode, Pam (Victoria Principal) enters her bedroom and finds the dresses she brought home for Lucy on the floor. Lucy (Charlene Tilton) stands at the window, pouting.

PAM: Well, I guess you didn’t like them. [Lucy doesn’t respond.] Honey, Miss Ellie or Sue Ellen will probably bring you into town later. [Lucy continues staring silently out the window.] We’ll find something you like.

LUCY: [Facing Pam] I am old enough to pick out my own clothes! [Turns back to the window]

PAM: Yes, you are. All right, just trying to help.

LUCY: [Faces Pam again] This is supposed to be my birthday party! Grandma is making out the invitation list, Sue Ellen is gonna hire some old-fogey band – and J.R.’s gonna use it for one of his big deals! [Begins crying] And now you’re going to buy my clothes! I hate this family! [Runs out of the room and past a distraught Pam]

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: , ,

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 12 – ‘Runaway’

April 17, 2012 by 14 Comments
Charlene Tilton, Dallas, Lucy Ewing, Runaway

Diary of a teenage brat

“Runaway” is one of “Dallas’s” weakest episodes. Almost everything about it – the writing, the directing, the acting, the music – is bad.

The episode treats Lucy, who was so daring during “Dallas’s” first season, like just another bratty TV teenager. She spends the beginning of “Runaway” whining about how the Ewings are ignoring her. At one point, Jock sends her to her room.

Is this the same Lucy who was blackmailing her teacher and seducing Ray a few episodes ago?

“Dallas” clearly wants us to feel sorry for the poor little rich girl. John Parker, who scored the music for “Runaway,” punctuates each of Lucy’s outbursts with a cloying violin solo that becomes the character’s theme music in later episodes.

By the end of “Runaway’s” first act, Lucy has run away from Southfork and fled to the outskirts of Dallas, where she hooks up with armed robber Willie Gust.

Greg Evigan, who plays Willie, must have prepared for the role by watching Cooper Huckabee’s performance in “Winds of Vengeance.” Both actors seem to believe maniacal laughing is the best way to signal their characters’ villainy.

When Willie isn’t in hysterics, he’s waging a one-man war on Texas’s cash registers, leaving Lucy to cower in the passenger seat of his far-out custom van. But if she’s so afraid of him, why doesn’t she just hop out and run away?

Another mind boggler: How does frightened Lucy manage to deliver such a confident performance during the talent show Willie makes her enter?

“Dallas” creator David Jacobs has said the show’s producers were crunched for time when CBS renewed the series for a second season. According to him, the writers scrambled to produce scripts for the season’s first seven episodes, which were filmed in Texas during the summer of 1978.

“Runaway” is the last of these seven episodes, and you can tell. This feels like something cobbled together by people who were eager to get out from under the hot Texas sun.

Making matters worse: “Runaway” doesn’t end – it stops.

In the final scene, Miss Ellie announces Bobby is bringing Lucy home.

“There’s just one thing,” Jock says. “I was hoping to have a dance with my granddaughter.”

“Well,” Ellie responds, patting his arm. “What about tomorrow?”

Parker’s cloying violin music swells, the frame freezes, the credits flash – and we’re finally done with “Dallas’s” most prophetically titled episode.

Run away, indeed.

Grade: D

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Charlene Tilton, Dallas, Greg Evigan, Lucy Ewing, Runaway, Willie Gust

Bonnie and Clod

‘RUNAWAY’

Season 2, Episode 7

Airdate: October 28, 1978

Audience: 12.8 million homes, ranking 35th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Worley Thorne

Director: Barry Crane

Synopsis: Lucy, feeling ignored, runs away and hitches a ride with an armed robber. Bobby tracks Lucy to Austin, where he rescues her and the robber is arrested.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Greg Evigan (Willie Gust), Jim Gough (Congressman Oates), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing)

“Runaway” 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: , , , , ,

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘Those Weekly Wild Parties’

April 16, 2012 by 1 Comment
Bobby Ewing, Dallas, Double Wedding, Pam Ewing, Patrick Duffy, Victoria Principal

Easy as pious

In “Double Wedding,” a second-season “Dallas” episode, Bobby (Patrick Duffy), emerges from the Southfork swimming pool and tells Pam (Victoria Principal) about his meeting earlier in the day with the church elders.

BOBBY: [Drying off with a towel] Honey, you should’ve met that building committee. They were more interested in whether or not you and I were going to come to their church than they were if there’s enough room for each of the boys to sleep in the dorm.

PAM: [Mischievously] Do I sense a game plan?

BOBBY: [Grabs her arms and faces her] Well honey, I will adopt my most pious expression but you are going to have to cancel those weekly wild parties of yours. Now, I know it’s going to be hard, but Mr. and Mrs. Ewing are going to become pillars of the community – until the contract’s signed.

PAM: [Mock seriousness] I don’t know. I look forward to those wild parties!

BOBBY: I know you do. [Kisses her]

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: , ,

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 11 – ‘Double Wedding’

April 16, 2012 by 11 Comments
Dallas, Double Wedding, Ed Haynes, Pam Ewing, Robin Clarke, Victoria Principal

Forgotten but not gone

“Double Wedding” focuses on the return of Pam’s long-lost first husband, but I’m much more interested in the subplot about Bobby’s bid to build a “wayward boys’” school for his family’s church.

Yes, the Ewings are churchgoers. Who knew?

Initially, Bobby seems poised to win the congregation’s business: Ewing Oil has donated the land for the school and Sue Ellen, a member of the church’s building committee, has recommended him for the job.

But the stuffy church elders are openly skeptical of Bobby’s plans. One clutch-the-pearls snob turns up her nose at Bobby’s architectural drawings, wondering why there are no bars on the school’s windows. Meanwhile, sanctimonious Reverend Thornwood points out Bobby and Pam have been missing from the pews lately.

Later, when Pam’s bigamy scandal explodes, Sue Ellen lectures Bobby. “You know, it’s not so much that it’s immoral,” Sue Ellen says. “The reverend feels that if a man is incapable of handling his family, he’s also incapable of handling his business.”

By populating the Ewings’ congregation with holier-than-thou types, you might think “Dallas” is thumbing its nose at organized religion. And maybe it is. Or maybe it’s just reflecting the prevailing mood of the 1970s, when by many accounts, narcissism ran rampant and Americans grew disenchanted with churchgoing and other social traditions.

“Dallas” appears to underscore this sentiment in the scene where Bobby jokingly tells Pam she’ll have to stop throwing her “weekly wild parties” while he competes for the church’s business. The implication: Young people like Bobby and Pam who don’t attend church regularly aren’t necessarily immoral.

It would’ve been interesting to see “Dallas” continue to explore the Ewings’ relationship with their church. Aside from the ministers we see preside over weddings and funerals in later seasons, references to religion on the show pretty much vanish after this episode.

In addition to the church subplot, I like “Double Wedding” because it offers another strong performance from Victoria Principal, who is heartbreaking in the scene where J.R. reveals Pam’s potential bigamy in front of the family.

David Wayne is also touching in the scene where Digger tries to help his daughter by confronting Ed Haynes, her first husband. Digger is so small and feeble; you can’t help but feel moved by the sight of him standing up to smarmy Haynes.

Until this point on “Dallas,” Digger has been mostly depicted as a self-centered, embittered drunk, so this scene also marks a moment of real growth for the character.

Think about it: Digger Barnes is trying to save his daughter’s marriage to a Ewing. “Dallas” may not be a religious show, but sometimes miracles happen!

Grade: A

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Bobby Ewing, Dallas, Double Wedding, Patrick Duffy

Field trip

‘DOUBLE WEDDING’

Season 2, Episode 6

Airdate: October 21, 1978

Audience: 11.2 million homes, ranking 48th in the weekly ratings

Writers: Jim Inman and Arthur Bernard Lewis

Director: Paul Stanley

Synopsis: Pam’s first husband surfaces, claiming they’re still married. Pam realizes he’s a con artist after Ewing money and tricks him into abandoning his scheme.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Robin Clarke (Ed Haynes), Sarah Cunningham (Maggie Monahan), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Desmond Dhooge (Harvey), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Charles Hallahan (Harry Ritlin), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Lisa Lemole (Susan), Randy Moore (Reverend Thornwood), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), David Wayne (Digger Barnes)

“Double Wedding” 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: , ,

Dallas Styles: Pam’s ‘Pants Dress’

April 13, 2012 by 3 Comments

Up close …

Pam Ewing becomes one of television’s most stylish women during “Dallas’s” second season, but she misses the mark with the wacky “pants dress” she sports in “Black Market Baby.”

… And not-far-enough away!

Victoria Principal is first seen wearing the outfit during the episode’s third act, when Pam walks into The Store. She then wears it in the next two scenes, when Pam sits in her friend Liz Craig’s office and when she runs into Sue Ellen in the maternity department.

The just-past-the-knees dress appears to be a purple floral print worn over solid mauve pants, which match the vest Principal wears. The style is reminiscent of something Bea Arthur might have sported on “The Golden Girls” in the 1980s, so you have to wonder what “Dallas’s” wardrobe designers had in mind when they chose it for someone as young and sexy as Principal.

In “Black Market Baby,” Pam takes a job at The Store over the objections of Bobby, who clings to the old-fashioned idea that married women shouldn’t work.

Maybe the outfit is supposed to represent the balance Pam is trying to strike? Perhaps the pants symbolize how she wants to be on more of an equal footing with her husband, while the dress shows how she is holding onto her femininity?

Whatever the reason, let’s be thankful Pam reclaims her good fashion sense later in this episode, when she pairs jeans with a tie-front blouse. It’s a much more chic look for a character whose sense of style is  one of “Dallas’s” hallmarks.

Filed Under: Dallas Styles, Dallas Styles (Classic), Features Tagged With: ,

The Art of Dallas: ‘Black Market Baby’

April 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Rita (Talia Balsam) and Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) shop in The Store’s maternity department in this 1978 publicity shot from “Black Market Baby,” a second-season “Dallas” episode.

Filed Under: Art of Dallas, Art of Dallas (Classic), Features Tagged With: , ,
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