Between the Lines and Behind the Scenes of "Dallas"
This summer, the “Dallas” fans at Dallas Decoder and Cook In/Dine Out are offering “Dallas Drinks,” a series of cocktails inspired by the characters from TNT’s new series. This week: The Sue Ellen, a “mocktail” as elegant as Linda Gray’s beloved alter ego.
Abby and J.R. (Donna Mills, Larry Hagman) are seen in this 1981 publicity shot from “A Family Matter,” a second-season “Knots Landing” episode.
Battle royale
In “Knots Landing’s” second-season episode “A Family Matter,” Valene (Joan Van Ark) visits J.R. (Larry Hagman) in his hotel room.
J.R.: Well, it’s quite an honor.
VAL: I need to talk to you, J.R.
J.R.: All right. Shall I order up some drinks or some yogurt or something like that?
VAL: I wanna talk to you about Gary.
J.R.: What’s the matter with Gary?
VAL: He promised me last night that he wouldn’t make any deals with you.
J.R.: Oh, I see. And you came up here to see that he keeps his promise.
VAL: I wanna know what you’re getting my husband into.
J.R.: I’m not getting your husband into anything. The closest I’ve gotten to a Ewing since I left Dallas is right here with you.
VAL: Don’t do anything to him now, J.R. Now that things are finally going so right for him.
J.R.: You are a lovely lady, Valene. But you’re a royal pain. Gary’s never amounted to much in his life, and I think that’s because of you.
VAL: What?
J.R.: You think small, Valene. Real small. Gary’s got a noose around his neck, and you’re hanging onto the other end, dragging him down.
VAL: You are a vile, evil man.
J.R.: All right, all right, all right. The conversation’s over. I don’t wanna talk anymore. I’m kind of busy now. [Walks to the door, opens it]
VAL: [Begins leaving, stops and turns to him] I don’t blame whoever it was that shot you. I just wish I’d done it myself.
He shuts the door and sighs.
J.R.: I don’t need this.
Look who’s lurking
The “Knots Landing” episode “A Family Matter” brings J.R. to Los Angeles, where he meets Abby Cunningham, his Southern California counterpart. This inaugural matchup between two of television’s greatest villains has its moments, but overall, it’s not as much fun as you might expect.
The problem: J.R. and Abby are too much alike. These characters are at their best when they’re clashing with principled do-gooders like Bobby or Karen Fairgate, not fawning over each other, which is what happens throughout “A Family Matter.” In one scene, J.R. tells Abby she is “wickedly clever.” In another, he calls her “the most delicious conniver it’s been my pleasure to encounter.” The love-fest gets boring pretty quickly.
J.R. previously visited Seaview Circle in “Community Spirit,” a first-season “Knots Landing” episode that found Gary and Karen rallying their neighbors to stop Ewing Oil from drilling near the local beach. That episode was a hoot because it took J.R. out of “Dallas’s” glamorous surroundings and plopped him into suburbia, where he was exposed to such foreign concepts as tuna fish sandwiches and housewives who pick up their husbands’ dry-cleaning.
J.R. is out of his element again in “A Family Matter,” but somehow, these scenes aren’t as much fun. A lot of this has to do with the context. In this episode, Abby is hoping to sink her claws into Gary, so she persuades J.R. to bail out his brother, who has gotten embroiled in a stolen-parts ring and needs $50,000 to pay off some underworld goons. It’s not quite as noble as stopping offshore oil drilling.
Maybe this is why my two favorite moments in “A Family Matter” don’t have much to do with the main storyline. In the first of these scenes, J.R. sits at Abby’s dinner party and boasts about how he’s going to bring Lucy’s fiancée Mitch “up to our standards,” which sends Valene off the rails. “How dare you meddle in my daughter’s life!” she fumes.
Later, Val, who doesn’t know about Gary’s underhanded dealings, visits J.R. and pleads with him to leave her and Gary alone. The insults soon start flying. J.R. declares Val is “a royal pain;” she calls him “a vile, evil man.”
Aside from showcasing the terrific chemistry between Larry Hagman and Joan Van Ark, these scenes remind us: Watching J.R. fight is much more fun than watching him fawn.
Grade: B
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When worlds collide
‘A FAMILY MATTER’
“Knots Landing” Season 2, Episode 9
Airdate: January 22, 1981
Audience: 15.4 million homes, ranking 26th in the weekly ratings
Writer: David Paulsen
Director: Edward Parone
Synopsis: When J.R. comes to Los Angeles for a convention, Gary and Val’s neighbor Abby Cunningham asks J.R. to give Gary $50,000 so he can pay off a debt to two shady characters. Gary reluctantly takes the money, but J.R. hints he wants Gary to help him squelch Sid’s plan to build an energy-efficient car engine.
Cast: Parley Baer (old man), William Boyett (Frank Kolbert), Tonya Crowe (Olivia Cunningham), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steven Hirsch (Roy Lance), James Houghton (Kenny Ward), Bobby Jacoby (Brian Cunningham), Kim Lankford (Ginger Ward), Michele Lee (Karen Fairgate), Claudia Lonow (Diana Fairgate), Constance McCashin (Laura Avery), Donna Mills (Abby Cunningham), Don Murray (Sid Fairgate), Pat Petersen (Michael Fairgate), John Pleshette (Richard Avery), Ted Shackelford (Gary Ewing), Louise Vallance (Sylvie), Joan Van Ark (Valene Ewing)
“A Family Matter” is available on DVD. Watch the episode and share your comments below.
Afton (Audrey Landers) tempts J.R. (Larry Hagman) in this 1981 publicity shot from “End of the Road, Part 1,” a fourth-season “Dallas” episode.
Fit for a queen
In “Dallas’s” fourth-season episode “End of the Road, Part 1,” the Ewing women – Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes), Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) and Pam (Victoria Principal) – chat with Lucy (Charlene Tilton) in her bedroom, where a tailor pins her wedding gown.
ELLIE: That dress has been waiting a long time for you. My daddy had a woman come all the way from Paris with the material for it – and money was hard for him to come by in those days. But he was very determined to show all those oilmen that a Southworth wouldn’t be put to shame.
LUCY: What about Granddaddy?
ELLIE: He was something. All decked out in formal clothes. He would’ve felt better in boots and jeans. He kept tugging at his collar, trying to breathe. [Chuckles] He was the handsomest man I’d ever seen. Still is.
SUE ELLEN: I believe my wedding day was the most wonderful day of my life. All those bridesmaids, all those ushers – and hundreds and hundreds of people. I can close my eyes and still think that I’m reliving it, all over again.
PAM: Well, ours was a different setting. A justice of the peace in New Orleans city hall. We were both scared to death. Bobby Ewing marrying Digger Barnes’ daughter.
ELLIE: Well, when I was first married, my daddy didn’t like Jock any better than Digger did. There comes a time when you have to let your family know who really has the last word in suitable husbands.
LUCY: Is that really true, Grandma?
ELLIE: Well, we’d all like to think so, anyway.
LUCY: I don’t know. Mitch is so darn stubborn. All he ever thinks about is going to medical school and studying.
SUE ELLEN: Well, Lucy, you should consider yourself very lucky. Ambition is a fine quality to have in a man. Isn’t it, Pamela?
PAM: I suppose so, if the ambition doesn’t become an obsession.
ELLIE: Well, I’m not sure I would have loved Jock as much if he’d been different. All our men are ambitious.
LUCY: Except for my daddy, and he’s doing just fine.
ELLIE: That’s true, Lucy. But Gary has other qualities that make him special. Very special.
Look out, J.R.
Audrey Landers makes her “Dallas” debut in “End of the Road, Part 1,” and from the moment we lay eyes on her character Afton Cooper, there’s no doubt about it: This girl is going to be trouble.
Afton eventually becomes one of “Dallas’s” most popular heroines, but that’s not how she starts out. In this episode, she comes to town to attend her brother Mitch’s wedding to Lucy but spends most of her time slinking around Southfork and flirting with J.R.
At this point during “Dallas’s” run, the show had been vixen-less since Kristin’s departure at the beginning of the fourth season, and “End of the Road, Part 1” makes it clear Afton is here to pick up the slack. J.R. himself alludes to this when he wonders aloud to Jock, “You suppose Afton can type?”
When I watched “Dallas” as a kid, I didn’t pay much attention to Landers, but seeing this episode with fresh eyes made me appreciate how good she is as Afton. Landers was still a Hollywood newcomer when she joined “Dallas,” but she more than holds her own against Larry Hagman, with whom she shares several scenes.
When J.R. meets Afton during a Southfork cocktail hour, he ushers her over to his side of the room. It feels a little predatory, but then I listen as Afton coos to him about the roadside alligators and Spanish moss in her native Mississippi. J.R. is charmed, and suddenly it isn’t clear who is predator and who is prey.
Afton’s arrival signals the beginning of another transitional episode during “Dallas’s” fourth season. Lucy and Mitch are about to go from mismatched college sweethearts to mismatched spouses, J.R. and Sue Ellen’s marital bliss is crumbling and Bobby’s rocky tenure as Ewing Oil’s president is winding down.
Of course, the biggest transition of all was happening behind the scenes. Jim Davis was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer in 1980, and “End of the Road, Part 1” marks the moment his illness begins to show on-screen. The actor doesn’t look well in this episode.
I watch today knowing Davis is coming to the end of his road – and man, does that make me sad.
Grade: B
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The end is nigh, Bobby
‘END OF THE ROAD, PART 1’
Season 4, Episode 11
Airdate: January 16, 1981
Audience: 26 million homes, ranking 1st in the weekly ratings
Writer: Leonard Katzman
Director: Irving J. Moore
Synopsis: Bobby does business with the cartel, even though Ewing Oil is having cash-flow problems. J.R. pulls strings to force Bobby to betray the independent gas station owners, knowing it will infuriate Jock. J.R. sleeps with his secretary Louella and flirts with Mitch’s sister Afton, who comes to town for the wedding.
Cast: Barbara Babcock (Liz Craig), Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Michael Bell (Les Crowley), David J. Bowman (Tom Selby), Harry Carey Jr. (Red), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Joel Fabiani (Alex Ward), Anne Francis (Arliss Cooper), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Susan Howard (Donna Culver), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Sherill Lynn Katzman (Jackie), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Audrey Landers (Afton Cooper), Leigh McCloskey (Mitch Cooper), Jeanna Michaels (Connie), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), William Smithers (Jeremy Wendell), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Janine Turner (Susan), Morgan Woodward (Punk Anderson)
“End of the Road, Part 1” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.
He survived jail. What about the Olympics?
TNT’s latest “Dallas” episode, “No Good Deed,” was seen by 3.3 million viewers on July 25. The audience included about 895,000 viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, the demographic advertisers pay a premium to reach.
The show was the evening’s second most-watched cable program behind USA’s “Royal Pains,” although this was the smallest audience yet for a Wednesday night “Dallas” telecast. Previously, the lowest-rated episode was “Truth and Consequences,” which was seen by 3.4 million viewers on Independence Day.
Keep in mind: “Dallas’s” ratings often soar when DVR users who record the show and watch it later are factored in. For example, “Truth and Consequences” was seen by 5.1 million viewers altogether within a week of its July 4 debut.
“Dallas’s” real ratings test comes next week, when the show begins competing with the Summer Olympics, which often draw huge audiences.
NBC will broadcast the games for 17 days, beginning tonight. This means the final two episodes of TNT’s first season of “Dallas” will be telecast in the midst of the Olympics onslaught.
On Wednesday, August 1, when TNT telecasts “Dallas’s” ninth episode, “Family Business,” NBC is scheduled to broadcast swimming and diving finals, beach volleyball and the crowning of the men’s gymnastics champion. One week later, on the night TNT shows “Revelations,” the “Dallas” season finale, gold medals are expected to be awarded in women’s beach volleyball and men’s track on NBC.
This will be the first time “Dallas” has competed with the Summer Olympics, although the original series aired opposite the Winter Olympics six times – twice each in 1980, 1984 and 1988.
Back then, “Dallas” beat the games every time – except once: On February 22, 1980, the classic episode “Jock’s Trial, Part 1” was crushed by ABC’s coverage of the “miracle on ice” hockey game, when the U.S. men’s team scored an upset victory over the Soviets.
Shooting J.R. at Home
Their own turf
“Dallas” has lifted TNT’s ratings, but the show has also brought major economic benefits to its namesake city, Christopher Kelly reported this week in the New York Times.
The first 10 episodes were shot in North Texas in 2011 and 2012, pumping $28.8 million into the local economy and boosting civic pride.
Says Janis Burklund, head of the Dallas Film Commission: “Everywhere I go, I’m hearing from people about how cool it is to see the city on the show. And it looks great. When you watch the show, you have to say, ‘Wow, our city looks great.’”
‘Dallas’ After Dark
Three “Dallas” stars made the late-night talk show rounds during the past week: Last night, Josh Henderson appeared on Andy Cohen’s “Watch What Happens Live” on Bravo. Meanwhile, Julie Gonzalo visited the “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” on July 23, three days after Jordana Brewster dropped by the CBS show.
High Brow Humor
Those brows
Larry Hagman’s eyebrows “kind of have a life of their own,” says Lynn Barber, “Dallas’s” makeup artist, in an interview published yesterday by Entertainment Weekly.
We don’t doubt it, but we also wonder if J.R. might have competition for television’s top brows.
In a meeting last week with the nation’s television critics, PBS officials discussed the popularity of public broadcasting’s hit soap opera “Downton Abbey,” citing the Twitter feed Lady Mary’s Eyebrows as an example of that show’s cultural impact.
Of course, Hagman and J.R.’s brows have their own Twitter feeds, too. Could a J.R.-vs.-Mary eyebrow beat-down be brewing in the twitterverse?
Line of the Week
“How much time do you have?”
The response from Bobby (Patrick Duffy) in “No Good Deed” when Christopher (Jesse Metcalfe) asks, “How could J.R. do this to his own family?”
Bottoms Up!
If you love Brewster’s refreshing performance on “Dallas,” you’ll enjoy The Elena, the latest “Dallas Drinks” cocktail from Dallas Decoder’s favorite mixologist at Cook In/Dine Out. Enjoy!
“Drill Bits,” a roundup of news about TNT’s “Dallas,” is published regularly. Share your comments below.
Rebecca (Julie Gonzalo) has her back against the wall in “No Good Deed,” the eighth episode of TNT’s “Dallas.” Photo credit: Zade Rosenthal/TNT.
The good son
In “No Good Deed,” a first-season “Dallas” episode, Bobby (Patrick Duffy) visits Miss Ellie’s Southfork gravesite.
BOBBY: I spent the last 20 years trying to protect this land. Protect your legacy. I remember you once told me that family is like baking a cake from scratch. Real messy. I wish I could tell you things are different, Mama, but they’re not. Our family is as fractured and dysfunctional as always. And I keep trying to think what you’d do if you were here. But I know: You’d do whatever it takes to protect the family. And that’s just what I’m gonna do, Mama.
Dallas Decoder 