DallasBy Tom Keogh
Dallas: The
Complete First and Second Seasons is an American equivalent to
those British miniseries about historical chapters in that country's royal
monarchy. Full of family in-fighting, political intrigue crossed with
personal triumph or disappointment, and plenty of sensational infidelities
and betrayals, Dallas is a captivating story of a wealthy oil
family's power and travails. It is also uniquely fun and daringly absurd,
albeit with a straight face; this hugely successful, primetime soap opera
began in the late Super70s and ran 14 seasons in all, built on a handful
of primary relationships that stretch credulity but never descend into
self-parody.
Not unexpectedly, Dallas begins with a Romeo and Juliet tale
that instantly exposes an old feud between two families and strips the
civilized veneer from several major characters. Bobby Ewing (Patrick
Duffy), youngest of three sons of independent oilman Jock Ewing (Jim
Davis), arrives at the Ewing clan's Southfork ranch just outside Dallas,
Texas, with a new wife, Pam Barnes Ewing (Victoria Principal). Pam is the
daughter of Digger Barnes (David Wayne), an old business rival of Jock's
and one-time suitor of the Ewing matriarch, Eleanor (or "Miss
Ellie," played by Barbara Bel Geddes). Pam's also the sister of a
state senator, Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval), whose vendetta against the
Ewings is played out in the legislature, imposing costly regulations on
their business and holding committee investigations into questionable
practices of company president J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman). Pam's status as
the newest Ewing causes an uproar in the family (besides being a Barnes,
she also dated the Ewings' genial but lonely foreman, Ray Krebbs, played
by Steve Kanaly) and prompts Dallas' charming villain, J.R., to
make many Iago-like attempts, over the first two seasons, to drive her
from Bobby's arms. Pam has a different set of problems with the other,
jealous Ewing women, including J.R.'s possibly barren and alcoholic wife,
Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), and teenage Lucy (Charlene Tilton), daughter of
exiled Ewing son Gary (Ted Shackleford). With new and old resentments
flying and everyone deeply suspicious of everyone else's motives (even the
ailing Jock doesn't trust J.R.), there's plenty of drama to chew on.
Still, storylines are often larger than the sum of these parts, with lots
of kidnappings, marital affairs, plane crashes, and shootings ratcheting
up suspense. Dallas is pure pleasure, a little guilty, perhaps, but
not a sin.
Dallas:
The Complete Third Season, originally broadcast in the fall of
1979 through early 1980, surely represents one of the most raucous and
tantalizing years in the life of any television series in history. Murder,
banking fraud, kidnapping, adultery, alcoholism, cancer, vengeance, a
miscarriage, extortion, bribery, and astounding levels of betrayal both in
business and private lives are just part of the catalogue of sins that
make season 3 particularly juicy. Actually, what makes the 25 episodes in
this box set so much fun to watch is a viewer's gradual awareness that
every crime committed, every ethical breach or personal tragedy is part of
an overall design, reverberating in dozens of directions and affecting
multiple relationships and numerous schemes. As enjoyable as each program
is on its own terms, it's quite clear that by the 25th episode, "A
House Divided," in which a major character receives a surprise-ending
comeuppance, that all chickens were intended to come home to roost in the
last show's very clever script.
A remarkable number of story threads found their way into season 3.
Starting with a two-parter concerning the kidnapping of a newborn baby
belonging to J.R. (Larry Hagman) and Sue Ellen Ewing (Linda Gray),
problems just keep on sprouting like weeds. First, there's Sue Ellen's
emotional deep-freeze and refusal to nurture her child as a healthy mom
should, which in turn prompts the childless Pamela Ewing (Victoria
Principal) to free her maternal instincts toward J.R.'s son, much to the
chagrin of J.R.'s brother, Bobby (Patrick Duffy). Meanwhile, teenager Lucy
(Charlene Tilton), abandoned daughter of missing Ewing son Gary (David
Ackroyd), threatens to teach J.R.'s son, one day, to turn against the
Ewing clan, inspiring J.R. to escalate plans to get rid of Lucy any way
possible. (Gary, by the way, kicks into gear a famous Dallas
spin-off by moving to Knots Landing, California.) Matriarch Miss Ellie
(Barbara Bel Geddes) faces a mastectomy, making her worry that husband
Jock (Jim Davis) will stop loving her, though he faces problems of his own
when a skeleton found buried on Ewing property turns up near Jock's
missing handgun. (Whoops.) Finally, J.R.'s almost Shakespearean
manipulation of the sale of Asian oil fields to old family friends, just
before those fields are nationalized, is brilliantly wicked stuff. His
actions have enormous, grievous ramifications--not least of all for J.R.
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Dallas on
DVD! |
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Dallas is now available on DVD! Get it at Amazon.com!
Season One, Season Two, Season Three |
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