# Anyone else looking forward to Dallas on TNT?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-looking-forward-to-dallas-on-tnt/624312
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 6, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-looking-forward-to-dallas-on-tnt/624312 "2012-06-06T20:49:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-looking-forward-to-dallas-on-tnt/624312/41 "2012-06-15T20:06:02Z")
> [@D-bear](#):
>
> Yeah, I seem to remember that it was supposed that he was the bastard child of Cliff and Sue Ellen and JR rejected him only to later find out that he really was JR’s spawn.
>
> I don’t think if it was otherwise that JR would keep a picture of John Ross as a kiddo in footie PJ’s next to him in Shady Pines and no other photos in sight…
OK, I’m glad that’s been cleared up. It must have been one of the early episodes that I missed.
I kinda wondered about that myself, once I heard that Sue Ellen and Cliff had had an affair.
I do remember, though, that when Sue Ellen told JR she was pregnant and he thought it couldn’t possibly be his child, he told her to keep her mouth shut about it and just go on being Mrs JR Ewing.
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### Author:  [@Sycorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sycorax)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-looking-forward-to-dallas-on-tnt/624312/42 "2012-06-17T00:26:07Z")
I watched the original broadcast. I liked this one, and will keep watching for the time being. I’m so glad they included a few of the original cast members – I mean, my God, JR was so good as a manipulator, deal maker, womanizer, businessman, etc. I even admired him during the original series and considered Bobby a goody-two-shoes. I think having a few of the original cast members is not only about nostalgia; it conveys the idea that we’re watching a continuation of the loves and lives of the Ewing family. In the original, I didn’t think Linda Gray nor Victoria what’s-her-name as Pam were very good actors. (Linda always seemed to be whispering as she spoke and Pam simply wasn’t very good.)
I agree about the confusion over who-was-who; mixed up John Ross’s gf with the Spanish woman who’s in cahoots with John Ross, and had trouble recognizing Christoper’s gf. But I’m still intrigued and will continue to watch. (BTW, I love that they pretty much kept the opening theme and shots of Dallas landmarks. Not sure why, but that made me feel good – I must’ve had a lot of good years during that time!)
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2012, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-looking-forward-to-dallas-on-tnt/624312/43 "2012-06-17T08:05:43Z")
> [@terentii](#):
>
> To elucidate a bit farther:
>
> - Kristen lied because she was still getting hush money from JR and wanted to keep stringing him along.
And from at least one other person (Jordan Lee, the old man she slept with at J.R.'s request when he needed something from him).
[QUOTE=terentii]
(Kristen had already been killed in a car crash or something, I think)
[/QUOTE]
Kristen drowned in the South Park pool; she was the body floating face down in a season cliffhanger. The implication had been that the body was Suellen, and I don’t think Kristen had even been on the show for a season by that point, but they had to make it _somebody_ that the audience would know, similar to how they brought back Morgan Brittany to kill Bobby (and accidentally herself) even though she’d been off the show for a year or more (and then didn’t really kill him, or presumably herself either).
I wonder if the show will bring up J.R.'s two other sons- Jamie Beaumont (played by Sasha Mitchell) who was a regular for a couple of seasons, and one who was seen a couple of times who would have been born in the late 1980s to the child bride J.R. had annulled. He also had a grandson by Jamie who’d be a young adult now.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-looking-forward-to-dallas-on-tnt/624312/44 "2012-06-17T17:05:50Z")
> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> Kristen drowned in the South Park pool; she was the body floating face down in a season cliffhanger. The implication had been that the body was Suellen, and I don’t think Kristen had even been on the show for a season by that point, but they had to make it _somebody_ that the audience would know.
You’re absolutely right; I had forgotten all about that! I remember now how Bobby (?) jumped into the pool and cried “Oh, my God, she’s dead!” I think at that point JR wandered onto the balcony with a drink in his hand to see what all the commotion was about, and Bobby yelled “You killed her, you bastard!”
Freeze frame and roll credits; the truth will be revealed in September!
Do you remember why Kristen had come back to Dallas, and who it was that really offed her? Because I sure don’t. Was the latter even resolved eventually?
I don’t remember either of the two kids you refer to, maybe because I was no longer able to watch the series regularly after 1988 (though I made sure to catch the series finale with Joel Grey). But I sure do remember Callie, JR’s child bride. She was HOT…! 🆒
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-looking-forward-to-dallas-on-tnt/624312/45 "2012-06-17T18:12:51Z")
[QUOTE=terentii]
I don’t remember either of the two kids you refer to, maybe because I was no longer able to watch the series regularly after 1988 (though I made sure to catch the series finale with Joel Grey). But I sure do remember Callie, JR’s child bride. She was HOT…! 🆒
[/QUOTE]
Jamie was a son he fathered when he was young and single with a married woman (possibly played by Barbara Eden, but I don’t know that- she played an old flame of his for a few episodes). He had a story arc then went away (and later co-starred in the dreck sitcom Patrick Duffy did with Suzanne Somers). When Child-Bride Callie left J.R. to go wherever Ewing child brides go J.R. hired a detective and when he caught up with her learned she had a baby, and the dates were right, but she seemed happy so he let her go (one of the least believable J.R. moments plotwise- there’s no way he’d turn down another legitimate son).
Joel Grey should return to the show in a cameo and freak J.R. out.
One of the big problems I had with the show the other night (I haven’t watched all of it) was J.R. sitting non-responsive in the upscale halfway house or whatever. He was there for clinical depression, not for a stroke or for catatonia, and unless he’d just been checked in the night before (and it implied he’d been there for quite some while) it’s not likely he’d just stare straight ahead. Even people who are heavily medicated and in the midst of a depressive episode will usually look in your general direction.
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### Author:  [@D-bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D-bear)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-looking-forward-to-dallas-on-tnt/624312/46 "2012-06-17T18:35:42Z")
> [@terentii](#):
>
> Do you remember why Kristen had come back to Dallas, and who it was that really offed her? Because I sure don’t. Was the latter even resolved eventually?
I don’t recall that, but Kristen’s wiki entry says…
[QUOTE=Wikipedia]
At the end of the third season, Kristin returned yet again and soon thereafter was found drowned in the Southfork Ranch swimming pool, after having overdosed on drugs and hitting her head after losing consciousness and falling over the railing of the upper balcony. After Kristin’s death, it was learned that her husband, Jeff Faraday, and not J.R., was the father of her child, who had become Bobby and Pam’s adopted son, Christopher Ewing. Kristin had miscarried the child she had conceived with JR.
[/QUOTE]
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-looking-forward-to-dallas-on-tnt/624312/47 "2012-06-17T18:37:25Z")
I’m having flashbacks now. I don’t think it was Bobby who found the body in the pool, I think it was Cliff Barnes. If so, it eludes me as to what he was doing out at Southfork. Had he come out there to confront JR, to see Sue Ellen, or what? 😕
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-looking-forward-to-dallas-on-tnt/624312/48 "2012-06-17T18:41:49Z")
> [@D-bear](#):
>
> Kristin returned yet again and soon thereafter was found drowned in the Southfork Ranch swimming pool, after having overdosed on drugs and hitting her head after losing consciousness and falling over the railing of the upper balcony.
Aha! Thanks for clearing that up for me! 🙂
This stuff is on Wiki?!? :eek: My God, all eleven-or-so seasons?!? Before tonight, it never occurred to me to look there… :smack:
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### Author:  [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2012, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-looking-forward-to-dallas-on-tnt/624312/49 "2012-06-17T20:34:13Z")
> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> One of the big problems I had with the show the other night (I haven’t watched all of it) was J.R. sitting non-responsive in the upscale halfway house or whatever. He was there for clinical depression, not for a stroke or for catatonia, and unless he’d just been checked in the night before (and it implied he’d been there for quite some while) it’s not likely he’d just stare straight ahead. Even people who are heavily medicated and in the midst of a depressive episode will usually look in your general direction.
Yeah, but JR wasn’t actually having a depressive episode, and presumably he wasn’t on anti-depressive meds either. He was just pretending, so as to trick Bobby and everyone else into thinking that he was just a feeble, harmless, old man.
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### Author:  [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-looking-forward-to-dallas-on-tnt/624312/50 "2012-06-18T13:58:46Z")
It was Cliff Barnes who jumped in the pool to save Kristen. JR was on the balcony over the pool. The coroner later ruled that she was high on drugs at the time.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2012, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-looking-forward-to-dallas-on-tnt/624312/51 "2012-06-18T14:58:00Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#):
>
> It was Cliff Barnes who jumped in the pool to save Kristen. JR was on the balcony over the pool. The coroner later ruled that she was high on drugs at the time.
I repeat: What was Cliffie doing out at Southfork that evening? (See Post #47.) :dubious:
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### Author:  [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-looking-forward-to-dallas-on-tnt/624312/52 "2012-06-18T15:46:13Z")
OK, did some research (because I had some time).
It was episode 77 and the cliffhanger for Season 4 and Jim Davis’s (Jock Ewing) last episode.
From [ultimatedallas.com](http://www.ultimatedallas.com/episodeguide/originalseries.html)
here are the relevant parts of episode recap (Bolding mine)
> [@](#):
>
> \
> Finally, JR testifies. He says that there’s a simple explanation to all of this: the money was not intended to bribe anyone or finance the coup; it was simply a philanthropic gesture to the country in the hopes that they would look favorably on Ewing Oil as a business. He says he lied to Leslie about being responsible for it all because he wanted to impress her. JR calls on Lam Thong, ambassador to the U.S., who tells the court that the money was used to build schools and hospitals in the developing country, and indicates that he has full receipts for all of the money that Claude brought to Asia. The ambassador also mentions that JR’s generosity has extended even to the donation of 10 percent of all of his oil profits to help the country’s infrastructure - which comes as a bit of surprise to JR. The committee declares JR and Ewing Oil innocent.
>
> Cliff says he doesn’t know how JR got himself off but he’ll slip up someday. JR laughs it off. Cliff accuses Bobby of handing over the evidence to JR, which Bobby denies. \*\*Bobby asks Cliff to come to Southfork that night and talk about it and Cliff agrees.
> \*\*
> \
>
> Cliff arrives at Southfork that night and sees a female body floating in the pool. He jumps in and sees JR looking down from the balcony, giving him the Line of the Day.
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### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2012, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-looking-forward-to-dallas-on-tnt/624312/53 "2012-07-07T11:39:27Z")
Just got around to watching all four episodes.
Gotta say I’m loving it. But if they get rid of JR, this show wont be worth much in my opinion.
Good ol’ JR, who doesn’t love to hate this guy?
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2012, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-looking-forward-to-dallas-on-tnt/624312/54 "2012-07-07T20:57:02Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#):
>
> OK, did some research (because I had some time).
>
> It was episode 77 and the cliffhanger for Season 4 and Jim Davis’s (Jock Ewing) last episode.
Thank you. 🙂
I remember that episode. Wasn’t it Afton who clued JR in on what evidence Cliff had?
I also remember Jock and Miz Ellie driving off in a limo on a second honeymoon (and I don’t think Jim Davis’s face was visible). That must have been just before the climax to #77 or at the beginning of the new season in September.
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### Author:  [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-looking-forward-to-dallas-on-tnt/624312/55 "2012-07-07T21:27:01Z")
> [@Shakes](#):
>
> Just got around to watching all four episodes.
>
> Gotta say I’m loving it. But if they get rid of JR, this show wont be worth much in my opinion.
>
> Good ol’ JR, who doesn’t love to hate this guy?
I agree. JR is the best character. I am thinking maybe Larry Hagman needs a break. Like he’ll be a regular character, but not in every single episode.
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2012, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-looking-forward-to-dallas-on-tnt/624312/56 "2012-07-08T07:01:51Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#):
>
> […] maybe Larry Hagman needs a break. […]
I would recommend the spinal cord.
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### Author:  [@Sycorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sycorax)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2012, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-looking-forward-to-dallas-on-tnt/624312/57 "2012-07-09T01:58:56Z")
I agree that JR (and Bobby) are the big draw; compared to them, the children seem like…well, children. JR has charisma (even in his "old age), and seems to be the smartest one of the clan. Not sure I’d continue watching without JR and Bobby, but for now I’m enjoying it.
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2012, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-looking-forward-to-dallas-on-tnt/624312/58 "2012-07-09T06:27:31Z")
> [@Sycorax](#):
>
> I agree that JR (and Bobby) are the big draw; compared to them, the children seem like…well, children. JR has charisma (even in his "old age), and seems to be the smartest one of the clan. Not sure I’d continue watching without JR and Bobby, but for now I’m enjoying it.
De gustibus non est disputandum. :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2012, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-looking-forward-to-dallas-on-tnt/624312/59 "2012-07-09T18:09:47Z")
> [@terentii](#):
>
> Thank you. 🙂
>
> I remember that episode. Wasn’t it Afton who clued JR in on what evidence Cliff had?
>
> I also remember Jock and Miz Ellie driving off in a limo on a second honeymoon (and I don’t think Jim Davis’s face was visible). That must have been just before the climax to #77 or at the beginning of the new season in September.
Afton drugged Cliff while JR’s detective took pictures of the evidence.
And **Shakes** , there has been 5 episodes thus far, not four. there were two episodes on the first night.
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### Author:  [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2012, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-looking-forward-to-dallas-on-tnt/624312/60 "2012-08-10T13:42:20Z")
So, the season finale aired on Wednesday. Did people stick with it? I heard it was quite successful for TNT but I didn’t hear anything specific about the ratings.
Overall, I think the show did a great job of capturing the soap-opera-ness of the original serious. Betrayals, double crosses, secret agendas, shocking revelations… over-the-top to be sure, but in a good way. Rebecca’s finally scene came as a total surprise to me. And I like the way that Christopher and John Ross are following so closely in their fathers’ footsteps despite their best efforts.
Anyway, I was skeptical that a _Dallas_ revival would work - but bringing back Bobby and (especially) JR made it work. I’m looking forward to the new season in January.
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