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.
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!)
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).
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(Kristen had already been killed in a car crash or something, I think)
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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.
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…!
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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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.
I don’t recall that, but Kristen’s wiki entry says…
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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.
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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?
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.
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 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.
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.
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.