Dallas

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Dallas ranks 1,412 out of the 18,229 shows on TV.com.

The 456 users who count themselves as Dallas fans have written a total of 21 reviews.

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Premiered

Ended

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Theme

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• Knots Landing
• Falcon Crest

In the ranks of prime-time dramas, this was one of the biggest. Dallas, the saga of the Ewing Family, began as a five part mini-series in 1978. Throughout its thirteen seasons, many actors passed through the gates of Southfork. In the late 1960's, Peyton Place was a nighttime serial drama... more »

In the ranks of prime-time dramas, this was one of the biggest. Dallas, the saga of the Ewing Family, began as a five part mini-series in 1978. Throughout its thirteen seasons, many actors passed through the gates of Southfork. In the late 1960's, Peyton Place was a nighttime serial drama success-a novelty at the time. But since then, no P.M. show had caught the soap opera crowd's attention… until Dallas. The show first went on the air for a five week run in early 1978, and then fell into a Saturday nighttime slot later that year.
Ratings were fair, but they were nothing compared to when the show moved to Friday nights, when the ratings well didn't run dry for a long, long time.
The Ewing family lived at the sprawling South Fork ranch, in hoity-toity Braddock County just outside Dallas. Like any good power family, there was a matriarch and patriarch, and three sons- this core group, their extensive romantic relations, and the Barnes clan of rival oilers were all Jacobs needed to create a self-contained histrionic world of intrigue, dysfunction and passion. Borrowing from Romeo and Juliet, the youngest Ewing boy, Bobby, fell for a beautiful Barnes girl. And with a nod to the biblical Cain and Abel, Bobby and older brother J.R. didn't exactly play nice with each other like you might expect brothers to. Whereas J.R. was nearly a hundred percent scoundrel, Bobby had discernable streaks of honesty and integrity…but that patented Ewing viciousness certainly reared its head once in a while. The South Fork ranch housed Jock and Miss Ellie, the king and queen of South Fork, J.R. and long-suffering wife Sue Ellen, and Bobby and Pamela…though why they all lived under one roof demands a little poetic license, because money certainly wasn't a problem, and it wasn't like there was a whole lot of binding inter-family harmony.
Here's just a taste of the drama devices that ensued: insane asylums, car accidents, affairs, illegitimate children, gunfights, fistfights, catfights, lies, drinking problems (both real and imagined), poufy 80's hairstyles for the ladies and best of all, notorious season finale cliffhangers.
The most famous, of course, came at the end of the 1979-80 season, when a mysterious late-night intruder shot J.R. in the chest while he was toiling away at the office one night. The resulting "Who Shot J.R.?" publicity raced around the globe, because by that time, Dallas was an international hit in just about every developed country in the world. Odds on the shooter's identity were figured, bets were placed, and theories were construed– since there were about fifteen possible candidates, fans and pundits were kept very busy indeed. Don't read the next part of this sentence if you want to remain one of the few of-age humans who doesn't know whodunit… it was Kristin, J.R.'s scorned sister-in-law and recent romantic entanglement.
Dallas was conceived as a show that had plenty of sex and romance for the female audiences, and a lot of cowboy posturing and business intrigue for the male viewers. The formula worked, because by the early 1980's, it was one of the most popular shows in TV history. There were magazine covers galore, a spin-off named Knots Landing about Gary, the middle Ewing son who wasn't seen or heard from much during proceedings at South Fork, and primetime serialization imitators like Dynasty and Falcon Crest.
So for the show that kicked off the nighttime drama trend that's status quo today, we tip those ten-gallon hats and breathe a secret sigh of relief that J.R. was just a fictional character who couldn't manipulate us in real life. Because let's be honest, that guy could have taken most of us down.

CBS Broadcast History:

April 2, 1978- April 30, 1978----Sundays----10:00-11:00 P.M.
September 23, 1978- October 14, 1978----Saturdays----10:00-11:00 P.M.
October 15, 1978- January 14, 1979----Sundays----10:00-11:00 P.M.
January 26, 1979- November 27, 1981----Fridays----10:00-11:00 P.M.
December 4, 1981- May 17, 1985----Fridays----9:00-10:00 P.M.
September 27, 1985- May 16, 1986----Fridays----9:00-10:00 P.M.
September 26, 1986- May 13, 1988----Fridays----9:00-10:00 P.M.
October 28, 1988- March 9, 1990----Fridays----9:00-10:00 P.M.
March 16, 1990- May 11, 1990----Fridays----10:00-11:00 P.M.
November 2, 1990- December 21, 1990----Fridays----10:00-11:00 P.M.
January 4, 1991- May 3, 1991----Fridays----9:00-10:00 P.M.less «

• Dallas Season 10 release

  Just in case you don't know, the Season 10 release for Dallas is January 13, 2009. Season 11 will be released on April ...more »

  Just in case you don't know, the Season 10 release for Dallas is January 13, 2009. Season 11 will be released on April 21,2009. The official release date for seasons 12, 13, and 14 has not been announced as of yet, but I have heard that season 12 will be released in 09, and seasons 13 & 14, and the 3 movies will be released in 2010. If anyone else has heard anything, could you please reply. xoxo Misty less «

  mistysc Last online Jun 3, 2009
  2 comments, last one Jun 14, 2009 + Add Comment

• New Dallas TV movie?

  from ultimatedallas.com: SOUTHFORK WHISPERS A new Dallas TV movie is in the commisioning process at Warner Brothers. A proposed script will be discussed this October in Los Angeles. You heard it here first.

  from ultimatedallas.com: SOUTHFORK WHISPERS A new Dallas TV movie is in the commisioning process at Warner Brothers. A proposed script will be discussed this October in Los Angeles. You heard it here first. less «

  radrobd Last online 4 hrs ago
  5 comments, last one May 16, 2009 + Add Comment

• Season 12 DVD

  I realize that Dallas Season 11 hasn't even been released yet but i was wondering if anyone knew when in 2009 the 12th season set of Dallas was scheduled to come out. Any help you can provide will be appreciated. Thank you.

  I realize that Dallas Season 11 hasn't even been released yet but i was wondering if anyone knew when in 2009 the 12th season set of Dallas was scheduled to come out. Any help you can provide will be appreciated. Thank you. less «

  Abriel004 Last online Jun 14, 2009
  1 comments, last one Jan 24, 2009 + Add Comment

•  

  8 Great

  Dallas was as big and brazen as Texas itself! hide « show »

  Dallas was a hoot! I really enjoyed watching it and still do occasionally when it's on Soapnet. Unfortunately, it started to really lose steam (and believability) after the 6th season. Of course, it really "jumped the shark" when Miss Ellie was replaced by Donna Reed and then replaced again with the original Miss Ellie, Barbara Bel Geddes. What was that all about? If that wasn't proof that Dallas was past its prime, the whole dream sequence explanation for Bobby's "death". Yikes! Overall, Dallas was fun to watch. Who could forget the whole "Who Shot J.R.?" mania that swept the country? The storylines weren't always believable and sometimes they were downright predictable. But it made you want to watch to see if J.R. would ever get what was coming to him.

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  RioMom Added Jul 16, 2008 All my reviews
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  10 Perfect

  This was and is one of the best shows on tv! My Hubby and I r enjoying the reruns so much . We hate that they changed the times and frequency shown. We want 2 hrs. daily back and 7 days a week! PLEASE! hide « show »

  I remember when my Mom and friends rushed home after church to watch Dallas and She was the Preachers wife .... lol. Now my generation is enjoying it again and more this time then we did originally. Imagine that ... lol.. but now we have lived enough life to enjoy it properly. We DVR it so we won't miss an episode.. just incase we r asleep at 3am. The characters the story the messes some of them get into... the relationships... we love it all. Someday we hope to own it all on dvd so we can watch it anytime we want to. Many times we can relate a family member with a character or situation... it is amazing and we always have a laugh or 2 when watching JR get in and out of trouble. They need to make a new movie or 6 hr mini-series with Dallas and Dynasty! Just dreaming I guess... lol.

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  ladylikeatxs Added Apr 2, 2008 All my reviews
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  7.8 Good

  But possibly overrated hide « show »

  Dallas is one of those shows that I have only personally ever caught in reruns and therefore was not swept up in the hype it created during the 1980s. This allows me to be objective and unsentimental.
  
  While the show had some fantastic stand out episodes and characters, overall as a product it was lacking from the second season onwards and this can be attributed greatly to pace. Stories which should have been wrapped up much earlier than they were dragged on in a very repetitive daytime soap style e.g. Jenna Wade's murder trial or the BD Calhoun saga. The pace problem can also be applied to episodes themselves. Often the beginning and climax were gripping but there were lulls in the middle -- JR and Cliff making snide comments at the Oil Baron's Club may have been enjoyable on occasion but when a weekly occurrence becomes incredibly grating.
  
  Too much emphasis was placed on JR and although he proved extraodinarily popular, Larry Hagman could not carry the show alone, nor should he have been given producer power in later seasons. The notion that JR should always win and be front and centre left the women with very little to do. Pam, Donna and Miss Ellie all purported to be strong but in reality there was no room for female story in Dallas which hindered it severely.

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  lqyyjmf Added Jun 28, 2006 All my reviews
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  10 Perfect

  one of a kind hide « show »

  this show pave the way for so many others. knots landing, dynasty, falcon crest, melrose. they all owe a great deal of gratitude to dallas. this show ran for 13 years. that is something that is basically impossible today. with the exception of the last three or four seasons they were all great. and the dream season.

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  CAPNDEL Added Jun 27, 2006 All my reviews
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  10 Perfect

  I started watching Dallas with the Pilot, and I thought it was good. Over time, my love for the show could only grow. By the end of the first season, I was obsessed and tried to hook everyone I could find to watch with me. hide « show »

  I started watching Dallas with the Pilot, and I thought it was good. Over time, my love for the show could only grow. By the end of the first season, I was obsessed and tried to hook everyone I could find to watch with me. Everyone that agreed ended up loving the show, and their reasons were varied.

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  ara2dgeearat06 Added Apr 13, 2006 All my reviews