D
Dallas
Identification Prime-time television soap opera
Date Aired April 2, 1978, to May 3, 1991
Dallaswas the first prime-time soap opera aired in the
United States. A groundbreaking venture, it took the tradi-
tionally housewife-targeted serial format and attempted to
broaden its appeal for prime-time audiences by incorporat-
ing more explicit sexuality and nominally male-oriented
themes.
The concept forDallas, developed by writer David
Jacobs, was originally based on a situation reminis-
cent of William Shakespeare’sRomeo and Juliet(pr. c.
1595-1596) but set in contemporary Texas: The mar-
ried couple Bobby Ewing and Pam Barnes would be
caught in the middle of a conflict between their two
warring families. The Columbia Broadcasting Sys-
tem (CBS) had commissioned a script, determined a
one-hour pilot would not “show well,” and ordered
five episodes.Dallaswas thus initially planned as a
miniseries, yet Jacobs hoped it would be popular
enough for the network to turn it into a regular
weekly show. To that end, actors were hired who
were not “big names” and would therefore be avail-
able if the show continued. Patrick Duffy, playing
Bobby Ewing, was the biggest star hired. Linda Gray
and Victoria Principal beat out the competition for
their roles, Sue Ellen Shepard Ewing and Pamela
Barnes Ewing, respectively. The producers first dis-
cussed the part of J. R. Ewing with Robert Foxworth,
but they loved Larry Hagman’s enthusiasm for the
character and his “wicked” little smile.
The Show Premieres The miniseries premiered on
Sunday, April 2, 1978, and it aired on consecutive
Sunday nights through the end of April. Critics
panned the show, but viewers responded to the focus
on family dynamics mixed with greed, glamour, in-
trigue, and romance. By the final episode,Dallas
ranked in the top ten of the week’s most watched
shows, and CBS ordered thirteen more scripts for
the fall.
Dallasbecame one of the most successful televi-
sion dramas in history and attracted a worldwide au-
dience. The audience relished the conflict between
the “good” brother Bobby and the “evil” brother J. R.
They admired Miss Ellie, who, like a traditional
mother, was the moral center for the Ewing family
and sympathized with the sorrows of Sue Ellen. How-
ever, it was the actions of villain J. R. that kept most
audience members watching. Hagman stated, “My
character is the evil focal point of the show.” A
power-hungry and amoral oil executive, J. R. was ob-
sessed with Ewing Oil, a company founded by his fa-
ther and namesake. Any threat either to the com-
pany itself or to his control of it brought out the
worst in J. R., who became the man people loved to
hate.Cliffhangers Dallaswas best known for its season-
ending cliffhangers, which caused fans to spend the
summer hiatus in suspense, wondering how inter-
rupted plotlines would be resolved. The most fa-
mous of these cliffhangers gave rise to a catchphrase
that became part of American culture: “Who shot
J. R.?” Because of his actions, J. R. had accumulated a
number of enemies in the first two years of the show.
On March 21, 1980, in the second season’s final epi-
sode, J. R., working late in his office at Ewing Oil, was
shot twice by an unknown assailant. This became ar-
guably the greatest cliffhanger of all time. World-
wide that summer, everyone seemed to be asking
“Who shot J. R.?” The answer was a closely held se-
cret. Hagman was the only cast member who knew,
and he was offered $250,000 by a consortium of Eu-
ropean newspapers for the answer. Even the queen
mother of England asked Hagman to tell, but he
would not do so. On November 21, 1980, 300 million
people in fifty-seven countries tuned in to discover
who shot J. R. Streets emptied as people gathered in
front of television sets. In Turkey, the parliament re-
cessed so that representatives could find out who
had attempted to murder J. R. (The answer was
Kristen, his sister-in-law and mistress.)