Starring: Patrick Duffy, Larry Hagman, Barbara Bel Geddes, Jim Davis, Victoria Principal, Charlene Tilton
Creator: David Jacobs
Genre: Soap Opera
Rating: B
"Your folks are gonna throw me off the ranch"
Where it all started, the first season of Dallas was originally conceived as a five-part miniseries. The overlying theme of the season is the introduction of Pam (Principal) to the Ewing family through her marriage to youngest son Bobby (Duffy). Pam is the daughter of Digger Barnes (David Wayne), an old business partner of Jock Ewing (Davis)'s and Miss Ellie (Geddes)'s former flame, and as such there is no love lost between the Ewing and Barnes family. This is most notably seen through the eldest Ewing son, J.R. (Hagman), who goes to lengths to make life difficult for his brother and new-sister-in-law. Also trying to make things difficult, although this time more for J.R., is J.R.'s wife, Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), who often feels jilted by her uninterested husband. Rounding out things is wild child and only Ewing grandchild, Lucy (Tilton), the daughter of absentee middle child Gary (not seen in this season, but first played by David Ackroyd in season two, and later by Ted Shackleford starting in season three and continuing in the spin-off series Knots Landing).
I like how all the different issues that become really important in later seasons of Dallas are introduced here. Right from the start we've got the backstory of the Ewing/Barnes relationship, and J.R. established as a giant dick who has problems in his marriage. Sue Ellen's ambitions are also made clear, particularly in regards to her desire to have a child. Season one makes it clear just why J.R. and Sue Ellen don't have any children yet, and the end of the season really nicely sets up the problems that Bobby and Pam will have in conceiving as well. The one thing I didn't like here was the relationship between Lucy and shop foreman Ray Krebbs (Steve Kanaly), but mostly because of a combination of knowledge of future developments regarding Ray and a disliking for Lucy in general than anything else. Another thing I'm not too big of a fan of is the way each episode seems to do a "on this episode" before the start of the episode, instead of a "previously." I don't care about the lack of a "previously," but I also don't need to have the episode I'm about to watch previewed for me. The final problem that I had, although I understand why it happened due to the nature of the miniseries, was that the show seemed a bit disconnected in time. Events of one episode did impact the next and were often referenced, but I honestly couldn't tell you just when it was all happening (except for the episode where there was snow on the ground, which I assumed was sometime around December).
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