Dallas (1987) (Season 1)

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).

Dallas (2012) (Season 1)

Starring: Josh Henderson, Jesse Metcalfe, Jordana Brewster, Julie Gonzalo, Brenda Strong, Patrick Duffy, Linda Gray, Larry Hagman

Creators: David Jacobs, Cynthia Cidre

Genre: Soap Opera

Rating: B

It's kind of ridiculous just how into this show I've gotten. When it started airing I had no real desire to watch it; I hadn't watched the original series, had no desire to, and so I figured I'd skip this one.  That was until Larry Hagman died.  Because I like to do something of a tribute when people die, I figured the easiest way would be to watch the first season of this run of Dallas, after all it was only ten episodes long.  Then I watched it, and by God, I got sucked in.

The first season of Dallas pits the original star, Bobby Ewing (Duffy) against his elder brother J.R. (Hagman), one of TV's greatest villains, once again.  Things are more complicated, in a manner, however, and a lot of the action actually occurs between the next generation of Ewings, Bobby's son, Christopher (Metcalfe), and J.R.'s son John Ross (Henderson).  John Ross is an oil man, like his father and his grandfather before him, and he's found oil on the Southfork Ranch.  Bobby, however, is adamant that drilling will not happen on Southfork, according to the desires of his deceased mother Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes).  Having recently been diagnosed with cancer, Bobby wants instead to sell Southfork to a conservatory, where he can guarantee that the land will go undrilled, and use the money to fund Christopher's attempts to drill methane gas in the ocean.  Making things a bit more dramatic is the presence of the Ewing women; Christopher is engaged to marry Rebecca Sutton (Gonzalo), who is not all as she seems, but might have lingering feelings for childhood friend and ex-fiancee Elena Ramos (Brewster), who is currently both John Ross' business and romantic partner.  Meanwhile, John Ross' mother, and J.R.'s ex-wife Sue Ellen (Gray) is running for Governor of Texas and struggles with handling that and her family; furthermore, she's being blackmailed by Harris Ryland (Mitch Pileggi), who also happens to be the ex-husband to Bobby's third (and current) wife, Ann (Strong).  Oh! Plus, in recent years J.R. has been living in nursing home suffering from clinical depression.  Also, making appearances are Dallas original features, Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval), Ray Krebbs (Steve Kanaly), and Lucy Ewing Cooper (Charlene Tilton).

There is so much going on in this show that it never feels dull.  It's definitely melodramatic at points, and there's a few squick moments - although none so bad (so far, at least) as some of the things that happened in the original series.  I can see how some of the melodrama could get old after awhile, but at the same time I think it's very fitting for the genre and is really reminiscent of the original series.  There are a lot of moments that have me simply yelling at the TV because of just how ridiculous the characters are acting or how simple, to me, the resolutions to the plot seem.

Despite not having been a fan of the original series, I really like how much it attempts to recreate the feel of the original series.  There are a lot of little shout outs to the original series, and a lot of brief appearances of characters who played big roles in the original series - and it's planned that there will be more next season.  I also love how it tells you what happened to at least some of the characters who haven't appeared and won't be appearing - notably, Miss Ellie.  At the same time, however, I also love how this show is trying to move forward.  Issues that play a big role in today's role have been coming up in this entity of Dallas, most notably sustainability.  You have to question what a family like the Ewings, who made their fortune out of Texas oil, plan to do in reaction to the need for an alternative.  Dallas approaches that.  I really enjoyed this addition of the show, so much so in fact that it made me decide to go back and watch the original.