"Are you ready to let J.R. win? Or do we stand together and fight him?" - Patrick Duffy as Bobby Ewing
Dallas: The Complete First and Second Seasons DVD Review
By Patrick Ross
Like most fans who were around for its original broadcast, I first got hooked on Dallas back in the summer of 1980. At that time, while the world news flashed images of Iranian hostages, Ronald Reagan running for President in an election that would ultimately define the decade, and the state of Washington recovering from the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, TV viewers far were more concerned about the fate of a fictional character named J.R. Ewing. More to the point - we wanted to know who shot him!
This introductory DVD set includes the first two seasons of Dallas. It contains the 29 episodes which, in effect, provide the foundation for what the show would go on to become. This is the stuff that took place prior to all the "Who Shot J.R.?" hoopla. In this set, the actors, writers and series creators were still discovering what this thing was all about, and ultimately, where it was going.
Series creator David Jacobs says it best when he describes the concept of the show as being akin to Romeo and Juliet. The series begins with Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy), the youngest son of the rich and powerful Ewing Oil dynasty, driving home to surprise his family with his new wife, Pamela (Victoria Principal), the daughter of broken-down Digger Barnes (David Wayne), who, it seems, blames all of his failures on Ewing patriarch, Jock (Jim Davis). Jock, by the way, supposedly stole the love of Digger's life, Ewing matriarch Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes), out from under him. Pamela also happens to be the sister of a pesky political-type named Cliff (Ken Kercheval), who is using his power on the board of some Texas oil commission to destroy the Ewing name, perhaps to exact a little revenge for his father. Added to this mix are Bobby's scheming older brother J.R. (Larry Hagman), the head of the Ewing Oil empire, who stops at nothing to get what he wants. J.R.'s alcoholic wife Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), is frustrated by her husband's philandering, but smart enough to know her very survival in the family depends on producing a Ewing heir. Also, toss in Lucy (Charlene Tilton), a wild child who's learned how to use sex to her advantage, and a trusted ranch-hand named Ray (Steve Kanaly), who's always available to not only service the needs of the livestock, but the women of Southfork Ranch as well. Put these characters together and suddenly you've got the makings of some great primetime drama.
Fans of the series who are not familiar with these early episodes should take a deep breath before watching. The show underwent some major tweaking over the years, and some of the most striking changes appear in this box set. Perhaps the most notable change is the Ewing clan's home base, Southfork Ranch. In season one, the house is a colonial-style mansion, but in season two it changes to the more familiar ranch-style house that would be used for the remainder of the series.
The first five episodes which comprise the first season were filmed on location in Dallas in the middle of winter, and that makes for some rather bleak exterior scenes. In one episode ("Lessons"), we actually see snow on the ground. Watching characters frolic around in bomber jackets and scarves is just not physically appealing, and let's face it - Dallas just isn't Dallas without a healthy dose of flesh. Of course, the show more than makes up for this at the opening of the second season, when practically the entire cast is reclining by the pool under the blistering hot sun.
As the show was still finding itself - weather and housing aside - the show has a much darker tone than that which some fans might be used to. While there was lots of scandal in the later years to keep audiences on the edge of their seats, the show was always tempered with a certain amount of humor and family values. In the first two seasons, however, darkness prevails, and some of the plot twists - many of which were never fully realized - are presented without apology.
J.R., as always, is at the center of everything, scheming a little over here, destroying a few lives over there, and while he presents that sinister aura, he lacks the charm that would later make him the man we loved to hate. As a matter of fact, this J.R. Ewing is actually kind of scary. Here, more than in any other season, his enemies tend to cower in his presence, and for good reason. He orders the deaths of more than a couple of people, and those whose lives are spared are left in complete ruin. His other sister-in-law, Valene (Joan Van Ark) is a quivering wimp in the episode titled "Reunion," packing a bag and high tailing it out of town at the mere mention of his name. You feel for her when the chips are down and she knows that J.R. is coming after her.
Meanwhile, J.R.'s wife Sue Ellen is put through her paces, and humiliated at every turn. Of all of the characters on Dallas, Sue Ellen probably evolved the most over twelve years, but during seasons one and two, she is nothing more than a simpering alcoholic, occasionally enraged by her husband's behaviour or lack of attention, but ultimately fed to the wolves when she tries to do anything about it. In the "The Winds of Vengeance" she first truly emerges from the woodwork. During a hurricane, the family is taken hostage by a couple of thugs who are out to exact revenge on J.R. They force Sue Ellen to wear her old beauty pageant outfit and sing "People," and after that, they proceed to rape her! And that's just the beginning of her troubles. Later, after lots more alcohol and an illicit affair with Cliff Barnes, she finds herself pregnant. While others question who the father of the baby might be, she continues to drink herself into oblivion until J.R. finally steps in and commits her to a sanatorium.
Bobby and Pam's marriage is put to the test as well throughout the first two seasons. J.R. tries the usual to get Pam out of the family, including setting her up as a prostitute ("Call Girl"), reuniting her with old boyfriends ("Double Wedding"), and planting evidence to suggest she might be a spy ("A Spy in the House"). He even goes so far as to suggest that her meddling brother Cliff is a homosexual.
While a lot of the story lines presented are springboards for bigger and better things in later seasons, there are a few choice plot lines viewers can only assume the writers would hope we'd forget. In the early 80s, nobody could have predicted that one day we would be buying full season sets of our favourite TV shows, and the show's creators even predicted that Dallas would never become a syndicated series. It was perhaps this type of thinking that made it easy for them to simply sweep inconvenient storylines under the carpet.
In the very first episode, Lucy and Ray are secret lovers. She's a teenaged brat, the Ewing niece, whose father, Gary, the Ewing black sheep, is mysteriously absent. Ray is the quiet and humble ranch hand, introduced to us as one of Pam's former lovers, and also one of J.R.'s trusted henchmen (confusing, yes?). Anyway, despite a few threats from Lucy to tell the family about their affair, the whole plot line fizzles out, and after season one, the affair is never mentioned again. A few years later, somewhere in the fourth season, Ray learns that his real father is Jock Ewing - which would, in turn, make Lucy his niece. The writers never dare to mention the incestuous affair, and the audience is left to assume that it never happened.
Here's a little trivia that fans who have only seen the show in syndication might not be aware of. Ray was not only linked in the bedroom with Lucy and Pam - but also with Sue Ellen. In "Black Market Baby," Sue Ellen finds herself drunk and desperate for some affection. She finds Ray roaming about, and they go back to his bunkhouse. After the commercial break, and once the sun has risen, Sue Ellen goes about her business as though nothing ever happened. This is one of many little plot threads that goes absolutely nowhere. Bad for the viewers perhaps, but seeing as it was only about three minutes in length, it became the perfect scene to cut in syndication to make room for more commercials.
Inconsistencies are everywhere in Dallas, but fans will freely admit that that isn't necessarily a bad thing. As a matter of fact, some of the wackier moments - where it seems like the show's creators are trying to pull the rug out from under us - can actually make for a fun drinking game. In this first season set, you can actually get quite a nice buzz by playing a round of my favourite Dallas game, "Hey! That's Not the Same Actor That Would Later Play That Character!" It seems that the casting directors had their hands full with this series, casting and recasting characters that made semi-recurring appearances. Ted Shackelford would make Gary Ewing famous in Knot's Landing, but in the episode "Reunion" Parts 1 & 2, when the character first emerges, the part is played by a very different David Ackroyd. Digger Barnes is played by David Wayne in the first season, but the role is later taken on by Keenan Wynn. We all remember Kristen Sheppard as played by Mary Crosby, but when the character first appears in "Sue Ellen's Sister," she is played by Colleen Camp. And of course, die hard fans know that the part of Jenna Wade would go through three actresses. Priscilla Presley would ultimately play her for five seasons, but the character was first portrayed by Morgan Fairchild - an actress who would soon become a Prime Time Soap Opera vixen in her own right in the short-lived series, Flamingo Road.
In the beginning, Dallas had not yet taken on the characteristics that would ultimately make it a primetime soap. While there are a few story arcs here and there, for the most part, each of these episodes contain stand-alone plots, with a definitive beginning, middle and end. The continuing storyline gimmick didn't develop until sometime in season three, although season two does end with a "shocking" cliff-hanger.
In its day, Dallas was a groundbreaking show for many reasons. During its 13 year run, from 1978 to 1991, it broke through some major TV taboos, set new trends in television programming (those season-ending cliff-hangers on your favorite sitcoms today are a direct result of it!), and captured the ME-decade of the 1980s like nothing else ever could. Oh sure, the styles have changed a lot since then, the editing and stunts look a little cheap today, and the writing can sometimes seem a little stagy, but its general themes of the dangers of greed and power can still be heard loud and clear, and lots of what it has to say is still very relevant in our post-Enron world. Dallas may have lost its freshness-seal over the years, but these episodes still manage to pack quite a punch!
There are twenty-nine episodes in this DVD set, and they are spread out over five discs. Discs are dual sided, with each side containing three shows. They are packaged in digi-pak format that unfolds like a book, listing all of the episodes, including a brief synopsis, and several scattered photos. A few of the pictures are obviously from the third season - a disappointing fact that seems to say to me that those in the decision making process weren't exactly concerned about a little thing called accuracy.
On-screen menus are static, but they do contain photos - once again, with some from the third season, and few really having anything to do with the episodes on that disc. The main screen on each disc offers options to Play All, Access the Episode Guide and Select Languages. As you make your decisions, you are treated to a loop of the Dallas theme song.
Each episode includes a preview of what is to come on the following episode (another trademark that this show made popular).
There are no scene selection menus on the DVDs, but each episode has been divided by chapter stops, after opening credits and at each commercial break.
