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DALLAS: A 20th Anniversary Celebration - Part Five: Designer Duds, Donna Reed and Bobby Ewing R.I.P!
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DALLAS: A 20th Anniversary Celebration - Part Five: Designer duds, Donna Reed and Bobby Ewing R.I.P.!
FADE IN: Last time, Part Four: Jock's Will, Breakups, Fire and Crazy Relatives From The Woodworks!
MAIN TITLES & THEME MUSIC: DALLAS: A Lorimar Production. STARRING (In Alphabetical Order): Patrick Duffy as Bobby Ewing. Linda Gray as Sue Ellen Ewing. Larry Hagman as J.R. Ewing. Susan Howard as Donna Culver Krebbs. Steve Kanaly as Ray Krebbs. Howard Keel as Clayton Farlow. Ken Kercheval as Cliff Barnes. Priscilla Beauleau Presley as Jenna Wade. Victoria Principal as Pamela Barnes Ewing. Donna Reed as Ellie Ewing-Farlow. Charlene Tilton as Lucy Ewing-Cooper. ALSO STARRING (In Alphabetical Order): Morgan Brittany as Katherine Wentworth. Jenilee Harrison as Jamie Ewing-Barnes. Audrey Landers as Afton Cooper. Jared Martin as Steven "Dusty" Farlow. Leigh McCloskey as Mitch Cooper. Dack Rambo as Jack Ewing. Deborah Shelton as Mandy Winger.
CREATED BY David Jacobs.
DALLAS underwent some changes for it's 1984-85 season. For one, the show had a more glamourous look to it as it began to do battle with it's biggest rival, the ABC soap DYNASTY. The cinematography was more lush, and also to compete with it's rival, the producers hired Bill Travilla, who made the famous White dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH, as the show's resident Costume Designer (Travilla also performed the same chores on KNOTS LANDING.).
But the biggest change came seven episodes into the season. To recover from surgery, Barbara BelGeddes decided not to return to the show. So, for the first time in the show's history, a major character was recast. To portray the newly married Ellie Ewing Farlow, Academy and Emmy Award winning actress Donna Reed was chosen. To spruce up the image of "Miss Ellie," Reed wore designer outfits and perfect hairdos (The only thing missing from her wardrobe were the pearls that she wore on her self-titled 1958-66 sitcom). Unfortunately, her portrayal of Ellie didn't impress fans who felt that she seemed unsure as to how to play the part, and as a result, she came off very...uh...wimpy.
The 1984-85 season began with Afton Cooper discovering Bobby slumped on the floor of J.R.'s office after he was shot. After calling the police and the paramedics, Afton went looking for Cliff whom she believed shot Bobby by mistake, thinking he was J.R. Cliff, in the meantime, was nowhere near the scene as he was at a nearby bar drunk because of another phony business deal engineered by you-know-who. Unfortunately, J.R.'s scheme to bankrupt his rival backfired and actually made Cliff a very wealthy man, having made the richest strike in an offshore oil drilling project.
J.R., however, had little time kick himself in the butt since he believed someone was trying to kill him. A man named Edgar Randolph (Martin E. Brooks from THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN), whom J.R. had double-crossed (of course), actually did try to shoot him outside the Ewing Oil building, but failed. J.R. then had Cliff arrested for Bobby's shooting, but the latter was cleared when a model named Mandy Winger (played by former Miss USA, Deborah Shelton who made her DALLAS debut at the same time she appeared in Brian DePalma's thriller BODY DOUBLE) accounted for his whereabouts.
Bobby, in the meantime, had more to worry about. As a result of the shooting, he was temporarily blinded. His sight recovered in time to unmask his assailant who turned out to be none other than Katherine Wentworth who was trying to kill him instead of J.R.:
J.R....."I think she tried to kill my brother. I also think she's the one who those shots at me and hit Bobby by mistake!"
KATHERINE: "Mistake? There was no mistake! I love him, don't you understand that! I love him. He doesn't want me. He wants Jenna, and before that, he wanted Pam. Sweet, darling Pam, whom everybody adores! Well, they're not going to have him-neither one of them. Don't you see? They've poisoned his mind against me to keep me away but they're not going to have him. I'll see to it because if I can't have him, nobody can!"
She is taken away to jail, but dissapears shortly after posting bail. The Ewings have another surprise in store for them, however, in the form of a woman who claimed to be a Ewing cousin. It turns out the she is Jock's niece, Jamie (Played by Jenilee Harrison who played Cindy Snow on THREE'S COMPANY), whose father, Jason, has just died. The family takes her in immediately, except for J.R. of course who proceeded to try to run her out of town. Sue-Ellen, put a kibash on his plans temporarilly when she became Jamie's friend and confidant. Jamie, thanks to Sue-Ellen, also worked as J.R.'s receptionist when his regular one "Sly" (Deborah Rennard) took a leave of absense.
Miss Ellie and Clayton return from their European honeymoon only for the latter to confront Jock's ghost at Southfork. Or, to be more precise, Jock's picture which hung in the living room of the mansion, and other cosntsant reminders of Ellie's late first husband. Ellie solves the problem by removing the portrait, much to her sons' chagrin. She tells the boys that the picture belongs at Ewing Oil instead.
Bobby, has his hands full with another problem. Jenna's ex-husband, 'Naldo Marchetta, returns to cause trouble, first, by kidnapping their daughter Charlie and forcing Jenna to marry him, leaving Bobby standing at the altar once again. The forced marriage is short-lived however, when the groom is mysteriously murdered in their hotel room...with Jenna's fingerprints on the murder weapon. Jenna is taken to jail, but Bobby bails her out in the hope that they can find the real killer.
Pam, who has just gotten over the death of her fiancee, Mark Graison (See Part Four), starts to doubt her sanity when she sees someone driving Mark's car. She discovers that due to a clause in his will, all of his possesions were to be maintained for two years. She also discovers that Mark has also left her a huge sum of money, causing J.R. to remark: "I tell you that woman has a knack for piling up unearned dollars." After a while though, Pam begins to believe that Mark may still be alive. She hires detectives to try to locate him. She also gets help from her ex-brother-in-law J.R. who sends her on several wild goose chases to keep her away from Bobby.
Meanwhile, J.R. goes one step too far in the handling of his cousin Jamie which results in the latter producing an old legal document which said that her father, as well as "Digger" Barnes, would be entitled to equal shares of Ewing Oil, meaning that the company could be split between the surviving decendents including Cliff Barnes. Pam, upon learning of J.R.'s deception during the search for Graison, pays him a visit at Ewing Oil and angrily lashes out at him....
PAM: " Shut up! Just sit there and listen! Cliff and your cousin Jamie want to split up Ewing Oil and they asked me to join in their fight, but I said I wouldn't because of Bobby. Well, that won't stop me anymore. You have no heart-you have no feelings. You can't be hurt like other people. But you do have one soft spot, one weakness, and that's Ewing Oil. I'm going to join Cliff and back him up all the way. Cliff and Jamie and I are going to take Ewing Oil away from you. And then, I'm going to watch you hurt!"
Needless to say, that this does have an effect on J.R. as takes his ex-suster-in-law's threats very seriously for the first time because, for once, she could prove to be a very powerful adversary.
While preparations for the upcoming lawsuit were taking place. Bobby worked feverishly to clear Jenna, who was charged with the murder of 'Naldo. A woman named Veronica Robinson (Gail Strickland) who kept "Charlie," returned the girl, but was poisoned while she was on her way to testify on Jenna's behalf. Jenna was convicted and sentenced for the crime.
Meanwhile, brother Ray had joined his brothers in the fight to keep Ewing Oil in the family, much to the chagrin of Donna. Upon learning about her husband's decision, she remarked; "Just how long do you think J.R. is going to really consider you as a real full-fledged Ewing brother when this case is over? About twenty seconds." Ray, unswayed by the remarks, joins his half-brothers which causes a serious rift in his marriage.
Cliff, in order to make his case against the Ewings stronger, starts to woo Jamie. He later marries her. Meanwhile, J.R. starts seeing Cliff's ex-girlfriend Mandy Winger, and falls in love with her. Mandy, in the meantime, tells J.R. that she couldn't commit to him totally unless he divorces Sue Ellen. J.R. then becomes verbally abusive towards his wife in order to drive her off the ranch. What it does is drive Sue Ellen to the bottle once again. And while Jenna went to prison, Bobby started to fall in love with Pam, who, after one final trip to Hong Kong, gave up her search for Mark Graison.
A man who claimed to be Jamie's brother, Jack arrived in town with proof that both Cliff and Jamie had no legal claim to Ewing Oil. He persuades J.R. and Bobby to give him ten-percent of the company before he makes good with his claim, the brothers reluctantly agreed. Jack then takes the three Ewing brothers to a man who bought Jason and "Digger's" shares of the company when they both wanted to get out due to the company's money troubles in the 1930's. The man sold them back to Jock, who then gave the documents of the sale to his first wife Amanda, who, due to her fragile emotional state, was put in a mental institution. The Ewings won the case when that evidence was presented in court.
On the ninety-minute Season Finale, which aired on May 17, 1985, the Ewings threw a victory party at the Oil Baron's Club. it was a double celebration, since Jenna, thanks to a man who confessed to the murder of 'Naldo, was free from prison. It ended up as a triple celebration when Lucy, who had been seeing her ex-husband Mitch, announced to the family that they were getting remarried (at Southfork of course).
Two other Ewing couples however, were experiencing marital woes. Donna told Ray the good news that she was pregnant. The bad news for Ray was that she also wanted to get a divorce. J.R., fed up with Sue-Ellen, drives her to drink even more. But, a white knight has reappeared in her life...Dusty Farlow, who just happen to drop in on his uncle Clayton. With Dusty to lean on, Sue-Ellen vows to stop drinking again.
Bobby, meanwhile, had a slight problem to deal with. It seems that while Jenna was in jail, he and his ex-wife, Pam, grew even closer. Jenna, upon sensing Bobby's plight told him that maybe she wasn't sure that it was the right time to get married. Bobby then proposed to Pam, who accepted. Unfortunately, someone else had different plans....As Bobby and Pam said goodbye in the driveway of her home, a car sped towards them, and Bobby, who pushed Pam out of the way of the speeding vehicle, was hit. The car crashed into a tree, killing the occupant who turned out to be Katherine Wentworth.
A mortally injured Bobby is then taken to Dallas Memorial Hospital, and with his family at his bedside, he tells Pam, "All that wasted time, we should have been married." And after telling the rest of the Ewing clan to "Stay together...be a family," he died!......FADE OUT!
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Phillip Capice
NEXT TIME: The season that was...but wasn't.
Thanks to Greg Martin for sending this in :)