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DALLAS - JR RETURNS
Original Broadcast Date November 15, 1996
Running Time - 2 Hours
Over five years ago (from the series-ending
in 1991), ruthless but irresistible J.R. Ewing lost his vast
family business, Ewing Oil, to his archenemy Cliff Barnes. Distraught
and humiliated, J.R., Confronted the devil himself and fired
one shot from his gun. Now, we learn that J.R. did not commit
suicide. He's very much alive and planning his return to power.
J.R.'s younger brother, the decent
Bobby Ewing, has a loving relationship with his own 18-year-old
son, Christopher, who has inherited Bobby's honesty. Bobby's
lonely, of course, since the death of his beloved wife, April,
and his loneliness is amplified by the emptiness of Southfork,
the massive ranch that used to be filled with the tumultuous
Ewing family
It's peaceful now that J.R. is exiled in Europe somewhere--too
peaceful--which is why Bobby has put the family homestead up
for sale . . .
Meanwhile, Cliff has everything he wanted--or
thought he did. Now he owns Ewing Oil while the scoundrel J.R.
is broke; divorced from Sue Ellen; and estranged from his son,
John Ross. But Cliff realizes that his obsessive rivalry with
J.R. caused him to lose the love of his life, Afton, and their
daughter, Pamela, whom he doesn't even know. Determined to regain
his life and family now that J.R. is no longer a threat, Cliff
intends to sell Ewing Oil to J.R.'s other nemesis Carter McKay,
head of Weststar Oil. With Bobby selling Southfork and Ewing
Oil soon to be swallowed up by Weststar, J.R.'s legacy will
soon come to an end.
But like the proverbial J.R. is back: the man with the infamous
grin who'll stop at nothing to win. And he's determined to win
back Ewing Oil and reestablish himself as the patriarch of the
Ewing empire.
J.R.'s first search-and-destroy mission
is a visit to Ewing Oil where he tells the jerk Cliff that he
intends to wrest the company away from him. With false bravado,
Cliff laughs off J.R.'s threats. Next, J.R. meets with sexy,
devious lawyer Anita Smithfield, niece of the longtime Ewing
family lawyer, Harv. In typical J.R. fashion, he combines business
with pleasure, continuing a liaison he began in Paris with Anita.
J.R. may be broke, but his son isn't.
Anita shows J.R. a secret codicil to the will of J.R.'s father.
It leaves the deceased man's grandson, John Ross, stock in a
computer company, which is now worth $500 million. There's only
one hitch: knowing his conniving son well, J.R's daddy specified
that John Ross' inheritance not be revealed until after J.R.'s
death. Since J.R. is the only one aware of this fortune, what's
the harm in "borrowing" it from his son and selling
it to buy up Weststar shares so he can control the company and
regain Ewing Oil? But how will he pull this one off?
With the help of Anita and other public
officials whom J.R. corrupted during his reign, J.R. fakes his
own death in a fiery auto accident. A distraught Sue Ellen and
son John Ross return to Southfork for the memorial service.
Now that J.R. is "dead", Sue Ellen, separated from
her second husband, realizes she is doomed to always love J.R.Also
attending the memorial service is Julia Cunningham, an old flame
of Bobby's; youthful Pamela, whom Chris is shyly romancing;
and, of course, a relieved Cliff whose quiet celebratory mood
soon turns to horror when J.R. shows up alive and grinning.
Delighted with Sue Ellen's agony over
his "death," J.R. swears that all he cares about now
is reuniting the family. But Sue Ellen still has misgivings--can
she really trust him? And she worries about J.R's influence
on John Ross, who has inherited J.R.'s rapacious nature.
J.R. now has almost everything he wants.
Sue Ellen and John Ross are back, so Bobby won't be selling
Southfork. As for Cliff, J.R. conceives his most devious plot
yet, which will force Cliff to choose between his long-lost
family or Ewing Oil. Now the only thing J.R. needs is for all
of the unwitting players to act true to form--in his most insidious
conspiracy ever."Dallas: J.R. Returns" is dedicated
to the memory of Leonard Katzman,
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