DALLAS
- JR RETURNS
By Susan King
When Dallas fans last saw the crafty, charming, conniving J.R.
Ewing on the series finale five years ago, he was literally
in a devil of a mess. Only brother Bobby witnessed what really
happened when the suicidal J.R. raised his pistol and a shot
rang out.
Even Larry Hagman, who played the role
to perfection for 13 seasons, was in the dark as to J.R.'s fate.
"I didn't know if he was dead," Hagman says. "I
didn't know if they were going to do (a Dallas movie). The way
we ended it left it open."
Well, J.R. is alive and well and up to
his dirty tricks in the CBS reunion flick, Dallas: J.R. Returns,
which airs in the series' old 9 p.m. time slot tonight (Channel
62 in Detroit).
It seems that for the past five years,
J.R. has been living, and loving, in Paris. But he's come home
to reclaim Ewing Oil from his old nemesis Cliff Barnes (Ken
Kerche-val). Cliff is busy trying to relocate the long-lost
daughter he had with former flame Afton Cooper (Audrey Landers).
Meanwhile, Bobby (Patrick Duffy) has
been running Southfork and is living a quiet life on the ranch
with son Christopher (Chris Demetral). J.R.'s former wife, Sue
Ellen (Linda Gray), and son John Ross (Omri Katz), who have
been living in London with her new husband, return to Southfork
when they hear some startling news about J.R.
Reuniting for the movie, Duffy says,
was "just like you seeing your family again. We obviously
don't call each other 'J.R.' and 'Bobby' when we see each other
socially, but you put on those clothes and you step in front
of that camera and it was like, 'Oh, my God. This is wonderful.
This is the best life ever.'"
"It was like we had never stopped,"
Kercheval adds.
J.R. Returns had been in development
for a few years. "Larry and I have always wanted to do
something with Dallas," says Duffy, who is co-executive
producer of the movie with Hagman.
"We even considered at one time,
and I still think it would be a great idea, to do the Airplane!
version of Dallas as a feature film and just go for right-off-the-wall
humor."
Production originally was set to start
a year ago but was delayed when Hagman had a liver transplant.
Six months after his surgery, the actor was strong enough to
do the film.
"We were really cheerleaders for
his health," Gray says. "It was really a magical experience
for us. We had to watch his pacing, but he was fine."
The film is dedicated to its director
and executive producer, Leonard Katzman, who died in September
of a heart attack. Katzman was one of the series' executive
producers and wrote and directed countless episodes.
"He was the master of both Dallas
and television," says executive producer Rich Heller. "He
was the most delightful man."
"Leonard was probably the closest
thing to a surrogate father that I had," says Duffy, whose
long-running ABC sitcom, Step by Step, will return to the lineup
midseason.
"His name, besides Leonard, was
Uncle Lenny. He was the force behind Dallas. He was the quality
control. He directed. He produced. He did everything but clean
up the chairs after the cast had lunch. This is his monument."
As with the original series, J.R. Returns
has plenty of sex. Not only does J.R. have a one-night stand
with Sue Ellen, he also has an affair with his attorney's niece
(Tracy Scoggins).
"It was hell, but somebody had to
do it," Hagman says, laughing. "Tracy's not a bad-looking
girl."
"Well, you know, it is the '80s
thing," muses Duffy. "We were doing the horizontal
Macarena a lot in those days."
Reruns of Dallas, once the most popular
show on television, are currently airing three times a day on
The Nashville Network. "You can't look at those,"
Kercheval says, laughing. "Those are sad because we were
so young."
"That's when you know when time
has marched on," Duffy adds. "You take a look and
go: 'Look at that. I only had one chin.'"
The cast reports that ever since Dallas
went off the air in 1991, fans have been asking about a reunion.
"They are so happy when I tell them we did a movie,"
Duffy says. "You'd think I had given them a Christmas present."
Hagman believes the series was such a
phenomenon because "it added stability to (fans') lives.
It was a pretty close family even if they didn't get along and
a lot of people have a J.R. in their family they can identify
with. He did love his mother and he did love Sue Ellen in his
own sick, warped way. But he loved his family and he loved his
business -- not necessarily in that order."
But, Hagman adds, "it's kind of
old-fashioned because, let's face it, where do you find in America
three millionaires -- Bobby, me, Daddy and Mama -- living in
the same house with their wives in one room with one bathroom!"
The Dallas gang are about as close-knit
as the Ewings themselves. "Patrick and I go fishing and
hunting a lot," says a fully recovered Hagman, who is currently
at work in New Orleans on his new midseason CBS drama series
Orleans. "I see Linda perhaps once every two weeks."
"Larry and I are both Virgos,"
Gray says. "Every year we have our Virgo dinner, as we
call it. I (also) have an Easter egg hunt at my house every
year, so I invite everybody who has children, so Ken brought
his daughter. So we do see each other, not all the time, but
sporadically and always with love."
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