DALLAS - Who Shot J.R
Ewing?
For millions of people around the world
the most important news of the 80`s was not the Polish Revoloution.....the
hostages in Iran.....the catestrophic earthquakes....the Iraq-Iran
war.....or the American presidential elections. In fact the
number 1 topic, all the way from Philadelphia to Hong Kong,
from London to Johannesbrug wasn`t anything real at all. It
happened in America on March 21st 1980 and was the simulated
shooting of a rapacious Texas oilbaron at the hands of his low-life
mistress, his wifes sister, in a popular American Tv Series.
The Shooting
Iv never heard anything like
it before" comments Linda Gray. Iv been talking to some
people here in Hollywood who have been around television for
years and they tell me that they have never seen anything like
it either" adds Linda "all the newspaper and magazine
articles, all the media coverage, people gambling in Las Vegas
and London.....and we hear they actually showed the shooting
on BBC News in Britain.....I mean.......its incredible"
The shooting and the long awaited denouncement delayed by more
average true life happenings, a Hollywood actors strike- has
proved to be one of the single most cataclysmic Tele events
in the world.
 Streets
had emptied on March 21st 1980, the night JR got shot, they
emptied again on November 21 when Kristin coughed......as brazenly
as ever.
Fifty three countries tuned in to the
shooting, the headline making news of which helped sell the
series to another eleven countries by the time it came back
on air again.
It had just got out of hand! Certainly
out of planning. Lorimar/Warner Brothers doesn't expect to cause
such a shock again, they didn't plan on causing the first one
at all. The whole notion of JR being shot was postscript. The
second years season should of ended with the two hour account
of Jocks trial Jock was let off the hook when his old foe confessed
to the murder of Hutch Mckinny, then on his death bed Digger
confessed that Hutch was indeed Pam's father. SHOCK HORROR.
THE END. SEE YA NEXT SEASON.............................
But NO..................Dallas had started
to become popular during this season and CBS were leading the
ratings war battle because of it, they demanded 2 more episodes
before closing that season. At this point they had no idea how
to end the season. After much thought Philip Capice came up
with the idea "Lets Shoot JR". As Katzman explained
"we thought what the hell, shoot him and we'll figure out
later who did it". Larry Hagman was not pleased with this
whole shooting idea, he felt it lacked imagination and had been
done time and time before.
Larry suggested that JR
walked into the Elevator at Ewing Oil and fall 15 floors as
there was no lift. MMMmmm perhaps not.
Then they decided on an alternative cliffhanger
with a suicide attempt by Sue Ellen "she fixes herself
the ultimate nightcap, goes off to kiss her baby goodbye. Enter
JR, drunk, in need of a hair of the dog and spies Sue Ellens
deadly cocktail of barbiturates and he downs it in one go. Sue
Ellen sees all, does nothing, says nothing, returns to baby
John and rocks his cot. Shock! Horror! Credits roll.
But no said the producers, that may be
a good idea but the fact remains its not as fun as shooting
JR. So shot him they did and television history was made.
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