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Dallas Critic
A Season by Season look at Dallas part 1

Sunday, April 2 1978; I was 15-years-old and had just returned from an out of town trip a few hours earlier when I decided to watch tv. It was around 10 pm, after the usual sitcom fodder (ALL IN THE FAMILY, ALICE, etc) had ended when there was a preview for the next program, a brand new drama called DALLAS, that was about to make it's debut.

I had never heard, nor read anything about this show; so it was with some curiousity that I watched. The show started with a preview of the episode. Then the theme music, composed by Jerrold Immel, began which I thought was kinda catchy (Apparently, so did everyone else who tuned in that evening) as the cast credits flashed across the screen. The first name that came up was Barbara BelGeddes(best known as James Stewart's ex-girlfriend in Alfred Hitchcock's VERTIGO), a name I didn't recognize at the time. Next up was another unrecognizable name, Jim Davis.

The third cast name was Patrick Duffy; that one I did recognize since he was the star of a recently cancelled science-fiction tv show called THE MAN FROM ATLANTIS; followed by Larry Hagman, who I hadn't seen in anything since I DREAM OF JENNIE. The next name, Victoria Principal, I recognized from the 1974 disaster film EARTHQUAKE; and finally, the last cast name that flashed across the screen was a young actress whom I've never seen or heard of before, Charlene Tilton.

After that beginning, I began to watch this new show which introduced two feuding families; the rich, powerful Ewings; and the not-so-rich Barnes. The show began with the youngest Ewing son, Bobby bringing his new bride, whom he just married in a quickie ceremony in New Orleans, to the family ranch called Southfork.
Needless to say, the rest of the family were not too happy with this particular union since the bride, Pamela, just happened to be a Barnes, whose brother Cliff (Ken Kercheval), was part of special counsel investigating the family business, Ewing Oil. One family member, the oldest Ewing son, John Ross II (J.R.), disliked the new bride so much, he first tried to offer her money to annul the "farce." When that failed, he then tried to set up "Pammy" by getting the ranch foreman; Ray Krebbs (Steve Kanaly), her ex-boyfriend, to fly her out to his place so that Bobby could catch them both in an uncompromising position. But, Pam, not to outdone by this scheme, threatened Ray by telling him that she'll tell the family about his affair with Lucy, J.R. and Bobby's teenage niece (Tilton).

As Bobby and Pam drove off, J.R. remarked: "I underestimated the new Mrs. Ewing.
I certainly won't do that again!"

So began 13 seasons of sex, sin and avarice courtesy of the Ewings and the Barnes. DALLAS was created by former head writer, David Jacobs, who created the drama when another show he created, which eventually aired two-years later as KNOTS LANDING, was rejected by CBS as being "too tame." The network wanted something "bigger, easier to promote, like a saga," according to Jacobs.

The network also wanted him to create a vehicle for actress Linda Evans who was under contract at the time, so DALLAS was created with the intention of having Evans play Pam. But, as the show was being developed, it was clear to the creators that the part would be too small for Evans. Evans later starred in a DALLAS rip-off called DYNASTY (1981-89). Jacobs, got the idea of setting the show in Texas, from two sources; Tommy Thompson's best-selling novel, BLOOD AND MONEY; and, from an old friend from Waco, Texas named Pamela Hynds Daley. On the day that he was supposed to turn in the project to CBS, Jacob's pardner, Michael Filerman (Who later co-produced KNOT LANDING with Jacobs), came up with the title DALLAS, remarking that "they could always change it later."

The show's cast and crew were selected in the fall of 1977.

Barbara Bel Geddes and Jim Davis were both hired first; then Duffy.
Kanaly tried out for the part of Cliff Barnes. Mary Frann (later of Newhart), tried out for the part of J.R.'s long-suffering wife, Sue-Ellen; while another actress, Judith Chapman, tried out for the part of Pam. Popular actor Robert Foxworth (Elizabeth Montgomery's second husband) was asked to play J.R., but he thought the character should be considerably softened, and refused to do it unless it was. Foxworth, ironically, portrayed Chase Giobertti on FALCON CREST (1981-90) which followed DALLAS. Larry Hagman, who also shot another pilot called THREE'S COMPANY (No, not that one), thought that the character should be left just the way he was written, and got the part. Other actors hired were; Kanaly, Kercheval; veteran actor David Wayne (HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONARE) was the first actor selected to play Pamela's father Willard "Digger" Barnes.

Linda Gray, who had also finished a stint as a transexual Linda Murkland in a syndicated Norman Lear created sitcom called ALL THAT GLITTERS, was selected to play Sue-Ellen; and Tina Louise (Ginger Grant from GILLIGAN'S ISLAND) was hired to play J.R.'s secretary, Julie Gray; while Texas actress Donna Bullock, recently seen as the unlucky press secretary in last summer's AIR FORCE ONE, played Bobby's secretary.

The show was filmed entirely on location during the winter months of 1977/78. A house located on Swiss Avenue in Dallas was used for the interior of the ficticious Southfork; while a ranch owned by John and Cloyce Box was used for the exrterior shots. It also differed somewhat from the ranch used from the first full season.

DALLAS had it's premiere on Sunday, April 2, 1978. The four other "pilot" shows aired on subsequent Sunday's with the last one, "Barbecue" (None of the show's titles were broadcast), placing in the weekly top ten. The shows did well enough for CBS to order a full 22-episode season starting in the fall of 1978.

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