I don't normally do this. I don't watch much TV apart from the news, as I am a total junkie. But I began watching the new incarnation of the much loved 80's soap Dallas and now that it's been cancelled I thought I would share my thoughts.
First let me start by saying that I think the cast did a great job. It was great to see our beloved Sue Ellen, Bobby and yes, JR before we lost Larry Hagman. The new cast held their own and some gave standout performances in the show's three season run. Josh Henderson, who played John Ross, JR and Sue Ellen's son, displayed quite a range and his scenes with Linda Gray were terrific. Equally talented Julie Gonzalo, who played Pamela Rebecca Barnes, daughter of Ewing rival Cliff Barnes, gave moving performances. Especially when Pamela lost her babies and Emmy winner Judith Light stole nearly every scene as Judith Ryland, Bobby's wife's ex-mother-in-law. Which bring me to Ann Ewing, played beautifully by Brenda Strong, of Desperate Housewives fame. Perhaps having the biggest shoes to fill given the popularity of Bobby and Pam in the original, Strong surpassed expectations. But as wonderful as the cast was, the writing was not.
Showrunner Cynthia Cidre was at the helm of this effort and unfortunately, judging by the ratings, she failed. In 2012 Dallas TNT premiered to 7 million viewers. By the end of season 3 it had 1.7 million. A successful show does not bleed seventy five percent of it's audience. Cidre's first mistake was not watching the entire original series. She ignored the reunion movies, either by choice or by command. This made the idea that Christopher, Bobby's son, could marry his cousin and not even know who she was. Christopher and Pamela Rebecca knew each other in one of the movies. This also made it obvious to hard core fans who she was. Another mistake was insisting that the Ramos family lived at Southfork during the time of the original. Fans didn't like her messing with the backstory or trying to shoehorn them in. It would have been just as effective if they had changed the timeline of their coming to Southfork to the mid 90s. She also failed to establish Christopher and Elena Ramos as the new Bobby and Pam. She didn't even let them stay together. She also had gold in pairing John Ross with Pamela once she divorced Christopher. But instead of capitalizing on them as a power couple she had John Ross immediately start cheating with Emma Ryland, long lost daughter of Ann Ewing. The fans hated that and her reasons? Henderson and Emma Bell had so much chemistry it would be crazy to keep them apart. They'd had one scene together and didn't even speak. But she ignored what worked for whatever reason. Bobby and Ann were supposed to be the backbone of the show. But by season 3 they were treated like garbage. Ann had lied again and Bobby acted like a hypocrite calling her out since he had secrets of his own. This is the couple who are the backbone of the show? She became nothing but a doormat and started making goo goo eyes at her ex-husband, Harris Ryland, all because he worked for the CIA (another absurd plot). Case in point, a scene at Southfork after Emma had come back when Ann had kicked her out. Harris tells Ann he had come there originally to get Emma to come home with him but decided against it saying she needs her mother now. What is Ann's response to the man who kidnapped her daughter and let her think she could be dead? I'll do my best. Instead of telling him to go to hell for and that "she's needed me for the past twenty years, Harris" and giving him a slap across the face. Total doormat. She doesn't stand her ground with Emma and just lets her come back. She takes Bobby's crap and cries for the umpteenth time in the mid season finale then goes whining to Harris and kisses him. Then comes the trashy threesome scene with John Ross, Emma and Pamela. Why on earth does Pamela go there to do this? So she can vomit on them and ruin sex for them. How stupid is that? Cidre has no idea how to write truly strong women. They may start out that way but they always regress. Fans don't want to see threesomes, people dressed up in dog suits or chopped off hands in a box. Dallas is supposed to be about family but there was little to no character development or meaningful interaction between characters. Just on to the next "delicious" plot twists that were just dumb. Did Bobby and Ann have a heart to heart after she and Emma were rescued? Of course not, they just said let's start fresh. Why did Ann lie about kissing Harris and why did she keep Emma and John Ross's affair a secret? We don't know because they didn't talk about it. What about her relationship with Emma? Well there really wasn't one. I was looking forward to meaningful mother/daughter moments but all we got was Emma becoming the whore of Southfork. She slept with Drew, Bo (most likely) and John Ross. A mother and daughter reunited after twenty years should have a lot to say. I really believe Cidre doesn't know how to write anything meaningful and apparently neither do any of her team of writers. They would rather use stupid plot twists than write anything of substance. The closest they came was Sue Ellen drinking again. Gray and Henderson were terrific. But fans didn't want Sue Ellen drinking again. They wanted her strong and in control.
There is a massive campaign to save the show and have another network pick it up. But with Cidre at the helm it would be just more of the same. I have been so conflicted about the show. I wanted to love it and there were moments that were good. JR up to his old tricks in season 1. Ann standing up to Harris to protect her family. Sue Ellen in top form running for Governor but had to lose because Cidre suddently realized if she won she would have to be in Austin and couldn't be in Dallas. She didn't know that beforehand? Maybe another network will pick it up. But if it doesn't, I hope the cast moves on to great things. They certainly deserved better than what they got on Dallas.
