Oil be back

A BUSINESSMAN is working late in the office. The phone rings, he picks it up but there’s no one there.

He looks at a family photograph on the desk and pours himself a cup of coffee. He goes to investigate a noise outside his office.

As he appears in the doorway, a shot rings out. He starts to fall. Another shot explodes and he slumps to the ground. The names of the producers appear over a shot of the unconscious, perhaps dead, man.

You have just witnessed television’s greatest cliffhanger, leaving you and millions of viewers around the world asking the same question: Who shot JR?

So many wanted to discover the answer that the episode Who Done It? in November 1980 was seen by more than 90 million US viewers (a figure still beaten only by the final episode of Mash three years later) and a global audience of nearly 360 million people.

BACK THEN: The original cast

Now Dallas is back, with the new series debuting on Channel 5 on Wednesday. US viewers have already given the thumbs-up. The new ten-part series, which mixes original actors Larry Hagman, Linda Gray and Patrick Duffy with a new young generation of Ewings, won both good critical reaction and ratings. The producers may just have struck oil again with the Ewings back battling in the boardroom and bedroom.

Attempting to revive old TV shows is a hazardous business, especially one that ended 21 years ago after 14 seasons and 356 episodes. But this revival cleverly appeals to old fans with the reappearance of the three principals alongside new blood, notably Josh Henderson and Jesse Metcalfe as Ewing offspring, ensuring younger viewers won’t be bored.

THERE have been several TV mini-series catching up with the saga of the oil and ranching family, along with an ill-fated movie version rumoured to star John Travolta and Brad Pitt.

Happily, that never materialised, presumably because someone realised that Dallas without Larry Hagman as Machiavellian Texan oilman JR wouldn’t be the same.

This is, after all, a show that was intended as a five-episode mini-series, but was expanded into a primetime serial after initial ratings proved encouraging.

But the story shifted from the marriage of Bobby and Pamela – a Texan Romeo and Juliet in a union between two warring families, the Ewings and the Barnes – to concentrate on the devilish double-dealing of JR.

The shooting cliffhanger was a humdinger but that’s not the series’ only claim to fame.

Who can forget Sue Ellen, glass of booze in her hand, lips trembling and shoulderpads filled to the brim? Or little Lucy – played by Charlene Tilton, recently on Dancing On Ice and in panto at York Grand Opera House this Christmas – romping in the hay with Southfork ranch foreman Ray Krebbs, a man who later turned out to be a half-sibling.

One you probably have forgotten is a prefame appearance by Brad Pitt. He appeared in four episodes as Randy, a character he described as “an idiot boyfriend who gets caught in the hay”.

There were two Miss Ellies after Barbara Bel Geddes, the original matriarch, left through ill health, to be replaced by another highly regarded Hollywood actress, Donna Reed. Fans didn’t take to the new Miss Ellie, so it was just as well that Bel Geddes decided she was well enough to return.

Southfork, the Ewings’ ranch home, has changed, too. Production moved to Duncan Acres – now legally called Southfork – after the first five episodes. The 164-acre ranch is now marketed as a party and convention centre.

The series led to a showdown between the BBC, which showed the series, and ITV when Thames Television did a deal to buy the show at nearly twice the price for the commercial channels. The BBC delayed showing its episodes, planning to broadcast them at the same time that Thames broadcast its new purchases.

Pressure from other ITV companies, worried that the BBC would poach their imports and push up prices, forced Thames to sell them back to the distributor at a loss. Dallas continued on the BBC.

Money was at the root of the reason they began shooting the first episode of the new season after JR’s shooting without Larry Hagman.

When the body was brought out of the building, the face was covered in case another actor had to be cast to replace Hagman, who was holding out for a bigger pay cheque.

THE Who Shot JR? episode wasn’t the only scenario that caused a strong reaction.

What has been referred to as “the dream season” amazed and angered fans in equal measure.

Bobby Ewing had been killed off – saving Pam from being hit by a speeding car – after actor Patrick Duffy decided he wanted to leave and pursue other acting opportunities. A year later, he wasn’t getting the offers he wanted but, more importantly, Dallas’ ratings were slipping as the glitzy, glamorous world of Dynasty gained the upper hand.

Hagman was instrumental in getting Duffy back on board, but how to resurrect his character?

Perhaps introduce a long-lost twin or spin a yarn that his death was faked. Instead, they decided that the past Bobby-less season was all a dream.

Wife Pam woke up one morning to see husband Bobby emerge from the shower as if nothing had happened. The past year’s events, including Pam marrying someone else, had never happened.

Understandably, viewers found this hard to swallow and never quite trusted Dallas again, but it nevertheless became one of the longestlasting primetime series in US TV history, behind Bonanza, Law and Order, and Gunsmoke.

The new Dallas has a long way to go to get anywhere near that record but, as we’ve found out in the past, you should never underestimate JR’s power of survival.

• The new series of Dallas will begin at 9pm on Wednesday on Channel 5