Recently I revisited my Dallas (1978-91) box set...thinking at first I'd rewatch the whole series, but by the end of season 5 I was getting a bit worn from viewing entire seasons. Really, as the series gained height in popularity, it also gained in episode count per season (peaking at 31 episodes in season 9). Now, I know that seems tame compared to classic TV's standard 39 episodes in the 50s and early 60s, but as we all know from even the best TV series of our lifetimes...not all episodes are winners.
In fact, at times Dallas dragged in its storylines. It dragged so much, in fact, that one station in Philly over 30 years ago decided to air the best of each season in 2 week installments, calling this collection "The Classic Cliffhangers". This was a fun relaxation for me during the summer of 1991, and this memory inspires me to go after all 14 cliffhangers instead of their 6, effectively wrapping up my viewing of the show for probably another several years.
Season 1 (1978)- Not so much of a season as a miniseries to see if it could do an entire fall to spring run, but it did set up the original characters J.R., Bobby, Jock, Miss Ellie, Pam, Sue Ellen, Lucy, Ray, and Cliff nicely. In the last installment, Pamela fell from a hayloft to get away from a drunken J.R. and lost the baby she was carrying.
Season 2 (1978-79)- The show's first full season focused on J.R.'s continued callous infidelity to Sue Ellen and her subsequent affair with J.R.'s arch enema (enemy) Cliff Barnes, who dumped her in favor of his political future, just as she realized she was prego. As she'd slept with Cliff more than J.R. this season, it was assumed the baby was Cliff's, but Sue Ellen, stung at rejection by her husband AND her lover, turned increasingly to alcohol. In this season's cliffhanger, she and baby John Ross III were in critical danger as she'd drunkenly tried to escape from the sanitarium J.R. had forced her in and crashed the car.
Side note: This season also introduces Donna Culver (Susan Howard), Ray's eventual wife who would be on the show until season 10. I mention this because while I like her character, she was never a part of any cliffhanger.
Season 3 (1979-80)- J.R. made a slew of enemies in this season, even his own parents when he mortgaged the family home/ranch Southfork to finance an oil venture in Asia. When the Asian wells were nationalized, J.R. was alerted beforehand and sold the leases to the Dallas oil cartel and sleazy banker Vaughn Leland. On top of that, he'd hired ambitious attorney Alan Beam to lure Cliff out of local politics to run for a national post then pulled out Cliff's funding. When Alan tried to marry Lucy Ewing and stay in Dallas, J.R. ruined his career. Not only THAT, he had been sleeping with Sue Ellen's ambitious sister Kristin, but when she turned against him for abandoning her affections, he tried to frame her for prostitution. Icing on the cake was after learning he really was John Ross III's real daddy, he vowed that Sue Ellen would never take him away and upon her renewed drinking when lover Dusty Farlow (Jared Martin) was assumed dead from a plane crash, he tried her have her sent back to the sanitarium. J.R. was shot by a mysterious assailant in his office at the end of the season.
Side note: Starting in this season, Larry Hagman was looking trimmer and younger and the show looked a lot brighter color wise.
Season 4 (1980-81)- J.R. pulled through and waged a war against brother Bobby to regain control of Ewing Oil. He succeeded, then tried to build a new image via P.R. bloodhound Leslie Stewart (Susan Flannery). Unfortunately, during this rebuilding he financed a counter-revolution to regain the Asian Wells and Cliff got wind of it. Sue Ellen, tired of J.R. and wanting to build a new life with not-so-dead Dusty and baby John Ross, tried to get the baby out with Pamela's help. Plus, Kristin had returned to town and was apparently shaking down more than just J.R. for money regarding her baby's paternity. In the final episode, there was a female body in the pool that Cliff found.
Side Note: Season 4 is the first of 3 seasons where Dallas was #1 in the Nielsens.
Season 5 (1981-82)- There was a definite separate 2 halves of this season. The first half involved J.R. trying to get Sue Ellen and John Ross away from Dusty and his father Clayton at their ranch in San Angelo. The second half was all about everyone coping with Jock's death, even J.R. Once recovered, J.R. waged a war against Cliff when he realized Cliff was pursuing Sue Ellen (she and J.R. were divorced), endangering his plan to get John Ross back on Southfork permanently. Playing on Cliff's newfound greed working at his newly-found mom's company, he set Cliff up for a fall and succeeded. The season ended with Cliff attempting suicide.
Side Note: Season 5 is the second of 3 seasons where Dallas was #1 in the Nielsens.
Season 6 (1982-83)- This whole season was all about dead Jock Ewing's will, creating a battle between Bobby and J.R. for control of Ewing Oil after a year. Several business battles, a lawsuit, and confrontations ensued. At season's end, Pam and Cliff's mom died, Bobby and Pam were splitting up, and a victim of J.R.'s crooked dealings tried to run J.R. off the road, but ended up hitting Sue Ellen and Ray's cousin Mickey. Once Ray found out who it was, he tried to kill J.R. with his bare hands but in the process of trying to defend himself, J.R. started a fire that threatened to burn down Southfork's main mansion.
Season 7 (1983-84)- Like season 3, many were hating J.R. When Cliff started stealing deals from his rival, J.R. set him up to bid on an offshore drilling venture by blackmailing a government official with the areas up for sale to reveal them so he'd know how to bait Cliff. Katherine Wentworth (Cliff and Pam's half sister) had tried to get Bobby to love her all season but failed, thanks mainly to J.R. And then young Peter Richards had an affair with Sue Ellen that jealous J.R. found out about and threatened to set Peter up on drug charges unless he left town and Sue Ellen returned to the marital bed. Indeed there was a gunshot in the Ewing offices...but it was Bobby who got hit!
Side Note: Season 7 is the final of 3 seasons where Dallas was #1 in the Nielsens. It is also, in my opinion, the best of the series.
Season 8 (1984-85)- Quite a busy season without a lot of draw story-wise. Much of it had to do with Bobby's old/new love Jenna Wade (Priscilla Presley) and her problems, but there was another story involving who really owned Ewing Oil via a document cousin Jamie Ewing (Jennilee Harrison) had. It looked like she and Cliff would own a third apiece, but Jamie's brother Jack (Dack Rambo) provided proof it wasn't true...for a tenth of Ewing Oil in payment. At the very end, Bobby decided he really wanted Pam back, but on the way out to tell his family, he took a car hit by crazy Katherine and died from his injuries...not precisely a cliffhanger, but a big finish.
Season 9 (1985-86)- Now, I could easily just skip this season at it was the infamous "dream" season, and it wasn't a real winner aside from some good acting by Linda Gray showing Sue Ellen hitting rock bottom drinking and rising from the pit. Assumed dead former lover Mark Graison (John Beck) returned to help Pam in business and feelings. Evil businesswoman Angelica Nero (Barbara Carrera) tried to set up J.R. and Jack to die at a masquerade ball to gain control of her dead husband's empire. And then came Matt Cantrell (Marc Singer) to convince Pam to invest in Bobby's emerald mine in South America. At the end, Angelica planted a bomb in Jack's car and in J.R.'s office...only Sue Ellen and Jamie were the victims instead of the Ewing men...and suddenly Pam awakes in bed to see Bobby in the shower!
Season 10 (1986-87)- Like season 5, this season was in 2 parts. The first part dealt with newly hired ranch foreman Wes Parmalee (Steve Forrest) claiming to be Jock back from the dead and the family torn over it all, but Bobby (yes he was back) found out the man's true identity and the story abruptly ended. The second half was all about the end of Ewing Oil. J.R., panicked over falling oil prices, hired terrorist B.D. Calhoun to blow up some Middle Eastern oil fields, but panicked again when warned by the CIA and gave up Calhoun, who went after J.R. for revenge. Bobby and Ray killed Calhoun who was about to kill John Ross. The CIA covered it up, but longtime business rival Jeremy Wendell (William Smithers) of WestStar, seeking revenge for being double-crossed, learned of J.R.'s violation of national security and gave all evidence to the Justice Department, who shut down Ewing Oil.
Side note: To me, that was the end of the season, but a cliffhanger involving Pam crashing into an oil truck and creating a huge explosion, was the actual cliffhanger...but only to say sayonara to Victoria Principal. Incidentally, this was also a season where Cliff was at his worst. He was proving to be a horrible and weaselly businessman. On the other hand, Sue Ellen was becoming a great businesswoman with her new lingerie venture.
Season 11 (1987-88)- When J.R. loses, he doesn't lick his wounds, he springs like a tiger. All season was spent regaining lost Ewing assets while Bobby, fresh over Pam, is given an opportunity to get the Ewing Oil name back...as long as it is only him and not J.R. It all comes to a head when Bobby succeeds at Ewing Oil's rebirth name-wise, but J.R. loses his bid at WestStar thanks to Sue Ellen and seeks revenge by hiding John Ross. Sue Ellen and business advisor/lover Nicholas Pearce (Jack Scalia) confront him and a struggle ensues, ending with Nicholas being thrown off the high balcony of J.R.'s new condo (with a strange freeze frame of the fall for a second) )and Sue Ellen shooting J.R.
Side note: Cliff redeemed himself this season big time by helping an oilman who reminds him of his father...and then when the man thinks Cliff cheated him, Cliff realizes that his long deceased bitter father was bitter for no good reason at all...then sweetly apologizes to Ellie for all the bad blood over the years.
Season 12 (1988-89)- A pretty disjointed season due to a writers' strike. It started with a range war set up by newly reseated and vengeful Jeremy Wendell, using "rancher" Carter McKay (George Kennedy) to buy Ray's house and land to set up the war. Once Jeremy was discovered and arrested, J.R. was forced to contend with his hick bride Cally (Cathy Podewell) and Carter as the new head of WestStar. On top of that, Sue Ellen was now in the movie business and had a movie made about her and J.R.'s life together. The season ends with her showing J.R. a rough cut of the film and threatening to release it if he ever tries to hurt her or John Ross. The once easily victimized Sue Ellen is now the victor and walks off into the London sunset with new love Don Lockwood (Ian McShane).
Season 13 (1989-90)- Way too many things going on in this season...Carter's son going after Bobby and anyone who he feels hurt his father, an oil tanker accident, J.R.'s long lost (and previously unknown) son James, and intrigue with Clayton's crazy sister Jessica killing many Dallas bigwigs. She is sent away again but not before J.R. learns she has valuable WestStar voting rights. He quite viciously torments Cally to get rid of her (perhaps a nod to the old J.R. 10 years ago) and goes to the sanitarium as a patient to get to Jessica for the voting rights, then gets his release taken away by a vengeful James.
Side note: We all know in serials/soaps that the start and end of seasons find the main characters in different situations, but J.R. was all over the place here. So was Cliff, who ended up being a Ewing foe again for a little while. Like season 9, quite unfocused but at least shorter.
Season 14 (1990-91)- All I can say here is it was a mercifully short season, focusing on Bobby finding the woman who was responsible for new bride April (pre-Walker Sheree J. Wilson) getting killed in Paris while J.R.'s grip on Ewing business slipped further away. A last failed grab at WestStar is foiled by Carter and long-unseen rival Dusty, and everyone except Bobby has left Southfork. A despondent J.R. is about to shoot himself, but not before "angel" Adam (Joel Grey) shows him what life would be like without a J.R. Ewing (Bobby a losing gambler, brother Gary a successful divorce attorney, Sue Ellen an actress, Cliff the new President of the U.S. and Ray a crippled but happy family man) but only to depress him more to make him pull the trigger. We hear a gunshot and Bobby comes in shocked.
What happened? Well, in 2 later reunion movies J.R. was off somewhere turning his life around while Bobby had returned to ranching and Cliff was running Ewing Oil....until J.R. returns to mess up everyone's lives with a new twinkle in his eye!
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