Dallas (2012 TV series)

Dallas is an American prime time television soap opera developed by Cynthia Cidre and produced by Warner Horizon Television, that aired on TNT from June 13, 2012 to September 22, 2014. The series was a revival of the prime time television soap opera of the same name that was created by David Jacobs and which aired on CBS from 1978 to 1991. The series revolves around the Ewings, an affluent Dallas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries.
The series brought back several stars of the original series, including Patrick Duffy as Bobby Ewing, Linda Gray as Sue Ellen Ewing, and Larry Hagman as J.R. Ewing in major roles. Other stars of the original series made guest appearances, including Ken Kercheval as Cliff Barnes, Steve Kanaly as Ray Krebbs, and Charlene Tilton as Lucy Ewing, as well as Ted Shackelford as Gary Ewing, and Joan van Ark as Valene Ewing, who starred in the "Dallas" spin-off series "Knots Landing". They were joined by the next generation of characters, including Josh Henderson as John Ross Ewing III, the son of J.R. and Sue Ellen Ewing; Jesse Metcalfe as Christopher Ewing, the adopted son of Bobby and Pamela Barnes Ewing; and Julie Gonzalo as Pamela Rebecca Barnes, the daughter of Cliff Barnes and Afton Cooper.
The series was made for TNT, sister company to Warner Bros. Television, which has owned the original series since its purchase of Lorimar Television (the original show's production company) in 1989. On July 8, 2011, after viewing the completed pilot episode, TNT gave a green light for the series with a 10-episode order, which premiered on June 13, 2012. On June 29, 2012, TNT renewed "Dallas" for a second season consisting of 15 episodes, which premiered on January 28, 2013. On April 30, 2013, TNT renewed "Dallas" for a third season consisting of 15 episodes that premiered on Monday, February 24, 2014. On October 3, 2014, the series was cancelled by TNT after three seasons, because of the declining ratings.
Plot.
The series revolves around the Ewings, an affluent Dallas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. It focuses mainly on Christopher Ewing (Jesse Metcalfe), the adopted son of Bobby (Patrick Duffy) and Pamela Barnes Ewing (Victoria Principal), and John Ross Ewing III (Josh Henderson), the son of J.R. (Larry Hagman) and Sue Ellen Ewing (Linda Gray). Both John Ross and Christopher were born during the original series' run and were featured in it as children (although played by different actors). Now grown up, John Ross has become almost a carbon copy of his father, bent on oil, money, and power. Christopher, meanwhile, has become a lot like Bobby, in that he is more interested in the upkeep of Southfork Ranch. As an additional point of contention, Christopher is also becoming a player in alternative energy (methane clathrate recovery), thereby eschewing the oil business. However, John Ross is determined to resurrect the Ewings' former position in the oil industry. John Ross states in season 1 that he is J.R.'s eldest child, which contradicts the storyline in the original series where J.R.'s first born son James Beaumont appeared in seasons 13–14.
Alongside John Ross and Christopher, original series characters Bobby, J.R. and Sue Ellen return as full cast members for the new series. Additional familiar characters, including J.R.'s and Bobby's niece Lucy Ewing (Charlene Tilton), their half-brother Ray Krebbs (Steve Kanaly), and Ewing family rival Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval) appear occasionally as guest stars. Various other actors/characters from the original series also make appearances, including Audrey Landers (Afton Cooper), Cathy Podewell (Cally Harper Ewing) and Deborah Shelton (Mandy Winger). Ted Shackelford and Joan Van Ark, who first appeared on "Dallas" in the late 1970s before joining the spin-off series "Knots Landing", also return as Gary and Valene Ewing.
New main characters that made their appearances in season 1 included Bobby's third wife, Ann (Brenda Strong); Christopher's new wife, introduced as "Rebecca Sutter" but later revealed to be Pamela Rebecca Barnes (Julie Gonzalo), the daughter of Cliff Barnes and Afton Cooper; and Elena Ramos (Jordana Brewster), the daughter of Ewing family cook Carmen Ramos (Marlene Forte), who is caught in a love triangle with Christopher and John Ross. Harris Ryland (Mitch Pileggi) plays Ann's villainous ex-husband. New main characters that made their appearances in season 2 included Ann and Harris's daughter, Emma Ryland (Emma Bell), and Elena Ramos's brother Drew Ramos (Kuno Becker). In season 2, Judith Brown Ryland (Judith Light) joined the cast as Harris Ryland's controlling mother, while in season 3, Nicolas Treviño (Juan Pablo Di Pace) joined as a childhood friend of Elena and Drew's who returns to help Cliff Barnes take over the Ewing oil company.
Episodes.
The first season premiered on June 13, 2012, and introduces the central characters of the show: John Ross Ewing III, Christopher Ewing, Elena Ramos, Rebecca Sutter, Ann Ewing, Bobby Ewing, Sue Ellen Ewing and J.R. Ewing. The main focus of the season 1 is the discovery of oil reserves on Southfork by John Ross and attempts by him and his father, J.R. to wrest the land from Bobby. Other storylines in this season include the love triangle between John Ross, Christopher and Elena, Christopher's marriage to Rebecca, Sue Ellen's plans to run for Governor of Texas and Bobby's health problems.
Production.
Prior to "Dallas", Cidre was best known for producing and writing episodes of "Cane", an American television drama that chronicled the lives and internal power struggles of a powerful and affluent Cuban-American family running an immensely successful rum and sugar cane business in South Florida. In 2010, TNT announced it would order a pilot for the continuation of the "Dallas" series. The pilot was filmed in and around the city of Dallas in early 2011. Production began in late August 2011 in Dallas on the remaining nine episodes in the first season order, based in studios constructed for the Fox television series "The Good Guys".
Executive producer Cynthia Cidre wrote the pilot script, while Michael M. Robin served as the director and executive producer for the pilot. David Jacobs reviewed Cidre's pilot script and gave his blessing to the new series though he has chosen not to participate in its production. A dispute erupted when the opening credits were originally planned to read "Developed by Cynthia Cidre, based on Dallas created by David Jacobs". But upon the determination of the Writers Guild of America's screenwriting credit system, there are currently two separate credits: one listing Jacobs as the show's sole creator and another listing Cidre as the new show's developer.
A sneak preview of the series, including clips from the pilot episode, aired on July 11, 2011, during an episode of TNT's "Rizzoli & Isles". Patrick Duffy stated that the new show is "exactly the same [as the old show], but it's 2012. We consider this year 14 of the show. It's exactly as if [viewers] forgot which channel we were on."
Continuity.
The new series is a continuation of the old series following a 20-year break, during which the characters and their relationships continued unseen until today when the new series begins. It does not take the events of the reunion TV movies ' or ' into account. Instead, we find the characters having evolved over the last 20 years. Cynthia Cidre, show developer, has confirmed that the new series does not pick up from where the TV movies left off because the movies had tried to resolve lingering plotlines in less than two hours. It continues from the events of the 14th season, their development and consequences extrapolated to 2012.
Production crew.
Cynthia Cidre, Bruce Rasmussen, Michael M. Robin, Ken Topolsky and Bryan J. Raber served as executive producers for the show. Rasmussen had previously worked as the supervising producer with the hit TV series "Roseanne", for which he was awarded the Golden Globe.
In the first two seasons, Jesse Bochco and Michael M. Robin were the most prolific directors, each directing five episodes.
Filming.
Unlike the original series, which did limited location shooting in Texas but was filmed primarily in Los Angeles, principal photography for the new series takes place in and around Dallas. The new series also did location shooting at the actual Southfork Ranch in the northern Dallas suburb of Parker.
Opening sequence.
The opening sequence features a shortened version of the original theme music, and echoes the original series opening with modernized shots of Dallas in sliding panels. Unlike the original series, the actors are not listed alphabetically and, for seasons 1 and 2, there are no images of the actors seen in the credits. Josh Henderson and Jesse Metcalfe alternate top billing, and the original stars are credited at the end ("with Patrick Duffy", "and Linda Gray", "and Larry Hagman as J.R. Ewing" until Hagman's death in season 2. The "Dallas" logo scrolls from right to left, rather than zooming upwards as it did on the original series. The sequence ends on a shot with the camera flying towards Southfork similar to the shot in the original titles where the camera flies over the gate towards Southfork. The season 3 titles feature the return of the iconic threeway split-screen opening, similar to those used in the original series for its first 11 years, with moving images of the actors. In addition, the "Dallas" season 3 logo zooms towards the screen as it did on the original series.
Reception.
Advance screening reviews of the series were generally positive from critics on Metacritic. On June 29, 2012, TNT renewed "Dallas" for a second season consisting of 15 episodes, which premiered on January 28, 2013. The second season received positive notice, with a score of 82/100 from reviews on Metacritic.