Dallas (1978 TV series)



Dallas is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1978, to May 3, 1991. The series revolves around a wealthy and feuding Texan family, the Ewings, who own the independent oil company Ewing Oil and the cattle-ranching land of Southfork. The series originally focused on the marriage of Bobby Ewing and Pamela Barnes, whose families were sworn enemies with each other. As the series progressed, oil tycoon J. R. Ewing grew to be the show's main character, whose schemes and dirty business became the show's trademark. When the show ended in May 1991, J.R. was the only character to have appeared in every episode.

The show was famous for its cliffhangers, including the "Who shot J.R.?" mystery. The 1980 episode "Who Done It" remains the second highest rated prime-time telecast ever. The show also featured a "Dream Season", in which the entirety of the ninth season was revealed to have been a dream of Pam Ewing. After 14 seasons, the series finale "Conundrum" aired in 1991.

The show had a relatively ensemble cast. Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil tycoon J.R. Ewing, stage/screen actress Barbara Bel Geddes as family matriarch Miss Ellie and movie Western actor Jim Davis as Ewing patriarch Jock, his last role before his death in 1981. The series won four Emmy Awards, including a 1980 Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series win for Bel Geddes.

With its 357 episodes, Dallas remains one of the longest lasting full-hour primetime dramas in American TV history, behind Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (366+ episodes), Bonanza (430 episodes), Law & Order (456 episodes), and Gunsmoke (635 episodes). In 2007 Dallas was included in TIME magazine's list of "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME".

Dallas also spawned the spin-off series Knots Landing in 1979 which also lasted 14 seasons. In 2010, TNT announced it had ordered a new, updated continuation of Dallas. The revival series, continuing the story of the Ewing family, premiered on TNT on June 13, 2012, and ran for three seasons, ending its run on September 22, 2014.

Original premise
Dallas debuted on April 2, 1978, as a five-part miniseries on the CBS network. Producers initially had no plans for expansion; however, due to the show's popularity, it was subsequently turned into a regular series and broadcast for 13 full seasons, from September 23, 1978, to May 3, 1991. The first five episodes, originally considered a miniseries, are now referred to as season one—making fourteen seasons in total.

The show is known for its portrayal of wealth, sex, intrigue, and power struggles. Throughout the series, the main premise is the longtime rivalry between the Ewings and the Barneses which came to head when the Barneses' daughter Pamela (Victoria Principal) eloped with a Ewing son, Bobby (Patrick Duffy), in the first episode.

The back story was that, in the 1930s, wildcatter John Ross "Jock" Ewing, Sr. (Jim Davis) had allegedly cheated his one-time partner, Willard "Digger" Barnes (David Wayne and later Keenan Wynn), out of his share of their company Ewing Oil, and married Digger's only love, Eleanor "Miss Ellie" Southworth (Barbara Bel Geddes). Ellie's family were—in contrast to Jock—ranchers, with great love for the land and the cattle. Following the marriage of Ellie and Jock, the Southworth family ranch, Southfork, became the Ewings' home, where Jock and Miss Ellie raised three sons: J.R. (Larry Hagman), Gary (Ted Shackelford) and Bobby.

J.R., the eldest Ewing son, unscrupulous and unhappily married to a former Miss Texas, Sue Ellen Shepard (Linda Gray), was frequently at odds with his youngest brother, Bobby, who had the morals and integrity that J.R. lacked. Middle son Gary was Ellie's favorite as he displayed Southworth traits; however, Gary had been in conflict with both Jock and J.R. since childhood and was dismissed as a weak link. While still young, Gary had married waitress Valene Clements (guest star Joan Van Ark), who produced the first heir, the petite and saucy Lucy (Charlene Tilton). Years prior to the series beginning, J.R. had driven Gary and Valene off Southfork, leaving Lucy to be raised by her grandparents.

During the first episodes of the series, the teenaged Lucy (Jock Ewing's granddaughter) is seen sleeping with ranch foreman Ray Krebbs (Steve Kanaly). Later, in season four, Ray would be revealed as Lucy's uncle, an illegitimate Ewing son through an extramarital affair that Jock Ewing had during World War II. Unhappy with his small, one-dimensional role, Kanaly had considered leaving the show; to add depth to the Ray character, Hagman suggested that the writers create a plot wherein Ray becomes half-brother to J.R., Gary, and Bobby, noting his resemblance to Davis. The episodes where Ray and his niece Lucy had a fling is, as Kanaly told Dinah Shore in an appearance on her show, "prayerfully forgotten, I hope".

Ray had previously engaged in a short fling with Pamela Barnes, the daughter of Digger Barnes (although it was later revealed that Pam was not Digger's biological daughter). However, Pam fell deeply in love with Bobby, and the pilot episode begins with the two of them arriving at Southfork Ranch as newlyweds, shocking the entire family. J.R., who loathed the Barnes family, was not happy with Pam's living at Southfork, and constantly tried to undermine her marriage to Bobby. Meanwhile, Pam's brother Cliff (Ken Kercheval), who had inherited Digger's hatred towards the Ewings, shared J.R.'s objections to the marriage, and continued his father's quest to get revenge.

Most of the seasons ended with ratings-grabbing cliffhangers, the most notable being the season three finale "A House Divided", which launched the landmark "Who shot J.R.?" storyline and was ranked #69 on TV Guide's list of "TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time". Other season finale cliffhangers include the finding of an unidentified floating female corpse in the Southfork swimming pool (season four); a blazing house fire (season six); and Bobby's death (season eight) and subsequent return (season nine).

Main cast
For the original five-episodes miniseries (season 1) six actors received the star billing: Barbara Bel Geddes as Ewing matriarch Miss Ellie Ewing, whose family was the original owners of Southfork; Jim Davis as her husband Jock Ewing, the founder of Ewing Oil and head of the Ewing family; Patrick Duffy as their youngest son, heartthrob Bobby Ewing; Victoria Principal as Pamela Barnes Ewing, the daughter of the rivaling Barnes family, whom Bobby brings home as his wife in the pilot episode; Larry Hagman as J. R. Ewing, the oldest son, who strongly objects to his new sister-in-law; and Charlene Tilton as Lucy Ewing, Bobby's and J.R.'s saucy teenage niece, whose parents had been driven off the ranch by J.R.

Not receiving top billing during season 1, although appearing in the majority of the episodes were Linda Gray as J.R.'s long-suffering, alcoholic wife Sue Ellen Ewing; Steve Kanaly as ranch hand Ray Krebbs, Pam's ex, who eventually turned out to be Jock's illegitimate son; and Ken Kercheval as Pam's brother Cliff Barnes, J.R.'s archrival. Gray and Kanaly were promoted to the regular cast as of the first episode of season 2, and Kercheval as of the first episode of season 3. David Wayne received special guest star billing as Willard "Digger" Barnes.

Further on in the series, several new characters were added, as the original actors departed the series:

For season 5, after guest starring since season 2, Susan Howard joined the main cast as Donna Culver Krebbs, politician and widow of a former Texas governor, who becomes Ray's first wife and mother to his daughter Margaret.

Season 8 saw the addition of musical actor Howard Keel as wealthy, and sometimes hot-tempered rancher Clayton Farlow, Miss Ellie's husband following Jock's death, to the star cast after having appeared on the show since season 4, and Priscilla Presley as Bobby's teenage sweetheart Jenna Wade, who gives birth to Bobby's only biological child, Lucas, and eventually becomes Ray's second wife. Keel had recurred on the show since season 4, and Presley since season 7 (the character of Jenna had however been played by Morgan Fairchild for a season 2 episode, and Francine Tacker for two episodes in season 3). Temporarily replacing Barbara Bel Geddes in the role as Miss Ellie, Donna Reed also joined the main cast during season 8, until Bel Geddes returned in the following year.

Dack Rambo, portraying wandering cousin Jack Ewing, was promoted to regular status for season 10, after having appeared as a guest star since the end of season 8. He was, however, written out of the show midway through the tenth season. Jack's ex-wife April Stevens Ewing, played by Sheree J. Wilson, first appeared as a guest star during seasons 10 and 11, before being promoted to a main character for season 12. Originally a scheming character, April eventually became Bobby's second wife, after his divorce from Pam.

Season 13 saw several additions to the main cast: Academy Award winner George Kennedy as Carter McKay, who buys Ray's ranch after Ray and Jenna move to Switzerland, and eventually becomes the head of Ewing Oil rival WestStar; Cathy Podewell as the young, naïve, Cally Harper, who becomes J.R.'s second wife; Sasha Mitchell as J.R.'s illegitimate, first born, son, James Beaumont; Kimberly Foster as April's devious sister Michelle Stevens, who marries both James and Cliff Barnes; and finally Lesley-Anne Down as PR woman Stephanie Rogers. While Kennedy and Podewell had appeared as guest stars throughout the twelfth season, Mitchell, Foster and Down's characters were all new to the series when they joined the regular cast.

Finally, for the fourteenth and final season, after guest starring in the last episodes of season 13, Barbara Stock joined the cast as Cliff's fiancée Liz Adams.

Supporting cast
During its fourteen-year run, Dallas saw several actors appearing in supporting roles. Among the most notable are Mary Crosby (seasons 3–4 and 14) as Sue Ellen's scheming sister Kristin Shepard (also portrayed by Colleen Camp for two season 2 episodes), who has an affair with J.R. and is revealed to be the one who shot J.R. in the "Who shot J. R.?" storyline; Jared Martin (seasons 3–6, 8–9, and 14) as Sue Ellen's cowboy lover, and Clayton's foster son, Steven "Dusty" Farlow; Leigh McCloskey (seasons 4–5, 8 and 12) as medical student Mitch Cooper, Lucy's husband; Audrey Landers (seasons 4–8 and 12–13) as Mitch's sister Afton Cooper, an aspiring singer and Cliff's longtime fiancée; stage actress Priscilla Pointer (seasons 4–6) as Rebecca Barnes Wentworth, Pam's and Cliff's estranged mother; Morgan Brittany (seasons 5–8 and 11) as Rebecca's daughter, Katherine Wentworth, Cliff's and Pam's crazy half-sister who falls madly in love with Bobby; John Beck (seasons 6–7 and 9) as Mark Graison, Pam's beau after her first divorce from Bobby; Miss USA winner Deborah Shelton (seasons 8–10) as model Mandy Winger, longtime mistress of J.R.; Jenilee Harrison (seasons 8–10) as Jack Ewing's sister and Cliff's wife Jamie Ewing Barnes; and Andrew Stevens (seasons 11–12) as Casey Denault, a young hustler who works for J.R., romancing Lucy in order to get to her money.

Long-time child characters include J.R.'s and Sue Ellen's son John Ross Ewing III (portrayed for seasons 4–6 by Tyler Banks, and for seasons 7–14 by Omri Katz); Bobby's and Pam's adopted son Christopher Ewing (portrayed by Eric Farlow for seasons 6–8, and by Joshua Harris for seasons 9–14), and Jenna's daughter Charlotte "Charlie" Wade (Shalane McCall, seasons 7–11, also played by Laurie Lynn Myers for a season 2 episode).

Among the most frequently appearing business associates of the Ewing family are oil cartel members Jordan Lee (Don Starr, seasons 2–14), Marilee Stone (Fern Fitzgerald, seasons 2–13) and Andy Bradley (Paul Sorensen, seasons 2–10); Jock's good friend Marvin "Punk" Anderson (Morgan Woodward, seasons 4–11); Shady investment banker Vaughn Leland (Dennis Patrick seasons 3–6) and original WestStar Oil frontman Jeremy Wendell (William Smithers, seasons 4–5, 8–12). Other long-time Ewing acquaintances include Dallas PD detective Harry McSween, serving as J.R.'s source within police force (James Brown, seasons 2–12); family attorney Harv Smithfield (George O. Petrie, seasons 3–14); and Donna's stepson, U.S. Senator Dave Culver (Tom Fuccello, seasons 3–6, 8, 10–11 and 13–14).

Also appearing in many episodes are several background characters, including Bobby's secretaries Connie Brasher (portrayed by Donna Bullock in season 1, Ann Ford and Nancy Bleier in season 2, and Jeanna Michaels in season 2–4) and Phyllis Wapner (Deborah Tranelli, seasons 4–14); J.R.'s secretaries Louella Caraway Lee (Meg Gallagher, seasons 2–4) and Sly Lovegren (Deborah Rennard, seasons 5–14); Cliff's secretary Jackie Dugan (Sherril Lynn Rettino, seasons 2–5 and 7–14); Ewing Oil receptionist Kendall Chapman (Danone Simpson, seasons 6–14); Southfork maid Teresa (Roseanna Christiansen, seasons 6–14); and Oil Baron's Club staff Dora Mae (Pat Colbert, seasons 7–14), Cassie (Anne C. Lucas, seasons 5–10) and Debbie (Deborah Marie Taylor, seasons 11–14). The most well known supporting actor (at the time) was Tina Louise, who played J.R.'s secretary, Julie Grey, during the 1978–79 seasons. Her character was eventually killed off.

Main cast departures
By the end of the series, only three of the series' original characters (J.R., Bobby, and Cliff) were left in Dallas, the others having either died or left town.

Jock Ewing was the first main character to depart the series, as he died offscreen in a mysterious plane accident in South America, early in season five. Actor Jim Davis had died mid-season in 1981, but remained credited throughout season four.

Bobby Ewing's death in the season eight finale, alongside his subsequent absence during the following season, was explained away at the beginning of season ten as a dream of Pamela Barnes Ewing, thus effectively erasing everything that had happened during season nine. Actor Patrick Duffy had left the series to pursue other opportunities, but due to declining ratings, he was convinced to return to the series by production company Lorimar as well as series star Larry Hagman.

Jack Ewing left Dallas to continue his travels and get away from J.R., midway through season ten, and returned a final time for two episodes towards the end of the season. While there has been no official reason why actor Dack Rambo was written out of the series, Rambo himself later stated the reasons to be his sexual orientation and/or conflicts with Larry Hagman. Hagman has since denied any involvement in Rambo's dismissal.

Pamela Barnes Ewing was severely injured in a car accident in the tenth season finale in 1987, and left Bobby and Christopher due to her apparent inability to let them see her in such a physically disfigured fashion. Nevertheless, while Victoria Principal never returned again to the series, Margaret Michaels, a Principal look-alike, played the character in a season 12 episode. Having undergone plastic surgery which explained the difference in her appearance, it was revealed that Pam was dying of a disease, though only she and her doctor knew. After this, Pam is never seen in Dallas again. Unable to reach a salary agreement, it was Principal's own decision to not renew her Dallas contract.

Budget cuts also meant other longterm castmembers were let go. In addition to the departure of Pam Ewing, Donna Culver Krebbs and Ray Krebbs divorced at the end of season ten, and Donna moved to Washington, D.C. where she married Senator Andrew Dowling (guest star Jim McMullan), with whom she raised Ray's daughter Margaret. Actress Susan Howard stated in 1987 that the producers had told her that her character had run its course. A year later Ray sold his ranch to Carter McKay and left Dallas with his new wife Jenna Wade and Jenna's children Charlie and Lucas (the latter fathered by Bobby), bound for Switzerland. Ray returned for five episodes in the beginning of the 12th season.

Lucy Ewing, who had left with husband Mitch at the end of the eighth season, returned to Southfork in the final episodes of season eleven, only to leave again two years later, heading for Europe. At both times, the firing of actress Charlene Tilton was a decision made by the creative team, which had difficulties creating storylines for her.

Sue Ellen Ewing left in the season twelve finale, to move to London with her new husband, film director Don Lockwood (guest star Ian McShane). While actress Linda Gray was let go by the same budget costs that ended Steve Kanaly's run on the show, Sue Ellen's exit has since been described by Gray as a mutual decision by her and Leonard Katzman, agreeing that the character "had come more than full circle".

Stephanie Rogers was let go as Cliff's PR representative at the end of season 13 and subsequently left Dallas, making actress Lesley-Anne Down the most short-lived member of the regular cast, lasting only 13 episodes.

Barbara Bel Geddes' health had caused her to miss almost half of the seventh season, and after the season finale, she left the series entirely, with the role of Miss Ellie recast with Donna Reed for season eight. Bel Geddes was asked to return the following year in a high-profile public relations debacle that left Reed infuriated and in litigation with the series producers, who made her a $1 million out-of-court settlement. Miss Ellie remained on the show until season thirteen when she and Clayton left Dallas, traveling and eventually settling in Europe, near Ray and Jenna. Following her exit from Dallas in 1990, Bel Geddes retired from acting.

When the final, fourteenth season of the series commenced, ten actors received regular cast status. Although half of them would leave the show prior to the series finale, all of them remained billed in the series' opening sequence throughout the year. Clayton Farlow made four appearances, clearing up business that included deeding Southfork to Bobby; April Stevens Ewing died early on in the season while kidnapped on her honeymoon by the psychotic Hilary Taylor (guest star Susan Lucci); Cally Harper Ewing left Dallas midway through the season to build a new life away from the Ewings, with a new boyfriend, and her and J.R.'s newborn boy; Liz Adams broke her engagement to Cliff and left Dallas near the end of the season, and James Beaumont left the show a couple of episodes prior to the series finale, to start a new life on the east coast with his newly discovered toddler son Jimmy, and Jimmy's mother Debra Lynn (guest star Deborah Tucker).

As the series concluded, Carter McKay stayed put at WestStar, as powerful as ever; Michelle Stevens was left heartbroken and humiliated, all alone in the ranch she had bought from McKay hoping to live there with James; Cliff Barnes was once and for all the sole owner of Ewing Oil; and Bobby Ewing, now owner of Southfork, was finally able to find closure after April's death. J. R. Ewing, however, having lost both Ewing Oil and Southfork, as well as being abandoned by his sons, was at the end of his rope; the series ended with the unanswered question whether or not he had killed himself.

Seasons 1–8
Series creator David Jacobs wrote the first and the final episode of the original five-part miniseries (season 1), with the other three episodes being written by Arthur Bernard Lewis, Camille Marchetta and Virginia Aldrige. While Aldrige didn't return to the series again and Marchetta left during season 4, Lewis grew to be one of Dallas's most influential writers.

Leonard Katzman had been a part of season 1 as producer, and during season 2 his influence increased, as he was given both directing and writing responsibilities. Halfway through season 3, Jacobs left his day-to-day duties of the series in order to focus on the production of spinoff Knots Landing. The executive producers of Dallas in the first 3 seasons were Philip Capice and Lee Rich.

During the first 8 seasons of the show, Dallas's production team remained basically intact (the main exception being Rich's leaving after season 3). After Lee Rich's departure, Philip Capice served as the sole executive producer, Leonard Katzman as producer, Cliff Fenneman as associate producer, and Arthur Bernard Lewis as executive story editor/supervising producer. And, although 25 writers contributed with scripts, the trio of Katzman, Lewis and David Paulsen wrote nearly two-thirds of the episodes during these first eight seasons. Paulsen had joined the show during the season 4 and was promoted to story editor for season 6. Notably, the three of them wrote every episode but two during the shows seventh and eight seasons.

Season 9
Over the first 8 years, internal, creative conflicts between executive producer Philip Capice on one hand, and Larry Hagman and the writers, most notably Leonard Katzman, on the other hand, had increased, finally resulting in Katzman leaving his position as producer of the show at the end of season 8. Although Katzman was to continue writing for the show during season 9, albeit to limited degree, as "creative consultant", the fact that neither Lewis nor Paulsen returned for season 9, meant that Dallas was faced with not only a new production team (joining executive producer Philip Capice and associate producer Cliff Fenneman were James H. Brown as producer and Peter Dunne as supervising producer) but also an all new team of writers (headed by Dunne, executive story consultant Joel J. Feigenbaum, and story editors Hollace White and Stephanie Garman). To make the change even more noticeable, the season 8 finale had also been actor Patrick Duffy's farewell to the show, with his character, Bobby, being killed off.

However, increased production costs and decreasing ratings caused production company Lorimar to persuade both Patrick Duffy and Leonard Katzman to return. And thus, as season 9 came to a close, Katzman had returned as a full-time writer, and the season finale saw Patrick Duffy inexplicably resurface on screen.

Season 10
So, as of the season 10 premiere, there was another major overhaul of the crew, with Leonard Katzman not only returning to the production side of the show but also getting promoted to executive producer, reportedly under the condition that he would get "total authority" of the show, while Philip Capice and most of the season 9 staff left the production. Alongside Katzman, David Paulsen was brought back as writer and the show's new producer, while the position as supervising producer was offered newcomer Calvin Clements, Jr. Cliff Fenneman remained associate producer. A new set of writers was hired to work alongside the producers, including Katzman's son Mitchell Wayne Katzman as story editor, Leah Markus as story consultant, and Louella Lee Caraway. Markus left after two years, while the others remained until the show's end.

Scriptwise, Patrick Duffy's return was explained by having the entire ninth season being a dream of Victoria Principal's character Pam, effectively sweeping away the events occurring during the period in which Katzman's involvement with the show had been minimized.

Even the cast were affected by the production and political struggles. Most famously, while Larry Hagman (J.R.) reportedly supported Katzman, and had played a great part in bringing Duffy back, Susan Howard (Donna), who also had written the script for one of the season 9 episodes, had sided with Philip Capice, and was opposed to the idea of annulling the events season 9. While she returned to write another episode for season 10, she left the show, both as a writer and as a cast member, at the end of the season.

Seasons 11–14
During the final four years of the show, Leonard Katzman remained showrunner, with series star Larry Hagman joining him as executive producer (beginning with season 12) and Ken Horton as co-executive producer (as of season 13).

Supervising producer Calvin Clements, Jr. left the show after the tenth season, and was replaced for seasons 11 and 12 by the returning Arthur Bernard Lewis, who remained a writer on the show until its end. Lewis was thus reuniting with Leonard Katzman and David Paulsen. Paulsen did however leave Dallas at the end of the 11th season, and was replaced as the show's producer first by newly recruited writer Howard Lakin for season 12, and then by longtime associate producer Cliff Fenneman for the final two years. Laking spent seasons 13 and 14 as supervising producer.

Mitchell Wayne Katzman was promoted to co-producer as of season 12, while Frank Katzman (the other son of Leonard Katzman) and John Rettino (Leonard Katzman's son-in-law), served as associate producers during season 13 and season 14. Additionally, writer Louella Lee Caraway also served as executive coordinator for the final three seasons.

The final major addition to the staff was Lisa Seidman, who joined the show as writer and executive story consultant for the final two seasons, leaving the writing staff of season 13 and 14 to include executive producer Leonard Katzman, co-executive producer Ken Horton, co-producer Mitchell Wayne Katzman, supervising producer Howard Lakin, executive coordinator Louella Lee Caraway, executive story consultant Lisa Seidman, and Arthur Bernard Lewis

Filming locations
The Pilot Season was shot entirely on location in Dallas, Texas, and at the Cloyce Box Ranch in Frisco, Texas. Later, most interiors for the show were shot at the MGM studios in Hollywood, with some exteriors being shot at the Southfork Ranch in Parker, Texas, and other sections of Dallas. For seasons 13, rising production costs led to all filming being relocated to California. Typically the cast and crew would spend six to eight weeks filming on-location sequences in the Dallas area during the summer prior to the season, then film the remainder of the season in the Los Angeles area; less than half of the episodes in a given season had on-location sequences filmed in Dallas. MGM built a full-size replica of the Southfork Ranch backyard and pool on one of its soundstages, allowing for filming of "location" shots during the latter part of the season.

Directors
Leonard Katzman is the most prominent director on the show, having directed episodes of every season except the first, ninth and twelfth. Next to Katzman, Michael Preece, is responsible for having directed the most Dallas episodes, having joined the show during season four and remaining until the end.

Of the two directors attached to the original miniseries, Robert Day did not return for subsequent seasons, while Irving J. Moore remained on the show until the fifth season, and then returned for the final three.

Five of the series stars did also direct episodes: Larry Hagman (seasons 3-14), Patrick Duffy (seasons 4-8 and 10-14), Linda Gray (seasons 9-12), Steve Kanaly (seasons 10-12) and Ken Kercheval (seasons 13-14)

Ratings
Dallas originally aired on Saturday nights when it debuted as a regular series. Within a month, the show was moved to Sunday nights, where it would stay until halfway through the season, when it took a Friday-night slot. Dallas remained on Fridays until the show ended in 1991, alternating between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. airings.

The "Who Done It" episode of Dallas that revealed who shot J. R.?, the famous 1980 cliffhanger, received the highest domestic ratings at that point with over 90 million American viewers (representing more than 53% of the U.S. households and 76% of the U.S. television audience for November 21, 1980) tuning in for the answer. The episode surpassed the ratings record of the final episode of The Fugitive, broadcast in August 1967, but the record of Dallas would be broken only by the last episode of M*A*S*H in 1983, falling into the second internationally most watched U.S. television episode, with nearly 360 million viewers in over 57 countries worldwide (by the year 1980) tuning in to see who shot J.R.

Although the soap's audience had consistently declined since the "Who Done It" episode of 1980, the series finale of Dallas, "Conundrum", garnered 33 million viewers and a 22 household rating from 9-11pm on May 3, 1991, becoming the country's 14th most watched television series finale. Its competition, Manhunter (on NBC), only drew a 9.8 rating.

Films/specials
Date / title / network / household rating / share / viewers / time
 * November 15, 1996 / Dallas: J.R. Returns / CBS / 13.4 / 23 / 18.1  / 9-11pm (lead-in The Lion's Pride drew a 6.3 rating)
 * April 24, 1998 / Dallas: War of the Ewings / CBS / 7.8 / 14  (lead-in Candid Camera drew a 6.8 rating)
 * November 7, 2004 / Dallas Reunion: The Return to Southfork / CBS / 8.5 / 14 / 12.7 /  9:30–11:30pm

CBS

 * April 2–30, 1978: Sundays, 10:00 PM (ET/PT)/9:00 PM (CT/MT)
 * September 23 – October 14, 1978: Saturdays, 10:00/9:00 PM
 * October 15, 1978 – January 14, 1979: Sundays, 10:00/9:00 PM
 * January 26, 1979 – November 27, 1981: Fridays, 10:00/9:00 PM
 * December 4, 1981 – March 16, 1990: Fridays, 9:00/8:00 PM
 * March 30 – December 21, 1990: Fridays, 10:00/9:00 PM
 * January 4 – May 3, 1991: Fridays, 9:00/8:00 PM

Syndication
Beginning in fall 1984, Dallas was packaged for off-network syndication by Lorimar to local stations; among the stations to purchase the program initially was the Dallas-Fort Worth ABC affiliate, WFAA-TV. Only the first 222 episodes (seasons 1 through 9) were part of the syndication package. However, Dallas did not achieve the same type of rating success in local markets as it did during its CBS primetime run.

During the 1990s, the show aired briefly on TNT (from September 1992 to August 1993, again the first nine seasons only), followed by a run on TNN beginning in the fall of 1997 (the first network to air all 357 episodes of the original series, but the episodes were heavily edited for time), and from 2003 to 2008 the entire run aired on SoapNet. On January 1, 2011, CMT aired the show for one day, and prior to the premiere of the 2012 sequel, select episodes were shown on CMT and its website.

Cliffhangers
Dallas is notable for its cliffhangers. Throughout the series' run, nearly every season ended with some sort of cliffhanging ending designed to drive ratings up for the season premiere later in the year.

Pilot Season/Season One cliffhanger: Although this really was not a cliffhanger, the end of the fifth episode of the original Dallas miniseries saw J.R. go up to the loft of the barn to talk to Pam, who had gone up there to find her cousin Jimmy, after Digger had fallen off the wagon at the Ewing barbecue. J.R., intoxicated, tries to convince her to tell Bobby not to leave the ranch. However, she does not want to be bothered, and, in trying to escape J.R., she falls from the loft, landing square on her stomach. Pam, who is pregnant, miscarries her unborn child. Later, Sue Ellen questions J.R. as to whether it was really an accident or did he mean for Pam to fall on purpose. J.R. says, "I did not." When Sue Ellen asks J.R. if he cares that Pam lost the baby, J.R. does not answer her, leaving it up to the viewer to decide.

Season Two cliffhanger: Sue Ellen's drinking problem has landed her in a sanitarium, where she is pregnant with a child she believes is Cliff Barnes'. She escapes from the sanitarium, gets drunk, and then gets into a severe car accident, putting her life and the baby's life in danger. The doctors deliver the baby, named John Ross Ewing III, but he is very small on delivery and is not out of the woods yet; nor is Sue Ellen, who, as the episode ends, is clinging to life. A very distraught J.R. is watching his wife at the end of the episode in tears, saying that she's "just gotta live."

Season Three cliffhanger: J.R. has made so many people in Texas hate him with a passion, from men he's screwed over in business, to women he's screwed over in relationships, to family members he's angered, to a businesswoman whose husband committed suicide. After all this, somebody waits outside J.R.'s Ewing Oil office late at night, and when J.R. hears a noise, asks who it is and walks to the door, somebody shoots him twice in the abdomen. The cliffhanger to this episode leads to the now infamous "Who shot J. R.?" debates and speculation, and also speculation as to whether J.R. would actually survive the shooting or be killed off.

Season Four cliffhanger: While heading to a late-night business meeting with Bobby, Cliff finds a woman's body floating in the Southfork pool. He jumps into the pool to see who it is, and when he looks back up, J.R. is standing on the balcony over the pool. Believing J.R. is responsible, Cliff says to his rival, "She's dead. You bastard."

Season Five cliffhanger: Earlier in the season, Cliff had J.R. facing a financial mess, when J.R.'s plan to blackmail the Farlows into handing over John Ross, by stockpiling 5 million barrels of the Farlows' crude oil, backfired on J.R., when the market price of crude oil started to fall and fall. In order to stockpile the Farlows' crude oil, J.R. had taken out a $200,000,000 loan and used $50,000,000 worth of Ewing Oil assets as collateral. Cliff, along with Jordan Lee, Andy Bradley and Wade Luce, then worked with Vaughn Leland in order to buy into the notes owed by J.R., and they planned to foreclose. With Cliff seemingly putting one over on J.R., Miss Ellie bailed Ewing Oil out of this mess by agreeing to a deal with Clayton that Clayton would pay the price that he would have paid at the time that the oil was stockpiled. By the season's end, J.R. and Cliff's situations had turned sharply in the opposite direction, as Sue Ellen, with whom Cliff had had an off-and-on relationship, decided to return to J.R., planning to marry him again. In addition, J.R. had set a trap for Cliff by making sure that a fake geological report would convince Cliff to invest millions of dollars in buying property on supposedly oil rich land which was actually bone dry. Cliff was then fired by his mother from running Wentworth Tool & Die, due to Cliff's embezzlement of company funds. Cliff attempts suicide with an overdose of pills, and a guilt-ridden Sue Ellen rushes to his bedside as Cliff lies in a coma. J.R. tries to convince Sue Ellen that it was not anybody's fault but Cliff's for what happened, but Sue Ellen disagrees and says she does not know if she can remarry J.R. if Cliff dies. Cliff's life hangs in the balance as the season ends.

Season Six cliffhanger: Earlier in the season, Sue Ellen gets drunk after having seen J.R. in bed with Holly Harwood. She gets into a car and Ray Krebbs' cousin Mickey Trotter tries to stop her and they are involved in an accident, in a car belonging to J.R., just outside Southfork. Sue Ellen emerges with nothing worse than bruises, but Mickey is paralyzed from the neck down and in a coma. In the final episode of the season, Ray finds out that the driver of the other car was Walt Driscoll, J.R.'s rival. He also learns that Driscoll deliberately caused the accident, thinking that J.R. was driving, as a means of revenge for being put in jail by J.R. earlier in the year. An angered Ray comes to Southfork late at night demanding answers from J.R., who was not expecting to see him. J.R. asks him what is going on and Ray says he's going to kill J.R. for what happened. J.R. throws a candle holder at Ray, which misses him and knocks over another candle holder with lit candles in it. As the two brawl, the candles ignite a fire and the smoke starts to creep into both John Ross and Sue Ellen's bedrooms as they sleep. Sue Ellen had been given a sedative by the doctor earlier in the day so she doesn't wake up. J.R. notices the fire and tries to break free of Ray, finally knocking him out with a telephone, and runs upstairs to try to save his wife and son. Ray recovers and runs after J.R. but is consumed by smoke and falls. J.R. is hit with a falling beam as he gets upstairs and both men are unconscious as Southfork burns.

Season Seven cliffhanger: Reminiscent of the season three cliffhanger, a mysterious figure enters the Ewing Oil building late one night. Proceeding to J.R.'s office, the figure produces a gun and fires three shots into the back of J.R.'s chair in which somebody is sitting. As the victim falls out of the chair and to the ground, we see it is Bobby Ewing that has been shot.

Season Eight cliffhanger: Bobby, who has been divorced from Pam for over a year and is now engaged to Jenna Wade, decides that he wants to remarry his ex-wife instead, and Pam agrees. The next morning, as Bobby is leaving Pam's house, someone drives a car at high speed toward Pam. Bobby shoves her out of the way just before she is hit but cannot get out of the way of the car in time to save himself. We see that it is Katherine who was driving the car, and that she was also killed when her car crashed after running over Bobby. Bobby is rushed to the hospital, where he later dies. Pam, Jenna, J.R., Miss Ellie, Clayton, Ray and Donna were the people present at the time of Bobby's death.

Season Nine cliffhanger: Evil businesswoman Angelica Nero intends to kill J.R. and his cousin Jack for double crossing her, but J.R. has her apprehended by the police. Unfortunately, Angelica has already had a bomb attached to Jack's car, which explodes with Jamie inside. After hearing this on the phone, J.R. runs out of his office to go to Jack's apartment. As he leaves the office, Sue Ellen arrives in the other elevator looking for him. As soon as she enters J.R.'s office, another bomb left by Angelica goes off, and the entire floor that houses Ewing Oil explodes, showering debris onto the street below. The scene then shifts to Pam in bed, the day after her marriage to Mark Graison. Pam wakes up to hear the shower running. Assuming it's Mark, she opens the shower door, only to find Bobby Ewing, alive and well. (In the Season Ten premiere, Bobby's death and all of Season Nine would be revealed as a dream that Pam was having).

Season Ten cliffhanger: The Ewings suffer a devastating loss as Ewing Oil is closed down by the US Justice Department as punishment for J.R.'s shady dealings which caused an international incident. Pam, on her way home to Bobby from the doctor's office after finding out she can finally conceive a baby, crashes into a fuel tanker, which then explodes.

Season Eleven cliffhanger: J.R., and Sue Ellen's new boyfriend, Nicholas Pearce, fight in J.R.'s penthouse hotel suite. As the fight turns very ugly and ends up with both of them on the balcony, Pearce falls over the balcony and to his death. Shocked by what she has just seen, Sue Ellen then picks up a gun from the floor and shoots J.R. three times. She then picks up the phone and tells the police she would like to report a double murder.

Season Twelve cliffhanger: Sue Ellen prepares to leave Dallas for good, but before she does she has one last surprise for her ex-husband J.R. Sue Ellen has made a biographical motion picture about her marriage to him (with actors portraying them and the other Ewings) and previews the film to J.R. who is shocked by what he has just seen. Sue Ellen tells J.R. that she is leaving Dallas, but if he ever crosses her again in the future – or even if she wakes up on the wrong side of bed one morning – she will release the film and J.R. will be made "the laughing stock of Texas" and ruined forever. She then leaves Dallas, triumphant at last.

Season Thirteen cliffhanger: After deliberately committing himself into a sanitarium in order to persuade a patient (Clayton's sister, Jessica) to sign over her voting majority in WestStar Oil, J.R.'s plan backfires when Cally Harper, his latest scorned woman, and his illegitimate son James Beaumont coerce him into signing a property waiver before they will allow him to be released. Once he does, James tears up J.R.'s release papers anyway leaving him trapped in the sanitarium with no means of escape.

Season Fourteen cliffhanger: After finally losing Ewing Oil to Cliff Barnes, control of Southfork to Bobby, and being abandoned by his wife and children, a drunk and despondent J.R. begins walking around the ranch alone with a loaded gun wishing he had never been born. A gunshot is later fired in J.R.'s bedroom as Bobby returns to Southfork, and he rushes up to J.R.'s room and gasps, saying "Oh, my God!" as the series ends.

Knots Landing
Prior to Dallas' premiere, series creator David Jacobs originated the idea for a drama series about four married couples in different stages of marriage, inspired by Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage. However, CBS wanted a "saga-like" show, resulting in Jacobs creating Dallas. When the series proved to be a hit, CBS reconsidered Jacobs's original idea, which evolved into Dallas spin-off series Knots Landing, premiering in late 1979.

Knots Landing followed the lives of Lucy's parents, Gary (Ted Shackelford) and Valene (Joan Van Ark), as they move to California to start a new life following the start of their second marriage in 1979. During the early seasons of Knots Landing, several Dallas actors (Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy, Charlene Tilton, and Mary Crosby) made guest appearance in the new series, portraying their Dallas characters, and Shackelford and Van Ark continued to make occasional appearances in Dallas. In addition to this, some storylines crossed over, such as the reading of Jock Ewing's will, with events having an impact on characters in both shows.

The ongoing bond between the two series was eventually cut in 1986, as the tenth-season premiere of Dallas declared Bobby's death the previous year had been a dream. Bobby's death had had some influence on the Knots Landing storylines as well, with Gary grieving for his dead brother while Gary's wife Abby, who had lost her brother Sid a few years earlier, consoled him. Abby and Greg Sumner then took advantage of Gary's grief and Gary's journey to Dallas for Bobby's funeral to gain politically at Empire Valley. Val also named her and Gary's son "Bobby" in memory of his late Uncle. Unlike the Dallas producers, the Knots Landing producers were not prepared to reset their series, resulting in the Knots Landing producers cutting off their show's links with Dallas. As a result, there were no further crossover episodes or storylines. Bobby's return was simply never addressed on Knots Landing, nor was he mentioned again.

Shackelford and Van Ark did however reprise their roles for the Dallas series finale in 1991, which showed what would have happened to their characters if J.R. had never existed.

Films and reunions
A prequel story, Dallas: The Early Years, was a made-for-TV movie that first aired on March 23, 1986 on CBS during the ninth season of the TV series. The movie starred David Grant as Digger Barnes, Dale Midkiff as Jock Ewing, Molly Hagan as Miss Ellie Southworth Ewing, David Wilson as Jason Ewing, and Hoyt Axton as Aaron Southworth, and was introduced by Larry Hagman, in the role of J.R. Ewing. Detailing the origins of the Barnes-Ewing feud and the creation of Ewing Oil, and covering a timespan from 1933 to 1951, the movie was written by series creator David Jacobs.

There were also two made-for-TV reunion movies that aired on CBS several years after the series ended: Dallas: J.R. Returns (1996), which resolved the series finale cliffhanger; and the 20th anniversary movie Dallas: War of the Ewings (1998). Alongside returning series stars (Patrick Duffy, Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, George Kennedy, Ken Kercheval and Steve Kanaly), and recurring cast (Omri Katz, Audrey Landers, Deborah Rennard and George O. Petrie), the two telefilms also introduced new characters – most notably up-and-coming lawyer Anita Smithfield, played by Tracy Scoggins. The younger characters Christopher Ewing, and Cliff and Afton's daughter Pamela Rebecca were recast with Chris Demetral and Deborah Kellner taking on the roles.

On November 7, 2004, CBS aired a prime-time special entitled Dallas Reunion: The Return to Southfork, in which the stars reminisced about their work on the series (by coincidence, actor Howard Keel, who played Clayton Farlow, had died earlier that same day).

On November 8, 2008, a reunion to commemorate the show's 30th anniversary was held at Southfork Ranch in Parker, Texas, reuniting original cast members Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy, Linda Gray, Ken Kercheval, Steve Kanaly and Charlene Tilton; other cast members in attendance were Susan Howard, Audrey Landers, Mary Crosby and Sheree J. Wilson. The front and back lawn of the fictional Ewing family home played host to a massive barbecue filled with people from the Dallas area, across the U.S. and around the world (who paid as much as $1,000) to reminisce and celebrate the series, as well as meeting with cast members. During the festivities, Kercheval said he was shocked to see the continued support for the show 17 years after it last aired: "I don't understand it. The staying power. Who knew?" Linda Gray also fondly remembered her time on the show: "I think it was a special time. It was a time when there weren't a hundred million channels and the Internet and all of the other things that came to existence."

Revival series
In 2010, cable network TNT announced they had ordered a pilot for the continuation of the Dallas series. After viewing the completed pilot episode, TNT proceeded to order a full season of 10 episodes.

The new series, which premiered on June 13, 2012, focused primarily on John Ross and Christopher Ewing, the now-grown sons of J.R. and Bobby. Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray returned in full-time capacity, reprising their original roles. The series was produced by Warner Horizon Television, a subsidiary of Warner Bros., which holds the rights to the Dallas franchise through its acquisition of Lorimar Television and is a sister company to TNT, both under the ownership of Time Warner.

The new series is a continuation of the old series, with the story continuing after a 20-year break. It does not take the events of the 1990s TV movies Dallas: J.R. Returns or Dallas: War of the Ewings as canon. Instead we find the characters 20 years after the events of the Season 14 cliffhanger. In an interview with UltimateDallas.com, writer/producer Cynthia Cidre was asked to describe the new Dallas. She responded, "I tried to be really, really respectful of the original Dallas because it was really clear to me that the people who love Dallas are [like] Trekkies, really committed to that show and I really did not understand that before, so I never wanted to violate anything that had happened in the past. On the other hand that was the past, twenty years had gone by, so at the same time I think we're properly balanced between the characters of Bobby Ewing, J.R. and Sue Ellen. I also have the new cast and it's John Ross and Christopher, the children of Bobby and J.R., and their love interests. Total respect and a balance of old and new."

In the show's second season, J.R. Ewing was killed off (following the death of actor Larry Hagman in November 2012), sparking another "who-done-it" storyline throughout the remainder of the season. Various cast members from the original series attended his onscreen funeral.

Despite initially strong numbers, ratings for the new Dallas declined over the three seasons that the show ran before TNT cancelled it in 2014.

Books and other media
During the series' heyday, several magazines, books and merchandise were produced.

In 1980 a novel entitled Dallas, based on the original five-episode miniseries, written by Lee Raintree, was published by Dell Publishing. It was later followed by another three novels, adapting the subsequent seasons: "The Ewings of Dallas", "The Men of Dallas" and "The Women of Dallas", all written by Burt Hirschfeld.

In 1980, SPI released the Dallas role-playing game.

In 1985, Dallas: The Complete Ewing Saga was published by Laura Van Wormer

In 1986/1987, further Dallas books were published. There were 14 titles in the Soaps & Serials series and Suzy Kalter wrote The Complete Book of Dallas: Behind the Scenes at the World's Favorite Television Show.

In 2004, 25 Years of Dallas: The Complete Story of the World's Favorite Prime Time Soap written by Barbara A. Curran was published by Cumberland House Publishing. It contains synopses for each season, extensive research into production and interviews with most of original cast, along with a foreword by Victoria Principal and an introduction by David Jacobs.

In 1984 Datasoft released the video game Dallas Quest, and during the 1980s the LA Times Syndicate produced a Dallas comic strip for newspapers, written by Jim Lawrence. Illustrating the strip were Ron Harris, Thomas Warkentin, Padraic Shigetani, Deryl Skelton, and others.

Dallas and the Cold War
Dallas is alleged to have helped partially hasten the downfall of the Eastern Bloc country of Romania during the final years of the Cold War.

Romanian President Nicolae Ceaușescu allowed airings of Dallas, one of the few Western shows allowed to be aired in the Communist state during the 1980s. The belief that the show would be seen as anti-capitalistic backfired on the regime as Romanian citizens desired and sought the luxurious lifestyle seen in the show, compared to the despotic situation in Romania at the time. Shortly after the execution of Ceaușescu and his wife on Christmas Day 1989, the pilot episode of Dallas, which had been edited for a sex scene, was one of the first Western Shows aired on the newly liberated Romanian TV.

The popularity of Dallas in Romania is the subject of the 2016 experimental documentary Hotel Dallas, directed by artist duo Ungur & Huang and starring Patrick Duffy, who plays a surreal double of the Bobby Ewing character.

Other
In 2007, British comedian Justin Lee Collins went searching for all the stars of Dallas to bring them together for a special reunion party. The show was broadcast at 9 p.m. Sunday, May 27, 2007, on UK television network Channel 4 as part of the Bring Back... series. After hunting down most of the main cast by any means necessary (e.g., climbing over security fences and ambushing hotels), Collins interviewed them and gained more knowledge about some of the decisions made throughout the show's seasons. The participants amongst the cast were Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, Patrick Duffy, Ken Kercheval, Charlene Tilton, Susan Howard and Mary Crosby. He held his own Oil Baron's Ball, where none of the main cast turned up. However, the actor who played baby Christopher (Eric Farlow) attended. Charlene Tilton spoke in an interview in 2011 about the program, which she said was one of her and the cast's worst experiences ever.

In March 2011, the Texas Theatre in Dallas began showing two episodes of Dallas on the big screen every Sunday; over 100 patrons, some in costume of their favorite characters, appeared at the free screenings every week. However, the screenings came to an abrupt end in May 2011 after Warner Bros. issued a cease-and-desist against the Texas Theatre for unauthorized showings, citing the fact that those that were involved in the show's production were not getting paid or benefiting from these screenings.

J.R. Ewing's hat, a foremost symbol of the show's inherent "Americanness" that contributed to its hold over audiences on a global scale, is currently held in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History's collections.

In a popular Forbidden Broadway parody, an actress playing Mary Martin sings the song "Never Never Panned" to the tune of "Never Never Land" from the musical Peter Pan. One of the lines sung is "you too can be a star, like my son who plays J.R. on Dallas! We're never never panned!"

The series is mentioned in the lyrics of Swedish pop band ABBA's 1982 single "The Day Before You Came": "There's not, I think, a single episode of Dallas that I didn't see."

Country singer Hank Williams, Jr. had a hit with a song called "This Ain't Dallas" comparing his and his wife's life together with that of J.R. and Sue Ellen.

The show's "Who shot J.R.?" storyline has been used to great effect in other drama series, most notably the BBC's EastEnders with the "Who Shot Phil?" Mitchell storyline, and more recently with the "Who Killed Lucy Beale?" storyline. In 1995, the animated series The Simpsons also had a "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" storyline.

In 2013, TV Guide ranked Dallas at #47 on its list of the 60 Best Series of all time.