TNT provided a preview of its Dallas sequel during the season premieres of The Closer and Rizzoli & Isles. It’s impossible to judge any show on the basis of a one-plus heavily-edited minutes, but given the mix of Dallas stars old and new, Dallas redux looks…
purty tantalizin’. As previously reported, the new Dallas will feature Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy, and Linda Gray in their original roles as well as two Desperate Housewives alums, Jesse Metcalf and Josh Henderson as the pivotal new generation.
The preview began with Duffy’s familiar regretful purr: “All those fights over Ewing Oil, and Southfork. We laid waste to everything in our path, J.R., and for what?” Bobby says. There was a shot of a liver-spotted hand, then a glimpse of some wildly overgrown white eyebrows — why, it was J.R. Ewing himself! Hagman sat in a chair in a darkened room, looking as though he was trying to turn Southfork into a set for The Godfather.
The preview jumped all over the place, of course, to keep you guessing just how much we’ll be seeing of which generation of protagonists. Duffy had most of the lines, and they were classic Bobby Ewing mewling — er, I mean, tragic soul-searching.
“I am sick to death of this family devouring itself over money!” said Bobby.
“No drilling on my ranch!” said Bobby to Henderson’s John Ross. They were standing on sacred Southfork ground.
It made me remember all over how much I liked Bobby, and Duffy’s impassioned line-readings.
The young ones looked scrappy. “Oil’s the past, John Ross,” said Metcalf’s Christopher, the adopted son of Bobby and Pam. “Couldn’t disagree more,” snaps John Ross. “You’ll never be a Ewing, Christopher!”
There were quick shots of Julie Gonzalo and Jordana Brewster looking romantic and stressed as the young women in John Ross and Christopher’s lives. And a brief close-up of Linda Gray’s Sue Ellen telling John Ross, “Think of me as your ally.”
The words “Money,” “Power,” and “Rivalry” blazed across the screen.
J.R. said, “Bobby was always a fool” and “I’m the one who belongs on Southfork. It’s mine, and only mine.”
“I don’t want them to be like us,” said Bobby, talking about the new-new-new Ewings.
Well, I do. The more the new young punks act like the ruthless barons of the 1980s hit, the better this series will be.
Dallas. Summer. 2012. I’ll sure give it a shot. As for why they’re rebooting Dallas? For every semi-pretty-decently-successful new version of Hawaii Five-O, there’s a (underrated in every sense) remake of The Fugitive. Let’s reconvene on this question after we all see the new-new-new Charlie’s Angels.
Twitter: @kentucker
Good Lord, did Linda Gray find the fountain of middle age? She looks amazing. If she’s done anything to her face, she must have the best plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills.
Agree 100%, maybe she knew when to stop?
2 bad Joan Van Ark didn’t use the same DR.
Didn’t she look GREAT?!! Patrick Duffy is also still very hot!!!
Linda Gray looks so hot, she’s going to set my tv on fire. If my house burns down, it’s her fault.
I miss Step by Step, lets reboot that
The Code Man!
I’d love to see Suzanne Somers on Dallas so that Linda Gray could ram a stake through her heart.
Unrelated to Dallas, the remake of The Fugitive with Tim Daly was amazing, and, unfortunately, years ahead of its’ time. Many series in the last decade have followed along the lines of that show, such as Lost and CSI.
CSI is your standard by the number procedural. so if find that hard to believe.
With regard to CSI, I’m referring to the use of high tech and the flashy, stylized look of the show.
Miami Vice looked way better than CSI, way earlier.
The sudden cancellation of the Tim Daly Fugitive really bummed me out at the time… I too thought it was a terrific show that sure looked like it filmed everything on location ( hard to tell these days sometimes with the creative ways they do things to hide locations)… that was the ultimate show that got canned at a cliffhanger… It certainly was ahead of its time and I believe would have been better received in today’s TV world…
CSI & Fugitive premiered on the same day back to back on CBS. Very different shows at the time. And the Fugitive was the one that was supposed to succeed and CSI was a Friday “throwaway” show.
Why is it already filmed but airing next summer? That seems so odd to me.
They filmed a pilot, and that’s what the scenes were from. They haven’t filmed the actual series yet.
Holy $h*!. I’m a 20 year old straight guy and I think I might watch. “No drilling on my ranch!”
Well, aren’t you kind of TNT’s target demographic?
I just celebrated the tenth anniversary of my 20th birthday. What demo does that put me in?
LOL. Good boy.
Glad to hear the original theme song again! I wonder if they will air the show on Friday nights for old times sake.
possibly for nostalgia… but seeing as TNT so far is keeping their original shows in the first half of the week (Sunday-Wednesday) I’d expect it to be Monday 10/9C, but it all really depends on what other shows are ending and how many episodes they get (based on other TNT, USA, Starz, et al) they could order between 10 and 20 episodes and the count wouldn’t be wholly out of place
Friday hasn’t been ‘safe’ for TV shows since Dallas 1.0 left the air, so unless they designate the Friday 9/8 block for reruns I don’t think they’d risk it solely for nostalgia
Yeah. Friday night @ 9pm. But won’t be on CBS.
Gato, I believe all those clips were from the pilot. The follow up episodes have yet to be filmed.
It was great to see Southfork again. I had the chance to watch some filming of the original series there back in 1982 and met some of the stars including Linda Gray and Larry Hagman. Good luck to them with the new series.
This show is going to rock the world. Finally, some good tv to look forward to!
Preview looks great … Linda Gray looks incredible!
I always thought that Linda Gray’s Sue-Ellen Ewing was the true, real and only heroine on that show during it’s long run. When she left a year or two before CBS canceled it, you could really feel that the show had lost a key integral cast member. By the final season Miss Ellie was also gone and you knew (which it was already announced) it was done.
Where are Gary and Val?
Probably STILL in So. Cal Knots Landing! I am pretty confident TNT will not bring back Gary & Val.
If Dallas does well, I’d bet a Knots Landing revival be far behind!
oops! that should read…
WON’T bee far behind!
oops again! that should read…
WON’T be far behind!
I would like to see Knots Landing again. But the DVD’s aren’t even out, on 2 seasons. So I doubt that will happen.
They should. JR needs someone to bicker with and no one did it better than Joan Van Ark. They had great chemistry. Valene hates JR silly. TNT would be fools not to take advantage of such a juicy plot. They could also bring in Bobby, Betsy and Lucy to make trouble for John Ross and Christopher. There’s a few years worth of stories right there.
Where’s Lucy and JR’s adult illegitimate son? How about Pam, her brother and the ranch hand that Lucy was sneaking around with?
give them time…considering how twisted the Ewing Family Tree is You really have to give the orginal series credit for making 90% of the ‘offspring’ sons or could you imagine the squick when new writers forget a lineage and try to pair up cousins as potential lovers, that said… the scenes shown are from a single episode, who knows what other alumni or next gen characters born to them will be added later — if they can’t hire tha old actor or are trying to sign them but still negotiating they run the risk of writing themselves into a corner if they start plotting the kids into an arc that ‘should’ require the parent
– also keep in mind that the show ended in May 1991 — meaning if the show features any HS aged Ewings (ofr what ever reason) those chracters would have been born in the interim leaving a good 5 year window of Post Series Mythology for the writers to play with and still have a viable young character with ties to original w/o retcons
Kristin and JR had the illegitimate son, Christopher. Pam and Bobby adopted him. So Christopher and John Ross are really half brothers. That should make for a good story line.
@ saeyedoc; Christopher is not JR’s, The father was the guy trying to blackmail them for the money.
Lucy and JR never had a son together. He is her uncle, by blood! You doof.
Bring back Pam! Make her bitter and ruthless and witchy!
Don’t forget that the Knotts and Dallas TV World’s diverged since on Knotts, Bobby is still dead…
No, he’s very much alive. They decided to name Bobby Bobby not because Bobby on Dallas died but because he was a good brother to Gary. Didn’t you see that Knots Landing episode? Bobby and Sue Ellen came down to Knots to visit with Valene and Gary, they all got together at Karen’s house. Abby made a pass at Bobby and Sue Ellen and Gary were reminising about their old drinking days. Abby called Sue Ellen a lush and Sue Ellen slapped her face. Great episode! You missed it. Maybe if Warner Bros releases more Knots Landing on dvd, you’ll get to see it as part of the deleted scenes.
I think they should put Lillie Mae on the new Dallas show. She could sing on her litle ucalalie.
Probably at Bobby’s grave.
Still at the plastic surgeon!
“TNT DOES NOT KNOW DRAMA.” With the exception quality shows like Southland, The Closer, and Men of a certain age. The Rest of TNT lineup is waterdown drivel of shows you can already find on broadcast. This Dallas Reboot look like it going to be part of the latter.
No offense George but the original DALLAS was nothing like those shows you mentioning it was soapy fun.
This! No one was comparing Dallas back to Hill Street Blues back in the day.
Then don’t watch you dweeb! We can’t wait for it.
This looks like fun! And, yeah, Linda Gray is holding up really well! Hagman and Duffy… well, time catches up with all of us eventually! (Are Hagman’s eyebrows doing that on their own or have they been coached?)
>>For every semi-pretty-decently-successful new version of Hawaii Five-O, there’s a remake of The Fugitive.<<
Don't forget about Battlestar Galactica! Brilliant television, tuck-master. Can you snark a little less and be a journalist?
What ? Were you expecting him to list every remake that has been succesful ? The comment about being a journalist was pointless (like the rest of your comment in fact.)
I would like to nominate Larry Hagman’s eyebrows for Best Supporting Actor at the 2013 Emmy Awards.
Some things are better left alone…I won’t be watching.
we don’t care.
You won’t be watching what? Larry Hagman’s eyebrows? Don’t worry, no one will be watching you either.