Taking Sides - Dallas vs. Dynasty

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So which was the best of the 1980's big "supersoaps"?

I think Dallas was the better written, better acted show but Dynasty was always good for a laugh.

Or maybe people prefer Knots Landing, Falcon Crest, The Colbys or Flamingo Road?

J.R. or Alexis? Over to you.

― Ben Mott (Ben Mott), Saturday, 27 May 2006 18:37 (6 years ago) Permalink

Dallas. I found looking at Joan Collins and whatshername physically repulsive (seriously).

― pleased to mitya (mitya), Saturday, 27 May 2006 18:46 (6 years ago) Permalink

OMG HE'S ALIVE!!!

― Bucky Fullminster (vincent spano), Saturday, 27 May 2006 23:58 (6 years ago) Permalink

i've never watched either, but i love the "dallas" theme song. just the other day i was thinking about starting a thread about it.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Sunday, 28 May 2006 05:38 (6 years ago) Permalink

I started out on Dallas but soon hit the harder stuff and grew to prefer Dynasty. I think it was for the glamour. Actually, my favourite of all was The Colbys. Emma Samms produced early stirrings.

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 28 May 2006 14:11 (6 years ago) Permalink

I was particularly fond of Falcon Crest - owning vineyards seemed impossibly glamorous to this suburban child. I don't recall seeing much of Dynasty, expect for a vague memories of Alexis hurling Sable off a balcony and some bloke called Tex? Stepahnie Beecham was so irresistably beautiful. Was Dionne Warwick in Dynasty or Dallas?

― Lara (Lara), Sunday, 28 May 2006 14:26 (6 years ago) Permalink

Dex! Not Tex. He was Alexis's post-Blake squeeze.

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 28 May 2006 14:31 (6 years ago) Permalink

Was there anyone fanciable in Dallas apart from the lovely Pam?

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 28 May 2006 14:32 (6 years ago) Permalink

Maybe Lucy (for those coming-of-age)?

― Lara (Lara), Sunday, 28 May 2006 14:35 (6 years ago) Permalink

Ha! His name was Dex Dexter, brilliant!

― Lara (Lara), Sunday, 28 May 2006 14:36 (6 years ago) Permalink

Wasn't Charleton Heston in "The Colbys"?

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Sunday, 28 May 2006 14:37 (6 years ago) Permalink

Yes!

I think Jenna Wade's daughter was very pretty although perhaps too close to your real age to seem fanciable, Alba?

― Lara (Lara), Sunday, 28 May 2006 14:39 (6 years ago) Permalink

"Jenna, Jenna!"

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 28 May 2006 14:42 (6 years ago) Permalink

(that was my Naldo Marchetta impression)

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 28 May 2006 14:45 (6 years ago) Permalink

Cool - she ran off with him twice rather than marry Bobby. And all he did in return was kidnap her daughter. Naldo 'A Bit if a Cad' Marchetta.

― Lara (Lara), Sunday, 28 May 2006 14:50 (6 years ago) Permalink

Jenna appears to have been a bit of a slapper (learned a trick or two from elvis?). Her loves interests as follows:

Bobby Ewing: The love of her life. They planned to marry, but Jenna got cold feet and eloped to Europe with ...

Naldo Marchetta: A phony Italian count. She left him almost immediately, but not before falling pregnant with his child. She returned to Texas and took up with ...

Maynard Anderson: A married politician. His wife ended the affair and eventually Jenna found her way back to ...

Bobby: They renewed their plans to marry, but on the day of the wedding Jenna was kidnapped and coerced into remarrying ...

Naldo: He was shot dead on their honeymoon, and Jenna found herself convicted of manslaughter. Her name was eventually cleared, thanks to ...

Bobby: He broke off their engagement to remarry his ex-wife, even though Jenna was now pregnant. In her hour of need, she turned to ...

Ray Krebbs: Bobby’s brother. They married in 1987.

― Lara (Lara), Sunday, 28 May 2006 14:52 (6 years ago) Permalink

She was just mixed-up. I forgive her.

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 28 May 2006 14:53 (6 years ago) Permalink

You're a fool for a pretty face!

Lucy 'I know a good man when I see one' Ewing's love life seems even better:

Ray Krebbs, the ranch foreman on Southfork. He turned out to be her uncle.

Kit Mainwaring III, Lucy’s first fiancee. He turned out to be gay.

Alan Beam, Lucy’s second fiancee. He turned out to be a two timing con man.

Mitch Cooper, Lucy’s third fiancee. He turned out to be a pauper, but she married him anyway.

Roger Larsen, Lucy’s photographer. He turned out to be a psychopath who kidnapped and raped her.

Mickey Trotter, Lucy’s fourth fiancee. He went into an irreversible coma.

Eddie Cronin, Lucy’s business partner. He turned out to be another two timing con man.

Mitch Cooper, again. They remarried. This turned out to be a second disaster.

Casey Denault, Lucy’s latest business partner and final attempt to find love in Dallas. He turned out to be yet another two timing con man.

― Lara (Lara), Sunday, 28 May 2006 14:56 (6 years ago) Permalink

Lara asked: "Was Dionne Warwick ever in Dynasty?"

No. You're probably thinking of Diahann Carroll, who was in Dynasty as Dominique Devereux, Blake Carrington's long-lost half-sister.

And it was Alexis who fell over the balcony in the last episode, not Sable.

― Ben Mott (Ben Mott), Sunday, 28 May 2006 16:45 (6 years ago) Permalink

Lara asked: "Was Dionne Warwick ever in Dynasty?"

No. You're probably thinking of Diahann Carroll, who was in Dynasty as Dominique Devereux, Blake Carrington's long-lost half-sister.

And it was Alexis who fell over the balcony in the last episode, not Sable.

― Ben Mott (Ben Mott), Sunday, 28 May 2006 16:46 (6 years ago) Permalink

Oops. Is anyone able to delete that double posting please? Thanks.

― Ben Mott (Ben Mott), Sunday, 28 May 2006 16:48 (6 years ago) Permalink

Some cast piccies to refresh people's memories:

Dallas:

Dynasty:

Knots Landing:

The Colbys:

Falcon Crest:

Flamingo Road:

― Ben Mott (Ben Mott), Sunday, 28 May 2006 16:51 (6 years ago) Permalink

Ha! His name was Dex Dexter, brilliant!

Oh god, is THAT where the band got the name from?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 28 May 2006 16:52 (6 years ago) Permalink

Thanks Ben - I think that might be it. I had vague memories of someone who was a famous singer but, at that age, had no idea who either Dionne Warwick or Diahann Carroll were.

Angela Channing's legs always made me feel sicky. And she wore those horrid slip-on-lady-peep-toes WITH TIGHTS. *Eugh*

― Lara (Lara), Sunday, 28 May 2006 17:40 (6 years ago) Permalink

I never really watched "Dynasty", but nothing can possibly top "Dallas".

Was there anyone fanciable in Dallas apart from the lovely Pam?

Hell yes. Pam was really cute in the first couple of seasons, slipped a bit but still looked good by the early 80's, but once Bobby hooked up with Jenna she turned into a pathetic whiner and I couldn't stand her after that.

Search: (IIRC, all details may not be 100% accurate)

Cally Harper Ewing, married JR after he and Bobby were almost killed on a hunting trip near the TX-LA border.

Kristin Sheppard, Sue Ellen's infinitely hotter sister

Sly Lovegren, JR's Amazonian secretary

Aften Cooper, alternated between Cliff and JR's beds. She finally left Cliff (and the show) abruptly when Cliff was outsmarted by JR for the 199947th time and became an alcoholic for the 19484915th time.

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 28 May 2006 19:59 (6 years ago) Permalink

Audrey Landers (Aften Cooper) who posed for Playboy during her run on "Dallas"):

I had trouble finding a good picture of the young Mary Crosby (Kristin Sheppard):

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 28 May 2006 20:03 (6 years ago) Permalink

"Dukes of Hazzard," then "Dallas," then "Falcon Crest" was what my family watched every Friday night for a few years (yeah, when I was in grade school). I enjoyed "Dallas" but loved "Falcon Crest" for the elegant names. I still love to say "Chase Gioberti..."

― Sara Robinson-Coolidge (Sara R-C), Sunday, 28 May 2006 22:07 (6 years ago) Permalink

Oh come ON!!! Dallas by a country mile! Dynasty was just a cheap knock-off and could never compare. I mean the utterly PREPOSTEROUS plots of Dallas, I loved it! J.R. the bad guy you loved to hate. Sue Ellen making utter wifebeaten alcoholism look GLAMOUROUS.

BOBBY IN THE SHOWER!!!! Come on, what other soap would have the gall to write off a season and a half as a bad dream?

The high point of my entire trip to Texas was visiting South Fork ranch! I got so excited because it looks just like it did on the telly. Except I couldn't be bothered to pay to go in, so we just went to the gift shop, only I couldn't afford to buy anything because I'd blown all my money on JFK conspiracy memorabilia. Sigh.

Yeah, Viper's Nest was pretty cool, too. It had THE FORMER MRS. REAGAN as their vipituous matriarch. I can't remember the name of the heartthrob on it, though. Lorenzo something?

It was like our family Friday Night ritual for a long time to get a pizza then just pile on the couch and watch Dallas. I knew I was a grown up when I was allowed to stay up and watch Vipers Nest, too.

― pwdre ser (Welsh for rot of the stars) (kate), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 08:31 (6 years ago) Permalink

BOBBY IN THE SHOWER!!!! Come on, what other soap would have the gall to write off a season and a half as a bad dream?

i'm with you there. but if we're talking gall, surely the Colbys pwn?

― i am not a nugget (stevie), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 08:46 (6 years ago) Permalink

That's not what I think it is, is it?

OK, the plotlines for daytime soaps were wilder (evil twin Russian spy on... err... One Life To Live, was it? Demonic Possession, shit like that) but the evening ones were supposed to at least *pretend* to follow some kind of plot continuity, even if they were pretty far out.

― pwdre ser (Welsh for rot of the stars) (kate), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 08:50 (6 years ago) Permalink

It's exactly what you think it is.

Dallas had Ken Kercheival. What more needs to be said?

OK - it also had Digger Barnes as an oft-mentioned character. Digger!

Cliff Barnes's oil company was always just him and a secretary, whereas Ewing Oil had a suite of offices. The underdog lover in me always wanted Cliff to win.

The Oil Baron's Ball! Can any Texans tell me if this was remotely based on anything in real life?

― Dave B (daveb), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 09:21 (6 years ago) Permalink

Awww... I just wonder how much of Dallas was subconsciously programming us for the Bush dynasty... Domineering father as power behind the throne, idiot alcoholic son... Bush/Barnes, it could be... :-(

― pwdre ser (Welsh for rot of the stars) (kate), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 09:29 (6 years ago) Permalink

Oh, Dallas, by miles.

Wasn't April Stevens quite pretty too? She got shot in slow motion! Cliff Barnes was the best, really.

BOBBY IN THE SHOWER!!!! Come on, what other soap would have the gall to write off a season and a half as a bad dream?

Sunset Beach (and, I believe, the recent reincarnation of Crossroads, though I didn't watch that) wrote THE WHOLE SHOW off as a dream!

Incidentally, when Bobby was killed off and then brought back in Dallas, no-one ever bothered to tell Gary down at Knots Landing.

The last episode of Dallas was brilliant - a knock-off of "It's A Wonderful Life" where, in a JR-free world, Callie was trailer trash and Cliff was the President.

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 09:36 (6 years ago) Permalink

I think I agree that it's Dallas due to the existence of the mysterious *Cartel*...)and everything else I posted above).

― Lara (Lara), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 18:21 (6 years ago) Permalink

I think I agree that it's Dallas due to the existence of the mysterious *Cartel*...(and everything else I posted above).

― Lara (Lara), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 18:21 (6 years ago) Permalink

(I'm deliberating)

― Lara (Lara), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 18:23 (6 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

It looks like Dallas is the top of the crop here. I'm not going to argue, other than to post some classic quotes:

Words of wisdom from J.R. Ewing:

"Barnes just broke the cardinal rule in politics: never get caught in bed with a dead woman or a live man."

"Ray never was comfortable eating with the family; we do use knives and forks."

"Lots of men have tried to run roughshod over me. You can visit them in the cemetery."

To Marilee Stone: "Marilee, if you don't hurry, someone else is gonna get your street corner."

To Lucy: "Say, why don't you have that junior plastic surgeon you married design you a new face: one without a mouth!"

"Don't forgive and never forget; Do unto others before they do unto you; and third and most importantly, keep your eye on your friends, because your enemies will take care of themselves."

"Sue Ellen, you're not a wife, you're not a mother, and you sure as hell are not a Ewing!"

To Sue Ellen: "Don't flatter yourself, honey. You're just another Ewing possession. Like an oil lease, you're easily disposable."

To long-lost son James: "You got no morals, you got no scruples, You may just be worthy of me yet."

But the other characters had their fair share of zingers too:

Sue Ellen: "If you do anything to hurt that young man, you are going to wake up one morning and find out you no longer have a wife, even in name only... and you will no longer have a son. So no threats J.R or I will end this mockery we call a marriage once and for all."

Sue Ellen [to JR]: "Nothing brings out the best in you like other people's unhappiness."

Sue Ellen: "I'm really not an alchoholic."

Pam (her first line, to Bobby): "Your folks are gonna throw me right off that ranch."

J.R.'s second wife Cally meeting Sue Ellen: "Golly, you're nothing like what J.R said. He said you were a hopeless drunk who cheated on him and neglected his child."
Sue Ellen: [to J.R] "And what Junior High School did you get this one from?"

Cliff Barnes: [Cliff just caught his secretary taking down the Ewing Oil sign] What is going on here?
Jackie Dugan: I thought now that you own Ewing Oil, you'd want to change the name.
Cliff Barnes: Are you crazy? Not only do I want the name to stay 'Ewing Oil', but I want it to say 'Cliff Barnes, President' right underneath. Then I'm going to take a picture of it and send it to J.R. every year on his birthday.

Jock (to Bobby): "If I did give you power then you've got nothing. Nobody gives you power. Real power is something you take."

Sue Ellen: "Which slut are you going to stay with tonight, J.R.?"
JR: "Whoever it is has got to be more interesting than the slut I'm looking at right now."

JR: "You're a drunk!"
Sue Ellen: "Joan of Arc would be a drunk too if she was married to you."

Miss. Ellie (to J.R.): "Junior, you were BORN old."

― Ben Mott (Ben Mott), Friday, 30 June 2006 16:51 (6 years ago) Permalink

Not to mention that "who shot J.R." was the question of the year at one point.

― Sara R-C (Sara R-C), Friday, 30 June 2006 17:20 (6 years ago) Permalink

2 weeks pass...

Dallas probably had the best lines, but Dynasty wins points for the puerile but amusing Freudian imagery in its opening titles:

― Ben Mott (Ben Mott), Friday, 14 July 2006 21:02 (6 years ago) Permalink

Words of wisdom from J.R. Ewing:

Larry Hagman has always said that his fave JR line was "Once you get rid of integrity, the rest is a piece of cake."

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Saturday, 15 July 2006 01:42 (6 years ago) Permalink

A few more Dynasty (and some The Colbys) title caps:

― Ben Mott (Ben Mott), Sunday, 16 July 2006 09:26 (6 years ago) Permalink

"I had trouble finding a good picture of the young Mary Crosby (Kristin Sheppard):"

Here's a nice pic of Mary.

Mary once told of an encounter she had with a little old lady who'd watched Dallas and asked her: "Why didn't you shoot lower?"

― Ben Mott (Ben Mott), Monday, 17 July 2006 10:45 (6 years ago) Permalink

katharine ross! i watched dynasty religiously and i dont remember kr being in it.

these are the kind of shows they need to be playing on the soap channel. these two and knots landing.

― sunny successor (katharine), Monday, 17 July 2006 15:06 (6 years ago) Permalink

ooo!

― sunny successor (katharine), Monday, 17 July 2006 15:11 (6 years ago) Permalink

Katharine Ross wasn't in Dynasty, she was in The Colbys, the spin-off.

She played Francesca or "Frankie", lover of Jason (Charlton Heston), mother of Jeff (John James) and sister of Sable (Stephanie Beacham).

― Ben Mott (Ben Mott), Monday, 17 July 2006 15:59 (6 years ago) Permalink

charlene tilton 4eva

― laurence kansas (lawrence kansas), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:37 (6 years ago) Permalink

My Mum and younger sisters were mad keen followers of all these. My Mum iirc had a major crush on Patrick Duffy (although that might have come from seeing him in his Speedos [or an early 80s facsimile thereof] as The Man From Atlantis) and I suspect she had one on John Forsyth too.

― Stone Monkey (Stone Monkey), Monday, 17 July 2006 16:54 (6 years ago) Permalink

4 years pass...

dallas is amazing

― j lol (surm), Thursday, 26 May 2011 16:29 (1 year ago) Permalink

I just revived the "Dynasty" thread too!

― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 26 May 2011 16:30 (1 year ago) Permalink

i know - you reminded me to search for Dallas! we just started getting it on netflix. friggin victoria principle

― j lol (surm), Thursday, 26 May 2011 16:30 (1 year ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

read that they got rid of the funk lick in the theme for the nu Dallas, fuck that

― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 14 June 2012 01:22 (11 months ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

so is this any good?

― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 28 July 2012 02:15 (9 months ago) Permalink

If you liked old school Dallas, you'll probably like this one, as it's pretty much a direct continuation. The younger cast members are unsurprisingly samey and kinda perpetually petulant, but Hagman's still got it. It ain't Shakespeare, but it's roughly as entertaining as the older version.

― Old Lunch, Saturday, 28 July 2012 13:23 (9 months ago) Permalink

Also, Jordana Brewster kinda stands out from the rest of the younger cast (and is pretty foxy) and Mitch Pileggi plays a pretty effective sleazebag.

― Old Lunch, Saturday, 28 July 2012 13:29 (9 months ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

with Hagman dead I'm wondering whether the original series is worth watching...

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 24 November 2012 20:52 (5 months ago) Permalink

Yes, it is. Particularly thanks to him. Soapy cheese and '80s fashion aside, it's more engaging than a lot of the acclaimed hour-long dramas currently airing on network television.

― Come Into My Layer (Old Lunch), Saturday, 24 November 2012 21:23 (5 months ago) Permalink

OMG I am going to miss Larry Hagman, I loved him!!!! I am so mad! Dallas all the way! Love the fashions, the hair and the jeans. I keep saying when I get some more money I'm getting all of the DVDs.

― โตเกียวเหมียวเหมียว aka Debbie D. Talks About People Behind The (Mount Cleaners), Saturday, 24 November 2012 21:24 (5 months ago) Permalink

Dallas (in its prime) >>>>>>>> Nashville, basically.

― Come Into My Layer (Old Lunch), Saturday, 24 November 2012 21:26 (5 months ago) Permalink

I'm really glad now, despite my poverty, that Reckless only wanted to give me a measly $3 a pop for my season 1-11 collection. Their loss!

― Come Into My Layer (Old Lunch), Saturday, 24 November 2012 21:28 (5 months ago) Permalink

when was "Dallas" in its prime -- the first three or four seasons?

I suppose whatever season happened before Bobby-in-the-shower.

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 24 November 2012 21:30 (5 months ago) Permalink

Come into my layer - are you kidding? I guess I'll have to give it another go! I just don't have time right now. I was using it as inspiration for some stuff I was working on...big fan of the art direction!

― โตเกียวเหมียวเหมียว aka Debbie D. Talks About People Behind The (Mount Cleaners), Saturday, 24 November 2012 21:32 (5 months ago) Permalink

At least the first six seasons are good (that's as far as I've gotten). There's a lull after the J.R. shooting plays itself out, but if you push through the "Pam's almost affair with a total drip" storyline, it picks back up. J.R.'s schemes totally make the show (he's a high-functioning, intelligent, and charismatic sociopath who'sadept at manipulating people who should know better and constantly butts up against financial ruin/physical harm in pursuit of money/power/the respect of Daddy). I probably said it somewhere upthread, but he's seriously become one of my favorite fictional characters.

― Come Into My Layer (Old Lunch), Saturday, 24 November 2012 21:40 (5 months ago) Permalink

And Sue Ellen is a great barely functional alcoholic trophy wife past her prime.

― Come Into My Layer (Old Lunch), Saturday, 24 November 2012 21:43 (5 months ago) Permalink

can I jump in the middle or must I watch from the beginning?

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 24 November 2012 21:43 (5 months ago) Permalink

Meh. There are rough season-long arcs, but beyond that it shouldn't be too narratively challenging to jump in wherever. The third season in particular is brilliant in that J.R.'s unrepentant dickholishness slowly gives pretty much every character on the show a valid motive for shooting him.

― Come Into My Layer (Old Lunch), Saturday, 24 November 2012 21:50 (5 months ago) Permalink

This anecdote could go in the RIP thread:

For 25 years, he observed “silent Sundays,” refusing to talk, a move he initially made to rest his voice. After giving up cigarettes, he often carried a hand-held fan to blow fumes back toward smokers.

In Malibu, he had long been known as an amiable eccentric who routinely pulled his wardrobe from a vast collection of costumes and hats. He shopped for groceries while wearing a yellow chicken suit and played Frisbee in a Robin Hood hat and karate robe.

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 24 November 2012 21:53 (5 months ago) Permalink

Hagman seemed like a rad dude. His death is a particularly big bummer because he and the core Dallas cast (minus Vicky Principal) were apparently still really good friends who spent a lot of time together.

― Come Into My Layer (Old Lunch), Saturday, 24 November 2012 21:57 (5 months ago) Permalink

RIP Big Man :(

― only Brod can judge me (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 24 November 2012 22:02 (5 months ago) Permalink

Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray were at his deathbed xpost

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 24 November 2012 22:03 (5 months ago) Permalink

b-side of that single was "I Love JR" btw

― only Brod can judge me (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 24 November 2012 22:03 (5 months ago) Permalink

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