It seems like it’s been forever since we last saw the Ewing clan on TNT’s updated version of Dallas, but apparently it’s only been about 12 hours! If you’ve been following the show, you know that we lost TV icon Larry Hagman midway through the second season. His passing left producers scrambling to wrap up some storylines (which seem to have curtailed appearances by Ted Shackleford and Joan Van Ark, reprising their roles as Gary and Val Ewing) and create a new “Who Shot J.R.” plot that actually gave us a resolution by the end of the season (his right hand man Bum shot him because J.R. was dying and he wanted to frame Cliff Barnes) that united the Ewings and put Cliff Barnes in a Mexican jail. But Cliff had a bombshell for Christopher’s on again/off again girlfriend Elena — J.R. had switched deeds to the property which gave him the oil that belonged to her family.

The new season picked up 12 hours later and the biggest surprise so far is the fact that Christopher can grow a full beard in half a day! But there is more drama ahead for the Ewing, Barnes and Ramos families as Elena confirms that what Cliff told her was true (or was it?). The Ewings basically became rich by stealing her family’s oil, and she’s now out for revenge. The question is — do Bobby, Christopher or John Ross even have a clue to what J.R. did those many years ago? She’s plotting to bring down the Ewings, who gained control of Barnes Global when Cliff was thrown in prison, by working as Cliff’s proxy (he still owns a third of the company, even if it has been renamed Ewing Global), but is she going to find she’s just become Cliff’s pawn in his never-ending quest to destroy the Ewings?

Dallas has always been a show with ever-changing allegiances, and for the moment it’s nice to see cousins Christopher and John Ross working together … at least it seems like John Ross is playing nice. You can never tell if he’s a team player or just looking out for himself, but the fact that he’s now in possession of, and proudly wearing, his daddy’s ginormous J.R. belt buckle is probably a telling indication of where things will go later in the season. He’s already having an affair with arch rival Harris Ryland’s daughter Emma (whom he successfully brought into the fold after revealing her daddy was involved in some kind of Mexican drug cartel … more on that) minutes after eloping with and re-proposing to his new wife Pamela. His antics are bringing back some bad memories for his mother Sue Ellen, and it looks like she’s about to take up with an old friend of hers … booze. Everyone loves a drunk Sue Ellen.

We’ve seen a couple of new characters introduced in the first two episodes, including a new ranch hand, Heather (AnnaLynn McCord), who may be a possible new love interest for Christopher (or will most likely be one side of a triangle between him and Elena … well, at least until he finds out Elena’s working for Cliff), and a mysterious man who claims to be Cliff’s proxy, Nicholás Treviño (Juan Pablo Di Pace), but who has ties to the Ramos family and is actually Elena’s proxy. I was wondering how she’d march into the Ewing board room and tell them she was working for Cliff, but she simply marched in and got herself re-hired and can now sneak around and hack into their computers while telling Nicholás what to do. Except, that is, until Christopher does his own digging about Nicholás’ background.

One of the more gleeful twists in the first two episodes was the release of Harris Ryland from prison under mysterious circumstances. Was a judge bought off by the cartel? Something seemed fishy, and Emma was surprised to see daddy home and even more surprised when he threatened to have her put away for psychiatric evaluation for screwing up his business (and giving the Ewings the use of his ice breakers so they could drill in the Arctic). But Emma surprised him by springing his mother Judith (the delicious Judith Light) from the rehab facility he had her locked up in after he pushed her down the stairs. Mama is back and taking over, making new deals with the cartel. Without J.R., the writer have not had anyone to write some juicy bon mots for, and Light can pull them off with aplomb. Best moment of the second episode had Judith testing the Mexican cocaine. She actually did a line and said, “Hot damn! Mama like.” Had to be the first real OMG moment of the season.

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t seen the episodes yet, read no further as we will discuss the big twist involving Harris Ryland.

The season’s biggest bombshell had to be the revelation that Harris Ryland in fact isn’t a drug lord but has been working with the Feds to bring down the Mexican cartel! When Emma found his ledger and got him arrested, she had no idea these were records of transactions for the government (she still doesn’t). Not even Judith knows, and in a possible twist of fate — and to be rid of her once and for all — Ryland let her think she was in total control of the company, took her to meet the Mexicans and then recorded their conversation, possibly to frame her as part of the organization! Bobby’s digging into Ryland’s release from prison nearly put the operation in jeopardy, and Harris had to bring Bobby and Ann in on the secret … and to warn them that if anything went bad that Ann and Emma were both in mortal danger.

I don’t know how long this plotline will stretch out, or how long Harris will be a “good guy,” but between this, Cliff Barnes and Elena’s possibly misguided attempt at revenge, season three of Dallas is going to sizzle! And I almost forgot to mention, but whoever it was that decided to finally do the opening titles and cast credits like old school Dallas … I tip my Stetson to you!

When it was announced that TNT was bringing the granddaddy of prime time soaps back to TV after more than twenty years, fans of the original Dallas wondered whether this new version — which was to focus more on the younger Ewings, cousins John Ross (Josh Henderson) and Christopher (Jesse Metcalfe) — would live up to its legacy or just be a bad re-do. I think we were all taken by surprise by just how good the new Dallas turned out to be. While the new version does focus more on the younger Ewings trying to make their own names in the oil and alternative energy industries, the producers and writers have wisely let the original cast members — Patrick Duffy, Linda Gray, Ken Kercheval and the great Larry Hagman — be more than just supporting characters. Bobby and JR are still fighting over their beloved Southfork Ranch, and all of the double and triple-crosses in the first season really kept viewers on their toes.

With the second season now in full swing, it’s time to catch up with the first season on DVD if you missed it (although with the show shot in HD, a Blu-ray option would be welcome). The Warner Home Video release of Dallas: The Complete First Season contains all ten episodes on three DVDs, with a grab bag of bonus material that helps shed light on how the new series came to be. The pilot episode, “The Changing of the Guard,” comes with an alternate audio commentary track from the show’s executive producer Cynthia Cidre and director Michael M. Robin. I enjoyed hearing the two talk about how the project got off the ground, the casting process, working with the original cast members, and even more technical issues such as how certain shots were achieved. It’s clear that the two are passionate about Dallas, so much so that they insisted on shooting the show on location in the title city, and had written the pilot script before even approaching the original cast members.

All but two of the episode come with deleted scenes that you can watch after the episode, or all together. Most of the deleted scenes don’t have much bearing on the main plot, but there are a couple of very interesting cuts that were made. On episode two, there is a deleted scene showing Elena (Jordana Brewster) being turned down for a loan for her oil drilling concept before going to Sue Ellen for help. There is also a very interesting scene with Sue Ellen meeting with campaign strategists wanting her to run for governor, and at that meeting is Harris Ryland (Mitch Pileggi, now a regular on season two). With this scene cut, we never meet Ryland until the show’s fifth episode! Deleted scenes for episodes nine and ten have some plot exposition with JR vowing to take down Ryland after blackmailing Sue Ellen … something that never really happened until the second season premiere. There are other relationship moments between Christopher and Bobby, Bobby and Ann, John Ross and Elena, and some brief snippets that seem inconsequential … which is probably why they were cut … but they are interesting to watch.

The set’s third disk contains the bulk of the bonus material including:

• Behind the Scenes: Southfork Legacy: Making Dallas Season One — Cynthia Cidre and the cast talk about bringing the classic show back to life (20 minutes)
• Behind the Scenes: Oil and Water: A Family Tradition — An overview of the Ewing family dynamics and dysfunction (10 minutes)
• Behind the Scenes: Back in Production — Josh Henderson hosts a short intro to the series on day one of production (1.5 minutes)
• Behind the Scenes: Dressing Dallas – Rachel Sage Kunin talks about designing the costumes for Dallas, giving it a timeless quality and putting the right clothes with the right character (3 minutes)
• Behind the Scenes: Who Shot JR? – The cast looks back at the phenomenon surrounding the third season cliffhanger (3 minutes)
• Behind the Scenes: Ewing Family Love Oak – Patrick Duffy and Brenda Strong introduce the oak tree where the Ewings carve their names (1 minute)

While the new Dallas, has been a most welcome addition to the television landscape, it’s also a bit bittersweet now with the passing of Larry Hagman and the question of how the show will continue without its greatest villain. It was a bit shocking to skim through the first season episodes again in a single viewing and watch Hagman’s deterioration be so much more obvious than it was over the course of ten weeks. Seeing him looking so frail on the new season, and knowing he will be gone in just a few more weeks brings a lot of sadness with it. But Dallas has survived unfortunate death in the past (Jim Davis, who played patriarch Jock Ewing, died during the show’s third season), and I think with a strong first season behind them, the Ewings (and Barneses!) will thrive for many more seasons to come.

This review was based on a retail copy DVD of Dallas: The Complete First Season provided to CliqueClack by Warner Home Video.

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Black Friday 2012 really lived up to the name when news broke of the passing of TV icon Larry Hagman. A wave of sadness passed over me as another of our true TV icons has left us with a void that can’t be filled. I grew up watching Mr. Hagman in his two signature roles: Major Anthony Nelson on I Dream of Jeannie and J.R. Ewing on Dallas. Over the years, Hagman has made appearances in other TV shows and movies but those two roles defined the man for generations of TV viewers, and thanks to the success of the Dallas reboot on TNT, a new generation was getting a chance to see the great Larry Hagman bring the nefarious J.R. Ewing back to life.

I became a fan as a child growing up in the 60s and 70s, watching reruns of I Dream of Jeannie, which really was Hagman’s big break after years of guest appearances and small roles in movies. As a kid, I just loved the special effects and the silliness of the show. As I got older, I really appreciated Hagman’s knack for not only the comedy but the physicality he had to bring to the role as well. It’s amazing he was never seriously injured while performing the falls and various stunts many of the scripts required of him. As absurd as the premise of the show was, Hagman always managed to bring a certain level of realness to the proceedings. He really was the straight man to all of the wackiness around him, but he was able to garner laughs as well with his physical prowess. I think that’s something that really gets overlooked when people talk about I Dream of Jeannie.

After his Jeannie stint ended in 1970 (he blamed the marriage of his character to Jeannie for the show’s demise, saying no one cared after they married), Hagman tried his hand at directing (Beware! The Blob), making guest appearances on established shows (Love, American Style, Night Gallery, Police Woman) and starring in two failed series, The Good Life and Here We Go Again. But 1978 was a good year for Mr. Hagman who, after a blink and you missed him cameo in Superman, took a supporting role in a five-part TV mini-series called Dallas.

Hagman sensed CBS had something special with the mini-series, and he was right. Audiences loved Dallas and the network quickly greenlit a series, and the producers wisely developed Hagman’s J.R. Ewing to be the front-and-center villain of the show. J.R.’s feud with his brother Bobby (Patrick Duffy) and his rocky relationship with his wife Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) — and practically everyone else around him — made Dallas a cultural phenomenon and Hagman the biggest TV star in the land. When J.R. was shot at the end of season three, interest in the show was unprecedented and Hagman knew, rightly, that his performance played a huge part in the show’s success. Demanding more money, J.R. was almost killed off for good when Hagman refused to return for filming on season four, but producers knew they had no show without him and wisely gave him the much-deserves raise.

For fourteen seasons, a few guest appearances on spin-off Knots Landing, and three Dallas TV movies, Hagman established himself as a true TV icon. After the end of Dallas‘ run, Hagman continued to make appearances in movies (Nixon, Primary Colors) and TV shows (The Simpsons, Nip/Tuck), and even appearing at various events promoting the city of Dallas. Hagman also made a brief return to series television in a short guest starring role on Desperate Housewives in 2011. Perhaps his turn as curmudgeon Frank Kaminsky got Warner Brothers and TNT interested in bringing J.R. Ewing back to TV, but it was well-known by this point that Hagman had been battling cancer on and off for many years. He seemed to be in good shape though when the show premiered, hitting the interview circuit and promoting the heck out of the show. Hagman probably single-handedly made the new Dallas a hit. Season two began filming in September, and Hagman returned to complete his scenes in several episodes. Unfortunately, his health took a turn for the worse and Hagman passed away in Dallas on November 23 with his family and best friends Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray by his bedside. J.R. will appear on the second season, but his death will also be addressed. The big question is can Dallas survive without J.R.?

Larry Hagman’s passing has left me with a great deal of sadness for his family, friends, fans, and for myself simply because he’s been one of those people who have been in my living room for at least 45 years. He will always be remembered as J.R. Ewing, but my fondness for him will always be rooted in his Major Anthony Nelson (and it’s really too bad he was tied up with Dallas when the two I Dream of Jeannie TV movies were made). I loved his scheming ways as J.R. but it’s the laughter he brought as Major Nelson that I appreciate even more. Thank you, Mr. Hagman, for the decades of entertainment you brought to us all.

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