Airs Next: CBS at Friday 9:00 PM (60 min.)
Status: Ended Premiered: April 2, 1978 Last Aired: May 3, 1991
Show Categories: Drama, Soap
More Pictures In the ranks of prime-time dramas, this was one of the biggest.
Dallas, the saga of the Ewing Family, began as a five part mini-series in 1978. Throughout it's thirteen seasons, many actors passed through the gates of Southfork. Below are the main cast, but in addition you find throughout the episode synopsis, many other faces, some familiar, some soon to be familiar faces creating drama for the Ewings!
In the late 1960's, Peyton Place was a nighttime serial drama success—a novelty at the time. But since then, no P.M. show had caught the soap opera crowd's attention… until Dallas. The show first went on the air for a five week run in early 1978, and then fell into a Saturday nighttime slot later that year.
Ratings were fair, but they were nothing compared to when the show moved to Friday nights, when the ratings well didn't run dry for a long, long time.
The Ewing family lived at the sprawling South Fork ranch, in hoity-toity Braddock County just outside Dallas. Like any good power family, there was a matriarch and patriarch, and three sons— this core group, their extensive romantic relations, and the Barnes clan of rival oilers were all Jacobs needed to create a self-contained histrionic world of intrigue, dysfunction and passion. Borrowing from Romeo and Juliet, the youngest Ewing boy, Bobby, fell for a beautiful Barnes girl. And with a nod to the biblical Cain and Abel, Bobby and older brother J.R. didn't exactly play nice with each other like you might expect brothers to. Whereas J.R. was nearly a hundred percent scoundrel, Bobby had discernable streaks of honesty and integrity…but that patented Ewing viciousness certainly reared its head once in a while. The South Fork ranch housed Jock and Miss Ellie, the king and queen of South Fork, J.R. and long-suffering wife Sue Ellen, and Bobby and Pamela…though why they all lived under one roof demands a little poetic license, because money certainly wasn't a problem, and it wasn't like there was a whole lot of binding inter-family harmony.
Here's just a taste of the drama devices that ensued: insane asylums, car accidents, affairs, illegitimate children, gunfights, fistfights, catfights, lies, drinking problems (both real and imagined), poufy 80's hairstyles for the ladies and best of all, notorious season finale cliffhangers.
The most famous, of course, came at the end of the 1979-80 season, when a mysterious late-night intruder shot J.R. in the chest while he was toiling away at the office one night. The resulting "Who Shot J.R.?" publicity raced around the globe, because by that time, Dallas was an international hit in just about every developed country in the world. Odds on the shooter's identity were figured, bets were placed, and theories were construed– since there were about fifteen possible candidates, fans and pundits were kept very busy indeed. Don't read the next part of this sentence if you want to remain one of the few of-age humans who doesn't know whodunit… it was Kristin, J.R.'s scorned sister-in-law and recent romantic entanglement.
Dallas was conceived as a show that had plenty of sex and romance for the female audiences, and a lot of cowboy posturing and business intrigue for the male viewers. The formula worked, because by the early 1980's, it was one of the most popular shows in TV history. There were magazine covers galore, a spin-off named Knots Landing about Gary, the middle Ewing son who wasn't seen or heard from much during proceedings at South Fork, and primetime serialization imitators like Dynasty and Falcon Crest.
So for the show that kicked off the nighttime drama trend that's status quo today, we tip those ten-gallon hats and breathe a secret sigh of relief that J.R. was just a fictional character who couldn't manipulate us in real life. Because let's be honest, that guy could have taken most of us down.
In 1986, John Dote' produced the soundtrack theme from Dallas on American Artists Records which charted at number 6. The theme was removed from radio, but then re-added when Dote' hired Little Richards promotion men.
CBS Broadcast History:
April 2, 1978- April 30, 1978----Sundays----10:00-11:00 P.M.
September 23, 1978- October 14, 1978----Saturdays----10:00-11:00 P.M.
October 15, 1978- January 14, 1979----Sundays----10:00-11:00 P.M.
January 26, 1979- November 27, 1981----Fridays----10:00-11:00 P.M.
December 4, 1981- May 17, 1985----Fridays----9:00-10:00 P.M.
September 27, 1985- May 16, 1986----Fridays----9:00-10:00 P.M.
September 26, 1986- May 13, 1988----Fridays----9:00-10:00 P.M.
October 28, 1988- March 9, 1990----Fridays----9:00-10:00 P.M.
March 16, 1990- May 11, 1990----Fridays----10:00-11:00 P.M.
November 2, 1990- December 21, 1990----Fridays----10:00-11:00 P.M.
January 4, 1991- May 3, 1991----Fridays----9:00-10:00
P.M.
Nielsen Ratings:
(Top 30 or Better)
#6 in the 1979- 1980 Season
#1 in the 1980- 1981 Season
#1 in the 1981- 1982 Season
#2 in the 1982- 1983 Season
#1 in the 1983- 1984 Season
#2 in the 1984- 1985 Season
#6 in the 1985- 1986 Season
#11 in the 1986- 1987 Season
#22 in the 1987- 1988 Season
#30 in the 1988- 1989 Season
Emmy Awards and Nominations:
1988, Nominated, Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Series, for episode "Hustling"
1987, Nominated, Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Series, for episode " A Death in the Family"
1986, Nominated, Outstanding Costume Design for a Series, for episode "Blast from the Past"
1985, Won!, Outstanding Costume Design for a Series, for episode "Swan Song"
1984, Won!, Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Series, for episode "The Letter"
1982, Nominated, Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Series, for episode "The Search"
1982, Nominated, Outstanding Film Editing for a Series, for episode "The Split"
1981, Nominated, Outstanding Film Editing for a Series, for episode "Ewing-Gate"
1981, Nominated, Outstanding Drama Series
1981, Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, for Jim Davis (posthumously)
1981, Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, for Larry Hagman
1981, Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, for Barbara Bel Geddes
1981, Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, for Linda Gray
1980, Won!, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, for Barbara Bel Geddes
1980, Nominated, Outstanding Drama Series
1980, Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, for Larry Hagman
1980, Nominated, Outstanding Music Composition for a Series, for episode "The Lost Child"
1979, Nominated, Outstanding Film Editing for a Series, for episode "Reunion, Part II"
1979, Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, for Barbara Bel Geddes
Golden Globes Awards and Nominations:
1985, Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series – Drama, for Larry Hagman
1984, Nominated, Best TV Series – Drama
1983, Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series - Drama, for Larry Hagman
1983, Nominated, Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series - Drama, for Victoria Principal
1983, Nominated, Best TV Series – Drama
1982, Won! (tied with Linda Evans for "Dynasty"), Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series - Drama, for Barbara Bel Geddes
1982, Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series - Drama, for Larry Hagman
1982, Nominated, Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series - Drama, for Linda Gray
1982, Nominated, Best TV Series – Drama
1981, Nominated, Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series - Drama, for Larry Hagman
1981, Nominated, Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series - Drama, for Barbara Bel Geddes
1981, Nominated, Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series - Drama, for Linda Gray
1981, Nominated, Best TV Series – Drama
1980, Nominated, Best TV Actress - Drama, for Barbara Bel Geddes
1980, Nominated, Best TV Series – Drama
Soap Opera Digest Awards and Nominations:
1992, Won!, Best Death Scene: Prime Time, for April Ewing
1992, Nominated, Outstanding Actor: Prime Time, for Patrick Duffy
1992, Nominated, Outstanding Prime Time Show
1991, Nominated, Outstanding Heroine: Prime Time, for Sheree J. Wilson
1991, Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actress: Prime Time, for Cathy Podewell
1991, Nominated, Outstanding Prime Time Soap
1991, Nominated, Outstanding Actor: Prime Time, for Ken Kercheval
1990, Won!, Outstanding Supporting Actor: Prime Time, for Ken Kercheval
1990, Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actor: Prime Time, for Patrick Duffy
1990, Nominated, Outstanding Lead Actress: Prime Time, for Sheree J. Wilson
1990, Nominated, Outstanding Prime Time Serial
1990, Nominated, Outstanding Prime Time Story Line, for "JR and Cally's Romance"
1989, Won!, Outstanding Villain: Prime Time, for Larry Hagman
1989, Nominated, Outstanding Actor in a Lead Role: Prime Time, for Steve Kanaly
1989, Nominated, Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role: Prime Time, for Ken Kercheval
1989, Nominated, Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role: Prime Time, for Jack Scalia
1989, Nominated, Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role: Prime Time, for Sheree J. Wilson
1989, Nominated, Outstanding Prime Time Serial
1988, Won!, Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role: Prime Time, for Steve Kanaly
1988, Won!, Outstanding Villain: Prime Time, for Larry Hagman
1988, Nominated, Favorite Super Couple: Prime Time, for Patrick Duffy and Victoria Principal
1988, Nominated, Favorite Super Couple: Prime Time, for Larry Hagman and Linda Gray
1988, Nominated, Outstanding Actor in a Leading Role: Prime Time, for Patrick Duffy
1988, Nominated, Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role: Prime Time, for Howard Keel
1988, Nominated, Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role: Prime Time, for Linda Gray
1988, Nominated, Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role: Prime Time, for Susan Howard
1988, Nominated, Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role: Prime Time, for Barbara Bel Geddes
1988, Nominated, Outstanding Prime Time Serial
1988, Nominated, Outstanding Villain: Prime Time, for Ken Kercheval
1988, Nominated, Outstanding Villainess: Prime Time, Sheree J. Wilson
1986, Won!, Outstanding Actor in a Leading Role on a Prime Time Serial, for Larry Hagman
1986, Won!, Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role on a Prime Time Serial, for Susan Howard
1986, Won!, Outstanding Villain on a Prime Time Serial, for Ken Kercheval
1986, Nominated, Favorite Super Couple on a Prime Time Serial, for Larry Hagman and Linda Gray
1986, Nominated, Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role on a Prime Time Serial, for Ken Kercheval
1986, Nominated, Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role: Prime Time Serial, for Steve Kanaly
1986, Nominated, Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role on a Prime Time Serial, for Victoria Principal
1986, Nominated, Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role on a Prime Time Serial, for Linda Gray
1986, Nominated, Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role on a Prime Time Serial, for Barbara Bel Geddes
1986, Nominated, Outstanding Actor/Actress in a Comic Relief Role on a Prime Time Serial, for Larry
Hagman
1986, Nominated, Outstanding Actor/Actress in a Comic Relief Role on a Prime Time Serial, for Ken Kercheval
1986, Nominated, Outstanding Prime Time Serial
1986, Nominated, Outstanding Youth Actor/Actress on a Daytime or Prime Time Serial, for Omri Katz
1985, Won!, Outstanding Actor in a Prime Time Serial, for Patrick Duffy
1985, Won!, Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role in a Prime Time Serial, for Steve Kanaly
1985, Won!, Outstanding Villain in a Prime Time Serial, for Larry Hagman
1985, Won!, Outstanding Youth Actor/Actress in a Prime Time Serial, for Shalane McCall
1984, Won!, Exciting New Actress in a Prime Time Serial, for Priscilla Presley
1984, Won!, Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role in a Prime Time Soap Opera, for Steve Kanaly
1984, Won!, Outstanding Actress in a Mature Role in a Prime Time Soap Opera, for Barbara Bel Geddes
1984, Won!, Outstanding Villain in a Prime Time Soap Opera, for Larry Hagman
1984, Won!, Outstanding Youth Actor in a Prime Time Soap Opera, for Omri Katz
1984, Won!, Outstanding Youth Actress in a Prime Time Soap Opera, for Shalane McCall
First Telecast: April 2, 1978
Last Telecast: May 3, 1991
Episodes: 357 Color Episodes
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