History Series / Dallas

[[caption-width-right:350:The Ewings of Southfork:(standing left to right: Sue Ellen, Lucy, Jock, Pam, Bobby, Ray Krebbs (sitting) Miss Ellie ]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The Ewings of Southfork]]

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[[caption-width-right:350:The Ewings of Southfork.]]

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[[caption-width-right:301:Not just ''any'' SoapOpera.]]

* ThePatriarch

Initially the show focused on Pamela Barnes, Bobby's sweet natured and beautiful new wife as she attempted to fit in with the Ewing family, but the chemistry between Larry Hagman (J.R.) and Linda Gray (Sue Ellen) quickly took center stage. Hagman's J.R. in particular became one of the great characters of television history, his [[MagnificentBastard greedy, sleazy yet oddly charming villain]] becoming an icon of [[TheEighties the decade]].

Creator/{{TNT}} revived the series in 2012, with a ten-episode run that included some of the original cast members but focused on the next generation of the Ewing family. Larry Hagman passed away on November 23, 2012. He was given a funeral in episode eight of the second season (which aired on March 11, 2013). The show was cancelled by TNT after airing its third season in 2014.

** Larry Hagman's sudden death in 2012 affected the second season of the show's successful revival with the plotline of J.R. being murdered in the fifth episode. The producers have said that "90 percent" of the story was saved but obviously not the ending: Finally united after various challenges, the Ewings walk into the boardroom of Ewing Electric only to find a smirking J.R. inform them that he's taken over as sole owner.

** Larry Hagman grew up in Fort Worth, so he was the only member of the cast who didn't have to try.

* SavingTheWorldWithArt: A ploy by the communist Romanian government in RealLife backfired when they allowed ''Dallas'' to air within the country, intending to show the [[{{Eagleland}} wasteful, brutal American lifestyle]]. Instead, it made the citizens wonder why they weren't living such nice lives under the current regime. During an interview, a teary-eyed Larry Hagman recounted when a citizen thanked him by saying that his character J.R. saved their country.

* AbsenteeActor: J.R. spends part of the first season on a "business trip" to Las Vegas to take part in a high-stakes poker game organized by Cliff Barnes, with his role largely relegated to a single scene per episode. This was done to accommodate Larry Hagman's treatment after his cancer returned. It also counts as an AbortedArc, as the storyline was dropped when Hagman recovered and returned to the show for the last three episodes of the season.

* AndStarring: Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy, and Linda Gray get the coveted "And Starring" credit in the main titles.

* SpecialEditionTitle: The second-season episode "J.R.'s Masterpiece" features a slower, more mournful rendition of the main theme that plays over footage of J.R. walking out of Southfork, to acknowledge Larry Hagman's passing.

* MythologyGag: A major part of Gary's backstory is that he is an alcoholic. In the {{Series Finale}} "Conundrum", the alternate reality version of Gary from the world in which J.R. was never born says that he doesn't drink and never has. This makes perfect sense since it was J.R. who was largely responsible to driving him to the bottle.

* Gary Ewing was [[MiddleChildSyndrome weak but well meaning]] and spin-off bound ({{Knots Landing}}). The BlackSheep of the family, an alcoholic drifter who dumped his daughter Lucy on his parents and took off.

Inspired a glut of failed copycat shows (''Secrets of Midland Heights'' and ''Texas''), the most successful being ''Series/{{Dynasty}}'', its SoBadItsGood counterpart that ended up becoming the show's chief rival during the mid-1980s. It was also given a SpinOff, ''KnotsLanding'', which was based around Gary Ewing, though the dream season ultimately led to both shows severing ties with each other.

* LongRunners: 13 seasons (14 if you count the original miniseries) and its SpinOff ''KnotsLanding'' ran for 14 seasons and a miniseries as well. If the {{Revival}} is successful this could lead to it being an even ''longer'' running series.

** Gary Ewing (Ted Shackleford) returns to Dallas in the second season (after the ending of ''KnotsLanding'', some 20 years earlier), and spends time at the Southfork ranch with the rest of the family.

Inspired a glut of failed copycat shows (''Secrets of Midland Heights'' and ''Texas''), the most successful being ''{{Dynasty}}'', its SoBadItsGood counterpart that ended up becoming the show's chief rival during the mid-1980s. It was also given a SpinOff, ''KnotsLanding'', which was based around Gary Ewing, though the dream season ultimately led to both shows severing ties with each other.

* ShoutOut: During an attempt to acquire offshore drilling rights to a region of the Gulf of Mexico, Cliff Barnes claims that he has a nose for oil that is so good that he can sense when a deposit is under water. In response, Pamela exclaims that "now he thinks he's The Man From Atlantis". "The Man From Atlantis" was Patrick Duffy's first starring role, which aired the season before {{Dallas}} premiered.

* ButtMonkey: Cliff Barnes. He is humiliated by J.R. in almost every episode (ranging from [[InsultBackfire lame insults J.R. knocks down easily]], to buying Ewing 6 and finding out it was dry (then having to sell it back to J.R.), to suing the Ewings and having confidential information about his family being revealed during the trial, and much, much more. While he gets a better ending that most by the end of the reunion movies (he sells Ewing Oil back to Bobby, buys stocks in Google and goes to retire with his daughter), it's little consolation in light of the near-constant humiliation he suffers over 14 seasons.

* CharacterOutlivesActor: Jock Ewing goes on a trip to an oil reserve in South America, in order to keep him alive as long as possible after his actor, Jim Davis (not [[{{Garfield}} that one]]), died. As with Mr. Hooper, his death (which occurred on the return trip) wasn't addressed until some time later.

The second story was... less successful. When star [[spoiler: Patrick Duffy]] left the series, his character was {{McLeaned}}. But with declining ratings, the return of the original series show runner after a brief absence, and the cast missing [[spoiler:Duffy]], the actor returned in the final moments of the eighth season, leading to the ninth season opening with the revelation that [[spoiler:Bobby]]'s death and the subsequent season eight [[spoiler: [[AllJustADream were all an elaborate dream]] ]]. Needless to say, reaction was quite negative to say the least.

TNT revived the series in 2012, with a ten-episode run that included some of the original cast members but focused on the next generation of the Ewing family. Larry Hagman passed away on November 23, 2012. He was given a funeral in episode eight of the second season (which aired on March 11, 2013). The show was cancelled by TNT after airing its third season in 2014.

* AbsenteeActor: All the main cast with the exception of Larry Hagman, unsurprisingly.

* FakeGuestStar: The show had a habit of having "fake guest stars" that were often treated in the same capacity as main characters, during the show's fourteen-season run, often under the credit "also starring". Some examples who later became official series regulars were Cliff Barnes, Sue Ellen Ewing, Ray Krebbs, Donna Culver, Clayton Farlow, Jenna Wade, Jack Ewing, April Stevens, Carter McKay, and Cally Harper Ewing.
* FamilyBusiness: Ewing Oil, later Ewing Energies.
* FamilyDrama

* GunStruggle: Carter McKay and his son, Tommy, fight over a gun after the latter tries to go kill Bobby. Tommy ends up dying as a result.

* EightiesHair

* FamilyBusiness

* YouLookFamiliar:
** A very unusual case: a recurring character named Ben Stivers appeared in the Dream Season. Obviously after Pam woke up he didn't appear anymore, but an identical character named Wes Parmalee did and was played by the same actor (see also AbortedArc above).
** Tracy Scoggins played a call girl named Dianne in the seventh-season episode "My Brother's Keeper", and then returned to play Anita Smithfield in ''J.R. Returns''.

* YouLookFamiliar:
** Mitch Pileggi (who plays Ann's ex-husband, Harris Ryland), in addition to being an extra in a very early episode in the 80's, had a three-episode role in the original series as a mental patient who bullied J.R. when he was in a mental institution.
** Brenda Strong (Ann) had a role in a tenth-season episode of the original series as one of Cliff's one night stands.
** Creator/GlennMorshower (who plays Lou, a lawyer who helps the Ewings throughout the first season) played a small role as a campaign aide in the original series' first-season episode "Black Market Baby".
** Barry Corbin, who played Sheriff Washburn in the original series, appears as J.R.'s lawyer during the will-reading scene in "Ewings Unite!".
** In the revival, Creator/SamAnderson plays a recast of Dr. David Gordon (who was established as Pam's doctor/pretend fiancee in the last episode featuring her in the original series), while in the original series he played a detective during Season 8 who helped Bobby prove Jenna innocent of murder.

* FollowTheLeader: ''{{Dynasty}}'' clearly was made to capitalize on this show.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Most of the first season's episodes featured self-contained plots, before switching mid-season to a story arc format that continued throughout the rest of the show's run. That season also featured a different actor than Ted Shackleford playing Gary and had a subplot involving an affair with Lucy and Ray Krebbs. That affair retroactively degenerated into {{Squick}} when the writers decided to make Ray a son of Jock.