History Series / Dallas

* BigScrewedUpFamily

->''"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."''
-->-- '''JR Ewing'''

* OffTheWagon:
** Although J.R. is a huge social drinker, Sue Ellen frequently gets outright addicted to alcohol, getting committed twice for alcoholism, the first time ''while pregnant with John Ross''.
** And though the second time seemed to actually rehabilitate her better than just going cold turkey alone like after all her other relapses, it unfortunately took place during the [[AllJustADream Dream Season]]. When the next season started up, she had to kick it all over again.

* AbsenteeActor: All the main cast with the (unsurprising) exception of Creator/LarryHagman, who appears in all 357 episodes. Hagman is followed by Ken Kercheval at 344 (justified, because of recurring status in the first two seasons and missing several episodes in the last three seasons) and Patrick Duffy at 327 (justified, because his "death" in season nine).

* 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.
** In the series finale, JR's guardian angel asks him [[spoiler: "What makes you think I came from heaven?"]] This is very similar to the final line from the ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E28ANicePlaceToVisit A Nice Place To Visit]]".

* CastFullOfRichPeople: The show is about a family of oil barons and their associates in Texas.

There have also been three [[MadeForTVMovie made-for-TV movies]]. The first, ''Dallas: The Early Years'' (1986), was a {{Prequel}} that chronicled the feud between Jock Ewing and Digger Barnes in the 1930's. After the series ended, two [[ReunionShow reunion movies]] were produced - ''J.R. Returns'' (1996) and ''War of the Ewings'' (1998).

-->--Jock Ewing

-->--JR Ewing

* BashBrothers: When they aren't fighting each other, J.R. and Bobby fall under this trope.

* {{Blackmail}}

A possible movie [[TheRemake remake]] with Creator/JohnTravolta as J.R. Ewing and Creator/JenniferLopez (!) as Sue Ellen has been in DevelopmentHell for years. Problems include the recent RealLife oil crisis, the increasingly negative views of Americans toward oil companies, and doubt in the entertainment industry that fans would accept another actor portraying JR.

* SurpriseIncest: Lucy and Ray Krebs in the first season. Ray was subsequently revealed to be Jock's son and thus her uncle (eww)! Luckily by the time this was revealed the two had broken up, and [[CanonDiscontinuity no one ever mentioned]] they had once been an item.
** When asked about this in an interview, Steve Kanaly just said he hoped the storyline was "prayerfully forgotten" by the majority of the fans.

** Passed on to Cliff. The man can't have get a hangnail without it being the Ewings' (specifically JR's) fault.

* {{Back for the Finale}}: Sue Ellen, Ray, Gary, Valene (who also came back for the ''Knots Landing'' finale), Kristin and Nicholas Pearce.

* {{Estranged Soap Family}}: Gary never turned up for major family events at Southfork after Bobby's death in the Dream Season - and seldom did beforehand. His absence from said events was never explained. It ran both ways vis a vis the Texas Ewings' absences on ''Series/{{Knots Landing}}''.

* {{Present Absence}}: Jock after his death in Season Five and Bobby after his death during the Dream Season.

* AbsenteeActor: All the main cast with the (unsurprising) exception of Creator/LarryHagman, who appears in all 357 episodes. Hagman is followed by Ken Kercheval at 344 (justified, because of recurring status in the first two seasons) and Patrick Duffy at 327 (justified, because his "death" in season nine).

* FamilyDrama: One of the central conflicts of ''Dallas'' was the internal problems of the Ewing and Barnes families. In fact, the show was initially conceived as a ''Literature/RomeoAndJuliet'' type drama with feuding families.

* FoilerFootage: Several different resolutions to the "Who Shot J.R." cliffhanger were filmed, including one where he shot himself.

* LongRunners: 13 seasons (14 if you count the original miniseries) and its SpinOff ''Series/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.

* {{Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe}}: A major storyline in the second and third seasons concerned John Ross' paternity: Sue Ellen, J.R. and Cliff were all convinced that Cliff was the father. All three of them were pretty astonished to discover that J.R. was the actual father after Cliff sued for paternity. The storyline began as soon as Sue Ellen found out that she was pregnant and ended when John Ross was about six months old.

** Creator/LarryHagman'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.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Clayton Farlow

* TookALevelInJerkass: Over several seasons, Jenna gradually changes from a spunky, sassy cowgirl into a humorless, self-pitying harridan. Even worse with her daughter Charlie, who becomes steadily more bratty and obnoxious after Bobby and Pam reunite, as exemplified by her saying ''"Stupid BOBBY"'' at least once per episode.
* TruthInTelevision: Unlike Jock's HollywoodHeartAttack, Miss Ellie's breast cancer (and subsequent mastectomy) was realistically and tastefully done, mostly owing to Barbara Bel Geddes' own struggles with breast cancer years earlier. Particularly tear-jerking is a post-surgery Ellie crying ''"Nothing fits!"'' when trying on her clothes.

A possible movie [[TheRemake remake]] with John Travolta as J.R. Ewing and [[RaceLift Jennifer Lopez]] (!) as Sue Ellen has been in DevelopmentHell for years. Problems include the recent RealLife oil crisis, the increasingly negative views of Americans toward oil companies, and doubt in the entertainment industry that fans would accept another actor portraying JR.

Gary's daughter, [[BrattyTeenageDaughter wild child teen]] Lucy, and Sue Ellen, J.R.'s [[LadyDrunk alcoholic]] [[ChristmasCake faded beauty queen]] wife, rounded out the family, at least until Bobby married the daughter of Jock's old rival...

The show produced two of the most famous stories in television - both cliffhangers (a staple of the series). The first in 1980-81 was the mystery of 'Who shot J.R.?' ([[spoiler:it was Kristin]]), the answer to which was at that time the most watched episode in television history.

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 polarizing to say the least, with some happy to see the character return but others irritated due to the invalidation of the previous season.

Now has a CharacterSheet under construction [[{{Characters/Dallas}} here.]] Feel free to add to it!

Also needs its [[Awesome/{{Dallas}} Awesome]], [[Funny/{{Dallas}} Funny]], [[Heartwarming/{{Dallas}} Heartwarming]] and [[TearJerker/{{Dallas}} Tear Jerker]] pages expanded upon.

* ChristmasCake: Dozens of examples. In fact the majority of lusted after women in the series were in their late 30's or older; the main cast alone had Sue Ellen, Donna Culver Krebbs, Jenna Wade and April Stevens.

* [[ComicBookAdaptation Comic Strip Adaptation]]: There was a comic strip based on the show, running from 1981 to 1984.

* 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 for driving him to the bottle.

* 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 degenerated into {{Squick}} when in later seasons the writers decided to make Ray a son of Jock, which turned it into retroactive incest.

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

* CharacterBlog: The aforementioned Facebook page is written from J.R.'s perspective.
** After J.R.'s death, the page was picked up by John Ross.

* MyBelovedSmother: Miss Ellie gets ''way'' too distraught when her children (now in their 30s and 40s) want to move out of Southfork. Rebecca Wentworth is arguably this to Cliff Barnes, as well.

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

''Dallas'' was a giant PrimeTimeSoap of TheEighties (it ran from 1978-1991). For much of its run it was the most watched show in the world.

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