Michael Giltz: DVDs: TV's Dallas Calls For A Do-Over http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/dvds-tvs-emdallasem-calls_b_113429.html [4/5/2009 2:01:43 PM] APRIL 5, 2009 HOME POLITICS MEDIA BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT LIVING STYLE GREEN WORLD CHICAGO COMEDY 23/6 VIDEO BLOGGER INDEX ARCHIVE Make HuffPost Your HomePage Get Email Alerts Twitter: Follow Us BIG NEWS : Angelina Jolie | Madonna | Chris Brown & Rihanna | Paul McCartney | More...</p><p> LOG IN | SIGN UP Michael Giltz BIO Become a Fan Get Email Alerts Bloggers' Index DVDs: TV's Dallas Calls For A Do- Over Posted July 17, 2008 | 05:40 PM (EST) Read More: Dallas , Dvds, Jason Statham , Jumping The Shark , Keanu Reeves , Larry Hagman , Martin Lawrence , Movies, Patrick Duffy , Patrick Swayze , Soap Operas , Tv, Entertainment News "Jumping the shark" is pop culture slang forever associated with Happy Days.</p><p> But no showjumped that shark more shockingly and withmore unbridled disdain for its audience thanDallas , the primetime soap opera that revitalized a genre and remains one of the most successfulTV shows of all time.</p><p> Just out on DVD is Dallas:The Complete Ninth Season ($39.98; Warner Bros.).</p><p> Forgive fans if they prefer to skip it, butthey'd be missing the most memorable scene in the show's history.</p><p> Not everyone remembers who shot JR but we ALL know what the presumablydead Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) was doing in Pam's shower at the very end of this season.</p><p> Afterkilling off Bobby, the show spent the entire year in the doldrums creatively.</p><p> JR (Larry Hagman)always had the fun, but apparently straight-laced, do-gooder Bobby was essential to the storylines.After years of being #1 or #2, Dallas would end this dispiriting season at #6.</p><p> But boy did they end it -- Bobby was lathering up in the shower because Bobby wasn't actually dead.</p><p> As they explainedin the first episode of season ten, Pam had dreamt the whole thing and fans had wasted the entireseason nine watching events that never really happened.</p><p> The show rebooted with Bobby firmlyback in place and continued for five more years.</p><p> But the bottom dropped out of the ratings: fanswere already annoyed at the weak ninth season.</p><p> Being told they'd really wasted their time and none of what happened actually happened was just too much, even for the forgiving fans of soapswho happily accept evil twins and secret pregnancies and miraculous reversible comas withaplomb.</p><p> The show immediately fell from #6 to #11 and then #22, #29 and then out of the Top 30.Some might argue the show would never have lasted that long if they hadn't realized their mistakein killing Bobby and started all over again.</p><p> But it poisoned the memory of the show for fans.</p><p> Afeature film version starring John Travolta as JR makes perfect sense.</p><p> But maybe it's taking so longto get off the ground because of the lingering ill-will from one episode some 20 years ago thatturned the show into a joke.</p><p> And you can be darn certain if the movie's made that they won't show Be the First to Submit This Story to Digg Like this story? Get Alerts of big news events.</p><p> Enter your email address Popular Stories on HuffPost Fashion Face-Off! 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John Demjanjuk, Ohio ManAccused Of Being NaziGuard, Avoids Deportation Reality Star Jade Goody Buried In Lavish...</p><p> Robert De Niro Nanny Sues For $40,000 Demi Moore's Twitter-Based Suicide Intervention SNL: Madonna And Angelina In Weekend Update...</p><p> Bobby Ewing in the shower: people would never stop laughing.</p><p> Also out this week: Jason Statham's The Bank Job ($29.95; LionsGate), an enjoyable, unpretentious B movie; Holly Hunter's Emmy nominated turn as the exceptionally flawed hero of Saving Grace Season One ($49.98; Fox); a Blu-Ray edition of the Keanu Reeves/Patrick Swayze cult favorite Point Break ($39.98; Fox); the well-reviewed story of a boy caught up in Pele fever while his folks have disappeared in The Year My Parents Went On Vacation ($26.98; City Lights);the cat-like Burt Reynolds (how many lives does he have, actually?) and his sitcom fluff EveningShade Season One ($39.99; Paramount); Jacques Tati's minor but still amusing Trafic ($39.95; Criterion); Swamp Thing: The Series Volume Two ($34.99; Shout), which has its fans though I can't help missing Adrienne Barbeau; Martin Lawrence and Raven-Symone's mild, self-explanatoryCollege Road Trip ($29.99; Disney) whose only pleasure is the possibility that parents will belooking for this and rent the raunchy, hilarious Road Trip instead; an ok biopic of the nattily dressed Beau Brummell: This Charming Man ($24.99; Acorn); A Throw Of Dice ($29.95; Kino), a 1929 silent film spectacle set in India that is great fun; Stargate Atlantis Season Four ($49.98; MGM), in which -- unthinkably -- our heros team up with the Wraiths to fend off the even more evil Replicators; the bare-bones but eye-opening documentary Our Spirits Don't Speak English: Indian Boarding School ($29.95; Rich-Heape); Tony N' Tina's Wedding ($24.95; Emerging Pictures), which fails to capitalize on the name value of the long-running Off Broadway hit it's based on; Reno 911 Fifth Season ($39.98; Paramount), but this series long ago went from dumb/funny to just plain dumb; the Wong Kar Wai blessed 1993 martial arts spoof Eagle ShootingHeroes ($24.95; Kino) and finally I'm waiting anxiously for new seasons of classic shows like Hill Street Blues, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, St.</p><p> Elsewhere and I'll Fly Away (to name a few) but an insta-flop like Birds of Prey: The Complete Series ($39.98; Warner Bros.) is out in a well-packaged set? Oh the power of fan boys and a cast of hot women that know something about a well- packaged set.</p><p> So tell me, what's your most memorable TV jump-the-shark moment? I've been pretty distressed by the Friday Night Lights murder subplot and the revival (literally) of Buffy for two more seasonof Buffy The Vampire Slayer when the show was clearly over.</p><p> What about you? More in Entertainment...</p><p> HuffPost Stories Surging Right Now Ads by Google Dallas TV Series on DVD 14 Seasons - Complete TV Series. 101 DVDs - Liquidation Sale 75% OFF www.PlanetDVDStore.com "Washington Unplugged" Arianna was on CBS' "Washington...</p><p> Alex Leo The "Real Housewives Of New York City" Flowchart Of Hate I'm a little embarrassed tolove this show as much as... "BRUNO" TRAILER! Calamity, African Babies, ChaseScenes And More (NSFW VIDEO) IT'S HERE! 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Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to View Comments: Newest First Expand All magneato See Profile I'm a Fan of magneato permalink Anyone remember this chestnut? The already grating Mork and Mindy adding Jonathan Winters to the cast ,as the happy couple's infant son!(?) 3fingerbrown See Profile I'm a Fan of 3fingerbrown permalink Love the idea of a "Dallas" feature film, but please, enough John Travolta already.</p><p> Cast Daniel Day- Lewis as J.R., tell him to pull out all the stops, and then get out of the way. wayoutleft See Profile I'm a Fan of wayoutleft permalink "charmed" will repackage this fall with interactive premium edition content and theme packaging as amagical tome. october release. this will set the mark perhaps until the complete "smallville" around ayear from now. interactive chat and board software will define premium editions if "charmed" does wellfor the holidays.</p><p> Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink Yep, some shows already out on DVD -- liked Charmed and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. -- geta deluxe re-packaging while some of my favorites still molder in studio vaults.</p><p> But glad to hear it for fans of the show.</p><p> Personally, I always preferred Buffy and really checked out when Shannen Doherty did. wayoutleft See Profile I'm a Fan of wayoutleft permalink they're not holding out on much that's at all familiar any more- except some nominal failures that developed followings for their few episodes. "lookwell"[1] and "sledgehammer" are in that group. have you run across "titans", the rare spelling flop? orperhaps "fresno", the barry kemp[2] spoof of "dynasty" wherein the wonderful- andnow gravely ill- terri garr burned down the set as spoiled daughter "talon"?[1] "lookwell", trying to come out of crime-fighting retirement, to desk officer at station: "of course you've never heard of me! my records were erased! i was given a new identity! like bat masterson!" desk officer: "who's batmasterson?"lookwell: "exactly!"[2] after the reagan landslide in 1980, people were straggling out of the hills in bell-bottoms and sideburns to surrender like bypassed japanese soldiers from ww ii. no one knew anybody who voted for the guyand he took about 49 states!?!thriftstore racks were full of designer bellbottoms:normandy rose, jordache, gloria vanderbilt... barry kemp struck back with "newhart","taxi", and a remake of the visionary proto-reality sixties lighteningbolt "loveamerican style". he became our spiritual leader.</p><p> Cars Women's Rights Michelle Obama Europe Newspapers Bank Of America War Wire Video Financial Crisis MORE BIG NEWS PAGES » Books by this author A cabin of one's own: New England's MacDowellColony celebrates 100years of artistic utopia.And the gay and lesbianartists who prosperedthere celebrate ... (Thenational gay & lesbiannewsmagazine) by Michael Giltz Affairs to remember:Farley Granger beddedAva Gardner, ShelleyWinters, and LeonardBernstein.</p><p> In hisautobiography, IncludeMe Out, Hitchcock's muse... (The national gay &lesbian newsmagazine) by Michael Giltzlove it for a reason like being green! FastCompany...</p><p> HUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES Related Tags Dallas , Dvds , Jason Statham , Jumping The Shark , Keanu Reeves , Larry Hagman , Martin Lawrence , Movies , Patrick Duffy , Patrick Swayze , Soap Operas , Tv Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:38 PM on 07/19/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:20 AM on 07/18/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:43 PM on 07/17/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:44 PM on 07/17/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:15 AM on 07/18/2008This Blogger's Books from Michael Giltz: DVDs: TV's Dallas Calls For A Do-Over http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/dvds-tvs-emdallasem-calls_b_113429.html [4/5/2009 2:01:43 PM] HOME POLITICS MEDIA BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT LIVING GREEN STYLE WORLD CHICAGO COMEDY FUNDRACE ARCHIVE Advertise | Login | Make HuffPost your Home Page | RSS | Jobs | FAQ: Comments & Moderation | FAQ: Huffpost Accounts | Contact Us Copyright © 2009 HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | Archive | User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | Powered by Movable Type You must be logged in to reply to this comment.</p><p> Log in or Ads by Google Dallas TV Series on DVD 14 Seasons - Complete TV Series. 101 DVDs - Liquidation Sale 75% OFF www.PlanetDVDStore.com
