TV Series “Dallas” Celebrates 45 Years

HOLLYWOOD—The iconic primetime drama series, “Dallas” created in 1978 by David Jacobs is celebrating 45 years in 2023.

The series ran for 14 seasons, from 1978-1991. It follows the Texas oil family the Ewings; the owners of Ewing Oil and a cattle ranch in Southfork, Texas.

The shows main character, J.R. Ewing was played by Larry Hagman, who was known for manipulation, greed and his quick-witted humor. He is the only character to appear in every episode of the series. He was seen as both a protagonist and antagonist of the show. The character was shot in the season 3 finale making the phrase “Who shot J.R?” a part of the zeitgeist of the 1980s, as viewers anxiously awaited the return of the series to discover the answer.

The cliffhanger revealed missing information to the audience in the opening episode of the season 10. Noting the romantic relationship between Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) and Pamela Barnes Ewing (Victoria Principal). The big reveal for J.R. was that it was all a dream sequence.

The patriarch of the family Jock Ewing which is played by 1950s western film actor Jim Davis. Davis played WWII naval hero Slick Novak in the 1948 film “Winter Meeting” alongside two-time academy award winner Bette Davis.

“Dallas” had a total of 357 episodes with each running between 47 to 50 minutes. It was revived with a reboot that ran three seasons from 2012-2014. The children of the original characters were the focus of the revival.

“Dallas” won four Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a TV show for Barbara Bel Geddes (Missy Ewing) and the TV Land Pop Culture Award in 2006. In 2007, TIME magazine ranked “Dallas” as one of the 100 greatest TV shows of all time.