Famous Dallas cliffhanger airs
On this day in 1980 J.R.Ewing the character millions love to hate on televisions popular prime-time drama Dallas is shot by an unknown assailant.The shooting made the season-ending episode one of TVs most famous cliffhangers inspired widespread media coverage and left America wondering Who shot J.R.
for the next eight months.On November 21 1980 the premiere episode of Dallass third season solved the mystery identifying Kristin Shepard J.R.s mistress (and his wifes sister) as the culprit.The CBS television network debuted the first five-episode pilot season of Dallas in 1978 it went on to run for another 12 full-length seasons.The first show of its kind Dallas was dubbed a prime-time soap opera for its serial plots and dramatic tales of moral excess.
The show revolved around the relations of two Texas oil families the wealthy successful Ewings and the perpetually down-on-their-luck Barnes clan.The families patriarchs Jock Ewing and Digger Barnes were former partners locked in a years-long feud over oil fields Barnes claimed had been stolen by Ewing.To make matters more interesting Ewings youngest son Bobby (Patrick Duffy) and Barnes daughter Pam (Victoria Principal) had married linking the battling clans even more closely.
The character of J.R.Ewing Bobbys oldest brother and a greedy conniving womanizing scoundrel was played by Larry Hagman.In the wake of the season-ending cliffhanger episode A House Divided audiences were hard-pressed to guess who was responsible for the shooting J.R.had a host of enemies.
That summer the question Who Shot J.R.entered the national lexicon becoming a popular T-shirt slogan and heightening anticipation of the soaps third season which was to come in the fall.Much to the dismay of Dallas fans the premiere was delayed because of a Screen Actors Guild strike.
When it finally aired the episode revealing the shooter became one of televisions most-watched shows with an audience of 83 million people and helped put Dallas into greater worldwide circulation.It also popularized the use of the cliffhanger by TV writers.The shooting of J.R.was not Dallass only notorious plot twist.
In September 1986 fans learned that the entire previous season in which main character Bobby Ewing had died was merely a dream of Pams.The shows writers had killed the Bobby character off because Duffy had decided to leave the show.When he agreed to return they featured him stepping out of the shower on the season-ending cliffhanger and then were forced the next season to explain his sudden reappearance.The last new episode of Dallas aired on May 3 1991.
A spin-off Knots Landing aired from December 27 1979 until May 13 1993.Dallas remains in syndication around the world.
