According to ‘Dallas’ star Steve Kanaly, many actors were dissatisfied “because their storylines were lost” after an infamous plot twist made the entirety of season 9 a dream.
When Bobby Ewing returned to Dallas at the end of season 9, it was a historic moment in primetime soap opera history. Although many people were delighted to see the much-loved character still alive and well, others, including his co-stars, were less enthused.
Bobby was retrofitted as a long dream by Bobby’s wife Pam (Victoria Principal), who awoke in the final scene of season 9 to find Bobby in the shower, after being seemingly killed off at the end of season 8 when actor Patrick Duffy left the show.
“It was about a 10% audience loss, at least from that,” Steve Kanaly, 77, who played Ray Krebbs on the show, told PEOPLE at a cast reunion in Palm Springs, California. “People were offended to see the [death] storyline just tossed.”.
Several cast members were upset because their storylines were lost as a result, Krebbs said as the cast reunited in advance of Dallas’ 45th anniversary in September. “I don’t want to mention them, but various cast members were pissed,” he said.
The effect was significant.”.
The creators of the show were aware that by coming up with such a novel plot twist at the time, they were taking a significant risk.
Patrick is back, Kanaly recalled. “In the show, Patrick returns. It was not an easy decision, how do we explain what happened for the entire season 8? I’m aware that everyone in production was searching for a solution, and the simplest solution was to just throw everything out the window and claim it was all a dream. You can resume where you left off and omit the entire year after that. ”.
Despite the mixed reactions to Bobby Ewing’s return, Duffy told PEOPLE viewers who were pleased to see him back on the show that they should thank his costar Larry Hagman, who portrayed the primary antagonist and Bobby’s older brother, J. R. Ewing.
“I received a message on my answering machine from Larry Hagman, asking me to have Patrick come over and get wasted in the jacuzzi. Duffy, 74, recalled, “I want to talk to you. “I informed my wife that Larry would ask me to return to the show, and I did so at Haggy’s request. ”.
The couple was able to foresee how Duffy’s return would play out thanks to his wife’s “literary knowledge.”. The actor says that his wife immediately told him, “Well, you can’t come back on the show unless that entire season was a dream.”. We’ve talked about what she said for a very long time after that, and she only used her literary knowledge to support her claim. Dreams appear in about half of Shakespeare’s plays. ”.
Linda Gray, 82, who portrayed J.
in Dallas, gave a speech about the show’s legacy.
Because the show ran for so many years, the audience got to know the characters so genuinely and they really cared for [them], and the characters all went through so much, according to Ewing’s wife Sue Ellen, who speaks to PEOPLE. ”.
“And I believe the fans really enjoyed being able to relate to the stories that were bigger than life. They were, in my opinion, definitely larger than life, which allowed them to experience those characters’ lives through them. Dallas had enormous influence. ”.
Amazon Freeview offers streaming access to Dallas’ 13 first seasons.
