What has become of this family? A bunch of ungrateful whiners!"

I've written extensively about Dallas (you can click on Season Five, Season Six, Season Seven, Season Eight, and Season Nine to read my earlier reviews), and I make no bones about being fascinated with its unabashed preoccupation with, and celebration of, American wealth and American sex and American power. Featuring the single greatest villain ever created for television (in the guise of utter rat bastard, J.R. Ewing, played brilliantly by Larry Hagman), Dallas, minute for minute, was the best drama on TV in the late 70s and early-to-mid 80s, creating a world of "haves" and "have-mores" who screwed each other over with utter, madcap abandon, an upside-down Dickensonian world where it was always "the best of times" at least financially, while the participants rutted and backstabbed in a morally suspect universe more akin to Dreiser. It makes for endlessly amusing TV, with a solid dramatic core that keeps you coming back for more.

SPOILERS ALERT!

But...then they killed off Bobby. As the show aged and started to run out of steam, repeating ideas and themes and storylines from previous seasons, this final break with the family dynamic that was the absolute core of the show - the battle between the Light (Bobby) and the Darkness (J.R.) - was probably an irretrievable tipping point for fans. The ninth season went off on tangents that didn't interest loyal viewers, and then, incomprehensibly, that entire set of episodes was wiped out at the beginning of this tenth season, fobbed off as a fevered dream of Pam's that never happened. Considering the quality of the storylines in the ninth season, it's actually not too hard to put all of it out of our minds when Patrick Duffy manages a straight face and tells Victoria Principal: "It's over. None of that happened." We want to believe that, and we try to go along with the charade. And for the first dozen episodes or so, it sort of works here. I'm not sure where the character of Wes Parmalee (Steve Forrest) stands with other Dallas fanatics, but I always found the appearance of his character on Southfork a unique chance to perhaps get Dallas back into a true family triangle between father and two warring brothers, had the producers actually let Parmalee be the long-thought dead Jock Ewing. I never really "bought" the Clayton Farlow character as a Jock Ewing surrogate (although Howard Keel was, as always, quite entertaining in the role). The Clayton character, always chaffing at his vague role at Southfork, as well as in his shaky marriage to Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes), never provided that overwhelming paternal figurehead role that Jim Davis' Jock Ewing so effortlessly conjured up (ironically, it was probably the loss of such a paternal figure that allowed the J.R. character to come to the front of the series). Had the producers had the nerve to let Parmalee actually be Jock returned to Southfork, they could have strung along the tension for seasons (with characters repeatedly doubting if he truly was Jock), while providing a familiar framework that could have let subsequent Dallas seasons return to thematic elements that marked the earliest, best work of the series.

Watching the episodes with Forrest's Parmalee (Forrest is perfect for this kind of TV role), one certainly gets the feeling that perhaps the producers had at least considered such a possibility. Each episode is set up to bring Parmalee aboard as the real Jock, creating a fairly intriguing set of shows that reach a nicely tense climax when Parmalee shows up at Bobby's wedding to Pam. Yet inexplicably, right when the viewer is primed for a big showdown between the Ewing boys and Parmalee - as well as between Miss Ellie and possibly her dead husband - the producers deny the viewers a final confrontation scene between Miss Ellie and Parmalee (their final goodbye takes place off-camera), and the character simply disappears. Later, the truth of his identity is revealed, and several scenes throughout the next few episodes set up a revenge plot for a ticked-off Clayton - but again, this subplot is unexpectedly dropped, as well, with no explanation. Regardless of whether or not you would like the Parmalee character to actually be Jock, his sudden, unsatisfying departure is big letdown (particularly after his skillful, multi-episode build-up), and indicative of the failure of Season Ten to maintain the quality of earlier, better Dallas seasons.

The other major subplot this season involves J.R.'s involvement with a ultra-patriotic mercenary, B.D. Calhoun (Hunter von Leer). As Season Ten opens, the price of oil has fallen through the floor, and oil barons like J.R., who remember the boom times of $30 dollars a barrel oil, are wondering if there will even be an American oil industry as the Saudis flood the market with cheap product (quite a few episodes emphasize all the "little" people who are hurt by this - which plays as dull as it reads here - we don't watch Dallas to see what the little folks are up to). Naturally, J.R. isn't going to spend a lot of time screwing around with Cliff Barnes's (Ken Kercheval) and then Donna Krebbs' (Susan Howard) lobby to convince Washington to set up some tariffs - he's going right to the source, hiring Calhoun and his band of mercenaries to fly into Saudi Arabia and blow up a major oil field. But naturally, craven J.R. gets cold feet and rats Calhoun out to the CIA (when it looks like J.R. might go down for the crime), who put the kibosh on Calhoun's mission, killing some of his men in the process. What follows is an often-times ridiculous cat-and-mouse game where Calhoun stalks J.R. and his family, resulting in a totally ineffectual shoot-out between the Ewing boys and Calhoun. It's bad enough that this finale with Calhoun resembles a poor-man's badly-staged Mannix climax, but throughout the subplot, the weary, cliched approach to the suspense (as well as the inability of von Leer to create a memorably menacing villain) only reminds the viewer that Season Ten is a long, long way away from Dallas' earlier glory days.

One of the brighter spots this season is the arrival of April Stevens (Sheree J. Wilson), the foxy, smart-assed ex-wife of Jack Ewing (Dack Rambo) who comes looking for a buck and/or a...well, anyway. Wilson, who knows her way around a sly line reading, does quite well in her scenes with Hagman and the deliciously evil Jeremy Wendell (the deliciously funny William Smithers, who has one of the best line readings in Dallas history when, after besting an oblivious Cliff, states, "I like people who sell to the highest bidder...it's always me," as Wilson looks over at him with obvious delight at his hysterically funny read). She looks devastating in a bikini, as well (always a plus on Dallas), and she even manages to generate a little sympathy for the golddigging, scheming little minx April, when a tearful April finds herself lying to her mother about all the "friends" she has in Dallas. Unfortunately, not enough time is spent on her exploits while far, far too much time is spent on Dallas' most boring couple, Ray (Steve Kanaly) and Donna. Their marital turmoil, made lugubrious with endlessly repetitive scenes (Ray and Donna awkwardly meet; they want to say they love each other and stay together...but they just can't, before awkwardly parting until the next meeting), takes up way too much screen time in Season Ten, putting the Jenna (Priscilla Presley) character in the ridiculous position of falling in love with Ray (why she would do this, after appearing to lose her marbles when Bobby dumps her, and after discovering she's carrying Bobby's child, is anybody's guess).

Sue Ellen's (Linda Gray) silly subplot this season is the creation of a Victoria's Secret-inspired lingerie business, Valentine's, which Sue Ellen develops for the sole purpose of employing J.R.'s main squeeze, Mandy Winger (Deborah Shelton), to model the aforementioned slutty underwear. Somehow, the writers first make it appear that Sue Ellen wants to embarrass J.R. with Mandy's role as a pinup girl (with J.R. acting uncharacteristically prudish when he sees Mandy's photos - instead of slavering all over them), but then they have her involved in making movies with Mandy starring in them, all to get her out of town (it's really an ungainly, illogical mess of a subplot), and none of it is worthy of Gray's frequent tour-de-force work in previous seasons. The less said about Pam and her inconsequential doings here, the better.

Of course, Dallas was famous for the season-ending cliffhanger, and for this tenth season, the writers come up with a two-pronged attack that winds up being about as half-effective as other season finales. First, Pam drives under a propane truck and explodes. No problem there. But more distressing, the producers come up with the idea of having Ewing Oil broken up, with the family turning against J.R. for the last time, selling off their shares to him right on the brink of a major Department of Justice inquiry into J.R.'s dealings with Calhoun (a major subplot driven by one of the most mundane Dallas "villains" ever: poor, worthless widow of a mad bomber, Mrs. Scottfield - who cares?). Now, call me crazy, but if viewers started to piss and moan about the original Ewing family being broken up when first Jock and then the original Miss Ellie (to temporarily being replaced by Donna Reed), and then Bobby left the show, why would you end the return season (after you essentially told the viewers who slogged through the utterly superfluous ninth season, "Too bad you wasted all that time following Mark and Pam: we erasing all of that.") with the family breaking up again? Incredibly, even though Patrick Duffy was absent from the ninth season (except for the opening and closing episodes, of course), enough viewers tuned in to make that 1985-1986 season quite successful (6th for the year), even though it was down from the previous season's second-place finish. One might assume that NBC moving red-hot Miami Vice against Dallas on Friday nights accounted for lower ratings for both shows this season (Dallas wound up 11th, while Miami Vice went from 9th in '85-'86, to 27th for the 1986-1987 season). But I suspect both were victims of familiarity. Miami Vice was never anything more than a flash-in-the-pan fad, quickly discarded by viewers who soon tired of its music-video sameness. But Dallas had once been a Nielsen hit of genuine quality, a ratings behemoth that landed in the number one spot three times, and in the number two spot twice. By this tenth season, I suspect the viewers had finally seen just about enough of the Ewings that they'd care to see (I remember feeling back in '87 that the show seemed played out when Pam squished her Mercedes into that propane truck). While 11th was certainly a respectable number, it was still five slots down from the Bobby-less ninth season (so much for the idea that bringing back Duffy would stem the ratings' bleeding). And with the subsequent 11th season, Dallas would fall steeply, landing way down at 22nd on the Nielsen's. Creatively, Dallas had peaked seasons before, but this tenth season marked the last time that a significant number of viewers supported the show. They had finally had their fill of reincarnated characters, erased seasons, myriad family squabbles, and the umpteenth threat by other Ewings to cut J.R. off for good. The selling off of Ewing Oil should have felt epically tragic in the final episode of this season, considering the reach of Dallas in the pop culture, and the genuine quality of the writing in past go-arounds. But by this point, it feels strangely anti-climatic. For the first time watching Dallas, I could take or leave coming back to see what happens to the Ewings - a cardinal sin for a serial drama. The magic truly was over.

>

Here are the 29, one-hour episodes of the three-disc box set Dallas: The Complete Tenth Season, as described on the insert:

DISC ONE: SIDE A

Return to Camelot Part 1
It was all a dream. Bobby's alive, and most everything - schemes, dreams and danger - is as it was one year earlier. Ewing Oil Field 12 explodes, and Sue Ellen and Mandy unsheathe their claws over J.R..

Return to Camelot Part 2
It was all a dream. Bobby's alive, and most everything - schemes, dreams and danger - is as it was one year earlier. Ewing Oil Field 12 explodes, and Sue Ellen and Mandy unsheathe their claws over J.R..

Pari Per Sue
Mandy gets the feeling she's being followed. Cliff's itching to grab Jack's 10% share of Ewing Oil.

Once and Future King
The global oil patch: with a little paramilitary help, J.R. plots to cut of the world's supply of Arab crude.

Enigma
"Jock is dead! He died over five years ago in South America." Or did he? Wes Parmalee claims he's the missing Ewing patriarch.

DISC ONE: SIDE B

Trompe L'Oeil
The Ewing sons tell West to buy himself a one-way ticket out of Dallas. April, Jack's greedy ex, come to town.

Territorial Imperative
Two plots thicken: J.R.'s to invade Arab oil fields and Wes's to muscle his way into the family.

The Second Time Around
Pam and Bobby's wedding has everything: music, flowers, a radiant bride...and a groom with a pregnant girlfriend.

Bells Are Ringing
J.R., bless his heart, knows how to save his brother's wedding; same groom, different bride!

Who's Who at the Oil Baron's Ball?
Wes stirs up a Texas tornado when he takes the stage at the Oil Baron's Ball to announce he's really Jock Ewing.

DISC TWO: SIDE A

Proof Positive
Testing, testing. Wes takes a polygraph, Pam pushes the limit with Jenna, Clayton gauges the strength of his marriage.

Something Old, Something New
Play with fire, expect to get burned. J.R.'s in deep with the Feds when news of his Saudi adventure gets out.

Bar-B-Qued
Is Wes truly Jock Ewing - or the lyingest polecat to hit Dallas since J.R.? Bobby finds out.

The Fire Next Time
Clayton wants Wes Parmalee's hide. Jeremy Wendell wants Ewing Oil. Donna wants out of her marriage.

So Shall Ye Reap
J.R. walks into his office and finds a man waiting for him. A dead man. Must be a message from B.D. Calhoun.

DISC TWO: SIDE B

Tick, Tock
Ray and Clayton go into business together. Sue Ellen meets an attractive man who has an ominous tie to J.R..

Night Visitor
Wake up, J.R.! That tick-tick-ticking beside your bed is definitely not a clock.

Cat and Mouse
Nice to see you: Ray visits Donna, Cliff and Wendell meet up and Sue Ellen spends the night with someone she can't remember.

High Noon for Calhoun
J.R. finds himself and John Ross facing death when B.D. Calhoun seeks revenge - with a gun.

Olio
In California, J.R. recuperates from his wound while the police keep Bobby and Ray cooling their heels.

DISC THREE: SIDE A

A Death in the Family
Jamie's death has some folks grieving - and J.R. hankering after her 10% share of Ewing Oil.

Revenge of the Nerd
Cliff has a tough time playing heartbroken widower - and an easy time trying to cash in on Jamie's estate.

The Ten Percent Solution
Jamie may have been murdered and Cliff's a suspect. How nice, and it isn't even J.R.'s birthday.

Some Good, Some Bad
Bobby and Ray come to blows over Jenna. Pam and Cliff part ways over the Wendell deal.

War and Peace
As Mrs. Scottfield schemes against the Ewings, the court decides the ownership of Jamie's share of Ewing Oil.

DISC THREE: SIDE B

Ruthless People
Revenge has always been the name of the game in Dallas. Now Wendell wants to be a player.

The Dark at the End of the Tunnel
Break out the single-barrel bourbon! At last J.R. gains control of Ewing Oil - just in time for a big DOJ investigation.

Two-Fifty
With Bobby's help, J.R. battles the Justice Department in a bid to save the empire his daddy built.

Fall of the House of Ewing
Ewing Oil teeters on the brink, Clayton faces a medical crisis and Pam drives straight into a fiery tragedy.

The DVD:

The Video:
Distressingly, Dallas: The Complete Tenth Season comes crammed onto three flipper discs, as opposed to previous seasons' five-disc offerings. An additional episode has been added to each side, making for some obvious compression problems, including some shimmering and smearing (interfacing was also a problem). Even on a smaller monitor, these transfers look more akin to VHS copies than digital. As well, as with all the Dallas DVDs I've reviewed, the source materials look quite beat up, with scratches, dirt and some nasty splices here and there. Even worse, episode 13, The Fire Next Time, looks to be a second or third generation video dupe, which has also been time-compressed, with a noticeable speeding-up of the audio track, and a 45-minute run time. That's really unacceptable. A particularly poor showing for this season.

The Audio:
The Dolby Digital English mono audio track accurately reflects the original network broadcast presentation. Subtitles and close-captions are available.

The Extras:
Not surprisingly, there are no extras included on this season. My guess is, Warner Bros. knows that sales for these later post-Bobby-dying seasons will be smaller, so why waste the money on producing extras for them? Too bad.

Final Thoughts:
They almost pull off a decent season this go-around. The Wes Parmalee character held some intriguing promise if the producers had either gone for broke and actually made him Jock Ewing, or had at least strung the mystery along further, giving him an appropriate finale (instead of unceremoniously dropping him from the show, without a final confrontation scene with Miss Ellie and the boys). And scheming little minx April is real easy on the eyes - as well as being quite adept at holding her own with those hams J.R. Ewing, Cliff Barnes, and Jeremy Wendell. Unfortunately, Dallas: The Complete Tenth Season is full of half-hearted attempts to revive the old Dallas magic which unfortunately go nowhere fast. Good moments are scattered about, but overall, the series is clearly in decline. I recommend Dallas: The Complete Tenth Season to fans, obviously, who have to see Bobby come back to life in the shower, but I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about Season Eleven; it's difficult at this point to gather up much enthusiasm. Skip it if you're not a die-hard fan.