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From the Dallas scriptwriter

With the exception of Barbara Bel Geddes (the Southfork Ranch matriarch, Miss Ellie), Jacobs was less than awed by the acting of the female leads

Well, yes…..

9 thoughts on “From the Dallas scriptwriter”

  1. An Aussie friend said to me that one difference between the British and American shows they got on Aussie telly is that in the British shows everyone could act, even people in the minor parts.

    I sarcastically asked whether the British extras were better. Yes, said he, even the extras.

  2. Well, one of them was a drunk, a tramp and an unfit mother . . .

    From what I saw, the acting seemed appropriate to the writing.

  3. dearieme

    That is why US TV is now full of British, Irish and Aussie ( with the occasional Saffer thrown in ) actors.

    Arthur Marshall was a big Dallas fan and he used to do a great skit on talk shows where he would describe these huge breakfasts on the terrace, always filmed in a Force 9 gale, where the women ( Sue Ellen especially ) would all say something incomprehensible and then disrobe and go for a swim in the rather choppy looking pool.

  4. Dennis, Remembering The Mammaries

    Charlene Tilton had two enormous talents that awed me.

    And let’s be clear here: The writing for Dallas was shit enough that it rapidly turned into a jiggle show. Tits and Larry Hagman (the only character in the series that actually required a true actor was JR Ewing) are what kept Dallas at the top, not Jacobs’ writing.

    And let’s be even more clear here: Tits don’t have to have acting ability. Most of the female cast looked like they’d been shot in the back with a couple of missiles. That was the primary requirement for the part and that’s why they got the job.

  5. Dallas was inexplicable wasn’t it? Apart from the tits, of course. I can recall being at the Dominion, Tottenham Court Road where a band had hired the venue at considerable expense to do a promotional gig. Come their set, the entirety of the invited music press were in the lounge watching Dallas. I think it may have been the Who Shot JR episode.
    But I find most of broadcast TV inexplicable. I can only presume it’s made for those of the ovine persuasion.

  6. I seem to remember that Dallas only became popular in the UK after Terry Wogan started extracting the urine out of it on his radio show.

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