Keck's Exclusives: TNT Sets "Dallas'" Season 3 Premiere Date
Nov 18, 2013
by William Keck


TNT's "Dallas" will kick off its third season — the first without the late Larry Hagman as J.R. — on Monday, Feb. 24 at 9/8c. The season will start with a run of eight episodes before going on hiatus and returning in the summer with seven more.

"We will have two season openers and two cliffhangers," teases showrunner Cynthia Cidre. "We have tried this season to make the show more about Ewing family conflicts — secrets, lies and betrayals. And I think we have succeeded."

Adds executive producer Michael Robin: "This is a very sexy season with a roll in the hay and several hook-ups in a hotel. And we have lots of big events: Ewing barbecues and the biggest Southfork wedding yet!"

http://www.tvguide.com/News/TNT-Dallas-Premiere-1073536.aspx

Moving it until around the end of sweeps is probably a good idea. I still see it as more successful as a summer show. The split season may not be such a good idea. I guess we will see how it goes now that Larry is gone and his storyline is resolved. There may be tough sledding ahead.

I hope this long stretch between season's doesn't hurt the show. I do think Larry's death will have some impact too.

I could be in the minority,but i didn't like the way they chose to have JR killed off. I would liked it better if they did a good old fashioned murder,with several suspects and it carrying over til this season vs what they did. I understand the fact that there was very little footage to work with of Larry Hagman,which didn't leave much of JR to work with...But they were able to weave together what they had to handle it the way they chose to do it..I think they could have gone the other route for an actual murder mystery..but thats just my thoughts on it

I hope this long stretch between season's doesn't hurt the show. I do think Larry's death will have some impact too.

I know what you mean,i wonder how many people,who don't read message boards or stuff like these places,think it was canceled. It has been a while.

I wonder if some people just forgot about it,i did for a while.

I could be in the minority,but i didn't like the way they chose to have JR killed off. I would liked it better if they did a good old fashioned murder,with several suspects and it carrying over til this season vs what they did. I understand the fact that there was very little footage to work with of Larry Hagman,which didn't leave much of JR to work with...But they were able to weave together what they had to handle it the way they chose to do it..I think they could have gone the other route for an actual murder mystery..but thats just my thoughts on it
That would have been good. I think they had very little footage of Larry that could be pieced together to look plausible, plus they probably wanted to make a clean break in the series with Larry deceased rather than dragging out his death both on the show and in real life.
Having the ending they did (not giving any spoilers) was pure J.R. so it worked.
They need to publicize the new season well, but the show is now at a make or break point because they still naturally centered it around J.R. and they really need to find the right focal point moving forward and having the right hero, villian, and in between characters will be important. I don't know how Ken Kercheval's health is or how much he is willing to work, so some combination of Cliff and Harris Ryland would be a good antagonist for the Ewings. Bobby would be the new patriarch who tries to do things on the level while Christopher and John Ross are in between with each having his flaws, one skews toward good and one toward bad.

This will probably be make or break year-
the audience has to watch for the next generation now and I hope the cast will want to continue for years...
I really think the show must not have realized Larry Hagman was so sick and they hadn't prepared extra scenes and all.
They could have handled it like they did when Jim Davis (Jock) died...on the show they had him missing for a long time and there were some great storylines.
My scenerio if I were writing would have been that JR needed plastic surgery and was made to look like Bobby, and Patrick Duffy could have played both roles
The show writing is high quality, and being on cable means they don't need great ratings, and if enough people watch, it could go on for years.
Last long enough to at least warrant a reunion ten years down the road, etc.

Also, I really like Emma Bell as Emma. Good casting last year for her.

The 2nd season was shown so long ago, I forget what I did see. When it was repeated I did see the last 10 hours again. Having long waits makes you forget. Anyway I did want to see Pam, Chris' mother. If Pam has surgery they could have used a different actress for the part. I didn't like having her dead. But maybe having her alive would have felt awkward for now Bobby has Annie.

This will probably be make or break year-
the audience has to watch for the next generation now and I hope the cast will want to continue for years...
I really think the show must not have realized Larry Hagman was so sick and they hadn't prepared extra scenes and all.
They could have handled it like they did when Jim Davis (Jock) died...on the show they had him missing for a long time and there were some great storylines.
My scenerio if I were writing would have been that JR needed plastic surgery and was made to look like Bobby, and Patrick Duffy could have played both roles
The show writing is high quality, and being on cable means they don't need great ratings, and if enough people watch, it could go on for years.
Last long enough to at least warrant a reunion ten years down the road, etc.

Also, I really like Emma Bell as Emma. Good casting last year for her.

You make some good points, but I do not think that the audience would ever accept anybody else in the J.R. role. Not even Patrick Duffy, although I'm not sure how plastic surgery would make him sound different and be younger, etc. It just wouldn't work. Larry Hagman was just that special and I don't even think a daytime soap which does frequent recasts would try to replace such an icon.
Maybe if Larry had known and announced an approved successor with his blessing, but even then that is some gigantic shoes to fill. People just wouldn't think it was the same.
Larry Hagman was J.R.

I have watched Young/Restless since the early 1980s.
And until recently YR was the best at keeping the history going of a show, and there were a lot of crossovers of actors on YR (especially in secondary roles), turning up on Dallas (or Knots Landing).
Helped that they all were on CBS.
And while a normal recast wouldn't work for JR, wouldn't it be fun to have seen Patrick play evil instead of the nice Bobby he always did.

(a lost twin allows some soap stars to play two roles.)
Of course, JR was Larry Hagman (though Larry Hagman of course wasn't the evil JR in real life, from all I have read, Larry was more like his character on Jeannie than JR, shows what a good actor he was).

On YR, how many characters are ghosts on that show now?
Its been years since they killed off John Abbott and he still shows up (as does Cassie, whom the show made a major mistake killing off years ago so the actress could go to school.)

But with good writing,and with lower expectations for ratings, it could last for years, but as said, the actors portraying the younger ones will need to stay with it.

The show is more suited for summer than winter, so it might be a blessing that it will be in two parts this year.

In a way, perhaps they should consider it two separate short seasons.

They do need to advertise it continuously so people know its out there.
And promote it by having the actors do talk shows, not just now, but throughout the year.

BTW- Ray Wise just started on YR in a real nasty role- someone like him
would be perfect. (actually Ray was on Dallas years ago before he was famous).
And perhaps have Eric Braeden (Victor Newman) show up on Dallas.
Why not?
One would think a mega money man like Victor could be written in, or viceversa, crossover, which could bring in the still many fans of YR to the show. (I believe the two channels are sister stations, no?)

While they are attempting to skewer young, don't forget us aging boomers
and book some older guest stars :happyface :lol:
(though he seems to be retired from acting, and would be a big stretch to think he would do it, wouldn't it be great to see say, Gene Hackman as a badguy