Bringing Back Bobby: A No-Win Situation

[Dr. Thong]

It's generally considered that when Dallas wiped out the Bobby-less season of 1985-86 so that he never actually died that Dallas "jumped the shark."

But I was thinking about it and bringing back Bobby Ewing was a no-win situation no matter how you look at it. What could they do??

* Evil twin that until now no one knew about?

* He's been secretly kept alive for some reason?

* He was cloned from Bobby's DNA after Bobby's death?

* A guy with plastic surgery made to look like Bobby?

These are all daytime soap-type scenarios and none of them would have worked. I think the Dallas producers would have taken crap no matter what, so they wiped out the season as Pam's dream and things went back to the status quo.

What do you people think? Could there have been a credible way to bring back Bobby without resorting to some daytime soap-like contrivance??

[Mr. Television]

Originally Posted by Dr. Thong

It's generally considered that when Dallas wiped out the Bobby-less season of 1985-86 so that he never actually died that Dallas "jumped the shark."

But I was thinking about it and bringing back Bobby Ewing was a no-win situation no matter how you look at it. What could they do??

* Evil twin that until now no one knew about?

* He's been secretly kept alive for some reason?

* He was cloned from Bobby's DNA after Bobby's death?

* A guy with plastic surgery made to look like Bobby?

These are all daytime soap-type scenarios and none of them would have worked. I think the Dallas producers would have taken crap no matter what, so they wiped out the season as Pam's dream and things went back to the status quo.

What do you people think? Could there have been a credible way to bring back Bobby without resorting to some daytime soap-like contrivance??

I think #2 would have been the best. Sure they would have taken some flack but nothing like they got for having the dream season. I don't actually think Dallas JTS after that either because the 1986-87 season was very enjoyable to me. It started going down hill the season after that when Pam left and it got worst as more and more of the original cast left. The Dream season in itself was still a better season than the last 2 seasons combined.

[Ireneparalegal]

Well, DNA wasn't available at that time like it is now, so I don't think that would work. I may be in the minority here but the only good way to bring him back was to have the "dream season" scenario. Seriously only because that whole season with Miss Nero was horrible. I hated the whole show looking like DYNASTY. The only good parts were Sue Ellen hitting rock bottom and Ray and Donna dealing with the young boy who had Down's Syndrome. Those two storylines were awesome and yet, they were gone with the dream season. Shame. I was happy to have Bobby back as Dallas was never the same without him. I was happy to see Pam and Bobby be together. Although the whole Jenna pregnant with Bobby's child had me upset. I didn't like how they had Pam offer to "buy" her child...uke:
Stupid writers. God, I could go on and on and on.

[Mr. Television]

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

Well, DNA wasn't available at that time like it is now, so I don't think that would work. I may be in the minority here but the only good way to bring him back was to have the "dream season" scenario. Seriously only because that whole season with Miss Nero was horrible. I hated the whole show looking like DYNASTY. The only good parts were Sue Ellen hitting rock bottom and Ray and Donna dealing with the young boy who had Down's Syndrome. Those two storylines were awesome and yet, they were gone with the dream season. Shame. I was happy to have Bobby back as Dallas was never the same without him. I was happy to see Pam and Bobby be together. Although the whole Jenna pregnant with Bobby's child had me upset. I didn't like how they had Pam offer to "buy" her child...uke:
Stupid writers. God, I could go on and on and on.

Even worst is when the stupid writers paired Jenna and Ray up. They had no chemistry and then the whole Charlie and Brad Pitt storyline. hno:

[snl 70s show fan]

Originally Posted by Clint Eastwood Fan

I think #2 would have been the best. Sure they would have taken some flack but nothing like they got for having the dream season. I don't actually think Dallas JTS after that either because the 1986-87 season was very enjoyable to me. It started going down hill the season after that when Pam left and it got worst as more and more of the original cast left. The Dream season in itself was still a better season than the last 2 seasons combined.

i agree

[AB]

I agree, Him being secretly kept alive would have been the best solution.

[Ireneparalegal]

Originally Posted by Clint Eastwood Fan

Even worst is when the stupid writers paired Jenna and Ray up. They had no chemistry and then the whole Charlie and Brad Pitt storyline. hno:

Oh God yes. Horrible. Jenna was no more Ray's type than Donna was. Not only that, I hated the Jenna character ever since Morgan Fairchild played her and then that horrid old-looking actress who played the character. God, the writers really wanted us to forget the "old" Jenna and bring on Priscilla Presley and make her this whole "let's feel sorry for Jenna" because she is poor and struggling, blah blah blah. uke:

No thank you.

Don't even get me started on that stupid brat Charlie. Stupid, whiny brat.

[snl 70s show fan]

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

Oh God yes. Horrible. Jenna was no more Ray's type than Donna was. Not only that, I hated the Jenna character ever since Morgan Fairchild played her and then that horrid old-looking actress who played the character. God, the writers really wanted us to forget the "old" Jenna and bring on Priscilla Presley and make her this whole "let's feel sorry for Jenna" because she is poor and struggling, blah blah blah. uke:

No thank you.

Don't even get me started on that stupid brat Charlie. Stupid, whiny brat.

they were also both world class nerds imho

[Don Howard]

The solution is don't bring Patrick Duffy back. He said he wanted to leave and make it a complete ending and hoped to be killed off. So that's what happened. You make your bed and you lie in it. Henry Blake wasn't brought back from the dead. There was excitement planned for the 1986-87 season that we never got to see:
* Sue Ellen blinded by the explosion
* Jack and Cliff teaming up against J.R. to exact vengeance for Jamie's death
* Ben Stivers would REALLY have been Jock
* J.R. would have been in default to The Cattleman's Bank because those papers blew up in the explosion
From the start of that 1986-87 season with the wipeout of the year before, DALLAS began its slide toward being a shadow of its former self.
And the dream situation was an insult to the audience.

[caladon]

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

Well, DNA wasn't available at that time like it is now, so I don't think that would work.

Funny you should say that; in 1978, a made for TV movie called The Clone Master, dealt with that subject and oddly enough, it starred actor Art Hindle, who later went on to play Jeff Farrady on Dallas.

[MickeyMac]

I think the dream sequence was the best way to go to explain Bobby's return.

[hoosierelvisfan]

Erasing all the story lines from the "dream season" was a total waste. Personally, I did not like it either when Pam had her accident and then she was only showed in full bandage mode and then left all together after leaving a note to Bobby and Christopher. Personally, I didn't like that storyline at all. After Bobby came back after the dream season, it seems like Dallas was not the same due to the cast changing and long time members of the cast leaving, etc. It just seemed like the show was hobbling along, not quite getting to full-strength.

Signed,
Respectfully,
Dutch

[plmkr88]

Originally Posted by Dr. Thong

It's generally considered that when Dallas wiped out the Bobby-less season of 1985-86 so that he never actually died that Dallas "jumped the shark."

But I was thinking about it and bringing back Bobby Ewing was a no-win situation no matter how you look at it. What could they do??

* Evil twin that until now no one knew about?

* He's been secretly kept alive for some reason?

* He was cloned from Bobby's DNA after Bobby's death?

* A guy with plastic surgery made to look like Bobby?

These are all daytime soap-type scenarios and none of them would have worked. I think the Dallas producers would have taken crap no matter what, so they wiped out the season as Pam's dream and things went back to the status quo.

What do you people think? Could there have been a credible way to bring back Bobby without resorting to some daytime soap-like contrivance??

I had read some years ago one of the producers or someone said that "He'd been secretly kept alive" was the original plan on how to handle his return. I believe some scenes were even shot to adapt to this storyline (The Enquirer or Star Mag was able to obtain pics of those scenes being shot).

However for some reason the producers went the direction of "it was all a dream" instead. Which was a serious miscalculation and screw up. It really was the moment the show lost a lot of viewers , and hence the quality dropped because the budget had dropped.

If we are talking "Should Have's " obviously the first should have is that they shouldn't have killed Bobby off. But if they were, they should have let Katherine get away after she did it so that THEN they could use the story line of "secretly kept alive" to protect Bobby from Katherine finding him again.

Even then, even after killing off Katherine though they shoulda gone the route of keeping him alive secretly over the "it was all a dream". They coulda found some way or some reason for that storyline. The dream thing totally ruined the show.

[TMC]

One suggestion that I just read was that if they were going to bring Patrick Duffy back without going out of their way to destroy the entire credibility of the series then they could've had was that instead of it being Pamela's dream it should of been Bobby's. To elaborate, Bobby would have been in a coma and "died". During the process of him dying, Bobby would see the season where J.R. took over and ran rampant over the Ewings and his enemies. He would have woken up from his death, in the morgue shouting “where am I?” With new a desire to stop the devious J.R. and the show could have gone into reset with a new purpose.