In this discussion I should discuss the esthetics of Dallas but since I am alone and nobody around to discuss and argue with I give my own opinion about this phenomena. I have to confess that so far I have seen every(!) part of this television series. So I am a really fan of it. When I am not home my video tape recorder does its job. I think that I had to write all this things to clarify my attitude to the series. But I am trying to be not prejudiced.
Dallas is the most successful television series of all time. It is shown and being shown in 96 countries and was seen by one billion six hundred million people so far. So many people can not be wrong. The story has something that is so attractive that people just can not stop following it. Of course not everything is esthetic that is attractive.
This story is a family and an economic story in one. It is about the higher mountain tops and deepest valleys, benevolence and malevolence, love and hate, money and gun - real or theorical. So it has everything that a common "interesting" story needs. But why is not it a common story? This is a complex question. A series or a film can be very variable depending on the sources it was made of. This case the components has pretty good quality. This is the basic thing that makes it successful. There are a lot of people who think that if something is successful and is liked by many people it has to be something garbage but at least ridiculous. This group of people declare this in connection with everything that other people like. Most of the cases these "critics" did not even seen a part of that series. If they are asked what they think about an actor they ask: "Who is that? I have never heard of him! I don't care!" That is it. The whole thing is dead for them but good or nothing about a dead. This series would not be so famous and popular if the actors, actresses and the film makers were not be professionals. Let's see some other soup operas that are relatively popular! The series Top model is seen by millions but its quality of direction and participants is far beyond Dallas. The story of Top model is quite constructive but unfortunatelly they could not make a real success of it. But of course it is not bad. Why should every television series be nominated to Oscar? There is a huge number of viewers who just want to see or - in the kitchen during cooking - hear a simple story just to prevent hemself from boring. For that purpose soup operas are really good things. For example the "Kisasszony" is objectively a bubbling foam, a cream where nothing was more important than - so called - romantics. With this effort they made a really low quality television series. So what? It is broadcasted in the afternoon not in the evening there is the opportunity not to see it. I do not think that a Frederico Fellini or a Zefirelli film would make the job in the afternoon.
Why is Dallas in the evening? The professionalism made the best of it. If we take a look at the environment (houses, cars, furniture, clothes etc.) we can see that the makers wanted to make it real. They live and behave as they would in real life. Of course with that little extra that has made a film of it instead of reality.
The author of Dallas Arthur Bernard Lewis has made a very complex and sophisticated work. The story is the creation of him, David Jacobs and the millions of the viewers. Viewers had a very important role during the making of the series. The film makers took it very seriously what the feedbacks said and suggested. The best illustration of it when Boby Ewing died. Millions of Americans wrote and protested against that step. They eased the pain: They made a dream out of Boby's death. Throughout about twenty episodes we thought that he is really dead and suddenly it turned out that it was only a dream. Everything that happened in those parts are lost. This was quite forced and constrained but they smoothed over it very well. Other feature that makes Dallas "viewer friendly": Every player had an experience that could happen to anybody. The actors are close to the viewers. There is not always just money and power but struggling, fighting, love, hate and everyday problems. The plot is not hidden behind some haze or curtain, it is close to anybody who can beleive those situations.
There is a wide range of characters in the series. There is good, bad, kind, tricky, honest, naughty, lucky and unlucky. The actors are the most important ingredients of the success. Larry Hagman - John Ross Ewing (J.R. Ewing but in Hungary he became Jockey(?)) - is the center figure of the film. The whole story is about him and the influence of his deeds. It is unambigous that he onr of the bad guys, but there are some more. The story is tensioned between good and bad. There can be some sort of counterbalance to balance the opposite features. Bobby Ewing - Patrick Duffy - is the good guy. But this is not so simple because there are other components of this good-bad opposition. Family relationships, business interests and love affairs. We can say that the whole story is divided into two parts. There are the goods and honests and the bads and naughties. Fortunatelly the goods rarely win that makes it more exciting. Other way that made it exciting is that ending of the episodes. Usually the climax is in the last second that suggests us to wait the next part eagerly. This is good way to keep the viewers in front of the screen every week. The flow of the story is very precisely planned and well-considered. Sometimes one event starts ten, twelve episodes earlier before it reaches its climax and during its development there can start five other important stream.
Complexity, consideration and the outstanding performance of the actors are the most important components of the success of Dallas. This television series is reached the maximum this kind of thing can reach. Though the actors who took part of the making of it did not reached outstanding other performances they are some of the best known actors in the world.
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