Dallas - Seasons 1-2 (DVD, 2004, 5-Disc Set)

I remember well when Dallas first came on. I caught the first episode while channel surfing and was totally hooked after that! In the first episode, Bobby brings Pam home. They just got married without telling anyone. But there is a teeny little problem. Pam is the daughter of "Digger Barnes." At one time, Digger Barnes and Jock Ewing (Bobby's father) wildcatted for oil together. But somehow Jock wound up with all the fortune and Digger wound up a broke and broken man. And rightly or wrongly (probably rightly, at least in part) he blames the Ewings for his misfortunes. They, in turn, consider him little more than scum and blame him for his own mistakes. The bad blood is Hatfield and McCoy stuff. The Ewings (especially big brother JR), are prepared to destroy Digger's daughter and run her off in short order, but Pam proves to be no shrinking violet and does what virtually no one else ever could... takes on JR... with class... and steals our hearts. That's just the first episode. Besides being the first-ever prime-time "soap opera," Dallas was thoroughly entertaining, and the cast was brilliant. Nobody could ever replace JR... or Bobby... or Miss Ellie... or the original Jock. Sadly, the actor who played Jock passed away and had to be replaced. In the beginning, there were no cliffhangers. Every episode had an ending, though the overall plot was carried on. The cliffhangers would come later, forcing us to tune in week after week to see what was going to happen next. And who can forget the infamous season ending cliffhangers, like "Who shot JR?" Or "Dead" Bobby taking a shower. Dallas is one of the all-time great TV series.

Despite the passage of 30 years since the first "Dallas" season, this series hasn't lost its appeal, but then avarice, revenge, and feuding families have always made good plot elements. Shakespeare made rather heavy use of them, as have many other writers whose works have endured the centuries. "Dallas" may not endure centuries, but it's well worth buying and watching if you like drama and primetime soaps.

I was a young teacher in February of 1978, when "Dallas" first aired. I remember all the chatter about it at work. I didn't watch it that first season because it was a mid-season replacement, and I feared I'd get hooked, then the network would drop it. Fortunately, most people didn't think that way. The show's ratings were good enough to make it a keeper, and I never missed an episode from that fall on. My husband and I became such staunch "Dallas" fans that we actually named a son from the show ... Jared for Jared Martin, who played Dusty beginning in season 3, I think it was; middle name Reagan, because he was born right after Reagan's inauguration; and that gave him the initials "J.R.," which is what my husband has always called him.

Awhile back, I got a hankering to watch "Dallas" again from start to finish, and I was thrilled to find it on DVD and available for purchase on eBay. My husband and I are watching an episode a night. He calls it our "daily dose of Dallas." Those first five episodes are a little shaky, but from then on, it's solid.

If you remember it from it's original air dates or you're new to the "Dallas" phenomenon. You're bound to love it! There isn't much you don't love to hate about JR and of all the characters in it there is usually ONE that everyone can relate to.
In one of the first season episodes there was a "Hurricane" about to hit Dallas. Now, to people that don't live in Dallas, it was easy to imagine. To those of us that live here, well...like Larry Hagman mentioned in his book, it's some three hundred miles to the coastline. So, it must have been a whopper! But we didn't care. Most all of us loved it and still do. From the BBQ's to the Rodeos and Oil Barron's Ball, there was always a "catfight" and someone, usually JR, ended up being pushed into the swimming pool. Fasten your seatbelts and be prepared to laugh, cry and poke a little fun at "Dallas".

Dallas is an iconic television series of the 1970's, 80's, and early 1990's about a rich, oil family with a lot of cheating, sex, and scandals. Season one and two are arguably the best seasons of the entire series. You'll enjoy it!

Great collection of first episodes of the show Dallas, including a mini reunion with cast members.A great soap opera classic.