Last week, I headed back to Dallas and the Southfork ranch along with a bunch of other folks. According to news reports, 6.8 million of us watched the premiere last week, meaning that TNT won the night last Wednesday. In case you missed it, here's a run down on the episode. I think its well worth watching.
The series kept the music score, and hearing the theme song casts a bunch of right back into some better years when the economy looked brighter and adulthood was a bright shiny light, beckoning us to where all our dreams would come true. Some of us (me in particular) are still trying - but the Dallas premiere reminded me why I should have my fingers on a keyboard during every spare moment.
JR is back in true, dastardly form and has there ever been a villain we loved to hate as much as this one? Bobby is still the white knight tilting against windmills - and both men have young, hunky sons carrying on their legacies. Everyone wants Southfork, and a deep, abiding love of land is a theme that really resounds with most Americans.
As the series opens, JR's son, John Ross discovers oil on Southfork, a place the late Miss Ellie refused to allow ever to be drilled, and apparently her will spoke to that. John Ross is trying to have the will tossed out. Christopher, Bobby's kid, has been exploring alternate energy. In the opener, Bobby, who has run Southfork, is planning to sell it to help fund Christopher's new company. But an explosion in China means the alternative energy may not be ready for prime time, and we learn that JR and John Ross are bonding the way only Ewing's can - by trying to stab each other in the back in their attempts to gain control of the ranch.
There are also love issues aplenty, as JR is with a girl whose true love is Christopher. In the opener, Christopher marries another woman and we learn that his romance with JR's girl broke up because of an email he never sent. We also learn that that Christopher's new wife is running a scam with her brother, meaning that she wants the power and the wealth more than the love of any man - so she fits right in as a Ewing. Viewers see right away that John Ross's girl belongs with Christopher and Christoher's new wife belongs with John Ross. Yep, it feels a lot like a nice, steamy romance novel - a good one from back in the "old school" days.
My favorite thing about the new Dallas is that just like the old one, it's over-the-top all the way. That's my POV and writing style for all my romance novels. So, if you like the new Dallas, pick up one of my books and you'll see the same high-kicking spirit that takes you over the top and keeps heading upwards.
And if you missed the premiere of the show last week, tune in this Wednesday for a Dallas-sized dose of love and lust, power and passion, honor and betrayal