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Dallas - The Complete Seventh Season

Dallas Season 7 has arrived on DVD and what a glorious summertime treat this is. I devoured this like a dime store novel, it's a riveting ride through the decadent lifestyle of the wicked guys and gals of Dallas - forever trapped in the eighties, much to my delight.

1983-84 was when the decade's top-rated show expanded from 28 to to 30 episodes, the pace is slower than previous seasons with the women more often dominating the story progressions. With the success of Dynasty on ABC, Dallas got an upgrade this season with more high fashions and ---- catfights.

This DVD collection explodes out of the gate with Southfork fully engulfed in flames; oddly, by the second episode, the tragedy is explained away as mostly smoke damage. So what? Dallas is basically a cartoon and a damn fine one.

The storylines bounce from one disasterous setup to another. Watch as boozy Sue Ellen shacks up with the speedo wearing kid from The Blue Lagoon, Ray Krebbs goes on trial for killing Lucy's wimpy boyfriend, Bobby and Pam divorce as Pam's sister moves in on her ex-hubby, the Oil Barons Ball decends into meelee once again, and JR's long suffering scretary Sly finally gets her own storyline - and it's a good one.

Poor Sly (portrayed adorably by Deborah Rennard) spent more time on that series than practically any other woman but rarely ever had more to do than say, "Good morning, J.R." It's a wonder they didn't do more with the character, she lasted with the series until the end - unlike Donna, Sue Ellen, Pam, Miss Ellie or any of the other core cast.

As a bonus there's all-new featurette with the story behind the theme song entitled 'The Music of Dallas.' Many fans believe this is one of the best seasons of the show - I didn't expect it to be as good as it was, the season starts slowly but builds to a rousing crescendo with one of the most amazing cliff hangers in the show's history.

The next year of Dallas - that's when it really gets weird.

Dallas: The Complete Third Season
Oh this is great! I became a big fan of Dallas when I got caught up watching the series in reruns late at night.

It is one of the funniest shows ever on TV - Sue Ellen's drinking binges, Jock Ewing's grave pronouncements, Bobby and Pam's obsequiousness, Kristin's naked scheming, Cliff Barnes' dopeyness, Miss Ellie's warmth - and it's all capped off with duplicitous JR being shot down in the hallway. This one's got it all!

There are several good reasons why Dallas was the most popular program in the world in 1980; the scripts move along at a rapid pace, everything's beautifully shot, and the characters are broadly drawn. Especially good are performances by Barbara Bel Geddes as Miss Ellie and Jim Davis as Jock, they give a strong center to what otherwise would be farcical. (Jim Davis, one of the great western stars of all time, tragically passed away during the fourth season.)

There is a documentary included as an extra, and it's surprisingly good, detailing the impact Dallas had with most of the principal actors involved. There is also added commentary over two episodes by Linda Gray and Patrick Duffy that is absolutely worthless in terms of insight as they discuss the clothing and the cars and little else; that was the one disappointment.

I really like the way Warner Home Video packages their DVD releases. The foldout boxes make a lot of sense, the whole package feels substantial and the graphics are consistently pleasing. You feel like you're getting a quality product, and you are.

If you're looking for a great, fun TV experience I whole-heartedly recommend the third season (and beyond) of Dallas.

Dallas, The Complete Fourth Season
The fourth season of Dallas roars to a start with the 'Who Shot JR' story arc and jumps along from one tawdry storyline to another until a body is found floating in the pool. Like a trashy novel you take on vacation, TV's most popular drama was the first post-modern nighttime soap opera that transcended the seventies to become a eighties sensation.

Dallas defined network drama in 1980-81 when theses programs first aired: the stuck-in-the-'70's fashions, idealized apartments decorated in brown toned furniture and foil wallpaper, drunken behavior elevated to high art and infidelity presented as a valiant pursuit.

Besides JR's sneaky moves (a joy to behold) season four follows a sodden Sue Ellen chasing after her 'dead' lover Dusty, trashy Afton sleeping her way to stardom, Lucy's luckless marriage to an uptight med student, Pam's pathetic attempts to hold her marriage together, Cliff Barnes' clownish attempts to upstage JR, and other assorted mayhem; its comedia-del-art with laughs from start to finish, including episode four - Who Done It? - which became the most-watched TV program of all time when it aired.

Giving Dallas its heart were the incomparable Barbra Bel Geddes and the legendary Jim Davis, who was dying of cancer at the time. Davis grew more frail as the the season ambled along but still retained that powerful presence that made him one of the western genre's finest actors; he passed away shortly before the end of this season.

As an extra you get the 2-hour special 'Dallas Reunion: The Return to Southfork', which aired in November 2004 and included most of the original cast.

This is one fantastic trashy trip back to 1980 and its all $27.99 with free shipping if you order online now!

Dallas - The Complete Sixth Season
Dallas is my guilty pleasure! Campy, biting, bitchy, reflective of a by-gone era; it all emerges as frothy fun, the kind of mindless entertainment TV was meant for.

The most popular show of the 1980s, Dallas is like a hot fudge sundae with too much whipped cream - but there are no cherries in sight here!

These 6th season episodes roll out with JR's cloddish nemesis Cliff Barnes in the hospital after a suicide attempt and old JR on the outs at Ewing Oil. This leads into a poolside wedding (if you've watched Dallas for any period of time you know what that means) and a Ewing BBQ that, of course, ends up in drunken disarray.

The fashions, the architecture (a lot of the exteriors were still being shot around Dallas and at the 'Southfork' ranch), the entire production is a snapshot of life in the late-1970s even though these episodes actually harken back to 1982-83. That's what's so wild about Dallas in retrospect. That '70's sensibility still permeates; an overwhelming desire to hold on to the 1970s while the rest of American culture had moved on long ago. That reflected a reality shared by many wealthier folks of the time.

Business majors take note - you'll need to watch the kinds of tricks JR uses to advance himself, you may run across similar Machiavellian machinations in your professional life. Seriously, they're practically de riguer in today's cutthroat business climate.

Dallas - The Complete Sixth Season is real bang for your buck; 28 episodes on five discs, with one bonus - "Power and Influence: The Dallas Legacy," a mini-doc exploring the show's pop-culture influence.

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Dallas on DVD

Plot Outline The soapy, backstabbing machinations of Dallas oil magnate J.R. Ewing and his family.

Product Description: Out of the fire, into the frying pan: Southfork in flames is just the start of a season of hot-blooded romance and sizzling schemes. Pam and Bobby split up and other folks team up: Miss Ellie with Clayton Farlow and Sue Ellen with a hunky Dallas darlin' young enough to be her son. Meanwhile, it seems the brothers Ewing may be sharing control of Ewing Oil, guiding the company to more and mightier millions. But sharing makes J.R. as happy as a wildcatter drilling dust, so you can just imagine the conniving to come. Yup, Season 7 is a web of backroom deals and courtroom drama, jealousy and treachery, blackmail and bourbon. And in the center sits J.R., hiding his guile behind a big ol' Texas smile.

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