4/5 Texas soap opry
  by Roger Long (Port Clinton, OH USA)
I'm not quite sure why this series interests me. As Jim Davis (patriarch Jock Ewing in the series, until he died) said in an interview, "It's just a damned soap opera." And it is, with the usual elements of soap opera:

(1) Single dimension characters. J.R. is a strutting womanizer and liar. Bobby, with his trick or treat haircut, is the good brother. Sue Ellen is the drunk and hit-me victim. Pam just slices through life with nary a worry about the future or funds. Miss Ellie is too sweet and understanding for words. Cliff can be counted on to do something stupid and get taken by J.R. You get the picture.

(2) There are meaningful close-ups, often baleful. Also, lots of half-whispered dialogue that is supposed to be dramatic.

(3) Many dramatic scenes take place in hospitals and court rooms. Almost everyone has some life-threatening malady or is charged with a serious crime at one time or other

(4) Whenever anyone comes into a room, someone is sure to ask, "Can I get you a drink?" Copious amounts of whiskey, wine, vodka and beer are imbibed, whereupon characters get in their cars and buzz off somewhere. Only Sue Ellen wrecks her car while DWI.

(5) There's just one crisis after another--murders, kidnappings, several plane crashes, car wrecks, fires, rapes, etc.

(6) While awl bidness money is at the center of the plots and vast fortunes are seemingly lost, no one ever seems to worry about where the next meal is coming from or how to pay the mortgage.

(7) There's always a parking space at the front door of office buildings, hospitals, etc.

(8) The Ewings have breakfast al fresco, and there are no insects to bother them. And it only rains at night.

And yet I can't help watching season after season of this campy program. It's like watching that movie short of two steam train engines colliding head on at full speed. The women are all beautiful victims. The men are all womanizers. And they all have the morals of alley cats. How could I resist that combination? Art it is not. Not even close.

5/5 All In The Family
  by L. Bloom (Hollywood)
First of all just a few things to say about this:
1. I was never a big fan of Dallas as a nighttime soap opera. I missed the first several seasons and like the rest of the world became familiar just before the "Who Shot JR?" episode.

2. When this was on in primetime I always thought that the stories were dragged out to infinity. I would often miss 2-3 weeks of Dallas in a row and came back to find that nothing had changed.

3. When I moved away from home for several years I had no TV of my own and didn't really keep up with the show past 1985. This is about the time that Sue Ellen finds Dusty and JR finds Mandy. I remember finding this kind of stupid that after all of their marital problems apparently they had chose to have an open marriage, in which they each were free to fool around as openly as they liked. I remember the Ewing Rodeo which portrayed Sue Ellen and JR, despite being married each bringing separate dates. See Jump The Shark if you don't understand my point.

4. After being away from home, I finally got my first TV and found out that Dallas had been canceled by this time. No big deal to me just was curious as to how it had ended.

5. Later on I was finally able to afford cable. This was about the time that Dallas was shown twice a day on TNN. The daily showings only emphasized what I thought in the first place. The endless continued episodes and then many story lines are resolved ridiculously. I began watching on TNN sometime shortly before they introduced us to Jamie Ewing.

6. When TNN got to the end of the episodes, of course they began the whole series. I can't tell you what a relief it was to see storylines that actually made sense and could be resolved in 60 minutes as compared to the endless episodes with Jamie Ewing, Jack Ewing, Jeremy Wendell, Casey Denault, James Beaumont, Michelle Stevens, April Stevens, Wes Parmalee, Jenna Wade, Naldo, Carter McKay and family, and the queen bitch of them all Susan Lucci.

7. The last season was amongst the dumbest story lines ever put on the air, so that when the series started all over at the beginning it like a breath of fresh air.

8. A bit of irony is that the special feature segment has Hagman, Duffy, Linda Gray and Charlene Tilton as guests on a talk show where they are being welcomed to Soapnet. I watched the series on Soapnet and had yet another similar experience beginning my viewing shortly before the Dusty enters or something and ending up thanking God that the last season was over and we could start over again. After showing the first 2 seasons or so on Soapnet beginning July 2008. It was cancelled because of contractual BS or something.

9. This is my favorite season of Dallas, before any body shot anybody, before cliffhangers, and storylines that moved as slow as molasses and seemed incoherent enough to have been written by a fifth grader.

10. Despite numerous complaints about the quality of the transfer I see absolutely nothing wrong with it.

11. Petty criticism may be but I could've lived without at least 2 characters. The "Garnet McGee" story seemed pointless firstly because whoever played the character can't sing and during the segments where she is trying to sing, she actually sounds like she is trying not to break out laughing. I have seen better talent in a karaoke bar and we have to listen to an hour of the Ewings singing her praises when she is clearly not worthy. The "Guzzler" character is such an obvious freeloading crook that Ray Charles could have seen it and we have to take the time feel sorry and pointlessly so for this loser.

12. This is before it became popular and before anybody shot JR or Bobby and is hugely entertaining as $21.95 for 29 episodes of TV viewing is still pretty good bang for the buck and since you don't have the continued stories except for a couple, you can watch them and skip over the episodes you don't like such as the ones I just named. This ends at about the time John Ross is born after Sue Ellen has a car wreck after running away from the sanitarium


5/5 The Best TV Show Ever!
  by K. Read
I was very pleased with my purchase of Dallas Seasons 1-2. I love all the episodes. I didn't like the fourth episode of Season 1, "Winds of Vengeance." I never have liked any episode of any series when my favorite characters are in trouble and made to something against their will. I didn't like in Winds of Vengeance when Sue Ellen was made to sing in front of the family in a bathing suit while the bad man held a gun on her. I never did like that scene. Sue Ellen didn't deserve that. In Season 2, my favorite episode was when Sue Ellen took it upon herself and escaped from the prison JR put her in, the sanitarium. But it was sad when Sue Ellen was drinking, pregnant and crashed into the pole. All in all, I would recommend this DVD set to anyone who loves Dallas.

5/5 Good Show!
  by April L. Hake
Unfortunately, I got seasons 3 & 4 in the mail before 1 & 2, so I started watching season 3 and now I'm completely hooked. All I can say is Dallas is more exciting to me now (being in my early 30s) than it was to me 25 yrs+ ago when it was actually on TV.
My mom has just ordered seasons 5-7 for my birthday for me and told me to order season 8 when it comes out as well.
The only downside to my watching Dallas is that my husband is a 49ers fan & he actually grew up watching Dallas and hates the theme song...lol.
It's a good show, and I really like it.

5/5 Dallas DVD 1 & 2nd Season
  by Sassywvmom (West Virginia)
This was ordered as a christmas gift and I was very pleased to have received it in plenty time. The dvd's were received as described; excellent condition (new). Will check this seller when the 8th season becomes available.