5/5 Good Ole JR!
  by C. Ayala (North Carolina)
I know season 12 is one of the best seasons I really enjoyed season 12 thats when a few laughs combined with a few tears and I just cant wait until season 12 comes out. I wish this show never ended. This was a show that everyone stayed home on Friday nights to watch. And every week everyone loved to watch Good ole JR. He was a family man and a good business man but a mean one to cross. He was my favorite!

5/5 Date Next Season Released?
  by K. Wroblewski
So does anyone have any idea when season 12 will be released? The last season, which was season 11 was released in April and it has been awhile since we were given a date when this season would be coming out. Only a few more to complete the series.

5/5 My Favorite Season
  by William Jurgens (Fountain Hills, AZ United States)
Season 12 is definitely my favorite season, it has a little of everything. Sue Ellen finally finds a way to get the better of J.R., Bobby finds a new love, and probably the most romantic encounter ever for Bobby. J.R. actually shows he does have a heart, and is somewhat confused by it when he truly does grow to love his new wife Cally. There is even foreign intrigue, when J.R. and Bobby must travel to Moscow to find out a sinister secret of a massive oil deal. But, by far the most interesting story of all, Cliff Barnes finally gets what he has wanted all these years, and becomes a full partner in Ewing Oil. He actually manages to have a working relationship with J.R. But this cannot last, like the old saying, be careful what you wish for.

Overall, this season has it all, and really shows why this series had the resiliency to continue for another 2 seasons following. Not just the great story lines by great writers, but truly this was one of the best casts ever assembled for a TV series, all true professionals.

5/5 A lot of drama and fun.
  by Classic TV
I really like this season 12 as it's such great fun with some interesting and exciting story-lines. It's clear the producers and writers decided to freshen up the show and add much needed humor and greater action after eleven seasons with a serious tone. This is the last season with DALLAS's thrilling iconic opening title sequence with the 3-way split of the actors.

Since I began judging these final three seasons on their own merits rather than how different they are to DALLAS's earlier seasons, I've come to appreciate them much more, and they have many good and entertaining story-lines in my opinion, and they also have many story-lines which have not been done before on the show. One aspect I like about this season and the following two seasons is that they move along faster than previous seasons.

This season sets out to entertain and to elicit laughter at times as you are drawn into all the action and drama. Co-Executive producer Larry Hagman ordered an action-packed season 12 and that "every episode contain a healthy dose of action, that is, someone getting shot at, a fight, anything the viewers can get a charge out of."

One of my favorite story-lines of the entire series is the fabulous Range War in this season with all the firepower and fireworks at Southfork with George Kennedy playing Carter Mckay as the Ewings' new nemesis and neighbor from Hell. It's about time we had some strong action and high drama focused at Southfork when the ranch is threatened and with the Ewings being in danger, instead of Ewing Oil being much of the focus up until this season.

'Lovejoy' and 'Deadwood' actor Ian McShane stars as Sue Ellen's new beau who is also her screenwriter for her movie (this plot provides flashbacks of some great DALLAS scenes of earlier seasons). One thing that doesn't make much sense is Sue Ellen going through all the trouble to buy a studio and make her movie but not do what she intended with the movie...unless she has too much money to burn at this point. Funny how in real life Linda Gray started her own movie production company!

There's a good and unique end-of-episode freeze frame of JR, Bobby and Cliff standing united together against their foe Carter Mckay after he pushes Bobby and threatens him for beating up his son Tommy who had beaten up April.

I do like the fresh story of the Ewings' trip to Europe where they meet up with their nemesis Carter Mckay where they are trying to steal McKay's deal. There are spectacular views of Austria too during the episodes in Europe.

Audrey Landers makes a welcome return as Afton Cooper and it's nice to see her and Cliff together again, and Cliff meets Afton's daughter but Afton is reticent over whether or not Cliff is her daughter Pamela Rebecca's father.

For a TV show entering its twelfth year the new characters this season are not bad - in fact to me they're good (except for Cally's annoying brothers) and George Kennedy and Ian McShane are both TV and movie veterans. Cathy Podewell as Cally is also good, and the country accent she puts on is convincing.

This season is meant to be funny whereas previously the show used subtle humor and with a 'wink of the eye', rather than the stronger brand used at times during this season 12. There is so much more action and scenes in the outdoors than we had ever seen previously on DALLAS, and the increased humor freshens up the show too. Due to this quite successful and entertaining season, CBS renewed DALLAS for another two seasons.

Although the popularity of all four primetime soap operas had been in decline for several seasons prior to this one during the 1980s, this season of DALLAS had a much smaller decline in the ratings compared to its previous season and its subsequent one.

Although the final three seasons of the series may not be outstanding like the early seasons for some, I find they are worth watching as they have many good and entertaining story-lines which are better than some of the junk on TV nowadays. I'm looking forward to the remaining two seasons (plus the three DALLAS TV movies) to complete my DALLAS dvd collection.


5/5 One of My Favorite Seasons of the Show For Certain
  by Clavinbot (TX)
I know I am in the minority here but this one is definitely one of my favorites. As I said before I enjoy all the seasons of Dallas, especially the later ones. This season, known to me as 11, is the last one for Linda Gray. Steve Kanaly has 5 episodes in the middle of the year before leaving for good, and Priscilla Presley had departed. However, I would say their absence is not a big deal since they had been pretty islanded from everyone else by that point anyway. This season we have the final divorce and revenge of Sue Ellen, a new and humorous marriage for JR, further romantic fun for Bobby, and the interesting development of Cliff having a daughter with Afton and being taken in by Bobby alongside JR as a partner in Ewing Oil. Also, powering the season is Oscar-winner George Kennedy, who came in and truly delivered a great performance as Carter McKay, taking over Westar and becoming a new and strong Ewing nemesis. There is an exciting range war for Southfork the first part of the season, a funny storyline for JR in a small town, and then a big trip to Russia towards the end, not to mention the classic where Bobby and JR are stuck in an elevator and are forced to confront each other. The ratings slide continued, and my belief is that this was a self-fulfilling prophecy-for example, Priscilla and Steve had to go due to shrinking budget because of shrinking ratings due to the departure of Victoria Principal, yet, their fans then left and so the ratings went down further. This I can understand, but as long as you're a fan of JR first and foremost, you can continue to enjoy the show all the way I believe. This season Sheree J Wilson was added to the main title, and it also starred George Kennedy as Carter McKay, Andrew Stevens as Casey Denault, Cathy Podewell as Cally Harper, Audrey Landers as Afton Cooper, Beth Toussaint as Tracey Lawton, Leigh Taylor-Young as Kimberly Cryder, William Smithers as Jeremy Wendell, and Ian McShane as Don Lockwood.