Dallas
1978
Original language: English
- soap
- drama
- family
The story
The world's first mega-soap, and one of the most popular ever produced, Dallas had it all. Beautiful women, expensive cars, and men playing Monopoly with real buildings. Famous for one of the best cliffhangers in TV history, as the world asked "Who shot J.R.?" A slow-burner to begin with, Dallas hit its stride in the 2nd season, with long storylines and expert character development. Dallas ruled the airwaves in the 1980's.
What it’s like
Warm, sun-bleached melodrama: wide establishing shots of Texas ranchland under hard afternoon light, dust hanging over dirt roads, and sleek interiors in amber lamplight, all shot on 1970s-80s video with a soft, slightly washed-out sheen. Interiors favour mid-shots and over-the-shoulder confrontations, with lots of people standing around a dining table or a boardroom, and the camera lingers on faces during pauses that stretch just long enough to sting. The score is brassy, string-heavy and oddly tender, with a sweeping theme that returns at every cliffhanger. Its vibe is glossy and gossipy, a mix of tanned opulence and mean-spirited family feuding, and it suits a comfort-rewatch evening, a lazy weekend binge, or a long plane ride where the stakes feel delightfully high. Pacing is slow to build, with storylines that unspool over whole seasons; the emotional register swings from hammy to genuinely wounded, and the central brothers' rivalry and the family's shifting alliances give it its heart. Violence is sparse and mostly implied, with occasional brief shootings and fistfights, and no gore; the tension comes from betrayal, money and infidelity. It is for viewers who love soap-opera plotting, big personalities, and family sagas told at a leisurely pace.
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