TNT's Dallas

I have been enjoying the TNT reboot of the classic prime time soap "Dallas".

The characters from the old show on the new include Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy), Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) and J.R. (Larry Hagman). All are great to see once again and the actors know their roles so well it is like visiting old friends, or enemies, since J.R. is one of the blasts from the past.

Old characters played by new actors are Bobby's son Christopher (Jesse Metcalfe) and J.R. and Sue Ellen's son John Ross (Josh Henderson). The previous versions of these characters were children, so the recasts aren't jarring. Both actors are good and play the new Ewing generation well, especially trying to find their own place in history.

New characters include Elena (Jordana Brewster) and Rebecca (Julie Gonzalo), the women tangled up with the young Ewing boys, and Ann Ewing (Brenda Strong), Bobby's new wife. All three ladies bring some fresh air to the show and their characters are intriguing. I am especially curious as to what secret Ann is hiding.

So far, the episodes have been great, with a good mix of the old and the new. We have been able to spend time at Southfork Rank - so glad it has stayed in the Ewing family, even if J.R. tricked his way into getting ownership. We have even been treated to some other faces from the past, including Ray Krebbs (Steve Kanaly), Lucy Ewing (Charlene Tilton) and Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval). Great seeing these folks, and it helps to make us feel like there is still a history and family continuing in Dallas. Hope to see more faces from the past next season, since TNT has already renewed the show for next year.

This Wednesday, starting at noon, TNT will be airing a marathon of episodes from this season, leading up to the season finale at 9:00 P.M.

I remember watching this show back in the 80s with my grandmother. She loved to see what J.R. was up to each week and the show remains a good memory for me. So happy the reboot has been done well and that we all get a chance to visit Southfork and the Ewings once again.

Dark Mansions

Yesterday, in my post of Halloween-themed pics, I posted a few "haunted houses". They got me thinking about an old TV movie.

Greystone Mansion, used as the estate in the film

Dark Mansions was a pilot for a proposed TV series, however it was never picked up and instead aired as a one-time ABC TV movie on August 23, 1986.

The show was an Aaron Spelling-Douglas S. Cramer production and was written by Anthony Lawrence, Nancy Lawrence and Robert McCullough, produced by McCullough and Jerry London and directed by London.

The telefilm starred veteran actress Joan Fontaine, Linda Purl, Michael York, Melissa Sue Anderson, Nicollette Sheridan, Grant Aleksander and Lois Chiles.

The plot: Shellane Victor (Purl) is hired to write a book about a wealthy ship-building family, the Drakes. At the family's estate in Oregon she finds that she is a dead ringer for a long-deceased member of the family. Soon, strange things begin to happen that mirror the events that lead to the previous woman's death. Will Shellane fall victim as well?

I remember the very day I watched this, way back in 1986. I had been looking forward to it, as it had sounded to me like a supernatural spin on Dynasty or Dallas, which were very big at the time. The day it was to air, I had gone to my grandmother's house with my mom. As the afternoon wore on, all the adults were making plans to go to Jai Alai or the dog track, something like that. I stayed behind at my grandmother's very rural home. It was no "dark mansion", but it was a bit creepy being there alone.

Watching the movie on her small, portable television set wasn't the best, picture-wise, but the whole experience added a level of eeriness to the show that it might otherwise have lacked. I remember liking it, but it only ever aired this one time and was gone, a footnote in television history.

I have found at least one not-very-positive review for the movie online, but there is virtually nothing else available for it. No pics, no videos, just a short clip of Anderson and Aleksander from the film. It truly is one of those forgotten, brief moments in TV land.

Anyone else remember Dark Mansions?