Dallas (1978 TV Series) - Legacy

Legacy

In 2007, British comedian Justin Lee Collins went searching for all the stars of Dallas to bring them together for a special reunion party. The show was broadcast at 9 p.m. Sunday, May 27, 2007, on UK television network Channel 4 as part of the Bring Back... series. After hunting down most of the main cast by any means necessary (e.g., climbing over security fences and ambushing hotels), Collins interviewed them and gained more knowledge about some of the decisions made throughout the show's seasons. The participants amongst the cast were Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, Patrick Duffy, Ken Kercheval, Charlene Tilton, Susan Howard and Mary Crosby. He held his own Oil Baron's Ball, where none of the main cast turned up. However, the actor who played baby Christopher (Eric Farlow) attended. Charlene Tilton spoke in an interview in 2011 about the program, which she said was one of her and the cast's worst filming experiences ever.

On November 8, 2008, a reunion to commemorate the show's 30th anniversary was held at Southfork Ranch in Parker, Texas, reuniting original cast members Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy, Linda Gray, Ken Kercheval, Steve Kanaly and Charlene Tilton. Other cast members in attendance were Susan Howard, Audrey Landers, Mary Crosby, and Sheree J. Wilson. The front and back lawn of the fictional Ewing family home played host to a massive barbecue filled with people from the Dallas area, across the U.S. and around the world (who paid as much as $1,000) to reminisce and celebrate the series, as well as meeting with cast members. During the festivities, Kercheval said he was shocked to see the continued support for the show 17 years after it last aired. "I don't understand it," he said. "The staying power. Who knew?" Linda Gray also fondly remembered her time on the show: "I think it was a special time. It was a time when there weren't a hundred million channels and the Internet and all of the other things that came to existence."

In March 2011, the Texas Theatre in Dallas began showing two episodes of Dallas on the big screen every Sunday; over 100 patrons, some in costume of their favorite characters, appeared at the free screenings every week. However, the screenings came to an abrupt end in May 2011 after Warner Bros. issued a cease-and-desist against the Texas Theatre for unauthorised showings, citing the fact that those that were involved in the show's production were not getting paid or benefiting from these screenings.

J.R. Ewing's hat, a foremost symbol of the show's inherent "Americanness" that contributed to its hold over audiences on a global scale, is currently held in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History's collections.

In a popular Forbidden Broadway parody, an actress playing Mary Martin sings the song "Never Never Panned" to the tune of "Never Never Land" from the musical Peter Pan. One of the lines sung is "you too can be a star, like my son who plays J.R. on Dallas! We're never never panned!"

The series is mentioned in the lyrics of Swedish pop band ABBA's 1982 single "The Day Before You Came".