Lary Hagman
Dallas returns to American screens for its second comeback series this Monday and was easily one of 2012’s most unlikely success stories, attracting both massive audiences and, surprisingly enough, critical praise.
Unfortunately though, the show was struck with tragedy at the end of last year with the passing of its star Larry Hagman. While Hagman’s return to the series was initially thought of as a misstep by both show and actor, it turned out to be the show’s masterstroke, with Hagman still just as good as the snarling and treacherous JR as he ever was.
Now though, the show is left without not only a link back to its illustrious past, but also one of the reasons why the show has returned as such a hit. We know that he’s in some of the second series, as he died halfway through production and is very much visible in the promos for the show, but we don’t know quite how many episodes JR will still be around for.
While not all of the show revolved around JR, he was still one of the most interesting characters on American TV and will be missed sorely by both the show and its fans.
From the looks of the first episode from series 2, it looks like Dallas is throwing up the same throthy melodrama and glamorous silliness that helped make the first series of the show such ridiculous and air-headed fun to watch.
If the show can keep the same heady cocktail going after the passing of Larry Hagman, then they might just have a shot of making the show continue to work. What they mustn’t do though is try and bring in a ‘new JR’. Trying to introduce a character like that would simply be disastrous. The loss of Larry Hagman will be felt on the show for sure, but what fans don’t need is a poor facsimile of Texas’s premier oil baron.
With the second series starting up next week in America, we’re looking forward to seeing Larry Hagman’s last TV hurrah.
Tagged in TV