Dallas departee: Patrick Duffy

Hello my fellow fans,

This time I'd like to take you all back to 1985. Dallas was at its peak in Finland, so it was shocking to learn that Patrick Duffy and Charlene Tilton were leaving the show. Whaat? Why would anyone leave Dallas? Where would PD and CT even live if not in Southfork? Madness.

Even in the 80s, the time before internet and mobile media, the Finnish press generously printed this piece of news long before it happened on our television screens. At the time, Finland was about one year, or a year and a half behind in showing Dallas, so when The Swan Song finally aired here, we'd had a long time to prepare.

Apu magazine printed this wonderful article in 1985 about Bobby dying. It is titled "Will Bobby be unemployed?" It came out during the time when Bobby was shot, so it kind of gave mixed signals on how he was going to leave the show.

I remember swooning over this next picture of Patrick in his jeans (according the caption, the writer of this article may've done the same thing: "In one week Bobby gets a thousand fan letters, including roughly a couple of hundred marriage proposals. No wonder though, as he is such a Mr. Longlegs and Sugarbums." Teehehee! He surely is!

Next page has this funny cartoon of the cast. I remember wondering why anyone would draw Cliff as a muscular hunk and Bobby as a mousey elderly person. Oh, well.

As I said earlier, this article is about Bobby's shooting, although it also informs us about PD leaving the show year later. Title screams: "Bobby's shooting was an accident?"

Final page dives into Dynasty, as well. It states rather whimsically that "Even Bobby's dog had a motive", "Donna Reed is the new Ellie" and "Lucy becomes a waitress". Of course one of these was merely a joke.

Random tidbits of the text:

* "Charlene Tilton leaves the show alongside Patrick Duffy, although not quite as voluntarily. She is rather surly, because of the treatment she is getting - to put it mildly."

* "Oh Bobby, why do you have to sit in JR's chair? The bullets meant for JR sink into your pretty head."

* "This time, Bobby survives the attack. Wearing dark glasses (maybe imitating Dynasty's Blake?) we will see him next fall when Bobby's final season starts in Finland."  

* Patrick is a sensible guy and has no grand delusions of himself, which would be quite common in Hollywood. He says "All I want is a more challenging role. In a tv series? Why not, since I already have a familiar audience there."  

Of course we all know that Patrick came back to Dallas after a year. I was happy. However, during that year I was thrilled to see Patrick starring in a tv movie Strong Medicine alongside Dynasty's Fallon, Pamela Sue Martin. It was like Bobby and Pamela back together again, in an alternative universe. :)

Happy Valentine Girl!

Valentine's day may be long gone, but it's never too late to tribute my favourite Valentine Girl, Mandy Winger!

Oh, Mandy. You came and you gave without taking, but Sue Ellen sent you away...

Although losing Audrey Landers was a bummer, I liked Deborah Shelton equally well as Cliff's and eventually JR's new squeeze. "You'll hear from me again!" she whispered to Sue Ellen in 1987 and left Dallas. Despite her promise, she never came back. (Well, that's not true: she eventually did come back for a few minutes on TNT's new Dallas.)

Nevertheless, here are two articles from the 1980's celebrating her red-hot-beauty.

First one states rather sarcastically that "Deborah Shelton is here for the same reason she is on Dallas: as a decoration. Her fame has never reached the same heights as Victoria Principal's, Linda Gray's or even Priscilla Presley's."

The article goes on to explain how Priscilla has clout; she is now negotiating with the producers to get a real birthing scene on Dallas. "She, like her character Jenna, is pregnant." Priscilla's negotiations must have failed as we were spared from seeing a baby come out of Jenna's vajayjay. Oh, well.

(Same magazine tells us about a new series called Moonlighting starring someone called Bruce Willis. He has already started a singing career and is the coverboy at the moment.)

The second article is much nicer. It says: "Mandy is one fierce seductress, but in real life Deborah Sheldon (!) is the epitome of good mother: My daughter Tamara, 7, is the best thing that ever happened to me. Dallas comes second. Dallas has given me a chance to give my daughter the best possible education, which is more I ever dared to dream." 

Something Old...

Oh, the weddings of Dallas! They were always super-exciting. Of course, the press  - even in Finland - had usually revealed something about the upcoming event, so it wasn't a total surprise. Nevertheless, I was always beyond happy when they decided to have big, lavish weddings. Therefore, I felt betrayed if someone "eloped" or just went to the "city hall". This was before I understood anything about show business and budgets and stuff.

However, what fun times they were!

I used to love finding out what kind of wedding dresses the ladies of Southfork had chosen. More often than not I was bitterly disappointed. I have to say, out of all the weddings Dallas had, this dress was one of  my favorites:

The text says: "During her nightmare, Pam was remarried. However, when audience demanded Bobby back, the guy who played Pam's fiancé, John Beck, had to go." 

So sad. Naturally, Bobby was the king of stud muffins back then and I was ecstatic to see him back, but I liked Mark as well. I mean, who could resist his mustache-ious gorgeousness?

Pam's dress is tasteful and beautiful, unlike the true, spiky nightmare she was sporting when she married Bobby one year later. Yikes. *Shudder*

Another what-was-she-thinking -dress was this one:

(The mag also features the "famous Mayo-diet". Now what on earth is that?)

I had seen the pics of Sue Ellen's dress before the episode aired, but I was still surprised to find out the dress was actually long. And the eighties mullet didn't help one bit. However, Linda Gray is still gorgeous and the episode itself was amazing and memorable, classic Dallas.

Next, some clips of real-life Dallas weddings, Charlene Tilton's and Victoria Principal's second marriages from 1985 (not to each other, though):

We learn that "Charlene Tilton was married to scottish musician Dominique (?) "Nicky" Allen on Holy Thursday. Charlene says she and ex-beau Johnny Lee had totally different views of life.

Victoria Principal has been visiting italian designer Elvira Gramano in Rome. She is searching for the right dress for her wedding to Harry Glassman."

I like Charlene's dress, I think she looks radiant. Victoria's dress in this photo is not - thankfully - the one she chose to wear eventually. This is:

"The mid-summer bride of the whole world was Victoria Principal." The text also states rather cynically that "Victoria is not a newbie at the wedding game, she has also had time to drive Andy Gibb into mental break down." Now that's not nice. Victoria looks happy and beautiful regardless.

Ken Kercheval, a.k.a Cliff Barnes, was one of the stars who rarely was on the headlines. Here's one from 1984, however, featuring his wedding bliss:

His wife's name was Ava Fox, and they were married finally after all kinds of obstacles, including Ken's mother's illness.

Let's dive into the 90s. At the time there were only occasional stories of Dallas on Finnish magazines, which was sad. Dallas wasn't red-hot anymore. Here's something blue with lovely Sheree Wilson's wedding picture with her fiancé and their son, Luke. Her husband's name is Paul Derobbio: 

"From a funeral to a wedding. Now that we have said tearful goodbyes to Dallas' April, we are happy to learn that in real life Sheree Wilson is doing better than ever." Story goes on to state that "By the way, they are going to end Dallas. This is no surprise, since April was the only one of the show's current female stars to possess real charisma." This sounds about right. 

That's all for now. Take care, my dear readers! :)