Most successful TV show- world record set by the
Dallas TV series
Southfork Ranch, Dallas, TX, USA -- Dallas
,
a series about a wealthy family in the oil business, was translated
and dubbed into 67 languages in over 90 countries, holds the
record for the highest rated episode with nearly 360 million
viewers tuning in to see who shot J.R. and sets the world
record for the Most successful TV show
. 
Photo: The original cast of Dallas. Clockwise
from top right are: Larry Hagman (in cowboy hat), Linda Gray,
Jim Davis, Charlene Tilton, Victoria Principal, Patrick Duffy,
and Barbara Bel Geddes. ( enlarge
photo
)
Dallas
was one of the most successful drama series ever made, and
also one of the longest-running shows in American prime-time
television history.
The show debuted in April 1978 as a five-part
miniseries on the CBS network, then was broadcast on that
network for 13 seasons, from Saturday, September 23, 1978,
to Friday, May 3, 1991.
Larry
Hagman
is the only actor to appear in all 357 episodes
of the series, and is the only regular cast member to be a
native of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
“In its form, Dallas
is a kind of soap opera" says Larry
Hagman
. I consider Dallas drama—turgid drama, sometimes,
but it's always interesting with the major characters bouncing
around. The show’s fine when it revolves around several themes.
People say that it’s sexy and trashy. If you call screwing
your wife’s sister sexy, then perhaps it is. To me, it’s just
all in the family"
Patrick Duffy
appeared in the second highest
episodes, appearing in 327 of the 357 episodes.
Dallas
was the first show to combine the scope of a mini-series with
the big ideas of life—themes such as good vs. evil and brother
vs. brother.
Dallas
was originally shot entirely on location in Dallas, Texas.
Later, most interiors for the show were shot at the MGM studios
in Hollywood.
Exteriors were shot at the Southfork Ranch in
Parker, Texas, and other parts of Dallas, until 1989, when
rising production costs led to all production being located
in California.
The communist government of Nicolae Ceausescu's
Romania ran episodes of Dallas
in the 1980s hoping that it would convince people that capitalism
was corrupt and decadent.
The dictator was a fan of the program, but broadcast
it to show the evils of capitalism.
Instead, it showed discontent within the communist
system, as viewers looked past the characters to the portrayal
of American lifestyles.
Soon after the government fell, in the mid-1990s
the Romanian billionaire Ilie Alexandru created a Balkan version
of the Southfork Ranch in Slobozia, ' Southfork
Dallas in Hermes Land
' on the main road between Bucharest
and the Black Sea. It drew more than 2 million visitors in
its first year of operation.
In 1999 Larry
Hagman
and his wife Maj visited the copy of the Southfork
Ranch in Slobozia. Larry
Hagman
remarked that the Ranch looked just like the
'original' but was even larger.
As of 2009, Warner Home Video will have
released the first ten seasons of Dallas
on DVD.
Original main cast
Larry
Hagman
as John Ross "J.R." Ewing, Jr.
Patrick Duffy
Barbara
Bel Geddes
as Eleanor "Miss Ellie" / Ewing Farlow
Jim Davis
as John Ross "Jock" Ewing, Sr.
Linda
Gray
as Sue Ellen Shepard Ewing
Victoria
Principal
as Pamela Barnes Ewing
Charlene
Tilton
as Lucy Ewing Cooper
Ken Kercheval
as Cliff Barnes
Steve Kanaly
as Ray Krebbs
"DALLAS" Cast Walks Red Carpet At 30
Year Reunion
Dallas TV-Movie " J.R. Returns"
Opening Video
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
