It’s a fact: Dallas has secured some pretty iconic moments in television canon. Who can forget the “Who shot J.R.?” cliffhanger? Or the dreamy eighth season? Or any of those other eleven season-ending cliffhangers that left audiences panting for the next season? And – perhaps most famously of all – who can forget the final moments of the series itself, which left fans debating for years?
The first season of Dallas hit shelves in 2004, and, after almost seven years, we’ve come to the release of the show’s fourteenth and final season, which you can own on DVD now (it hit shelves on January 18). The show, which ended in 1991, centers on oil magnate J.R. Ewing, a man of questionable morality who begins the season locked in a mental institution. The twenty-two episode season ends with the typical cliffhanger (which features one of my favorite actors, Joel Grey), but the lead-up to it is just so wonderful that it all seems to be worth it.
I didn’t really think I would like Dallas, but surprisingly enough, I found it enjoyable. The show, a very soap-like affair, features some of the most outlandish storylines ever. It’s not great TV in the way that Band of Brothers or Mad Men are great TV, but it’s a very watchable, fun time that’s actually pretty engrossing. Of course, I had never seen Dallas before I got the review copy of this DVD set – it ended before I was even born. But it wasn’t really necessary: even for its final season, the show was pretty easy to catch onto.
Though the case of my copy had been kind of beaten up in the post, it’s a similarly packaged set to the recently-released fourteenth season of ER. The season’s five discs are contained in a normal-sized DVD case, complete with a cardboard slipcover featuring the ominously smiling visage of J.R. himself. As for special features? Well, there aren’t any to speak of, which is perhaps the one downside of an otherwise good set.
Order Dallas: The Complete Final Season on Amazon for $28.99.
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