The #SaveDallas Drive Continues

I'm going to date myself here a little, but I can still remember a Dallas when Southfork was a different house and Jock was alive.  It was during that time that the thrill of nighttime soaps developed and Dallas became the cornerstone and basis for all other nighttime soaps.  You had to have better sets, better acting, better plots, and yet somehow stick to the ability to link week-after-week's episodes together in a tight bond that brought viewers back.  Nobody did it better than Dallas.  Dallas did it so well that the "Who Shot J.R.?" theme became the cry for the series, a song, and one of the most talked about cliffhangers (sorry Cliff Barns, not about you) of all time.  When Dallas rode off into the sunset with the apparent suicide of J.R. Ewing, nobody thought it was over.  Everyone knew there would be a movie later and maybe a reunion special.  Just as expected the reunions came, some were specials and some were sit-down and talk about the good-old days events, but they came.  Then, TNT decided to give fans something again.  Not a reboot with new actors playing J.R. etc, not three or four generations later, no TNT gave us the old Ewings and the new Ewings.  They gave us the old Cliff Barns, even though he looks frail in health, and they gave us a young Barns to pave the wave of new destruction.  They gave us the old cunning J.R. and his prototype son in John Ross.  Bobby was back as was Sue Ellen and we even had glimpses of other old characters as well.  Then we got all the new characters with their own set of drama, plots, and ideas on how to make the world better...whether with oil or some other form of energy.  Excitement was in the air.....then TNT struck out.


It was almost as if TNT was preparing for the cancellation from the start.  The show premiered with great ratings in a June slot.  The Wednesday night time slot, while not the historical favorite of Friday night, seemed to be a solid place for Dallas.  TNT then, for some unknown reason decided to move the premiere for season two to January 28, 2013.  They particularly moved the show to Monday night where it could compete with some major competitive shows.   Dallas started on this same night The Big Bang Theory was being used on CBS to help compete against The Bachelor on ABC (two hours) and The Biggest Loser (also two hours) on NBC (Schedule).   Not surprisingly, ratings dropped.  After that second season, TNT made the bold decision to move the show back to February, but still on a Monday night.  Now the show was competing against the two-hour premier of The Voice (Schedule) and many other popular shows leading just before such as Mike and Molly.  One of the final indicators that TNT may have been trying to discredit the show's popularity or justify their decision to cancel came in the Christmas season of 2014.  Rather than release the final season on DVD during Christmas, when consumers were making major purchases, TNT waited until a January purchase date (Dallas on TNT).  It appeared, at least to this writer, that TNT was attempting to put the final nail in the coffin to say, "See, Dallas just isn't popular enough to be on the air.  We were right."


While it could be argued that the death of Larry Hagman may have been the death shot (no pun intended) to the show, in truth that is not likely.  Hagman died during the production of season two (Ref).  However, to be honest, the old J.R. character that people knew and loved was really a background character for the younger cast.  Most fans, including this writer, could tell that Hagman was not in the best of health and he seemed to be getting weaker during each appearance on-screen.  A close examination of his hands during one of the last on-screen scenes with Josh Henderson revealed spots and frailty that seemed to indicate a sick man was working.  Regardless of the loss of Hagman, it should be noted that Dallas lost other stars along the way and survived.  While J.R. may have been the prime character of the late 70's, 80's, and early 90's run of the original show, he was clearly not intended to be the main character for the new series.  Dallas deals with life, though often inflated, and in life people die.  So the death of J.R. worked well into the story, the series, and as a tribute to the actor and man who made J.R. come to life.  Fans could rest happy know that not only did Hagman bring J.R. to life and become the character, but he also succeeded in what many actors can only dream of doing and that is walking the character out of life as well.  No, the death of J.R. was not the death shot for the show, it was just a change along the way and change is something Dallas has always faced head-on and flowed through.


So, if J.R.'s death did not kill the show, then the only logical thing to conclude is that ratings killed the show; however that is doubtful as well. Strong fans will remember that TNT did an online survey wanting to know where fans would like to see Dallas go for season four.  Questions were asked about the John Ross' sister link, what to do with other characters, and how to develop the show.  It appeared to any fan that Dallas would be moving strong into season four.  Then came the boom and TNT dropped the show.  Interestingly, the major thing that seemed to change the Dallas landscape was still TNT's decision to move to Monday night.  It can be seen in the chart below from Chart Page:

Season	# Ep.	Timeslot (ET)	Premiered		Ended		Average Viewers (in millions)
			Premiere	Viewers (in millions)	Finale	Viewers (in millions)
1	10	Wednesday 9:00 pm	June 13, 2012	6.86[45]	August 8, 2012	4.29[46]	4.5[47]
2	15	Monday 9:00 pm	January 28, 2013	2.98[48]	April 15, 2013[49]	2.99	2.84[47]
3	15		February 24, 2014	2.65	September 22, 2014	1.72	1.92

Anyone would admit that the chart clearly shows a decrease of viewers from season one to season two, but it also shows the change of nights from Wednesday to Monday.  Sadly viewers are often calculated based on the ratings which only takes a small portion of the population into account.  This writer for example was chosen within the last year to participate in the Nielsen Ratings (Nielsen).  Sadly for me, Dallas was not on at the time and therefore my rating had no effect for the show.  As for ratings, they are often based as stated before on small numbers.  It should be noted that an online petition currently has 88,568 signatures to support keeping Dallas on air, somewhere (Petition).  Since I have full Internet access, but have not signed the petition yet, I have to wonder how many people without Internet and some with Internet might be willing to sign the petition.  It also should make any network provider wonder.  After all, 88,568 is a small amount of people, but what if all those people were Nielsen Raters during a time Dallas had been on the air?  Would 88,568 little booklets from people turned in equal to millions or more viewers?  Would those ratings have shot through the roof?


Finally, it appears we may never know the answer.  Dallas has now premiered with all three seasons on Netflix, but that doesn't appear to mean it's going to stay there or even start a new season there (Netflix and Dallas).  But to Josh Henderson and the rest of the cast...especially, one of my all time favorites even from The Man From Atlantis, Step-By-Step and others Patrick Duffy, just know that your fans are still out here rooting for you and the Save Dallas hashtag (#SaveDallas) is alive and well as we wait to see you again.

Goodbye Mork.....

It's been more than a week since Robin Williams died and the tributes and tears continue to flow from family, friends, and fans.  It seems that while Williams may have suffered from depression and other issues, that he may have had no idea what sort of impact his death would have on everyone.  I say that he may have had no idea, meaning that he may not have considered the impact he would have because if he had known the effect, pain, and sorrow his death would have caused, Robin Williams would not have committed suicide.  

Williams would have put off suicide because he cared about people.  If he was thinking correctly, he would not have wanted to hurt his family and friends.  He would also not have wanted to hurt his lifelong fans such as myself.  Williams gave so much of his time, money and efforts to others.  Only now are many of the stories about his generosity rising out of the ashes of his death.  Some were known, and some were kept silent at his request for years.  

I watched Williams on Happy Days first and was amazed at the way Mork jumped all over the place and challenged Mr. Cool.  The next time I saw this spastic comedian, he had his own show called 'Mork and Mindy'.  I never missed an episode.  I later watched his comedic stage presence, his movies and even recently his television series in awe.  Whether he was serious or in comedian mode, he had a lasting impact on those watching him.

William had the energy of ten comedians.  He seemed to be everywhere at the same time and to know what was going on with everyone.  I still remember one stand up show, years ago, when he took a camera from a member of the audience.  He used it first to take a picture of himself for the fan while making comments to the audience about the camera.  He then pulled out the front of his pants and pointed the camera into his pants to supposedly take a picture.  His comment was simple, "I hope this is a wide angle lens," and the crowd erupted.  He could make anything a prop.  At one point he saw a member of the audience get up to leave the show.  He immediately began to ask that person if they disliked the show and if they were leaving.  The audience member said something back that we could not hear because she did not have a mic, but Robin heard her.  She was only going to the bathroom.  Williams, flatly said, "That's okay.  We'll wait until you get back to continue the show."  Again, the audience laughed.  He then proceeded to tell a few minor jokes and upon the woman's return, he said, "Oh good, you're back.  We can get started again!"  Once again the audience laughed.  

For years, I have often wondered how Robin would have handled the lady going to the bathroom if she had never returned.  I imagine that he would have simply kept telling jokes and maybe at one point said something like, "Well, she's not coming back.  We'd better just keep going."  Again, I could imagine that the audience would have laughed.  Well, Robin Williams has stepped out of the show now....he's not going to the bathroom and he won't be coming back.  I guess the best we can do for now is tell a few jokes, laugh and finally accept that we'd better just keep going because Mork is not coming back. 

Blu-Ray, The Fast Death

The fact is the Digital age is here and it's here to stay with us and eventually kill other media including the Blu-Ray.  We have reached an age in our society where some people have no concept of Eight Track tapes or records.  Although the records can still be found in nostalgia shops and there are various players for sale, some to convert and some to play, the fact is the record is dead.  The record in the form of vinyl had a good long run.  From the late 1800s it could be found in crank up machines, through the 1950's juke boxes and into the early 1980's it was the dominant way music and sound was transmitted.  Records survived eight tracks and almost survived the onset of cassette tapes.

With the start of CDs, a new media was found that was finally able to kill off the cassette tape and the record.  It close to the same way the Beta video system, by many account superior to the the VHS system, died off to the VHS.  VHS ran from the late 1980's strong into the the turn of the century, but with CD's not only taking music, it did not take long for the DVD to arrive on the scene and take out VHS.

From around 2000 forward media has seen the advance of the DVD into the realm of Blu-Rays.  Like any technology, it created hi end players and movies out of the price rage of the casual buyer.  But now we have found that Blu-Rays are usually only a few dollars more than the DVD.  Often the Blu-Ray offers features and extras not found on the DVD making it an attractive alternative.  But the Blu-Ray dominance, only now starting to take hold with the comparison of the prices and cost of players, will be short lived.

The Blu-Ray will not have the lifespan of the record, eight tracks, cassettes, CDs or even the VHS.  While Blu-Ray is quickly killing off the DVD, it is no match for the digital age.  Much like the short life of the Beta movies, the Blu-Ray will likely fade out of existence within the next five or ten years.  There will be, just as there always have been for previous media formats, many holdouts who cling to their DVD and Blu Ray collections, but in the end these will gather dust on the shelf as society moves forward.  Eventually the Blu-Ray will sit in the nostalgia section of the used stores along side the records, cassettes, eight tracks, and CD of the media eras of the past.

Digital will be king as I mentioned within a few years for two simple reasons.  The first reason digital will become king is ease of access.  Most digital is downloaded over the Internet.  Even if a consumer does not have Internet access, it's not unlikely that he can find it in a coffee shop, store, public area or library.  Some cities even offer it almost everywhere now.  The convenience of being able to purchase, download, and instantly watch will be king in the digital world. 

The second reason that digital will kill the Blu-Ray is cost.  To give an example, I was recently searching for a Dr. Who special for the family to watch.  I went to four different stores and two Red Box locations and could not find it to purchase or rent.  Finally, at the last store I went to, I found it for an overpriced amount of $22.95.  I simply was not prepared to pay that for a 77 minute episode of the good Doctor.  After arriving at home, I pulled up the PlayStation account through the game system and found that the episode was available for sale in the digital form.  I had three options.  I could by the standard definition (sd) for $7.99, the high definition (hd) for $9.99, or both the sd and hd for $9.99.  The sd could be moved to other media devices and the had could be viewed through the PlayStation.  Since I wanted to be able to watch it in other locations as well, I went for the sd and hd at $9.99.  It seemed like a no brainer since I received both for what would have cost $17.98 separately.  At that cost, I saved $12.96 over the Blu-Ray version I finally found in the store, and I could have saved the cost of driving around looking for the Blu-Ray by simply purchasing it at home.  

Needless to say, I quickly scanned the cost of other movies and found a similar trend.  When someone considers the options such as Netflix, PlayStation, Amazon, and dozens of others offering the digital version of movies to watch or own at a cheaper cost, it doesn't take long to figure out that the days of the Blu Ray are limited.  I predict that the CD, DVD, and Blu-Ray do not have much longer in this digital world before they are regulated to Ebay and the used stores where they will have a long life of reuse and a new venue of special machines designed to help convert them to digital along with their vinyl cousins.

Is Chivalry in Love Dead?

Some people say chivalry is dead today.   After all, it is a tradition of honor born in the middle ages when knights road into battle with heavy armor.  Knights were to protect the weak and respect the honor of women.  So it is easy to see how it should be long dead in our time.    The indication is that if we all wore capes, we would certainly no longer throw them down across a mud puddle for our fair ladies to walk gracefully across.   It is a time when men and women, more attuned to being equals, race toward car doors intent on opening them for themselves rather than others.  It is a not time when a woman would wait for someone to open the door for her.  Instead she has either grown to expect to open the door on her own or never gave it much thought.  Chivalry certainly appears to be dead and gone.   In most cases I would agree.  However today I witnessed something unique, but never fear as there were no knights, swords or capes involved.

Sitting at a local McDonald’s drinking tea, I looked around the room to see countless families, individuals, and groups at various tables.  Sadly I saw several groups of people looking individually with intense concentration into their phone or tablet screens.  They were oblivious to the world while hopefully reading something that I wrote.  Then, one couple caught my attention.

They looked to be in their late teens, maybe early twenties.  He carried a backpack, a possible sign of a student, and she carried a purse.  He appeared to be Caucasian and she appeared to be of Indian decent.  What was attention grabbing was the positioning of the two.  She was on one side of the booth and he was on the other side.  They were both leaned in as if they were having a private conversation.  Between the two of them was a phone.  They laughed, pointed to the screen and managed to have their heads only inches apart at the table.   It was as if they could, while sharing the mutual laugh, easily turn and kiss each other in a moment.   I thought this was extremely nice and unusual.  Rather than have their own phones out surfing the net, they shared one phone which allowed them to stay close even across the table.

After a short time the two gathered their things and walked out side-by-side into the parking lot.  I watched them as they made their way across the parking lot passing by one car.  I was sure they were headed to the next car when they both turned and walked to the passenger door.  The young man unlocked the door, opened it and the young lady got in while he closed the door behind her.  He then returned to the driver’s side and they drove away.  The young man did all this without the shield and horse of a knight, but instead with the key and car of our time. 

As they left, I wondered if it was young love for the two.  They did, after all to me, seem very young.  Maybe it was the honeymoon period, but whatever it was, it was nice to see chivalry alive in a generation so far removed from the middle ages.    It was good to see a young man acting as a knight with honor.  Maybe someday as he opens the door for her at McDonald's, these two will hold wrinkled hands as they walk in still reeling from a love that brings out acts of chivalry.  It will serve as a gentle reminder of when they were young, and that chivalry does still live in love regardless of the time period.