DALLAS: PALEYFEST 2013 by Marco Elorreaga

Dallas PaleyFest 2013 panel, March 10, 2013 at 1 pm 

Generations of fans came in throngs to the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills on the afternoon of March 10, 2013 to honor the show Dallas and the late Larry "J.R. Ewing" Hagman in a bittersweet panel that exemplified many of Hagman's personal traits: fun, humorous and full of life.

Many main cast members took time from the second season production to make appearances at PaleyFest, flying in from Dallas, in order to answer questions about the show, tonight's historical episode, and also to share their feelings about their late friend and cast member, Larry Hagman.

Anne Ewing herself, Brenda Strong, praised the filming of the episode, which also premiered in front of a packed auditorium.  "It was poignant, it was bittersweet, it was all of life rolled into one 8-day filming of some of the best and hardest things that we all have to face which is, you know, none of us get out of here alive."

Discussing how Anne Ewing has a daughter she never knew exited.

Strong continued, "The thing that was so extraordinary was the opportunity to honor Larry and to pay our respect, not only as a journeyman actor, but also as the icon of J.R., and to be able to, through our art, actually celebrate his life.  It was one of the best meta moments, where life and art blends."

Linda Gray and Patrick Duffy, who play Sue Ellen and Bobby Ewing, respectively, only had great things to say about the longtime costar Hagman.  Duffy, who says he lost his best friend, stated that he won't even miss him because he's already part of his genetic code.

Linda Gray remembering Larry Hagman

Patrick Duffy praising the producers and writers

Duffy revered the producers and writers concerning the handling of tonight's episode titled, "J.R.'s Masterpiece," exclaiming, "I've never worked with producers and writers that had a sense of respect, you know, still maintaining their position as the leaders of the production, but a sense of respect of what they were doing and I think this show personifies that."

He added, "It is so respectful of Larry and his influence in the terms of Dallas, which there wouldn't be a Dallas if it weren't for him, it also understand that this show is gonna go on."

Josh Henderson explaining what he learned from Larry Hagman

While the younger cast members didn't get to know Hagman as long, the loss wasn't lost on them.  Stars Jesse Metcalfe, Josh Henderson, Jordana Brewster, and Julie Gonzalo all shared what they learned from the veteran actor.

Henderson shared that "I go to work everyday and I have fun.  The first thing Larry said was you got to have fun.  As a Ewing but as my son, you have to enjoy everything you do. Whether you are backed into a corner or you are backstabbing, you have to enjoy what you do, and I do.  And I think it plays that I'm enjoying what I do and I learned that from Larry."

Jordana Brewster's on Elena thinking that the love triangle is over 

On filming the episode, Brewster stated it was "very somber, very sad" while Henderson added "it was real."  Although Henderson hadn't seen the episode yet, he continued, "I heard it's unbelievable. I was getting messages from people who saw it and they said that rarely do you see television that is this real, this raw and emotional, but also rarely do you even see film that makes you feel like this episode is about to make people feel, so to be apart of that, it's the best thing of my life."

And it was, the episode had people crying, laughing, and guessing what was going to happen next.  The biggest question of the night was again, after 33 years, "Who shot J.R.?"  Creator and Executive Producer Cynthia Cidre did promise that J.R.'s killer would be revealed by the end of the season.  Patrick Duffy teased other cast members that he already knew and said that "it's probably the most brilliant piece of script writing that I've read whether it's in this show or any other show on television that I've ever seen in the way that solves a problem with such dignity and respect and drama.  I think every fan who has ever liked this show will think it's the pinnacle of Dallas writing and plot."

Most of the cast members had not seen the episode yet, so it stirred a lot of emotions in them, especially Linda Gray, who had a excruciating emotional scene that will definitely have ramifications for the remaining season. She had trouble holding back tears when remembering him.

Because the episode still hasn't aired (will air tonight, March 11, 2012 at 9/8c on TNT), I won't go into too much detail about the episode, but it contains a lot of past cast members reprising old characters and real-life Dallas dignitaries making appearances.  There are powerful performances from Duffy and Gray as their characters said goodbye in their own way.  As they walked onto the stage, they received standing ovations from the audience.

The Dallas PaleyFest Panel 

A lot of the panel was reminiscing about Hagman, that even the moderator, Will Keck, from TV Guide Magazine, stated at the beginning of the panel that there was one chair missing on stage. A touching moment came when Gray shared that every time she hears "I'll Be Loving You, Always" she knows Hagman is singing it to her, to which Duffy interjected with the hilarious line, "just so you know, he only sings dirty limericks to me."

Another fascination of the night was how they were able to bring Larry Hagman into numerous episodes after his death in November.

Executive Producer Michael Robin said "Larry passed away when we were filming episode five" and continued, "Cynthia instructed the post production staff to find any scenes of Larry had not been in and also to locate all the dialogue that we had of Larry because were thinking we would construct a phone call." But that wasn't enough for the team who didn't want to cheapen it with mere parlor tricks.

Robin and Cidre went into detail on how they were able to pull off the cinematic magic by rotoscoping Hagman from one scene, placing him in a room that he wasn't in, breaking down walls in that room, rebuilding new ones, and finding a limo ride of him saying generic telephone lines to create scenes with J.R. Ewing actually having conversations with multiple characters and not losing the emotion Hagman conveyed in his acting.

Not everything was somber, though.  There were a lot of funny moments.  A hilarious bit was when Keck asked if he could have Henderson play a younger version of his character, John Ross, from a 1988 script, where he asked his mother, Sue Ellen, why she shot his daddy.  Henderson played it with full conviction, raising the pitch of his voice to capture of the essence of the child actor who played John Ross before.

"Why can't you guys write like that?" exclaimed Duffy at the end of the scene, calling attention to corny and cheesy scene just played out on stage.

Keck followed, "Before we go to the second one, I have to ask you, Linda and Patrick, what was it like acting with grown up John Ross and Christopher after you spent several years working with these child actors?" to which Duffy quickly cut him off, "It's about the same."

Then, it was time for Keck to pick on Julie Gonzalo, who plays Pamela Rebecca Barnes, who is currently pregnant with John Ross' babies.  When asked about it, she admitted to actually liking the pregnancy belly.  She said, "The only problem is that I really buy into being pregnant on set, so I'm always walking like a duck, rubbing my belly like my back hurts, and I'm constantly eating."

Julie Gonzalo laughing it up answering questions about her duplicitous nature

When asked if she knew she was a Barnes, she said she was told before the pilot. "You're Cliff Barnes' daughter, don't play it, don't tell anyone, it's a secret," to which Gonzalo gasps, "a bad guy?"  Except it wasn't much of a secret, the producers came to find out, since she told her costar Jordana Brewster a long time ago.

To this news, Cidre played it off, "Well, we thought she kept it a secret." Gonzalo defended herself, "It was just one person!' and Robin fired back, "That's how it starts!" as the crowd erupted in laughter.  Did you know she was Barnes all this time?

As the lights turned on, the audience was beckoned to ask questions.  A lot of adamant members, ranging in age and oddity, stood up or raised their hands sharing their crazy memories of the show that left some cast members dumbfounded.

One cited a specific scene during an Oil Baron Ball of the first season that had J.R., Bobby and Punk sitting around talking about the Tecopa Project with a picture of Johnny Cash in the back.  Duffy looked flabbergasted at the specificity of the question, having no recollection of that scene whatsoever.

One asked if they ever heard of "The Ballad of J.R. Ewing," which no one had ever heard of.  That didn't stop him from serenading Strong as he got her autograph at the end of the show.

Brenda Strong signing while being serenaded

Speaking of Strong, one audience member demanded her to stop calling Patrick's character Robert James Ewing, since it was well established that his name was BOBBY James Ewing in previous seasons!

A young woman in the front wore a shirt that said, "approved drilling site," which the male cast members seemed to enjoy and another  woman thanked Cidre for bringing back the show since her mom lets her watch the kissing scenes now.  Overall, these individual all shared the same passion of a show that spanned over decades.

This led to the most tantalizing question posed by the moderator: "Who has the freeze frame at the end of this season? " The theater filled with intrigued.  The cast OOOO'd in anticipation.  "Patrick probably knows," someone from the cast shouted.

And Jordana Brewster gets the freeze frame of this recap!

Cidre teased "There are two, and we dont know yet which will go last, but lets just say Jordana has a moment."  And with that, Dallas left us with another memorable cliffhanger.  

Here's to many more freeze-frames to come and one that will never fade away: Mr. Larry Hagman aka J.R. Ewing.  This one's for you.

This recap is in memory of Larry Hagman.  RIP, J.R.

What did you think of tonight's episode?  Tweet us at @popculturebeast with your comments!

Special thanks to Samsung Smart TV for sponsoring my coverage of PaleyFest 2013. Make sure to like Samsung TV USA on Facebook for an insider look at red carpet photos, video highlights, recaps from the day's events and more. Also, don’t forget to follow @PopCultureBeast on Twitter for live updates during the screenings and panels.

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Recap: True Blood- Let’s Boot and Rally (Episode 5.5)

We start back with a drunken Sookie and Alcide getting busy. I think every episode should start with him shirtless; I’ll let them know. They make it up to her room, and as he tells her he’s waited so long for this, she pukes all over him. Eric and Bill stand in the doorway and lol. I don’t think that’s the kind of bad thing he wanted to do with you, Sookie.

At Lafayette’s, he freaking out about the demon that keeps popping up, and at just the worst times too. He begins praying to the religious statues he has in his room, who then begin waving around like they’re suddenly made of Jello and insulting him. They were kind of adorable. He breaks them all and begs to Jesus (that’s his boyfriend, not Jesus-Jesus) for some help.

In the Underground Bunker of Insanity, Pat and Terry are tied up by their crazy ex-squad member, Eller. He asks them if anyone followed them there to which they say no, and goes off to presumably bake cupcakes. That’s what crazy guys do, right? Cupcakes?

Now with added iron!

Jason is dreaming and seems to have be transported back to his childhood. Baby Sookie and his parents are there, and he’s wearing amazing footie PJs. That may be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Breakfast takes a turn for the worst when both his parents spout holes in their necks and begin gushing blood into their Special K. He gets understandably upset, so his mom offers him sex, or even just a BJ. He wakes, picks up the ringing phone and demands to know what year it is, and is relieved to hear it’s still the present.

Andy is naked, again, but this time he’s crashed out on Arlene’s couch. His ringing phone wakes her baby so she yells at him, and he answers and is called away somewhere. Butt count: 1. 

Sookie’s sobered up and is being propositioned by Eric and Bill to help unglamour one of Alcide’s employees, who apparently unwittingly helped to dig up Russell. Alcide says “hell no” they all start fighting like usual, and Sookie just hears them as barking dogs then breaks down into what is either laughter or tears at the table. I can’t ever tell with her. She laments the fact that nothing is ever going to change and that this is her life. She’s going to be a vampsnack for the rest of her days. She resigns herself to it and agrees, and they leave to search for Russell.

Tara is looking smoking hot at Fangtasia, where Pam tells her that she will now be bartending here. Still surly but less crazy, she starts serving behind the bar and almost immediately starts eating a patron, which Pam puts a stop to by pinning her to the wall. Pam says she’s saved her life and “lent her some truly exquisite clothes” but that if Tara doesn’t knock that crap off and puts Fangtasia in danger again, her ass is grass. Or silvered. Whatever.

Where's Scrappy when you need him?

Sookie Doo and the Gang (and a terrified looking Doug. Poor Doug!) are at some garage, where she asks Doug if she can read his mind. He says he remembers nothing, and she guides him through the memories of finding Russell. Sookie watches through Doug as a woman wearing an Authority necklace digs him up. Russell’s all gooey and looks like baby Voldemort for some reason. Now that would be a pair of villains who should get their own spin off! In your mind, do the Perfect Strangers intro with Russell and Voldy. This is my new happy place.  Bill realizes that it was probably Nora, but Eric’s not ready to buy it yet.

In the silver jail, Nora is praying to Lilith and that creepy burned up dude next door is being a total weirdo. She ignores him and, looking at the video camera above her, starts insulting the watchers and saying that “we will rise up” etc etc. They fry her again, and we cut to Salmon, who instructs the guy doing the frying that he should let Bill and Eric know that they only have until dawn to locate Russell or their dominatrix harness will ‘aplode. Ruhrow!

Salmon heads to a secret room where Roman stares at a vial of blood in a pedestal and cries over killing Damienpire. She shuts him up by telling him that the Sanguinistas are gaining too much ground and that he should be throwing the religious base a bone, since they believe in all the old ritual despite Roman’s ascertain that it’s all just for show. He didn’t yell once! He’s been making progress.

Pat and Terry are tied up in the bunker, and decide that Eller is definitely the one running around and burning all their old friends. Eller comes back in and explains that he’s seen the fire first hand, and it actually chases people down, and that he saw the fire demon in the flames looking right at him. Oh great, another monster. This one’s an Ifrit, a being of smoke and fire. Eller and Terry start to flashback and freak out, and Terry remembers how there was one woman left alive, who Pat told him to kill. As he does, she curses them all with her last dying breath with the Ifrit. So dramatic! Sheesh.

Ok, maybe not this Ewok...

At the shifter murder dinner party, Jason and the rest of the cops walk around and look at things. Jason has a flash of the two being his dead parents with fang marks in their necks. He pulls Andy aside and asks him what he remembers about the night club, and tells him it's a fairy refuge. Andy catches on very slowly and realizes that it’s true. He says he doesn’t care if the ladies are “fairies, or leprechauns, or freaking Ewoks” because he doesn’t want to mess up what he has going with Holly. I’m sorry, but if I stumbled into a strip club filled with Ewoks I would never leave. That is the height of entertainment. Sam gets interviewed by the cops about what happened, and tells them that the only “hinky” thing about the situation is that they’re all shifters.

Jessica wanders up to the bar at Fangtasia and they bond over issues with being newly born vampires. Things like mean ol’ makers, how True Blood is pretty gross, and how it will get easier and better. They decide to be girlfriends *squee*. Tara says she feels crazy in her head, and they bond over how it feels to be a vampire. This is all kind of cute, I’m glad Tara has a friend. They could get into some mischief!

The Mystery Machine drives down a dark road, while Bill says that he thinks Nora set this all up to hand them over to Russell. That doesn’t go over well. That tech girl from the Authority calls and lets them know that they’re gonna go boom at sunrise, so they should probably get on it already. Sookie tells Bill and Eric off when they try to make her wait outside, and they all head into the asylum they’ve pulled up to, including Doug. Poor Doug!

Jason and Andy are investigating the scene, while Jason seems to be headed back down the “screw all the vampires” path like when he joined the Fellowship of the Sun. Haven’t we gone down this path with him enough? I know that he’s just discovering that vampires may have killed his parents, but this wasn’t that exciting last time it happened.

The search for Russell continues in the asylum, with Sookie guiding them via Doug GPS. Poor Doug’s about to piss himself at this point. New York smells like piss and is full of angry people according to Eric, who’s trying to sooth the fact that Doug thinks he’ll die and miss getting there. He should write travel pamphlets. They come across a room full of dead bodies covered in rats. 

Tara heads outside for a smoke, and the rate at which she can is really going rack her up a bill. Ugh there’s Hoytliner again, trying to get all hard core and sexy with Tara, but looking ridiculous instead. He wants to get snacked on, but Tara turns him down and then makes sexy eyes as he walks away. 

In the insanity bunker, Terry is still back off in Iraq in his head, reliving the mass burning of all the innocent people they killed. He sees the Ifrit in the flames, comes back around, and admits it to Eller, who is glad to not be crazy. Well, I wouldn’t go that far guy. Terry says they’re sitting ducks and need to gtfo NOW, so Eller releases them from the chairs they were tied to. Pat knocks Eller out, and ties him up once he has, beliving what Terry was saying to be a ruse to get free. Outside, Terry keeps tripping balls over the Ifrit, which Pat explains it off as being jacked on drugs. He’s convinced Eller is the arsonist. Downstairs, the Ifrit appears and takes out Eller. Two more to go!

Lafayette wakes on his couch to Jesus’ severed head, mouth sewn shut, making creepy noises at him. Now Jesushead is in Lafayette’s mom’s room, who seems to understand with it’s trying to say and starts screaming for him to come upstairs.

Doug’s had enough in the asylum, and runs screaming into a room which starts a bunch of people chained to the ceiling to start screaming. The victims say that they get taken down the hall, and they head over to Russell.

Sam shows up at Luna’s house to tell her about their shifter friends and ask if they had any enemies. She has such nice eyelashes. Emma is still “having trouble sleeping” meaning she’s a puppy, so she tells Sam he needs to leave for the night. He promises to return tomorrow to check on them. As he leaves the house, a truck full of masked men in trucks appears yelling “hey shifters!” and shoots Sam, followed by Luna. She appears to die as Emma runs to her, but Sam screams at her to run and she puppies up just in time to make it out. The masked men have been taping the whole thing. I’m just going to come out and say it: what dicks! Jason had better not join those dudes.

Roman is going on about traitors in their midst again.  He’s gathered them all to ask them once and for all: do we share the world with humans as they’ve been fighting to do, as equals, or do they go back into hiding? It changes to a voice over and cuts to Jason sitting and crying in front of his parents' graves. We then see the Scooby gang continuing to Russell’s room, and then back to Fangtasia where Tara and Jessica are getting down with some fangbangers in bathroom stalls. Roman is saying that they are slaves to their bloodlust if they let their desires to overcome common decency, and we see that Tara did take Hoyt up on his snack offer, which Jessica hears; they begin to kick the shit out of each other. Really Jess, even in the eyeliner you still want him? Come now. Roman is saying that they will fight the Sanguinistas and that the night is dark and full of terrors. I mean that the night will cleanse them of their sins, get out of here Melisandre! Wrong HBO show.

They finally make it to Russell, who is happy to see Sookie, while she calls him a psychotic piece of shit. Eric says haaaaay we’re going to kill you, and Russell quotes what Talbot would say (RIP) while buckhunting: give it your best shot. Alcide wolfs, Sookie screams, and we cut to credits.

Total # of Andy butts this episode: 1 

Poor Doug :(

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