The first season of Dallas in 1978 wasn’t watched all that much. I was in college without a TV, anyway. But it really took off in its third season because all anyone could talk about in the summer of 1980 was “Who shot JR?” and the modern TV cliffhanger was born. That wasn’t the only way that Dallas broke new ground and left a legacy that inspired other TV shows. It’s been almost forty years, so let’s learn some things you didn’t already know about Dallas.
9. THE IMPETUS FOR “WHO SHOT J.R.?” CAME FROM HAGMAN RENEGOTIATING HIS CONTRACT.
Hagman wanted to be paid more money for playing J.R., so he went along with the “Who Shot J.R?” premise. “The shooting of J.R. was a double-edged sword; it gave my producers and the CBS bosses a perfect way to get rid of me in case my demands got out of hand,” Hagman told TV Guide in 1980. “Meantime, the pressures began to build. Certain rumors were allowed to circulate, such as an insidious scheme, worthy of J.R. himself, to have the ambulance burn on the way to the hospital, necessitating plastic surgery on J.R., who would emerge from the operation looking just like another actor.” He had a feeling the producers wouldn’t let J.R. die and that they’d acquiesce to his monetary demands.
J.R. was shot in “A House Divided,” which aired in March of 1980, but fans would have to wait until November to find out who attempted to kill him. Those eight months caused such a frenzy that bookies took bets on who did the deed, and even Queen Elizabeth asked Hagman who shot him. “We were presented to the Queen Mother. And she says, ‘I don't suppose you could tell me who shot J.R?’ I said, ‘No ma'am, not even you.’” The show even filmed a gag reel of the cast and crew taking turns shooting Hagman, as a red herring.
When “Who Done It” aired as the fourth episode of the fourth season, on November 21, 1980, the world finally discovered that it was Sue Ellen’s sister, Kristin (Mary Crosby), who did the deed. Up to that point, Crosby was best known for being Bing Crosby’s daughter, but “Being the one who shot J.R. made me a trivia question, and I’m really big in really small countries,” Crosby told CBS. After all that, Hagman prevailed and got his raise (plus a stake in the series).
Well, that made perfect sense as a scheme to explain the presence or absence of a lead character when they did not yet know if he’d return for the next season. Funny how that turned out to be a ratings juggernaut. Such shenanigans didn’t work so well for other characters. Read all 14 Big facts About Dallas at mental_floss.