Dallas (1978)
Dallas is a 1978 soap series created by David Jacobs. It stars Larry Hagman, Ken Kercheval and Patrick Duffy.
Big oil, bigger grudges, and a Texas family that treats loyalty as a bargaining chip. The Ewings own Ewing Oil and the sprawling Southfork ranch, and the fault line runs between decent Bobby, his wife Pam from an enemy clan, and his scheming elder brother J. R., the tycoon audiences loved to hate. What began as a marriage drama grew into the prime-time soap that ruled the 1980s, building to a cliffhanger, Who shot J.R., that stopped a nation cold. Money, betrayal, and family bloodsport, served with Stetsons and champagne.
Quick answers
What is Dallas about?
Big oil, bigger grudges, and a Texas family that treats loyalty as a bargaining chip. The Ewings own Ewing Oil and the sprawling Southfork ranch, and the fault line runs between decent Bobby, his wife Pam from an enemy clan, and his scheming elder brother J. R., the tycoon audiences loved to hate. What began as a marriage drama grew into the prime-time soap that ruled the 1980s, building to a cliffhanger, Who shot J.R., that stopped a nation cold. Money, betrayal, and family bloodsport, served with Stetsons and champagne.
When was Dallas released?
Dallas was released on 2 April 1978.
How many episodes does Dallas have?
Dallas has 357 episodes across 14 seasons.
Who made Dallas?
Dallas was created by David Jacobs.
Where can I watch Dallas?
Dallas is available on Google Play, Amazon and Fandango at Home.
Where to watch Dallas
Rent: Google Play
Buy: Amazon, Fandango at Home, Google Play
Cast
- Larry Hagman as J.R. Ewing
- Ken Kercheval as Cliff Barnes
- Patrick Duffy as Bobby Ewing
- Steve Kanaly as Ray Krebbs
- Linda Gray as Sue Ellen Shepard Ewing
- Barbara Bel Geddes as Miss Ellie
- Victoria Principal as Pamela Barnes Ewing
- Charlene Tilton as Lucy Ewing
- Susan Howard as Donna Culver Krebbs
- Howard Keel as Clayton Farlow
- Priscilla Presley as Jenna Wade
- Sheree J. Wilson as April Stevens
Similar series
Explore Dallas guides
A few thoughts on Dallas
Succession updates the same dynasty warfare for a media empire, all knives and inheritance. The Godfather turns family-business ruthlessness operatic. For the greed-soaked business register, The Wolf of Wall Street shares Dallas's appetite for excess and its taste for characters you happily root against. Sprawling family-money sagas rarely got more addictive than this.
Wealthy families waging war on each other
Dallas turned the Ewings' oil money and grudges into prime-time bloodsport. These dramas run on the same fuel, dynasties where fortunes, inheritances and betrayals set relatives against one another, and the smiling handshake at dinner hides the knife. Power and family loyalty become chips to be bet, bluffed and cashed in.
Sprawling serialized soaps that never stop
Dallas mastered the cliffhanger and the ever-tangling storyline, a soap that ruled its era. These long-running serials share that appetite for open-ended drama, weaving romance, scandal and reversals across hundreds of episodes, the kind of show you slip into for years while its families keep loving, scheming and betraying without end.
Ranch and heartland family sagas
Southfork is as much a character in Dallas as any Ewing, the land binding the clan together. These sagas plant their families on ranches and in small towns, mining the tension between kin, property and the wide open country, where inheritance and belonging matter as much as any single dramatic feud.