J.R. RISING:
BEGINNINGS
FAMILY PLOT
Since TV established in most of Western households, at the 50īs decade, the SERIES have been winning the likes of a wide audience. Initially, the main stars of those series were detectives, doctors or lawyers, all of them professional role models, as well as families, large mainly, who fought for making their living in a rurall or urban background, thus symbolizing the well-known american way of life.
As time went by, both families and TV heroes began to evolve, as they turned out to be less perfect and more normal, with all that it implies. Drama became MELODRAMA, and Soap Operas, serials aired at afternoon time, achieved an unsuspected success in EEUU, especially among the female audience. Spun off directly from the 30īs and 40īs WOMANīS PICTURES starring actresses like BETTE DAVIS and JOAN CRAWFORD, their essential characteristics were a high number of episodes (daily airings), a big cast of characters and entangled (but massively accepted) storylines.
At late 70īs, a new subgenre was born, in the middle of many variety shows, cop shows and sitcoms, and it won the worldwide audience: it was the SUPER SOAP, melodramatic television (in the best sense of the word) whose budget increased all through the years, since its target was wider and wider. Humble, noble members of the 70īs families, let pass to the corrupt characters driven by POWER and SEX, who called the attention of the 80īs audience. Sociologists tried to explain the reason of their success, though the answer was much simpler than they guessed to. Paradoxically, this genre captivated a society in crisis, especially EUROPE, as if, that way, watching a group of millionaires destroying themselves, people with problems could find some kind of relief to them.
The formula of DALLAS, the show that started off, was rehashed "ad nauseam" on the following years: the parallel story of several families whose members were not exactly an EXAMPLE, where the GOOD were an exception. Featuring a cast that reunited old-timer supporting actors and young experienced stars, what made DALLAS a SUCCESS was, basically, the narrative structure: a number of intertwined plots telling a story about a texan family, the EWINGS, millonaires in oil and cattle.
After 13 years of continued success and after a long rivalry with other shows that exploited the same formula much less wittily, DALLAS came to his end after 357 episodes.
HOW CAME THE IDEA OF MAKING THE SHOW THAT BROKE EVERY WORLD TV AUDIENCE RECORD?
MALICE IN DALLAS
