Do You Remember Who Shot J.R. on ‘Dallas?’
“Who Done It” aired on November 21, 1980, and was a big day for Dallas fans! After months and months of speculation, fans could finally determine who shot J.R. Ewing. On the March 21, 1980, season finale of the popular soap opera, J.R. was shot in an epic cliffhanger that is widely considered to be one of the best of all time.
Dallas was one of the first of its kind, a primetime soap opera following two Texas oil families: the Ewings and the Barnes. The patriarchs of each family, Jock Ewing (Jim Davis) and Digger Barnes, were former partners turned enemies. Things got even more dramatic when Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) married Pamela Barnes (Victoria Principal), forcing the families to interact more often.
Everett Collection
J.R. Ewing was one of the main antagonists of the series, played by the late Larry Hagman. Since J.R. had so many enemies, the question “Who Shot J.R.?” became a popular conversation topic during the summer of 1980 and even became a popular t-shirt slogan. Finally, in November, we found out that the culprit was *Spoiler Alert* Kristin Shepard (Mary Crosby), J.R.’s wife’s sister and his former mistress. 350 million people around the world tuned in live to find out what happened with much anticipation, after some delay due to a contract dispute with Hagman and a Screen Actors Guild strike.
Lorimar Television/Everett Collection
Around 76 percent of U.S. televisions tuned in to the event, which helped to popularize the use of cliffhangers. Dallas remained on the air until May 3, 1991, but its spinoff series Knots Landing ran until 1993. Dallas got a modern makeover with a reboot in 2012 with a few of the regular cast members joining in. However, it wasn’t as well-received and ended after just three seasons. Hagman died in real life shortly after he reprised his character.
CBS/Everett Collection
Do you remember watching Dallas in 1980? Were you right about who shot J.R.? Remember, this was a time before social media or the Internet, so people could really only speculate with their friends and neighbors who also watched!
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