TV Ewings Linda Gray and Patrick Duffy Get a Standing O in Dallas

A standing ovation told Linda Gray and Patrick Duffy that the luster of the TV Ewings has not dimmed.On the original 1978-91 Dallas TV show and TNT's 2012-14 reboot, Gray played Sue Ellen Ewing, and Duffy was her brother-in-law Bobby. At the Winspear Opera House Thursday, they headlined "A Dallas Retrospective," a conversation moderated by Dallas Morning News columnist Robert Wilonsky and sponsored by J.R. Ewing Bourbon."There's probably never been a more dysfunctional family than the Ewings," Duffy said. "Why is it that that dysfunctional family has engendered the most emotional family response from fans? By a huge margin, when people come up to me they say, 'Oh, I love your show. My whole family used to get together on Friday nights and we'd sit on the couch and be gripped by the characters.'"He thinks it was a cultural touchstone in a pre-internet, pre-cable TV world. "People who were children and are now grandparents tell me stories about how important it was that the family got together on that Friday night," he said. "I think that's an amazing legacy of a show, that at different times, you could think, 'What a silly show.'"Travolta and J. Lo as Ewings?In 2006, neither Gray nor Duffy was pleased by the announcement of a feature-film version of Dallas with John Travolta as J.R. and Jennifer Lopez as Sue Ellen. (The film was never made.)  Continue reading...