“Dallas!” On this day 40 years ago, the blockbuster show premiered! Now the cast is reunited, with our @GMA cameras rolling with @paulafaris. pic.twitter.com/lkjzWw0X4b
On April 2, 1978, television changed forever when a little show called Dallas made its debut. No one knew what to make of it, and expected it to just ride off into the sunset after 5 episodes. As we know it did not. In fact 3 years after it premiered, around 90 million people tuned in to find out Who Shot JR?
An event we still talk about until this day. What made the series so special? Charlene Tilton said on Good Morning America today, “Just the chemistry we have off camera really came through…It wasn’t fake, it was real.” Patrick Duffy said he used to leave for work early just so he could get there and play with his coworkers.
The show was also a trailblazer on taboo topics like breast cancer and mastectomies, coming out and alcoholism. Linda Gray says she still gets letters from people today that tell her they got help for their alcoholism because of her storyline from the primetime soap. Tilton shared this tidbit about the coming out storyline, back then they were not allowed to say gay, so they had to say homosexual.
As we know, 5 years ago we lost the heart and soul of the show and they revealed how Larry Hagman was nothing like his villainous character JR. His TV wife said that he used to hate that she would tell everyone how lovely he was. Why? Because the viewers were supposed to hate him, not love him like we do. Talking about loving, Grey also revealed that he was also a bad boy because he used to eat onions or peanut butter before their kissing scenes.
Back in 1985, Bobby Ewing was killed off of the show, only to return a year later. His death was explained as a dream and the viewers did not like it. So much so that Steve Kanaly says they lost about 10% of their audience because of it.
They ended their reunion interview with one very important question, are they up for another revival of the show? Yes, they are! In this day and age, what are the networks waiting for? There is obviously a desire for it because why else would be tuning in for Empire and Dynasty? We want to watch crazy rich families go crazy and no family can out-crazy the Ewings.
— Late Night with Seth Meyers (@LateNightSeth) April 1, 2018
Last night, John Legend played Jesus Christ in a live version of Jesus Christ Superstar on NBC, and Late Night with Seth Meyers did their own take on the musical. One unlike any you have seen before. That is because instead of using actors, they used Popsicle sticks for the shtick. Oddly enough, it worked.
Meyers described it as “a huge waste of money.” Which it was, but it was also amazingly fun to watch. Plus, no matter how much it cost, it still cost less than the version that aired yesterday. Not much less, but still less.
Legendary show creator Steve Bocho passed away on April 1st at the age of 74 after a long battle with Leukemia.
Before there was CSI, NCIS and Law & Order, there were the shows created by Steven Bocho that opened the door to shows like the former. He was the man behind Hill Street Blues, Cop Rock (a cop drama musical), Doogie Howser, MD, L.A. Law, Murder One, Brooklyn South, NYPD Blue and Murder in the First to name a few. Before he changed television with those shows, he started out on The Invisible Man, McMillian & Wife and Columbo. It is a dream resume for more television writers and it belonged to him.
Whenever you watch any procedural on television from now on, you have to thank him for it. It was his groundbreaking shows that broke the ground for today’s show. He took what came before him, and made it more true to life. A simple addition that forever changed the way we watch television today.
Honor him by watching one of his brilliant shows again or maybe discovering them for the first time. I will remember him by watching Cop Rock again, a show that did not get the respect it so richly deserves.
It was recently announced that Seth Rogen was moving his Hilarity for Charity event to Netflix on April 6th, and it turns out that is not all he doing with him then.
He signed a contract giving them everything and I do mean everything. As he says, “If it worked for Adam Sandler, it will work for me. Right? I guess.” Get ready for Rogenflix all the time. If you thought that Stranger Things was the only stranger thing on Netflix, be prepared for it not be anymore. I hope we get a sequel to The Interview out of this deal. How highlarious would that be?
