Swellin' for Sue Ellen

7 ways TNT's Dallas could strike oil in season 3

Editor's note: TV critic Elaine Liner wrote this last May, when it was confirmed Dallas would return to TNT for another season. With the premiere coming up Monday, February 24, we thought it would be fun to revisit her suggestions for season three success.

TNT's Dallas will be back for a third season. The cable network has ordered 15 more episodes of the series reboot, which so far has been shot entirely on location in North Texas. Filming is expected to start here again this fall, with the show returning to TV in early 2014.

Ratings dipped in season two, with an unexpected boost in viewership after the sudden death of Larry Hagman last Thanksgiving. His character, J.R. Ewing, was finally laid to rest in a March episode that drew the most viewers – 3.6 million – of any this season.

So what can writer-producer Cynthia Cidre (who wrote the great send-off for J.R.) and producers Michael M. Robin and Robert Rovner do to make season three a ratings gusher? Here are some ideas:

More Sue Ellen!
The best thing about the new Dallas is Linda Gray. Now in her early 70s, she’s still smokin’ hot, and her acting has matured in all the right ways. Gray’s performance as Sue Ellen Ewing delivering a bittersweet eulogy over J.R.’s grave was Emmy-worthy, the best moment on this show this year.

Plotwise, her character should keep swinging between heroine and villainess. Sue Ellen did learn some good moves from J.R. during their marriage, and she should use what she knows as she takes control of Ewing Energies and Barnes Global. Also, keeping Sue Ellen’s struggle with alcoholism in the storyline not only gives Gray great scenes to play, but it’s something many viewers can relate to.

Lighten up Josh Henderson
J.R.’s heir, son John Ross, played by the flinty Josh Henderson, was all over the map this season. He had too many girlfriends, too many of the same arguments with do-gooder cousin Christopher Ewing (Bobby’s adopted son), and too few moments of any real dramatic heft.

Hagman’s J.R. was fun to watch because he always had a mischievous glint in his eye, a little hint of a smile beneath the evildoing. So far, John Ross is an angry cipher. That’s boring. Giving him some lighter, flirty moments would humanize the character and let the actor show more range. (We assume he has some.)

Cut the oil talk
If Dallas is really going to get into subjects like fracking and alternative fuels, then it should go big. Rattle Southfork with an earthquake, for instance. But just having Christopher (Jesse Metcalf) spout jargon in yet another Ewing Energies conference room is to TV what a salt dome is to oil drilling — an obstacle to success.

Bring back Judith Light
As the Violet Venable-like matriarch, Judith Ryland, Light snarled like a rabid ferret. She was wonderful! Then a few episodes before the end of season two, son Harris (Mitch Pileggi), pushed his mommy down the stairs and — voom — Judith was shuttled to a rehab facility and never seen again.

Light has just opened on Broadway in the well-reviewed play The Assembled Parties, so maybe they had to write her off. But whatever it takes, get her back to Dallas and a much-wished-for throwdown with Linda Gray’s Sue Ellen. Like, at a party. In a fountain.

Dig up more of those old Dallas veterans for some really gritty storylines
Charlene Tilton, Deborah Shelton, Ted Shackelford and Steve Kanaly got drive-by cameos for J.R.’s funeral, but wouldn’t it be fun to work them in for longer stints as the Ewings continue to battle the Barnes family? It would please longtime Dallas fans and help bridge some pretty deep plot holes that the writers dug for themselves this season. The whole “Is Pamela Barnes Ewing (Victoria Principal) still alive?” deal was a dud.

Let Brenda Strong dry her tears and get it on with Bobby (or somebody)
All Strong’s character, the Second Mrs. Bobby Ewing, did this season was weep. She was one-woman drought relief. With her character’s long-lost daughter Emma (Emma Bell) returning as a slutty, pill-popping teen, Strong was forced to boohoo in scene after scene.

She’s gorgeous and a good actress, so why not give her and Patrick Duffy’s Bobby some middle-aged bedroom smooch-fu occasionally? Dallas in the 1980s had a lot more of the sessy-sessy than the current version. And now it’s on cable!

Jesse Metcalf’s chest is begging for screen time! (He worked out at the Oak Lawn Equinox. Hello.) Less of the tech talk and more of the down and dirty would surely help ratings.

Find a role for Ted McGinley
Hey, if Mad Men could redeem TV’s designated “show killer” with a guest shot, why couldn't Dallas?

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If you need to catch up on season two of Dallas, TNT offers quickie video recaps of each episode.

Brenda Strong needs to get it on with Patrick Duffy (or someone) in season 3 of Dallas.

Photo courtesy of TNT

Brenda Strong needs to get it on with Patrick Duffy (or someone) in season 3 of Dallas.

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Movie Review

The life of an actor is far from rosy in dramedy Misty Green

Photo courtesy of A24

Rosalind Eleazar in Misty Green.

For every well-known/successful actor in Hollywood, there are thousands of others whose lives are more tenuous as they struggle to find work. The new film Misty Green is about one such actor who, after a period in the limelight, now finds herself on the outskirts of the industry, just hoping to find her way back in.

Misty (Rosalind Eleazar) won an Emmy for a 2000s-era TV show that still gets her recognition, but not much work. Still living in the apartment of a recently-deceased man with whom she was having an affair, Misty spends her days sleeping in and her nights getting blitzed on alcohol and drugs. She seems to be heading nowhere fast until a few things coincide to break up her routine.

The man’s wife (Amy Landecker) shows up and tells her she has seven days to vacate the apartment; Misty’s brother, Jay (Daniel Kaluuya) — who is bipolar — arrives after being kicked out of his facility for non-payment; and Jordan (Chris Rock), a former colleague with whom she had a falling-out, reappears in her life, offering a possible chance to rehabilitate her image.

Written and directed by Rock (his first feature since 2014’s Top Five), the film is a funny and excruciating look at how the entertainment industry might actually work. Misty is her own worst enemy thanks to late nights fraternizing with unsavory characters like Zach (Adam Driver), who deals in drugs and women in equal measure, but her frustration proves warranted when her agent, Randy (Topher Grace), and casting directors like Rhonda (Tracie Thoms) hardly give her the time of day.

Misty tries her best to stay positive, but when jobs like singing in a bar are the best she can do, the mountain seems insurmountable. Rock does an effective job of demonstrating the elements that are within and without Misty’s control that affect her ability to regain her position in the industry. The chip on her shoulder is almost as big as the bias some have against her, and other negative circumstances don’t help matters much.

There are many small touches that Rock and his crew put in the film to give it an air of authenticity. Filming in Los Angeles (a rarity these days), Rock uses both subtle and overt shots of homeless people in the city, suggesting that the line between the haves and have-nots is a fine one, especially with Misty on the verge of not having a place to live. He also has cameos from a few of his funny friends, including a bit of meta-casting of Anthony Anderson (who has faded a bit after starring in Black-ish) in a bit part as a cop.

Eleazar, a British actor best known for appearing on the Apple TV show Slow Horses, is a magnetic presence as Misty. The character herself is somewhat cringey in her decision-making, and Eleazar sells every bit of her righteous indignation and self-defeating actions. The supporting cast is great across the board, including Rock, Driver, Kaluuya, Thoms, Grace, Anna Kendrick, and Rich Sommer.

Misty Green makes you rage against the Hollywood machine, laugh at the various ways different people deal with its maddening quirks, and hide behind your fingers as Misty chooses options that don’t help, either voluntarily or because her back is against the wall. It’s a powerhouse of acting that gives a unique angle on the inner workings of Hollywood, one that ironically might be competing for awards at year’s end.

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Misty Green is now playing in theaters.

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