One Degree of Separation to the New Dallas TV Show

I don’t remember who shot JR, but I loved the Dallas TV show back

Southfork Ranch – Event and Conference Center

in the 80s (actually 1978-91), and the suspense of the summer until we eventually learned “who shot J.R.”  My home is now in Rockwall, TX, which is actually not too far from Southfork Ranch, located in Parker (East of Plano).  In about 1998, I attended a business conference there, and remember a banquet, where a cowboy/magician came to our table performing card-tricks.

Pump Jack Photo – By Paul Lowry (via Flikr)

The oil field theme of the TV show was interesting to my family, because my Dad worked for an oil company a total of 38 years, as did I for the first 10 years of my career. I grew up, among other places, in North Dakota (the Williston Basin) and Seminole, in west Texas.  The first two major software systems I worked involved depletion and then leasing & royalties (oil companies lease the mineral rights and pay royalties to the land owners).   In Seminole, we had a pump jack in the city,  not more than six blocks from where we lived.

New Dallas Series – J.R. (Larry Hagman), Josh Henderson, Sue Ellen (Linda Gray)

The new show will star Josh Henderson, whom I actually knew in Tulsa when he was about 5 to 9 years old.   His mother Sharon, used to have us over to her house for a Bible study.

Of course, I also grew up watching Larry Hagman as the start of “I Dream of Jeannie”.  So it will be interesting to see Larry as the older Ewing, and Josh now as the younger.

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