I want to reply to the blog of my friend and colleague Steve McGinn, a mere youngster writing about a show that premiered before he was born.
–First of all, I knew JR Ewing on April 2, 1978, before that young whippersnapper Mcginn entered this world. I remember sitting down in my college apartment that Sunday evening to watch the first-ever episode of this new highly-touted series, but I didn’t watch another one until maybe 1980. And once I started watching, I watched until the bitter end, literally the last episode. My wife and I were totally hooked; I don’t know if I’ve ever been more addicted to a show.
–I remember being in Dallas sometime in the late 80’s and visting the then-US headquarters of Fina, the Belgian company that was ultimately absorbed into Total. I realized it was the same gold-colored structure shown every time they were cutting to a scene featuring the seething, frustrated, ever-snookered Cliff Barnes. I will confess: I was excited to a ridiculous degree. (But I didn’t see ol’ Cliff in the lobby).
–I remember when Bobby and JR were fighting over who was going to control Ewing Oil, and Bobby bought a refinery. JR was angry, because he thought it would put Bobby over the top. Uh, hello…do either of you know the history of refining profitability in the US? Or did you know that if you bought a refinery back then, you had to get ready for the reformulated gasoline mandate coming in the early 90’s?
–I joked to my wife after the first episode of the new “Dallas” that I was going to have to now go and write a story for Platts about the 2 billion barrel field found north of Dallas. And oh, yeah, they didn’t put any sort of structure on it to gather the oil that shot out of the exploratory well, so now JR’s son John Ross is going to have the EPA all over him too.
–I did get a kick out of Christopher Ewing’s work with methane hydrates. (Christopher is Bobby’s son, but he’s actually the bastard child of Sue Ellen’s sister Kristin, who shot JR…oh, never mind.) Recently, a joint Japan-DOE-ConocoPhillips venture announced success in extracting methane hydrates from deep, frigid Alaskan waters. And yes, there are pictures on the Internet of “burning ice,” which is what it looks like and which Christopher demonstrated to potential investors. Somehow, the news coverage of this potentially huge breakthrough–and if methane hydrates could be extracted economically, it would be like the next natural gas revolution, after shale–didn’t mention the Ewing connection.
–I’m a Detroit Tiger fan, and Disco Demolition night, mentioned by Steve, was a great night for us. The White Sox had to forfeit game 2 of a doubleheader as a result, and the Tigers walked away with a 9-0 win, without a pitch ever being thrown.
–And tell me Linda Gray hasn’t had some work. Puh-leeezzzz…..
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