Descriptive Summary
Dallas (Television program)
Dallas, Scripts Collection
1978-1985
Materials are written in English.
2001-040
10 ft.
Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The
University of Texas at Austin
Comprising 330 original scripts, the Dallas Scripts Collection, 1978-1985, documents the production of the popular CBS television series.
Biographical Note
Running from April 1978 to May 1991,
Dallas was a popular prime time television soap opera on CBS that revolved around the family of J. R. Ewing, a Texan who made his fortune in the oil and ranching industries. Created by David Jacobs and starring Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy, Barbara Bel Geddes, and Jim Davis, the show produced 356 episodes and was the top rated show on television for three seasons. Dallas produced one spin-off, Knots Landing, and revolutionized television with the cliffhanger finale of its second season, which left fans waiting months to find out “Who shot J. R.?”
Sources:
Jacobs, David. “TV view; When the rich and powerful were riding high.”
New York Times, April 15, 1990.
Carter, Bill. “So ‘Dallas’ is finally over. Or is it?”
New York Times, May 6, 1991.
Scope and Contents
Comprising 330 original scripts, the
Dallas Scripts Collection, 1978-1985, documents the production of the popular CBS television series. All of the scripts were working copies used during the show’s production (some including annotation).
Access Restrictions
This collection is open for research use.
Index Terms
Subjects (Organizations)
Dallas (Television program) -- Archives
Subjects
Television programs -- United States -- History -- 20th century
Television scripts -- Archives
Places
Dallas (Tex.) -- Fiction
Preferred Citation
Dallas Scripts Collection, 1978-1985, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of
Texas at Austin.
Separated Material
Some material has been separated to the Artifacts Collection.
Processing Information
This collection contains unprocessed materials.
Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s History Revealed: Bringing Collections to Light project, 2009-2011.
Detailed Description of the Papers
Contact repository for more information.