So my old man grew up watching the TV show Dallas when it aired, and we recently gave him the DVD box set of the entire series for his birthday. Now we're bingewatching the whole series since, y'know, quarantine, and we just finished season 9. But I gotta say, what the f***. I'll try to keep it as spoiler-free as possible.....This is honestly baffling to me.
Season 9's finale was a culmination of several elements.
Bobby Ewing's (Patrick Duffy) death was meant to conclusive as the actor wanted to move on and do film work. Behind the scenes, there was a producer change from Leonard Katzman (he ran the show from the start) to Philip Capice. At least, I think that was his name. Anyway, actor Larry Hagman couldn't stand Capice and felt alone on the show with the new guy in charge and his good friend, Duffy, gone.
Dallas was a TV juggernaut for so many years and held the #1 spot. Season 9, it had started to slip. Something needed to be done. This prompted Hagman to call up Duffy. He pleaded with Duffy to come back, but Duffy's wife joked at the notion. After all, he was dead! The only way for him to return to the show is if his death was dream.
Throughout season 9, there were a few plot points that were set up and never resolved. It's because the "dream ending" wasn't even thought of until near the end of the season. The cast didn't even know what the ending meant let alone that's how it would end. TV Guide was trying to figure out how Bobby Ewing could return and listed several possible methods. Guess what ranked dead last in their list? The ex-wife dreaming up the season 9. The studio even went out of the way to throw everyone off balance by shooting three different scenarios and even released still photos of Duffy wrapped in bandages to make it seem like he survived the car explosion.
At the time, this was a huge shock to all viewers and got people who stopped watching to tune back in. After all, those that quit during season 9 didn't actually miss out on anything else. Hagman got his friend back on the show and the ratings went up as they were on board for season 10 to learn how Bobby had returned. Duffy got a huge bump in pay and original producer, Katzman, had returned to finish season 9 and even implement the "dream" explanation. The show continued for another four years, but it burned its good faith with the viewers as it never retained its viewership from the shock moment.
Spoilers for Dallas season 9, the series finale's of the Bob Newhart Show and St. Elsewhere!
Never the less, it became a TV pop culture moment. The Bob Newhart show spoofed it during its series finale by having Newhart wake up only to realize he dreamed the entire show. St. Elsewhere had a similar type of ending in which the entirety of the show was a fabrication conceived in the mind of an autistic child. However, unlike the "dream reveal" of Dallas, this had emotional impact that made it work rather than a naked Patrick Duffy soaping himself up.