Worth the suffering for Larry Hagman
I'm 52... well, I was when I wrote this! I remember not only that JR was shot but that it had made the staid and rather conservative 9 o clock news on the BBC! Thus was the impact that this show had on it's UK audience! A FICTIONAL murder had made headlines on the national news.Fast forward to the internet age and a new (less patient and more sophisticated) audience!
First - THANK YOU for keeping the original theme music and the opening graphics which were identical to the original but updated with newer cameras and of course... wide screen!
Another nod to the past was the highlight of plush interiors and lavish exterior shots. The show is, well... beautiful! And of course so are all the people in it...
(Finally a thank you for including Charlene Tilton. She was too often overlooked in the original series' but I always thought she was easily the most, erm... 'do-able' bird in the nest!)
Unfortunately, all the new characters are pretty unlikable. By which I mean - I didn't care either way if they got screwed over or did the screwing over! Of course, with a younger demographic footing the bills for TNT it was written and marketed towards a more youthful television viewer. But that said, the brilliant TV series "REVENGE" had more of the Dallas 'feel' about it than this offering did.
But a salvage crew was on hand, lead by the masterful and simply wonderful octogenarian Larry Hagman. Thankfully he had enough screen time and managed to keep me hooked. (How is this man even alive?) Others from the original series were equally welcome and really, that's why I stuck with it.
The premise of this outing is a bit preposterous and there's pretty much no subtlety to the direction of the plot. But the cast are capable and do a great job... It's not them that fail to make this series happen.
There are basically two elements missing for me... first is the characters. I didn't like any of them! Young beautiful people mired in melodrama and self absorbed lust for themselves. Not attractive! Second was the lack of a decent story.
That said... If Larry Hagman returns for a second series, I won't miss a second of it!
score 7/10
mark-newman-1 15 September 2012
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2673916/15055
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