Dallas
Past Imperfect
TV Flash files “Past Imperfect” as hour 144 of 356 in the TV Flash guide — Dallas (1978–1991) on CBS, season 7, episode 13, aired 1983-12-23, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S07E13: listed hour 144 of 356 in the Dallas guide, hour 13 of 30 in season 7. It aired 1983-12-23 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Barbecue Four” (S07E12). Next is “Peter's Principles” (S07E14).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
J.R. is furious about Clayton's engagement to Miss Ellie. He tells Detective McSween to investigate Clayton's background. Ellie wants Clayton to move into Southfork. Little John Ross misses Peter Richards and wants him to come to the ranch. Sue Ellen doesn't want to be seen with Peter. John Ross starts school. Cliff Barnes does everything in his power to find out who Edgar Randolph is and what dealings he has had with J.R. Mark Graison teaches Pamela the rules of business. Bobby wants to buy Jenna Wade a boutique but she refuses and they have an argument about it. Clayton tries to give Ellie an engagement ring. In Rome, Katherine Wentworth keeps digging into Renaldo Marchetta and Jenna Wade's past. Peter tells Sue Ellen that he found an apartment for them, but Sue Ellen tells him she wants him out of her life. Clayton asks Bobby, J.R., and Ray how they feel about his engagement to Ellie. Jenna and Bobby cool off after the argument over the boutique. Clayton finds out about J.R's snooping into his past.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Past Imperfect sit in the Dallas guide?
S07E13 is listed hour 144 of 356 — hour 13 of 30 in season 7, season 7 episode 13.
When did Dallas S07E13 air?
Past Imperfect aired 1983-12-23 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start — the miniseries or the shooting?
Start with Digger’s Daughter so the table has names, then the first barbecue, then the 1980 cliffhanger and its answer. You can sample the dream-season aftershock without fourteen seasons of leases.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Watch it to see spoiler culture get invented in public: a Texas oil table, a villain America loved, and a summer-long question that made appointment TV feel like a crime scene. The dream season is the delete that still starts fights.
The shot was not the story. The summer was the story. March 1980, CBS, J.R. Ewing on the floor of an office, and then months of a country asking a question like it was a relationship status. Who shot J.R.? was not a plot point. It was a premiere-night soft launch of event television: every magazine cover a red carpet, every barstool a group chat, every publicist pretending the secret could hold. Larry Hagman made villainy photograph as charm. If you only watched the official stills — the hat, the oil, the ranch —…
Filed against
- Larry Hagman as J.R. Ewing
Larry Hagman’s J.R. Ewing made “Who shot J.R.?” a global summer sport on Dallas — oil-opera villainy with a smile that sold cliffhangers. Southfork seating charts, spoiler culture as national weather. On TV Flash he is primetime soap’s…
- Patrick Duffy as Bobby Ewing
Patrick Duffy’s Bobby Ewing was Dallas’s good-son lighting — Southfork virtue against Larry Hagman’s grin, and the dream-season delete that still starts fights. CBS taught television how to own a summer. TV Flash still asks who shot the…
- Linda Gray as Sue Ellen Ewing
Linda Gray’s Sue Ellen Ewing is Dallas as a marriage crime scene — Southfork seating charts, Larry Hagman’s grin as a weapon, a summer-long question that made appointment TV feel like a manhunt. Oil-opera spouse as more than a hemline. On…
- Victoria Principal as Pamela Barnes Ewing
Victoria Principal’s Pamela Barnes Ewing made Dallas a Southfork seating chart with a pulse — Texas oil, Larry Hagman’s grin as a weapon, and a cliffhanger that turned spoiler culture into national weather. On TV Flash she is the…
- Barbara Bel Geddes as Miss Ellie Ewing
Barbara Bel Geddes steadied Dallas as Miss Ellie Ewing — Southfork matriarch with moral gravity amid oil-opera excess and “Who shot J.R.?” mania. She made primetime soap feel like family business. TV Flash files her as the Ewing…
- Jim Davis as Jock Ewing
Jim Davis’s Jock Ewing is Dallas as the table the oil opera had to sit at — Southfork land, a seating chart with a ranch attached, the father the cliffhanger generation had to come home to. Who shot J.R. taught TV how to own a summer;…