Dallas
Dire Straits
TV Flash files “Dire Straits” as hour 212 of 356 in the TV Flash guide — Dallas (1978–1991) on CBS, season 9, episode 21, aired 1986-02-14, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S09E21: listed hour 212 of 356 in the Dallas guide, hour 21 of 31 in season 9. It aired 1986-02-14 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Missing” (S09E20). Next is “Overture” (S09E22).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Pam is held by the kidnappers. Fights between Mark and Matt continue. Sue Ellen misses Pam. The Ewings decide to get psychiatric help for Jenna. Jack and J.R. get ready for the conference in Martinique. J.R. is generous with Mandy after she confesses a major breach of trust to him. Donna makes friends with one of the disabled children. Jenna resists psychiatric help. J.R. gets jealous of Sue Ellen seeing Jerry Kenderson, and he questions her about it. In Colombia, Mark gets impatient with the search for Pam. Jack questions Angelica and J.R. about the Martinique conference. Charlie overhears a conversation about possible drastic steps to get medical help for her mother. Pam is released. Jerry confesses his attraction to Sue Ellen. J.R. investigates Marinos Shipping. In Colombia, Mark has a surprise plan for Pam after her release.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Dire Straits sit in the Dallas guide?
S09E21 is listed hour 212 of 356 — hour 21 of 31 in season 9, season 9 episode 21.
When did Dallas S09E21 air?
Dire Straits aired 1986-02-14 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;…