Dallas
Dead Reckoning
TV Flash files “Dead Reckoning” as hour 275 of 356 in the TV Flash guide — Dallas (1978–1991) on CBS, season 11, episode 24, aired 1988-03-18, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S11E24: listed hour 275 of 356 in the Dallas guide, hour 24 of 30 in season 11. It aired 1988-03-18 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “To Have and to Hold” (S11E23). Next is “Never Say Never” (S11E25).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
April is released. Miss Ellie tells the family that Clayton will not be living at Southfork. Charlie resents being forced to leave and Jenna has her doubts about it as well. Clayton tries to explain to Ellie about his "innocent friendship" with Laurel. Shulton tells Miss Ellie that Clayton has slept with Laurel. Ray meets a woman named Connie Hall and makes her in distress. Pearce tells April to stay out of his life. Bobby asks Clayton about why he had to leave Southfork. Pearce is happy that he managed to make it look like his parents are dead. Cliff meets Casey Denault. An angry Clayton beats Shulton up. Cliff becomes addicted to tranquilizers. Clayton is arrested for the murder of Shulton.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Dead Reckoning sit in the Dallas guide?
S11E24 is listed hour 275 of 356 — hour 24 of 30 in season 11, season 11 episode 24.
When did Dallas S11E24 air?
Dead Reckoning aired 1988-03-18 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;…