Dallas
The Sting
TV Flash files “The Sting” as hour 291 of 356 in the TV Flash guide — Dallas (1978–1991) on CBS, season 12, episode 10, aired 1989-01-20, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S12E10: listed hour 291 of 356 in the Dallas guide, hour 10 of 26 in season 12. It aired 1989-01-20 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Counter Attack” (S12E09). Next is “The Two Mrs. Ewings” (S12E11).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
After Miss Ellie's decision to sell Section 40 to McKay. Wendell decides to sell most of his Weststar stock to make the purchase. McKay pressures Wendell to have his son Tommy released from prison. Ray leaves Southfork and goes back to Europe. Bobby tells Tracey that problems with her dad are separate from their relationship. The sheriff from Haleyville shows up at Ewing Oil and warns J.R. Sue Ellen tells Wendell off when he proposes to her. April and Lucy uncover Casey's con game. McKay gets a phone call from Tommy. J.R. wants to be oil partners with April. Tammy questions Cliff about Jamie. McKay makes up with Tracey as they anticipate Tommy's return. Kimberly Cryder tells McKay that she's got controlling interest in Weststar. Cally shows up at Southfork and announces she's J.R.'s wife.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Sting sit in the Dallas guide?
S12E10 is listed hour 291 of 356 — hour 10 of 26 in season 12, season 12 episode 10.
When did Dallas S12E10 air?
The Sting aired 1989-01-20 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;…