potboiler, dallas. >> a move like that will destroy all of you in oil and it will ruin our family name. >> i assure you, it felt like that never crossed my mind. >> whatever it takes, i will stop you from destroying ewing oil. >> dallas established new ground in terms of a weekly one- hour show which literally captivated america for 13 years. >> dallas is a television show rooted in the 1970s. one of the crazy things that emerges is this character, jr ewing, as a pop phenomenon. >> what difference does it make, whoever it is has got to be more interesting than who i'm looking at right now. >> it was such a delicious villain. everyone was completely enamored by this character. >> at this point, so many people were watching television. that you could do something so unexpected that it would become news.