The Middle Son

Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy, above) was always the good son. The youngest of the Ewing Brothers, he bore the brunt of dealings with the fall out of his J.R.'s wheeling and dealing becoming the son his parents could always count on. Bobby Ewing was also at times an excruciatingly boring character. Far more interesting to watch were older brother J.R. and middle son Gary.

I have written before that growing up in the 80's, DALLAS was the only show that drew my family together to watch for an hour. I remember vividly being sent to bed before it began and sneaking back down to watch the doings of the Ewing's with my parents knowing. As I got older, I was allowed to watch with them and was fascinated by the goings on at Southfork.

I don't really remember much about Gary Ewing (Ted Shackelford) from those childhood viewings, but I did get to know him a bit better when I finally got to watching the most of Dallas when it was on TNN and later, when it arrived on DVD. Although I have not seen nearly as much of the spin-off Knots Landing, I always happy to see Gary strut back to Southfork in his tight jeans to visit his daughter Lucy (Charlene Tilton, below).

Shackelford in the 80's gave off a trouble, yet sexy vibe. Not evil like his big brother, or nice like his younger, Gary was a sexy mess, unable to deal with a daughter, or the pressures from his wealthy family. With his great body, and pointy, serious by sexy face, Shackleford managed to make Gary someone you wanted to know more about.

I have not really been watching TNT's Dallas reboot. I tried to give it a go last season, but with the exception of the incredibly talented and hot Josh Henderson, there was little I found to grab on to actually care about. The show seemed simply a collection of unconnected scenes with no real focus or direction. The characters I grew up watching, were almost unrecognizable.

I tuned in again briefly a few weeks back to see how the show said goodbye to J.R. Although it was great to see Gary, Lucy and other blasts from the past back, the shows creators just didn't seem to know how to properly use these wonderful iconic characters. Linda Gray's tearful goodbye made the hour watchable, but not watchable enough to bring me back the next week. It was a little sad seeing Shackelford, not so much because he had aged, all of the characters aged. It was more that there seemed a lack of caring from the show, and maybe as well the actor, to make the character interesting. It was sort of too bad, because although Shackelford looks very much his age, there was still that spark of sexiness hidden under those business suits that I wish the show had chosen to tap into.