When I was a kid I used to love when Dallas came on. I was too young to really watch or enjoy the show, but I loved that it was the only hour that both my parents sat down and watched a television show. When I got a little older, I watched myself when it used to air on old The Nashville Network in the late 90's.
I liked Christopher Atkin's in his speedo, Lucy's long hair and all those meals around the Southfork dining room table. I never really paid much attention to Ray. I liked the actor Steve Kanaly, but the character never really drew me in. I recently started watching old episodes again, this time on IMDB. For some reason, this time Ray piqued my interest.
Kanaly with Jack Scalia and Lorenzo Lamas
I had forgotten that ole Uncle Ray used to have sex with Lucy (his niece) in the hayloft. This storyline was dropped once Ray found out he was part of the Ewing family. I'm currently re-watching the the season with Timothy Patrick Murphy as Ray's cousin Mickey and I'm really enjoying the storyline.
Sadly Murphy died a few after his Dallas run ended, but there were some nice scenes between Kanaly and Murphy during his time on the series. I remembered Patrick Duffy used to have regular shirtless, (and speedo) scenes, but Kanaly's Ray is also shirtless and sweaty several times during the season.
Maybe it's because now know that Murphy was gay but there is something a bit homoerotic about a shirtless Ray grabbing Mickey promising to teach him a lesson. I'm enjoying my Dallas re-watch but I also remember from the TNN run that in the next season or two the show starts to quickly go down hill. I am looking forward to the show being restored and premiering on HBO Max in the future.