(vibrant swing music) ♪ She says, "Always hang up your costumes and know your lines and stay reasonably sober."

Well, I did two of 'em.

I think I was somewhat responsible for the shoulder pads.

What?

I think it was the first time that knock-down, drag-out fights between two women had been seen on television.

(sharp smack) ♪ (lights snap on) ♪ Sometimes went, powww, right into the soap.

(Patrick Duffy) And that's when somebody in the room again said, "Well, let's shoot somebody."

(gunshot) And the obvious choice was, "Let's shoot J.R." (Linda Evans) The character was a beautiful character that I think people trusted.

♪ (upbeat music) (Ryan Seacrest) They created the characters we loved -and hated.

-Everyone in the world has a jerk like J.R. in the family.

I'm gonna bring Bobby down.

I'm gonna cut him out if I have to destroy Ewing Oil to do it.

A father, an uncle, a brother, a cousin, or somebody who asserts authority and is a jerk, and everybody can identify with that.

He was so evil and yet so vulnerable at times.

So sexy and you hated him.

You're not a human being.

You're scum!

Edgar, I know how you feel.

But it's not gonna change the way things are.

Now, don't make it hard on yourself.

Well, I'm really a nice fellow when I get what I want.

♪ (Ryan Seacrest) They embodied a generation's aspirations and excesses.

A saga of people who could actually wear maybe tiaras.

♪ And it was all about oil, oil and get rich.

It was a magical time in U.S. history.

There was the oil embargo, Regan was president, it was all macho swagger.

(Ryan Seacrest) They were larger than life and over the top.

Ow!

She came up to me and said, "That felt so real.

Did you mean it?"

And I said, "No, darling, it was acting."

When someone walked in and said, "Do you like my new ring?

It cost $187 million and we just picked it out."

I think, "That was Dynasty."

(Blake Carrington) I hope we meet again, Miss Deveraux.

Oh, we will, Mr. Carrington.

Believe me.

(Ryan Seacrest) They represented an ideal and set the trends for a nation.

(Joan Collins) If you look at the actors in Dynasty, they were the best-looking bunch of actors that I've ever seen in a show.

Better than Dallas.

The guys were guys, you know, they were cowboys, and the women were gorgeous Dallas ladies.

All of them gorgeous, looked like former Miss Dallas, every single one of 'em!

Well, it didn't take you very long to find him, did it?

He found me.

But then, I knew him first, -didn't I?

-Uh, ladies, I don't think this is the proper place for an argument.

(Ryan Seacrest) No matter what you call them, these television series ranked among the most popular ever.

I have no problem saying Dallas was a nighttime soap.

That's what it was.

Well, I never liked the term "soap."

I thought it was a nighttime drama.

I don't know really where it falls.

Drama or cartoonish or whatever, but it carved a place in history, that's for sure.

(Ryan Seacrest) Together, they created some of television's biggest hits.

They are the Pioneers of Television.

♪ (film projector flickers) (contemplative music) November 21st, 1980.

As 10 p.m. approached, the nation shut down.

Restaurants closed early.

Shopping malls emptied out.

Meetings were canceled.

Across America and the world, only one question seemed important: Who shot J.R.?

That was a big deal, that was a big deal.

The entire world wanted to know the answer, and it took us to a level that most actors never get to experience.

It was so huge.

It was the longest summer ever.

(Ryan Seacrest) The Dallas TV series had already been a runaway hit... (dramatic music) ...but then, the show's producers came up with an idea that would trigger a worldwide obsession.

And that's when somebody in the room again said, "Well, let's shoot somebody."

And the obvious choice was, "Let's shoot J.R. Everybody wants to do it anyway," and that's how it happened.

So, they shot J.R., he collapses on the floor, that iconic shot of him lying on the floor.

(eerie music) Who's there?

(Ryan Seacrest) The shooting took place in the final scene of the third season.

The producers of Dallas had just invented the primetime TV cliffhanger.

♪ (gunshot) (grunting) (gunshot) ♪ For the next eight months, the world speculated about who'd shot TV's biggest villain.

The episode that finally revealed the answer would send the ratings higher than anything television had ever seen, numbers that even beat the Super Bowl.

People were having parties, Dallas parties and so forth.

It was just a strange phenomenon.

I really don't get it.

They were betting on it in Vegas.

Everything stopped when we found out who shot J.R., so... when the shooter was revealed: Kristin, Sue Ellen's sister.

I have finally figured everything out, that's all.

You have been trying to frame me.

You're crazy!

(gunshot) (dramatic music) (Sue Ellen) It was you, Kristin, who shot J.R. "Kristin, it was you who shot J.R." (majestic music) (Ryan Seacrest) The seeds of the Dallas phenomenon were planted in 1978, when the series premiered on CBS.

The original storyline focused on Bobby and Pam, young lovers from opposing families-- rich Texas oil families.

(Charlene Tilton) Bobby and Pam were sort of like Romeo and Juliet, the Montagues and the Capulets getting married, you know, going...it's that old Shakespearean story just retold.

(Pam) Your folks are gonna throw me right off that ranch.

(Bobby) Relax, honey.

You're my wife now.

You're family.

You are a Ewing, and once that sinks in, they're gonna love you like I do.

Before it sinks in is what worries me.

(Bobby) Relax, sweetheart.

Everything's gonna be fine.

Originally, the show was Romeo and Juliet.

It was Bobby and Pam, Montagues and Capulets, and all the big...

If that would have been the follow-through premise, we'd have been down in two years.

(Ryan Seacrest) Dallas didn't become popular until a villain emerged.

There were plenty of candidates.

The first script I read, everybody was a scoundrel.

Even Mama, in her own way, was a scoundrel.

And over the period of five or six shows that we did the pilot, you know, the miniseries, it kind of narrowed down to me.

Which was fun.

Larry rose to the fore, which was not intended in the original premise of the show, but he found something in there that fit him like a glove.

And from day one when we saw that happening, the rest of the cast went, "Yes!

This is gonna be great," because we rode his coattails for 13 years.

Because he was so delicious in screwing it up, if I can say that, for everybody else, and everybody loves a good villain.

I think people get a vicarious thrill out of seeing someone, wink-wink, and get away with it.

If you return to Bobby, all hell is going to break loose.

I'll call off this truce that exists between him and me.

We'll be in a dogfight that will make what went on before look like a love match.

(Ryan Seacrest) Larry Hagman's character, J.R. Ewing, remains the perfect symbol of 1980s excesses.

An oil man who liked money and didn't care who he stepped on to get it.

He was conniving, unethical, immoral, and audiences couldn't get enough.

And as for your brother, I'll use every penny at my disposal and Ewing Oil's disposal to destroy him.

I'll bring Mr. Cliff Barnes down good.

And whoever goes down with him, so be it.

Now.

You've known me long enough to know I don't make idle threats.

So I promise you, what I have just said will happen if you return to Bob.

(dramatic music) It's your choice, Pam.

♪ One bar, I don't know, it was in Illinois, something like that, used to buy an old television set, and at the end of the show, when I came out with that kinda grin of mine... (chuckling) ...they would raffle off tickets, and whoever got the winning ticket would be able to throw a beer bottle through the television set.

I thought that was-- I made it.

I had made it then.

(upbeat music) (Ryan Seacrest) Dallas's success didn't go unnoticed at ABC... ♪ ...and the network quickly crafted its own drama about a super-rich oil family, Dynasty, starring John Forsythe and Linda Evans as Krystle Carrington.

(Krystle) I hope you don't ever think that I'm being intrusive.

Like a stepmother watching over you.

I like it.

It's good, you being here with us, Krystle.

The character was a beautiful character that I think people trusted.

(Ryan Seacrest) Early on, Dynasty's ratings foundered.

The producers looked for a villain to shake things up.

A female version of J.R. Ewing.

They wanted more zip, they wanted more drama, and so they decided to add an ex-wife of Blake Carrington's who would still be interested in him.

(Ryan Seacrest) The producers offered the role to Sophia Lauren and then to Elizabeth Taylor.

Both said no.

So they turned to an accomplished British actress who wasn't as well known in the States, Joan Collins.

She agreed, making her debut in the now-famous Season 2 premiere.

(attorney) Would you state your full name, please?

(Alexis) Alexis Morrell Carrington.

(murmuring) -And your residence?

-(gavel banging) (attorney) You were the first wife of the defendant, Blake Carrington.

You're the mother of his children, -is that correct?

-Yes, it is.

Well, it's, you know, Snow White and the Evil Queen, it's good against evil, it's blonde versus brunette.

It's, uh, it's classic.

(Ryan Seacrest) Joan Collins based her character, Alexis, on an old friend... and a certain outrageous real-life businessman, Donald Trump.

Well, I put a bit of Donald Trump in there, I thought.

(Ryan Seacrest) An actress since her teens, Joan Collins studied for the stage at the Royal Academy in London.

While serious about her craft, she did make time for one young American.

Let's see, I think I was 19 and I think she was 16, and I was stationed over there in the Air Force.

I dated her several times-- and her sister, Jackie, she was gorgeous too.

Oh yeah, that was great.

But I had to have 'em in by 10:00 at night, so there's not much you can do between 8:00 and 10:00.

♪ (Ryan Seacrest) Young Joan Collins was focused on acting for the stage.

She didn't have much interest in films or television.

-At least, not at first.

-An agent saw my picture and got in touch with me and brought me into his office and said, "Do you want to be in the films?"

And I said, "No, no, I'm going to be an actress," and, um, "a proper actress on the stage.

I don't want to be in the films, they can't act."

Anyway, he said, "Well, you'll make a bit of money and I think you'll do very well."

So he got me a few small parts in three or four films.

(sultry music) (Ryan Seacrest) Collins made her mark with a certain type of role, perfect preparation for her character on Dynasty.

Even when I started when I was 17, I always played bad girls or naughty girls or juvenile delinquents or girls gone wrong.

It has something to do with the way I look, you know?

♪ (Ryan Seacrest) In her early 20s, Joan came to Hollywood, landing starring roles in films like The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing.

(giggling) (Stanford White) Now look here.

Why do you do that?

You can doubt me and laugh at me -and not try to hide it.

-Oh, it's not because of that.

-Then why do you do it?

-It's my tooth.

I fell when I was skating and chipped it.

(Stanford White) You must be careful not to trip up.

You're much too pretty.

♪ (Ryan Seacrest) Despite her movie roles, Joan Collins didn't become a household name until she landed the role of a lifetime, Dynasty's Alexis.

(Alexis) Blake, what you call filth may be a lie to you, but I still have it.

When I'm ready, when I need a trump card, I'm going to play it.

(dark music) (Ryan Seacrest) Once Joan Collins joined the cast, Dynasty's ratings skyrocketed, just as Dallas's numbers had shot up when Larry Hagman became more prominent.

Meanwhile, a third nighttime soap, Knots Landing, was following the same formula.

But their villain had blonde hair and trademark blue eyes.

I guess it just happened.

I mean, my eyes are very blue.

I guess, I don't know.

Donna's eyes are like-- nobody has eyes like Donna Mills, bitch.

But no, I don't know, she has gorgeous eyes.

(Abby) Now, I like my marriage.

I assume you like yours.

Our lovemaking has nothing to do with that.

Because if I ever have to make a choice between love and money, money's gonna win every time.

-Simple enough?

-Donna Mills wasn't the obvious choice to play the troublemaker on Knots Landing.

She had a long resume of lighter roles, including a stint on a sitcom opposite Larry Hagman.

(Donna Mills) We were this very naive husband and wife in The Good Life, you know.

Then to go from that to being the villain.

(Ryan Seacrest) A spinoff from Dallas, Knots Landing wasn't a ratings hit until after Mills was added to the cast to play the scheming Abby.

Hey, let me give you a hand with that.

-At last, a man.

-Da-dum!

(Donna Mills) She came on the show to stir things up.

-Moving day?

-At last, yeah.

To create problems so that, you know, other people would have to deal with it.

(Valene) Now, I mean it, Abby.

I just want an answer.

Well, I'm not saying we're having an affair and I'm not saying we're not.

I am saying I can have him anytime I want him.

(dramatic music) (Ryan Seacrest) With the black hats now in place, TV's three major primetime soaps would go on to some of the longest runs in the history of television drama.

Dynasty, nine years.

Dallas, 13 years.

And Knots Landing, the longest of all, 14 years.

♪ (dramatic organ music) ♪ (announcer) And now, The Guiding Light.

♪ Richard!

I thought you'd already left for the office.

(Ryan Seacrest) Daytime dramas date back to the very earliest days of television.

(Richard) Laura, I...

I've been very disturbed.

(soft music) (Ryan Seacrest) In 1964, the genre came to primetime with Peyton Place, starring Ryan O'Neal and Mia Farrow.

♪ (Rodney) Hey, are you doing something Friday night?

(Allison) Aren't you going steady?

♪ (Rodney) Not anymore.

How about it?

(Allison) Well, I...

I guess it's all right.

(Rodney) Okay.

It's a date.

♪ (Michele Lee) Mia Farrow, and that was so, Barbra-hello.

That was--oh, that was so much fun to watch!

They did blaze that trail and it was hugely successful.

People love to peer into other people's lives.

Um, I watched it, I was a fan.

(woman) Well, all's well that ends well.

(Ryan Seacrest) The genre was nicknamed "soap operas" because the earliest advertisers on daytime television were soap companies.

(bells pealing) -Join the value jubilee!

-Make this year 19-thrifty-3!

(man) Get personal-size Ivory for your beauty care and save.

(woman) You get four cakes of personal-size Ivory -for about the same price... -...as only three cakes of any other leading toilet soap.

(dramatic organ music) (Ryan Seacrest) Over time, the term "soap" came to be associated with storylines involving long-lost relatives, secret affairs, amnesia, and the occasional evil twin.

When the genre was revived in primetime in the late '70s, may of the soapiest storylines returned.

My evil twin in itself was embarrassing a little bit to me.

(Krystle) Sammy Jo, I... (dramatic music) Who... (breathes heavily) What's going on here?

After eight years, you have to find something to write about people, so you do it.

-What are you doing?

-Calling my husband.

By the time he gets here, you'd better have an explanation.

(sharp thwack, gasp) ♪ (Michele Lee) And certainly, and I don't mean to say that Knots Landing did not have moments in time where I went, "Okay, all right, you wanna do that?"

All right.

You know, sometimes it went powww, right into the soap.

Right into it.

Did it rather well most times.

I'm afraid that we lost the babies.

(dark music) What?

I'm sorry.

There was nothing we could do.

They were stillborn.

♪ But I saw them.

I heard them cry.

My very first scene in the show is, I'm sneaking in the hayloft... -You know how close that was?

-...with this ranch foreman who's much older than I am.

His ex-girlfriend is Pamela Ewing, and I'm saying, "Call me her name.

Call--do it.

Call me Pam!"

(dramatic music) Call me her name.

No.

♪ Do it.

Call me her name.

And this is, like, weird stuff.

This has never been done on television.

It was...

This is, you know, we absolutely pushed the envelope back then.

I always considered it a cartoon, and I always thought of Dallas as kinda funny, 'cause it was kinda funny.

(bright music) (Ryan Seacrest) The most famous examples of over-the-top camp were the catfights, a Dynasty staple.

Well, I didn't cause your accident, Krystle, just as I didn't cause your barrenness.

-So, if you've quite finished-- -I haven't.

(sharp smack) ♪ I think it was the first time that a knock-down, drag-out fight between two women had been seen on television.

(sounds of struggle) Linda and I went all out, and Linda was very strong.

(crashing) ♪ She loves doing those kinds of scenes, so she kind of ran the whole show in those scenes.

You can fling each other around on couches, you can take pillows and hit each other, which the feathers all come out, it looks a lot more dramatic than it is.

(fabric tearing) ♪ Whatever you have as a set, you can use it to fall over, be on, but you can be cushioned by it, you don't have to worry.

But I'm also afraid to go on the ground.

(sounds of struggle) (gasp) But there are many aspects of a room that you can just use to look dramatic and fling yourself around but you don't have to be hurt.

♪ (glass shatters) I loved it when I saw a scene coming up in which Linda and I were going to have conflict, then Diahann and I. I don't care what you say to my face, you viper.

Retract this or I'll cram it down your throat.

Will you?

I slapped Joan... (sharp slap) ...then Joan slapped me.

♪ (sharp thuds) (exclamations) America went wild that we were just-- just beating on each other.

Ow!

You bitch!

(whimpering) And I thought, "Isn't that interesting?

They like this.

Hmm.

What does that say about us?"

But I loved every moment of it.

♪ (crash) (sounds of struggle) ♪ They were probably a little over the top, but that's what made it-- that's what made it Dynasty.

♪ (Ryan Seacrest) Catfights aside, the women of Dynasty embodied the glamorous looks of the era, setting the standards for 1980s fashion.

I think the clothes were a huge part of what made Dynasty fun.

Remember that this was the '80s, this was the excessive '80s.

♪ -We have to talk.

-The big shoulder pads.

Early in 1983, I think, Pierre Cardin brought them out, and I said to Nolan, "That is a great look."

-Excuse me.

-You know, the shoulder pads, and then it makes your waist look smaller -and your hips slimmer.

-Yes, well I still do have an empire to run, and it is keeping me sane.

Yes.

More flattering than an Italian waiter.

(Alexis) Maybe later.

-Hello!

-Hi, Nancy.

(Nancy) I thought I'd find you here at the auction, Alexis.

(Alexis) Well, of course.

-That jewelry is ravishing.

-You know, Nancy, I have an admission to make.

I would rather be looking at antique cars.

(Nancy) Well, come on and buy one!

(Ryan Seacrest) No TV series showcased luxury more than Dynasty, with ostentatious fashion, opulent jewelry, and palatial locales.

There was one quite famous scene when Henry Kissinger is in the show, and we're doing the Carousel Ball, and we were actually shooting it in Denver, and the director said, "Well, just say something to Henry as he walks past."

And so, I was thinking, what can I say?

What would Alexis say?

And I said, "Henry, darling, I haven't seen you since we last met in Portofino."

And Henry was somewhat-- "Oh, really?"

(bright music) -Henry, hello!

-Hello, Alexis, -good to see you.

-It's good to see you.

I haven't seen you since Portofino.

It was fun.

(Ryan Seacrest) While Dynasty focused on the super rich and powerful... (wistful music) ...Knots Landing got bigger ratings by telling stories of more typical families.

At the center was Michele Lee's character Karen.

A woman who reflected the dreams and aspirations of middle-class America.

And was happy with it.

(Ryan Seacrest) The Karen character was a unique reflection of American culture, for 14 years, an everywoman who verbalized the questions all Americans were thinking.

What she was saying was what the audience, what the middle-class audience was thinking.

I don't wanna look at the world through rose-colored glasses.

I want the world to be rose colored!

I want people to be nice.

We talked about what was happening, that was enormous, and people hadn't voiced it yet on television.

People should be nice.

Nice should be the norm.

I hate it that I can't trust anyone.

I hate it that I can't put my daughter on the front lawn by herself.

I hate it that I have to lock my car and I have to worry about an alarm system in my house and I can't send cash in the mail.

That's not the way it's supposed to be, Gary.

I liked being a Pollyanna.

I want to be a Pollyanna.

She talked about the inability of her middle-class America, putting her child and allowing her child to play out on the front lawn.

Can't do it anymore.

Can't send checks in the mail.

Have to have alarms on my car.

"People should be nice," she says.

"Why aren't people just nice?"

(Valene) Not that you need any special... (Ryan Seacrest) Karen's best friend on Knots Landing was Valene, played by Joan Van Ark.

You know, whenever Gary and me talk about the way we'd like to be, it's always you and Sid.

You know, solid.

I think Valene, um, started a particular way.

A little more vulnerable, a little with the braids and the gloves.

It's just that sometimes, I feel like such a dunce around here.

I mean, Karen's got a college education, and... and so's Ginger.

I mean, even Laura's had some college.

I got no education at all to speak of.

(Ryan Seacrest) Over time, Valene grew.

The producers even asked Van Ark to drop the character's accent.

I liked that about her, 'cause that kept her with a fingerprint that was her own, you know?

So I would've stayed with the accent and made it slighter but still always just a little bit there.

'Cause once you're in the South, unless you move to London, you're gonna keep, you know, talkin' with a little bit of a twang, a little sloppy there.

(Ryan Seacrest) By the sixth season, Valene had developed a multiple personality disorder.

The transition from personality to personality was an opportunity for Van Ark to showcase her acting skills.

What did you do?

What did you do?!

What... (liquid spills) What... You...dirty, filthy... tramp.

-You... -The way to go into this new character, which was gonna be Verna Ellers in Tennessee as a waitress would be for me to wash my face at the sink in the bathroom and completely wash everything off and start all over again.

(eerie music) (muttering) ♪ I go in the bathroom, look in the mirror, turn on the water, wash my whole face, soapy, soapy, soapy, rinse it, and put a whole new makeup on and become this other character.

"Hello, hi."

And I was just talking into the mirror, and that's the scene I'm the most proud of to this day.

Know what I think, Verna?

I think that you owe it to yourself to go on a shopping spree.

Buy yourself some pretty new dresses.

Because you are goin' home.

(Ryan Seacrest) If Knots Landing appealed to a female demographic, Dallas skewed the other direction, with two strong male characters at the center played by Patrick Duffy and Larry Hagman.

Just think lovely, wonderful thoughts... and up you go!

(Ryan Seacrest) Show business was part of Larry Hagman's life from an early age, as he watched his mother, Mary Martin, star in NBC's Peter Pan special.

(Peter Pan) ♪ Look at me way up high ♪ ♪ Suddenly here am I, I'm flyin' ♪♪ (Ryan Seacrest) Inspired by his mother's success, Larry Hagman hoped to follow her footsteps into show business.

Well, she gave me three pieces of advice.

She says, "Always hang up your costumes and know your lines and stay reasonably sober."

Well, I did two of 'em.

(twangy music) (Ryan Seacrest) When his parents divorced, Hagman moved to Texas and worked a back-breaking job digging ditches under the hot Texas sun.

His tough, unyielding boss named Jess Hall, Jr. would become the prototype for J.R. Ewing.

Jess Hall, Jr. And he was the quintessential J.R., and I just took his character and lived it.

♪ (Ryan Seacrest) Larry Hagman first came to national prominence in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie, which showcased his comedic talents.

(Tony) What I'd really like to do on a day like this is go swimming.

I wish I had a swimming pool in my patio.

(magical boing) (splash) (laughter) (playful music) Jeannie!

Jeannie... What'll the neighbors think?

I can't afford a swimming pool!

You do not wish it?

No, I do not wish it.

Now, come on, get rid of it.

(Barbara Eden) I loved working with Larry.

Help!

I really had a good time all the time on that show.

I enjoyed that part.

I mean, when you look at the comedic work he did on I Dream of Jeannie, he was a comedic genius on that show.

He really was.

(Ryan Seacrest) After I Dream of Jeannie, Larry Hagman turned to dramatic roles, including an obscure film called Stardust, where Hagman began to develop the character of J.R. Ewing.

(Porter) Porter Lee Austin.

-I'm delighted to meet you.

-Nice to see ya.

I was playing a manager, and they'd written it as a Boston character, and I tried to get my accent into a Boston, kinda talkin' like that.

It didn't work.

(Porter) Now, wait a minute, wait a minute.

Jim, you mean you don't know about this?

Now, what the hell is this?

Is this the way the English do business?

(man) God only knows.

We had lunch and they said, "That's not really your accent, is it?"

I said, "No, I have kind of a Texas accent."

They said, "Well, why don't you use that?"

So I used a Texas accent and made the guy a Texan.

And that was the first study I'd done on the J.R. character.

And that was--that was a lot of fun, I liked that.

(Porter) I wanna tell you something.

There's no one in the whole world who's a bigger fan of yours than I am, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

(playful music) (Ryan Seacrest) When Larry Hagman landed Dallas, he was ready to play J.R., a presence on the set from the very first day.

Larry walked in, cowboy hat.

I remember walking in to the first reading, and I had my Western garb that I always wore anyhow.

Slung over his shoulder, he had carved leather saddlebags.

And I had a case of champagne and a big leather sack with ice in it.

Big--big creature that walked in.

It was an awesome sight.

I walked in the door and she said, "I'm your wife, I'm Sue Ellen."

And he looked at me and he went, "Hello, darlin'."

And that was right there, I knew that woman was just the best leading lady I'd ever have.

There was an... there was an instant chemistry that we had, um.

I--you know, I can't describe it.

It's, uh...it's magical.

Sue Ellen.

In the past, I never realized how lucky I was to have you for a wife and a lover.

I took you for granted.

I'll never do that again.

(tender music) ♪ (Ryan Seacrest) Moments of tenderness were rare on Dallas.

Most of the time, Sue Ellen was at war with J.R. (J.R.) You're gonna die, Sue Ellen.

You're a totally unfit mother.

(Sue Ellen) J.R., stop!

-Wait a minute, dammit!

-Our son needs you, Sue Ellen.

He'd be a hell of a lot better with you out of his life.

-We'd all be better off.

-Where is he?

Stop!

(Ryan Seacrest) Sue Ellen's anger and frustration led to alcohol.

(dramatic music) ♪ So I remember saying to the producers, "Sue Ellen has had too many affairs and she's had too many years of drinking.

I would like her to stop."

And they said, patronizingly so, "But you do it so well!"

And I said, "Thanks.

Thanks a lot."

♪ (Ryan Seacrest) Eventually, Sue Ellen found herself homeless and living on the street.

(man) Drink it!

♪ You saw her at her-- at her lowest.

And, uh, I thought, people need to see this.

They need to see that, you know, this could happen to them.

(Ryan Seacrest) But fortunes changed often on Dallas and Sue Ellen had her share of success.

(Sue Ellen) Sign these.

Ninety percent of the business is mine.

You keep ten for incentive.

I want you to stay right here and manage things the way you always have.

But I'll call the shots.

Maybe we'll even see a profit.

To this day, I feel that Sue Ellen Ewing was the most interesting female on television in the '80s.

(Ryan Seacrest) After the third-season cliffhanger created a worldwide frenzy, Larry Hagman saw an opportunity and asked for an unprecedented salary hike.

Dallas was a huge success and I thought, well, I'm getting a secondary salary here, so I thought it's a good time for me to ask for a little more.

I asked for a huge amount.

(Ryan Seacrest) Hagman demanded $100,000 per episode.

CBS offered about half that.

He held out.

He didn't report to work.

And then, you know, the world knew that he was holding out.

So if J.R. lives, is it gonna be J.R.?

Are they gonna recast?

It built up such a groundswell of interest.

(triumphant music) (Ryan Seacrest) In the end, Larry Hagman got his way.

And so, when they gave me that raise with the incremental raises down the line, I mean, it lasted for, what, ten years after that.

So it turned out to be a pretty good salary.

So I was the first guy to negotiate that.

(Ryan Seacrest) Hagman's unexpected victory sent a shockwave through the industry that reverberated for decades.

Twenty years later, when the stars of NBC's Friends reached the million dollar per episode level, Larry Hagman was smiling.

So I figure all those kids on Friends owe me at least 10 percent.

They were getting a million dollars each.

(chortles) Good for them.

I just want a little piece.

♪ (Ryan Seacrest) Larry Hagman had fun every week playing a larger-than-life character.

The series was a much bigger challenge for Patrick Duffy, who played Bobby, the more restrained good guy.

Good guys, you know, that's the hard work.

Like Bobby.

Bobby has the hard work.

He's such a nice guy.

And, you know, the bad guys get the ladies and the money and all that kind of stuff, and I had more fun with that part.

When you're a J.R. character or any of those characters, you're just-- the world is your oyster.

You can do anything.

And it's written that you do anything and it's justified.

But Bobby's role as a character is the counterbalance to that.

(Bobby) J.R., we have got a lot of loyal people working for us down there.

They deserve better than to get kicked out in the street.

(J.R.) Well, what do you think you're doing?

Aren't we losing enough money because of all those Arab countries, huh?

Now you wanna start supporting the rest of Texas?

J.R., there's got to be more to Ewing Oil than just making money.

Well, maybe so, but I don't know what it is.

Now, listen to me, Bob.

If Washington wants to pay welfare, that is their business, but I'm not going to.

I'm serious about this.

Well, so am I.

If you don't have the stomach to lay those folks off, -I'll do it.

-That has nothin' to do with it!

(Ryan Seacrest) After the seventh season, Patrick Duffy left Dallas.

His character was killed off.

I love you so much.

(medical equipment beeping) (tender music) ♪ (groaning) ♪ (beeping quickens, flatline tone sounds) (Ryan Seacrest) Without Bobby, Dallas struggled.

Don't do this to me, Bobby.

(Ryan Seacrest) Larry Hagman pressured the producers for a solution.

Together, they came up with a surprise twist that would save the series.

In a remote warehouse, the plan was put into action.

First, a shower set was built to shoot a commercial for Irish Spring soap.

Inside the shower was an actor quite familiar to Dallas fans.

And we hired a commercial production company in Los Angeles to shoot an Irish Spring commercial, and we spent all day in the middle of a huge sound stage with a little tiny shower built right in the center, and I was wet and lathering up for about eight hours.

(Ryan Seacrest) But this was no Irish Spring commercial.

It was a fake designed to get key footage for Dallas without tipping off the media to the series' big secret: that Patrick Duffy was returning.

(water running) (Patrick Duffy) All he needed was for me to turn to camera and go, "Good morning."

Good morning!

But I would go, "Good morning..." beat-beat-beat, "...and you can have a good morning too if you wake up like the Duffy family with Irish Spring," and we'd do the whole commercial.

(dramatic music) (Ryan Seacrest) Bobby's exit from the shower, minus the Irish Spring line, opened the ninth season.

Eventually, it was revealed that the entire previous season had been nothing more than a dream.

(Bobby) Pam?

♪ Honey, what's the matter?

You look like you just saw a ghost (Ryan Seacrest) With Bobby back, Dallas's ratings improved.

Once again, it was the black hat versus a worthy white hat, J.R. versus Bobby.

Larry did the research on J.R.'s character, and what people don't understand is he lost more money in 13 years for the Ewing family, and Bobby actually made more money for the Ewing family.

But everybody thinks that his ruthless character was just one success after another, but he had tankers going down and oil fields blowing up, revolutions happening.

It was great fun, great fun.

(vibrant music) (Ryan Seacrest) Dynasty's oil baron, played by John Forsythe, may not have had J.R. Ewing's panache, but he was no less willing to play outside the rules.

I felt that his character Blake was much more evil than my character of Alexis, because he had killed people.

And Alexis never killed anyone.

(sounds of struggle) (man) No, no!

(exclaims) (dramatic music) ♪ (man) He's not breathing.

♪ (Ryan Seacrest) John Forsythe was by far the most experienced actor on the Dynasty set, having starred in dozens of movies.

But he was best known for a role in which he was not seen: as the distinctive voice of Charlie in Charlie's Angels.

(Sabrina) Charlie!

A trophy!

What for?

(Charlie) A small remembrance from me to you to commemorate the official end of your racing career.

(the Angels chuckle) (Sabrina) Well, thank you, Charlie.

And if you ever put forth a championship effort at anything, you be sure to let me know so I can send you a trophy.

(Charlie) Not a bad idea, Sabrina.

I'll start working on it right away.

(Ryan Seacrest) In Dynasty, Forsythe's Blake Carrington was married to Linda Evans's character, Krystle.

It wasn't the first time these two actors had worked together.

Twenty years earlier, Evans guest-starred on Forsythe's sitcom Bachelor Father.

Well, John Forsythe gave me my first speaking part.

(Liz) You know, I've heard about you.

Man about town, eligible bachelor.

Dad might be eligible himself pretty soon.

Do you have any feelings about this divorce?

Mom and Dad are just... how shall I put it... in different orbits.

And as the man said, you can't warm over spilled milk.

Right?

It was called A Crush on Bentley, and I had a crush on him and tried to seduce him.

(Liz) Well, all right.

I'm pretty good at hint-taking.

(Bentley) I'm sorry, Liz.

I really do think it would be wise.

I had not seen John since I was 15 years old till he walked on the set of Dynasty.

And he said, "My!

Little Linda Evanstad, how you've grown!

And how's your mother Arlene?"

And I thought, "Oh my gosh!

John, what a guy!"

He remembered all those things.

(Ryan Seacrest) By the fifth season of Dynasty, John Forsythe was lobbying to make his character nicer.

The producers agreed but worried with too many good guys, the show might lose its dramatic edge.

But even with a softer Blake Carrington, Dynasty remained a top-ten series.

John Forsythe and I refused at that point in the show to have affairs with other characters in the show.

We said, "Can there be somebody on television that is loyal and faithful?

Can we have some kind of role model for two people who love each other who don't do that?

I mean, I know this is a soap opera, but we want to do it this way," and it was wonderful because they listened to us.

(tender music) (Ryan Seacrest) Despite ratings success, the primetime soaps faced a stinging criticism that grew over time: They were among the whitest shows on television.

Over 13 seasons, Dallas producers never cast an African American actor in a major role.

Knots Landing did better, adding an African American family, but it wasn't until the ninth season, and the characters often didn't appear for weeks at a time.

I felt, um, that at first, I came on like gangbusters, and then, because there are so many characters, they do have to-- you only have so much time.

(Pat) You know what's really ironic about Val's accusations?

-What?

-Well, you said that the night that you were over there, she was acting like somebody had a gun to her head.

(Frank) She was.

But it could have been the pills.

-Maybe she'd already taken 'em.

-No, no.

Flurazepam hydrochloride is a sedative, honey.

It wouldn't have made Val nervous, it would have made her calm.

(Ryan Seacrest) Concerned about her diminishing screen time, Lynne Moody met with the producers.

I didn't handle it very well.

(chuckling) So I asked to be off the show.

(soft "tsk") And they accommodated me.

(laughs) (lively music) (Ryan Seacrest) The only primetime soap that cast an African American in a major role was Dynasty, signing Diahann Carroll in 1984 to play Dominique Deveraux.

(dramatic musical chord) Welcome to Lar Mirage, Miss... -Deveraux.

-Let's see.

I really wanted to do that.

I thought, wouldn't it be nice to do something that's beautiful.

Mindless but beautiful.

(Ryan Seacrest) By the time she came to Dynasty, Diahann Carroll was a respected star, a prominent singer and actress who'd already starred in her own successful TV series, Julia.

So Dynasty's producers listened when she made suggestions.

I did say, "Please remember to write-- if we're gonna make this work with that you have, I think, if I may make this suggestion, that this character should be written the same as you would write for a wealthy white businessman."

Because she's a total bitch about anything except, "How do I earn money?"

Look, Miss Deveraux.

Whatever it is that you're doing in Denver, I suggest that you tread very carefully with me.

Let me ask you, Mrs. Colby, is that supposed to be an implied threat of some sort?

Because if it is, I am just as tough as you.

Maybe tougher.

Who the hell are you, anyway?

Who am I?

You will find out very soon.

Very soon.

(Ryan Seacrest) As the primetime soaps moved into their latter years, adding an established star to the cast became a common technique to boost ratings.

But one star's appearance caused an unprecedented controversy: Rock Hudson.

Rock came on the set and he was painfully thin and I thought, "Oh my God, all you all right?"

(Ryan Seacrest) Hudson was dying of AIDS, but he told no one.

(thunder rumbles, rain patters) By the mid-1980s, fear of AIDS was bordering on hysteria.

Researchers could find no cure, no real treatment, and tens of thousands were dying every year.

Some speculated that the disease might be transmitted by saliva in a kiss.

Although later disproven, that fear was very real in 1985.

(Linda Evans) They had this scene where I fall off the horse.

And he comes over and he sees me vulnerable or something and knows that Blake's been abusing me, so we have all the justification.

(Daniel) Don't move!

(dramatic music) ♪ Is it your shoulder?

(Ryan Seacrest) Hudson was supposed to give Evans a passionate kiss but held back, fearful he might give her the AIDS virus.

So he has to kiss me.

Well, it was a very kind of, um...not passionate kiss.

It wasn't the kind of kiss they wanted.

And so, a few months later, they came back and they said, "We're gonna shoot that again."

(tender music) So we reshot it and he did the same thing.

In retrospect, I understand he was trying to protect me.

'Cause nobody knew in those days.

(Ryan Seacrest) Soon, news of Hudson's AIDS became public and he faced criticism for not telling Evans about his illness.

The hysteria reached a point where even Evans was shunned.

There was such a big scare on the set that, um, some of the people in the cast wouldn't eat with me, wouldn't shake my hand, and wouldn't be with me in the same room, because they were afraid they could give their children or somebody AIDS.

They didn't know if they shook my hand, if the makeup thing.

There was just weeks and weeks of being very careful.

(Ryan Seacrest) The last of TV's big nighttime soaps left the air in 1993.

But the legacy of these shows remains.

They demonstrated that viewers liked continuing storylines that aren't resolved each week, an approach that was once taboo on primetime.

There's not a show on right now at this moment that isn't soap, meaning a continuing story.

They're all continuing.

(grand music) (Ryan Seacrest) Because these series were immensely popular worldwide, their impact on the global culture was potentially enormous.

The Ewings and the Carringtons were the symbol of America for a half a billion people around the globe.

Whether that's good or bad depends on your perspective.

We showed Americans to be quite materialistic, ruthless.

People like that big stuff.

Like, big hats and big shoulder pads and big earrings and big hair.

My theory was the reason the Soviet Union fell down is because they were seeing what we had here, all the cars and beautiful clothes.

(Patrick Duffy) But we also were able to show a moral compass, a sense of right and wrong.

Let's not get too high and mighty.

Dallas was a nighttime soap, so let's just call...you know.

And it was entertainment.

I thought that maybe Dallas was the downfall of the Soviet Union.

(chuckles) (clack) (Ryan Seacrest) The stars of the primetime soaps aren't just celebrities.

They are the icons of a generation.

It was a slice of fantasy mixed with the reality of the problems that these people had.

And I thought, "This is so great!

Two older women in television.

How great is that?"

With all these glamorous clothes saying, "We're not through yet," you know?

It was all to me, bottom line, about relationships and dysfunctional at best.

(Charlene Tilton) Here comes little Lucy, learning how to drive and getting her first car and accusing one of her schoolteachers of raping her, and... Lucy got married, divorced.

She was addicted to pills.

She was raped.

(sighs) Those were the good old days for Lucy, little Lucy.

Because you wanted to come back every week, you wanted to find out what happened to those people, what they were doing.

I really--I do like TV.

I think I'd like to come back on TV.

♪ From day one at the table reading, you could not imagine anyone else playing any of those parts except the people at that table.

And I think the audience got it.

I would describe Dynasty as 100 percent entertainment and very good entertainment.

I have to say, I love Dynasty so much.

I love what it gave me.

I actually feel very proud of what I represented, because up to this day, really, women would come up to me and say, "Thank you."

Dallas is about them and Knots is about us.

And it's closer to home somehow.

We loved that camaraderie in all of us, and we agreed to just have fun during it.

And we just all had a blast.

I'm just an entertainer.

You know, I'm not a singer, I don't dance, I don't sing, I don't play any instruments.

I have to rely on somebody else to write the lines for me.

So I just do the best I can in interpretation.

And I happened to hit on a character that I was familiar with.

(film projector clicking) (Ryan Seacrest) The primetime soaps won't soon be forgotten, and their audiences remain unmatched, thanks to the performances of the Pioneers of Television.

♪ (vibrant swing music) ♪ (bright music)