Priscilla Presley's acting

She was actually a pleasant surprise when she was added to the show. The public hadn't really seen her in years and her transformation into from Elvis' beehived brunette teen bride into a beautiful, 30-something blonde was stunning.

And that first season, with Bobby and Pam newly separated, Jenna was a necessary character and a potentially great rival for Pam.

The problem with Priscilla is that she was kept on the show for FAR too long, She should have been written out the following season, instead of being the at center of the ridiculous murder trial of her ex-husband. She didn't have the acting chops to carry a storyline of her own.

And pairing her off with Steve Kanaly was some of DALLAS' laziest writing ever. The two most wooden actors on the show sharing scene after scene.

Her best moments were in the Naked Gun films. Her casting was actually brilliant, because they needed someone who could deliver ridiculous lines with a completely straight face, and I'm guessing she didn't understand most of what she was saying, so the result was exactly what the directors were looking for.

R1, correct. And then in S9, they paired her with Dack Rambo...no chemistry there (since he was gay, and she couldn't act well enough to act attracted to him). But you're right...a limited guest arc would've been best.

To be fair, Dallas was never a hot pot of Oscar-caliber acting. BBG and Linda Gray were good, but that's about it. Just look at That Winger Tramp, who was on for God knows how many seasons. She couldn't act her way out of a box. Jennilee Harrison? Susan Howard? Charlene Tilton? None of them were great actresses. Even Victoria Principal wasn't that good.

I read this title as Priscilla Barnes' acting.

The season after dream season (where Patrick Duffy came back) made no sense for her character of Jenna.

Before the dream she releases Bobby from his commitment to her. Telling him to go to Pam

Then after the dream, she is like a woman scorned, punishing Bobby for "leaving her" for Pam. Even though she is the one who told Bobby to go to Pam

Lost in all of this, Bobby moved heaven and earth (and millions of dollars) to get Jenna off a murder rap! Even taking in her daughter while Jenna was in Jail!

So the character of Jenna after the dream made NO sense at all.

R6 Nothing after the dream made any sense.

Remember that Val and Gary named one of their kids "Bobby" in memory of him. Well, after he didn't really die, that whole thing made no sense.

A pretty piece of slutty trash that should've been left in the dust bin. Elvis's mama warned him about "blue eyed women".

I’m currently watching Dallas for the first time, OP. I’m almost through Season 7. She IS a terrible actress. Kanaly is worse, but Presley is pretty bad. R1 has it right about her being a pleasant surprise, but the novelty has worn off.

The season after the dream season certainly disempowered all the DALLAS females, who had really come to the forefront after Bobby's "death."

Their first scene as a group was sitting around the Southfork breakfast table, bemoaning the men in their lives. Miss Ellie even says, "If the men in our lives aren't behaving, then WHOSE fault is it?"

Horribly chauvinistic writing that would never fly today. No wonder the female cast members started leaving in droves as soon as they could.

They were caught off guard by the success of [italic]Dynasty[/italic], which was filled with dynamic female characters always dressed to the nines. So they tried to ape their output, which was a disaster. [italic]Dallas[/italic], for better or worse, functioned best as a show about rednecks with $$$$$, with the men at the center, like emotional peacocks.

I don't know about that, R11. I know Larry Hagman thought so, but even the earliest and best episodes of DALLAS relied heavily on Miss Ellie, Pam and Sue Ellen for emotional heft.

In later seasons, with those characters gone, the men may have been the focal points, but the show was a pathetic shell of it former self.

Yes r12, but they weren’t glamorous like Krystle, Alexis or Fallon.

[quote]So they tried to ape their output, which was a disaster.

Bitch, I beat out the Moldavian Wedding Massacre for my 1986 Emmy Win. Although Nolan did win the only Emmy (1984) of 24 total nominations of the series run.

Maybe not Miss Ellie in her potato-sack dresses, R13, but Pam, Sue Ellen and the other DALLAS ladies had glamour in spades.

[R4] Agree on Priscilla Presley, Charlene Tilton, and Deborah Shelton, but not Susan Howard. I thought her acting was very good.

“Nice beaver.”

“Thanks. I just had it stuffed.”

r17 beat me to it. The first thing I thought of when I saw this thread, and yes indeed, her finest acting moment.

Susan Howard has bec a right wing fundie. So done with her.

Do straight men find her breathy routine sexy?

OP, are you aware that what actors say and do on tv shows is not a matter of acting?

They are in fact determined by a “script.”

Sorry to digress from Presley’s shitting acting, but I just noticed in a mid-season 7 episode that Jackie the secretary (not on assistance) had a random scene where she was suddenly slurring her lines. It’s as if she’d had a stroke or she was very heavily medicated. Then she was fine. It was bizarre and I can’t figure out how that didn’t get cut.

Carry on.

R21 is Miss Priscilla herself...thsnks for chiming in, toots!

Each of us who've commented in this thresd could act a scene different ways. Some poorly, and some very well.

*thanks and thread, oops.

[R22] I had a vague recollection that her father was the producer on the show, so Googled it to check, and he was, guess that's how she got the role. But I didn't know she died in 1995 at the age of 39.

R25 yep, her dad was the producer Leonard Katzman. And I was also surprised she died so young.

R2 One hundred percent. I love her in the "Naked Gun" films.