THE SHOT HEARD 'ROUND THE WORLD

You might not find it mentioned on many calendars today, but today marks a unique anniversary in pop culture. It was thirty years ago tonight, at 10pm / EST, that the world found out the answer to a question that had been burning in people's minds for six long grueling months---"Who Shot J.R."

Of course, the "J.R." in question was the ruthless oil tycoon played to perfection by Larry Hagman on the CBS-TV series "Dallas." Premiering in April 1978, the series slowly grew an audience, and by the end of the third season, the network asked for two more episodes to close out the 1979-1980 season. They had already had a way to end the season in mind. Sue Ellen Ewing was all set to kill herself, putting what amounted to a fatal dose of medication in her drink, when she decides to go hold her child, John Ross, one last time. J.R. walks in, takes a swig, and the season ends. However, with the order from the network in hand, they decided to scrap the idea, and to quote writer Arthur Bernard Lewis, "Let's shoot the SOB and figure it out later."

So, on the evening of March 21, 1980, the season finale, "A House Divided," aired. At the end of the episode, J.R. was shot by an unknown assaliant. To say pandemonium swept the country was an understatement. All over the world, people wanted to know whodunit. Complicating the matter was the looming writers' strike by the Screen Actors Guild. This served two purposes; it allowed the "Who Shot J.R." phenom to grow, and it gave Hagman a chance to negotiate a pay raise. The strike ended, and Hagman and Lorimar came to an agreement that doubled his salary, but the question still loomed. Could it have been:

Daddy Jock, who was disappointed with his son's running of Ewing Oil?

Mama Miss Ellie, who watched as her youngest son, Bobby, left town--tired of J.R.'s ways?

Brother Bobby, who had tried to run the company the right way, only to be done wrong by his older brother?

Wife Sue Ellen, who J.R. had driven to the bottle, affairs, and a sanitarium---where he was threatening to take her again?

Sister-In-Law Kristen, who J.R. had an affair with, then proceeded to run out of town.

Family enemy Cliff Barnes, who lost power struggle after power struggle with the Ewings.

Or perhaps it was young Alan Beam, whose political career J.R. had ruined, or any number of members of the local oil cartel who lost big when Asian oil leases sold to them by Ewing Oil were nationalized--driving one member to suicide.

Needless to say, there were no shortage of suspects. Though I was six years old at the time, I thought it was his beautiful yet long suffering wife, Sue Ellen, played flawlessly by Linda Gray. And, it was Sue Ellen who was arrested for the crime.....but nothing was ever open and shut at Southfork. The shooter was revealed November 21, 1980 and it turned out to be sister Kristin, herself pregnant with J.R.'s child, who attempted to kill her old boss. Notching a whopping 78% of the audience, the show held the record for the most-watched TV event in history until the final episode of "M*A*S*H" some three years later. Still, after all these years, it ranks in the top five. The show continued to run until May 1991, and tied up most of the loose ends in a pair of reunion movies in 1996 and 1998. While it was just a TV show, in my house growing up Friday nights were a big deal, with "Dallas" and "The Dukes Of Hazzard" ruling the ratings roost. But thirty years ago tonight, you would be hard pressed to find a home, a party, or a bar that didn't have the TV on. Heck, Charles Osgood on Sunday Morning thought it was an occasion worth marking, and if he thinks so, who am I to disagree?