20180209

DALLAS

At its peak, 'Dallas' was seen by over 400 million viewers throughout the TV-watching world. Patrick Duffy maintained, "'Dallas' is the great American TV series. We're not doing Shaw or O'Neill or the greatest piece of theater in the world. But I do think we're very good at what we do." The original concept was Pam versus the Ewing family. David Jacobs explained, "This is a poor girl who marries into a rich family – and her own family's enemy." 

However Lee Rich changed the concept because it was too narrow, "so we made it a total family drama and gave Pam a totally different character." Victoria Principal added, "If you want to make something bigger than life, there must be some element of reality. That's the family." Of the change, Victoria voiced, "Whatever concern I had about that was offset by its success. Would I rather be a leading performer in a show that runs five weeks or part of an ensemble that runs for many years. The latter, of course. Because of my years as an agent I have an ability to stand back and look at the project as a whole." 

In the beginning Pam was a woman "who wasn't reticent to share her feelings with anyone. She was someone who had her feet on the ground but who was not above throwing up her hands on impulse and running away with someone for the weekend – which is how she met Bobby. I liked that she was not simple … that she wasn't predictable. After five years (by the 1983-84 season), I felt her to be boring. The material I was given was basically a person who was not stimulating." 

Leonard Katzman reasoned, "Because the show is based on relationships instead of action stories, it's even more difficult to keep those relationships fresh." The idea of Pam dreamed the whole 1985-86 season was "very creative". Leonard Katzman continued, "There are only 'X' number of ways to bring someone back from the dead. It was the big summer, if you'll remember, of 'Miami Vice' versus 'Dallas'. And Bobby coming out of the shower effectively won that battle for that year (1986-87). His coming back that way created a storm and controversy. And 'Dallas' was on everyone's lips again. And that's what this business is all about." 

As executive producer, it was understood Leonard Katzman did everything from writing, directing, post-production, reviewing the dailies and scouting locations from Russia, Austria, Germany, France to Hong Kong to negotiating contracts and arbitrating disputes. Leonard Katzman elaborated, "TV is a producer's medium. Feature films are a director’s medium – once the feature gets started, it's the director's show. And producers sit by idly. And I'm not on to sit idly by. So television is my medium. The pressure's very stimulating ... if you can stand it." 

When Victoria Principal's contract with Lorimar-Telepictures expired at the end of the 1986-87 season, the spokeswoman for the 'Dallas' producers told the press, "They agreed to disagree, and the split was amicable." Victoria recognized, "Any attempts to bring me back to the show would have to be measured in dollar signs … and I think they were very serious." However Victoria Principal decided to leave to launch her own TV-movie production company and the Principal Secret skin-care line. 

Victoria Principal: "I'm also producing, frankly, because some of the parts I want to play I didn't think anyone but myself would offer me so I produce, and I give me the part. There are some things that the executive producer wanted the actress to do, but as the actress I didn't want to do them. Generally, the executive producer won. One day, for instance, the actress had a scene early in the morning and wanted to take the rest of the day off. But the executive producer felt it was more economical to have her do one more scene at the end of the day. 

"Another time, the producer felt that since the wardrobe had been made for the actress she should pay half price to take it home. But the actress wanted it and we gave it to her. Even before I became a producer, I never hesitated to express my feelings about a scene. If we had disagreements, we'd work it out. But at no time would I say, 'Hey, look, I'm executive producer, and this is how we're doing it!'

"That would be defeating the whole process of hiring people who you think are the best at what they do. It's fulfilling to be on both end … but it is not always an easy relationship, constantly being my own watchdog about fairness … There were things the producer wanted the actress to do that maybe the actress didn't want to do. It's been a real juggling act."

After 'Dallas', Victoria Principal found herself being typecast, "Forget the audition part! They wouldn't even let me come in and read. (For the TV movie 'Mistress') we had to talk them (the producers) into seeing me, simply meeting with me in the same room ... And that took six weeks! It's not overstating to say that I crawled and scratched and did everything else professionally to get this part. 

"I'm not foolish enough to believe I can come right out of the bag as a full-blown comedic actress. Not that I don't have the ability to, but I think the public will have trouble accepting me as such. I realized there was a certain tone of voice someone would use to me because of the way I looked. He would not give me the benefit of the doubt that I could understand what was being said or had the ability to create or produce a project. It offended me, and there still is great rage.

"I own several properties (scripts) that I think would make good series but I want to have deep artistic involvement. It would have to be done by my company. Doing a series is a grueling lifestyle. In order to live that lifestyle it would have to be a project I believe in. It would have to be one from the heart. The best of all worlds in terms of lifestyle is a half-hour comedy. I do have one I like. But for one-hour dramas, outside of 'Murder, She Wrote', there are no shows starring women (in 1989). 

"First, you entertain, but if I did a series I'd want to do something meaningful. If you can touch someone and cause them to think, you've reached TV's potential. Even if you disturb or upset someone – as long as you make the audience feel something. They (nighttime soaps) probably have a life of their own but I'm not producing them. The projects I have done for the five years (1989-1993) have been about subjects I thought were important but they were dark and grueling, and not one of them did I just walk away and bounce back from. There was a recovery period. My New Year's resolution was to lighten up this year (1997)." 

During 'Dallas', Victoria Principal wrote three best-selling fitness books for Simon & Schuster. After 'Dallas', Victoria Principal promoted the 'Diet Principal' book. She spoke to Shirley Eder, "At one time, Shirley, I was very fat. So fat I couldn't work as an actress and I realized I had to lose the weight or change my profession. I chose to lose the weight, but I didn't want to spend the rest of my life going up and down in pounds, as so many women do … so I learned how to diet and enjoy eating at the same time.

"They are all my recipes and if correctly followed, are not fattening. Some I created myself, others I saw in magazines and doctored them, when I tried them out at home, to fit my 'Diet Principal'. If they had oil or butter in them, I'd take the butter out, or reduce the oil and replace it with a spice. Most times it worked. I love to cook. Cooking is to me like painting is for some people. I not only like it to taste, I love the presentation of it. I have a housekeeper who cleans, but I cook. 

"Sometimes on Sundays I would cook up all these things and freeze them in pints, then during the week I could take them out in the morning and heat them up when I got home at night. It varied between five and seven in the morning. We (Victoria and then husband) seldom finished until six or seven at night. My housekeeper may have left the onions and the peppers cut up for me to put into whatever, so that the minute I came home, I’d take the makeup off, get the food started, jump into a shower, come back and finish cooking it. Harry (plastic surgeon Harry Glassman) and I would then sit down and have a later dinner together. As a matter of fact he lost 10 pounds on the diet."

Blog Archive