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TNT commissions pilot for potential Dallas TV series (2nd update)


By ED BARK
There's no series commitment yet. But TNT has ordered a pilot for a potential remake of the Dallas TV series that would focus on "the offspring of bitter rivals and brothers J.R. and Bobby Ewing."

The announcement came Wednesday afternoon, with Warner Horizon Television backing a project being developed by executive producer Cynthia Cidre, who wrote the feature film Mambo Kings and created and produced the short-lived CBS serial soap, Cane.

TNT says that the descendants will "clash over the future of the Ewing dynasty while the fate of Southfork itself weighs in the balance." There's no casting yet.

Dallas ran from 1978 to 1991 on CBS, with Larry Hagman and Patrick Duffy starring as J.R. and Bobby Ewing. Several reunion movies -- and a reunion special -- have since aired on CBS. But plans for a feature film appear to have crashed and burned.

"The Dallas movie isn't completely dead," Dallas Film Commission head Janis Burklund said in an email response Wednesday. "I don't believe it will come out of its coma anytime in the really near future, though."

Burkland said she hasn't heard yet whether any or all of TNT's Dallas pilot might be filmed in North Texas. TNT/TBS spokesperson Heather Sautter said via email, "At this point we aren't sure yet. Still working on details."

The original series initially spent summer months in Dallas before relocating entirely to Southern California in later years.