"Who shot J.R.?" 40 years ago we found out

[music]

Who's there?

[music]

[gunshot]
[stuggle sounds]

[gunshot]

[thud]

[music]

It was the cliffhanger that

captivated the nation.
And 40 years ago

today on CBS,

we learned who done it.

[scream]
[sirens]

[Dallas theme song]

In the spring of 1980, the third season

of the hit drama Dallas

ended with J.R. Ewing shot by an unknown

assailant.

And because J.R., played by Larry Hagman,

was a character

fans of the show loved to hate,

just about every other

cast member had a reason to

see him gone.

Don't even dream of double-crossing me.

Uh, Captain, don't threaten
me. Honey,

you're way out of your league.

For him to be shot,
just made him even

more mythic. That whole season he'd

gotten worse and worse,
meaner and meaner

to so many people,

anybody could have shot him.

But the show's producers had no

idea the cliffhanger would become a

worldwide phenomenon.

That summer, Hagman, as J.R.,

appeared on magazine
covers, T-shirts,

even beer cans.

Vegas started taking bets. Even British

royals were intrigued.

We were presented to the Queen Mother

and she says, "I don't suppose you could

tell me who shot J.R.?"

I said, "No ma'am, not
even you." [laughs]

With such intense interest,
producers worried the

killer's identity would leak.

So they spent a day filming each cast

member pulling the trigger.

[gunshot 3 times]

Adding to the tension, an actors' strike

that delayed the fall TV season.

When the episode titled,
"Whodunit?" finally

aired,

83-million Americans,
a then-record 76

percent of the TV audience,

tuned in for the big reveal.

I have finally
figured everything

out, that's all.

You're crazy.

The shooter was Kristin

Shepherd, J.R.'s conniving sister-in-law

and former mistress,

played by actress Mary Crosby.

[gunshot]

[sound of struggle]
[gunshot, then thud]

It's hard to imagine
a show drawing that

kind of audience,
83 million people, to

the TV for one night,
for one episode.

We just don't watch TV
the same way. We

just don't all come
together that way

and i wish we did.

Now wouldn't that be a scandal?

And that was a
Friday night, by the way.

A Friday night?
A Friday night.

In the election that year?
85-million people.

Two-million more people
voted, but that's it.

I miss those kinds of dramas.

Oh I know. Dynasty and Knots

Landing, too.

We've never had another one like it.
No.

Just haven't and I

came to expect them and you just don't

get that same feeling.

What happened to her
after she shot J.R.?

She got booted off the series.
She did?

I think that isn't that

sort of the kiss of death?

Yeah, and he, he was the man.

You don't get a J.R.
The original, the original

way. Was he,

uh, major, I Dream of Jeanie?
Oh, I Dream of Jeanie. That's right.

Yeah.
Sorry guys. Ha ha ha.