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[music]
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Who's there?
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[music]
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[gunshot]
[stuggle sounds]
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[gunshot]
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[thud]
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[music]
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It was the cliffhanger that
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captivated the nation.
And 40 years ago
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today on CBS,
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we learned who done it.
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[scream]
[sirens]
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[Dallas theme song]
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In the spring of 1980, the third season
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of the hit drama Dallas
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ended with J.R. Ewing shot by an unknown
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assailant.
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And because J.R., played by Larry Hagman,
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was a character
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fans of the show loved to hate,
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just about every other
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cast member had a reason to
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see him gone.
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Don't even dream of double-crossing me.
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Uh, Captain, don't threaten
me. Honey,
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you're way out of your league.
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For him to be shot,
just made him even
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more mythic. That whole season he'd
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gotten worse and worse,
meaner and meaner
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to so many people,
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anybody could have shot him.
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But the show's producers had no
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idea the cliffhanger would become a
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worldwide phenomenon.
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That summer, Hagman, as J.R.,
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appeared on magazine
covers, T-shirts,
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even beer cans.
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Vegas started taking bets. Even British
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royals were intrigued.
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We were presented to the Queen Mother
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and she says, "I don't suppose you could
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tell me who shot J.R.?"
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I said, "No ma'am, not
even you." [laughs]
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With such intense interest,
producers worried the
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killer's identity would leak.
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So they spent a day filming each cast
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member pulling the trigger.
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[gunshot 3 times]
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Adding to the tension, an actors' strike
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that delayed the fall TV season.
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When the episode titled,
"Whodunit?" finally
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aired,
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83-million Americans,
a then-record 76
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percent of the TV audience,
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tuned in for the big reveal.
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I have finally
figured everything
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out, that's all.
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You're crazy.
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The shooter was Kristin
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Shepherd, J.R.'s conniving sister-in-law
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and former mistress,
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played by actress Mary Crosby.
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[gunshot]
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[sound of struggle]
[gunshot, then thud]
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It's hard to imagine
a show drawing that
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kind of audience,
83 million people, to
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the TV for one night,
for one episode.
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We just don't watch TV
the same way. We
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just don't all come
together that way
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and i wish we did.
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Now wouldn't that be a scandal?
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And that was a
Friday night, by the way.
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A Friday night?
A Friday night.
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In the election that year?
85-million people.
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Two-million more people
voted, but that's it.
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I miss those kinds of dramas.
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Oh I know. Dynasty and Knots
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Landing, too.
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We've never had another one like it.
No.
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Just haven't and I
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came to expect them and you just don't
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get that same feeling.
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What happened to her
after she shot J.R.?
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She got booted off the series.
She did?
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I think that isn't that
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sort of the kiss of death?
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Yeah, and he, he was the man.
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You don't get a J.R.
The original, the original
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way. Was he,
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uh, major, I Dream of Jeanie?
Oh, I Dream of Jeanie. That's right.
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Yeah.
Sorry guys. Ha ha ha.