For several seasons, ”Dallas” galloped across the ratings prairie like a high-kicking thoroughbred stallion.
But the old gray mare just ain`t what she used to be, and the consensus is that this season may be the one to put the CBS series out to pasture.
One ”Dallas” regular who won`t be sorry to see the long-running show bite the dust is Ken Kercheval, who plays J.R. Ewing`s eternal nemesis, Cliff Barnes.
”I think it`s time,” said Kercheval, who revealed that he seriously considered bolting the show in 1988.
”The producers came and asked me to do two more years. But I also had an offer to do a play in London. It was a tough decision because I spent 22 years on the stage before I started `Dallas` and I had a bend to go back where I started.
”But I thought it through and decided to hang with the show until it goes down. I`m one of those paranoid actors who think they`ll never work again.”
Work this season should be interesting for Kercheval.
”My character has a really good storyline going for him that is totally disassociated from J.R., which is kind of unusual,” he said. ”And something else different for the show is that we`ll do self-containing stories that go over a period of three to five episodes.
”So there`s a little plot that begins, evolves and ends, then something else starts-rather than have the continuing storylines all the way through the season.”
He`s particularly excited about the promise of directing more episodes.
”There was an article in Town and Country by a man who was saying he thought it was time to revisit `Dallas` . . . that there was a lot of good viewing there,” Kercheval said. ”I happened to be in Lenny Katzman`s office- our producer-and he had a copy of the magazine.
”It so happens that the show this writer had reviewed was the show I had directed. So I`m going to get to direct again this year.”
Kercheval says he never had any particular aspirations to direct, but the producers kept offering to let him helm the show.
”I think because Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy, Steve Kanaly and Linda Gray had all directed segments, they felt they should extend the offer to me.”
He didn`t take them up on their offer till last year. ”I`m glad I waited as long as I did,” he said. ”Five years ago I don`t think it would have been as easy for a cast member in a directorial position to walk up to Larry and say, `I don`t like what you`re doing.` We have kind of a canned format that has worked for the show for a long time, so most directors don`t come in and try to tell us what to do. But the cast took my interpretation of how a scene should be to heart and really went for it.
”It was such a fulfilling experience because I got to be involved in all the performances from the top down,” he continued. ”But I don`t think I`ll put myself on the slates as `Director available.` I`m just an actor and that`s where I know what I`m doing.”
The actor, who lives with his wife, Ava, in Los Angeles (they have three grown children), spent his hiatus from the show shooting the big-screen comedy ”Private Offering” (tentative title) with Chris Lemmon, Peter Scolari and Mary Crosby.
He says he hasn`t done much comedic work before and expresses some concern about how his ”Private” performance came out: ”I thought I was funny, but I don`t think I was a good measuring stick. I`m waiting for my director to tell me when I can come see it.”
Kercheval says that ”Private Offering” was a low-budget film, but that he was anxious to take the comedy role because he`s trying to distance himself from his ”Dallas” character.
”I`ve asked my agent to get me anything unrelated to Cliff Barnes,” he said. ”And I don`t care if it`s a leading part or supplemental-I just care about the work.
He leaned forward and added earnestly, ”I didn`t spend 22 years in New York City doing all the variety of work I did to have my career be capsulized in one character…. That`s not what acting is all about.”
