Diane Haithman contributes to Deadline’s TCA coverage.
In his opening remarks during the Turner portion of the TCA press tour this morning, TNT head of original programming Michael Wright addressed the recent passing of Dallas star Larry Hagman. He said he was “very saddened” by Hagman’s death and confirmed that the TNT reboot will honor Hagman’s passing with “an episode including J.R.’s funeral” as part of “a storyline that would have made Larry very happy.”


That funeral is going to be so hard for me to watch. I hope they bring back a lot of my old favorites for it. That will help.
I really did not think the Dallas reboot could work, but Larry Hagman reminded us all what an absolutely great character J.R. Ewing was, and that only Larry could pull it off with such aplomb. The deviousness always played with a wink, made us love the ‘bad-guy’, like no bad guy ever before, or probably since.
Like that line from the Boys To Men song, It’s so hard to day goodbye to yesterday, thinking of Larry “J.R.” Hagman not being there anymore is very sad and shows us how mortal we are and how these TV icons hold do many memories that it’s difficult to let go and to not miss them when all is said and done. Maybe with a TV funeral we get to say goodbye to him since his funeral was private in real life. Goodbye Larry, you will be hard to forget as J.R. and as Major Nelson.
I hate to say it, but “Dallas” won’t be “Dallas” without JR Ewing.
J.R. Ewing, from tip to tail; he put Dallas on the map as a prime time show. Smooth journey.