The Ewings come home in 'Return to Southfork'

Linda Gray said her character was the first desperate housewife.
By ELLEN GRAY
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
You know November sweeps is just around the corner when the stars of one of television's longest-running prime-time soaps prepare to go head-to-head with the genre's newest hit.
For "Dallas"' Linda Gray, who spent 11 of the show's 14 seasons playing Sue Ellen Ewing, there's no competition.
"I was the first desperate housewife," Gray declared recently during a conference call she and co-star Larry Hagman did with reporters to promote Sunday's "Dallas Reunion: The Return to Southfork."
Unlike Hagman -- who claims not to have watched television for 20 years, other than sports and political programs -- Gray has seen ABC's "Desperate Housewives."
And found it "interesting."
'Isn't much to see'
"There isn't that much to see anymore. People who used to watch 'Dallas' don't have anything to watch," she said.
"That's several million people," noted Hagman.
No kidding. During the years "Dallas" ruled the Nielsens -- with a lot less competition -- it was watched by a much larger percentage of the country than sees any single series now, its ratings famously peaking at 41 million households for the resolution of the "Who Shot J.R.?" cliffhanger.
CBS is no doubt hoping to resurrect more than a few of those fans for tonight's reunion show, which brings together Hagman, Gray, Victoria Principal, Patrick Duffy, Charlene Tilton, Ken Kercheval and Steve Kanaly at the ranch outside Dallas where much of the series was filmed.
"Larry and I see each other all the time, but I think Victoria hadn't been to the ranch since 1986, and she was the only one I hadn't seen in that long a time," Gray said.
Hagman, who said he last saw Principal at his 70th birthday party three years ago, spoke with a touch of envy of how busy she is as a producer: "I doubt she has time for anything."
Gray was calling from the set of a made-for-TV movie, but Hagman, just back from a trip to Europe, is clearly raring to get back to acting, noting bitterly that while there's been talk of another "Dallas" movie, it's "without us, of course."
"I think Hollywood has just sort of run out of ideas," Gray said. "I don't applaud that."
"I applaud it as long as they hire me," said Hagman.
Still, he noted, his own mother, Mary Martin, was never cast in the movie roles she'd originated on Broadway, "South Pacific" and "The Sound of Music." "So I'm kind of used to that," he said.