‘Dallas’ returns with ... A new generation of bad blood

June 10, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

By JOANN Jones

11I also have a friend who, if she happened to be traveling with her husband, would always stop to get a hotel room by Friday at 10 p.m. Why? It was time for “Dallas.”

I have had June 13 marked on my calendar for months, because the Ewings are coming back, only this time on TNT, and they’re bringing a whole new generation of Ewings with them. The summer series — full of greed, double-dealing, vaulting ambition and quest for power — begins Wednesday at 9 p.m. with back-to-back episodes that include the original theme song.

The original “Dallas” starred Larry Hagman as the evil JR Ewing, Patrick Duffy as his conscientious brother and foil Bobby Ewing, and Linda Gray as his browbeaten wife, Sue Ellen.

The prime-time soap opera ran on CBS from 1978 to 1991 and received several Emmy awards.

Hagman, Duffy and Gray are returning, but the two new stars of the show are Josh Henderson (“Desperate Housewives”) as JR’s “chip off the old block” son, John Ross III, and Jesse Metcalfe (“John Tucker Must Die” and “Desperate Housewives”) as Bobby’s adopted son, Christopher.

John Ross has just returned from college in Europe and wants to drill for oil on the Ewing ranch, Southfork, and Christopher has been in Asia seeking alternative-energy sources to take the family business in a different direction.

While John Ross and Christopher compete for prominence in the Ewing family as well as for control of the ranch, they exacerbate the family feud and cause family members and friends to take sides once again, making their rivalry the central theme.

When John Ross reminds Christopher: Bobby “is not your daddy” and “You’ll never be a Ewing,” the fists fly, and Christopher ends up with cuts and bruises on his face the day of his wedding to the beautiful Rebecca Sutter, played by Julie Gonzalo (“Veronica Mars”).

Add to the mix the boys’ childhood friend Elena Ramos (Jordana Brewster of “The Fast and the Furious” movies), who was formerly engaged to Christopher and is now John Ross’ girlfriend, and the hatred continues.

Bobby Ewing, as always, wants the bad blood to stop. Although JR never responds to him, Bobby visits him regularly in the nursing home where JR has resided for several years. “I don’t want them to be like that,” he says, referring to their own rivalry.

Bobby is the current family patriarch — Miss Ellie, their mother from the original series, left him the ranch. He wants peace in the family, and his third wife, Ann, (Brenda Strong, also of “Desperate Housewives”) intends to help him accomplish that.

As the story heats up through the summer, June 27 brings an episode titled “The Last Hurrah,” even though the series continues to the end of July.

While Bobby makes a crucial family decision that JR (no longer in the nursing home) and John Ross try to thwart, Christopher struggles romantically when he learns Elena received an email that she thought he sent.

This episode — my favorite — intertwines romance, business and deathbed promises.

It’s also an episode in which JR attempts to worm his way back into Sue Ellen’s good graces by giving her a gift.

However, he learns, to his dismay, that she is spending time with an old nemesis of his.

JR also works to influence John Ross as he finally teaches him about the oil business, something that he promised to do years ago.

After years of being a distant and horrible father, JR wants a relationship with his son and will use the family business to get what he wants.

Because this second Ewing generation has access to technology their parents never had, flashdrives, tiny hidden cameras, cellphone photos and video chatting fuel the fire in the rivalry.

And because the show is on cable TV, viewers will hear the younger generation use some words that weren’t said on television two or three decades ago.

Those who are original “Dallas” fans will love the return of Bobby, JR and Sue Ellen (as well as Ken Kercheval as Cliff Barnes, Bobby’s former brother-in-law) as they, at least on the surface, try to keep the youngsters under control.

But new 20-somethings will embrace the drama and betrayal of the new generation of Ewings and undoubtedly will be glued to the TV at 9 p.m. on Wednesday nights.

JoAnn Jones is a freelance writer for The Vindicator.