Who shot J.R.?

Who shot J.R.? was an advertising catch phrase that American network CBS created in 1980 to promote the television show "Dallas". In the final scene of the 1979-1980 season, the character J.R. Ewing, played by Larry Hagman, was shot by an unknown assailant. The episode, titled "A House Divided", was broadcast on March 21, 1980. Viewers had to wait all summer, and most of the autumn because of a Hollywood actors' strike, to learn whether J.R. would survive, and which of his many enemies was responsible.

T-shirts printed with such references as "Who Shot J.R.?" and "I Shot J.R." became common over the summer. Betting parlors worldwide took bets as to which one of the 10 or so principal characters had actually pulled the trigger. A session of the Turkish parliament was suspended to allow legislators a chance to get home in time to view the "Dallas" episode. [Rettenmund, Matthew, " [http://books.google.com/books?id=G7esYC1LNM4C&pg=PT158&lpg=PT158&dq=turkish+parliament+%22who+shot+jr%22&source=web&ots=i8joyy7bjw&sig=a3R5aBV-E_vhgD3M-n4QBbib3Cw Totally Awesome 80s: A Lexicon of the Music, Videos, Movies, TV] ", St. Martin's Press, October 1996, pp. 143, ISBN-13:9780312144364]

Ultimately, the person who pulled the trigger was revealed to be Kristin Shepard (played by Mary Crosby) in the "Who Done It?" episode which aired on November 21, 1980. Kristin was J.R.'s scheming sister-in-law and mistress, who shot him in a fit of anger. J.R. didn't press charges as Kristin claimed she was pregnant with his child as a result of their affair.

It was, at the time, the highest rated television episode in US history. It had a Nielsen rating of 53.3 and a 76% share, and it was estimated that 83,000,000 people watched the episode. [ Facts on File 1980 Yearbook p905 ] . The previous record for a TV episode, not counting the final installment of the miniseries "Roots", had been the 1967 finale for "The Fugitive". "Who Shot J.R.?" now sits third on the list, beaten in 1983 by the final episode of "M*A*S*H" and in 2008 by Super Bowl XLII but still remains the highest rated non-finale episode of a TV series by a wide margin.

The great success of this 1980 stunt helped usher in the practice of ending a television season with a cliffhanger.

In popular culture

Several episodes of "Father Ted" featured a simpleton "Tom" sitting on a dockside wall wearing an "I shot JR" T-shirt. The gag was particularly effective as the father Ted episodes ran some 15 years after the Dallas incident. The simpleton would be used as a point of reference, eg. "When you get off the Boat, look for a man wearing an 'I Shot JR' T-Shirt and turn left..." etc.

In an episode of "The Simpsons" set in 1980, Homer is seen with a t-shirt exclaiming "I shot J.R.".

Also on "The Simpsons", Mr. Burns is shot in a parody of the Dallas finale. Campaigns ran for a time with the question "Who shot Mr. Burns?".

Once again on the "The Simpsons", an 8th Season episode is named "A Milhouse Divided".

ALSO on "The Simpsons", Homer reminisces about sitting on the couch while watching Dallas - specifically Kristin's revelation that she shot J.R. Ewing.

In an episode of "Friends" ("The One with Phoebe's Rats"), an unemployed Chandler asks "Who Shot J.R.?" while watching TV.

In "Babylon 5", an alien race called the Brakiri had received the episodes via transmissions arriving on their homeworld several decades after broadcast. However, the conclusion of the "Who shot J.R." storyline was interrupted by the sun blocking the signal from earth. By the time they make first contact with humans, all records of the episode been destroyed or lost, leaving the Brakiri in suspense over what happened. Speculative books and other media on who did shoot J.R became a very profitable industry on Brakir after this.Fact|date=April 2008

The storyline was parodied on an episode of "Saturday Night Live" hosted by "Dallas" star Charlene Tilton. The episode was notable for Charlie Rocket's use of the word "fuck" during the live broadcast.

Episode 5 of the USA Network series "In Plain Sight" is entitled "Who Shot Jay Arnstein?"

In "The Wedding Singer", Adam Sandler's brother-in-law is watching TV and says "I'm watching Dallas! I think J.R. might be dead or something - they shot him!"

Redman's song "I Don't Care" contains the line "Who shot JR? I did! right in his melon..."

References