Those old enough to remember this ratings-buster of a programme the first time round may be interested to know how the new series, which premiered on Channel 5 on the 5th September, has performed on its return. In its heyday, Dallas achieved some of the highest ratings in TV history, with the shooting of JR delivering a monstrous 53.3 TVRs and 76 per cent audience share. It’s also – an estimated 350m viewers worldwide watched this season finale episode in 1980!
Fast forward 32 years and we see Dallas trying to find a place in an unrecognisable TV landscape. Scheduled across the prime 9.00pm slot, the revamped Dallas (which features original cast members in their respective roles as JR, Bobby & Sue Ellen plus lots of shiny new ones), performed surprisingly well. The show edged ahead of Channel 4’s Paralympic coverage on some audiences and across the 2100-2159 segment, averaged 6.3 ABC1 Adult TVRs with a viewing audience of 3.3m. This was a 13.6 per cent share of viewing and gave Channel 5 its top rating programme in the 2100 slot so far this year for ABC1 Adults, ABC1 Housewives and HWC.
MEC opinion: It is undoubtedly a great start for the newly renovated Dallas, but now The Olympics are over and TV schedules are reverting to Autumn programming, a question remains over whether the show will be able to maintain this level of success. It’s certainly possible that Dallas will experience a renaissance that justifies the investment of bringing it back for a modern audience, but if the number of viewers start to dry up, its creators can expect the axe to fall much faster than it would have done in the less competitive schedules of the late 1970s and early 1980s.