The farewell to J.R. Ewing pulled back some lost fans to “Dallas†on TNT on Monday night, lifting the drama to its best overall audience of its second season.
With the funeral of the famous character a centerpiece of the episode, “Dallas†attracted 3.6 million viewers, well above this season’s average of 2.6 million. It was also 28 percent higher than the 2.8 million who watched the show last week, the last episode in which Larry Hagman played J.R. (Mr. Hagman died last November.)
That turned into another “Who Shot J.R.†plotline, as an unseen assailant shot the roguishly corrupt Texas oilman - this time fatally. The last time the show had someone shoot J.R. it was in the soap’s heyday on CBS, and it set up one of the most-watched plot resolutions in television history â€" an estimated 83 million viewers tuned in.
<>The new version of “Dallas†is performing much more modestly, with ratings down sharply this season from its first on TNT last year. But the farewell to J.R. did stir up some of the old embers.Among viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, a crucial group for advertising sales, the episode attracted 1.1 million viewers, up from just 892,000 last week. Those are not “Walking Dead†numbers (the AMC drama attracted 8.2 million viewers in that age group for its episode Sunday night), but TNT will surely take the uptick as it looks for reasons to renew the series for a third season.
