TNT picks up 'Dallas' for another season

TNT has renewed "Dallas" -- the drama about the wealthy, feuding Ewing family -- for a 15-episode third season, Warner Bros. Television said Tuesday. "Although we said goodbye to ("Dallas" star) Larry Hagman and his iconic character J.R. Ewing this year, 'Dallas' has many more stories left to tell, and the Ewing clan will continue to honor J.R.'s memory by keeping its audience surprised and delighted," TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies President Michael Wright said in a statement. Hagman, one of the returning actors from the original series that aired on CBS from 1978 to 1991, died Nov. 23 at 81. Warner Bros.' Warner Horizon Television resurrected "Dallas" last year to an average 6.9 million viewers per episode. The second season averaged about 3 million viewers an episode, but that number rose to 3.8 million viewers when including seven days of DVR playback. The farewell to Hagman's character got a season high 3.6 million viewers. Patrick Duffy as Bobby Ewing is now the senior member of the Ewing family, after older brother J.R.'s death. The 1978 series originally focused on Bobby's marriage to Pam Barnes, played by Victoria Principal. The Ewing and Barnes families were sworn enemies. J.R. became the show's main character, with his schemes and dirty business becoming the show's trademark. In the current series, Bobby is married to Ann, played by Brenda Strong. Linda Gray stars as Sue Ellen Ewing, J.R.'s former wife and the mother of his son, John Ross, played by Josh Henderson. From then on, she remained out of the limelight, tempted once in 1956 to be in Broadway's "My Fair Lady," Variety said, but ultimately deciding to remain private. "I was never happy making pictures," Durbin said in a 1958 letter to reporters -- one of her few public communications. Explaining her new life, she wrote: "I've gained weight. I do my own shopping, bring up my two children and sing an hour every day."