Who shot J.R.? Hey, wait .. this is 2004.

There's an article in today's Dallas Managed News about J.R. Ewing, the fictional oil tycoon portrayed by Larry Hagman (now 72, and in town to promote a DVD) in TV's Dallas.

In the article (titled "J.R. revived? Look in White House, Hagman says"), columnist Ed Bark quotes Hagman saying that J.R. was a failure, and GWB is running the White House in much the same way - incompetently. Wow.

The TV show aired from 1978-1991; it was off the air by the time I moved here, and I didn't watch it before then - but, I'll admit - one of the first things I did after moving was find the Ewing mansion, which is actually in Parker, Texas (20 miles northeast of Dallas) and across the road from a trailer park. If you don't count the huge "SF" [Southfork Ranch] on the side of the barn, you'll easily drive past; it's not terribly well marked.

Trivia: Porsche happily staged a 911 and a 924 in the "Who Shot J.R.?" episode. Gotta love product placement; when I worked in Los Angeles for Sun, we'd sometimes be asked for loaner computers by the movie and television studios, along with a technician to "make them do stuff".

Also, I still smile when I see "EWING DALLAS" on license plate frames; they're from [Ewing Buick-Pontiac-GMC] which just might be capitalizing on the name recognition. I'd bet dollars-to-doughnuts that the employees of that dealership grimace every day when Goober waltzes in, demanding to speak to J.R. about a car.