Update: Warner Bros has told us the release timeframe given below for the eighth season set is incorrect, and the correct date will be announced within the next month.
Well, the cat's out of the bag. Other sites around the 'net have been talking about it this weekend, so we'll make sure all of our readers are filled in, too. Although Warner Home Video has not formally announced it yet, and a release date is not yet even finalized, it has become generally known that Dallas - The Complete 8th Season, is on the way to DVD as a 5-disc set (double-side DVDs). That the release is being worked on isn't exactly a surprise in and of itself; after all, it looks like Warner's going all the way with each of the fourteen seasons of this classic show. But the big news is the box art that's been revealed. We've got a look at it at the bottom.
Who's that pictured in the middle-bottom? Why, it's Miss Ellie of course. In the 8th season, Barbara Bel Geddes temporarily left the show, and was replaced by legendary TV actress Donna Reed. She showed up in the 8th Season's seventh episode, "Homecoming," after Miss Ellie being away from Southfork for the first part of that season. The official studio line at the time was that Bel Geddes was ill, and later on she returned to the show after she got "better." Earlier this year, though, on a British show's interview the cast (along with Reed's son) revealed instead that Bel Geddes was let go due to salary demands, and only brought back for the 9th season onward due to the efforts of senior cast members, including Larry Hagman. It's a well-known fact that Hagman had previously kept Linda Gray from being let go from the cast, threatening to walk out himself if that happened. If there's one thing you can say about that group of actors, is that they were all a great big family and extremely loyal to each other. More so than the Ewing clan!
Here's that box art now, which we suppose is subject to change since nothing has been officially announced. We're expecting this in January, per a flyer that was inserted in last week's Nip/Tuck - Season 4 DVD set. Stay tuned, and when Dallas - The Complete 8th Season does become formal we'll fill you in on the release date and any other info we can dig up.
