For any 'Dallas' fan, this is a very good book, although constrained by several circumstances.

Barbara Curran has interviewed practically the entire cast of the show (excluding those who refused, such as - unsurprisingly - Brad Pitt, who probably has other things on his calendar) and gets some nice insights into the series. The book covers everything from the conception of the show to the legacy of the TV movies. It discusses issues such as Donna Reed's troubled year on the show, Susan Howard's lack of satisfaction with some of the pregnancy storylines, and so on. Every episode gets an entry, including notes on where some of the prominent cast members had come from, and the ratings for each episode.

There are several issues with the book that I must mention:

1) Due to copyright issues (I assume), there are no episode summaries. Instead, each episode gets a three-or-four word description (e.g. "Bobby is kidnapped", "Sue Ellen goes to hospital") which is really unsatisfactory for a series of this nature. Plus, with almost 400 episodes, it's incredibly hard to remember details of each episode without them!

2) The book isn't really a critical examination of the series. Certainly, the cast and crew are quite open about storylines they didn't like, but - probably due to the dozens of interviews she carried out - Curran doesn't give any analysis of the series or the episodes. Not a bad thing necessarily, this is more a production diary, but still noticeable.

3) A lot of production situations aren't discussed: by which I mean, a lot of the time people are clearly giving simple answers. People recall other actors as "nice to work with" or similar things. Again, this is understandable since it has been over two decades since the series! Sometimes, though, it would be nice if people had been a bit more open about why they left, or what they felt of the show overall.

But these aren't really points against the book. Aside from the lack of episode synopses, this is a great production diary of the series, and helps us remember that - for the actors - this was a great experience and also just a paying job. Not every episode was the product of a lot of backstage arguing. After a while, these consummate professionals showed up every week and did their best work. Good for a 'Dallas' fan, as long as you're rewatching the series, so the notes without plot summaries will make more sense. ( )