In the U.K., They Get to Watch Dallas On TV. In Dallas, You Have to Go to the Texas Theatre.

​This morning, there's Big News out of England: CBS Drama -- "the home of drama classics from the US," it proudly proclaims, meaning ... Medium and Touched by an Angel -- will, come fall, begin running all 357 episodes of Dallas in the order in which they originally aired. Says the head channel-changer, "We're sure UK viewers will relish the chance to relive it from the very beginning." And yet, the prime-time soap that ran from '78 till '91 remains hidden from American audience, save for the DVD releases; you won't find it listed in any TV listing.

And so it falls to the brain trust at the Texas Theatre, in collaboration with the marketing department at Southfork Ranch, to revive the series beginning this Sunday, two episodes at a time starting at 8 p.m. -- though, as the Texas's Jason Reimer has mentioned on the Facebook, that could jump to three come subsequent Sundays should demand demand it. Writes Reimer, "It's time to OWN IT PEOPLE! We want you to dress up in your trashiest 80's Texas fare and make your way down to the Theatre -- This is gonna be an event that you'll love in a theatre built for YOU."

The timing, of course, is perfect, given that TNT's next-gen pilot is in pre-production right here, right now for an April start date with the original Holy Trinity on board. But as we've pointed out far too often for a show that's been off the air for 20 years, locals have always had a harder time embracing the series than outsiders -- especially foreigners, for whom Dallas served as inspiration and intellectual fodder (still, my favorite book title of all time remains Florence Dupont's Homère et Dallas: Introduction à une Critique Anthropologique).

The event will be hosted by "Jock Ewing," better known as Faux Fox's Bryan Campbell. At least one message-boarder is tickled by the news: "The red thin line that has separated us the Dallas fans from the "trekkies" has just vanished. It's official: we are the weirdest, freakiest fans of all the wonderful world of fandom!!" That, or Reimer and the boys at the Texas are just smarter than everyone else. "And remember," he writes, "they never made a legendary TV show called AUSTIN."