City Hall Says: Well, Of Course TNT's Next-Generation Dallas Is Shooting in Dallas

By Robert Wilonsky Mon., Jul. 11 2011 at 12:40 PM

Categories: From the RTF Dept.

Pin It

The next-gen Ewings live downtown, which is why they needed that studio in the Cedars.

Unlike, say, the release below, the one that just landed in the Unfair Park in-box is far less surprising: TNT will indeed shoot Dallas in Dallas. Specifically, the Warner Horizon-produced series, which was formally introduced on Friday and gets a sneak-peek tonight on the cable network before its summer 2012 debut, will return to Dallas in mid-August, says Dallas Film Commission head Janis Burklund, then start shooting, more than likely, in early fall.

And, yes, while Southfork's still a setting, so too is downtown Dallas; Bobby's adopted son Christopher, the character played by Chase's Jesse Metcalfe, will live in a downtown loft. Which is why the city council OK'd spending $235,000 to finish out Jack Matthews's South Lamar warehouse, first (and last) used when The Good Guys were booted out of Fair Park last fall.

From the release:

The series is expected to have a significant financial impact on the city; create many jobs for crew, actors, extras and vendors; and increase tourism.

"The City of Dallas is very excited to once again have an iconic television series named after our City and pleased that we could assist in making Dallas not only the obvious location choice, but a good choice for the bottom line too," said Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Pauline Medrano. Now that TNT has officially placed the series order, Warner Horizon Television can move forward with contracts to finalize the Dallas shoot. Pre-production and production on the series are expected to begin later this year.

Incidentally, the 10 episodes ordered include the pilot, which is already in the can -- and which we'll see tonight.

Meanwhile, Time's James Poniewozik is not impressed: "If you're making a Dallas for the 2010s, why not pic a city that is to today as Dallas was to the '80s?" I think somebody's missing the point.

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Weekly Newsletter: Our weekly feature stories, movie reviews, calendar picks and more - minus the newsprint and sent directly to your inbox.