'Dallas': J.R.'s 15 Best Moments

J.R. was bad, but he was never evil. Right? In the season 1 finale of the original show he drunkenly confronted a pregnant Pamela on the second floor of a barn. There was a shriek, Pamela was splayed on the ground below, and J.R. was looking down in horror. Pamela and Bobby lost the baby, and J.R. the threat of Bobby giving Jock the firstborn grandchild. —Karen Valby

That dirty dog J.R. long threatened to toss a miserable Sue Ellen into the sanitarium if she got too out of hand. ''You know, Sue Ellen,'' he purred in season 2, ''I do believe you're going 90 miles an hour toward a nervous breakdown. We're going to have to do something about your ravings.'' According to original writer Camille Marchetta,''I remember we got a fan letter that was addressed to Miss Ellie: 'We're writing to let you know that J.R. is lying about Sue Ellen. She is not drinking!''' —Karen Valby

They loved to hate each other, but there was always a faint layer of forgotten tenderness between J.R. and Sue Ellen. In the episode ''John Ewing III, Part 2,'' J.R. stares longingly down at his hospitalized wife, whose desperation has put both her and their unborn child's lives at risk. ''She's just got to live, Bobby. She's just got to.'' —Karen Valby

Poor John Ross's early days were no picnic. Sue Ellen was a sodden wreck and J.R. only saw Cliff Barnes when he looked into the baby's face. When J.R. finally learned he was, in fact, the boy's daddy he picked up that baby and shined the most tender smile down upon him. ''The softest moment J.R. had in that show was when he was completely alone with 90 million viewers and he held that baby,'' says series creator David Jacobs. —Karen Valby

They were the two shots heard, quite literally, around the world. In the season 3 cliffhanger an unknown assailant slipped into J.R.'s office late one evening and did what numerous characters thought the man had coming to him. J.R. took two bullets in the stomach, to the gleeful shock of tens of million viewers in 57 countries, and an eight-month ''Who shot J.R.?'' media frenzy ensued. —Karen Valby

What fun it was to watch J.R. and Bobby go for each other's throats. No matter how messy their squabbles, there was always the palpable sense that these grown men loved each other silly. They fought over everything — Pamela, Southfork, Ewing Oil, and most especially their Daddy's affection. In season 9, Bobby threw J.R. into the pool after Bobby discovers his fink brother sent Pamela on a wild goose chase after Mark Graison. ''Mama!'' J.R. cries out before he falls into the pool. —Karen Valby

''I wish I'd taken the time to tell you how much I love ya,'' said J.R. at Bobby's funeral in season 8. ''I do. Tell Daddy I love him too. Bye Bobby. I miss ya.'' When J.R. cried, we cried. —Karen Valby

Don't do it, J.R.! Viewers of the original series weren't sure if their long beloved anti-hero had given himself over to his demons and pulled a trigger to end his high-octane life. But evil, at least the delicious kind Hagman served up with a grin and a wink, never dies. —Karen Valby

Having started TNT's reboot alone (and essentially catatonic) in a nursing home, J.R. got back in the game of screwing people surprisingly easily. He moved back to Southfork when John Ross told him Bobby was keen to sell the ranch to prevent John Ross from drilling. Upon seeing his brother, Bobby snarked, ''It'll be great having a rattlesnake in the house.'' Of course, J.R. saved his finest zingers for his nemesis Cliff Barnes, snapping, ''Time has not been kind to that face. But I do recall the smell of brimstone and crazy.'' He later warned, ''I'll be there when they put you in the ground, Barnes. Listen close. I'll be the one dancing on the dirt overhead.'' —Mandi Bierly

In the world's poshest barber shop, where no one had the cojones to ask J.R. if he wanted his eyebrows trimmed, J.R. didn't shy from running a straight razor across the throat of his son. John Ross was, after all, trying to cut him out of stealing Southfork from Bobby. ''I loved my daddy, and I respected my daddy,'' he said coolly, ''but most importantly, I feared my daddy.'' With that, we suddenly remembered what we had been missing all these years: J.R. —Mandi Bierly

That same episode, J.R. met Vicente, the South American oil man John Ross brought in to swindle Bobby during the Southfork sale. Clashing over the financial terms of the plot, J.R. stared down the Venezuelan and leaned in threateningly: ''The best way to understand a man is to talk to his friends and his enemies. My friends are in the State House. [Dramatic pause] My enemies are gonna be harder to find.'' They shared an evil laugh, and the deal was done. —Mandi Bierly

In season 1's penultimate episode, a near-fatal brain aneurysm (brought on by cancer that Bobby hadn't told J.R. about) prompted J.R. to try to make peace with his brother. At first chilly, Bobby realized what J.R. was struggling to say. ''I love you, no matter what. You remember that,'' Bobby told him. J.R. welled up and said, ''Well, my memory's not what it used to be either. You're just gonna have to keep telling me.'' Bobby noted with resignation, ''Nobody lives forever." Since Larry Hagman had battled cancer during filming of the season, the moment between the real-life friends resonated deeply with longtime fans. —Mandi Bierly

At the start of season 2, Sue Ellen's underhanded tactics lost her the Texas gubernatorial bid, but J.R. made sure her name remained clean. She thanked him for his help, and he responded, ''Darlin', if I can still throw my weight around this town after all the crap I've pulled, then you'll bounce back just fine.'' When Sue Ellen gently kissed him on the cheek, J.R. let out a surprised gasp. She warned, ''And that's all you're getting,'' but welcomed him in for tea. With a disarmingly sweet smile, J.R. said, ''I thought you'd never ask.'' —Mandi Bierly

Seeing Cliff's manipulative daughter Pamela trying to weasel her way into Ewing Energies, J.R. paid a visit. ''I'm just here to look my enemy in the eye,'' he told her, ''and since your daddy is about two feet shorter than I am, I guess you'll have to do.'' He was there with a warning: ''You're not the first Pam to fox her way into the hen house. I'm one for one on flushing out Pamelas. And I plan on being two for two.'' —Mandi Bierly

Hoping to capitalize on the resentment of Cliff's second in command, Frank, J.R. let himself into Frank's home to pitch a plan: Pull the (literal) skeleton out of Pamela's proverbial closet to get her into jail. Frank worried Cliff would know he sold him out, but J.R. just laughed. ''Frank, I'm J.R. Ewing. I can make a body appear in the middle of a church social without anybody knowing how it got there.'' J.R.'s plan didn't go off without a hitch, and Frank ended up on the hook but, regardless, as J.R. put it, ''It's a rare and beautiful thing when enemies share the same enemy.'' —Mandi Bierly