My title is the nickname for the 9th season of the popular TV show “Dallas.” That’s because Bobby Ewing—younger brother of J.R., the lead villain in the show—was killed off at the end of the 8th season, but then showed back up at the end of the last episode of the 9th season, with the rather thin explanation that the entire 9th season was all just a bad dream experienced by Bobby’s wife, Pam. When she wakes up in the morning and heads to the bathroom, she encounters Bobby in the shower, greeting her with a cheery “Good morning!”
A google search for information about the 9th season reminded me that Patrick Duffy, the actor who played Bobby, wanted to leave the show after the 8th season to pursue bigger things. But when those bigger things clearly weren’t going to happen, Patrick wanted back in, and given his character’s huge popularity, he got his wish. One of my sources of information for this backstory said, “Due to Season 9 being a dream, all the events in the episodes are not canon to the other seasons.” Thus, it has been decided that the season never happened.
I remember the hubbub in the mid-80s after that shower scene aired. I was involved in lots of conversations where folks either thought it was lame or a stroke of genius by the show’s writers. I was only an occasional Dallas watcher, so I listened with amusement.
I was also only in my early 20s then, so I hadn’t yet lived enough to make the leap to similarly dismissing a period of my life as simply a bad dream. Now in my early 60s, I do wish I could declare that the first marriage I was in the middle of during Dallas’ 9th season could be deemed “not canon” to the rest of my life so far. Same with my second marriage. And my career as a junior underwriter in the reinsurance industry long before I finally found my calling as an editor. The list goes on.
But in reality, just like that 9th season technically can’t be erased from the history of “Dallas” the TV show, my unpleasant seasons really can’t be erased from my life history. Without them, I wouldn’t be who I am today.
But I can dream, can’t I?