Who Shot J.R.?

I know better.

The problem with being loyal to a television show is that it will eventually disappoint you. “The Fugitive,” which ran from 1963 through August of 1967, wound down to two final episodes to find the real killer of Dr. Richard Kimble's wife.

The star of the show, David Janssen, died at age forty-eight of a sudden heart attack in 1980.

Also in 1980 millions tuned in to CBS to discover who shot J.R. Ewing the previous season of “Dallas,” a prime time soap opera. Seventy six percent of all television owners watched the November 21 episode.

Suspects were abundant. There were characters in the show who would have enjoyed watching J.R cool off somewhere.

All during the summer, the question, “Who shot J. R.,' batted about as the favorite catch phrase.

It turned out to be his sister-in-law.

Larry Hagman (J.R.) was the son of Broadway and movie star Mary Martin. He died in 2012 but not from a gunshot.

I followed the television show “Lost” to the end and discovered that missing an episode or two didn't hurt much.

I was away on the night the last episode aired and recorded it. I've looked at the recording a number of times and still do not understand the ending. Do you?

My take-away from “Lost” was that my favorite actress, Julie Adams, had a couple of small roles during the run of the show. She died in 2019 at age 92 and is buried with her parents and sisters in Malvern, Arkansas.

The Kansas Woman turned me into a “Heartie,” that's a fan of “When Calls The Heart” on Hallmark Channel.

The one thing I like about the series is that everybody is positive in “Hope Valley.” Even when things turn sour, the characters find something sweet in the end. Bad guys are won over and become good. It's all positive, or was.

As I write this, I'm still pouting because the season's final episode didn't end the way I thought it should.

The central story is that the female character, Elizabeth, , had a choice between two men — a Canadian Mountie and a saloon owner.

The saloon owner has a beard, and I remember my grandmother's prejudice against men who wore beards. I think Elizabeth chose the wrong one.

There are a number of endearing characters and story lines to supply raw materials for the next season when it finally gets here, but for now I'm not happy.

joenphillips@yahoo.com