Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
blames TV show Dallas for the fall of the
USSR because it opened people's eyes
to western lifestyles
Daily Mail (UK),
by
Henry Martin
Original Article
Posted By: OhioNick,
10/27/2020 3:29:57 PM
TV show Dallas was the main reason behind the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union, it has been claimed. Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart said that former Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev told him that the 1980s soap opera 'had more effect' in ending the Cold War than anything else. Mr Stewart, 68, said the Gorbachev admitted an illicit broadcast of the US show in Russia had opened his people's eyes to Western life, and the Texas-based show 'brought down' the communist superpower.
The program had portrayed the millionaire lifestyles of the oil tycoon Ewing family.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Dodge Boy 10/27/2020 3:38:41 PM (No. 586527)
Ah, that must be it, Putie. But, come clean now, pal. You don't like the show anymore because Sue Ellen shot J.R. before you could?
5 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
paral04 10/27/2020 4:08:23 PM (No. 586562)
What drivel. It was Reagan's policies that crushed the Russian empire.
14 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
bad-hair 10/27/2020 4:24:43 PM (No. 586580)
Dallas ?
That's north of I-10 up there in Yankee country. I think they may even be Democrats.
3 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
zoidberg 10/27/2020 4:33:45 PM (No. 586595)
Years ago, Reason credited Dallas for the downfall of the Ceaucescus in Romania.
3 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Avikingman 10/27/2020 4:34:08 PM (No. 586597)
Shallow thinking there Mikhail; Communism always fails. So does its wicked step mother Socialism.
8 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
qr4j 10/27/2020 4:44:24 PM (No. 586608)
Reagan, Thatcher, Pope John Paul II, and now DALLAS! I am fine with that. The Lord has worked in mysterious ways to defeat totalitarian communism in Europe. It reminds me of the song "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" that Ray Stevens sings. A squirrel? Dallas? Sounds like something the Lord would do.
8 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
john56 10/27/2020 4:54:06 PM (No. 586618)
What night was Dallas broadcast on Soviet TV? I think it was after "Complete and Unedited Highlights of Great Breshnev Speeches" and "Better Cooking with Borusch". And just before "Dancing with the Babushkas."
5 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Clinger 10/27/2020 4:54:27 PM (No. 586621)
This would be a whole lot funnier if he cited "Hello Larry"
5 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Jesuslover54 10/27/2020 4:59:46 PM (No. 586625)
Reminds me of the pleasure the USSR took in the depiction of dust bowl America in The Grapes of Wrath until they realized that people thought the US was a great country where even poor people had a truck they could drive to California. Then they banned it.
11 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Vesicant 10/27/2020 5:32:50 PM (No. 586640)
So the Russians were all going around saying "I would like to have seen Dallas"?
(Odd that USS Dallas was the US sub in that movie.)
3 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 10/27/2020 6:39:39 PM (No. 586703)
Yeah, and the Chuck Norris "Delta Force" series of VHS tapes smuggled into the Soviet Union brought down the Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceaușescu.
1 person likes this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
ronniethek 10/27/2020 6:43:30 PM (No. 586711)
Drivel squared indeed. As the trend of the world moved towards freedom of information flows--the Soviet goose was cooked. It was only a matter of time. WHY DO YOU THINK CHINA CENSORS THE INTERNET? They understand this.
4 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Jethro bo 10/27/2020 6:43:46 PM (No. 586713)
So is he trying to boost Carter's image or destroy Reagans's great victory over the Evil Empire? And when was the last time somebody didn't blame Trump?
1 person likes this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
DVC 10/27/2020 6:54:33 PM (No. 586723)
Gorby did it.
All the leaders before Gorby KNEW that the whole Communist line was totally BS and they were all just thugs with a fancy cover story.
But.....Gorby was the most dangerous possible person to a communist government. Gorby was a fairly honest, fairly competent TRUE BELIEVER. He was raised a good Communist. He bought all their stories, believed them to be hard truths. He didn't get the "Communism is BS, we are just thugs, don't ever try to actually DO it" memo, and went out to diligently follow the Communist Manifesto. OOPS! The harder he tried to put it into effect, the worse things got. Doubling down, and really "following Lenin" made it twice as bad until the whole thing collapsed in on itself. And there was Gorby, totally baffled at how this could have happened. He had FOLLOWED THE RULES!
It must have been that American TV show. Yeah, THAT's it. It couldn't possibly be that Communism is GUARANTEED to fail and the more pure you are, the harder you work it, the more rapidly it crashes and burns.
4 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
WhamDBambam 10/27/2020 7:18:23 PM (No. 586751)
I blame it for accelerating the fall of American culture.
3 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
DVC 10/27/2020 7:46:01 PM (No. 586778)
I never saw an episode of Dallas. I never saw an episode of Friends.
I never watched Seinfeld.
Their premises didn't interest me at all, so I did other things. None of those people are anything like anyone I know. I have talked to a few people about these shows so I know the general concept of what they were about.
2 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
FunOne 10/27/2020 8:12:25 PM (No. 586797)
Well, we all knew that J R was a real wheeler-dealer. Who would have thought that he could have an impact on the USSR explosion.
I guess there might have been a lot of Russians thinking that if they came to the USA and moved to Dallas, they could become oil families just like the Ewing family.
Someone should do a TV series on this.
0 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
Jennie C. 10/27/2020 8:45:17 PM (No. 586812)
Hilarious (though I loved Dallas. In fact, the reason my husband bought me a VCR was so that he could get me to go out on Friday nights, without having to be home by 9 o'clock!!!!
0 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
Jennie C. 10/27/2020 8:45:52 PM (No. 586813)
#1: Sue Ellen didn't shoot J.R. Kristin did that. Everyone knows that.
1 person likes this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
dirtyjersey 10/27/2020 9:00:44 PM (No. 586823)
Right, because it couldn’t be the spirit-crushing totalitarianism of utopian denial of God-given rights. It must be a TV show.
Roy Rogers won the Korean War, Archie brought down the Japanese Empire, the Nazis we’re defeated by Shirley Temple.
2 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
NorCaliInfidel 10/27/2020 10:18:41 PM (No. 586856)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZgmcm7nLjE
Naked Gun 2 1/2. Leslie Nielsen (Lt. Drebin) wipes Gorbachev's birthmark off with a rag. "I knew it"--One of the funniest scenes in movies. That was responsible for the fall of Gorbachev/USSR!
1 person likes this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
Safari Man 10/27/2020 10:23:27 PM (No. 586858)
Ironically, Hillary was initially blaming “Dallas” for her loss until she came up with the whole Russian collusion thing.
0 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
NYbob 10/27/2020 11:56:55 PM (No. 586902)
I thought it was the Beatles and blue jeans. Oh well, the fact is the old saying was right. You can't fool ALL the people ALL the time. Cheer up Gorby. For following a raving loser bar flie's stupid thug theory wrapped in a pandering package of lies, you did pretty good. You almost made 70 years. Of course you were set up by inbred monarchs and you had the most vicious thugs running the place. Good thing you had immense natural resources to fuel your stupid, evil, empire. Communists, the poster boys for the worse instincts of humanity.
0 people like this.
I just want to know if they can pipe in the Squad and push them over the edge.
0 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
mifla 10/28/2020 5:02:23 AM (No. 586989)
If your country can be taken down by a TV show, it was not much of a country.
1 person likes this.
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