Gear up for shocking J.R. Ewing memorial by streaming Dallas for free

Who -- or what -- will kill J.R.?

TNT

Larry Hagman as JR Ewing in the reprise of Dallas

TNT will make history on March 11 when its Dallas reboot will, after 35 years, lay to rest one of television’s most loved and loathed anti-heroes, J.R. Ewing. In advance of the Season Two memorial episode, the station will allow fans to stream all seven of this season’s prior episodes online and through the TNT mobile app.

Since the announcement of Larry Hagman’s death, Dallas fans have wondered how writers of TNT’s reboot will handle his iconic alter-ego’s exit. While virtually any insane story line seemed plausible for the larger-than-life J.R.'s disappearance – anything other than casting another actor to fill his 10-gallon Stetson, of course – writers took a cue from the original Dallas, which laid to rest the family’s original patriarch, John Ross “Jock” Ewing, Sr., in 1981 following the death of actor Jim Davis.

SoapNet

Larry Hagman as J.R. Ewing in the famous "Who Shot J.R." cliffhanger, from TV's Dallas.

TV Guide reports that the memorial was filmed right here at the Petroleum Club. That episode, entitled “J.R.’s Masterpiece,” will air on March 11 at 8 p.m. Currently, episodes 1-6 are available for streaming, and episode 7 – which airs March 4 – will go live online on March 5.

Dallas made history in 1980 with its famous “Who Shot J.R.” cliffhanger, which produced the highest-rated television episode in U.S. history when the culprit was revealed in the Season Four opener. TNT teases that J.R.’s death will be fittingly jaw-dropping, launching a “shocking revelation” that will send the family reeling. According an official release, in death, as in life, “nothing is ever as it seems when it comes to J.R. Ewing.”