April 10, 2025
Growing up in the early 1980s, I remember tuning in every Friday to the nighttime soap opera Dallas, famous for the "Who shot J.R.?" season finale cliffhanger.
At the time, this titular Texas city represented something exciting and new, an ambitious, bold, brash city-on-the-move — a jolt of energy for a country eager to escape the pervasive ennui of the 1970s. Dallas was the future, or so we thought.
Soon, the bloom was off the rose as the show struggled to answer the essential questions of money and power in America.
But this spring, nearly five decades later, television returns to Dallas to tell a very different story — one with a lot more heart and soul, packed full of drama but free of unnecessary glitz and glamour. Billed as "an observational study of a city and its people," the PBS/Independent Lens documentary miniseries Dallas, 2019 takes the time to sit with real people struggling with hard problems.
Directed by Darius Clark Monroe and created by Monroe and Seth Gordon, the format is refreshingly straightforward. Through each balanced and thoughtful episode, we get to know the essential services and institutions — the human infrastructure — that make a city like Dallas run. Slowly, over five patient hours filmed over five weeks across the sprawling metropolis, we see firsthand the daily work of the city manager, the local court system, frontline clinics and public health nurses, schools, outreach workers, and community organizers.
One example is an elderly woman pleading with the city and the courts for help getting a demolition contractor to remove a 40-foot mound of rotting asphalt shingles illegally dumped next door to her home, rendering the surrounding air quality so toxic that she can no longer spend time outdoors. Another is a hard-hit residential neighborhood struggling to recover from a tornado, where we hear the story of a shell-shocked resident futilely raking leaves in front of a house with no roof.
Then there's the tough-but-fair sheriff working to earn the respect of her male colleagues, remaining as chipper and bright as her badge in the face of relentless adversity.
The show's creative editing and expert cinematography cultivate a calm pace and tone to subtlety note the reflective moments, poignant interactions, and other opportunities that make it possible for viewers to ponder the "what ifs" and "why nots." As these stories slowly unfold from week to week, we grow increasingly aware of the larger patterns at play: legacies of environmental racism, neighborhood disinvestment, an overloaded and underfunded social safety net, and an endless cycle of incarceration.
This work is rarely smooth and never easy, and the problems and projects seem to grind on forever. On top of everything, the series was filmed in the days before COVID-19.
Thanks to Monroe's patient, observational approach, we do find glimpses of hope alongside at-times crushing despair. And unlike the phony soap opera exploits of J.R and Ewing Enterprises, there is a lot more real-world drama in the quiet genius and everyday heroism of those who simply show up to do the work. Like the man raking leaves amid the wreckage, these people soldier on because, after all, what else is there to do?
Dallas, 2019 is available to stream on your local PBS station or app.
If you liked Dallas, 2019, you may also enjoy …
City Hall (2020)
Frederick Wiseman, the master film chronicler of bureaucracy, the administrative state, and frontline public service workers, takes a magnifying glass to the city hall of his hometown, Boston, in this 4.5-hour film. From my review in January 2021: "This insightful look at the people behind the decision-making is a comprehensive portrait of every organ in the body of local government."
City Hall is available for purchase online.
City So Real (2020)
This five-part documentary miniseries, directed by Steve James, explores politics and the daily challenges of delivering basic public services in Chicago. The series delves into the complexities of the Windy City, including the 2019 mayoral race and the impact of COVID-19.
City So Real is available to stream on ABC.
Paperland: The Bureaucrat Observed (1979)
This award-winning and amusingly wry Canadian documentary, directed by Donald Brittain, helps explain both the importance and the absurdity of a world increasingly defined by regulation, red tape, and the slow procedures of civil service.
Paperland: The Bureaucrat Observed is available to stream on the National Film Board of Canada's website.
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