David Jacobs, who created the smash 1980s primetime soaps Dallas and Knots Landing and was a two-time Emmy nominee for Homefront, died August 20 of Alzheimer’s complications at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, his son said. He was 86.
“He had Alzheimer’s for many years, and recently he had recurring infections that led to his death,” Aaron Jacobs told Deadline today.
Born on August 12, 1939, in Baltimore, Jacobs started out writing nonfiction books and magazine articles before pivoting to TV, penning episodes of series including Family, Chicago Story and The Blue Knight. He went on to create Dallas and its spinoff Knots Landing, with the former bowing in 1978 on CBS.
By its second season, Dallas was a certified smash, finishing the 1979-80 frame at No. 6 among all primetime series. Starring Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, Patrick Duffy and others, the ensemble drama about a Texas oil family became a cultural phenomenon and was the No. 1 show on TV for three of the next five seasons, and No. 2 for two of them.
Its final episode of the 1979-80 episode was “Who Shot J.R.?” in which a mystery person put two bullets in Hagman’s character. It was the highest-rated episode in TV history at the time, scoring a 53.3 Nielsen rating and astounding 76 share, and the ensuin summer was filled with chatter, speculation — and merchandise.
The series would go on to air more than 350 episodes over 14 seasons, wrapping in 1991, and was Emmy-nominated for Outstanding Drama Series in 1980 and 1981.
Spinoff Knots Landing arrived in late 1979 and moved the drama to Los Angeles. Starring Michele Lee, Ted Shackleford, Joan Van Ark, Donna Mills and others, it didn’t score the massive ratings of its predecessor but was a solid performer on Thursdays for CBS, peaking as a Top 10 show in 1984-85. Still, the series also would air for 14 seasons, counting 344 through 1993.
In a 2008 interview for the TV Academy Foundation, Jacobs noted that he created Knots Landing before Dallas, but it was pitched and produced after that series. He also said Dallas was created around actress Linda Evans, who later would star in ABC rival primetime soap Dynasty — which topped the 1984-85 primetime ratings and bumped Jacobs’ show to No. 2.
TNT revived the Jacobs-created Dallas in 2012, with several actors including Hagman, Gray and Duffy reprising their roles more than a decade later. Hagman’s J.R. Ewing character was killed off in Season 2 following the actor’s death in late 2012. The new edition started strong before viewership waned, and it ultimately would air 40 episodes over three seasons.
Jacobs went to to create, produce and write for series, miniseries and TV movies in the 1980s and ’90s, including Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Four Corners, Paradise, Lace and Bodies of Evidence.
Along with son Aaron, Jacobs is survived by his wife, Diane; his daughter, Molly Jacobs; and Albyn Hall, his daughter from a previous marriage.
MORE TO COME…