Linda Gray, who played Sue Ellen Ewing in the most popular prime-time soap of all time, has a dismissive attitude toward the ABC hit show that will air opposite "Dallas Reunion: The Return to Southfork" tonight.

	Monty Brinton, CBS Cast members of the long-running prime-time hit "Dallas" gather for a television reunion, from left: Steve Kanaly, Charlene Tilton, Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, Patrick Duffy, Victoria Principal, and Ken Kercheval. Click photo for larger image. "Dallas Reunion: The Return to Southfork" When: 9 to 11 tonight on CBS.

"I was the first desperate housewife," she says. Then, perhaps alluding to another hit show, she adds that she was "the ultimate survivor."

As wife to oil baron J.R. Ewing, the most despicable, philandering, double-crossing snake that prime time had ever seen, Gray evolved from alcoholic housewife whom J.R. committed to a sanitarium, to the confident CEO of Ewing Oil when her husband lost control in the final season.

But in real life, Larry Hagman, who played J.R. on CBS for 13 seasons, and Gray are best friends. They finish each other's sentences, laugh at each other's jokes, and, as Gray says, "I think Larry and I were separated at birth. There's a charismatic connection."

The 356 episodes of "Dallas" aired from April 2, 1978, to May 3, 1991, with the first two seasons released on a five-DVD set in August. "Dallas" was TV's second-longest-running prime-time entertainment series (surpassed only by "Gunsmoke" with 402 episodes).

The "Who Shot J.R.?" episode (Nov. 12, 1980) was one of the highest-rated shows of all time with a 53.3 rating and a 77 share -- ratings that Nielsen may never see again.

Hagman and Gray offered various theories on why the show was so popular.

"Everybody had a J.R. in the family, be it an uncle or a father or a brother," Hagman says. "And once you were addicted, you were addicted. A lot of people got caught up in the thing and never stopped watching."

Gray adds, "It was a relationship show with solid relationships. They were such divine characters. And Larry is a consummate actor." She noted that in an age before VCRs, "families would gather in front of the set on Friday nights to spend time with us."

Tonight's reunion show doesn't continue any "Dallas" storylines, which originally centered on a feud between the Ewing and Barnes families. Instead, it reunites many in the original cast, who reminisce affectionately about the show. Victoria Principal and Patrick Duffy (Pam and Bobby Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes) and Mary Crosby (Kristin Shepard, answer to the question "Who shot J.R.?") share memories, with bloopers, outtakes, practical jokes and home movies adding to the fun.

Barbara Bel Geddes, who won the show's only acting Emmy as Ewing matriarch Miss Ellie opposite the late Jim Davis, "is now kind of a recluse, and we respect that," Hagman said, and she doesn't make an appearance. Neither do Susan Howard, Howard Keel, Priscilla Presley, Sheree J. Wilson and others whose faces appeared in the opening credits over the years.

It's impressive that in a list of "Top 10 'Dallas' Cliffhangers" chosen by "Dallas" fans, some of the show's best moments don't even make the Top 3 -- such as: Will Bobby survive being riddled with bullets as he sat (back to audience) in J.R.'s chair? Will J.R., Sue Ellen, son John Ross and Ray survive a fire that nearly destroys Southfork ranch? Will Sue Ellen and her unborn baby survive a car crash? Will Bobby survive being run over by a car by his insane sister-in-law Katherine Wentworth? Who was floating face-down in the Ewing pool? Will Cliff Barnes die of a drug overdose?

It's a no-brainer what ranks No. 1. Hint: It's not the famously ridiculous shocker in which an entire season of the show was just "Pam's dream" -- with a supposedly dead Bobby resurrected in the shower.

Hagman and Gray are proud that "Dallas" tackled subjects that largely had been ignored on prime time: abortion (Lucy had an abortion after being raped), homosexuality (Lucy became engaged to a closeted gay man), mastectomy (Bel Geddes won her Emmy that season), women who drink on the sly (Sue Ellen), older women who date younger men (Sue Ellen with her son's camp counselor, played by Christopher Atkins), euthanasia (Ray pulled the plug on his nephew Mickey) and adultery (just about the entire cast).

Although "Dallas" was essentially a family drama, it was a family that demonstrated its love for each other with fistfights, bullets and attempted strangulations. (The reunion show has a fistfight and strangulation montage.) No fan could ever forget another Southfork tradition: the fights that resulted with half the cast in the swimming pool.

"Dallas" aired in 90 languages worldwide, and Mary Crosby introduces a sequence in which the "Who shot J.R." climax is shown in French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.

Even die-hard "Dallas" fans will allow that the show outlasted its welcome for a half-dozen years, but this entertaining "Dallas Reunion" makes it clear why, in its heyday, it was a television classic.