Pricey 'Dallas' TV show fundraiser being planned

The Associated Press

Two cast members of the TV show "Dallas" say they will not participate in a fundraiser being planned New Year's Eve in Florida that has outraged some fans because of steep ticket prices.

A Florida nonprofit agency is putting together the event, which organizers said is not a reunion of the show. It follows last year's 30th anniversary reunion gone wrong in which more people than expected showed up at Southfork Ranch on Nov. 8. The event's organizer blamed Southfork for allowing gatecrashers; a ranch official placed the blame on the organizers.

The new event, promoted as "The Ewing New Year's Eve Safari," is being held in the Florida Everglades as a fundraiser for the Florida-based J. Timothy Hogan Foundation, whose goal is suicide prevention, The Dallas Morning News reported.

An all-access VIP ticket not including hotel stays or airfare is $1,995 with the cheapest ticket costing $895 for the new event. The most expensive ticket at the November event was $1,000 and the cheapest $100.

Jeanne Jackson, vice president of the foundation, said she attended the Southfork event and met people there whom she kept up with afterward. Last month, she started notifying them about the new event.

Jackson - who stresses the event is a work in progress - said the fundraiser just happens to feature the Dallas cast. So far few, if any, of the show's cast members are participating.

After the Southfork event, Patrick Duffy, who played Bobby Ewing, said during an interview with an online group of "Dallas" fans that all the problems had left a "bad taste" in the cast members' mouths.

"It would very difficult to do another (reunion) without assuming complete and total responsibility for it. It has become a who do you trust situation," Duffy told UltimateDallas.com.

Duffy said he would not be participating and neither will Linda Gray, who played Sue Ellen Ewing, her representative said. It is unknown whether Larry Hagman, who played J.R. Ewing, will participate.

But Steve Kanaly, who played ranch hand Ray Krebbs, said he would attend, if everything came together to his satisfaction.

Colin Hunter, webmaster of Ultimate Dallas.com, said he would not endorse or get involved with the Florida event until he was sure all promises would be kept and the price structure was fan friendly.

"Our duty is to the fans," Hunter said. "We won't promote anything that would be less than 100 percent."