A Look Back at Dallas' Year in Television

Television City may be a long way from our part of the map, but TV productions popped up all over the Dallas–Fort Worth area in 2023.

We're not talking only about out-of-town productions based on horrific crime stories that happened in DFW, or unscripted productions featuring colorful Dallas characters. North Texas hosted a wide variety of programming —  live comedy specials, reality TV shows — and even created entire new networks. Dallas-Fort Worth was all over your TV dial this past year, even though dials really aren't a physical thing anymore.

Here are the most significant TV moments in Dallas in 2023:
1. Ralph Barbosa: Cowabunga
We've long known about comedian Ralph Barbosa's natural charm and unique sense of humor, but last year the whole country and many parts of the world found out about him. Barbosa taped his first feature-length comedy special for Netflix at The Kessler, the theater just across the street from the barber shop where he used to work before pursuing a life in comedy. So it's only fitting that Barbosa's special started with his getting a trim at the very same shop before walking across the street to do his set. The special, titled Cowabunga, presents Barbosa at his low-key but hilarious best for two sold-out crowds before premiering on the streaming channel at the end of October. It's a promising start to a career destined for comedy stardom. 

2. King of the Hill's Johnny Hardwick
One of the saddest moments in any genre or medium happened in August when Richardson native and King of the Hill regular Johnny Hardwick died suddenly at his home in Austin. Hardwick wrote and voiced the character Dale Gribble on King of the Hill, the brilliant animated sitcom about a central Texas community centered around the Hill family and created for FOX by Beavis & Butt-head creator Mike Judge and The Office's Greg Daniels. Gribble's character became one of the standouts from the very first episode as the chain-smoking, conspiracy-embracing neighbor to the Hills who was blissfully unaware of his wife's longtime affair. The Nines founder Allen Falkner grew up with Hardwick, who was his cousin, and lovingly called him "kooky" and "weird," which is part of what made Dale so relatable and likable on the show. A King of the Hill reboot is still in the works, and it must be next to impossible to find someone who can replace Hardwick's charm and voice.
3. HBO's Love & Death
The tragic tale of Candy Montgomery and Betty Gore felt like something out of a TV movie when it happened in 1980. Montgomery carried on a torrid love affair with Betty's husband, Allan, at the Como Motel in Richardson. Then one day, Betty's body turned up at her Wylie home, and investigators determined that someone had used a wood-splitting ax to hack Betty 41 times. All signs pointed to Candy, who turned herself in and faced murder charges, but a jury determined she had acted in self-defense and found her not guilty. Candy and Betty's tragic story has been recounted by books, true crime podcasts and even a TV movie. HBO's streaming service Max took a well-paced and extensive look at the complicated relationships that ended in a such a bloody fashion with the seven-episode limited series Love & Death starring Jesse Plemons as Allan Gore and Elizabeth Olsen as Candy Montgomery. Dallas native Lesli Linka Glatter directed four of the episodes, which was released in April and penned by Boston Legal and Big Little Lies creator David E. Kelley.
4. The Chosen's third and fourth seasons
Angel Studios' flagship television series about the life and struggles of Jesus Christ is still going strong, and the third season brought Dallas native Yasmine Al-Bustami back to town. Al-Bustami has been making her mark in Hollywood on shows such as NCIS: Hawaii, where she portrays agent Lucy Tara. The show, most of which is shot at Capernaum Studios near Fort Worth, has defied expectations about how a faith-based TV drama can appeal to audiences of all beliefs. A fourth season has been filmed and is expected to land on streaming platforms in February.

5. Dr. Phil builds a new cable channel
It's been a while since TV viewers have beheld Dr. Phil McGraw's no-nonsense advice on his iconic talk show. He suddenly reappeared in November, announcing a new television venture that will be based somewhere in Dallas-Fort Worth. McGraw's Merit Street Media company plans to launch a new cable channel for the good doctor that would put his daytime talk show into the coveted evening hours with Dr. Phil Primetime and bring along a whole slew of new programming around its flagship program. A 5-acre broadcasting complex is currently in the works, and the only clue the company gave to its location is that it would be located "in the heart of the Dallas-Fort Worth area."
6. The Santos Vive documentary
Fifty years ago, a Dallas police officer did something unspeakable. Officer Darrell Lee Cain detained two brothers, Santos Rodriguez, 12, and David Rodriguez, 13, accusing them of stealing $8 from a soda machine. Cain tried to extract a confession from the boys by playing a grisly game of Russian Roulette with his pistol. The second time Cain pointed his gun at Santos' head, the gun fired, killing the 12-year-old boy. It took five years just to bring Cain to trial for murder. He was sentenced to only five years in prison and served just half of that. The city of Dallas wouldn't even acknowledge the tragic murder until 2013, when then-Mayor Mike Rawlings formally apologized for the murder, and again in 2021, when Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia did the same. Southern Methodist University's Human Rights Program director Rick Halpern and activist Hadi Jawad felt someone needed to tell Santos' story after all these years. They called on filmmaker Bryon C. Hunter, a commercial producer from New York City whose father was a prominent civil rights leader in Dallas, to make a documentary about Santos' story called Santos Vive, which aired on PBS stations across the nation in July. The Texas Theatre hosted a premiere of the documentary the day before its televised debut, followed by a rally and memorial for Santos at Pike Park.

7. City of Hate explores JFK's assassination and the stain it left on Dallas
It's been 60 years since the city of Dallas became the epicenter of one of the greatest tragedies in U.S. history. The bullet that killed President John F. Kennedy in Dealey Plaza transformed Dallas into a target for a nation's ire and hatred. It's a designation that still hasn't completely left our consciousness, even if we don't think about it as much. Filmmaker and journalist Quin Mathews took a probing look at the city's role in Kennedy's assassination, and even if the hatred may have been misplaced, Dallas is not completely free of blame. Mathews' documentary, City of Hate, which aired on the KERA film anthology series Frame of Mind in November, uncovered memories and facets of politics, community and life that may be difficult to hear but are still just as important to learn from and remember.
8. Nexstar looking to buy ABC
The Walt Disney Company saw some serious losses this past year with the slow collapse of some of its biggest cinematic and television properties. Things only got worse when the Writers Guild of America went on strike, putting big-budget productions on hold for months. A major sign of Disney's money troubles surfaced in September when word spread that the company might be looking to sell its decades-long ownership of the ABC television network. Several national outlets reported that Irving-based Nexstar Media Group had expressed an interest in buying the network and its affiliates with an opening bid of $10 billion. Nexstar already owns broadcast and cable outlets such as The CW, AntennaTV and NewsNation. So far, neither side has made any subsequent moves or even confirmed whether ABC may still be up for sale.
9. Mark Cuban steps back from Shark Tank
Disney wasn't the only business powerhouse to turn its back on ABC. Dallas entrepreneur and soon-to-be-ex-Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban announced that he planned to leave his cushy leather chair on the long-running reality series Shark Tank after its 16th season ends in 2025. In late 2022, rumors started to surface that Cuban may have been thinking about stepping away from the business game show as one of Shark Tank's wealthy benefactors making bids on new and innovative products to help build them into thriving businesses. Cuban told the Observer in an email, "I told them I'm coming back at least for next year." He wanted to take a step back to spend time with his kids, including his daughter who's in college, because "it's harder to make up a time with her." He also told The Hollywood Reporter that his decision was purely personal and that it has "nothing to do with the show. I love it. I love being on it. I love what [it] represents and how it motivates entrepreneurs around the world."
10. Dallas' Gayle Hunnicutt
One of the stars of the TV show that put Dallas on the pop culture map died in 2023. Fort Worth native and Dallas star Gayle Hunnicutt died in August at her home in the United Kingdom. She played English aristocrat Vanessa Beaumont on Dallas during its last three seasons. She also had memorable roles on shows like Get Smart and The Beverly Hillbillies and in the films Blow-Up and The Legend of Hill House with Roddy McDowell.