David Jacobs was tasked by CBS to find their next hit program, so he came up with the idea of a Dallas couple who moves to Los Angeles and divorces when the sister of their neighbor seduces the husband. There was jealousy, passion, and betrayal, but CBS still thought it was “too tame.” So Jacobs created the television show Dallas, magnifying those themes to the extreme.

On this day, April 2, in 1978, the first episode of Dallas, planned as a five-part miniseries, premiered. From the beginning, the themes present for its entire run were clearly set in place: a forbidden love between children of rival families, plots to break them up, and counterplots involving threats to reveal dark secrets. It was the perfect soap-opera material.

Dallas, of course, is best known for the season-ending cliffhanger episode in which main character J.R. Ewing is shot. Ewing was portrayed by actor Larry Hagman as a ruthless, unlikeable character, which is exactly what made him so popular. Ewing even received write-in votes in the Oklahoma primary one year. The mystery of J.R.’s shooter was intensified by the long delay between seasons because of a Screen Actors Guild strike.