A House Divided (Dallas) A House Divided (Dallas) "A House Divided" is the 25th and final episode of the third season (1979–80 season) and 54th overall of the American television series "Dallas". It is the episode known for spawning the eight-month "Who shot J.R.?" hysteria. The episode ended with the mysterious shooting of J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) in his office by an assailant that would not be revealed until the following season. The episode served as both an introduction to the now common practice of season-ending cliffhangers and the beginning of an eight-month international media frenzy. The mystery was resolved in the fourth episode
Larry Hagman Hagman returned to New York City, where he appeared in the off-Broadway play "Once Around the Block", by William Saroyan. That was followed by nearly a year in another off-Broadway play, James Lee's "Career". His Broadway debut occurred in 1958 in "Comes a Day". Hagman appeared in four other Broadway plays, "God and Kate Murphy", "The Nervous Set", "The Warm Peninsula", and "The Beauty Part". During this period, he also appeared in numerous, mostly live, television programs. Hagman's first television role was as Kenneth Davidson in the 1957 episode "Saturday Lost" of the syndicated crime drama, "Decoy", starring Beverly Garland