Karen MacKenzie record for an actress on American primetime television. Karen's storylines focus on family troubles, addiction and kidnapping. In her early years on the serial, the character had much more of an "edge" in order to test the audience on who would be the most like J. R. Ewing (Larry Hagman), the primary character of its parent series "Dallas". (The bad girl role would later be taken on by Abby Cunningham, Karen's sister-in-law.) Over time, she became much more of a wholesome character. Series creator David Jacobs said "Karen is the tent pole. She says the things I want to say.
Dallas (1978 TV series) (1998). Alongside returning series stars (Patrick Duffy, Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, George Kennedy, Ken Kercheval and Steve Kanaly), and recurring cast (Omri Katz, Audrey Landers, Deborah Rennard and George O. Petrie), the two telefilms also introduced new characters – most notably up-and-coming lawyer Anita Smithfield, played by Tracy Scoggins. The younger characters Christopher Ewing, and Cliff and Afton's daughter Pamela Rebecca were recast with Chris Demetral and Deborah Kellner taking on the roles. In November 2003, SOAPnet aired a Dallas reunion on Soap Talk to coincide with SOAPnet acquiring the rights to rerun Dallas episodes. Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy, Linda