When Principal obtained the pilot audition script for "Dallas", her academic career ambitions changed, and she decided to return to the full-time acting profession. As Principal explained to TV Guide Network in 2004, "I had left acting to be an agent and was on my way to law school, but when a friend dropped off a "Dallas" script, I read it. When I finished, I knew my life had changed - that part was mine. So I called the person and said, "I'm sending someone in." She said, "Who?" I said, "Just put down my name. It will be a surprise." And it certainly was a surprise - I showed up with me! I sent myself in for it!" Principal landed the role of Pamela Barnes Ewing on the long-running prime time TV soap opera series "Dallas" that aired on the CBS network from 1978 to 1991. Principal explained to "People" in 2018, "When I went in for the part on "Dallas", I had already fallen in love with the show and with the part. So my feeling from the moment I read it was that it was incredibly special and that I really, really wanted to be a part of it. I could not imagine not being Pam." As Principal told "TV Insider" in 2018, "I believed that "Dallas" would be a hit from the moment I read it. In fact, I turned down a major role that would have conflicted with "Dallas" in the belief that I would be offered the role of Pam. So that happened!"