JR Ewing was a character off of the popular show Dallas from the early 80's (I was just a little tyke then). The whole "who shot JR" thing was the season finale cliffhanger where JR (the main character) got shot and everyone had to wait the whole summer long to find out who shot him once the show resumed in the fall. I don't remember who shot him exactly (not that it really matters as the main thing was the preforementioned cliffhanger), but he definately didn't die. If I recall correctly the shooting was early on in the Dallas timeline (that stretched to the early 90's).