 The concept for the two @-@ part episode was the episode of the primetime soap Dallas titled " A House Divided " , known by most as " Who shot J.R. ? " in which character J.R. Ewing was shot . In the months following the airing of Part One , there was much widespread debate among fans of the series as to who actually shot Mr. Burns and in many ways the public reaction and response to the episode mirrored that of its " Who shot J.R. ? " inspiration . Over the summer of 1995 , Fox offered a related contest which was one of the first such endeavors to tie in elements of television and the Internet . 
