Khan

If they ever passed over Mary Crosby for any role due to her connection to DALLAS, then they were fools. I, myself, would have promoted the HELL out of bringing her (or any other performer from one of the other primetime shows) over to DYNASTY and/or THE COLBYS. Especially as the show's ratings began to falter. ("Hell hath no fury like Sammy Jo's sister scorned, when Charlene Tilton joins the cast of DYNASTY this fall," lol).

I agree. Gary and Abby's affair held too many dramatic possibilities to squander it like they would have in S2, when practically everyone on the show was cheating or thinking about cheating, with no long term fall out, like @Soaplovers said upthread. You know the writers were in trouble in S2 when they had the women of Seaview Circle being held hostage by some terrorists or something, lol.

In the beginning, KL's premise revolved around one, key question: Does marriage still mean anything in a society that promotes "free love" and infidelity without consequence or guilt? Unfortunately, as David Jacobs learned, when married couples can cheat on each other, with no buildup and no consequences, you wind up with a show that has no drama and no stakes.

I've been saying the same thing since "Out of This World."

Ironically, Mary Crosby is six years younger than Pamela Sue Martin; yet, in a way, I think Crosby would have come across as being too old to play Fallon, if that makes sense. On the other hand, the prospect of having the one "who shot J.R." now playing Blake and Alexis' daughter is too good to resist, lol.

KL was (and is) more than just my favorite of the big four '80's primetime soaps; it's also one of a handful of drama shows - along with "The Rockford Files," "Family," "Lou Grant," "Hill Street Blues," "St. Elsewhere," "Moonlighting," "thirtysomething" and "Northern Exposure"* - that define my sensibilities as a still-novice, still-unpaid storyteller. On the rare occasions when I still write something (mostly for myself), the question I ask myself most often (other than "How would Douglas Marland/David Lloyd/Billy Wilder do it?") is how Peter Dunne or Richard Gollance would do it. (*In case anyone was wondering, my other, most favorite drama shows include "Homefront," "Murder, She Wrote" and "Picket Fences"). I definitely agree that the first 1-2 seasons of DALLAS, DYNASTY and FC were their respective best. DYNASTY hadn't given way fully to camp and excess yet; DALLAS is still able to give any character who isn't named J.R. a brain and a backbone; and FC still knows what it is and what it wants to be. KL's first couple of seasons has its' moments, too, but I don't believe the show starts to gel until S3, when it's a hybrid of continuing storylines and standalone episodes.

I wonder whatever happened to Stephen Yates, as he seems to have fallen off the proverbial radar entirely.

I'm trying to think of anyone (besides Emma Samms) who could have replaced Pamela Sue Martin as Fallon...and I can't. I just think Martin was the right actor for that part; and if she wasn't intent on remaining with DYNASTY or signing on for THE COLBYS, then the Shapiros and Pollocks should have killed off Fallon instead.

Don't get me wrong: I love how KNOTS evolved over the years. (Well, for the most part, I love it, lol). I didn't mind when the show became more glamorous and "corporate," because, to me, the essence of the show still was there. But I believe that David Jacobs' original vision for the show had value, too, even if it probably wouldn't have run for as long as KNOTS actually ran, had Jacobs been able to stick to that vision. It's just - as I said before - the stars weren't aligned in the right way to make that happen.

In Leo's (and Ron Carlivati's) world, every man is either gay or in the closet.

She did WHAT?? OMG. I just...I don't know what to say.

True. Between his creative meddling on KL, FC, etc., and all the reports of his abusive behavior BTS, Michael Filerman was a producer who never knew when to leave things well enough alone.

Unfortunately, Nick is now a middle-aged man who is still liable to choke on a coin.

Why did they feel the need to tape every scene through several inches of Vaseline? The general level of acting on this show proves Harding Lemay's point about why he didn't like writing for teens and young adults.

Me neither.

Watching clips like those is like watching vintage Y&R: I might not like everything that I see, but I'll definitely agree that it's better than the [!@#$%^&*] we're getting today. (Come back, Bob and Jill, all is forgiven!)

I tend to blame that on Leonard Katzman and his vision for DALLAS, which reduced the women (and many of the men) to little more than props for J.R. He didn't see the complexities that Jacobs saw in his characters, only the archetypes.

Yeah, kind of. They would've been one of the first couples to live on Seaview Circle. He would've been a Korean War vet (and head of a very successful construction firm - the result of years of hard work and self-sacrifice - and a contrast to Richard Avery, who always grabbed at the brass ring and never quite caught it), and she would've been his high school sweetheart, who faces an existential crisis, unsure of her own identity, now that all their children have grown up and left the house. And I like the idea of casting Priscilla Pointer as the wife, although I think I would have casted someone like Carroll Baker or Eva Marie Saint (...or even Julie Harris...) instead. In a way, I wish KNOTS had remained the kind of show David Jacobs wanted it to be, but I know that the times weren't right (even in 1979, there were certain topics that TV execs just weren't going to touch) and I know, too, that Jacobs' ambitions for his creation didn't match his actual ability as a writer.

I know if *I* had created KNOTS, the fourth couple would have been an older couple - older than even Sid and Karen! - with grown children and maybe even grandchildren.

And if Joshua Morrow DOES read what fans say about him online and on social media, then he's stupider than I thought!

As others have mentioned, David Jacobs and CBS's decision to spin Gary and Val off onto KNOTS knocked KNOTS itself off-balance. For one, KNOTS already had a young couple in place with the Wards; the addition of the Ewings made the Wards redundant. For another, because Gary and Val were coming from DALLAS, it only made sense to feature them as much as they did, since the assumption was many DALLAS fans would be tuning into the new show as well. Between those two factors, the Wards, IMO, were doomed from the start. IIRC, Jacobs always meant for KNOTS to revolve around four couples. However, when the decision was made to spin off Gary and Val, Jacobs simply substituted them for one of the existing couples. This, of course, begs the question: who was the original fourth couple, and why were they (and not the Wards) sacrificed for Gary and Val?

If he's lost George Clooney, he's lost...well, actually, he hasn't lost a damn thing: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/10/george-clooney-calls-on-biden-to-drop-out-of-presidential-race.html

Maybe he (and Holly) could hide in the tunnels linking the DiMera Mansion to Doug's Place? It's just a thought!

LOL!!

I think Lee's biggest problem - at least, in the beginning - was that she was more accustomed to working on Broadway and in musical theater, where the acting has to be more forceful and presentational out of necessity, than she was to working on television. That, plus the fact that she was paired with an actor (Don Murray) who played a laid-back dope and therefore had to provide a sort of contrast, made her come across initially as shrill and overbearing. However, I watched Lee recently in the movie version of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" (thanks, Pluto TV, lol) and I definitely saw a lot of Karen Mackenzie's nerve and pluck in her Rosemary Pilkington, and vice-versa. So, I think Lee learned over time how to imbue Karen with similar qualities and modulate them enough for television so that she became more likeable - or at least more tolerable. (It also didn't hurt to have Kevin Dobson in the cast, playing the type of crusader/underdog role he was clearly born to play; which, in turn, forced Lee to soften her performances somewhat). Of the show's original cast, I would agree that Constance McCashin and John Pleshette probably were the best actors, followed by Ted Shackelford and Joan Van Ark. Lee and Murray were in the middle - neither the best, nor the worst. This, of course, left James Houghton and Kim Lankford as the weakest. Unfortunately, as the show became soapier and less grounded, that balance shifted, and not in everyone's favor either. Some actors - like Shackelford, Van Ark, Donna Mills - rolled with the changes. Other actors - McCashin, Lee, Dobson, Julie Harris - stayed the course (and, in Harris and McCashin's cases, actually elevated the material). But, as for the rest...? Given his own background in daytime, Houghton might've been able to adjust to the "new" KNOTS. By S4, however, Kenny Ward had become such a non-entity that making him "work" as a character was probably too hard of a task for anyone working on that show... ...Pleshette might've worked as a comic, supporting character, but, IMO, he was too much of a nebbish to work as a romantic lead OR as a villain. (This is why I proposed pairing him off with Michelle Phillips' Anne at some point - like, around S14, when Mack needed an attorney after being arrested for Mary Robeson's murder. I still believe that those two could have played very well off each other as a couple who maybe love each other as much as they love money). ...And Lankford - poor Lankford, lol - I know she tried hard, and I know she has her fans, even on this board, but I think that was a case of a weak actress saddled with an equally weak, and therefore expendable, character. Even when she attempted to amplify her emotions to match the heightened storytelling in S4, with the bugged-out eyes and everything, it was hard for me to take her seriously. If anyone needed to go after S4, it was she.