LOL!
In order for the return to self-contained episodes to have worked, both shows would have needed to scale everything down (or back down), make the characters less arch, and so forth. No longer could DALLAS or FALCON CREST do stories about corporate takeovers and criminal cartels. That would have been tough for audiences to accept, to say the least.
On the other hand, if KNOTS LANDING had returned to their original format of self-contained episodes, with stories that are resolved (more or less) within sixty minutes, I think it could have worked, because the characters weren't quite as larger-than-life. For sure, David Jacobs would have been ecstatic about the prospect of maybe bringing the show back to his original, "Scenes from a Marriage"-like concept.