Knots Landing

[Chris B]

That horrible cliffhanger for season 12 was from the new writers who ranked the show the following year. They were going for a more gritty and realistic approach and every story seemed to revolve around some sort of crime or social issue. I found season 12 to be very fun and enjoyable so it’s a shame it was followed up with such a bad season. After production was shut down and they did the mid season reboot it improved tremendously, but by that point you’d lost Julie and Jason who could’ve been valuable and I’ll always regret we finally get a story with Val and Greg (who surprisingly had strong chemistry) and then Joan Van Ark left the series! What timing!

[Khan]

 

ICAM.  

[pdm1974]

I was surprised when Jason was written out. I thought he and Julie could have been a great way to develop a younger set/ next generation of characters. I know not everyone enjoyed Jason's intro story, but I thought it was an important one that explored child abuse in a frank way you didn't see on TV at that point.

I was disappointed by the dropping of Michael at the end of season 12. Not only was he great eye candy, but he still had a lot of story potential and could have been a pairing with Kate.

[YRBB]

I'm generally OK with Season 12, but WHY spend so much time on Anne's money trouble/deceptions only for them to very quickly deal with Paige finding out the truth? It wasn't meaty, it felt anticlimactic. But Anne going to Nick/Dimitri's hotel room and finding a body there was hilarious.

 

The Valentine's Day episode aired February 21st. A little off, just like this season.

 

I am REALLY loving the Jason storyline. That kid they cast as Jason is so pretty and just the right mixture of bad boy and tragic figure. And Dobson's been turning in some fantastic work.

 

Not sure how to feel about the Val story, really. I guess it's OK but, once more, the writers doing all they can to have Val not be Val. I will never understand why they didn't like her/get her.

 

Also, who would've thought, but I really enjoy Linda! I guess Greg has a type! 

Edited April 26, 2019 by YRBB

[j swift]

I also totally agree on the appeal of Jason and Linda.  Knots had a knack for finding younger talent that played well with the core cast. 

Edited April 26, 2019 by j swift

[pdm1974]

I really wish Amazon or another streaming service would show this show from the beginning.

[juppiter]

 

Haven’t watched this is years but you just brought back the memory. WTF even was that?

 

Keep in mind this was the early 90s when crime and the crack epidemic were considered huge national problems. It would have been considered timely. 

[YRBB]

To think that a show 12 seasons and nearly 300 episodes into its run could pull off an episode like "An American Hero" is quite surprising. Everything from Paige imagining the various ways she should've reacted to Linda/Greg (which is one of those great slice-of-life Knots moments) to the playfully done hatred between Claudia and Anne was wonderful. That this soap opera would care about making a point about corporate life and sucking up (through Bob and Mort) is also appreciated. I am loving how the Steve story is developing. I can't tell if his teaming up with Linda is real or a plan. The ending with Jason's essay is a bit schmaltzy, but the actors have earned it. And, then, WHAM! they hit you with the card remembering Steve Shaw.

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 I wonder how, if at all, the show will address this. 

[SoapDope]

1979 Ad

 

[YRBB]

Val's brain virus is over so suddenly, you have to wonder if they couldn't wait. Gary is told she's fine and that's it. I don't 100% believe it but it leads to (at least) two episodes of Val being herself and some wonderful Gary/Val moments, so I won't complain.

 

The Linda/Paige rivalry has developed into a great focal point for the series. Never a dull moment with those two. Also, in case I haven't said it, while I miss Lotus Point, the Sumner Group is such a great business setting by now, with tons of really fun side characters and stories.

 

Funny how both DALLAS and KNOTS did "trapped in.." scenarios for their 300th episodes. KNOTS' of course pretty much involves the entire cast and not the two they think are the most important. I squealed when they started playing the theme song as Gary and Val decided to just get married. My babies are finally back together! Yay!

Edited August 9, 2019 by YRBB

[DRW50]

 

Joan van Ark loathed the story.

[YRBB]

 

OK, that definitely would explain how sudden it all was!

[DRW50]

 

http://www.knotslanding.net/interviews/joan2.htm

 

"Loathed" was probably too strong a word on my part, but she lumps it in with material of this era she disliked (the chat person names LML and BL but I think someone else had taken over this season).

 

Alex Wade from Detroit, Michigan asks
In close to your last season of Knots, Val loses her marbles yet again. In what could have been a same, tired old storyline, is in fact one of Val’s most entertaining forays into madness. How did you keep it fresh after all those years of playing borderline crazy?

JVA: Which storyline does he mean?

AS: My guess is the one in your second to last season when you fell off the horse and wound up somehow getting a brain virus. Val did all sorts of weird things like stir-frying the kids’ hermit crabs.

JVA: Oh right, right. That one did ask a lot of me. I think the writers tested me with that one. I think they were testing me, sending me up. Val’s going to stir-fry the kids’ pets … how much crazier could she have gotten? But I guess this person from Detroit enjoyed it and that’s what the writers were going for. Maybe he saw it as a fun variation on a constant, repetitive theme.

AS: So you really didn’t like what they were doing with Val at that time.

JVA: No I really didn’t. I’m thinking of two particular writers who liked making fun of Val. Before, I’d go to David Jacobs, who was the creator and executive producer of the show and I’d talk about certain scenes and tweak them, but in this case I didn’t object or confront the two writers … there wasn’t allowed to be a dialogue.

AS: Were these two just two writers? Did you talk to the head writers?

JVA: These were the head writers at the time.

AS: Oh, (Lynn Marie) Latham and (Bernard) Lechowick were the ones you didn’t like. That’s interesting.

JVA (hesitantly): I guess you know the behind the scenes things that were going on then.

AS: Well, I interviewed John Pleshette about a month ago and he couldn’t stand them.

JVA: They came into a show that was established and … I really don’t know if I should be saying this here … but there was a little bit of turning it upside down. God bless ‘em for going on and having successful careers (after Knots) but it became more and more challenging to play Val the way they wrote for her.

Oh and happy birthday.

Edited August 17, 2019 by DRW50

[Soaplovers]

Oddly in the 1st half of season 13...Val was actually written in character dealing with being a newlywed, helping a waitress learn to read, an arguing with Gary over his obsession with the Tidal Wave project (shades of season 3 all over again).

 

[DRW50]

 

I liked the story with her helping the waitress. I know it's one of those stories used as an example of why the season didn't work, but I felt that it was a nice throwback to the early seasons.