Knots Landing

[Khan]

Yeah, Val (and we) needed a sort of breather between the "brain virus" and the Sumner tell-all.  I can't imagine how the latter story would have played had it immediately followed the former.

[FrenchBug82]

That's a fair argument.
I am just not inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to writers writing random stories with characters they don't know about based on a misunderstanding of what the show is.

But it is true it helped rest the character.

[SFK]

On Twitter, Robin has expressed her feelings that Dianne was a nothing role, a dud, and she wishes she’d been given more to do on Knots. She said that she wishes she’d waited and had a shot to play Claudia instead.

I am a huge fan of early ‘90s Robin, loved her on Knots, and ITA that she and Michele were a great match. Back then I pictured them in a Darren Star one camera comedy series with Bea Arthur as their mother and Sarah Jessica Parker as their niece.

In Waggett’s book of soap opera lists, he writes that Claudia got her name from Livia of I, Claudius. Siân Phillips played that part so deliciously in the series. I think Claudia was pretty life changing for Kathleen Noone, she was dead set against playing characters like Ellen Dalton ever again. She said in interviews that she wouldn’t take on another soap role unless the character was a bitch. I wouldn’t say that Bette was a bitch, but certainly a flashy soap diva.

[Khan]

I'd have to agree with her.  Dianne Kirkwood was little more than a red herring in Karen's stalker story.

Frankly, I think giving Karen a new career as a talk show host was a dumb idea to begin with.

Edited February 24, 2022 by Khan

[Chris B]

Yep and that’s why Dianne didn’t go anywhere, because their focus was on the plot driven stalker storyline. Prior to that on Knots, whatever the business was, took a back seat and the focus was on how that particular job affected the characters personally. They didn’t even need the Jeff character to tell a compelling story. That was a frustrating story for me. 

[Khan]

This.  I mean, you didn't even need the talk show angle to tell a story about Karen being stalked.  (Besides, we'd been down that road before (sort of) when Phil abducted her).

Ugh, I'm just glad they eventually had Karen quit the show.

It's truly remarkable that KL stayed on the air as long as it did, because the years when the Lechowicks were the showrunners were just the worst, lol.

Edited February 24, 2022 by Khan

[allmc2008]

I'm at the start of Season 8. I am actually impressed with the actors who play Greg and Mac in the flashbacks.

[DemetriKane]

One of my favorite seasons. Major step up from seven. I believe the guy that plays young Greg is Bill devane son.

[yrfan1983]

Are you watching on an unlisted YT channel, and if so, can you share the link? (private message me if you don't want to post link here... thank you!

 

[BetterForgotten]

Goes back to how grateful CBS was to have even a modest hit on their hands in the late 80's and 90's, lol. If they had anything beyond 60 Minutes and Murder She Wrote that were major hits at the time, I wonder if KL would have made it into the 90's (granted Dallas did with way worse ratings). 

[Khan]

Like so many others have said, KL stayed on for so many years, because CBS kept forgetting to cancel it, lol.

[allmc2008]

I am not. I downloaded them all years ago and onto a backup drive. I watch on my PlayStation 4.

[allmc2008]

They are really dragging out Karen's escape. That said, I am enjoying it quite a bit. I love first he sets the place on fire, she escapes, but then she signals down a driver and it turns out to be her kidnapper, and then she runs away from him, and then he crashes his car, and then he manages to get his car in reverse and chases her again! I love this!

[allmc2008]

At what point do we start to 'feel' LML's run? It seems like Filerman and Jacobs are listed as EP all the way in.

 

[Khan]

If they had simply given her a character to play.  Not a bunch of plot points to tick off people's sheets, but an actual, three-dimensional character.

Who WAS Dianne Kirkwood (beyond being a talk show producer, irritant to Karen and stalking suspect)?  Where did she come from?  How did she get to where she was?  Did she have any family, close friends, mortal enemies?  What made her vulnerable (if she WAS vulnerable)?  What secrets did she keep?  What did she want out of life?  What was stopping her from achieving her goals?  WHO WAS SHE??

Earl and Judy Trent were clearly designed (some might say, ripped off from "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?") to create conflict for Gary and Val; yet, I feel like I learned more about those two than I ever did about Dianne!

I remember Lynn Marie Latham telling (I think) Lisa Rinna and Ty Treadway on "Soap Talk" that she always worked from story projections, but I think that was bogus.  I don't think her OR her husband ever thought far ahead.

And if they DID need Jeff, they could've done a lot better casting him.  (Chris Lemmon?  Are you [!@#$%^&*] kidding me?)

That's another issue that I have with the Lechowicks - not just on KL, but on all their shows, including when LML worked on Y&R.  The way they cast many of their roles were for the absolute birds.

Edited February 25, 2022 by Khan