Knots Landing

[Soapsuds]

I want to slap Diana everytime I see her on my screen.

Oh...the episode where Lili Mae runs down Chip.

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Edited August 17, 2024 by Soapsuds

[SoapDope]

When someone starts talking about KL, they always mention how much they hated Diana......

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 I loved it when Eric slapped her and Olivia was taking notes about Abby instigating the trouble between mother and daughter. 

 

[Soapsuds]

I wish todays soaps would take notes. Those scenes were very well written and directed.

You don't see those type of scenes anymore.

Edited August 17, 2024 by Soapsuds

[yrfan1983]

One could make an argument that Diana’s irrational behavior and blind love for Chip resulted from her unresolved grieving for Sid, but… the writing didn’t really support that. As is, Diana just seems generically unwell mentally.

[titan1978]

Eric didn’t hit her hard enough!

Karen is also insufferable during this whole storyline.

This show is still incredibly watchable. I cannot wait for on demand streaming or purchasing becoming available. Hopefully they are still working towards that like the other primetime soaps of the 80’s.

[Soaplovers]

Season 5 is really where insufferable Karen really comes into play.  She was more well rounded in the first four seasons and also had a sense of humor.. which goes away after season 4.

Come to think of it.. Is Karen the Karen of all Karens?

[Contessa Donatella]

I never watched before. It was my dad's favorite & he was always perplexed that I didn't get on board but I was totally a HILL STREET BLUES fan. So, last night I watched 1st episode. So entranced! Now incredibly frustrated with not being able to find the second episode. Ridiculous!

[te.]

They supposedly did look into the rights of Flamingo Road around the time they looked into Falcon Crest and Knots Landing. It doesn't necessarily mean anything, but fingers crossed that at least it'll make it onto streaming.

[Vee]

This is news to me - I had no idea the season cliffhanger was supposed to be Gary's fake death at the hands of Wolfbridge.

[All My Shadows]

Well, after 20+ years of being extremely interested in watching this show from beginning to end, I am *finally* in a position to at least watch it regularly. I didn’t realize the steaming channel would be available through Amazon, but here I am enjoying it on a Saturday afternoon. Can’t wait for it to be available on demand - and it better be available long enough to actually watch the whole series at a comfortable pace!

[yrfan1983]

It’s interesting to look at season 5 original air dates. The show aired in consecutive weeks, even Thanksgiving week where you can see a drop in the rating. It’s not like now, where network tv airs a number of episodes and then waits for the next sweeps period to air the next new eps.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Knots_Landing_episodes#Season_5_(1983–84)

[Vee]

Let us know what you think! Discovering it over the last few years has been an experience for me. I'll be diving back into Season 7 tomorrow night, though I'll only be able to watch a few eps since we can't record or watch on demand yet.

[Khan]

It kinda makes sense.  Viewers would have been left wondering all summer: "Did Gary die?"

It also might explain why the eventual season finale was more action-heavy than KNOTS' season finales had been up to that point.

[kalbir]

With Knots Landing being a community-based show, we don't expect it to venture into action thriller/James Bond territory but Wolfbridge worked because it still gave us high emotional stakes character driven storytelling that impacted the whole canvas.

1983/84 Knots Landing was excellent and missed being a Top 10 show by very little. I've pointed this out before, but I don't believe that Hotel was a better show in 1983/84 than Knots Landing was.

1984/85 Knots Landing finally finishes in the Top 10 and it would be its only Top 10 season.

I break down Knots Landing run as

Seasons 1-3: Building the foundation.

Seasons 4-6: The peak. Full-on primetime soap.

Season 7 and 8: Tanking.

Season 9: Signs of going off the rails are showing.

Seasons 10-14: Off the rails plus budget mode.

[Soaplovers]

Val and Ben are so good together!  I said what I said...she was too good for Gary.

Downside of the show becoming a primetime soap was the 'endgame' couple.

Gary being 'shot' did seem a perfect cliffhanger.

Season 3 and 4 each had 22 episodes so it makes sense season 5 also was to have 22 episodes.

Writers nowadays crying that plotting a 13 episode season is hard make me laugh.  KL in season 4 proved 22 episodes could be high quality with little to no filler.

Even season 5 with the added 3 episodes was also well plotted and paced nicely.

  You had the Chip/Diana story winding down, Wolfbridge building all season, Val becoming pregnant by Gary, Gary/Abby's stormy new marriage, Karen's pill addiction story, and Greg/Laura becoming a couple were all plotted well and paced to run at different speeds.

   Modern day writers could learn from 70s/80s/90s primetime soaps/dramas.