6 minutes ago, kalbir said:

Not to mention peak 90210 and Melrose.

Oh, for sure, if KL had lasted that long, they would've promised Donna Mills the moon on a platter for her to come back, if only for the "If you think Mondays are a bitch..." ads, lol.

I think my favorite part of the Joshua storyline was watching Ben and Abby.

It was so smart to position Abby at the television station, and that could've been a stable base of power for her.  Especially because real estate was never as glamorous a gig.  And this is Abby's classic tale, she sees dollar signs in Joshua's eyes, and before she knows it, he's a horror story.

Then, to see Ben instantly target Joshua as a fraud.  But, his suspicions also include the soapy complication of Val and Ciji, and the fact they all lived together.  He's got feelings for Ciji, but he is with Val.  And his mother-in-law preferred Joshua over him.

It was a clever way to expand beyond the original premise of the film that inspired the story, as opposed to the way some daytime soaps just cut and paste the entire plot of a noir film into a storyline.

Edited October 27, 2025Oct 27 by j swift

10 minutes ago, kalbir said:

 

I never thought of any of the Knots Landing male cast members as any type of hotness. Did any of them have a glow up that I somehow didn't recognize?

Maybe Steve Shaw before he passed? Idk. Patrick Peterson was too generic. My preteen gay self might have a minor crush on Thomas Wilson Brown in Honey I Shrunk the Kids, but his role and appearance as Jason is so completely different from the movie that I wonder why I ever found him cute lol. 

I believe that Empire Valley was supposed to be 'the community of the future/tomorrow'... where it was supposed to be vast and environmentally green housing development... and I think whatever story was supposed to be originally done was never made clear since the showrunners of season 6 were probably building the foundation with the intention of making it the season 7 arc once the baby arc was resolved.

When Paulson took over, he was smart to limit the scope of the Empire Valley story, since he didn't start the story, he couldn't very well steer it in the way it was supposed to go.  I think Gary blowing it up was probably the wisest story move ever.. and Eric getting sick after the fact was just symbolic of how toxic the story was and how it was making viewers sick with confusion and boredom.

In terms of male eye candy on the show, I would have to say from a purely artistic point of view.. I would say Kenny was the best looking in a classic male way.  Now from a point of view of 'sexy'.... I don't think any of the men wet my whistle though I did enjoy seeing Mac's hairy chest from a purely artistic standpoint.

I think Dobson is pretty hot on the show. I get the appeal and why they scored adding him and Devane to up the masculine quotient. I feel bad when I think about his brief, dazed and lifeless turn as Governor Brooks on OLTL in 2004, as one of several poor, barely-there attempts (mostly by Michael Malone) to give Viki a man to play opposite while Brian Frons put her in the freezer for the better part of 5 years. I don't think that or his DAYS stint were Dobson's fault though.

I do think Patrick Petersen grew up to be uncomfortably hot, and a lot of people knew it. They wasted him not doing more, and I do look fwd to seeing his future years on the show. For me personally though I think the late Steve Shaw was cuter and considerably underrated, albeit at best 'naturalistic' an actor. Sometimes he could do really well as he got older, sometimes not, but he was always genuine. That counted for a lot with the kids on the show.

Edited October 27, 2025Oct 27 by Vee

Kevin Dobson and William Devane were brought on to get the male audience away from Hill Street Blues and it worked.

I think Kevin Dobson had a lot of fire mixed with warmth early on, even if I was never very attracted to him (by the late '80s I think most of that is long gone). 

I don't actually remember ever finding any of the men on the show to be extremely attractive, but James Houghton and especially Doug Sheehan were classically beautiful to me.

I think John Pleshette may have been the most charismatic man on the show, even if no one should have ever gone near Richard.

I think Eric was the heart of Karen's family. He was the ideal combination of Karen and Sid - their earnestness and their integrity above all else. Once he's gone, they're never really the same for me. 

Kevin Dobson was sexier on Kojak. His KL hairstyle to disguise his baldness always was a little weird.

CBS liked him. After Kojak he had the short lived Shannon and then a number of TV movies including a Mike Hammer. I wonder if he would have taken the series role that went to Stacey Keach, if he wasn't tied in Knots.

6 hours ago, kalbir said:

 

I never thought of any of the Knots Landing male cast members as any type of hotness. Did any of them have a glow up that I somehow didn't recognize?

 I found several males hot on the show: Alec Baldwin, Kevin Dobson, Ted Shackelford, and James Houghton..

 

6 hours ago, soapfan770 said:

Maybe Steve Shaw before he passed? Idk. Patrick Peterson was too generic. My preteen gay self might have a minor crush on Thomas Wilson Brown in Honey I Shrunk the Kids, but his role and appearance as Jason is so completely different from the movie that I wonder why I ever found him cute lol. 

I found Steve Shaw adorable. Patrick Peterson was good-looking, and TWB I found attractive close to the end of his Knots run.

 

Up to "Lead Me to the Altar," and I was digging Cathy's abridged acoustic version of "Will You Love Me Tomorrow."

We might have to do a poll of the most unfortunate tertiary victims in a widescale Knots story.

Choices include:

the old lady Chip beat up back when he was Tony Fenice

Mr. and Mrs. Marcus, who lost their home for Lotus Point

the survivors of those murdered Galveston Industries secretaries (special attention to the childless widower)

all those poisoned people in Westphall

the guy who lost his liver transplant to Greg at the 11th hour and his soon-to-be grieving widow

24 minutes ago, Franko said:

We might have to do a poll of the most unfortunate tertiary victims in a widescale Knots story.

Choices include:

the old lady Chip beat up back when he was Tony Fenice

Mr. and Mrs. Marcus, who lost their home for Lotus Point

the survivors of those murdered Galveston Industries secretaries (special attention to the childless widower)

all those poisoned people in Westphall

the guy who lost his liver transplant to Greg at the 11th hour and his soon-to-be grieving widow

Don't forget poor Mr. Lee, adored by the Lotus Point staff, even though we only saw him for one or two episodes.

4 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Don't forget poor Mr. Lee, adored by the Lotus Point staff, even though we only saw him for one or two episodes.

Yes, of course. And all those lady news anchors (and the husband or two) killed by Jeff.