That's what I loved about Laura: you never had to reach for psychotic stalkers or baby-switching doctors to give her story. Laura was neither a heroine nor a vixen, but her stories were rooted in the real and the everyday, which, to me, made her the most relatable female character on the show.

Edited Monday at 05:25 PM4 days by Khan

31 minutes ago, Khan said:

Laura was neither a heroine nor a vixen, but her stories were rooted in the real and the everyday, which, to me, made her the most relatable female character on the show.

Agree. Laura was the heart and candor of the group. She kept in everyone in check and would not hesistate to call anyone out and put them on blast. Knots Landing went off the rails for me in the aftermath of Laura departure. I love that Constance McCashin has always kept it real by saying she was salary dumped.

1 hour ago, kalbir said:

Knots Landing went off the rails for me in the aftermath of Laura departure.

For me, it was the one-two punch of losing Laura and Lilimae (although, @DRW50 made a very good point about the writing for Lilimae often being very ugly, for lack of a better word). Julie Harris and Constance McCashin had a very natural acting style that really helped to ground the storylines. With those two gone, KL becomes, from an acting standpoint, much "soapier."

2 hours ago, Khan said:

That's what I loved about Laura: you never had to reach for psychotic stalkers or baby-switching doctors to give her story. Laura was neither a heroine nor a vixen, but her stories were rooted in the real and the everyday, which, to me, made her the most relatable female character on the show.

Laura also learned from her mistakes, and she was never babied or deified in the writing. The show was never the same without her but a part of me is glad she escaped the fate of Karen and Valene.

1 minute ago, DRW50 said:

The show was never the same without her but a part of me is glad she escaped the fate of Karen and Valene.

I agree. Whenever I watch the latter seasons of FALCON CREST, and I see how much Maggie had devolved as a woman, especially once she gets involved with Richard, it makes me wish the producers had put her (and us) out of our collective misery LONG before she drowned in that swimming pool.

I'm up to "When the Cat's Away," and I got a mostly "adequate" answer about Sheila Fisher. She and Harry couldn't legally adopt because she had a nervous breakdown. Based on what I saw, I figured Sheila was bipolar.

Also, hel-lo there, Jonathan Goldsmith. That grey tank top looked mighty nice on you.

Edited Thursday at 11:34 PM1 day by Franko

1 hour ago, Franko said:

Also, hel-lo there, Jonathan Goldsmith. That grey tank top looked mighty nice on you.

Stay thirsty, my friend!

25 minutes ago, Khan said:

Stay thirsty, my friend!

Ha! I was waiting-hoping for someone to make the joke for me.

On 12/1/2025 at 12:55 PM, Khan said:

Julie Harris and Constance McCashin had a very natural acting style that really helped to ground the storylines.

There is something to Donna Mills in the same regard. Especially as Abby got more and more power for herself, she played her calmer and calmer as the years progressed. Abby is still calculating, but I can’t think of many times any of the three of them went full Valene or Karen. And I love those ladies, don’t get me wrong. But Joan Van Ark can be very histrionic and mannered, and Michele Lee is very soapy in the traditional sense.

The year after Sid died, before Mac arrived, Lee does a lot of quiet, beautiful acting in several episodes. But she can go balls out and did quite often. The whole Chip/Diana story is when it gets really noticeable to me. That run she does to find Diana has left at the end of season 4 is almost comical in her mannerisms and she doesn’t say a word.

10 hours ago, titan1978 said:

The year after Sid died, before Mac arrived, Lee does a lot of quiet, beautiful acting in several episodes. But she can go balls out and did quite often. The whole Chip/Diana story is when it gets really noticeable to me. That run she does to find Diana has left at the end of season 4 is almost comical in her mannerisms and she doesn’t say a word.

I agree. Her acting in that scene - not to mention, her acting in much of the following season - is OTT. That's why I found it interesting when Michele Lee told Steve Kmetko in his podcast that KL became "less interesting" to her as it evolved. If so, that could explain why she could be so shrill and overbearing at times, lol.

6 hours ago, Khan said:

I agree. Her acting in that scene - not to mention, her acting in much of the following season - is OTT. That's why I found it interesting when Michele Lee told Steve Kmetko in his podcast that KL became "less interesting" to her as it evolved. If so, that could explain why she could be so shrill and overbearing at times, lol.

Along those lines though I cannot imagine the later seasons without Karen. Val becomes such a shell of herself that her being gone is easier to swallow. Although the less said of Gary’s younger pairing the better. It’s funny that Valene is one of the few characters that did have good material in that not very good season before the final year. That Greg book had legs and should have been made more of a priority.

But yes, Karen does get very strident and shrill. But the truth is if you go all the way back to the beginnings that person was there all along. Don Murray just has a more grounded style to help her from flying off into space. And that’s not Kevin Dobson at all. Mack is volatile by design. Again, I love Karen and Mack, and the show as a whole is one of my favorites. But it’s hard to ignore, especially when you see them decide someone like Laura has no value when she clearly does.

I love Gary too, but Joan is so much more at ease when they pair her with Ben because Sheehan is a playful actor. It comes across on Knots and General Hospital. When it’s all about Gary in those early years she’s a walking nervous tick.

I know JVA loves the scene when Val essentially becomes Verna. But to me that is a very actor scene. Her idea, to put on too much makeup at first and then decide that’s not right is a great choice. But I can see the acting from a mile away. It’s supposed to be subtle but it’s not. Her slipping in and out of Verna’s accent when Abby is taking her to the babies is better later on though.

When they first tell her the babies have died though, her immediate shift from hope to devastation is believable, even though she is justifiably bordering on hysterical. She keeps it squarely in the lane of devastating heartbreak there and it’s very effective.

Laura would have been a much better antagonist in the Sumner Group years than Claudia. One messy divorce from Greg and a fight for what’s hers and you have natural story for years. And we avoid the Meg issues with Karen and Mack. And while I am critiquing the acting, William Devane can also be mannered and like a lot of men in daytime, when he’s bored it’s written all over his face.

2 hours ago, titan1978 said:

That Greg book had legs and should have been made more of a priority.

Frankly, I felt the same way about Greg Sumner's biography that I did about "Capricorn Crude": why is Val writing that book, lol?

I had no qualms with Valene finding herself as a writer. IMO, however, she was better suited writing children's and young adult books than family sagas and tell-all biographies.

Plus, what could Val possibly have uncovered in researching and writing about Greg that we didn't know already? Unless she were to discover that Greg once killed a man or had a child even he didn't know about, I don't see where that particular story could've gone.

Ironically, I think one reason why Mack/Kevin Dobson was added to the show was to make Karen appear less shrill. Whether or not that turned to be the case, however, is a matter of opinion, lol.

3 hours ago, titan1978 said:

I love Gary too, but Joan is so much more at ease when they pair her with Ben because Sheehan is a playful actor. It comes across on Knots and General Hospital.

Douglas Sheehan was another actor whose more natural approach helped separate KNOTS from the other primetime soaps - a modern day Henry Fonda or James Stewart, if you will, a type which you never saw on most other soaps, daytime OR primetime. That's why I hated Ben's exit storyline: not only was it far-fetched, but it also did not play to Sheehan's strengths.

3 hours ago, titan1978 said:

And while I am critiquing the acting, William Devane can also be mannered and like a lot of men in daytime, when he’s bored it’s written all over his face.

Granted, this is just my observation as a viewer, but I sense his boredom was more a struggle with the producers over who Greg Sumner was and what he was supposed to bring to the show. Clearly, the producers wanted Greg to be their answer to J.R. Ewing or Richard Channing, but Devane likely fought that because he saw more dimensions to Greg than they did. His monologue with the late Paul Galveston's portrait, in particular, feels like the show setting him up to be the major antagonist - bigger than even Abby - but in the end, it comes across as a promise that's never quite fulfilled.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Khan

44 minutes ago, Khan said:

Granted, this is just my observation as a viewer, but I sense his boredom was more a struggle with the producers over who Greg Sumner was and what he was supposed to bring to the show. Clearly, the producers wanted Greg to be their answer to J.R. Ewing or Richard Channing, but Devane likely fought that because he saw more dimensions to Greg than they did. His monologue with the late Paul Galveston's portrait, in particular, feels like the show setting him up to be the major antagonist - bigger than even Abby - but in the end, it comes across as a promise that's never quite fulfilled.

I just finished "The Christening," which features an especially out of character scene for Greg, literally pulling Laura out of the car belonging to her work friend, the guy Greg thinks is Laura's new boyfriend.