1 hour ago, Khan said:

In a way, Don Murray left KL at the right time. KL became a full-fledged soap opera in order to survive, and I can't see how Sid would've survived the change without becoming a completely different type of character.

That is one of the biggest what-if questions because Don Murray leaving KL at the start of season 3 shifted the balance of the show.. and it turned Karen into a Karen and turned Abby into a full fledged vixen/villianess. The only individual that kept both of them in check was no longer around and while it certainly made for an exciting show... both Karen and Abby became vile individuals (in other words, great to watch.. but not whom I would to know in real life).

The other what-if question was the Gary/Abby affair in the 2nd half of season 3. What if the showrunners didn't listen to the performers and didn't have the two go all the way? I think the focus would have stayed on Seaview Circle a lot longer until at least season 5/6 since Gary/Abby moving out at the start of season 4 was the start of the shift away from a show about couples on Seaview Circle.

Is “#1 with a Bullet” the first episode to take place completely outside of the cul-de-sac?

* Never mind, I just remembered Joshua and Cathy frolicked in Laura’s house for a scene.

Edited Friday at 03:44 AM2 days by All My Shadows

Continuing to make my way through the late '80s -- I'm up to just before it's discovered that Paige killed Peter -- and every so often, I think about the poor AP or UPI writer that would have to somehow write three coherent paragraphs once Greg and Abby marry. They had one complicated as hell relationship over a six-year period.

2 hours ago, Khan said:

Even KL would become less middle-class in the next year in order to keep up with DALLAS, DYNASTY and FC.

Season 5 Knots Landing got corporate with Lotus Point, ventured into James Bond/action thriller territory with Wolfbridge, and also got glamorous. IMO going corporate and glamorous was done in response to Dynasty blowing up and becoming a pop culture phenomenon.

37 minutes ago, Franko said:

once Greg and Abby marry. They had one complicated as hell relationship over a six-year period.

Greg/Abby were originally co-conspirators with benefits and the marriage was more business/political power couple. Their booty call hookups didn't turn into love and the marriage didn't either.

Someone once said that Abby wanted to be Greg more than she wanted to be with Greg. That's pretty accurate I'd say.

3 minutes ago, kalbir said:

Season 5 Knots Landing got corporate with Lotus Point, ventured into James Bond/action thriller territory with Wolfbridge, and also got glamorous. IMO going corporate and glamorous was done in response to Dynasty blowing up and becoming a pop culture phenomenon

I also felt like it was the first season that they really started to expand out of the cul-de-sac, and I thought that it worked well. Better then when FC started to expand out of the winery.

8 minutes ago, kalbir said:

Greg/Abby were originally co-conspirators with benefits and the marriage was more business/political power couple. Their booty call hookups didn't turn into love and the marriage didn't either.

Oh, definitely. I'm just imagining the public trying to make sense of a former U.S. senator, who resigned after less than two months in office, taking for his third wife a woman marrying for the fourth time, whom he previously rescued from a kidnapper that was among his campaign contributors. Not to mention the whole Lotus Point of it all, everything from Greg making a public stink about the arsenic-tainted water to that being where Peter (whom the 1988 public would still believe was Greg's half-brother) died, to Abby's partners including her ex-husband, her ex-sister-in-law (and part of the couple she and Greg are in a custody suit against), and Greg's late wife.

As crazy as it is, there is something awfully sweet about Abby and Olivia's reactions to realizing each was willing to protect the other for murdering Peter, and even more that they're both innocent. (Well, minus Abby hiding the corpse for six weeks.)

"Oh, Mom, we gotta start talking to each other more often."

UNCOVERED - Joan Van Ark from Knotts Landing - 1989 Australian TV Interview