30 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

(Peter wasn't actually Greg's brother, right?)

Right. He and Sylvia were just extorting money from Greg.

Anne was defined by two things: her sexuality, and her thirst for money. She spent the better part of a season conspiring with an Italian greaseball to get their hands on a million dollars, and was willing to seduce even Gary Ewing for some of HIS money (until Michelle Phillips herself convinced Larry Kasha to go to the Lechowicks and put the kibosh on the whole thing, making Val's "brain virus" storyline even more purposeless than it already was). Making her suddenly broke and homeless won't calm her down. If anything, it'll just make her MORE money-hungry. And that's why I loathe that story to this day, lol.

39 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

even the stupid Val story I could get through.

I couldn't, lol. Again, what was the point? If you're going to the trouble of having Val go off-the-rails crazy, then, for goodness sake, do something big with it! Have her sleep with Mack, or steal the million dollars from Anne and Nick, or run down Linda with her car (as a "favor" to BFF Karen). Anything that might impact the stories going forward, forcing Val and everybody else to live with the consequences of her actions. As it was, all that story really did was stall Gary and Val's elopement 'til the big 300th episode.

10 minutes ago, Khan said:

Right. He and Sylvia were just extorting money from Greg.

Anne was defined by two things: her sexuality, and her thirst for money. She spent the better part of a season conspiring with an Italian greaseball to get their hands on a million dollars, and was willing to seduce even Gary Ewing for some of HIS money (until Michelle Phillips herself convinced Larry Kasha to go to the Lechowicks and put the kibosh on the whole thing, making Val's "brain virus" storyline even more purposeless than it already was). Making her suddenly broke and homeless won't calm her down. If anything, it'll just make her MORE money-hungry. And that's why I loathe that story to this day, lol.

I couldn't, lol. Again, what was the point? If you're going to the trouble of having Val go off-the-rails crazy, then, for goodness sake, do something big with it! Have her sleep with Mack, or steal the million dollars from Anne and Nick, or run down Linda with her car (as a "favor" to BFF Karen). Anything that might impact the stories going forward, forcing Val and everybody else to live with the consequences of her actions. As it was, all that story really did was stall Gary and Val's elopement 'til the big 300th episode.

I had forgotten that Michelle stopped a story with seducing Gary. I can see why - they were all a little old for that type of plot and fans would have hated Anne - but it makes more sense than what she got. The one scene I thought worked was her managing to get a makeover in a department store but even that was something which was a '30s pastiche. Didn't this end with her briefly being on TV?

I think I could get through the Val story compared to, say, the Danny fiasco because the brain story seemed to be played as dark comedy, but I agree they should have escalated her behavior beyond just cooking the twins' pets. (if they were going to rip off Santa Barbara maybe they could have had her become a jewel thief like Eden)

4 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Didn't this end with her briefly being on TV?

Actually, @DRW50 , it was a radio show: "Tell Me About It." Listeners called in and asked Anne for advice. (Don't laugh, that actually happened).

I think I would've had Val become exactly the kind of southern-fried trash J.R. always accused her of being. She'd start drinking, smoking, wearing inappropriate clothes, staying out all hours and sleeping with anything with a pulse. There'd be a nasty custody trial between her and Gary, with Val exposing his and the rest of the Ewings' dirty laundry in court. She might even sell her publisher on a tell-all. But it all would climax with a totally-out-of-control Val kidnapping Betsy and Bobby (with the belief that the people who had kidnapped them before were out to take them away again) before being dragged to the sanitarium, where she would work on issues stemming not just from her head trauma, but also from Danny, Ben, etc.

5 minutes ago, Khan said:

Actually, @DRW50 , it was a radio show: "Tell Me About It." Listeners called in and asked Anne for advice. (Don't laugh, that actually happened).

I think I would've had Val become exactly the kind of southern-fried trash J.R. always accused her of being. She'd start drinking, smoking, wearing inappropriate clothes, staying out all hours and sleeping with anything with a pulse. There'd be a nasty custody trial between her and Gary, with Val exposing his and the rest of the Ewings' dirty laundry in court. She might even sell her publisher on a tell-all. But it all would climax with a totally-out-of-control Val kidnapping Betsy and Bobby (with the belief that the people who had kidnapped them before were out to take them away again) before being dragged to the sanitarium, where she would work on issues stemming not just from her head trauma, but also from Danny, Ben, etc.

🤣 I can picture Val wearing daisy dukes and a tube top. She would let the house pile up full of clutter with junk in the front yard. She would trade in her car for truck with big tires and a lift kit. She would bring home guys with painted on Levis with names like Billy Ray, Tommy Joe etc...She would curse people without bothering to remove the Marlboro from her lips. The kids would live on Kentucky Fried Chicken and she wouldn't let them leave the table till they finished all their taters and gravy.

Edited Friday at 09:38 PM2 days by SoapDope78

9 hours ago, Khan said:

Right. He and Sylvia were just extorting money from Greg.

Anne was defined by two things: her sexuality, and her thirst for money. She spent the better part of a season conspiring with an Italian greaseball to get their hands on a million dollars, and was willing to seduce even Gary Ewing for some of HIS money (until Michelle Phillips herself convinced Larry Kasha to go to the Lechowicks and put the kibosh on the whole thing, making Val's "brain virus" storyline even more purposeless than it already was). Making her suddenly broke and homeless won't calm her down. If anything, it'll just make her MORE money-hungry. And that's why I loathe that story to this day, lol.

I couldn't, lol. Again, what was the point? If you're going to the trouble of having Val go off-the-rails crazy, then, for goodness sake, do something big with it! Have her sleep with Mack, or steal the million dollars from Anne and Nick, or run down Linda with her car (as a "favor" to BFF Karen). Anything that might impact the stories going forward, forcing Val and everybody else to live with the consequences of her actions. As it was, all that story really did was stall Gary and Val's elopement 'til the big 300th episode.

I think Latham and co were going to do a 90s version of Val/Gary/Abby... but doing it with Anne instead of Abby. Val going crazy and being unhinged to the point where both Mac and Karen would side with Gary, feel for him, and be understanding that he was driven away by Val. And his interactions with Anne were both a testing of the waters in terms of chemistry between Gary/Anne.. and also a way for Val to go unhinged. Naturally it didn't work especially given that Ms. Phillips was fighting a Gary and Ann pairing behing the scenes as we now know :)

Two positives of this story for me were as follows:

1) It did allow some interaction between Val and Paige during that story (much like the Tidal energy story allowed some good interactions between Paige/Gary that we hadn't seen much of since season 8)

2) Val was torturing Gary.. a nice little karmic punishment for the way he treated her during their 2nd remarriage in the earlier seasons. Unpopular opinion, but I totally was in support of her not telling Gary that the twins were his given his track record and his tendency to fall off the wagon at the slighest sign of stress.

On 6/26/2026 at 3:47 AM, SoapDope78 said:

Hell hath no fury like a Karen in a town car.

It's odd because it felt like a lot of other things were going on, but I wonder if they felt like they had to end it with a Karen cliffhanger or something. It's the same thing with Karen's kidnapping - they probably could've given that one to Laura as she'd gotten quite marginalized, plus narratively it would've made more sense that Greg's under-handed dealings would catch up with him.

I'm in the home stretch of Season Nine, at the point where Olivia won't STFU about how tragic it is that Abby broke up her and Harold. This is a time where L&L's disrespect for JVA could have been put to good use.

Jill, taking her turn in the "cheer up Olivia" queue: "Not moving on from a first love? ... Do you want to become Val? 'Cause that's how you become Val."

If anyone had used that reasoning with Olivia, she'd be up and dating in no time!

I'm nearing the end of season 6, and I feel like I'm at the point where my head is filled with so many observations and comments but they're all things that have been discussed probably multiple times over the years. But just a few:

- I had to basically watch everything from Paul Galveston's first appearance up to when Val returned from Tennessee two times in order to really understand everything happening in the Empire Valley story. This is definitely a season where you have to give it your full attention or get left behind.
- To jump on the current "moment," Empire Valley feels very liminal. The futuristic music, the unending force of cold and soulless men (which really goes back to Mark St. Claire), the actual plans for the EV community, etc.
- The random closing credits over a shot of the babies at the Fishers' house...with the regular, punchy, upbeat closing theme playing...felt so sitcommy, I almost expected a full set of episode stills to roll under the credits.
- Mack is aggravating as hell, and something about him becoming the patriarch of the cul-de-sac doesn't sit right with me. But, at this point, he's the only father figure left in Sea View Circle.
- One of the things I've felt since the full-steam-ahead change in focus is how Knots Landing is no longer really a place. The show might as well just be set in a random part of LA because the concept of Knots Landing as a distinct community feels lost. It'll still get mentioned as where Karen, Val, Lillimae, etc. live, and of course Knots Landing Motors is on its last legs, but is Westfork in KL?
- Speaking of KLM, I know it's been said that Donna Mills fought to broaden the show's scope because the car dealership just wasn't a glamorous setting, but please, Donna, what in the world is glamorous about FCC leases?
- Ruth Galveston is Knots Landing's own little glass of Falcon Crest, isn't she?
- I don't know when the "Poor Val" era officially begins, but JVA worked her ssa off this entire season, and Val is easily the most compelling character for me. The Shula arc could have EASILY been a cringey waste of time, but it felt so right for the character and what she'd been through. I envy the people who saw this first-hand with no knowledge of how/when she'd get the babies back.
- Joshua Rush lmao
- You can really feel TPTB trying to come up with things for Eric and Michael to do. It was a great move to have them be the ones to bring Val to the hospital, and it's important that KL Motors was formally addressed. The boys, more than anyone else, serve as reminders of the show's beginnings, so any time they're on, that little feeling of neighborhood/community usually comes with them.
- Speaking of kids. Abby has been a dreadful mother the last two seasons, and at any point, Jeff could have snapped those kids up without a fight. I can see the seeds being planted for Olivia's spiral.

Okay, so I lied. Those are more than "a few" observations lol