KNOTS LANDING

[DRW50]

I was glad to see them touch on Laura and Val again briefly, as that had been an early friendship for Val, and one that always felt more natural to me than Karen/Val.

[SoapDope]

Joan Van Ark appears in a promo/pilot for a cooking show hosted by actress Alaina Reed-Hall (Sesame Street & 227). The show must have not been picked up as I don't recall it airing. Reed-Hall passed away in 2009. 

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[DRW50]

Thanks. Never heard of this. Alaina was special.

[SoapDope]

Your welcome. Yes, she was a special lady. I grew up watching her on Sesame Street and 227.  That show looks like it would have been a lot of fun with celeb guests. I'm guessing it was done in the very early 2000's. 

 

[Franko]

This week in 1968, it was announced that Disney had signed Michele Lee to two more movies after The Love Bug. One of them was to be "a big musical." I'm wondering if Michele was one of the women considered for Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

[Soapsuds]

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[kalbir]

@Soapsuds Great video, thank you.

This was the first Donna Mills interview I've seen/read where she mentioned Ava Gardner arc, and it's another positive account of it.

Of the Golden Age Hollywood trio that had short arcs on CBS soaps in the 1980s, all accounts of Ava Gardner and Dorothy McGuire I've come across have been positive (believe me, if Dorothy McGuire was throwing diva demands at Y&R, we would've known about it) whereas there are accounts of Lana Turner allegedly throwing diva demands.

[te.]

TBH, doing a re-watch pod like a lot of actors are doing is a more realistic path to go down, but then again, Knots isn't available on streaming at the moment which hinders everything.

[Chris B]

I've been ready for a re-watch, but with the streaming thing not done yet I decided to buy the first two seasons so I could start re-watching in good quality. I'm going to try to spread the episodes out to the end of the year in hopes it's released in November/December like Dallas was last year.

So far I've done the first three episodes of season one and I'm reminded at what a good job David Jacobs did of establishing the series. The self-contained format could be hit or miss on some of the primetime soaps, but it works really well here. 

My biggest takeaways this time is how unique the character of Laura was from day one. The immediately establish Richard as a scoundrel with a lust for power and the way he disregards her is pretty amazing. It's episode two and we're already running into one of her previous hookups and Richard pressures her into sleeping with him to get ahead at work. Then when he finds out he manipulated her into thinking that isn't what he wanted which is how he maintains control of her.

Another thing I had missed in all my previous viewings is that Kenny was having an affair with Sid's daughter Annie. I think that's an interesting nugget to place in the pilot since Kenny and Ginger give us our first ever cliffhanger when Ginger learns of Kenny's affair with Sylvie. I was a big fan of these characters and hate we didn't get more from them. Kim Lankford mentioned that when they left the show the plan was to give them a Nashville set spin-off but James Houghton didn't want to do it which upset her. I would've enjoying seeing them in their element.

[Reverend Ruthledge]

That's interesting. I always got the impression that Laura just kind of tolerated Val. I'm not sure why I got that impression, but I did. I never really looked at them as good friends like I did Val and Karen. 

[kalbir]

Laura was the heart and candor of the show. She kept everyone in check and would not hesitate to call anyone out and put them on blast. Season 6 Laura and Ruth scenes were the best. Laura departure is the point for me where Knots Landing starts going off the rails.

[DRW50]

I never really got that feeling early on, although I haven't watched the episodes in a long time. I thought they had a natural connection that eroded over time. Val and Karen never felt as natural to me. Any time characters have to remind us what good friends they are, I am wary.

[Chris B]

The way I always saw it was that Laura and Val were genuine friends and the Karen/Val connection came from Michele and Joan's love for each other. As the show started minimizing Laura's role, the relationship with Val was gone.

Karen's closest friendships tended to be with the men IMO. People like Richard or Gary. And of course Abby was a wonderful relationship for her.

[dragonflies]

 

 

[Khan]

Guess I'll have to get PLEX, lol.