Knots Landing

[YRBB]

Dipping in and out of Seasons 10 and 11 these past couple of days and, yep, still great seasons.

I am very much looking forward to the show being on demand so I can do a proper rewatch not in DVD quality. I have to say, the season 11 episodes airing right now look GREAT. This can't be HD already, can it?

I'm looking forward to the HD remaster but am so afraid of how badly they'll butcher it; they'll almost assuredly take out the previews and the recaps, which is much more egregious, especially since KNOTS got creative with how they did the recaps and I can see it becoming a mess.

[Maxim]

This quality on the current stream is 480 max, but it's converted to 1080. When you compare the 1080 and the 480 there is not much difference, because the OG quality is still tape 480. I like the quality - it's great for a tape, and I doubt we'll see better. 

BTW, so far I've managed to record 125 hours of the 24/7 channel! Thank God I have a hard drive to store them in. 

[titan1978]

The only part I liked in Abby’s exit story is that she turned it all around for a win, like always. She often found herself deep in schemes and in mild panic mode. But the character always had a strategic mind for solving her own problems, and it was fun to see her do it again instead of the show deciding to punish her for years of misconduct.

I wonder if anyone thought Ted was going to kill Abby? They flirt with the danger a few times in the episodes and the teasers.

[yrfan1983]

I remember being excited in ‘88 to read that Judith Light’s husband was joining Knots Landing, but I found Robert Desiderio to be a real snore as Ted.

[soapfan770]

Agreed although it was definitely not a complete clean break as Karen was going on about for Abby as it did feel like she was leaving partly in fear for her life. But yes haha that last scene she had with Ted totally felt like a red herring just like I remember my preteen self thinking something bad was about to happen but of course it didn’t lol.

I love seeing Robin Strasser as the unscrupulous Dianne here on KL again. Compared to all the other big daytime stars who did primetime soaps around this time I feel this works much better than the rest and better than Susan Lucci on Dallas. 

I also got too see Paula’s exit as I hoped this evening here and it was just as good as I remembered @DRW50

 

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Only major issue outside of Danny/Val I have so far with S11 is why bring back Mary Frances just to kill her off, wasting Paula too soon, and why did Pat have to die? Not surprising fare from the same woman who later killed off Dru on Y&R.

Edited August 24, 2024 by soapfan770

[Maxim]

On facebook people are saying that you can see all the aired episodes on plex premium. Like on demand. Is this true or just rumours? 

[Khan]

Basically, Gary and Pat were supposed to have an affair, but when the producers became skittish (for obvious reasons), Lynne Moody complained, so they decided she had to go.

You know, when it came to casting, the Lechowicks were funny people.  More often than not, good or great actors they hired were wasted in bad roles and storylines, while some of the most bland actors I've ever come across in all my years of TV watching got the comparatively juicier parts.*  Even Kathleen Noone floundered as Claudia until the last season, when Ann Marcus figured out what to do with her.

(*I'm convinced that the ONLY reason why they hired Sam Behrens to play Danny was because Behrens, like Douglas Sheehan before him, was a GH veteran.  And the less I say about Penny Peyser as Amanda, the better.)

Frankly, I think they wasted her in that role, and I definitely understand why she turned down their offer to return, too.  That was probably the worst role she'd had since she played Christina Karras Martin on AMC.

Edited August 24, 2024 by Khan

[soapfan770]

@Khan Like other daytime stars of that era trying to do fading primetime soaps they probably did. That said Strasser got an even worse recurring roles on both Coach and Dear John afterward and 2000 Malibu Rd also wasted her so I don’t if that was what she had in mind at all before returning to daytime.

But in regards to Peyser yes, yikes! I thought I remembered Gary’s mystery woman in a previous post amounting to nothing and I was right aside her just being Danny’s ex. Peyser was better off screen lol. 
 

And thanks for clearing that up! Moody would end up being wasted as well from show to show in the 90’s as well.

[kalbir]

It always bugged me that CBS had so much of their own daytime talent they could have used on their primetime soaps but instead they went for ABC/NBC stars. Obviously we weren't going to see the likes of Julianne Moore or Eileen Davidson on the CBS primetime soaps in the off the rails plus budget mode era but you'd think that some CBS daytime stars would've gotten on the CBS primetime soaps in their peak years. Maybe demographics played a part, considering CBS drew an older an audience compared to ABC/NBC.

[soapfan770]

The two immediate CBS talents that spring to mind are Frank Runyeon on Falcon Crest and Michael Wilding Jr. 

Runyeon’s FC character was a horrendous terribly acted mess though, and well the less we speak of Wilding Jr.’s Alex the better

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Can’t speak of any CBS actresses though that I can recall right off bat which is very unfortunate.

 

Back to Knots…..it’s funny I always found Tom so smarmy, but I do feel bad Greg and Anne set him up to fail. In retrospect I do like Tom and Paige watching this go around…and I forgot Tom lasted as long as he did…so it’s funny now thinking that Greg and Anne put all that energy into the ruining the couple, only for Paige to outright dump Greg for good in Back to the Cul-de-Sac reunion series. Yeesh.

Ah the rise of Linda…she’s also the only thing I remember liking about S12.

Galina IMO worked better as the mysterious Mary Frances and I think Noone could have easily been a Jane recast….probably would have been more interesting than the  pointless than Kate and Claudia.

[DRW50]

I couldn't stand Tom. He wasn't as bad on his brief return but he just felt so late '80s "antihero" in the most generic ways, grafted onto the show. He also led to some of my least favorite KL moments of all time - Mack shouting DIRTYCOPDIRTYCOPDIRTYCOP 500 times. I'll tell you where to keep your dirty cop. 

I agree Galina was better as Mary Frances. I think the story of her murder and what it did to Greg was very strong, but she could have been something. She never clicked as Kate.

I actually think Claudia worked well in her first season, but for me the character was done after she set her son up and led to his death. The attempts at creating sympathy for her the next season and having Karen go to bat for her - honestly, [!@#$%^&*] that [!@#$%^&*]. Karen never would have done that. Kathleen Noone is a wonderful actress but the character should have been written out in early season 13. If they were going to keep her they should have done something better with her than what we got. I might have brought Michael back and had Claudia fixate on him to make up for her own dead son.

Thank you so much for the Paula exit clip! That was a very, very strong scene. You can tell TPTB liked Melinda Culea, even if they didn't keep her - you don't give someone final moments like those if you don't. 

I think what impresses me most is that when she eviscerates Anne they don't have Anne look devastated - Anne still leaves the mask on. Very true to life, and another example of how intelligent Knots was compared to many other shows. And a reminder of why I was still watching even in some of those shakier years. 

I had forgotten how much I liked the whole Sumner Group setup. It wasn't as good as Lotus Point, but still feels very sleek and a believable jump into a new era.

Edited August 24, 2024 by DRW50

[Soaplovers]

I think the Paula/Anne scene just before Paula's departure was foreshadowing in a weird way.  If I recall, the final season with Anne involved her in an unhappy marriage to Greg.. and going to a plastic surgeon because she felt she needed to look younger.

From what I recall, wasn't Teri Austin playing Gary's mystery woman during the end of season 10?  If so, that could be why she was better off screen LOL

I saw Peyser in other roles, and I thought she did a good job.. so I think it was a combination of an underwritten role and perhaps the primetime soap format wasn't a fit for Peyser.

[Khan]

On paper, Amanda was so...wimpy, so you needed a very strong actress who could play against that.  Otherwise, Amanda could have been downright insufferable - which was what she was, IMO, since it seemed like Peyser chose to play what was written and nothing else.

[soapfan770]

LOL was that her? Honestly rewatching those scenes it actually made me wonder for real if someone had intended for Gary’s mystery woman to end up being Jill alive in the flesh but that might have been too much for a primetime soap at the time as we were still 5 years away from a dead Kimberly being alive on Melrose. 

[kalbir]

Let's keep it real here, LML and her husband were not going to bring on any actresses that would take attention away from their pet Nicollette Sheridan. Once Nicollette Sheridan was elevated to the main cast in season 10, Paige practically ate the show for the remainder of its run.