Knots Landing

[soapfan770]

I will always absolutely adore the series finale with Abby returning to the Cul-De-Sac at the end while Anne, Claudia, and Nick went off on sabbatical together I had to laugh at both turn of events.

I noticed the channel played the last episode twice. Like @All My Shadows I’ve been enjoying dipping in the evenings the past several days and gave me a soapy fix I was missing so bad.

Looking forward to Sisters and Falcon Crest here. I know I did at least 4 full watches of FC while it fully was on Freevee/Amazon Prime so looking to dip into again (with picture quality compared to my bootleg copies lol).

And of course I can’t wait to see Knots run again.

Please register in order to view this content

[BetterForgotten]

It seemed like a bit of a wink at the audience - Abby’s replacements (Anne and Claudia) were on their way out as Abby made her triumphant return. As I said before, I totally commend Donna Mills for leaving when she did and realizing that the best writing for Abby was likely behind her. Her return for the finale was a nice thank you to the fans. 

[Vee]

Now I'm the one leading from behind! I am still in Season 7. I'll have a lot to catch up on with these comments in the months to come, lol.

[soapfan770]

Oh I definitely agree and agree that Knots had the best series finale of the soaps as we had a good handful major players present and the ending was also that life goes on too haha. I’d FC’s finale is a close second and that’s simply because of after a dreary season everyone (mostly new characters lol) got a good ending with Wyman’s own written soliloquy.

[Vee]

Since I'm already wildly behind and only watched part of the livestreaming marathon up to where I left off, I'm curious: Is there a general consensus (or at least varied opinions) on which of the Latham/Lechowick seasons are the best, if any? I know they're polarizing in general, and I can't go just by the blog opinions of the great Tommy Krasker and so on (who I think has spoken up for Seasons 9, 10 and 12) and of course I'll make up my own mind. But I'm curious about longtime fans' overview.

[Chris B]

I've always found that season 12 got high remarks from fans. That was when all of their changes really came together, especially with The Sumner Group.

[yrfan1983]

I started watching the original air mid-season 5, at 12 years old

Please register in order to view this content

and I stuck it out until the bitter end.

What kept me gripped to KL through season 8 was this feeling in the air… a tension… unseen malevolent forces… manipulating and threatening these characters’ lives, who I’d grown to care so much about.

Season 9: as mentioned, the Peter murder story resolves in a most underwhelming way. And from there – the tension just completely deflates. The urgency pushing the stories forward was not there for me anymore.  The Laura death was a quality distraction from this, but once the funeral was over, we were back to the same situation.

Mid-season 9: Jill starts some odd behavior.. consulting a handwriting expert; splicing together recordings of Ben’s voice. This was a turn back in the right direction. Jill’s story accelerated to the unparalleled Jill/Val season 9 finale sequence, and continued well into season 10, bringing back some of that classic Knots I was missing.

But the other stories around that time just didn’t compare. I was so excited for Peter Reckell’s debut, and what a bust that turned out to be. The Williams started out strong but faded into the background. Abby vacillated back and forth on whether to be a “good person”.  The other lead story for the s9 finale was Michael and Paige’s peril in Mexico, and wow, did that pale in comparison to Jill and Val.

From then on forward, I watched every week, every season, hoping in vain for a solid return to the classic Knots, and it never happened for me. There were some bright moments, like LPL as Linda. Season 14 really did a decent job of wrapping things up.

To sum up, peak Knots for me ended for me after Laura’s death, with a brief return-to-form thanks to Jill and Val.

[Soaplovers]

Season 8 were the Lathams trying to do what the previous show runners did with less success.

Season 9 were the Lathan realizing they needed to be themselves and starting changes with some success.

Season 10 up till the last third was pretty good because the Jill story was in high gear, plus Abby's brief turn at being nice before her last scheme comes into play.

Season 11 was a rebuilding year with Season 12 having a strong momentum

[titan1978]

Season 10 still has Abby, so that will be a winner for me.  12 would be next in line.

[Khan]

Obviously, I shouldn't speak for all KL fans, or even for the majority, but whenever it comes to assessing the quality of the Lechowicks' work there, I never look at it in terms of seasons, if that makes any sense.  Instead, I judge the Lechowicks' work the way I would judge most HW's work in daytime - which is to say, on a storyline-by-storyline basis - because I feel like that's how the two approached the show: like they were writing a daytime soap, but one that aired only once a week and for so many weeks during the year.

Generally speaking, the major difference between the Lechowicks' seasons and the seasons that preceded theirs is that you don't have the umbrella storylines that you had with Ciji's murder, the Wolfbridge Group, or Bobby and Betsy's abductions.  IMO, characters and storylines under the Lechowicks' regime become more islanded from each other, with minimal amounts of crossover.  At least, that's how I'm remembering it all (and I'll admit, it's been awhile, so I'm probably way off-base, lol).

Moreover, as I've said before, you can't appreciate a Lechowick-penned storyline the same way you could one that was penned by Peter Dunne or Ann Marcus.  The earlier seasons were quieter and were more focused on character moments, whereas the Lechowicks' stories are geared more shocking the audience and upending their expectations.  That isn't to say what the Lechowicks did was lesser or wrong for KL; it was just...different.

But Tommy Krasker makes one, very good point: 

"Legend has it that Knots fell apart at the top of Season 13, when a set of new writers came in with no familiarity with the format or the characters. But in the truth, it all goes to pot at the end of Season 12, as the characters are so compromised, and the story-lines so drawn out and desultory, that any good will engendered by the first half of the season is forfeited."

[Vee]

FYI @All My Shadows and all: According to Plex, KL resumes on the livestream from Season 1 next week on September 2nd.

[te.]

Interesting - since there's no way they'll finish Falcon Crest before that, it either means they saw the amount of streams Knots generated and is rushing back to it sooner, or they're starting to divide up seasons of shows better.

[Maxim]

I checked and they have 3 seasons of Falcon and then Knots Landing straight after.

https://app.plex.tv/desktop/#!/live-tv?pivotID=dvr.guide&genreRatingKey=genre_6668f7413bfb7848eb535fff

[Vee]

It may be a licensing thing with Falcon Crest. Though I'm sure someone noticed Knots trending for a week.

[te.]

I doubt it - they replayed the entire series, so I don't think there's an issue there. The whole channel's purpose is to air their long-running Lorimar properties that aren't Dallas it seems. My understanding is that the channel is broadcast directly from Warner Bros and then picked up by various streamers looking to expand their channel offerings.