KNOTS LANDING

[titan1978]

Leaning either direction would have been brilliant for DALLAS. But I think the inherent sexiness of those films, mixed with the grit and southern leanings and melodrama, was something the men running DALLAS didn’t like. A younger ranch hand in Ray’s place sexing up both Lucy and Sue Ellen (although Ray was needed) would have done wonders. But the women on DALLAS lack agency compared to the wome of KNOTS.

[Franko]

"Runaway" is a bad episode for many reasons, including the waste of Greg Evigan, who I think would have been perfect as Southfork's in-house stud.

[DRW50]

I see your point, although I feel like even some of that started to seem frozen. If they had gotten one more season, I think they would have had a new look (maybe Karen with a chic bob).

I think the approach with Val helping that girl learn to read and moving back to the cul-de-sac was a potential way forward, just expanded (they could have done more with Mac as a foster father after he saved Jason - this might have caused tension with Karen if she thought he was forgetting about Meg). I enjoyed the business material, but it was definitely time to move into a new era. Ideally, they could have found way to make the early Melrose and 90210 approach click for them (it would have helped if they hadn't dismantled their younger set).

[Soaplovers]

Knots landing did seem to go back to the cul da sec more in the final season.  Having a newly wed couple come on wouldn't have cost as much...and maybe reduce Anne to a recurring character in season 14.

Had Linda not been killed off, the function Vanessa had in the final season could have been fulfilled by Linda....and also writing out eye candy Alex was ill advised as well.

[Chris B]

I've always fancast Vanessa as Lucy Ewing coming home due to Val's death. She always went to Europe when outside of Dallas so you could believably put her in the Treadwell story. 

I do agree it would've been easy to add a new family and I wish they had done that. It was a mistake not to have someone move into Laura's house when the Williams were finally gone.

[kalbir]

I've pointed this out before, but Knots Landing season 15 in Fall 1993 would have looked old school next to peak 90210, Melrose about to take off, and new drama NYPD Blue. Not just that, but budget mode would probably still be in place.

If by some miracle there was season 16 in Fall 1994, Knots Landing would have been killed by ER.

Knots Landing was effectively over in Spring 1989 with Abby departure. I feel the final four seasons of Knots Landing only happened because CBS was in their primetime mess era.

[Khan]

I agree!!

[Vee]

I agree with all of this. We've talked about this stuff and ways to modernize it for the mid-'90s before (going a la thirtysomething or Picket Fences, etc.) and it's a nice thought experiment, but ultimately this was a show with a middle-aged cast that was going into a fourteenth (and possibly fifteenth) season. They had failed to make the next generation central and even then it would've been a crap shoot at that age. The show was just too old to keep running perpetually and while it had adapted well to the new decade from what I've seen in bits and pieces, it's not Bonanza or Grey's Anatomy. It was just old hat and considered done. It would've been like Fox running a show all about Jim and Cindy Walsh and their friends.

I'll say this: The only way I think it could've maybe worked (and it's a very slim maybe) is trying to pull a David E. Kelley Chicago Hope/The Practice or a Scrubs-type maneuver. Turn KL into a legacy brand, publicize it as that, do a big handoff and say this is KL for the '90s. You come back, there's been a year or two timejump and it's a largely all-new ensemble of young people, similar to what other posters have suggested. Maybe Karen and Mack are still there or Gary and Val, one couple or the other as mentor types but that's it. Maybe Abby or Sumner or others guest from time to time. See if you can bribe Pat Petersen and Tonya Crowe to return as Michael or Olivia with new spouses, or beg Nicollette Sheridan to stay on but otherwise it's all new people. People like Carla Gugino, who was just starting to become ubiquitous on primetime around then and particularly CBS, Billy Campbell, Tom Verica (later of Central Park West and How to Get Away with Murder), Lauren Velez, Michael Beach, Erika Alexander, maybe Mitchell Anderson as the gay guy on the block lol. Any number of young cute, more diverse LA people striving in a cul-de-sac they can't all afford, you name it.

OTOH you look at what happened to almost all of those shows above when they tried to overhaul. Chicago Hope and Scrubs never made it. So there you go.

Edited December 12, 2024 by Vee

[te.]

Honestly, I think it should've been a change that would've been gradual if it ever were to happen. Unfortunately, once they decided that Paige and Greg were a "thing" they pretty much limited her character that could've worked as an anchor character for a younger generation. Why on earth didn't Paige have friends? Olivia was written out when they realised that she was limited in what she could do with the older cast, instead of trying to write in younger ones around her. Linda was working, but then mindlessly killed off. Pat Petersen, bless his heart, clearly had checked out on acting by the end of his run. 

If you realistically look at shows like Grey's then you realise how early they actually started writing out OG cast members and how many new people they ended up introducing. They had a win some, lose some mentality. Knots got too attached to their leading ladies to stay relevant beyond 1993. Realistically they needed to be cycled out eventually or put in a more recurring role with younger people moving into the block if it was going to run indefinitively.

Edited December 12, 2024 by te.

[Khan]

ICAM with everything @Vee and @te. have said.  KL made a huge mistake in not investing more in their younger characters, especially in Olivia and Paige.  God bless Stacy Galina, but there's no way in hell I would've stuck around for a KL with her as the Karen-esque leading heroine of the show, lol.

And I'm always up for anything that includes Tom Verica!  That man is HOT!

Edited December 12, 2024 by Khan

[te.]

Greg probably should've been written out a few seasons before the show ended to be honest. It felt like they were struggling to write for him post-Laura. The whole thing with Paige was just... icky. They probably could've had him leave and have him let a younger boss (30-ish) take over the Sumner group. Have him or her be married and move into the cul de sac.

Gary and Val probably should've been given their walking papers once they got their happy ending considering how they really struggled to write for them. Again, pairing Gary with the much younger Stacy Galina was another choice. 

Karen and Mack could stay as the stable constant couple. 

[Liberty City]

HUNT BLOCK!? Holy COW!!!!!

[Marco Dane]

I still say Pat & Gary would've made a great couple if they gave Lynne Moody better material to work with. Wish they never killed the character off. 

Yeah he's a cutie lol

Greg should've been written off after the Empire Valley disaster. 

[Liberty City]

ALWAYS!!

[DRW50]

Paige/Greg didn't bother me as much as it probably should have, maybe because I didn't feel like the relationship ever consumed them. With that said, I don't think they handled the story right after Claudia and Kate arrived. Kate never should have existed, and Claudia should have been a guest character.

I would have had Greg bond with Meg and maybe have to start raising her - maybe Mack is comatose and Karen is severely injured after a car accident. And as Greg spends more time with Meg, Paige becomes resentful and also realizes she doesn't want to have children. Paige was leaving if the show had gotten another season, so this could have been a natural exit for her.