8 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

One thing Knots and other soaps failed to do was look into the past and bring back characters.

eg Jeff Cunningham, Abby's ex could have easily turned up to see his kids and reconnect with Abby in some way.

Karen's brother Joe and a myriad of other characters could have returned for short stints to provide story for the long running characters, rather than always bringing in new people.

A rare exception was Mary-Frances Sumner, who was brought back for 1 episode to be promptly assassinated.

I've always felt that Jane Elliot should have returned at some point - if not as Judy, then as a new character, one who could've gone toe-to-toe with Donna Mills and William Devane.

I always wondered why we never saw Sid's daughter Annie again after the pilot. Now that I'm in the second half of S5 and that awful twit Diana is finally absent for a long stretch of episodes, I think it would have made a lot of sense if we'd seen her reconnect with a reformed Annie would promises Karen that she'll take care of her.

Speaking of Karen. I absolutely understand why Michele Lee disliked the pill addiction story. She fell into addiction way too quickly and with no nuance to speak of. We've had more of her as a hardcore pillhead who is pushing away everyone who loves her than we had of the build-up to addiction.

I'm slowly adjusting to the "new" show. It's a deep dive into three soap subgenres that I've never been crazy about - crime, business, and politics - at the expense of what, to me, is purest subgenre of soap - domestic life. I think what's tough for business on KL rather than business on the other three shows is that the other three shows had family woven tightly into the business storylines. For Knots, the more you go into business, the less you're in to family.

For me personally, at least up to Season 7 (where I left off) I felt KL still was balancing the big business stuff with the domestic/suburban roots well. It works because they spent so much time in the first few seasons building that world and those relationships, and they lean so heavily on them even while all the women in the cul-de-sac are evolving and taking on careers outside of the home and their husbands or exes. And ultimately interaction and connectivity still shows up there, in the neighborhood and in people's homes as well as the office or other domiciles.

I talked a year or two ago about how surreal it was seeing Laura, Abby and grown-up Eric all working at Lotus Point in suits, etc. but how it also felt organic to the past, because we knew those people, those relationships and how they'd gotten there. That's still where it stands for me atm.

The addiction story is a little sudden but I also think it was incredible work, both for Lee and from the writers in how they depicted the marital fallout for both Karen and Mack. And yes, it was a mistake not bringing back Annie (recast, obviously).

7 minutes ago, Vee said:

For me personally, at least up to Season 7 (where I left off) I felt KL still was balancing the big business stuff with the domestic/suburban roots well. It works because they spent so much time in the first few seasons building that world and those relationships, and they lean so heavily on them even while all the women in the cul-de-sac are evolving and taking on careers outside of the home and their husbands or exes. And ultimately interaction and connectivity still shows up there, in the neighborhood and in people's homes as well as the office or other domiciles.

I talked a year or two ago about how surreal it was seeing Laura, Abby and grown-up Eric all working at Lotus Point in suits, etc. but how it also felt organic to the past, because we knew those people, those relationships and how they'd gotten there. That's still where it stands for me atm.

The addiction story is a little sudden but I also think it was incredible work, both for Lee and from the writers in how they depicted the marital fallout for both Karen and Mack. And yes, it was a mistake not bringing back Annie (recast, obviously).

You're absolutely right re: the business storylines. From the little sneak peeks I've seen on the FAST channel, the anchor does stay in the cul-de-sac for a while, and I think that's why I'm not as turned off as I thought I would be. I'm 100% here for the ladies all being career women, and I still can't get over how much I love Val as a character and how much she's evolved since the first episode. Meanwhile, Gary is still getting played by Abby while making his own dumb mistakes.

The one thing about Val that is pissing me off is that hideous dark pink living room. It looks like a set from a 70s John Waters movie (which isn't a bad thing if this is a 70s John Waters movie).

I'm actually finishing up "Reconcilable Differences" right now, and yes, I can already see that the real meat of the addiction storyline will be the fallout for the McKenzie marriage.

It still feels like they're kinda just pushing Laura around with no real plan. Idk. It's like she playing the role Shannon Tweed played on Falcon Crest - the supporting "associate" of the main baddie who gets her own jollies every now and then.

2 hours ago, All My Shadows said:

The one thing about Val that is pissing me off is that hideous dark pink living room. It looks like a set from a 70s John Waters movie (which isn't a bad thing if this is a 70s John Waters movie)..

🤣.....That mauve pink was pretty bad. Val must have picked that color after seeing it used on The Cosby Show. The house looked better during the early seasons with Miss Ellie's gifted antique furniture. The only thing that bugged me was the 2 wing chairs in the living room did not match each other and should have been reupholstered.

When Gary & Val remarried and moved back to the cul-de-sac , Val was complaining about trying to make the ranch stuff fit. It would have been a nice throwback if Gary had told her about having a storage unit and she goes out there walks in and see's all of Miss Ellie's stuff still there and brings it back to use in the house. Gary later walks in and it's DeJa'Vu. 

 

40 years ago

 

Okay, so the Wolfbridge climax is heating up (I'm on the third to last episode). I should have been finished with S5 by now, but I really couldn't watch over the last few days. Some thoughts, though:

There's the Laura I know, completely regretting her decision to get involved in this mess. I can believe that after Richard left, she was feeling herself as a bad bish and vying for her piece of the pie, and now that things have gotten much more complicated, she's dialing it back. Her exposing Abby was very satisfying.

Speaking of, as much as we love an Abby, I've loved watching her get her come-uppance in all of this. I'm learning more about who this character is, and the layers keep coming. It's like she's at a higher level than Laura, wanting to be THAT GIRL who makes big sht happen, but she, too, found herself in too deep, and now she's panicking. She's a lot tougher than Laura, though, so she won't give up so easily, and she'll maintain her composure and cool exterior even as she's quietly freaking tf out inside.

The one thing that's feeling hollow here is the sudden "Gary has been murdered" angle. Were viewers in 1984 really supposed to believe that Gary was dead? It all happened so quickly, and for the supposed death of the show's male lead, it's felt so inconsequential, everyone's reactions seem so false (even Val's), and it just feels rushed - especially literally an episode after we've been led to believe that Ben might be dead, too. Maybe I'm making it up, but I feel like I've read that they wanted to end this season on the cliffhanger of "Did Gary die?" but were forced to extend by a few episodes?

1 hour ago, All My Shadows said:

Maybe I'm making it up, but I feel like I've read that they wanted to end this season on the cliffhanger of "Did Gary die?" but were forced to extend by a few episodes?

Yes, that's accurate.

I think the fallout of the fake death was very well-done with Abby and Val myself, but parts of it do lag. Still, it also led to the key moment in the end of the season where Gary confronts Abby and she says she didn't mean to betray him with Wolfbridge, 'I never thought of it that way' - which to many of the longtime staff writers like Richard Gollance, and to Donna Mills herself, was key to Abby's character. She wanted to advance her own standing as a professional woman, so she compartmentalized what she was doing to Gary and with his money while still loving him. We're blessed in that there is actually a ton of in-depth interview material online on various fan sites with the actors and the writers/producers discussing a lot of this stuff in expansive detail.

This takes full flight in Season 6 when their relationship matures (for the better IMO), but it's fated not to last given other circumstances.

Edited September 30Sep 30 by Vee

 

 

On 8/4/2025 at 11:49 AM, Soapsuds said:

It took me a minute to stop thinking, “how nice that Donna took this photo with a fan…!” and realize, “OMG, that’s Tonya Crowe!”

Both look terrific!