One more thing ... I'm up to "A Piece of the Pie." Fare thee well, establishing shot of the LAX Marriott. You served your purpose well, introducing many Greg and/or Laura scenes for nearly two years. I wonder if I'll feel so verklempt when I stop seeing Lotus Point from a helicopter. And I know I will when they stop running the view of Seaview Circle from that one tree.

On 10/26/2025 at 6:44 PM, soapfan770 said:

Maybe Steve Shaw before he passed? Idk. Patrick Peterson was too generic. My preteen gay self might have a minor crush on Thomas Wilson Brown in Honey I Shrunk the Kids, but his role and appearance as Jason is so completely different from the movie that I wonder why I ever found him cute lol. 

I thought Steve Shaw had matured into a very handsome young man by 1986/87. Pat Petersen was cute--but more in a Tiger Beat kind of way (so, not really my thing back then as a teenager myself). However, I must admit it was quite a revelation in watching it in 2025 to see Pat bulging and bouncing around in seasons 7 and 8 (so far) in his shorts and sweatpants. Hey--if someone puts themselves out there, it's ok to (tastefully) comment on it, IMO. (And for the record, Pat was over 18 at that time, so I'm hopefully not offending anyone. If it makes a difference, Pat totally wasn't my type anyway. I probably would've been more interested in Steve. LOL)  With all that said, up to that point, KL wasn't necessarily casting guys who were super-hot. Attractive and handsome, yes. Super-hot, no. Those were different times, I think, in which as long as you were in good shape (like, say, Hunt Block was in good physical shape at that time), you were considered "hot."

Edited November 1Nov 1 by DanMan869

15 minutes ago, DanMan869 said:

Those were different times, I think, in which as long as you were in good shape (like, say, Hunt Block was in good physical shape at that time), you were considered "hot."

Nothing has changed today. So many guys are swooned over just because they have a 'good bod'.

21 minutes ago, DanMan869 said:

Pat Petersen was cute--but more in a Tiger Beat kind of way

a nineteen-year-old update from Mr Peterson https://www.angelfire.com/tv2/Dukes/patrick_petersen_interview.html

AS: With your character’s role expanding, Steve Shaw, your brother on the show, saw his character winding down. Was he written off the show or did he want to leave?

Petersen: I know Steve was having some issues with working. It was an awkward time to be working in front of the camera … but I’m not sure what exactly happened. I think it was a mutual decision.

AS: And when you left the show in 1991, was that similar to why Steve Shaw left?

Petersen: I can’t say it was mutual. Certainly I wanted out. I had been doing it for too long. For me it was time to move on and I had other interests becoming more important to me.

AS: Did they offer you another contract?

Petersen: No.

Edited November 1Nov 1 by j swift

On 3/31/2023 at 1:53 AM, Vee said:

 

• Meanwhile, Karen is still on the baby case as this story prepares to hit a roadblock hinging, bizarrely, on national bridge tournaments for several episodes straight. We are not told that not one but two doctors were mysteriously sent away to a convention, presumably to put the creepy Dr. Ackerman in play for Val’s delivery. This begs the question of how far up does the entire baby scheme go if, as we were led to believe before, Scott Easton was in it alone at Galveston? I could swear I remember and wrote about a scene where Galveston discovered the late Easton's papers outlining the baby caper. So how did this come about and why? We still don't quite know. I'm not sure if we will.

Okay, I think I've worked this out. Let's see if my explanation makes sense. I'll try to keep conjecture to a minimum and stick to facts.

Abby confided in Scott Easton about the inconvenience of Val carrying Gary's babies. Easton decided to take the babies out of the picture. We never got Easton's complete motive for doing this, but the way I see it was that he wanted to go above and beyond for Abby and prove himself essential to her operations. I don't believe he intended to blackmail Abby or try forcing her to have sex with him, but it's possible that either could have happened had Easton lived and he found himself out of favor with her.

The caper was a two-man affair beween Easton and Dr. Ackerman. Ackerman's motive was making enough money to pay off his gambling debts. I haven't yet finished Season Six, but I assume Ackerman would have been paid by both Easton and Harry Fisher.

In "A Piece of the Pie," Val's normal doctor says that she and a colleague were called away to "not much of a conference," allowing Ackerman to be there for the delivery. It's possible that the non-conspirator doctors were lured away to something as simple as a glorified trade show, or whatever the medical equivalent would be. Either way, they were out of commission.

Prior to his death, Easton had been intensely involved in negotiations with Galveston Industries. If I remember right, by the end, they got as far as Paul Galveston himself. We know that Easton was killed aboard the GI plane. The unanswered question is whether it was because he knew or found out too much about Empire Valley (like the murdered GI secretaries), because Paul especially disliked underlings who don't know their place (indicated with his feelings about Abby's detective, the one who was trying to force her into having sex with him), or both (as in the case of the one doomed secretary-turned-whistleblower who was trying to protect the people of Westfall).

Paul did not know about the babies caper until he found out about it in Easton's papers. There was, indeed, literally a scene where Paul discovered this information. Prior to his death, Paul had located the Fishers. Some of his final scenes indicate that Paul would have eventually notified Gary as to where the babies were. 

 

TL, DR: Scott Easton MASSIVELY overstepped. If he had done his homework with Abby, he'd realize that separating a mother from her children wouldn't impress her. If he had done his homework with Paul, he'd learn to walk especially carefully.

ETA: Nurse Wilson was an innocent victim, initially intimidated into silence by Dr. Ackerman.

Edited November 2Nov 2 by Franko

7 minutes ago, Franko said:

There was, indeed, literally a scene where Paul discovered this information. Prior to his death, Paul had located the Fishers. Some of his final scenes indicate that Paul would have eventually notified Gary as to where the babies were. 

It is impressive you dug this post up lol. Not unappreciated.

I remember this scene, and I remember Galveston making the discovery. But I thought Easton was working for Galveston for a long time. It seemed bizarre for him to want to fanatically insinuate himself into Abby Ewing's good graces so much as to involve himself in Ackerman's baby trafficking, unless Galveston already had his eye on Gary.

10 minutes ago, Vee said:

It is impressive you dug this post up lol. Not unappreciated.

I've been re-reading your posts as I make my way through the seasons. I hope you'll consider bringing them back for late Season 7 and/or the start of Season 8. I can't remember where you left off).

10 minutes ago, Vee said:

I remember this scene, and I remember Galveston making the discovery. But I thought Easton was working for Galveston for a long time. It seemed bizarre for him to want to fanatically insinuate himself into Abby Ewing's good graces so much as to involve himself in Ackerman's baby trafficking, unless Galveston already had his eye on Gary.

Easton's an odd duck. It is bizarre that he really, really wanted to prove his worth to Abby. Maybe I'm imagining it, or over-inflating what was on screen, but some of Easton's scenes with Abby did have a little bit of that subtle flirting vibe that she had with Jim Westmont (and Gary at the way, way start of their story).

Yet another unanswered question: Did Easton and Ackerman know one another before the caper? How on earth did their paths cross?

26 minutes ago, Franko said:

I've been re-reading your posts as I make my way through the seasons. I hope you'll consider bringing them back for late Season 7 and/or the start of Season 8. I can't remember where you left off).

I likely will when I resume watching, though it's gotten difficult with the show hopscotching across platforms. I still have access, but IRL events and work obligations, and other shows have taken up time. I left off a third into Season 7, just after Joshua's death.

I just assume Easton was fanatical about his loyalties to Galveston, who had already demonstrated a clear interest in making Gary his successor; ergo, Easton wanted to secure wife Abby's cooperation and/or approval. I did not think the twins were a one-off for Ackerman. I got the impression he'd done this before, and that Easton might've been involved.

Edited November 2Nov 2 by Vee

3 minutes ago, Vee said:

I likely will when I resume watching, though it's gotten difficult with the show hopscotching across platforms. I still have access, but IRL events and work obligations, and other shows have taken up time. I left off a third into Season 7, just after Joshua's death.

I understand that. The hopscotching got on my nerves so much that I decided just to outright buy seasons so that I wouldn't have to wait for a return.

And speaking of Joshua ... I'm at the point where I'm ready for him to fall off the damn roof already (and I've still got at least a dozen episodes to go).

3 minutes ago, Vee said:

I just assume Easton was fanatical about his loyalties to Galveston, who had already demonstrated a clear interest in making Gary his successor; ergo, Easton wanted to secure wife Abby's cooperation and/or approval. I did not think the twins were a one-off for Ackerman. I got the impression he'd done this before, and that Easton might've been involved.

All of that makes sense, yes. Thank you for filling in those extra blanks.

Earlier in the thread, we talked about how these mid-'80s seasons have a '70s paranoia thriller vibe to them without necessarily homaging a specific movie. I thought of that when we got to the failed whistleblower Galveston Industries secretary, whose plight is slightly reminiscent of Silkwood.

29 minutes ago, Franko said:

Earlier in the thread, we talked about how these mid-'80s seasons have a '70s paranoia thriller vibe to them without necessarily homaging a specific movie. I thought of that when we got to the failed whistleblower Galveston Industries secretary, whose plight is slightly reminiscent of Silkwood.

It reminds me a lot of the the '70s political thrillers, yes, most specifically what the legendary Alan J. Pakula called his "paranoia trilogy" - Klute, All the President's Men, The Parallax View. All great films. And I do think the EV/Galveston saga (as well as Wolfbridge) worked similarly in Season 6, even the whole tidal basin killer subplot which kind of fizzled out once the old man died.

Empire Valley itself, with its surveillance empire, is very relevant to today even if it got cartoonish in Season 7. But I can't say I hate it thus far as I find it very modern to the moment. Whether KL should've been exploring it is debatable, but I do think it worked for them when they tried similar things in Seasons 5 and 6.

I think @Khan is right about Joshua - if someone hadn't had it in for Baldwin, he and Lisa Hartman could've become a younger tentpole couple. They had real heat before Joshua went totally nuts.

I should add my resuming Knots has been hampered by Dallas going on demand. I was watching Season 7 concurrently with the Dallas dream season, to map and compare their swap of creative teams. Dunne's team was doing interesting stuff over there, at least early on. I can still access it, but not having the HD masters sucks.

Edited November 2Nov 2 by Vee

2 hours ago, Franko said:

Paul did not know about the babies caper until he found out about it in Easton's papers. There was, indeed, literally a scene where Paul discovered this information. Prior to his death, Paul had located the Fishers. Some of his final scenes indicate that Paul would have eventually notified Gary as to where the babies were. 

The Galveston papers don't resolve for a while. They play a key role in the season with Ava Gardner.  I think it is a clever narrative mechanism that allowed them to explore Paul's schemes, without the need of the actual actor on screen.  

14 hours ago, Vee said:

I think @Khan is right about Joshua - if someone hadn't had it in for Baldwin, he and Lisa Hartman could've become a younger tentpole couple. They had real heat before Joshua went totally nuts.

Of course, this begs the question: what could they have done with Joshua (and Cathy) if he hadn't gone off the rails?  Keeping him in the ministry would've been a dead end, story-wise, because there would've been no way for the producers to tie that arena in with everything else on the show.  So, what could they have done with Joshua?  Could he have left the ministry and maybe become an attorney like Mack?  Or followed in Ben's footsteps and become a journalist/news producer?  Or gone to work for Gary and Abby at Gary Ewing Enterprises?  Or joined the police force and become KL's resident cop?  (I could see a story where Joshua, new to the force, has to protect Cathy from a stalker).  Or maybe just decide to become Cathy's manager/record producer, thus plunging KL once again into the recording industry?

The issues @Franko and @Vee raise regarding Dr. Ackerman, Scott Easton and Paul Galveston's roles in Bobby and Betsy's kidnapping illustrate the drawback with the storytelling on most primetime soaps.  Because there's only so much time per episode or per week to tell these stories, beats often get left out, thereby making it seem as if the producers don't have all their ducks in a row, and leaving it to the audience to fill in the blanks. 

Also, in the case of this particular storyline, it's probably important to remember what the producers' original intentions were (to have Abby be an active, knowing participant in the twins' kidnapping) and how they had to scramble and rewrite after Donna Mills (rightfully) objected to Abby doing something so venal to a fellow mother (especially considering how Abby's own kids had been kidnapped years before); so, some characters' exact motives likely got muddied a bit.

I didn't realize I was in the minority in thinking that most of the male cast of Knots were hotties. Ted Shackelford will always be it for me, especially when Gary was in his ticky, philandering prime cheating with Abby and picking fights with Kenny. James Houghton and Doug Sheehan are up there for me, too, and though Chip was such a slimy character, Michael Sabatino brought that artificial charm that accentuated his sexiness. It was very easy to understand why Lilimae had those unspeakable "feelings" for him. Kinda wish they'd actually explored that more but also very glad they didn't - can you imagine Julie Harris as Lilimae as Barbara Stanwyck as Mary Carson? "Insahde this bawdy, Chip, I am STILL YAWNG!"

When I've watched S7 and S8 episodes here and there on the FAST channel, I'm always "Well damn" anytime Pat Peterson walks his thicc self into a scene. He and Steve Shaw both grew well into their looks. Steve's untimely death never feels real any time Eric appears.
 

On 10/26/2025 at 8:14 PM, Khan said:

Unfortunately, short of turning Ginger into an early version of MP's Kimberly Shaw (i.e., the resident, full-blown psycho hose beast), I don't believe there was any way for the producers to remedy the situation.  For one thing, I think Kim Lankford was a very limited actress.  For another, with all the other women on the show fulfilling very specific needs - Karen as the moral compass whose job is to be the viewers' advocate and the center of calm in all the chaos, Val as the put-upon heroine at the center of the more emotional stories, Abby as the scheming vixen who brings both the sex (for male viewers) and the wish fulfillment (for females), and Laura as the prickly, sarcastic, often mercurial independent woman who's neither a goody-two-shoes (like Karen or Val) nor a raging bitch (like Abby) - which need is left for Ginger to fulfill (again, besides the resident psycho)?  And even if they HAD gone in that direction, would it have been a sustainable one?  I mean, from what I remember, even Kimberly was killed off for good eventually, because there was just nowhere left for her to go.

As much as I want to make a case for Ginger staying on, I really can't disagree with you on any of this. Even though KL predated Golden Girls, it's another female ensemble that (very very loosely) fits the basic mold: Karen/Dorothy, Val/Rose, Laura/Sophia, and Abby/Blanche.

20 hours ago, Vee said:

It reminds me a lot of the the '70s political thrillers, yes, most specifically what the legendary Alan J. Pakula called his "paranoia trilogy" - Klute, All the President's Men, The Parallax View. All great films. And I do think the EV/Galveston saga (as well as Wolfbridge) worked similarly in Season 6, even the whole tidal basin killer subplot which kind of fizzled out once the old man died.

Empire Valley itself, with its surveillance empire, is very relevant to today even if it got cartoonish in Season 7. But I can't say I hate it thus far as I find it very modern to the moment. Whether KL should've been exploring it is debatable, but I do think it worked for them when they tried similar things in Seasons 5 and 6.

I'll keep an open mind. So far, I'm mostly liking what I see.

19 hours ago, j swift said:

The Galveston papers don't resolve for a while. They play a key role in the season with Ava Gardner.  I think it is a clever narrative mechanism that allowed them to explore Paul's schemes, without the need of the actual actor on screen.  

I'm getting a kick out of Ruth being an unapologetic Abby and Greg shipper. I know that's going to tie into the Easton papers that Galveston obtained.

4 hours ago, Khan said:

Or gone to work for Gary and Abby at Gary Ewing Enterprises?

Maybe I was seeing things, but I swear they just briefly teased the idea of an Abby-Joshua hookup, during Donna and Alec's first scenes. By the time Joshua was working at Pacific World Cable, that idea seemed to be a no-go.