"Ackerman!" -- Karen tapped into a side of herself we haven't seen since Chip was in the hospital.

Seems like once Karen uses that tone, some guy's gonna end up dead soon.

18 hours ago, Franko said:

Seems like once Karen uses that tone, some guy's gonna end up dead soon.

If only she had used said tone on Coblentz, lol.

On 11/3/2025 at 10:04 PM, Khan said:

Frankly, I think anyone would've been a better choice for Earl Trent than (Not That) Paul Rudd, lol.  But I think I would've gone another way and casted John Rubinstein.  At least he wasn't a total drip, lol.

John Rubinstein would have been an excellent choice or maybe Gary Frank. Bruce Fairbairn who played Ray Geary on KL and was Ontkean's replacement on The Rookies could have also worked as Earl. 

I have been watching The Rookies on Roku streaming and it's still a fun show to watch. Kate Jackson and Sam Melville were so believable as couple. She is so totally different there than Sabrina Duncan on Charlie's Angels. When she did Scarecrow and Mrs. King in the 80's she cast Melville as her ex-husband.

 

Up to "Vulnerable":

I am beyond ready for Val to scream her guts out at Joshua and kick his sanctimonious ass out on the street. I know this won't happen (although thank you, lord, for the small favor of Ben knocking Joshua's lights out), and I know I should be applauding KL for playing every emotional beat of the storyline, but it's just so damn unpleasant and offputting that I'm ready to fast-forward. It can be said; Joshua is my Diana. (With all due respect to Alec Baldwin as an actor.)

My theory on Nurse Wilson was that she distributed meds without a prescription to needy neighbors, and that's what Ackerman had on her. The dialogue makes it seem like Wilson was involved in the arrangement Ackerman had with Easton and (at least) one more person, Cavanaugh the adoption guy. I initially assumed the Easton-Ackerman operation was as bare bones as possible, but I guess they would need someone to facilitate the adoptions rather than finding couples themselves.

Edited November 8Nov 8 by Franko

@Franko thanks for the recommendation to such a fun blog post -- I appreciate all the context of the change in time slots, the reaction to the prior season's writing, the writing changes, the Colby's premiering and crashing and how that must have frightened CBS programming, the reaction to the dream season on Dallas -  it is cool to think about.  His joke about her dual role leading to a concern about the drinking water on the Lorimar lot is great.

30 minutes ago, Franko said:

I should be applauding KL for playing every emotional beat of the storyline, but it's just so damn unpleasant and offputting that I'm ready to fast-forward.

I understand this reaction—but isn’t it also a reaction to the medium? If you were watching weekly (as intended), it might have felt more palatable simply because there was more time between episodes. It seems like a streaming issue: when the writers were originally crafting the scripts, they had to reorient the audience to Joshua’s misdeeds each week, rather than rely on the kind of recall that comes with a focused rewatch.

Edited November 8Nov 8 by j swift

19 minutes ago, j swift said:

@Franko thanks for the recommendation to such a fun blog post -- I appreciate all the context of the change in time slots, the reaction to the prior season's writing, the writing changes, the Colby's premiering and crashing and how that must have frightened CBS programming, the reaction to the dream season on Dallas -  it is cool to think about.  His joke about her dual role leading to a concern about the drinking water on the Lorimar lot is great.

I understand this reaction—but isn’t it also a reaction to the medium? If you were watching weekly (as intended), it might have felt more palatable simply because there was more time between episodes. It seems like a streaming issue: when the writers were originally crafting the scripts, they had to reorient the audience to Joshua’s misdeeds each week, rather than rely on the kind of recall that comes with a focused rewatch.

I'm glad you got a kick out of the Krasker essay. He did the entire series, and also has some excellent ones about sitcoms.

Ah, the perils of binge watching. At the rate I'm going, I might finally be caught up and ready to do one episode per week in time with the 40th anniversary of the 1986 episodes. I might end up appreciating every nuance of Paige's introduction.

 

Nicholette Sheridan must be great in an audition, and certainly grew as an actress during her time on DH. 

Spoiler

But, I had completely forgotten about the misdirect of Paige's identity in season 8.  I recalled the gross "who's the daddy storyline" with Greg and Mack, but, I had no memory of the death hoax.  And the boat accident.

Thinking about writing for streaming versus long form episodic TV, it is interesting to think that each set of creative teams had the opportunity to adapt to audience response, but so few chose to react.  He cites that even worst team abandoned the Tidal Energy plot after three months, but the season 8 team refused to adapt to their audience over the course of an entire nine moth season.

Edited November 8Nov 8 by j swift

The one element I liked about the Paige character was that she was one of the few characters that didn't treat Karen as if she was the second coming of Christ.  She usually was polite to Karen with Karen also being polite to her.  I think Karen knew if she was her usual 'Karen' self with Paige that Mac would have been pissed at her so even Karen knew when the reign in her toxic interfering ways. LOL

@Soaplovers your comment reminded of Krasker's other great scene synopsis -- much like my favorite scene ever when Abby calls Paige a nepo-baby -- Sheridan's deadpan expression allows other actors to shine in scenes where they get to be mean to her.

https://thatsallsiknow.blogspot.com/2017/05/knots-landing-season-8.html

Edited November 8Nov 8 by j swift

44 years ago today on 11/12/81:

On 11/8/2025 at 10:05 AM, j swift said:

 

When Nicollette Sheridan was elevated to the main cast in season 10, Paige practically ate the show for the remainder of its run. 

Greg/Paige had the ick factors of Paige being the daughter of Greg's frenemy Mack and at one point Greg was believed to have been Paige's father.

It's funny that Greg/Paige was at the same time as JR/Cally on Dallas. Both pairings were equally icky.

3 hours ago, soapfan770 said:

44 years ago today on 11/12/81:

It's scary when you look in a mirror and realize you have the same hairdo as Michele Lee's from 1981.

3 hours ago, kalbir said:

When Nicollette Sheridan was elevated to the main cast in season 10, Paige practically ate the show for the remainder of its run. 

Greg/Paige had the ick factors of Paige being the daughter of Greg's frenemy Mack and at one point Greg was believed to have been Paige's father.

It's funny that Greg/Paige was at the same time as JR/Cally on Dallas. Both pairings were equally icky.

I don't think Greg/Paige was on the same level as JR/Cally. Cally was presented as very naive whereas Paige gave as good as she got. Greg also never seemed as abusive in his relationships, at least to me.

I didn't really care about Mack because Mack was unwatchable by that time, and Greg never knew her before he thought she was his daughter for about two minutes.

I wasn't a fan of Greg/Paige either, but they, and Paige's airtime, were not really an issue for me in those last seasons. So much of the show was cycling around extremely spent characters (Karen, Val, Gary) and a parade of failed new hires. Paige and Linda scheming at Sumner was more entertaining to me. 

I will say I thought the Paige and DIRTY COP story was dull, but I blame that on him.

Paige was a shot of energy that the show needed, the problem was that there was a lack of viable other characters in her peer group that could have helped sustain the show.   

Michael and Eric were created for a show that was originally supposed to be Family esque so they didn't really work acting/story wise when the show transitioned into a primetime soap opera.  They always seemed kind of out of place to me.

To me, Olivia vs Paige could have been an interesting story since we witnessed their warm friendship implode at the end of season 8/early season 9.. and that element could have been revisited in season 10 and season 11 since Greg did become Olivia's step dad in season 10 and I'm sure having Olivia working at the Sumner Group in season 11 would have ensured she wasn't islanded off.