Found an old short Donna Mills interview from the start of season 3. As always, I love how she explains Abby's appeal and believability. I also clipped a Knots promo I don't think was available on its own. It reminded me of just how unintentionally hilarious and stupid so much of that Ben spy past story was.

Simon & Simon/Knots Landing promo (1987)

Thanks @DRW50

40 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

. It reminded me of just how unintentionally hilarious and stupid so much of that Ben spy past story was.

Speaking of that lol here’s a newly surfaced promo from 2/8/87:

14 minutes ago, soapfan770 said:

Thanks @DRW50

Speaking of that lol here’s a newly surfaced promo from 2/8/87:

That's the one I was trying to link - it's hard to figure the new system out.

4 hours ago, DRW50 said:

how unintentionally hilarious and stupid so much of that Ben spy past story was.

Of the big three action thriller storylines (Wolfbridge, Empire Valley, Jean Hackney) Knots Landing had, Jean Hackney was the worst.

5 minutes ago, kalbir said:

Of the big three action thriller storylines (Wolfbridge, Empire Valley, Jean Hackney) Knots Landing had, Jean Hackney was the worst.

Honestly, I couldn't even follow the Jean Hackney story. The whole thing felt soooo out of place.

15 minutes ago, kalbir said:

Of the big three action thriller storylines (Wolfbridge, Empire Valley, Jean Hackney) Knots Landing had, Jean Hackney Falcon Crest-reject was the worst.

Fixed it for you my friend!

20 minutes ago, soapfan770 said:

Fixed it for you my friend!

Hahaha, dead 🤣

Angelica Nero, Jean Hackney, and the Falcon Crest henchwomen were all interchangeable.

I couldn't even understand why Jean Hackney (or whoever she was working for) wanted Greg Sumner dead, or why she wanted Ben to be the one to assassinate him. Laura and Val were friends (although, not as friendly as Val and Karen, or Karen and Laura), so I guess the thinking was, if one friend's husband had to kill the other, then that would put the friendship in jeopardy. But, to me, it would've been more impactful (if no less stupid) if Ben had had orders to kill Gary, or even Mack; or if Jean had blackmailed someone who had an actual connection to Greg to kill him. (A dicey proposition, I guess, since the only one who was close to him at that point WAS Laura). Otherwise, the whole story plays so random and off-the-top-of-the-head:

"Doug [Sheehan] says he'll stay another year if we give him a story, so let's say he used to be a spy and now someone wants him to kill someone."

"Who wants Ben to kill somebody?"

"Uh, a lingerie saleslady?"

"And who's Ben supposed to kill?"

"I dunno! Greg, maybe? Anyways. Let's talk about Nicollette. I don't think we're doing enough for her."

"She's literally in every scene!"

"Yeah, I don't think that's enough. Maybe we could have her play her mom in flashbacks, too?"

Edited yesterday at 01:31 AM1 day by Khan

29 minutes ago, Khan said:

I couldn't even understand why Jean Hackney (or whoever she was working for) wanted Greg Sumner dead, or why she wanted Ben to be the one to assassinate him. Laura and Val were friends (although, not as friendly as Val and Karen, or Karen and Laura), so I guess the thinking was, if one friend's husband had to kill the other, then that would put the friendship in jeopardy. But, to me, it would've been more impactful (if no less stupid) if Ben had had orders to kill Gary, or even Mack; or if Jean had blackmailed someone who had an actual connection to Greg to kill him. (A dicey proposition, I guess, since the only one who was close to him at that point WAS Laura). Otherwise, the whole story plays so random and off-the-top-of-the-head:

"Doug [Sheehan] says he'll stay another year if we give him a story, so let's say he used to be a spy and now someone wants him to kill someone."

"Who wants Ben to kill somebody?"

"Uh, a lingerie saleslady?"

"And who's Ben supposed to kill?"

"I dunno! Greg, maybe? Anyways. Let's talk about Nicollette. I don't think we're doing enough for her."

"She's literally in every scene!"

"Yeah, I don't think that's enough. Maybe we could have her play her mom in flashbacks, too?"

💀💀💀

Knots actually did try one more time for a conspiracy thriller with the Okmin Industries story in Season 11 but that story doesn’t ever make any sense whatsoever even when I tried to follow it closely other than I realize now they did recast the evil shadowy James Bond villain who was running Okmin and barking orders to Tom Ryan. But then it turned into as @DRW50 would say Mac screaming “DIRTY COP!” every scene and the deus ex machina of Greg realizing Okmin was some secret subsidiary of the Sumner Group had the whole thing end of a whimper. Which was even more silly than the pointless conclusion of the Ted Melcher arc.

Edited yesterday at 02:09 AM1 day by soapfan770

52 minutes ago, Khan said:

Let's talk about Nicollette. I don't think we're doing enough for her."

"She's literally in every scene!"

"Yeah, I don't think that's enough. Maybe we could have her play her mom in flashbacks, too?"

Nicollette Sheridan was not in the main cast until the season 10 premiere and once she was elevated to the main cast, Paige practically ate the show for the remainder of the run.

24 minutes ago, kalbir said:

Nicollette Sheridan was not in the main cast until the season 10 premiere and once she was elevated to the main cast, Paige practically ate the show for the remainder of the run.

After season 8 or so I never felt it...maybe because other parts of the show always annoyed me more. That's how I felt about garbage like Danny Woleska, which just never seemed to end.

I've been rewatching the show on Plex. I didn't start really watching until Season 11 back when I was a teenager, so all the earlier seasons were basically brand new for me. I hated how Laura was basically given nothing to do her last few seasons until it was time for her to die. CM was such a phenomenal actress! I really had a huge appreciation for her watching those early seasons now as an adult.

I'm now in the early episodes of season 13....God, help me! You can see it going off the rails. I think the show held up pretty decently up until the end of Season 12.

I don't think I watched much of Season 14 when it originally aired. So, that will be mostly new to me, too. I know a lot has to do with Mary Robinson. At least they tried to make Laura part of the narrative sort-of at the end.

I have been watching seasons 12-14 over the past several days. Some observations.

Gary & Tidal Energy......When he loses the ranch due this mess, it would have been an interesting plot twist if J.R. had been behind it and takes possession of the ranch. It could have opened up a final showdown with Gary/Val/J.R.. The Bobby back from the dead ruined any crossovers. Thanks Patrick Duffy with your stupid screw up.

Too Much Paige......and the guy of the week she's sleeping with.

The Mary Robeson Plot....re-written backstory of Laura's mother not being dead. I'm still in the middle of re-watching this unfold. Kevin Dobson and Michelle Lee loved chewing scenery with the Meg crap. They would continue with the Meg drama in "Back to the Cul-de-sac" (1997)

Gary/Kate.......ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Karen The Vigilante..........Karen goes ape crap and takes off in her Lincoln Town Car after being shot with a paint gun which results in the car crash of the teen boys (with Jason in the car). Karen was off the rails by the point.

Val's Brain Virus.........the writers obviously hated Joan Van Ark by this time and made her look like an idiot every chance they got.