This spin off of CBS' DALLAS premiered midway through the 1979-80 season. KNOTS follows the lives of five families residing on an oceanside cul-de-sac in the town of Knots Landing, California. They are: Gary (Ted Shackelford) and Valene Ewing (Joan Van Ark), a young remarried couple who move to the cul-de-sac to escape the pressures of living in Dallas (namely JR and the Ewing family), Sid (Don Murray) and Karen Fairgate (Michele Lee), the friendly neighbors whose marriage is on solid ground, Richard (John Pleshette) and Laura Avery (Constance McCashin), whose marriage is in dire straits even with a young son, and Kenny (James Houghton) and Ginger Ward (Kim Lankford), the newlyweds who have bought their first home in the cul-de-sac. The show crossed over with DALLAS in its' early years when JR and Bobby made occasional visits. Things were spiced up when Abby Cunningham (Donna Mills), Sid's younger sister moved in and managed to break up Gary and Val. Other characters included the smarmy politician-turned-businessman Greg Sumner (William Devane), who tangled with Abby and married Laura when Richard took off after being accused of murder. There was also Mack Mackenzie (Kevin Dobson), who would marry Karen when Sid was killed in an auto accident. Paige Matheson (Nicollette Sheridan), Mack's daughter, who tangled with Sumner, was a major character. One of the show's story lines included the birth of Gary and Val's twins that were stolen from her at birth. When Bobby Ewing died on DALLAS and Pam Ewing dreamt the whole season, KNOTS suspended its' crossover plots with the parent series, for fear that KNOTS viewers would think that the present season was all a dream as well. So while Bobby was alive on DALLAS, he remained dead on KNOTS.
Review of Knots Landing
