Knots Landing started off as a spin off to Dallas,dealing with Lucy's Mum and Dad,Gary and Valene remarrying and moving to a Southern California Cul De Sac after Miss Ellie buys them a house,to make up for all the ill treatment they both suffered from the Ewings. Joan Van Ark and Ted Shackleford were both excellent throughout the entire run as was the wonderful Michele Lee who through the seasons lost her beloved husband Sid(Don Murray)got his murderers convicted and married the fiery Mack(Kevin Dobson) Karen was the only character to appear in all the Knots episodes and she was the voice of the people,in one episode when she spoke of wanting to be able to trust people,send cash in the mail etc. After a fairly quiet first season,the Cul De Sac was rocked by the arrival of Sid's sister Abby(Donna Mills)who stole Gary from Val and really brought sex and scandal to Knots Landing. Donna Mills played the part with great gusto and humour,when she left around season 10,she was sorely missed. When popular character Ciji Dunn(Lisa Hartman) was killed off,the was an outcry from fans,so the writers,created a new character lookalike Cathy Greary(Lisa Hartman again)with the plot being Abby hiring a lookalike to send Gary off the rails while she spend his inheritance! When Joan Van Ark left in the last season,Val appeared to die in a car crash but returned in the two episode finale,she'd been kidnapped for a year,a happy ending for the show!. The show didn't shrink from the reality of death though,with Sid's death and later popular character Laura(Constance McCashin)dying from brain cancer. A great show with a great cast,special mention also to William Devane for a great performance as Greg Sumner. It deserved its very long run!
Review of Knots Landing
