Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 6158" data-attributes="member: 22">14/Oct/82: KNOTS LANDING: Encounters v. 15/Oct/82: DALLAS: Billion Dollar Question v. 15/Oct/82: FALCON CREST: Troubled WatersAlongside books, newspapers and oil, another Soap Land industry is now officially in the doldrums: “Count yourself lucky to be out of the car business, it’s getting worse and worse,” a former associate of Gary Ewing tells him. "Computers, video - that’s where to be nowadays.” Or maybe restaurants. Or even singers.This week we meet Ciji (sporting a longer version of Sue Ellen’s femullet) and hear her sing what is, by real life standards, a conventional power ballad (Journey’s “Open Arms”), but which, in the context of KNOTS LANDING, feels genuinely exciting. That is, we share the characters' excitement as they watch her perform. Seeing Gary and then Kenny fall under her spell is strangely affecting. Similarly, I find myself deriving a weird sort of pleasure from Richard’s enthusiasm for the restaurant-for-sale he happens upon while waiting for a job interview, and his subsequent realisation that perhaps he wasn’t cut out for lawyering in the first place. ("I never liked it. it was never right for me.”). I’m not used to empathising with Soap Land characters so strongly. Maybe it’s the vicarious thrill of one of “us” deciding to follow his dream. Or maybe it’s seeing the KNOTS LANDING world starting to expand in front of our eyes. Or perhaps it’s just not possible for me to watch this period of the show without the benefit of hindsight, and therefore anticipating what an impact both Ciji and Richard’s restaurant are about to have. Over on DALLAS, Richard’s counterpart in despair at the end of last season, Cliff Barnes, also turns a career corner this week, taking his first step into the oil business by accepting a job with Marilee Stone.Elsewhere on KNOTS, as part of the PR campaign surrounding the upcoming publication of “Capricorn Crude”, Val is introduced to Hilda Grant, a gossip columnist with a readership of three and a half million. (What Richard Channing wouldn’t give for that kind of circulation.) "This book is really about the Ewings of Dallas, right?” Grant asks her. “I made it up,” Val insists, but Grant perseveres: “I heard your sister-in-law begged you not to publish this for fear it would block the adoption of her baby.” Add this to JR’s claim in last week’s KNOTS that Miss Ellie and Sue Ellen are also upset about the book’s publication, and it would appear that the Ewing wives on DALLAS are up in arms over “Capricorn Crude".Needless to say, none of the women in DALLAS has even mentioned Val’s book. They’ve all got their own story-lines to contend with (or in Pam’s case, Lucy’s, as she undergoes Soap Land’s first abortion). So it appears there are several “versions” of the DALLAS Ewings currently floating around. There’s Val’s fictionalised version (“about ER and the brothers and that poor Lila Sue”). Then there’s the version of the Ewings described by JR and Hilda Grant, who are responding angrily to Val’s version. And then there’s the way KNOTS as whole depicts the Ewings - as "one of the most notorious families in the country,” according to Val’s new publicist, Bess Riker. "This book exposes all sorts of shady dealings that we’ve all heard whispers about,” concurs Hilda Grant. This perception contrasts with the one presented on DALLAS itself where, in spite of JR’s notoriety, the Ewings continue to be regarded by their peers with respect. "You have a reputation for being the most honest independent oil man in Dallas,” Holly Harwood tells Bobby in this week's episode."When that book appears, Val Ewing’s name is going to be on everybody’s lips,” Bess Riker predicts. Val reacts uncomfortably to the idea of fame, and in particular, the prospect of her private life becoming public. ("We’ve got to exploit the 'deserted housewife' angle,” decides Bess.) In fairness, Val reacts uncomfortably to pretty much everything this week. She runs up the same flight of the stairs in a panic no less than three times in the same ep. "I just wanna hide!” she wails. Miss Ellie, meanwhile, prepares to take her first steps back into public life by shopping for a dress for the Oil Baron’s Ball. "I still feel strange going to a social event without Jock,” she reflects. “You’re gonna be the centre of attraction anyway, why not enjoy it?” suggests her friend Mavis. This sentiment is taken onboard by Richard Channing, who proves nowhere near as publicity shy as Val in this week’s FALCON CREST when the first issue of the revamped Globe is unveiled with a picture of his own face plastered across the front page.While Val uses the final revisions to her novel as an excuse to keep others (her neighbours, her husband, her publicist, her publisher) at arm’s length, Soap Land’s other writers are distracted from their work by the events surrounding them. Donna Krebbs may have completed "Sam Culver: The Early Years”, (“blood, sweat and tears - six hundred neatly typed pages of it”) but plans to deliver the manuscript in person to its New York publisher are scuppered by the news of a death. Meanwhile on FALCON CREST, Maggie’s attempts to finish her screenplay are continually disrupted by family members wanting advice. On the one occasion she insists on continuing with her work rather than listen to Chase describe his latest battle with Angela, he goes off in a huff.Now that Abby and JR have each had a sneak preview of Jock’s will and like what they’ve seen, they are both impatient to move things forward. Abby wants to consolidate her relationship with Gary by finding a house for them and her children away from the cul-de-sac, and JR wants Miss Ellie to have Jock declared legally dead so the will can be read officially. However, neither Gary nor his mother is about to be rushed into anything. "I'll make that decision when I think the time is right,” Miss Ellie tells JR. “I can’t go starting something new till I finish with the old,” Gary tells Abby.Like JR and Abby, Richard Channing is also piling on the pressure in order to further his long term plans. His first move is to acquire Carlo Agretti's vineyards. Carlo, however, angrily and adamantly refuses to sell. “He’s after the whole valley,” Carlo warns Angela. "He won’t stop until he controls all of it, even Falcon Crest!” How very Michael Tyrone of him.When the direct approach fails, Richard and JR resort to the same kind of dirty tactics. "What if I was to tell you there's solid proof of my daddy's death and it's being withheld to keep the will from going into probate [and] postpone paying taxes?” JR whispers into the ear of IRS agent Nelson Harding. Meanwhile, Richard's emissary Miss Hunter (think DYNASTY’s Andrew Laird in the body of a Playboy centrefold) levels a similar accusation in Carlo’s direction: “Agriculture can be very risky. People have gone to prison for tax evasion … Maybe liquidating your holdings might be the best idea."Miss Ellie, Gary and Val are not the only Ewing-verse characters struggling to move on with their lives this week. “Every time I think about the future, the past seems to get in the way,” frets Sue Ellen while taking stock of her life at the Southern Cross. “I just wanted to close the door on that part of my life forever,” sighs Ray Krebbs, after agreeing to attend the funeral of his step-father Amos in Kansas. (This is Amos Krebbs' second Soap Land death in less than a year, having already passed away as Lane Ballou’s daddy on FLAMINGO ROAD.)Melissa Cumson also loses a father this week when Carlo Agretti is bludgeoned to death on FALCON CREST. (Carlo is the fourth father on FALCON CREST to die since the series began: Chase is now the only one left.) Like Titus Semple in the FLAMINGO ROAD finale, Cole Gioberti is lured to the victim’s house where he discovers the body. In lieu of an eyewitness to find him kneeling over it, Cole picks up the murder weapon with his bare hands, smearing blood on his shirt in the process. Inevitably, he is under arrest before the closing credits. Following the shooting of Michael Tyrone in FL’INGO RD and the kidnapping of Little Blake on DYNASTY, this is Soap Land’s third whodunnit in quick succession.“Who Killed Carlo?" is another clever variation on the "Who Shot JR?” scenario. Instead of providing the end of year cliffhanger, the mystery is placed at the beginning of the season where we least expect it. (Indeed, it’s only in retrospect that we realise how many people had a motive for getting rid of Carlo: Cole, Richard, Lance, Angela ... maybe even Miss Hunter). In addition, by selecting a powerful but nonetheless minor character as the victim, the show can afford to definitively kill rather than merely injure him - thereby upping the dramatic stakes.The bad news reaches Melissa, by now heavily pregnant, in the final scene of the ep, which takes place at a meeting of the Globe’s stockholders. Surrounded by her husband and his family, she spurns their attempts at comfort and condolence. Instead, it is Richard Channing, a man she has only just met and of whom she has heard only the most terrible things, that somehow manages to break through her defences. As everyone else looks on in bafflement, she collapses in his arms. David Selby is great at this kind of sudden shift - the alleged warmonger turned grief whisperer.The final scene of this week’s KNOTS is equally intriguing. When Gary and Val eventually meet, Gary surprises us, and maybe even himself, by asking Val for a reconciliation. She refuses and walks away, but then changes her mind and turns back … only to find him gone.Lucy’s abortion isn’t the only Soap Land first of the week: KNOTS LANDING boasts the premier toilet scene of the genre wherein Joe Cooper perches on the crapper to counsel a bath-ridden Val, weeping and nude aside from a few strategically placed bubbles. (This is probably the most naked anyone’s been in Soap Land since Lucy’s spontaneous strip in Mitch Cooper’s apartment two years ago.)Blatant plot contrivance of the week: Karen Fairgate overhearing Wayne the mechanic blow his alibi for the afternoon of Sid’s accident (he was supposed to be at the dentist) by boasting to Laura that he hasn’t seen a dentist in five years.Weirdest scene of the week: Having split up with boyfriend Mario, a heartbroken Vicky Gioberti stumbles sobbing along the roadside before suddenly breaking into an elated sprint. It’s one of those incongruous real life moments that appears totally fake in a fictional context.Only few months ago, there were two Hispanic families living in Soap Land - the Sanchez clan of FLAMINGO ROAD and the Nunuozes of FALCON CREST. This week, the last remaining member of either, Mario Nunuoz, leaves the Tuscany Valley on an unspecified crusade “to save his people” (for which maintaining a profile on a prime time TV show apparently isn’t a priority). The occasional Chinese or Mexican servant notwithstanding, Soap Land is pretty much an exclusively white-skinned zone once again.And this week’s Soap Land Top 3 are …1 (1) KNOTS LANDING2 (3) FALCON CREST3 (2) DALLAS</blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?