Knots Is Streaming in the US at Last!

[Daniel Avery]

Regarding "which print they're using"...

When I was watching Falcon Crest prior to this, they usually had a "Next on Falcon Crest..." teaser at the end of each episode. In one episode I recall the VO guy saying "In three weeks on Falcon Crest..." which seems to signal that (at least in that case) they were airing the original CBS versions, since anything packaged for syndication would not have said that. It would have been "Next on ____" since these shows were packaged for strip syndication (that is, Monday through Friday). It would of course be ridiculously cool if they were able to air all their properties in their original form, but years and years of...well, nothing from WB has trained me not to ask for too much. The FC example gave me the idea that originals might be out there for some of their shows, though.

 

[TaranofPrydain]

Regarding "which print they're using"...

When I was watching Falcon Crest prior to this, they usually had a "Next on Falcon Crest..." teaser at the end of each episode. In one episode I recall the VO guy saying "In three weeks on Falcon Crest..." which seems to signal that (at least in that case) they were airing the original CBS versions, since anything packaged for syndication would not have said that. It would have been "Next on ____" since these shows were packaged for strip syndication (that is, Monday through Friday). It would of course be ridiculously cool if they were able to air all their properties in their original form, but years and years of...well, nothing from WB has trained me not to ask for too much. The FC example gave me the idea that originals might be out there for some of their shows, though.

I didn't know about this subchannel until a day or two after it started airing, so I don't know which prints they sourced for the first two seasons of Falcon Crest. The DVD sets of those had quite a few of the shorter syndication cuts, and I recall a great deal of blowback against it at the time, so that when the third, and to date final, DVD set was put out, it was the original CBS broadcast versions .

With Knots, I think that most will be the original cuts. The syndication opening mentioned on the pilot was the same way on the DVD, so probably the whole version of that no longer exists. Having copies of old SoapNet recordings, there aren't too many other syndicated cut episodes. There is one during the Ciji plot, and maybe another that I'm forgetting. Now, season 8, all the episodes began with those "Lorimar presents" prologues, but I don't know if that's how they originally aired on CBS or not.

 

[knots4309]

With Knots, I think that most will be the original cuts. The syndication opening mentioned on the pilot was the same way on the DVD, so probably the whole version of that no longer exists. Having copies of old SoapNet recordings, there aren't too many other syndicated cut episodes. There is one during the Ciji plot, and maybe another that I'm forgetting. Now, season 8, all the episodes began with those "Lorimar presents" prologues, but I don't know if that's how they originally aired on CBS or not.

Season 2 that is being broadcast on the WB subchannel is not using the original CBS airing as it is missing the teaser before and the "next on Knots Landing teaser" at the end of each episode. They don't have the mid-show bumper either. It looks like maybe the master used for the DVDs, which was also missing the teasers. I also do not know what is up with the aspect ratio. It is not in 4:3 or 16:9 but some hybrid stretched garbage. At least that is the way it is via Amazon Prime. I don't know who's idiotic idea that was. Virtually unwatchable for me.

SoapNet had several syndication cuts of Knots during its run, the Pilot, Catharsis in season 4, an episode in season 7, and most of season 8 all had the narrated recaps at the beginning.

The original Pilot of Knots does exist, the PAL region DVD had it on there. I have a copy of it if you want with the original teaser used on the CBS broadcast. There is not much additional footage though.

Someone mentioned, I believe in this thread, that Knots did not do very well in syndication. It did very well in the United States in syndication. It was actually broadcast more than any of the other soaps in syndication. In fact, Knots ran in local market syndication (or off-network syndication) far more than Dallas did, and to my knowledge, neither Dynasty or Falcon Crest were shown in local markets. Dynasty was first shown in syndication on cable when FX premiered. SoapNet was the first station that I know of to show Falcon Crest in the US outside of its original run on CBS. Both Dallas and Knots Landing ran on TNT in the fall of 1992, for the first 222 episodes of Dallas and the first 160 episodes of Knots. For years, this was all the episodes that were available from these shows in syndication. TNT was the first channel in the US to show Knots in its entirety in 1995. TNN in the fall of 1996 was the first to show Dallas in its entirety in the US (although heavily butchered with edits).

 

[TaranofPrydain]

I have plex but can't get Knots Landing. I have it on watchlist but it won't let me play it

Look into VPN service. That should help you get it.

 

[Yesterday from the Beatles]

Has anyone else noticed that season 8 on Plex schedule skips some episodes so far , other seasons seem fine…

Also, the description of the channel on Plex: "Primetime Soaps by WBtv a collection of everyone's beloved daytime soap operas", primetime = daytime? And it's under the "Daytime TV" section on PLEX. Lol.

 

[ChrisSumner]

The same person who announced this said that proper on demand and for purchase episodes are coming later this year.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Now, season 8, all the episodes began with those "Lorimar presents" prologues, but I don't know if that's how they originally aired on CBS or not.

The "Lorimar presents" thing was applied to the syndicated reruns and was never seen in CBS. Their only nod to Lorimar was in the closing credits--at the very end like most TV shows. When CBS initially sold the reruns to local stations, they only had 1-7 available because it was 1986 and that was all they had to offer (the others came along as they finished airing on CBS first). I admit I HATE those "catch-up" voice-overs in the syndicated reruns, especially from the early era when the viewer did not need to know what happened in the previous episode to understand what was happening in that day's ep (it wasn't serialized yet).

Freevee just goes straight from commercial into the opening titles....no intro, no nothing, which is nice.

In fact, Knots ran in local market syndication (or off-network syndication) far more than Dallas did, and to my knowledge, neither Dynasty or Falcon Crest were shown in local markets.

I recall Dynasty being in off-net syndication--one of the local channels (ABC affiliate) where I lived aired it at 10am, though I think they only aired it a few months (probably one cycle). At least when KL was in off-net syndication where I lived (same ABC affiliate), it aired at 4pm and felt a bit more normal than a morning slot. But I agree that KL was the more successful of the bunch in syndication before the cable nets got hold of them.

I remember TNT aired KL at 11am as part of their "Lunchbox TV" block of shows and I recall they cut a lot of stuff out of the episodes just to shove in more commercials, but I'm fuzzy on the years/era of when that was on.

I gave up on Plex and have been going to Freevee to watch the show. I'll assume the commercial breaks are the same length on both channels, and the episodes are coming in at 44 or 45 minutes, with commercial breaks usually 2.5 minutes each. Once in a while Freevee will have a short "gap" where they write "We'll be back soon!" or something onscreen with a timer in the corner counting down a short period (like eight or ten seconds), which tells me there are some episodes that are a bit shorter or longer.

 

[Knots4ever]

Season 2 that is being broadcast on the WB subchannel is not using the original CBS airing as it is missing the teaser before and the "next on Knots Landing teaser" at the end of each episode. They don't have the mid-show bumper either. It looks like maybe the master used for the DVDs, which was also missing the teasers. I also do not know what is up with the aspect ratio. It is not in 4:3 or 16:9 but some hybrid stretched garbage. At least that is the way it is via Amazon Prime. I don't know who's idiotic idea that was. Virtually unwatchable for me.

SoapNet had several syndication cuts of Knots during its run, the Pilot, Catharsis in season 4, an episode in season 7, and most of season 8 all had the narrated recaps at the beginning.

The original Pilot of Knots does exist, the PAL region DVD had it on there. I have a copy of it if you want with the original teaser used on the CBS broadcast. There is not much additional footage though.

Someone mentioned, I believe in this thread, that Knots did not do very well in syndication. It did very well in the United States in syndication. It was actually broadcast more than any of the other soaps in syndication. In fact, Knots ran in local market syndication (or off-network syndication) far more than Dallas did, and to my knowledge, neither Dynasty or Falcon Crest were shown in local markets. Dynasty was first shown in syndication on cable when FX premiered. SoapNet was the first station that I know of to show Falcon Crest in the US outside of its original run on CBS. Both Dallas and Knots Landing ran on TNT in the fall of 1992, for the first 222 episodes of Dallas and the first 160 episodes of Knots. For years, this was all the episodes that were available from these shows in syndication. TNT was the first channel in the US to show Knots in its entirety in 1995. TNN in the fall of 1996 was the first to show Dallas in its entirety in the US (although heavily butchered with edits).

Knots did do very well in syndication in those countries where it originally did well. France and Germany for example showed the entire series 4/5 times.

In the US Knots, Dallas and FC all went into syndication simultaneously and in most markets Knots and Dallas were shown on independent stations; FC had less coverage. For all three of them only around 100 episodes were syndicated as ratings weren’t that great. The US was never a great market to have long running prime time dramas on daily.
Dynasty went into syndication one season before the three Lorimar shows and it also didn’t do well.

Dallas was then shown on TNT, followed by Knots as part of the Lunchbox block. Dynasty was shown around the same time every night on FX from its launch. I believe it was rerun twice.

SoapNet then picked up all 4 (plus other prime time soaps) and broadcast all of them 2-3 times before changing its format.

For Knots there are syndication prints up to the end of season 8, although the local broadcasts stopped after season 5. The first time the syndication prints for seasons 6-8 were seen was on TNT. All of them have a teaser of the previous episode before the opening credits, narrated by a male voice and always starring “In Knots Landing…” while the pan over the cliffs is shown. Based on that and what I’ve seen so far, it’s not the syndication prints that are being used on the WBD FAST channel but we can be sure until at least season 3.

 

[knots4309]

I recall Dynasty being in off-net syndication--one of the local channels (ABC affiliate) where I lived aired it at 10am, though I think they only aired it a few months (probably one cycle). At least when KL was in off-net syndication where I lived (same ABC affiliate), it aired at 4pm and felt a bit more normal than a morning slot. But I agree that KL was the more successful of the bunch in syndication before the cable nets got hold of them.

I remember TNT aired KL at 11am as part of their "Lunchbox TV" block of shows and I recall they cut a lot of stuff out of the episodes just to shove in more commercials, but I'm fuzzy on the years/era of when that was on.

Interesting about Dynasty. That's the first I've heard of it airing in off-network syndication.

TNT also aired Dallas and Knots Landing back-to-back starting at 9am central from the fall of 1992 to the summer of 1993. Actually, Knots ended in May and Dallas in early July of 93. They only aired the first 222 episodes of Dallas and the first 160 episodes of Knots. So no additional episodes were ever added to the syndication package of either show until 1995 (Knots) and 1996 (Dallas). I think it had something to do with WB taking over Lorimar. The original syndication package was produced by Lorimar with the narrated recaps. I don't think TNT cut a lot out of the episodes. Their package had the syndicated prints for Season 1 and half of 2 up until the episode Choices. Then they used PAL transfer episode with the 4% speed up (frame rate difference) for Choices through season 7 and the episodes did not have any teasers or next on Knots. They showed the syndicated episodes for Season 8 and then pretty much the CBS broadcast cuts for Season 9 - 14, with all teaser, recaps, and next on Knots for those episodes. The two hour episodes were edited to 2 episodes. There were no mid-show bumpers though, except for the initial run through in 1992 they used the season 1 bumper for all 160 episodes at every commercial break.

As as side note, TNT was the first station to air the episode Swan Song of Dallas in its entire 90 minute run since its first run on CBS. The original syndication package by Lorimar did a nice job editing this episode down to 46 minutes with new music cues. You could hardly tell where the edits were made.

 

[shaqattaq32]

One thing I’ve always wondered is why is the syndication version of Loss of Innocence in season 4 so high pitched ? Was the original also like this ?

 

[knots4309]

One thing I’ve always wondered is why is the syndication version of Loss of Innocence in season 4 so high pitched ? Was the original also like this ?

It was probably sourced from a PAL master and converted back to NTSC. Our TV system in the US uses the NTSC or ATSC (for HD) transmission. This gives a frame rate of 29.97 frames per second. PAL uses a frame rate of 25 frames per second. If you convert a PAL master of NTSC content back to NTSC it results in a 4% speed up from when it was recorded because of the difference in the frame rate which gives it a faster run time and higher pitch. By the way, Knots was shot on film at a frame rate of 24 frames per second.

 

[shaqattaq32]

Oh my gosh I hate this Linda the Mechanic storyline in season 2 sooooo much. It’s soooooooo awkward.

 

[Matthew Blaisdel]

Sorry, but I don't believe in that whole HD remastering of Knots and Falcon Crest anymore.

I mean ... why would Warner invest a ton of money into that process and not even deliver it on their own Warner-soap-streaming-channel and use ugly old prints with wrong aspect ratio and wrong pitched sound? That makes absolutely no sense! What company in this world presents the worst versions of their products to show off?!

Unless i see a ton of crisp and sharp HD stills/screenshots from various (especially the later) seasons of those shows, like the ones that Garry posted over in the Dallas-HD-thread WAY before they were streamed anywhere, that remastering rumor remains a completly made up Internet-fairytale to me.

Pics, or it didn't happen, as simple as that, period.

 

[Chris2]

All the big four primetime soaps aired in broadcast syndication, though Falcon Crest’s run was short lived, and it wound up on Lifetime only a year after its syndication premiere. Both Dallas and Knots lasted in broadcast syndication long enough to have an additional two seasons added to the initial syndication package (both started with a six-season syndication package, if you don’t count Dallas’ five-episode pilot as a season). I don’t recall if Dynasty ever went beyond its initial five-season package on local TV. Our local station pulled it after only one year.

 

[TJP]

I mean ... why would Warner invest a ton of money into that process and not even deliver it on their own Warner-soap-streaming-channel and use ugly old prints with wrong aspect ratio and wrong pitched sound? That makes absolutely no sense! What company in this world presents the worst versions of their products to show off?!

Not the prints are in the wrong aspect ratio, but the technical service through which they currently air it. I don't now why, but it's a common problem on U.S. TV that older shows are presented in the wrong aspect ratio despite the use of the correct prints.

The distribution prints WB TV uses for the Plex rebroadcast are identical with the versions they used on Freevee (where the show was presented in its original and correct 4 : 3 aspect ratio).

 

[TJP]

Regarding "which print they're using"...

When I was watching Falcon Crest prior to this, they usually had a "Next on Falcon Crest..." teaser at the end of each episode. In one episode I recall the VO guy saying "In three weeks on Falcon Crest..." which seems to signal that (at least in that case) they were airing the original CBS versions, since anything packaged for syndication would not have said that. It would have been "Next on ____" since these shows were packaged for strip syndication (that is, Monday through Friday). It would of course be ridiculously cool if they were able to air all their properties in their original form, but years and years of...well, nothing from WB has trained me not to ask for too much. The FC example gave me the idea that originals might be out there for some of their shows, though.

Yes, most of the distribution prints WB used for the presentation on Freevee and, most recently, on Plex (they were the same prints) are the first-generation distribution prints that were also used for the original CBS broadcast. There are a few exceptions though, like the bulk of season 5, which is from syndication prints. For "Falcon Crest", we have an overview of the prints in out "Show - Media" section: https://www.falconcrest.org/english/master.php?path=media/streaming — check for the Amazon versions in the seasonal listings, which are / were the same prints as used on Freevee and Plex. Do not use the iTunes listing as a reference in that respect since iTunes got different prints (typically a later and somewhat deteriorated print generation for whatever reason).

 

[TJP]

Sorry, but I don't believe in that whole HD remastering of Knots and Falcon Crest anymore.

I mean ... why would Warner invest a ton of money into that process and not even deliver it on their own Warner-soap-streaming-channel and use ugly old prints with wrong aspect ratio and wrong pitched sound? That makes absolutely no sense! What company in this world presents the worst versions of their products to show off?!

Unless i see a ton of crisp and sharp HD stills/screenshots from various (especially the later) seasons of those shows, like the ones that Garry posted over in the Dallas-HD-thread WAY before they were streamed anywhere, that remastering rumor remains a completly made up Internet-fairytale to me.

Pics, or it didn't happen, as simple as that, period.

As always, a Doubting Thomas for obviously no reason...

Remember when I said years ago — contrary to the untrue and widely spread rumors — that music rights were not a problem for "Knots Landing" reruns and releases? I was right because I knew what was in the original contracts. Music rights were never were, and now everyone got proof since "Knots" is rebroadcast on Plex. Two different sources recently confirmed WB had the rights clearance double checked a few months ago. There have not been any legal obstacles — contrary to all the rumors, which were spread (I believe) by people who didn't want to accept the fact the "Knots Landing" generated very low sales when WB attempted to release it on DVD. Fact is: The international success of "Knots Landing" was not on par with the success of "Dallas", "Falcon Crest" and "Dynasty".

We got the remastering information for "Knots Landing" and "Falcon Crest" from various reliable sources, one of them being the lady in charge at WB. I wished previews had been leaked to us, but I have no reason not to believe a WB source. I agree with you that it makes no sense to remaster the products and then not release them. I have no answer to that, but my assumption is that they won't make the HD versions available for free, but that they are looking for a pay-per-view or other pay-TV distribution channel for these.

 

[TaranofPrydain]

5 episodes are missing from season 8 next week. I wonder why they are absent, especially since the one episode is one of the big highlights of the season: No Miracle Worker with Abby and the hammer.

 

[Chris2]

5 episodes are missing from season 8 next week. I wonder why they are absent, especially since the one episode is one of the big highlights of the season: No Miracle Worker with Abby and the hammer.

Probably music rights.

 

[cijimccashin]

Super! This is exciting news. I will tune in as much as I can to let them know their is a demand for this show. So hopefully more and better streaming options are on the way.