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They could have gone deeper into the whole Greg and Laura relationship.
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While they started moving her in an direction that would've been interesting and solidified her part on the show, they actually ultimately didn't do that much with it. I think it's telling that in the absolute mayhem of the cliffhanger she's the one of the "main" women missing. Karen gets shot, Abby gets kidnapped, Val almost gets blown up. Her role definitively starts the decline in season 5.
Then they obviously switched their attention to Greg and made Laura his side-kick.
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Good point @tomummie., Laura is actually completely out of the picture in season 5 cliffhanger...
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For me it's more like they could have gone deeper in exploring Laura wanting her part of the cake (she says that in season 5). Instead, she became a passive character, just coming here and there delivering some cynical –good– jokes...
At some point I became a little fed up about it, in the end, each time we saw Laura, I was thinking ok, we're gonna have 2 cynical lines again and that's it...
Don't be mistaken, I liked the character a lot, and I think Constance is very classy and smart (she's got this natural class), again, it's a waste they left Laura on the side of the road...
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Laura was really one of the best characters on the show, but she was sadly underused. I agree she was underused after Season 4, at least for the most part.
There were times she slid in and was used more significantly, especially when working with Abby or when she started seeing Greg. But there's a stretch there between Seasons 6 and 8 where she's only used in every other episode.
It's sad, too, because Constance McCashin is a really good actress, but it's obvious the writers just weren't terribly interested in writing for Laura after a while. The concept of "four couples on a Southern California cul-de-sac" faded relatively fast -- Kenny and Ginger and Richard were edged out, and while Laura hung around, she wasn't used nearly enough.
Maybe they could've had Laura fake her death and brought back McCashin in the last seasons, but she probably would've declined, and the budget wasn't there anyway. I doubt I would've liked that anyway.
There were times she slid in and was used more significantly, especially when working with Abby or when she started seeing Greg. But there's a stretch there between Seasons 6 and 8 where she's only used in every other episode.
It's sad, too, because Constance McCashin is a really good actress, but it's obvious the writers just weren't terribly interested in writing for Laura after a while. The concept of "four couples on a Southern California cul-de-sac" faded relatively fast -- Kenny and Ginger and Richard were edged out, and while Laura hung around, she wasn't used nearly enough.
Maybe they could've had Laura fake her death and brought back McCashin in the last seasons, but she probably would've declined, and the budget wasn't there anyway. I doubt I would've liked that anyway.
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I think part of the issue is that they turned their attention towards Greg - initially he came off very much as your stereotypical one season character that was going to leave once his storyline was done. I wonder if the network wanted more "male energy" on the show since it was very much focused on the females, hence why Greg ended up being the prominent one in the Laura / Greg relationship and she just ended up being more passively used.
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According to series producer Michael Filerman, Kevin Dobson was brought in to get some of the male audience back from HILL STREET BLUES over on NBC on Thursday nights.
William Devane has said KNOTS was vacant of a male force of antagonism and that's why the producers brought him into the show.
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The puzzling thing is though that the season 3 ratings doldrums (pre-Kevin) was likely due to moving the timeslot up an hour for most of the season, competing with extremely well-established sitcoms. That year, they only directly faced off against Hill Street on 7 episodes.
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Part of the truth is though that Laura was always underutilized. Ironically, her exit episode, Gift of Love, was the first time her character was wholly center stage in an episode since Season 1. (The episode where she was held hostage by her first husband was seen more as his big episode)
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KNOTS slipped to like #43 for its third season, which has always puzzled me. But yet was never the mega hit that DALLAS was, although the former was besting the latter by 1988.
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It's true; I'm re-watching season 5 right now and she is very involved in the storyline this season. IIRC, it was season 6 when they stopped giving her storylines. And what little material she got in season 6 (Ruth having Abby break her and Greg up) wasn't all that great. I can't even remember what she did in season 7 besides getting pushed by Joshua, and then she was pregnant in season 8 and got mad at Val for trying to kill Greg? That's all I'm remembering.
But honestly? I just felt like there was nothing more they could really do with the character from season 6 on. I liked her in the early seasons and I liked her exit storyline but I don't really miss her in seasons 6-8 when she's on the backburner.
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Ah but lest we forget WITHOUT VAL there essentially was no Knots Landing. She was the first character to appear on Dallas who went to Knots Landing (even before Ted Shackelford). Constance was always an afterthought. That's just the way it is!
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No Dallas characters on Knots that year....that's why. Think about that impact alone....
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You have a point as KNOTS was not yet standing on its own.
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I have never thought of it like that. Valene (as played by Joan Van Ark) was literally the first KNOTS character we ever saw in the flesh on DALLAS. Gary was, at the beginning, played by David Ackroyd.
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I remember a thread discussion a long time ago (maybe 12 plus years or so ago) about the season 8 kidnapping storyline and how it should've been Laura that was kidnapped instead of Karen in yet another predictable storyline because with her you know she was going to come out unscathed. Michele was never gonna leave that role until forced to.
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The first time i saw this (original broadcast) I could never figure out why it Karen was kidnapped instead of Laura. I imagine it was the only way to explain Michele Lee's haircut. After St Claire gave Abby that bob in the limo in Season 6, I guess they didn't want to relive that drama.
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I think because it sets up the basic Karen/Paige conflict of season 8 by having Paige start having a relationship with Karen’s family during Karen’s absence, meaning the uncomfortable dynamic when Karen comes home is that Karen, not Paige, is the interloper. Also, they needed to set up the Mack/Anne flashbacks.
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They only did that storyline because Michele Lee's contract has ended. Having her character in a dangerous situation was a way to threaten her to not ask too much money !
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Or Karen would disappear and then be found...being played by Stefanie Powers. 