shaqattaq ranks Knots Landing

[shaqattaq32]

2. Season 4 (Diana has left with Chip/Gary is in jail for Ciji's murder)

I didn’t include season 1 because it didn’t really end on a cliffhanger. I didn’t include season 14 because there was (unfortunately) no season 15. But if this were a ranking of finales instead of cliffhangers, only 4 seasons have their finales end on our beloved cul-de-sac: 3, 4, 9, and 14. 14 was unranked, but 3, 4, and 9 all made the top 5. Knots was always at its best when they didn’t drift too far from the cul-de-sac.

I actually saw the cul-de-sac for myself for the first time last year. It was a religious experience. I wondered as I did it how often the people who live there have had to put up with weird freaks gawking at their cul-de-sac. I took a video but it didn’t turn out great… because I was trying to be low key and not be “that guy” but it ended up making my video too low key. maybe I will post it at the end of this ranking

But anyway! The season 4 cliffhanger! It includes shots of Valene and Abby both staring off into the distance. lol, so very knotsian. Dallas and dynasty could never.

But Knots is always more ~cerebral~.

I actually think season 4 might just be my favorite season. There’s such an energy in the air that season from the very first notes of the opening credits (it’s certainly my favorite rendition of the theme song.)

So the cliffhanger. Super straight forward stuff. This has been a transformational season for Knots Landing, and we’re very far from where we started. Karen helplessly runs from Valene’s house desperate to stop her daughter from going on a cross-country road trip with a man she’s just learned is wanted in Seattle for assault. But Diana’s already gone. We’re not in season one anymore, where motorcyclists bring the evils of Babylon to the cul-de-sac. As Laura herself says in the episode, “the old neighborhood isn’t what it used to be.” Diana has ignored every warning sign about Chip - and Karen is just left to sob with no way to contact her daughter (can I also just say, cell phones totally ruined drama.)

We see Valene and Abby looking pensively into the distance. And then you realize how freaking well this finale has involved every single character - well, except for Richard, who’s gone, and the Wards, who are moving to Nashville. Are Valene and Abby the “Willing Victims” of the title? Or is it Diana, running off with Chip? I love the title by the way. Abby and Val have a bunch of stress in their lives because they got involved with the tornado known as Gary Ewing. But neither one of them wants to give him up.

We end on Gary’s face in his jail cell. Is he the willing victim, giving up on life and his own defense to punish himself for what happened to Ciji? Valene has finally gotten through to him by telling him exactly what he needed to hear. It seems as though Gary’s been here before at rock bottom - is he going to be able to make a positive change in his life?

When I saw this episode the first time, it really made me want to see what happened next. And then I ended up absolutely loving the next season and thinking it was such an intelligently written show.

But this season 4 finale is just basic, not complicated at all. Regular human drama. We don’t need Moldavian massacres on this show. We don’t need UFO abductions. This Knots cliffhanger is more exciting than some stupid ratings stunt ending. This is the show with substance, and that’s why this is the show that’s about to do 10 more seasons. Which really is quite a feat.


12. Season 11 (Karen's stalker is revealed)
11. Season 10 (Paige in the rain, does she choose Greg or Ted?)
10. Season 7 (Karen is revealed locked in a basement by a male kidnapper)
9. Season 2 (Sid goes over a cliff)
8. Season 8 (There's a crack in the cement where Abby just buried Peter)
7. Season 12 (Karen takes a joyride)
6. Season 13 (Pierce is alive and appears behind Paige in her car)
5. Season 9 (Valene is passed out on the floor)
4. Season 6 ("Harry, go, they wanna take the babies!")
3. Season 5 (Karen is shot, Abby is kidnapped)
2. Season 4 (Diana has left with Chip/Gary is in jail for Ciji's murder)

Cliffhangers remaining to be ranked:

Season 3 (Valene leaves Gary and the cul-de-sac)

 

[Willie Oleson]

so very knotsian. Dallas and dynasty could never.

They did those moments too, but probably not in the most remembered stories or episodes (and no season finale I can think of).

Knots was always at its best when they didn’t drift too far from the cul-de-sac.

Hmm...that's a tricky one. For example, I only think of Abby as a cul de sac character when she was Sid's sister, not when she sort of camped out in one of the houses.
(and the only house that looked like hers was the beach house).
Valene, on the other hand, never seems to leave the cul de sac no matter where she goes, amnesiac or not.
Then you have a character like Danny Waleska who was such a tornado that it made everything else seem smaller and insignificant.

I guess it mostly depends on how strongly the various locations are connected. Knots Landing Motors was an extension of the cul de sac but still not quite as story-driven as the connection between Southfork and Ewing Oil.
I could never really place Gary's ranch while Lotus Point felt as if it happened in Karen's backyard.
Therefore it's not always easy to pinpoint what story or season felt the most "cul de sac" (I don't know if I'm making any sense).


A great place to live, or get force-fed with deadly pills. Beware of swerving automobiles and husband-stealing vixens.

 

[shaqattaq32]

1. Season 3 (Valene leaves Gary and the cul-de-sac)

This is a soap trope presented pretty much straight up, but executed absolutely perfectly. We've been building to this moment for a while now, and yet when it finally comes you're still taken aback.

We had the slap heard round the world in the previous episode, but that was merely the appetizer to this episode's main course. Valene looks ultra glamorous as the music swells and she packs a suitcase, driving off into the night. Gary tries to stop her: "Don't do this, don't do this!" But he's left behind. And so is the old Knots Landing we know and love.

The premise of Knots Landing was the drama in the mundane - the drama in four families centered around the drama in each one of the marriages. By the time season 5 starts, none of those four original marriages is both still intact and currently featured on the show. But it really seemed, once Sid died, that Gary/Val could be marriage the show was based around. After all, the whole raison d'etre for this show was the two of them re-marrying and moving to California from Dallas for a new start. So are they really going to break them up? Of course. They had to.

The four marriages basis for the show doesn't last very long. Instead, you can look at Knots Landing as a series as the tale of the recently-widowed and then-remarried Karen Fairgate, the newly wealthy idealist who can't get out of his own way, Gary Ewing, the recently-divorced and newly-successful author Valene Ewing, and the single mom who comes to dominate the business world, Abby Cunningham. Season 3 has been a great showcase for Karen, Season 4 will be a great showcase for Gary, Season 5 will be a great showcase for Abby, and Season 6 will be a great showcase for Valene.

I like simple. I like old classics done well. The Abby/Gary/Val triangle was a great storyline. It's rare to see outright infidelity on soaps. Sure, you'll see someone get amnesia and have an affair because they didn't know who they were, or sleep with their wife's twin because they didn't know their wife had a twin, or clone their wife because they think their wife is dead (it happened...) But two characters we've known and loved, openly cheating just because they wanted to? It was a bold decision. But it really paid off. Abby/Gary/Val can't become who they need to be for the next 3 seasons if it doesn't happen like this.

I knew before I ever saw it happen that Gary was going to have an affair with Abby, because I had read bits and pieces about the show. But I couldn't understand how it would happen in plain view of everyone. But once it happened, I got it. The storyline really made perfect sense. This cliffhanger definitely made me excited for the next season. Here is a cliffhanger that's not just going to affect the characters' current storylines; this is a cliffhanger that is going to resonate for the rest of the series. There's just no bigger moment on Knots than this.

Which means...

12. Season 11 (Karen's stalker is revealed)
11. Season 10 (Paige in the rain, does she choose Greg or Ted?)
10. Season 7 (Karen is revealed locked in a basement by a male kidnapper)
9. Season 2 (Sid goes over a cliff)
8. Season 8 (There's a crack in the cement where Abby just buried Peter)
7. Season 12 (Karen takes a joyride)
6. Season 13 (Pierce is alive and appears behind Paige in her car)
5. Season 9 (Valene is passed out on the floor)
4. Season 6 ("Harry, go, they wanna take the babies!")
3. Season 5 (Karen is shot, Abby is kidnapped)
2. Season 4 (Diana has left with Chip/Gary is in jail for Ciji's murder)
1. Season 3 (Valene leaves Gary and the cul-de-sac)

Taking suggestions for my next ranking. The weirder, more obscure the idea, the better.

 

[Mustard]

Even when Gary and Abby first caught each other's eye in Season 2, there was a chemistry there, even as Abby seemed a nicer person at that time than she would later. Ted Shackelford and Joan Van Ark even told David Jacobs at that time that Gary would obviously have an affair with Abby. Jacobs was initially dead set against the idea, as Gary and Val were the star couple of the series, but even Jacobs eventually saw it himself in Season 3, and that storyline decision did open up Knots Landing creatively in all sorts of ways.

 

[shaqattaq32]

Even when Gary and Abby first caught each other's eye in Season 2, there was a chemistry there, even as Abby seemed a nicer person at that time than she would later. Ted Shackelford and Joan Van Ark even told David Jacobs at that time that Gary would obviously have an affair with Abby. Jacobs was initially dead set against the idea, as Gary and Val were the star couple of the series, but even Jacobs eventually saw it himself in Season 3, and that storyline decision did open up Knots Landing creatively in all sorts of ways.

Indeed, it is difficult to imagine a Knots Landing where Gary doesn't cheat with Abby. I honestly don't think the show would have lasted 14 seasons.

 

[shaqattaq32]

What else should I rank?

 

[Jimmy Todd]

Most layered scene without dialogue

 

[Toni]

Most layered scene without dialogue

Here´s a little help for that:

 

[Stillwitty]

I will be ranking various subjects related to Knots Landing in this thread.

The first subject I will be ranking is poses from the season 9 opening credits. In case you forgot what that looked like (stop lying, you know exactly what it looks like and you've watched it a thousand times on replay) the link is here:

As a background, I LOVE the season 9 opening credits. I haven't always been able to admit that I love them, but after my most recent season 9 rewatch I can say that they're a guilty pleasure and they're just the bees' knees. They really encapsulate so well everything about that era of Knots Landing. They're sleek and sophisticated, yet dreadfully 80s. They're more than a little pretentious and not nearly as clever or intelligent as they think they are, but they contain just enough wink and irony to catapult them above anything else TV was offering at the time. They're soapy, glitzy, glamorous, and absolutely carried by the female cast who do the heavy lifting to make up for the lovable male cast shlubs who just don't quite understand how they're supposed to be posing and are just trying not to look stupid/embarrassed.

I'll start with ranking the WORST pose and I'll keep going until we get to the BEST pose.

#8. Kevin Dobson

We know from interviews that the cast did NOT like these opening credits, but most of them did a pretty good job of hiding that. Our dear Kevin (RIP) is the only one who you can tell is thinking, "WTF?!" because the WTF is written all over his face. He simply looks down and blinks, desperately waiting for this agonizing embarrassment to end as quickly as possible. Kevin is being a real trooper, but he obviously didn't get what they were going for here or, if he got it, couldn't hide expressing his opinion that it was really really really stupid.

POSH POSES RANKED SO FAR:

#8. Kevin Dobson

POSH POSES REMAINING TO BE RANKED:

William Devane
Julie Harris
Michele Lee
Constance McCashin
Donna Mills
Ted Shackelford
Joan Van Ark

I'll open the door to discussion of Kevin's pose... do you agree he deserved #8? Who do you think will be #7?

I actually would have ranked Kevin's as BEST for precisely the reasons you stated: He was hip to the hypocrisy and just went at it, tongue firmly planted in cheek...My favorite character, obviously...

 

[shaqattaq32]

I actually would have ranked Kevin's as BEST for precisely the reasons you stated: He was hip to the hypocrisy and just went at it, tongue firmly planted in cheek...My favorite character, obviously...

What do you mean by "hypocrisy"? I hadn't considered that word but I'm intrigued.

 

[Stillwitty]

What do you mean by "hypocrisy"? I hadn't considered that word but I'm intrigued.

The obvious attempt at cinematic sincerity...lol. Poor Ted Shackelford couldn't even keep a str8 face...

Gary reminds me a bit of Sam the Eagle off of the Muppets here and that’s fine; I like Sam the Eagle. He looks smirky, but not smug - just kind of straightforward: what you see is what you get. He’s past all the game-playing and trying-to-look-mysterious stuff by this point. So I think it works fine.

View attachment 51471

I was just thinking, maybe Kevin and Ted had a few shots before the photo shoot, thinking that's what the situation called for. As a result, we have Kevin unable to face the camera without losing it, and Ted about .2 seconds off breaking into a Gary Ewing belly laugh...Someone should have told the "creators" real men don't do posh...lol

Actually I can see her doing this in season 1.

I have no idea how it feels to get shot with paintball (is it a ball or just paint?) but she kinda looks as if it hurts.
View attachment 52754
Perhaps her action was more like a reaction to the possibility that they could have shot one of the kids (in the face).
Furthermore, this was only one of the four cliffhanger stories so I'd say there's actually very much going on here. I was very surprised to see that my least favourite season got one of the best cliffhangers. I wish the fire in the Sumner building had happened in the season finale

They don't exactly hurt, but they do sting. I can also picture Karen reacting as she did, but the aggressive driving was a bit over the top...

 

[Stillwitty]

I am actually a Latter-day Saint (LDS) and can't drink coffee. Legend has it that Joseph Smith received revelation about the danger of drinking Val's coffee all the way back in 1833; it is for this reason that members of the LDS church cannot drink coffee today.

Did he have anything to say regarding Karen's meatloaf? They have it at least 3x weekly and every time Paige comes to dinner....