Whose departure shocked you the most?

[Monzo]

Several main cast members left Knots Landing during its run, some because they wanted to, others because they had to. Whose actor's departure shocked you the most? Did you hear about it in the press beforehand, or were you surprised when you saw it on TV?

 

[DallasFanForever]

Hearing that Donna Mills was leaving at the time was kind of a huge shock to me. I couldn’t picture Knots without Abby.

 

[Seaviewer]

Unfortunately I was spoiled for Sid's death - I guess the shock came when I read that - so I'll say Lisa Hartman - the first time. When Ciji washed up on the beach it was just so sad.

 

[Laura Avery-Sumner]

I'm STILL mad about Constance McCashin being forced out.

 

[Mustard]

Sid Fairgate.

A big surprise was Ben Gibson never returning. When he left at the end of Season 8, it was strongly implied that he would return at some point, yet he never did, despite Jill faking his return with messages to Valene.

 

[shaqattaq32]

I was spoiled on all of them unfortunately; I watched for the first time in 2004. But objectively, the most devastating for the show was Donna Mills. You could definitely feel the void at the start of season 11 and I think it took them about half a season to dig their way out of it.

 

[TaranofPrydain]

I came to the show after its first run, so I can't say any of the departures came as a surprise. But Constance and Julie had the most abrupt departures.

 

[Toni]

I also was spoiled about 80% of the show´s plots before starting to watch it in the Catalonian TV. Agree about all three, Abby, Lilimae & Laura, but my heart goes with the latter, so much more knowing what Constance went through in this ordeal upon her most recent interview.

IMHO, the worst came with the "replacements", Claudia for Abby and Ginny with Lilimae. They were written by the numbers and didn´t convince me at all, despite Noone´s obvious acting chops and Palmer´s humorous take on the "eccentric aunt" cliché. Writers were to blame in all this, they were too busy rehashing the Paige-Greg affair over and over.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Sid Fairgate.

I don't think it matters if you already knew or not, or even how many times you watch it. Tearing up the soap rulebook never stops being shocking.

A big surprise was Ben Gibson never returning

Should Ben have returned with a jungle army and say "I've come back for you, Valene"

 

[Soaplover]

Laura being let go was a shock, but the way she was written out was so sad and had effects on story for the rest of the show's run.

Abby leaving wasn't a shock, but it left a huge hole on the canvas because Latham and Co didn't prepare for a show that didn't have Abby as one of the movers and shakers. Paige was not a suitable replacement. Claudia and Anne were not good Abby copies, though at least Anne had enough of a unique take that she wasn't quite like Abby and functioned in a way that Abby couldn't have. Claudia/Kate was a carbon copy of Abby/Olivia.

Lillimae.. it was time for her to go.

Jill's departure wasn't a shock, but the fact that she became a villainess was one of the biggest shocks.

 

[Laura Avery-Sumner]

Lillimae.. it was time for her to go.

If that was true, Aunt Ginny would never have been invented.

 

[ClassyCo]

I had read about KNOTS before I watched it, so like others have said, the cast departures weren't necessarily "shocks" for me.

However, there are some that effected me during my journey through the series.

The departures of Don Murray and Constance McCashin were definitely the most heart-wrenching, but I can't say that their exits necessarily messed up the show for me. Sid's death provided significant storyline and growth for Karen and their kids, as did Laura's death for Greg. Karen walking down the hall in silence to hear the news from the surgeon is flawless, just like the highly improvised two-parter that dealt with Laura's passing. There are so many classic KNOTS moments inside those episodes. When I talk about the show to people that have never seen it, I generally bring up these two storylines as examples of the series' quality storytelling.

In saying that, I'd have to say Donna Mills' exit at the end of Season 10 had to be the biggest shake-up to the flow of the show. Abby had been fundamental to KNOTS during its heyday, and her departure left a vacancy in the ensemble that was never properly filled. Sure, there were "vixens" in Anne and Claudia, but they didn't have the same effect as Abby had.

Douglas Sheehan's departure after Season 8 was handled the most shabbily. I honestly think the producers missed a golden opportunity to bring Ben back a some point in the later seasons. They could've kept the arc of Jill using Ben's memory to bother Val, but maybe brought Ben back as surprising Jill in the process.

The other exits didn't really bother me either way.

 

[tommie]

Definitively Don Murray - I saw seasons 1-6 in reruns in the late 90s and was unspoiled. Seasons 7-14 I saw about two decades later, so I had a good idea about the other departures, so they didn't really "shock" me in that way.

 

[Jock's Ghost]

Laura and Sid's deaths at least were organic and we had to prep....sorta.... but Lillie Mae's was the dumbest. Why would she leave her new grandkids who had been kidnapped, dead and returned to Val?

 

[Jock's Ghost]

The two departures that hurt the series were Lillimae's and Abby, especially Abby as the show went on fumes for the most part, searching for a baddie.

 

[Seaviewer]

Laura and Sid's deaths at least were organic and we had to prep....sorta.... but Lillie Mae's was the dumbest. Why would she leave her new grandkids who had been kidnapped, dead and returned to Val?

She was besotted with Al. Love makes you do dumb things - or so I'm told.

 

[kenneth]

It was sort of shocking how smoothly the show handled the first season without Abby. It was impressive how they navigated her absence. But then the show seemed intent on filling the void by presenting variations of her character, like Paige and others. Abby is basically the Hulk Hogan of soaps—often imitated, but never equaled.