International Broadcasts

[Billy Nolan]

I agree with you that the biggest youth magazine BRAVO, which I read a lot as a teenager, did not advertise Knots Landing as a series in itself. But the editors reported on some of the actors.
Especially about Alec Baldwin and they referred to his role in Knots Landing. There were also reports about Lisa Hartman, Nicollette Sheridan and, at the beginning of the broadcast, James Houghton. In addition to the big teen stars (musicians, singers, movie actors, ...) the reports weren't big, but the series wasn't completely ignored (not even in the TV program part). In the first months of 1988, readers also voted Knots Landing into the "Tele-Renner" of BRAVO (you remember "Tele-Renner"?). I still have the articles about it.
Still, you're right that the other soaps (especially Falcon Crest) were pushed more by the youth magazine BRAVO. But they reported primarily about individual actors. Almost exclusively about Lorenzo Lamas and his bare chest: Shirtless at the pool, shirtless while working, shirtless while working out, shirtles everytime... LOL
This is probably due to the fact that Falcon Crest was already running in this country in the mid-80s; Knots Landing, unfortunately, much later - and the soap opera format as a whole was on the decline.

 

[Monzo]

Alec Baldwin became popular when Cutter to Houston (Die Texas-Klinik) aired mondays in ARD's prime-time slot 20:15 during summer 1988. This show was so successful that it was even repeated by ARD later this year. When his KL episodes finally aired in Germany The Hunt of Red October already been in cinemas.

 

[Knots4ever]

I agree with you that the biggest youth magazine BRAVO, which I read a lot as a teenager, did not advertise Knots Landing as a series in itself. But the editors reported on some of the actors.
Especially about Alec Baldwin and they referred to his role in Knots Landing. There were also reports about Lisa Hartman, Nicollette Sheridan and, at the beginning of the broadcast, James Houghton. In addition to the big teen stars (musicians, singers, movie actors, ...) the reports weren't big, but the series wasn't completely ignored (not even in the TV program part). In the first months of 1988, readers also voted Knots Landing into the "Tele-Renner" of BRAVO (you remember "Tele-Renner"?). I still have the articles about it.
Still, you're right that the other soaps (especially Falcon Crest) were pushed more by the youth magazine BRAVO. But they reported primarily about individual actors. Almost exclusively through Lorenzo Lamas: Shirtless at the pool, shirtless while working, shirtless while working out, shirtles everytime... LOL
This is probably due to the fact that Falcon Crest was already running in this country in the mid-80s; Knots Landing, unfortunately, much later - and the soap opera format as a whole was on the decline.

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Yep, FC had a big advantage due to starting in 1983/84 in those regions which showed it. Lamas was a huge star in the US by then and the German teen mags jumped on it because he made FC much more appealing to teens than Dallas or Dynasty could ever be... in theory. Neither Dallas nor Dynasty had a "young & hot" male lead who could appeal to teens.

 

[Knots4ever]

Alec Baldwin became popular when Cutter to Houston (Die Texas-Klinik) aired mondays in ARD's prime-time slot 20:15 during summer 1988. This show was so successful that it was even repeated by ARD later this year. When his KL episodes finally aired in Germany The Hunt of Red October already been in cinemas.

Yep, C2H was huge for whatever reason (being shown during the annual summer/fall break for Dallas helped). It's bizarre though - in the US it did so bad that they never even showed the last few episodes of the few episodes produced. I don't think it was even shown in any country other than the US and Germany.

 

[Billy Nolan]

Alec Baldwin became popular when Cutter to Houston (Die Texas-Klinik) aired mondays in ARD's prime-time slot 20:15 during summer 1988. This show was so successful that it was even repeated by ARD later this year. When his KL episodes finally aired in Germany The Hunt of Red October already been in cinemas.

correct, but the Bravo also referred to his involvement in KL (see above). His first episodes as "Joshua" ran in Germany in December 1989, after that there was a break and the German audience saw him in his Knots Landing role from June to October 1990. "Hunt for Red October" started in theaters here in August 1990

 

[Monzo]

Yep, C2H was huge for whatever reason. It's bizarre though - in the US it did so bad that they never even showed the last few episodes of the few episodes produced. I don't think it was even shown in any country other than the US and Germany.

ARD wanted to benefit from ZDF's North & South success, so they bought Lesley-Anne Down's Last Days Of Pompeii and Jim Metzler's Cutter To Houston and aired both on Monday nights. LDOP did alright while CTH was a surprise hit. After this success magazines had more stories about Alec Baldwin and Shelley Hack than Jim Metzler by the way.

 

[Knots4ever]

ARD wanted to benefit from ZDF's North & South success, so they bought Lesley-Anne Down's Last Days Of Pompeii and Jim Metzler's Cutter To Houston and aired both on Monday nights. LDOP did alright while CTH was a surprise hit. After this success magazines had more stories about Alec Baldwin and Shelley Hack than Jim Metzler by the way.

Interesting! I forgot Metzler was in N&S.

Are you sure about C2H airing on Monday nights? I'm convinced it was shown in the Dallas slot during the annual break.

Either way, the C2H success in Germany is a mystery....

 

[thomaswak]

France is a funny one... many people don't remember that originally Knots aired on Sunday afternoons (I believe it was 1987), once per week and it wasn't anything special... ratings were ok but no better than they were for anything else airing on Sunday afternoons (long family lunches on Sundays mean TV isn't a huge thing... at least that's how it used to be).

It wasn't until it was moved to Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri (not on Wednesdays because schools used to (not sure if they still are) run only in the mornings on Wednesdays) into the 14:35 slot (The Young & the Restless being the lead-in, which itself was preceded by the lunchtime news) that it became a massive hit. When they ran out of episodes, they re-ran it from the start followed by new episodes. This happened 2-3 times. I think the last time they instead aired Dallas reruns before then showing Knots again from the start with two(!) episodes each day, back-to-back, to then finally get to season 14. It was then rerun one more time completely, again with 2 episodes each day.

I really did not remembered the Sunday airing. Wow... I remembered the 4 days a week airing, the reruns between news seasons : an each time reruns were a hit.
It was such a hit that TF1 wanted to co-produce the news seasons in 1989 (it should have helped the show I guess, as it was starting to have financial problems.)

 

[Retired Account 1]

France is a funny one... many people don't remember that originally Knots aired on Sunday afternoons (I believe it was 1987), once per week and it wasn't anything special... ratings were ok but no better than they were for anything else airing on Sunday afternoons (long family lunches on Sundays mean TV isn't a huge thing... at least that's how it used to be).

It wasn't until it was moved to Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri (not on Wednesdays because schools used to (not sure if they still are) run only in the mornings on Wednesdays) into the 14:35 slot (The Young & the Restless being the lead-in, which itself was preceded by the lunchtime news) that it became a massive hit. When they ran out of episodes, they re-ran it from the start followed by new episodes. This happened 2-3 times. I think the last time they instead aired Dallas reruns before then showing Knots again from the start with two(!) episodes each day, back-to-back, to then finally get to season 14. It was then rerun one more time completely, again with 2 episodes each day.

not at all it started in April 1988 every week days , it ends in February 1989 and then they aired it on Sunday afternoons (hello from France)

 

[Monzo]

Are you sure about C2H airing on Monday nights? I'm convinced it was shown in the Dallas slot during the annual break.

Either way, the C2H success in Germany is a mystery....

Flamingo Road aired in Dallas' timeslot that year. Monday nights was timeslot for miniseries or short lived series. Roots and Master of the Game also got that timeslot.

 

[Billy Nolan]

Flamingo Road aired in Dallas' timeslot that year. Monday nights was timeslot for miniseries or short lived series. Roots and Master of the Game also got that timeslot.

yes, C2H ran on Monday evenings in 1988 and Flamingo Road on Tuesdays during the Dallas break. Here is the proof!

 

[Karin Schill]

All very interesting discussions. In Sweden Dallas and Falcon Crest were the two big soap operas. We only had two TV channels at the beginning of the 1980s and they controlled what was being broadcast. Someone thought that we could only have one "trashy" show /channel. So we got Dallas in 1981. I guess Falcon Crest about a year later or so. Then in 1984 they tried to replace Dallas with Dynasty but the viewers protested so Dynasty was dropped and Dallas was back on.

I'd say Dallas was the most popular of them all here in Sweden which is probably why TV3 originally tried to sell "Knots Landing" to the Swedish audience by calling the show "JR's bror".

 

[Knots4ever]

not at all it started in April 1988 every week days , it ends in February 1989 and then they aired it on Sunday afternoons (hello from France)

Yes I remember now! Funny how your memory can play tricks. They ran out of episodes and moved it to Sundays.
Was it big when it first aired weekdays from 88-89?

 

[Knots4ever]

Flamingo Road aired in Dallas' timeslot that year. Monday nights was timeslot for miniseries or short lived series. Roots and Master of the Game also got that timeslot.

yes, C2H ran on Monday evenings in 1988 and Flamingo Road on Tuesdays during the Dallas break. Here is the proof!

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Amazing! Thanks for finding this.

 

[Seaviewer]

"Cutter to Houston".

Wow, I haven't thought of that in years. More notable at the time, of course, for the post-Charlie's Angels Shelley Hack.

 

[Knots4ever]

 

[Billy Nolan]

I found this French episode report. The series also ran on a station called "JIMMY" ... I couldn't find out more about it. What kind of station is / or was that? Was KL broadcast there completely?

 

[Knots4ever]

I found this French episode report. The series also ran on a station called "JIMMY" ... I couldn't find out more about it. What kind of station is / or was that? Was KL broadcast there completely?

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I don’t know if the entire series was broadcast on Jimmy. They did a lot of specials about 70s/80s shows showing a few episodes.
Knots was definitely rerun on FoxLife entirely though.

Both channels no longer exist.

 

[thomaswak]

not at all it started in April 1988 every week days , it ends in February 1989 and then they aired it on Sunday afternoons (hello from France)

That's why I could not remember it.
What a relief for me and my memory...

 

[Billy Nolan]

I have received wonderful Spanish reports from our dear forum member @Toni . Thank you again for that, @Toni .
I was very happy. A real asset!
I translated a few articles from Spanish and learned the following about broadcasting in Catalonia, Spain, which I didn't know before:
The TV channel TV3 broadcast Knots Landing with the title "Califòrnia" from April 1991. The series ran there initially only 57 episodes long until June 1991. After that there was a break, a total of 70 episodes were skipped and the series was continued in September (also 1991 I guess...?) . It also received a new Spanish title: "La Nova Califòrnia" (The New California) - and the viewers were promised new exciting episodes with "Murder, kidnappings, persecutions". However, it was said that some actors no longer appeared; others could be seen in other storylines and new ones were added. If I understood and calculated correctly, then almost the entire 4th and 5th season and large parts of the 6th season were withheld from the Catalonian audience. Why this is so is not clear from the press reports.
It's a shame, because in my opinion these seasons were one of the highlights in the entire course of Knots Landing.
So I'm not particularly surprised that the series did not gain a foothold in Spain.

Oh yes: Joan Van Ark has been called the "most charismatic actress" of the series in other Spanish articles.