I'm not sure why, but I took a break and now I'm back into Season 6. Val has just debuted her new haircut, and I'm getting flashbacks to Miss Ellie telling Pam she likes her perm.
The show suddenly feels like I've been dropped straight into the '80s.
Anyway, Abby and Gary are flirting like crazy here. Gary doesn't stand a chance with Abby in that outfit. Two hot people on screen making sure my attention stays exactly where they want it.
I am physically anxious watching Val go through these pre-labour cramps. I've completely forgotten all the details of how this storyline unfolds but the general plot exists in my mind as one that was well done. Val's pregnancy has felt incredibly long, but it's all coming to a head now. And Abby's involvement in everything, without her knowing (as far as I'm aware, at Donna's request), is building such great anticipation. Confused Abby is basically a whole new character lol.
Karen and Mack, I am delighted they're back together. I just adore these two as a couple.
The Joshua/Cathy storyline is anxiety-inducing as well. I don't quite remember how it all goes down, but it's a bit like watching Chip's trainwreck and knowing that, sooner or later, everything is going to completely fall apart. That's both the best and worst part of a rewatch.
Seeing Lotus Point again was like unlocking a memory. I had almost no recollection of the physical location in my head and think I'd somehow merged it with Empire Valley (which I assume is coming up in another season or two?). But the little stream running through the reception area immediately had me thinking OMG this place. It was one of those things that had only existed as a foggy memory until now.
After losing Kenny and Ginger, and then Richard, I'm not surprised Laura is next to depart at some point. It feels like the writers don't really know what to do with her right now, and they haven't seemed to know for the last several storylines either.
After losing Kenny and Ginger, and then Richard, I'm not surprised Laura is next to depart at some point. It feels like the writers don't really know what to do with her right now, and they haven't seemed to know for the last several storylines either.
Why is that? I'm struggling to think of what Laura has actually been given to do lately. She worked for Gary, but then got swept up in all the Wolfbridge Group drama. She also had a fling with Greg, and that relationship is still ongoing.
She's a real estate agent who was quite successful selling property through an agency separate from the Seaview Circle crowd. She has two sons, neither of whom has been given any significant storylines.
Was Constance McCashin not particularly favoured by the writers?
Why is that? I'm struggling to think of what Laura has actually been given to do lately. She worked for Gary, but then got swept up in all the Wolfbridge Group drama. She also had a fling with Greg, and that relationship is still ongoing.
She's a real estate agent who was quite successful selling property through an agency separate from the Seaview Circle crowd. She has two sons, neither of whom has been given any significant storylines.
Was Constance McCashin not particularly favoured by the writers?
No one who really knows has said so out so loud so this is just my speculation: Timing is everything and since CMC was a little younger than the other ladies, she was still in the phase of life where pregnancy could get in the way of work. I think the writers were fine the first time around (and actually kind of celebrated Daniel more than other soap kids would get). By the time she was pregnant with Meg, I think the combination of having to write in another story of pregnancy and the fact that they still didn't know what to do with her character, got her on the chopping block. It's a shame because Laura WAS different from the other ladies and that difference got her in the position of Greg's only confidante. That made for great tv but it still ran as an undercurrent to everything else that was happening. They let Laura simmer during big plots and then use her as the catalyst for the resolution because she's constantly put between the rock of Greg and the hard place of the cul de sac.
I've crushed through several episodes over the last few days, and I keep coming back to the same thoughts.
Why is Ben still on the show? The Ben/PJ Kelly relationship is so boring, even though they're clearly trying to make it seem interesting. Kelly is incredibly pushy, Ben is obviously not into it at all, and yet they keep making us watch it.
In my recollection of events, Abby found out the babies were alive much closer to the end of the storyline, and had to make a big decision about what to do with that information. So I was almost completely caught off guard by the fact that it's basically the opposite. This plot is good! Val's disappearance afterwards, and Abby's conflicted feelings about whether she even wants Val found, is delightfully complex.
Paul Galveston is so brusque he belongs on Dallas. When Greg said something like "I hate when he calls me Laddie," I had to agree. Gag.
Val as Verna is interesting (Lilimae's comment about Verna being Val, not Lilimae, was insightful), but it was/is going on for too long. Watching it week to week must have been painful.
I feel better about Empire Valley and Lotus Point being connected in my head now, because they're extensions of each other's land (I think?), so I wasn't too far off.
Joshua's slide into religious madness is stressing me out. It's such a quintessentially '80s televangelist plot, but in a lot of ways it feels very current too.
Michael and Eric. Gosh, I just love those two. Diana being gone has really improved things.
ETA: I am thrown off by this actor, he looks way too much like Mack (it's the hair) to me. I keep getting confused while watching and initially wondering why Mack is showing up in the Galveston Industries scenes.
I've thought about re-watching KNOTS LANDING considering it's finally available for streaming, but I can't do an Episode 1 re-watch. I might start at Season 3 and see where it goes from there.
By the time she was pregnant with Meg, I think the combination of having to write in another story of pregnancy and the fact that they still didn't know what to do with her character, got her on the chopping block. It's a shame because Laura WAS different from the other ladies and that difference got her in the position of Greg's only confidante.
Also, by this time the show's creator David Jacobs did not have so much involvement in the day-to-day running of things. He initially created the part of Laura for Constance and they were friends.
But by season 6 and 7, he was working on other projects like Berengers and Dallas: The Early Years. I think Constance wasn't particularly liked by the newer writers and producers that he hired to run the show, as she has hinted in some interviews. I think that had something to do with her not having many storylines, and then putting her and Lili-mae on the chopping board first when cast cuts had to be made in 1987 after the Telepictures takeover of Lorimar.
Why is that? I'm struggling to think of what Laura has actually been given to do lately. She worked for Gary, but then got swept up in all the Wolfbridge Group drama. She also had a fling with Greg, and that relationship is still ongoing.
She's a real estate agent who was quite successful selling property through an agency separate from the Seaview Circle crowd. She has two sons, neither of whom has been given any significant storylines.
Was Constance McCashin not particularly favoured by the writers?
In the Wolfbridge plot and in the 2-3 years afterward, Laura seemed to be their "bridge" character between the show's middle class, cul-de-sac characters and the growing super-rich contingent who sort of represented the "non-cul-de-sac" newcomers. She moved easily between the two groups and sort of played devil's advocate when needed. As the writers (esp. Latham/Lechowick) grew more enamored of the "richer" side of town they moved Laura out of that "bridge" role and placed her squarely in the richer, powerful group via marriage to Greg, but still gave her the ability to act as Greg's conscience. That sort of relationship was actually very interesting and the two actors had insanely good onscreen chemistry. Unfortunately the show decided to make her into a supporting/sidekick character who didn't have her own stories; she reacted to what her husband was up to.
It was said* that there was one particular person in the production team who made an effort to de-emphasize the charactrer of Laura, that this person for whatever reason wanted the show to write less and less for her. Since this was stated in a format that did not allow follow-up questions we never got much more than this side comment. We speculated at the time who that person could have been but we never come to any conclusion. It wasn't even clear if that person just disliked the character or if it was a dislike of the actress. Whatever the case, it's more likely (and easier to believe) that Laura got "lost in the shuffle" as the show tried to write for all the others who nagged the producers for more airtime and/or front-burner stories.
* The "source" if you will was Daniel Weisman, who visited the "old" site pre-crash to answer a few questions and share some anecdotes about his mom, since she was much more reluctant to do interviews and such back in those days. Since the interview/chat was lost with the old site when it crashed I can only go on what I remember about it.
I've thought about re-watching KNOTS LANDING considering it's finally available for streaming, but I can't do an Episode 1 re-watch. I might start at Season 3 and see where it goes from there.
This is what had me stopping and starting the show so many times. I didn't love the slow start or the self-contained episodes, even though the show was arguably very good and entertaining in its first few seasons. If I hadn't heard so many great things about it before watching (which was much later than most people here, around 2017–2018), I might never have made it past those early episodes.
Over the past few years, I think I started a rewatch two or three times and, for whatever reason, never got beyond "Bottom of the Bottle" (I think tbh I was not interested in revisiting Gary's alcoholism). This time, though, I pushed through, and it's been completely worth it.
If you want a refresher on the plots without rewatching the episodes, Wikipedia has 1-2 sentence summaries for each episode. That said, the early episodes do provide a solid foundation for establishing the characters and who they are.
@Daniel Avery very interesting above commentary. I definitely recall the first time I watched the show one day thinking to myself, remember when this show was all about the cul-de-sac?
Also, do you know whether there's a reason Laura seems to be contained to the "Greg's hotel room/office" set in season 6? Did they film all of these scenes condensed? I feel like I haven't seen Laura out and about for a long time.
WTF are these values? Everyone seems to be standing by and watching Joshua increasingly treat Cathy like garbage, controlling her, manipulating her, and speaking to her in a patronising, patriarchal way. Yet no one is calling him out or telling him to pull his head in and stop being such an asshole.
I'd like to say it's a sign of the times, but that doesn't really hold up when this show is full of strong women. Cathy herself is strong, repeatedly telling Joshua to stop, and yet he just keeps pushing on regardless.
I get it, it's the plot, it's building, but OMG infuriating.
Oh yes. I remember when I first watched the show I loved Cathy and Joshua. The actors had great chemistry and he was such a sweet, inexperienced boy when he first showed up on the show. I can see why Cathy was drawn to him, as he seemed vulnerable and the complete opposite of what her ex was.
Then after they'd gotten married they turned his character into a complete asshole who treated her like dirt and they completely ruined the pairing!
Rewatching the show many years later I can see what a brilliant actor Alec Baldwin is but also just how abusive Cathy & Joshua's relationship became. It's sad really.
That reminds me of what Michael Filerman said when we interviewed him years and years ago:
"What’s the fun of doing these things if you can’t corrupt people?"
He was actually talking about Greg, but I think it applies equally to Joshua. People talk about characters "going on a journey" and "evolving", usually in relation to them becoming "better" and "more mature", but sometimes it's more gripping to watch them travel in the opposite direction.
I finished Season 6 and moved straight into Season 7 on the perfect day, a wintry Friday afternoon.
First of all, the Val's stolen babies plot was absolute fire. What a fantastic, brilliantly written storyline. The slow-motion "They want to take the babies!" was the perfect ending to the season. I'm so glad I was able to binge through it, because waiting months for the next episode would have been agonising. I also now understand why my memory of Abby's involvement was the way it was, I was clearly remembering Abby's cover story that she told Gary. It wasn't actually a lie; the timelines were just obscured.
Second, I was pleased that Val finally started standing up to Joshua, but my goodness, Lilimae is such a complicit enabler, for lack of a better term. She is absolutely overbearing and constantly manipulates situations to suit herself, regardless of what the consequences might be for everyone else.
Take the wedding dress, for example. Cathy was very clear that she did not want that dress, but accommodating, smothering Lilimae was all, "Joshua likes this one." Then there was the apartment situation, which happened over and over again. Cathy repeatedly said she didn't want to keep living in Val's house, yet Lilimae guilt-tripped her into not moving Joshua out because "her family was finally all together", which is especially rich coming from the woman who abandoned two children.
Worst of all, she clearly knew, deep down, that Joshua was physically and psychologically abusing Cathy (and Val too, if she'd bothered to pay attention to the dynamics in the house), yet she covered for him with the morally cowardly excuse of, "Oh, I'm clumsy sometimes too." I had very little respect for Lilimae to begin with, although she did improve for a while and became more of a harmless busybody. Now, though, I see her as a malicious bystander, enabling, complicit, and too afraid of losing what she wants to protect the people around her.
On a completely different note, I couldn't decide whether Ava Gardner was genuinely good in the role or laughably over the top. I'd also be interested to know whether she brought her own styling team, because she often had this very 1960s Joker-esque look going on.
And finally, Ben. I've actually come around to him being on the show now that he and Val are back together and his journalism storylines are being properly emphasised rather than treated as a throwaway character trait. Before that, it reminded me of the problem with keeping Jenna on Dallas after she and Bobby broke up. Sometimes a love-interest character sticks around after the relationship ends, and you can't help wondering why is this character still here? Ben feels much more integrated into the show now that he has a purpose beyond simply being Val's ex.
ETA: The way the actress was holding the baby, I really hope that was a doll. The poor baby's neck.
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