The Knots-verse

[J. R.'s Piece]

Interesting. Did they ever say on screen that they had never divorced the first time? If so, when? I vaguely remember when they remarried in season 11, someone saying something about “third time’s a charm”.

They didn’t remarry in season 11. Val was busy with one of her other husbands around then.

 

[Ray_Krebbs]

I remember in episode 6 or 7 of Dallas, Gary and Val asked each other if they ever remarried, so they did divorce.

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

I remember in episode 6 or 7 of Dallas, Gary and Val asked each other if they ever remarried, so they did divorce.

Well, yeah, they do ask each other that in Reunion part 2.

But when they are next getting remarried, Miss Ellie seems to think that they are still married and want a new ceremony because of the time gap. Valene seems happy to go along with that thought and mentions the possibility of future remarriages to each other.

When Gary gets drunk at the end of Knots Landing season 1, he does ask Valene about who erm... rang her chimes... during that period. Then that Rusty turns up in seasons 3 and 4 but I’m a bit rusty about that and I’m not good at cricket. Valene says to Rusty that her “marriage is back together again”.

I’m undecided. I do remember some thingy where you can get a divorce without knowing where your spouse is. Which suggests that they may or may not have got divorced.

 

[Seaviewer]

There's something about the way Val pauses before saying the word "marry" which suggests that she may be using it as a euphemism.

I’m undecided. I do remember some thingy where you can get a divorce without knowing where your spouse is. Which suggests that they may or may not have got divorced.

That could make it possible for one to get a divorce without the other one knowing, which could also explain Val's question.

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Gary was his least favourite brother unlike Bobby I can understand JR having an objection toward Bobby and Pam being together since JR actually cared about him.

There are some times when JR says that Gary is a Ewing and then immediately dismisses Ray as being a half-breed/"a bastard". Like when JR was after Gary's Ewing Oil voting shares and immediately before finding out that James Beaumont was his son. And JR did call Valene his favourite sister-in-law!

I remember in episode 6 or 7 of Dallas, Gary and Val asked each other if they ever remarried, so they did divorce.

There's something about the way Val pauses before saying the word "marry" which suggests that she may be using it as a euphemism.
That could make it possible for one to get a divorce without the other one knowing, which could also explain Val's question.

Miss Ellie says to Gary, Valene and Bobby (when Bobby has arranged Gary and Valene’s remarriage), “Well, if I’d been separated from my husband for seventeen years, I’d want a new ceremony too”. Moments later (in response to Miss Ellie saying that she wishes that she could give them a wedding), Valene says, “Well, maybe when we let everybody in on it, you can. Well, as far as I’m concerned, we can get married every year, over and over”.

But in the same episode, JR says to Kristin that Gary is getting remarried to his former wife. And in Reunion part 1, JR told Sue Ellen that he tried to annul Gary's marriage to "that trashy girl".

I’m not sure that even they know.

 

[Mustard]

They didn’t remarry in season 11. Val was busy with one of her other husbands around then.

Gary and Valene married for the third time in the 300th episode of Knots Landing (Season 12, Episode 24).

It was during Season 11 when Gary and Val became a live-in couple again for the first time since Val left Gary in the Season 3 cliffhanger after discovering Gary's affair with Abby. For years afterwards, a Gary and Val reunion would be teased, and it would never quite happen. A reunion almost happened early in Season 4 when Gary pleaded "don't give up on us!", again in Season 5 when the twins Bobby and Betsy were conceived but Gary married Abby instead. In Season 7, as Val was marrying Ben, it was obvious that she and Gary were in love yet separate as Gary was married to Abby and Val was about to marry Ben. In Season 9, with Ben gone to South America, Gary and Abby divorced and Gary's new relationship with Jill somewhat on-off, Gary and Val had some one-night stands and it looked like they were drawing close enough to be together again, but Val went ballistic when Gary demanded a paternity test on Bobby and Betsy (as Ben had been their legal father) and it drove them apart again.

Jill tried to kill Val in the Season 9 cliffhanger and make it look like a suicide, Jill was eventually exposed and Val turned the tables as Jill became scared of her instead. Jill accidently killed herself in Season 10 and Ben had disappeared since late Season 8, and it finally looked like Gary and Val had no obstacles left (in Season 10), but then came Danny Waleska who Val fell in lust with and married. Only when Val saw Danny's true colours in Season 11 did she finally reunite properly with Gary and start living together with him again in a relationship (their children Bobby and Betsy too), and they got engaged. After Danny's death in Season 12 though, the scriptwriters (the Lechowicks) couldn't resist throwing another potential spanner in the works and gave Val a "brain virus" where she acted very strange and erratically after bumping her head, calling off the engagement for a time. Gary and Val married again late in Season 12.

 

[stevew]

Gary and Valene married for the third time in the 300th episode of Knots Landing (Season 12, Episode 24).

It was during Season 11 when Gary and Val became a live-in couple again for the first time since Val left Gary in the Season 3 cliffhanger after discovering Gary's affair with Abby. For years afterwards, a Gary and Val reunion would be teased, and it would never quite happen. A reunion almost happened early in Season 4 when Gary pleaded "don't give up on us!", again in Season 5 when the twins Bobby and Betsy were conceived but Gary married Abby instead. In Season 7, as Val was marrying Ben, it was obvious that she and Gary were in love yet separate as Gary was married to Abby and Val was about to marry Ben. In Season 9, with Ben gone to South America, Gary and Abby divorced and Gary's new relationship with Jill somewhat on-off, Gary and Val had some one-night stands and it looked like they were drawing close enough to be together again, but Val went ballistic when Gary demanded a paternity test on Bobby and Betsy (as Ben had been their legal father) and it drove them apart again.

Jill tried to kill Val in the Season 9 cliffhanger and make it look like a suicide, Jill was eventually exposed and Val turned the tables as Jill became scared of her instead. Jill accidently killed herself in Season 10 and Ben had disappeared since late Season 8, and it finally looked like Gary and Val had no obstacles left (in Season 10), but then came Danny Waleska who Val fell in lust with and married. Only when Val saw Danny's true colours in Season 11 did she finally reunite properly with Gary and start living together with him again in a relationship (their children Bobby and Betsy too), and they got engaged. After Danny's death in Season 12 though, the scriptwriters (the Lechowicks) couldn't resist throwing another potential spanner in the works and gave Val a "brain virus" where she acted very strange and erratically after bumping her head, calling off the engagement for a time. Gary and Val married again late in Season 12.

Funny they got to finally raise their children. I wonder how Bobby and Betsy turned out. If they’d have an interest in Dallas - their father’s rich family that must have seemed larger than life to them. How often did they see their cousins?

 

[Mustard]

There are some times when JR says that Gary is a Ewing and then immediately dismisses Ray as being a half-breed/"a bastard". Like when JR was after Gary's Ewing Oil voting shares and immediately before finding out that James Beaumont was his son. And JR did call Valene his favourite sister-in-law!




Miss Ellie says to Gary, Valene and Bobby (when Bobby has arranged Gary and Valene’s remarriage), “Well, if I’d been separated from my husband for seventeen years, I’d want a new ceremony too”. Moments later (in response to Miss Ellie saying that she wishes that she could give them a wedding), Valene says, “Well, maybe when we let everybody in on it, you can. Well, as far as I’m concerned, we can get married every year, over and over”.

But in the same episode, JR says to Kristin that Gary is getting remarried to his former wife. And in Reunion part 1, JR told Sue Ellen that he tried to annul Gary's marriage to "that trashy girl".

I’m not sure that even they know.

There is evidence to support that Gary and Val divorced in 1962 before bumping into each other 16 years later, and evidence that they had just separated for 16-17 years without divorcing. It depends on which episode you are watching. Gary never had a serious relationship during those long years of separation from Val, while Val's only serious relationship for a short time was with Rusty Daniels around 1970, who she met again in 2 Knots Landing episodes in 1982.

Funny they got to finally raise their children. I wonder how Bobby and Betsy turned out. If they’d have an interest in Dallas - their father’s rich family that must have seemed larger than life to them. How often did they see their cousins?

They were great parents to Bobby and Betsy. Gary had learned parental responsibility well while being stepfather to Olivia and Brian when he was with Abby (1982-1987, married 1983-1987). Abby was a contrast to Val in that she didn't mother Gary in the slightest, and demanded that he face up to responsibilities, whereas Val was nearly always an emotional rock for Gary to lean on.

Funny they got to finally raise their children. I wonder how Bobby and Betsy turned out. If they’d have an interest in Dallas - their father’s rich family that must have seemed larger than life to them. How often did they see their cousins?

After Dallas brought Bobby back from the dead in the summer of 1986, it ended any storyline crossovers on Knots Landing episodes after that. Bobby was never mentioned again on Knots Landing. He was still dead there, and Knots stayed in that universe. Lucy was mentioned in Season 14, about her travelling in Europe, when Val was falsely suspected to have died in Florida. But in Seasons 1, 2 and 4 of Knots, you had Dallas characters crossing over, and in the first 7 seasons of Knots you would get storyline crossovers of some kind.

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Funny they got to finally raise their children. I wonder how Bobby and Betsy turned out. If they’d have an interest in Dallas - their father’s rich family that must have seemed larger than life to them. How often did they see their cousins?

Gary fathered a fourth child after that, during the time when he thought that Valene was dead. Another daughter.

 

[Toni]

Gary fathered a fourth child after that, during the time when he thought that Valene was dead. Another daughter.

It was all a dream. That would make Val and Claudia their kids´ mother-in-laws...What a nightmarish thought...literally, because we could hear their bubble thoughts a la Anne-Claudia!!

 

[Mustard]

Gary fathered a fourth child after that, during the time when he thought that Valene was dead. Another daughter.

Yes. After Valene seemed to have died in Florida, Gary was briefly with Kate Whittaker, which led to a daughter named Molly. A young Molly was seen in the 1997 2-part special Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-sac. And Molly's stepfather was none other than Gary's former stepson, Brian Cunningham (Abby's son).

 

[James from London]

Yes. After Valene seemed to have died in Florida, Gary was briefly with Kate Whittaker, which led to a daughter named Molly. A young Molly was seen in the 1997 2-part special Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-sac. And Molly's stepfather was none other than Gary's former stepson, Brian Cunningham (Abby's son).

Which means that all the Ewings and almost everyone on KNOTS LANDING is now related. For example, Karen Mackenzie is Clayton Farlow's second wife's son's daughter's mother's husband's aunt. And for that matter, James Beaumont is Laura Avery's second husband's third wife's second husband's nephew.

 

[Mustard]

And JR did call Valene his favourite sister-in-law!

It's true as well. There's a certain comedy element in a lot of the scenes with J.R. and Valene, because Val is so angry with him and J.R. is winding her up. It was hilarious when Valene found out that J.R. had brought the company that was releasing Val's bestselling book, Capricorn Crude, so that he could get a lot of the profits, or when Val would make a sandwich or an iced tea for him at the Cul-de-sac house before he'd tell her how she had a way with tuna fish or some such.

In scenes with J.R. and Pam, that comedy element is not there. J.R. feels a lot more uncomfortable around Pam.

 

[stevew]

It's true as well. There's a certain comedy element in a lot of the scenes with J.R. and Valene, because Val is so angry with him and J.R. is winding her up. It was hilarious when Valene found out that J.R. had brought the company that was releasing Val's bestselling book, Capricorn Crude, so that he could get a lot of the profits, or when Val would make a sandwich or an iced tea for him at the Cul-de-sac house before he'd tell her how she had a way with tuna fish or some such.

In scenes with J.R. and Pam, that comedy element is not there. J.R. feels a lot more uncomfortable around Pam.

A Clements is worth two to three Barnes’. A McCullum married first to a Culver is worth a hundred Clements’ but Ray isn’t a real Ewing, so Donbas not a real sister-in-law nor would Jenna be, a Wade is probably worth the lot. Just imagine if someone had married an Anderson - JR Ewing thinking out loud.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Karen Mackenzie is Clayton Farlow's second wife's son's daughter's mother's husband's aunt. And for that matter, James Beaumont is Laura Avery's second husband's third wife's second husband's nephew.

 

[stevew]

The image didn’t take.

 

[TJames03]

Since DALLAS & KNOTS split apart in 1986 it kind of delved into the sci fi, I’m fascinated by parallel universes so was wondering what the DALLAS lot got up to in the Knotsverse and found that it was probably a lot better since:

- Pam never burned to a crisp then die two years later due to cancer

- JR wouldn’t have lost his edge

- Ray and Donna still married etc etc

It seems that what we actually got from DALLAS was the Dark Universe :-D :-D

Pam did burn and die because she was gone when Gary and Val appeared on TNT Dallas. The history was the same.

 

[Seaviewer]

That would make Val and Claudia their kids´ mother-in-laws..

I'm not sure how you work that out. Val would be Molly's stepmother. Claudia would be one of her grandmothers, Miss Ellie would be the other. Once Kate married Brian, Abby would be Molly's step-grandmother.

Which means that all the Ewings and almost everyone on KNOTS LANDING is now related. For example, Karen Mackenzie is Clayton Farlow's second wife's son's daughter's mother's husband's aunt.

I recall Abby (I think) telling Karen she wouldn't be satisfied until everyone was related.

 

[Toni]

I'm not sure how you work that out. Val would be Molly's stepmother. Claudia would be one of her grandmothers, Miss Ellie would be the other. Once Kate married Brian, Abby would be Molly's step-grandmother.
I recall Abby (I think) telling Karen she wouldn't be satisfied until everyone was related.

Well, I forgot to add "by marriage": I was just imagining a dinner with Gary (Molly´s daddy) and his wife Val, Brian and Kate and her daughter, and then Claudia gossiping about everything and everybody. So if Val is married to Gary, Molly sort of is her half-daughter (or stepdaughter?) and Claudia the latter´s grandmother. Anyway, in Spanish this has a specific word so I find the whole thing terribly confusing...

 

[Mustard]

Pam did burn and die because she was gone when Gary and Val appeared on TNT Dallas. The history was the same.

The Gary and Val from TNT Dallas are from the universe where Bobby hadn't died, unlike the Knots Landing versions of Gary and Val where Bobby had died in 1985.