Knots Landing is an American primetime television soap opera that aired on CBS from December 27, 1979, to May 13, 1993. A spin-off of Dallas, it was set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles and initially centered on the lives of four married couples living on a cul-de-sac, Seaview Circle. Throughout its 14-year run, storylines included marital strife, rape, murder, kidnapping, assassinations, drug smuggling, politics, addictions, environmental issues, corporate intrigue, and criminal investigations. By the time of its conclusion, it had become the third-longest-running primetime drama on American television after Gunsmoke and BonanzaBonanza and Knots Landing were surpassed by Law & Order in 2004. and the last scripted primetime drama show that debuted in the 1970s to leave the air.Dallas, which ended in 1991, was the only other scripted primetime show from the 1970s that lasted past 1986. Saturday Night Live debuted in 1975 and is still in production as of 2022. However, SNL is not traditionally included in the category of "scripted" shows, which in entertainment industry parlance means 30- to 60-minute sitcoms and dramas and excludes variety and sketch shows even if they are pre-scripted rather than improvised. In the majority of the U.S., SNL also airs later than the timeslots considered "primetime".
Knots Landing was created by David Jacobs (one-time writer of Family and later producer of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman) in conjunction with producer Michael Filerman (who would also later co-produce Falcon Crest). Although a spin-off of Dallas, the concept predates that series, and was rebuffed by CBS in 1977, as the network wanted something more "saga-like". Jacobs then created Dallas, which the network accepted and premiered in 1978. After Dallas became a hit, Jacobs was then able to adapt Knots Landing as a spin-off series by way of incorporating the characters of Gary and Valene Ewing who were first introduced in Dallas. The series was largely inspired by a 1957 movie No Down Payment and also by the 1973 Ingmar Bergman television miniseries Scenes from a Marriage.
Though initially not as popular in the ratings as Dallas, Knots Landing ultimately outlasted it and garnered much critical acclaim. There were 344 episodes spanning 14 seasons of Knots Landing from 1979 to 1993. In 1997, much of the cast reunited for a two-part miniseries titled Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac. In 2005, they reunited again for the non-fiction special Knots Landing Reunion: Together Again in which the cast reminisced about their time on the show. Dallas itself was revived in 2012, with Gary and Valene Ewing appearing in its second season. During nearly the entire run of the original series, Knots Landing occupied the same timeslot: Thursday nights at 10:00 p.m. For a while, it was moved to the 9:00 p.m. timeslot when Falcon Crest was moved to Thursday nights for the final four episodes of its run. When Falcon Crest ended its run, Knots Landing was moved back to its 10:00 p.m. timeslot and stayed there until it ended its run. On two other occasions, Knots Landing was also moved to Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. to make room for two short-lived dramas, Jessica Novak and Kay O'Brien.
Backstory Gary Ewing (David Ackroyd) was the middle son and black sheep of the Ewing family from Dallas. His father Jock (Jim Davis) and elder brother J. R. (Larry Hagman) had never treated him as an equal, and viewed him as a weak link. At 17, Gary ran away from home and met 15-year-old waitress Valene Clements (Joan Van Ark) and quickly married her, producing a daughter, Lucy (Charlene Tilton). The family arrived at Southfork Ranch, the Ewing homestead, and found that Gary had risen in his family's estimations: Jock liked Valene and was proud to be a grandfather, and Gary's mother Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes) was thrilled to have him home. At his parents' insistence, J. R. started including him in dealings at Ewing Oil, but J. R. tasked him with business deals doomed to fail and made it appear that Gary was at fault. The pressure led Gary into alcoholism. Unable to cope with disappointing his family, he fled Southfork, leaving Valene and Lucy behind. Without Gary in his way, J. R. persecuted Valene until she left Texas with infant Lucy. She went to Tennessee to find her mother, Lilimae Clements (Julie Harris), but Lilimae turned her away. Shortly afterward, J. R. found her and took Lucy back to Southfork to be raised by "true Ewings" and threatened Valene against returning to Texas.
Years later, youngest Ewing brother Bobby (Patrick Duffy) and his wife Pamela (Victoria Principal) found Gary working as a waiter in Las Vegas, and they convinced him to return home and visit Miss Ellie. At the same time, Lucy discovered that Valene had returned to Dallas and was working as a waitress in a diner, and began meeting with her in secret to avoid J. R.'s wrath. Lucy then engineered a meeting between her parents, which led to them reconciling and moving into Southfork together. J. R., upset and jealous that his parents were now lauding Gary's new start, saddled him with a failing company, the pressures of which led to him choosing to leave Southfork before he relapsed into drinking again. J. R. then forced Valene off the ranch again without letting her say goodbye to Lucy; J. R. pretended that Valene had abandoned her again, and taken a $5000 payoff from him.
A year later, Valene appeared at Lucy's college hoping for a reconciliation. Still thinking Valene had run out on her, Lucy rebuffed her. However, with help from Bobby, Lucy and Valene reconciled again and they maintained their relationship. Shortly afterwards, Valene revealed to Miss Ellie that she and Gary were still writing to each other. Gary (now portrayed by Ted Shackelford) returned to Dallas and mended his relationship with Jock, before marrying Valene for a second time. After they announced that they were planning to move to California, Miss Ellie bought them a newly-built house as a wedding present.
Knots Landing is officially spun off from Dallas in the third-season episode "Return Engagements".
Series synopsis
Season 1 (1979–80)
In the first episode, newly remarried Gary and Val arrive in Knots Landing, California, and move into Seaview Circle, a suburban cul-de-sac. They meet their neighbors, Sid Fairgate (Don Murray), the owner of Knots Landing Motors, a Ford and Mercury new and used car dealership, and his wife Karen (Michele Lee), the parents of three children: Diana (Claudia Lonow), Eric (Steve Shaw), and Michael (Patrick Petersen). Also living on the cul-de-sac is corporate lawyer Richard Avery (John Pleshette) and his real estate agent wife Laura (Constance McCashin), who have a young son, Jason. Other neighbors include the young couple Kenny Ward (James Houghton), a record producer, and his wife Ginger (Kim Lankford), a kindergarten teacher. Early in the series, Gary becomes a salesman at Knots Landing Motors, and deals with visits from his wealthy brothers from Dallas, Bobby (guest star Patrick Duffy) and J. R. Ewing (guest star Larry Hagman). Gary and Valene get a visit from their teenage daughter Lucy (Charlene Tilton), although she decides to return to Dallas, and from Valene's estranged mother, Lilimae (Julie Harris). Sid and Karen deal with problems surrounding Sid's oldest daughter, Annie (Karen Allen), Richard and Laura deal with the circumstances surrounding Laura's rape, and Kenny and Ginger's marriage hits the rocks when Kenny starts an affair with a young singer named Sylvie (Louise Vallance). In the season finale, Gary relapses into alcoholism, endangering his marriage.
Season 2 (1980–81) At the beginning of the second season, Sid's manipulative younger sister, Abby Cunningham (Donna Mills), a recent divorcée and the mother of two children, Olivia (Tonya Crowe) and Brian (Bobby Jacoby, later Brian Austin Green), move to Knots Landing. Abby starts working for her brother at Knots Landing Motors and immediately takes an interest in Richard, beginning a rather open affair with him, and she makes sure that Valene discovers Gary having an affair with Judy Trent (guest star Jane Elliot), the wife of a man he befriended while in Alcoholics Anonymous. In the meantime, Laura starts an affair with her boss, Scooter Warren (Allan Miller), and Abby soon dumps Richard when her ex-husband, Jeff (Barry Jenner), threatens to take her children from her. While separated from Kenny, Ginger starts a romance with the father of one of her students, although she and Kenny eventually reconcile. Near the end of the season, Valene discovers that the growth she had taken out was malignant and has to have a colonoscopy. Jeff succeeds in taking Olivia and Brian from Abby, leaving her frantic. Three criminals break into Val's house while Ginger's baby shower is going on and the women are held hostage until a swat team arrives. When Sid discovered some car parts that Gary and Abby had purchased were actually stolen, his brakes were tampered with to keep him from testifying in court. As a result, in the season finale, Sid's car plunges off a cliff.
Season 3 (1981–82) At the start of the third season, Sid undergoes surgery but dies of his injuries. Karen becomes the head of Knots Landing Motors, subsequently firing Abby, although she was soon rehired. Meanwhile, Abby and Gary start an affair, and Ginger gives birth to a daughter, Erin Molly, and makes Karen her godmother. Karen's brother, Joe Cooper (Stephen Macht), takes a job at USC as a bookkeeper and briefly stays with the Fairgate family before leaving town. Valene's mother, Lilimae Clements, moves in with Gary and Valene, enabling Valene and Lilimae to gradually fix their estranged relationship. Laura plans to leave Richard and marry her real-estate sales boss, Scooter, but when Laura learns she is pregnant, she decides to reconcile with Richard and end her affair with Scooter. However, Richard loses his job and suffers a nervous breakdown, holds Laura hostage in their home at gunpoint. Laura subsequently sends Richard to a mental institution. After Karen passes up the opportunity to fund a methanol-powered vehicle project, Gary and Abby devote the majority of their time to making the deal without Karen's help. In the season finale, Valene discovers Gary and Abby's affair and leaves him.
Season 4 (1982–83) In season four, Valene returns to the cul-de-sac and throws Gary out of the house, leaving him free to move in with Abby. He then inherits millions of dollars from his recently deceased father, Jock Ewing (Jim Davis). Investing money in several ways, Gary takes an interest in a beautiful younger singer named Ciji Dunne (Lisa Hartman). Valene releases her book, titled Capricorn Crude, a thinly veiled exposé of the Ewings of Dallas. With the charges dropped against Sid Fairgate's killers, Karen seeks the help of federal prosecutor Mack MacKenzie (Kevin Dobson), whom she starts dating and eventually marries mid-season. Valene's publicist, Chip Roberts (Michael Sabatino), moves in with Valene and Lilimae, and trouble starts when he dates Diana and Ciji at the same time, later getting Ciji pregnant. Ciji insists on keeping the baby, much to Chip's annoyance and anger. Ciji also became close to Laura which angered Richard, and was also romantically linked to Gary. Ciji's dead body was later discovered on the beach, and there are many suspects, most prominently Gary, Valene, Chip, Richard and Abby. Richard realises his marriage is over and leaves Knots Landing, and Kenny and Ginger move to Nashville where she starts her music career. Karen learns that Chip's real name is Tony Fenice and that he's a fugitive wanted for assault and battery on a woman in Seattle, but is too late to stop Diana leaving town with him. The season ends with Gary sitting in jail, awaiting trial for Ciji's murder.
Season 5 (1983–84)