Classic TV Shows - Knots Landing
|
|
|
Knots Landing - 1979-1993
|
|
|
 |
Show Summary
Primetime soaper, which has risen to new rating heights with the emergence of 'Dallas' this season as a top-10 series, was given another nudge towards the look and content of 'Peyton Place,' the predecessor of the genre, with the introduction of 'Knots Landing' to the CBS-TV slate.
A spinoff from 'Dallas', the new entry has a middle-class frame of reference rather than rich income background of the former's characters. It retains, however, the raunchy behavior patterns and bad taste of the original. Ostensibly in California, the location is a four house cluster surrounding a cul-de-sac court in a housing development into one of which moves Ted Shackelford and Joan Van Ark--he being the weak son of the 'Dallas Ewing' family. Determined to make a new life, the Ewings were immediately swept into the intrigue of the court, which included used car lot owner Don Murray and wife Michele Lee, aggressive lawyer John Pleshette and wife Constance McCashin and record exec James Houghton and wife Kim Lankford. Murray's daughter (from another marriage) was found by him in the sack with a strange boy as the episode began -- and the exploitable sequences took off from there, with the good guys and the bad guys immediately identified for the long run. It was the kind of trashy domestic drama that 'Dallas' has made great rating strides with and there was no indication that 'Knots' is not capable of the same acceptance. Murray, Lee, Pleshette and guest Karen Allen (as the visiting daughter) were most prominent in the opener, with Lee the most impressive performer. The possible variations seem endless.
|
Cast & Characters
• Ted Shackelford as Gary Ewing
• Constance McChasin as Laura Avery Sumner (1979-1987)
• Pat Peterson as Michael Fairgate (1979-1991)
• Steve Shaw as Eric Fairgate (1979-1987, 1989-1991)
• Donna Mills as Abby Cunningham Ewing Sumner (1980-1989)
• Tonya Crowe as Olivia Cunningham (1980-1990)
• Julie Harris as Lilimae Clements (1981-1987)
• Kevin Dobson as M. (Mack) Patrick MacKenzie (1982-1993)
• Douglas Sheehan as Ben Gibson (1983-1987)
• William Devane as Gregory Sumner (1983-1993)
|
|
Series Run
344 Episodes
First Telecast: December 20, 1979
Last Telecast: May 13, 1993
|
|
Broadcast History
• December 1979- March 1980, CBS, Thursday 10:00-11:00pm
• June 1980- March 1981, CBS, Thursday 10:00-11:00pm
• June 1981- October 1981, CBS, Thursday 10:00-11:00pm
• November 1981- March 1982, CBS, Thursday 9:00-10:00pm
• March 1982- March 1983, CBS, Thursday 10:00-11:00pm
• June 1983- June 1986, CBS, Thursday 10:00-11:00pm
• September 1986- November 1986, CBS, Thursday 9:00-10:00pm
• November 1986- March 1993 CBS, Thursday 10:00-11:00pm
• May 1993, CBS, Thursday 9:00-11:00pm
|
|
Theme Song Info
Song Info
|
|
Show Merchandise
• View Books
• View Music & Soundtracks
• View DVDs
|
|
|
|