Trivia - Knots Landing

In the 1980s and 1990s, TV audiences were absolutely hooked on their primetime soap operas—and I was no exception. At one point, I was glued to "Dallas," "Dynasty," "The Colbys," "Falcon Crest," and, of course, my favorite: "Knots Landing" all at the same time! I followed every twist, every scandal, and every dramatic cliffhanger from each series. I was officially obsessed—and, truth be told, I still am.

To celebrate my fantastic two-part interview with the legendary Joan Van Ark—whose unforgettable portrayal of Valene Ewing helped define "Knots Landing"—on the latest back-to-back episodes (123 & 124) of Hollywood Obsessed, I thought it would be fun to test your knowledge of this classic series.

So welcome back to the cul-de-sac. Let’s see how much you remember. Enjoy!

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“Knots Landing,” which aired on CBS from December 27, 1979, to May 13, 1993, was a spin-off of “Dallas” and took place in the fictional coastal suburb of Los Angeles. It initially focused on the lives of four married couples living on a quiet cul-de-sac called Seaview Circle. 

David Jacobs came up with, and tried to sell the concept of this show (five families living in a cul-de-sac) before he created “Dallas,” but the networks wanted something more saga-like. When “Dallas” became a success, the network asked for a spin-off. Jacobs dusted off his idea for this show by making Gary and Val Ewing one of the families.

The series' signature cul-de-sac, Seaview Circle, was actually Crystalaire Place in Granada Hills, a suburban street in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, about twenty miles from the Pacific Ocean. The opening credits during the first two seasons were edited in such a way to make it appear that the cul-de-sac was closer to the ocean. The owners of the houses allowed filming to take place on the exteriors of the houses, but all interior shots were filmed on a studio soundstage.

When production of the series was about to begin, David Ackroyd who created the role of Gary Ewing, on its parent show, “Dallas,” was unavailable for the role. Ted Shackelford replaced Ackroyd, and he made his first appearance on the "Dallas" episode “Return Engagements.” This led to the spin-off series.

At the beginning of the third season, Don Murray (Sid Fairgate) had decided to leave the show, to focus on other projects, though some sources say he left the show over a contract dispute.

During the first few seasons, there was a certain amount of interplay between this show and “Dallas,” from which it was a spin-off. Gary (Ted Shackelford) and Val (Joan Van Ark) also both appeared in the final episode of “Dallas” in 1991, when an angel showed J.R. (Larry Hagman) how different their lives would have been had J.R. never been born.

When the show debuted, episodes were largely self-contained rather than serialized. Beginning in Season 2, the show adopted a hybrid format as both episodic and serialized, in comparison to its parent show “Dallas,” which becomes completely serialized by the end of the season. Knots became completely serialized by season 4.

With the encouragement of longtime friend and protégée, Joan Van Ark, Julie Harris got the role as Lilimae Clements, the mother of Valene Ewing. Originally as a recurring role, she became a series regular, in Season 4.

Michele Lee Karen Fairgate MacKenzie), Ted Shackelford (Gary Ewing) and Joan Van Ark (Valene Ewing) are the only actors to appear in 300 or more episodes of the series: Lee in all 344, Shackelford in 330 and Van Ark in 317.

Joan Van Ark appeared in every season of "Knots Landing," but only in the final episode of the show's last season.

This is the first and only soap opera dealing with middle-class families.

The storyline of the Gary, Val and Abby love triangle had been brought up by Ted Shackelford and Joan Van Ark, at the time of Donna Mills' arrival on the show. Initially, the producers delayed the storyline for over a year before going through with it in 1982.

After writing 8 episodes, John Pleshette left the show near the end of the fourth season, hoping to direct the show. When David Jacobs and Michael Filerman wouldn't allow him to direct, Pleshette went elsewhere. When he guest-starred on a two-part episode of the show in the 9th season, he would get to direct.

Donna Mills claimed that she did all her own make-up for her character Abby Ewing. Mills released her own eye make-up brand and tutorials, “The Eyes Have It,” in the 1980s.

Michele Lee had a clause in her Knots contract that her character would never be a grandmother.

 “Knots Landing” and the “Wizard of Oz” were filmed on the same soundstage. Both were made on Stage 4 on the MGM lot. Knots was also filmed on Stage 25.

After Don Murray's departure from the show, the producers of the show wanted Michele Lee's character to remain single for a year, which she did. The producers then hired Kevin Dobson to play her eventual second husband on the show. He remained until the series was cancelled.

The role of Laura was created especially for Constance McCashin. She had worked with David Jacobs on “Family”, so he wrote the part with her in mind. Constance’s real life husband, director Sam Wiseman, appeared in episode #24 as a real estate client of Laura’s. They shared an on screen kiss.

Although on-camera, Abby was not best buddies with either Karen or Val, off-camera, Donna Mills remains close friends with both Michele Lee and Joan Van Ark.

As ratings started to fall but costs were still escalating for all the US primetime soaps in the late 80s, Lorimar-Telepictures Productions were forced to reduce the budgets of each of their hit shows; “Dallas,” “Knots Landing” and “Falcon Crest.” Also, at the beginning of the ninth season, David Jacobs and Michael Filerman had decided to go into a different direction of this show. Consequently, Julie Harris (Lilimae Clements) and Constance McCashin (Laura Avery) were let go due to budget cuts.

Chynna Phillips (the real-life daughter of Michelle Phillips) was the producers' first choice to play Paige Matheson. The role ultimately went to Nicollette Sheridan (the real-life stepdaughter of Telly Savalas). Beginning as a recurring role, she landed a starring role in the 10th season and stayed throughout the series' run.

Before the series, and after “Dallas,” Joan Van Ark and Ted Shackelford were cast as a couple as a result of appearing together in an episode of “Wonder Woman,” where they first worked (though their characters were adversaries on that show, they had chemistry).

A new arrangement of the series' theme tune, composed by Jerold Immel, was made for every season.

Ted Shackelford (Gary Ewing), Joan Van Ark (Valene Ewing), Larry Hagman (J. R. Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Mary Crosby (Kristin Shepard) and Eric Farlow (Christopher Ewing) are the only actors to play the same character in both “Dallas” and “Knots Landing.” With the exception of Crosby and Farlow, all of them also played the same character in “Dallas.”

Michelle Phillips first joined the series as scheming Anne Matheson in 1987, for a fixed number of episodes, but she was asked to reprise her role in 1989 after the departure of Donna Mills (Abby Ewing), the show's main villainess. When audiences felt that the character had become too sympathetic, the writers created Claudia Whitaker (Kathleen Noone), who was seen as a more devious Abby-like character, with whom Anne often battled.

Kenny and Ginger Ward (played by James Houghton and Kim Lankford) were written out of "Knots Landing" after the fourth season. While there were discussions about a spin-off series centered around their move to Nashville and Ginger's music career, it never materialized. Some fans felt the characters were underutilized with uninspired storylines. Both Kenny and Ginger did return for the "Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac" reunion miniseries. 

In 1985, Gary Ewing (Ted Shackelford) got a phone call telling him his brother Bobby (Patrick Duffy) was dead. However, when the producers of “Dallas” decided to retcon Bobby's death the following year, by making it all a dream that Pam Ewing had, the producers of “Knots Landing” chose not to go along with its parent series in order to not confuse viewers. Bobby Ewing's "resurrection" therefore was never mentioned on “Knots Landing,” and the series never associated itself with “Dallas” again, with the exception of Gary and Val's appearance in the "Dallas" series finale.

In a rare return to a Hollywood studio, Ava made seven guest appearances in episodes of the primetime CBS soap opera, “Knots Landing” in 1985. CBS sought Ava out as a “big name” for the nighttime program to compete with other stars like Joan Collins and Linda Evans who were starring on other primetime soaps. She played Ruth Sumner Galveston, the mother of Greg Sumner, who was portrayed by William Devane. 

At first, Michele Lee didn't want to do the drug storyline, saying that Karen does not have a dependency problem. Ultimately it was David Jacobs's call for her to do the storyline.

From the fifth through the thirteenth season, Gary Ewing (Ted Shackelford) owned a ranch called Westfork. In real life, the ranch is called Sandstone Horse Sales. It is a place for horse racing and breeding, located in Thousand Oaks, California.

Lisa Hartman-Black and Stacy Galina both played characters that were killed off. They re-appeared in later episodes as new characters. The physical resemblances between their respective characters were part of their stories.

The writers wanted Mack MacKenzie to have an extramarital affair with Anne Matheson. Michele Lee, who played Mack's wife Karen, protested this to David Jacobs, who said "There has to be one stable couple on the show." The extramarital affair storyline was nixed, and Michelle Phillips, who had been signed to a contract, was written out for a couple of seasons before returning in 1990. When she did return, Anne did not pursue Mack.

In season 9, the Williams family, consisting of Frank, Pat, and Julie,  moved to the cul-de-sac and were the first regular African American family to be introduced on the long-running series. With Larry Riley and Lynne Moody playing Frank and Pat, respectively, and Kent Masters-King playing their daughter Julie. The show integrated the Williams family as a natural evolution of the show, rather than focusing on racial issues. 

Lynn Moody stayed on until her departure in 1990, while Riley was promoted to being a regular cast member until his departure in 1992.

After nine seasons of playing Abby, Donna Mills had decided to depart from the cast of the show, because she wanted to take a break from acting. She appeared in almost every episode, from 1980 until 1989, missing only 2 episodes.

In February 1992, when Larry Riley had been on the show for five years, audiences were shocked by his haggard appearance after the show took a five-month hiatus. Larry explained had he'd lost eighty pounds (from two hundred twenty) due to kidney trouble, which he attributed to high blood pressure, and would be on dialysis for the rest of his life. After his death four months later, his widow Nina disclosed that Larry's renal failure was actually due to AIDS.

To celebrate “Knots Landing’s” 200th Episode, the cast was allowed to improvise their lines? Episodes 200 and 201 (“Noises Everywhere”) had the cast assemble at Greg’s ranch to mourn Laura’s death. The writer’s wrote a few general guidelines, and let the actors take it from there. Joan Van Ark decided to use the show to try and combat her “Poor Val” image. Teri Austin chose to have Jill drink heavily and deal with Peter’s death. Kevin Dobson and Michele Lee introduced their character’s wish for a child. William Devane let us see the vulnerable side of Greg, but chose to do it away from the other character’s, as he knew Greg would. This improvisation was done as an experiment, but the producers were not very happy with it, and so it was never done again. 

Joan Van Ark departed from the show at the end of the thirteenth season to star in a sitcom that wasn't picked up by NBC. Consequently, she returned for the series finale a year later.

Donna Mills left the show near the end of the series' tenth year to focus on other projects. She joined the cast in 1980 and stayed until 1989. She returned for the series' finale in 1993.

While “Dallas” was canceled in 1991, “Knots Landing” went on until 1993.

By the time of its conclusion, it had become the third-longest-running primetime drama on American television after “Gunsmoke” and “Bonanza” and the last scripted primetime drama show that debuted in the 1970s to leave the air.

During nearly the entire run of the original series, “Knots Landing” occupied the same timeslot: Thursday nights at 10:00 p.m.

In 1997, much of the cast reunited for a two-part miniseries titled “Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac.” 

Kathleen Noone (Claudia Whittaker) was the only “Knots Landing” Season Fourteen regular cast member who did not reprise her role in the reunion miniseries.

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.

Michele Lee admitted in “Knots Landing Reunion: Together Again” that she had a crush on Kevin Dobson when he started on the show.

“Dallas” itself was revived in 2012, with Gary and Valene Ewing appearing in its second season.

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Some trivia facts sourced from IMDb & Wikipedia—because even diehard fans need a little backup now and then!

And don’t forget to check out my exclusive two-part interview with the iconic Joan Van Ark on the latest episodes of the Hollywood Obsessed podcast! Packed with juicy behind-the-scenes stories, fun throwbacks, and heartfelt reflections from her legendary career, this is one conversation you won’t want to miss.

Tap the links below to listen, laugh, and relive the drama of "Knots Landing" with the one and only Valene Ewing herself!

Episode 123 - HERE

Episode 124 - HERE

See you back on Seaview Circle!