I enjoyed seeing "Knots Landing" at every available opportunity. The program was a spin-off from "Dallas" in the 1979-1980 Television Season. Entertainers Michelle Lee, Kevin Dobson, Ted Shackelford, William Devane, Joan Van Ark, and Julie Harris were the key cogs in the program's 14-year-run on CBS Television. The program did not air just to deal with the normal lives in everyday America. The program dealt with critical issues like greed, rape, prostitution, wife beatings, kidnapping, alcoholism, and cancer. I highly recommend this program for those that like to see reruns of the show. The show itself maintained high levels of documentation and suspense in describing the scene in the particular act of a particular episode. Even Entertainer Stacy Galina did a brilliant job in playing her role of Kate Whitaker in the show's final three years of its run. Way To Go!!

I think people exaggerate what "Knots Landing" was a little. It was an amazing show, and an incredibly addictive one at that, but it wasn't this deep, realistic show that people say it was. Even in the early years, there were episodes that never could have happened in real life. Knots Landing was as much of a soap opera as "Dynasty," "Dallas," or "Falcon Crest." The special thing about Knots is that the story lines were very intelligent and well-thought out (and I think people confuse "intelligent" with "realistic" because while they probably COULD have happened, it was a 1 in a billion chance.) The Knots writers were able to keep things consistent for the most part, come up with storyline based on the characters, and have multiple story lines going at once. The show was fantastic because the storyline was so engrossing.Then in season 8, Knots Landing started getting self-conscious. THIS is when the show started trying to be "realistic" and a "social commentary." IMO, once they started taking themselves too seriously, the show lost its brilliance. I couldn't have cared less about the season 12 child abuse. In seasons 1-7, Knots Landing was so good because it was so FUN. In seasons 8-14, it became increasingly less fun to watch (and also, the show in seasons 9-10 lost actresses Constance McCashin, Donna Mills, and Julie Harris who'd been there since seasons 1, 2, and 3 respectively.) So when I say Knots Landing is engrossing drama that everyone needs to see, I'm really only talking about the first seven seasons .

I got into Knots Landing during its 4th season and I didn't watch it when it first began and when primetime soaps were becoming an in thing I wasn't interested in "Knots Landing" mainly because of the title and because it didn't hold viewers like the other shows (i.e. "Dynasty", "Dallas" and "Falcon Crest", but after watching it I became totally hooked on this show. I like the structure of the show where they all lived on the same block and took place of their lives and who were sleeping (mainly Abby) with who. This was a soap opera and now that I think of that show it was more interesting than "Dynasty" (which a show I cannot stand to look at on SoapNet), "Dallas" and "Falcon Crest". I was glad that they didn't have to wear these $10,000 dress (the female characters that is). Nor they made themselves jokes for a drama. Because it was more of a realistic drama than the other nighttime shows. I like the topics of the characters such as Gary's alcoholism, Karen's addiction to painkillers and Olivia's abuse on drugs. These characters had real issues and it made the show more to look at. I did catch the reruns on cable and was amazed how much I missed out on such as Sid's car accident, Abby and Richard's affair, and Abby's affair with Gary. Abby was the best! She was better than Alexis Carrington and was more real. She was soft hearted when it came to her kids, but Abby was more interesting than Alexis on "Dynasty". I remember when they fazed out on Kenny, Ginger and Richard which was sad because I did like Kenny and Ginger. When they brought on Greg and Ben it was cool. One of the only characters that I didn't like was Diana Fairgate. I was so glad when the actress Claudia Lonow was gone. I was happy they brought back Lisa Hartman (Black)as Cathy Geary than her first stint (Ciji Dunne). But Cathy was boring. They could of gave Lisa a little better to do. Now when Jill came on I thought her and Mack would of got it on, but enter Gary who had it on. I love Teri Austin and thought she was so beautiful. But it was noted that the only way to get through Gary's heart is to get him past Val (who was so boring, but I did say Gary and Val always belong together and thank God that CBS allowed to keep the show on to put them back together for a couple of more seasons) but it was the best finale they ever had when Jill attempts to murder Val. (I always remember that one because I was in my senior year in high school when that happened). But Jill bit the DUST!!! I also like Paige and all about her when the show focused on her because she was this young heroine, that all the women was not a young spring chicken (Karen, Val, Laura and not Abby). But it worked out for the show. I did like her love scenes with Tom (Joseph Gian). But the show was geared to put her and Greg together which they had great chemistry!!!! But of course I loved it when Greg was together with Laura and I cried myself when Laura died and how was Greg going to get by without Laura. I thought of her as one of those special characters that was sympethetic, unselfish, classy lady and the producers should of did whatever to keep Constance McCashin on the show. But there is Karen (Michele Lee, who was the best actress on the show). Karen was so awesome. She had her moments like putting Abby in her place, like Greg (even sometimes she wanted to kill him). Karen was great!!! I also like the fact that Abby started out as a garage girl going after horny alcoholics and a sleazeball (Richard), affair with Senator Greg and that ambitious Peter Hollister who wound up dead. This show was so good that it ran for 14 seasons and I wish it was still around for another 14 seasons. Maybe CBS could do another special like it did over 6 years ago. The best primetime soap in history

Knots Landing has got to be one of the best shows ever to grace our TV sets. The show that started out as a spin off of another good show Dallas turned into a guaranteed hour of enjoyable tv. Yes the show had its good and bad episodes but you always knew you could look foward to seeing your favorite neighbors on the Cul-Da-Sac Seaview Circle. By far the greatest female character on the show was Karen Fairgate Mackenzie(Michele Lee), she was married to the 2 greatest men ever Sid Fairgate(Don Murray) the owner of Knots Landing Motors and after his death she met and married Mack Mackenzie(Kevin Dobson)a lawyer. I enjoyed these two together most, they had such great chemistry together on screen they actually were believable as a married couple. When Abby(Donna Mills) arrived the show became even better, her character was always after someones husband and usually ended up with him. Sumner(Bill Devane) was another great addition to the show, his character brought a comic humor with the words he chose to use in tense drama situations. Then you had the Val(Joan Van Ark) and Gary(Ted Shackelford) the two childhood lovers who you just knew would always be together even if a few marriages got in between them. The show also had some other great characters like Laura(Constance McCashin), Richard (John Pleashette), Paige(Nicolette Sheridan), Lilimae(Julie Harris), Claudia(Kathleen Noone), Anne(Michelle Phillips), Frank(Lary Riely), Olivia(Tonya Crowe). Knots also had a ton of guest stars like Ava Gardner, Alec Baldwin, Lisa Hartman Black, Red Buttons,and Pam Grier just to name a few. Overall this show still holds up to todays standards and hopefully it will be put on DVD soon so everyone can enjoy it.