The residents of Knots Landing, a coastal suburb of Los Angeles, deal with various issues such as infidelity, health scares, rape, murder, kidnapping, assassinations, drug smuggling, corpora... Read allThe residents of Knots Landing, a coastal suburb of Los Angeles, deal with various issues such as infidelity, health scares, rape, murder, kidnapping, assassinations, drug smuggling, corporate intrigue and criminal investigations.The residents of Knots Landing, a coastal suburb of Los Angeles, deal with various issues such as infidelity, health scares, rape, murder, kidnapping, assassinations, drug smuggling, corporate intrigue and criminal investigations.
- Won 1 Primetime Emmy
- 41 wins & 45 nominations total
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMichele Lee divorced her real-life husband James Farentino during the show's early days. In the scene where her character Karen Fairgate took off her wedding ring at her husband Sid's grave, she was actually taking off her real wedding ring from her marriage to Farentino for the last time, in order to make the scene appear more real.
- Quotes
M. "Mack" Patrick MacKenzie: Your dad hit you.
Jason Lochner: You wouldn't understand.
M. "Mack" Patrick MacKenzie: When I was six years old, I was running through the house and I knocked over a lamp and it broke. And my dad beat the hell out of me. He just didn't spank me, he hit me with his fist... Gave me two black eyes, Jason. I was six years old! And I told my friends that I fell off my bike. When I was ten, I came home and he started kicking me in the stomach and I didn't know why. I never found out. But I told myself that, well, he's just blowing off steam. Jason, when I was thirteen, my dad hit me so hard, he knocked out a molar. At first, I blamed myself. It had to me. This was my dad and your dad just doesn't beat you without good reason. If I was a better kid, maybe he wouldn't get so mad. When I got older and realised that it wasn't normal to be beaten up by your old man, I felt ashamed... because I didn't want anyone to know what my dad was like and I sure as hell didn't want pity. I made up lies to strangers, friends and excuse to myself. I was hoping and praying that it would stop. That just once he'd say that he loved me and he was proud of me... And now, y'know, uh, it's hard for me to say out loud that that he abused me and that it was wrong! And he was wrong! And not to say it at all makes it even worse. Jason, you don't have to live the rest of your life denying it the way I have. All you got to do is tell me that you don't want to go in there. Tell me to take you someplace else, kid. Just tell me to take you someplace else.
Jason Lochner: [Jason looks at Mack for a moment] Take me someplace else.
- ConnectionsEdited into Derrick contre Superman (1992)
Knots Landing premiered on CBS in December 1979. It followed the lives and relationships of Gary & Valene Ewing (Ted Shackelford & Joan Van Ark), recently remarried and new to town; Sid & Karen Fairgate (Don Murray & Michele Lee), the strong married couple with three children; Richard & Laura Avery (John Pleshette & Constance McCashin), the couple with marital problems; and Kenny & Ginger Ward (James Houghton & Kim Lankford), the young newlyweds.
Abby Cunningham (Donna Mills), Sid's younger divorced sister in the "bitch" role, came to town with her two children at the beginning of the second season; she was added to stir up the pot, so to speak, and began trying to seduce everyone's husband; she eventually set her sights on Gary and married him after ruining his marriage to Val. Donna Mills, who had for years played weak female and "victim" roles in various TV shows and movies, was thrilled to play a strong, powerful female lead. In fact, the show had many strong female characters.
In the beginning, these characters were a lot like people that lived down the street. They wore jeans and did the dishes... something you would never see on "Dynasty" or "Dallas"! Also, the early episodes (first 2 seasons) were self-contained and did not have the serialized format that was standard for most of the other nighttime soaps.
Early in the third season, Sid Fairgate died during emergency surgery after a car crash because Don Murray wanted to leave the show. By the end of the fourth season, original characters Richard Avery, Kenny Ward and Ginger Ward were all written off the show. The new characters of Mack MacKenzie and Gregory Sumner became more prominent.
The biggest mistake was when the powers that be fired actress Constance McCashin during the 1987-1988 season due to her real-life pregnancy. They had written her two previous pregnancies into the story, but they did not plan to do so this time. Granted, the storyline involving Laura's brain cancer and subsequent death was very well written and poignant, and superbly acted by Constance McCashin and William Devane as her husband Greg Sumner; however, they could have just had Laura leave town or written the character out of a few episodes to accommodate the actress' pregnancy since Laura was not very heavily involved in a big story at that time. Apparently, many other reviewers liked this character and felt that letting this actress go was a mistake.
There were many great actors on this show, but special mention must go to Julie Harris as Lilimae Clements, Valene's mother, and Michelle Phillips as Anne Matheson, Paige's shallow, self-absorbed mother and Mack's ex-girlfriend. They both brought lighter comedic moments to the show with their roles.
The fact that the show lasted 14 seasons demonstrates that it was far better than the other prime time soaps. The show managed to stay true to form for the most part throughout the entire series run by focusing on the characters and their motivations and not on overly outlandish plots.
- vs661966
- Sep 28, 2004
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Unter der Sonne Kaliforniens
- Filming locations
- Crystalaire Place, Granada Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA(exteriors: Seaview Circle)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
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![Donna Mills, Joan Van Ark, Michele Lee, Constance McCashin, John Pleshette, and Ted Shackelford in Knots Landing (1979)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZjEwOTUzZjctOTllYS00YWNjLThlM2YtYmMwZDg2NTkyYzViXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjg0Mjg1MDM@._V1_QL75_UY133_CR4,0,90,133_.jpg)