New Joan, Michele, Donna interview!

ChrisSumner

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Michael Fairman interviewed the ladies for the 40th anniversary! It’ll be up on his YouTube channel this week. I’ll post the link as soon as it’s up. I think they all look good. Makes me miss them acting.

ETA:

The full 50 minute interview has now been uploaded!

 
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ChrisSumner

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Okay I just watched and this was great! I loved what they had to say about Don Murray and William Devane. With Murray in particular I feel he gets forgotten when remembering Knots so I'm glad Michele gave him his due. She spoke about how upset she was about them killing him off (it was his choice to exit for another pilot), but in the end we see it worked out well. I also found it to be completely believable when they spoke of how much William Devane would re-write his scripts if he didn't like it. Joan mentioned a time working with him where he felt the scene didn't work so he got a cigar and kept blowing the smoke in her face to try and create a dynamic between the two. I wonder, was that during the storyline where Val was writing his biography?

Another thing they suggested I hadn't thought of was a Knots continuation with them as leads and not simply passing the torch and doing "next generation" like you'd expect. I believe it was Joan who mentioned it, but there is more of a place for women in their 70s to have lead roles so I wouldn't be opposed to it. It would certainly be different. Grace and Frankie is one of the most popular shows on Netflix and both of the leads are in their 70s so it *could* potentially work. Just a smart, quiet, character driven show with older women in their sunset years. We've seen it with comedies and I think it would be interesting with them older. It could also lead to a spin off that is focused on the younger characters like Paige, Michael, Olivia, etc. The section where they re-watch old scenes was great because you know that vanity doesn't allow Joan or Michele to watch their old scenes and I found it particularly interesting watch Joan watch herself because we all know she takes her work very seriously and you could definitely tell how proud she was not only of her own work, but the other ladies as well.

ABC did a reunion week where they cast a bunch of actors from popular shows and reunited them in new roles on their current shows. I'd love for somebody to give this trio an episode of a show. With all the procedurals there should be one show they can find to fit them into. It would be nice for CBS to do considering this is their 40th!
 

thomaswak

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...there is more of a place for women in their 70s to have lead roles so I wouldn't be opposed to it. It would certainly be different. Grace and Frankie is one of the most popular shows on Netflix and both of the leads are in their 70s so it *could* potentially work. Just a smart, quiet, character driven show with older women in their sunset years. We've seen it with comedies and I think it would be interesting with them older.

Well, I have only started watching the "Golden Girls" TV series 1 month ago and I think it was a great show for its time.
 

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Here are a few photos from the Hollywood museum event. Jokes were being made and stories told, but overall nothing really new was said.


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With Kate Linder and Jackie Lawrence (the latter did a special with Michele and their spouses and Sony and Cher)


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Barbara Streisand’s sister

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ChrisSumner

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Thank you for those pics! I'm loving all of this stuff we're getting. The ladies also got a segment on Entertainment Tonight. It would be nice if CBS gave them a segment on 60 Minutes or CBS This Morning.

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of a reboot or mini series with them in their 70s which I do think would be unprecedented. I've already written out a story in my head for how it would work lol.
 

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The main question in my mind, though, is whether the actresses will be willing to play the sort of stories that would be written for average 75-80 year old women. The show was "aggressively middle class," always making sure the viewer knew these characters were the sort of people who would be your neighbors, etc. Well, I can say with some conviction (living in the retirement capital of the planet) that I don't see anyone around here of their age bracket looking the way they look, dressing as they do and having the levels of health and wealth they exhibit. Yes, Hollywood 'grades on a curve' when it comes to looking great even in advanced age, but Val, Karen, and Abby were not Hollywood people--they were Knots Landing people, a neighborhood where average people lived (though they lived extraordinary lives at times). They ought to be retired at the very least, which will greatly limit the storyline potential since jobs provide so much opportunity for character interaction, and Abby seducing the husbands of the cul-de-sac out of boredom might be out of the question. Even using The Golden Girls as a template, our three ladies are only a year or two behind Sophia in age, and I can't imagine the ladies wanting to play anything like that. For all their worries about playing grandmothers in the original show, the characters should easily be great-grandmothers by now.
 

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Knots Landing people, a neighborhood where average people lived (though they lived extraordinary lives at times)
Yes, I imagine it would be a difficult line to walk. Just what extraordinary things could happen to a trio of septuagenarians?
 

Pamela_E

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A continuation would not work with them as them as the sole leads. Also David Jacobs owns Knots Landing and Warner owns Dallas. So there is a chance Val and Gary couldnt be in it anyway.

On a note of trivia. Cynthia Cidre told UltimateDallas she met with Donna Mills and was really keen to have her play Abby on new Dallas. But Jacobs wasn't having it.

The magic of the Knots setting was the fluidity of a cul-de-sac, people move in and they move out.

It would need a bunch of new neighbours, with Karen etc integrated. The concept should go back to the basics of when it started.
 

ChrisSumner

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Cynthia Cidre was such a bad writer that I don’t blame Jacobs for not letting her use Abby. I can’t imagine what kind of evil gun toting monster she would’ve turned her into.

In terms of reboot I do agree it would be hard to sustain over long term, but I do think a little 6 episode mini series could work. Grace and Frankie is on its 7th season and all the leads are over 70. I’d do a little mini series as a send off for the older characters as leads and let that lead into an actual reboot with younger characters.

As for the vanity aspect, I think the biggest problem there would be Michele Lee. Joan I don’t think would care just based on recent work. She did a movie a few years back where she had Alzheimer’s and surprisingly she allowed them to play her as an older lady without any glam. If someone were willing to take them seriously I think they’d do it.
 

micmic

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Cynthia Cidre was such a bad writer that I don’t blame Jacobs for not letting her use Abby. I can’t imagine what kind of evil gun toting monster she would’ve turned her into.

In terms of reboot I do agree it would be hard to sustain over long term, but I do think a little 6 episode mini series could work. Grace and Frankie is on its 7th season and all the leads are over 70. I’d do a little mini series as a send off for the older characters as leads and let that lead into an actual reboot with younger characters.

As for the vanity aspect, I think the biggest problem there would be Michele Lee. Joan I don’t think would care just based on recent work. She did a movie a few years back where she had Alzheimer’s and surprisingly she allowed them to play her as an older lady without any glam. If someone were willing to take them seriously I think they’d do it.

I think it has a lot to do with their career path. By the time knots started Michele had been on a super popular broadway show, one of the highest grossing feature films for that year, was nominated for a Tony award and had a pilot for her own TV show.

Joan van ark had been doing coffee commercials ;)

Joan could have her own reasons for taking these roles - anywhere from being a good acting challenge for her , she’s bored and wants to work or maybe she just wanted the money.

Michele feels she’s had a good career and is at a point where she can take whichever roles she wants and otherwise just enjoy life. I do know she’s been offered daytime and declined.

She did have the infamous “grandmother clause” put into her contract while they were doing knots, but as she said “it wasn’t a matter of vanity but a matter of prolonging a career”. Clearly, that’s no longer relevant, especially after the reunion.

Plus she played Hillary B Smith’s mom so that kinda places her in the grandmother spot already (why she agreed to do that awful web show is another topic, which is beyond me...)


Donna I think is doing things wisely, and by taking that GH role and an occasional hallmark movie she manages to stay relevant. She’s already done the gray haired grandmother role in the Driving Miss Daisy production (which I also don’t understand why she took)

Besides, no one is to say they can’t be glamourous on the show, much like Linda gray on Dallas
 

micmic

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A continuation would not work with them as them as the sole leads. Also David Jacobs owns Knots Landing and Warner owns Dallas. So there is a chance Val and Gary couldnt be in it anyway.

On a note of trivia. Cynthia Cidre told UltimateDallas she met with Donna Mills and was really keen to have her play Abby on new Dallas. But Jacobs wasn't having it.

The magic of the Knots setting was the fluidity of a cul-de-sac, people move in and they move out.

It would need a bunch of new neighbours, with Karen etc integrated. The concept should go back to the basics of when it started.[/ing QUOTE]

I think The Dallas continuation worked pretty well in the beginning (sans the Mexican family that popped out of nowhere). The generational feud there worked well. Maybe something similar could work with Knots somehow where Meg and Paige are fighting over the Sumner group or something.
And as always, some new neighbors around.

It’s a very interesting point with Abby being on Dallas, and I can’t say that I blame David Jacobs. I hate that Gary and Val are no longer together in the Dallas-verse.
 

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I've read about the reboot of Saved by the Bell - a show that I've never watched but the idea of their continuation is interesting. A mix of new talent that is in the school where the original series was located and some of the former stars, names I know from other work: Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Mario Lopez and Elizabeth Berkely. One of them will play a mayor who is connected to his old school. As I've understood they don't try to lure as many of the old cast but obviously those whose last IMDb credits are not too long ago. I can't explain it very good but somehow it sounded more planned than the 90210 reboot from 2008.

I would watch a Knots Landing continuation that is set in the Seaview Circle and at the Sumner Group, but with their offspring in the leading roles. Betsy Ewing, Meg MacKenzie mirroring Val and Karen or new characters instead of them but with some old neighbors in small recurring parts (think of the neighbors in Desperate Housewives whose parts were as small as the gay couple or Mrs. McCluskey). Meg will be of course in a conflict between ethics and power (MacKenzie vs. Sumner in one person) - favorably with Greg still around for a while.

Knots Landing had - aside from the little ones - a few teenagers where no one would mind recasts as adults: Julie Williams or Jason Lochner. But I don't think they can recast Olivia or Michael as easily to not offend old viewers. I really want to see middle-aged Michael, Olivia and Harold.

Of course it has to start with a new young couple moving in. Make it as diverse as possible - this is what no one can criticize about new Dynasty while Dallas failed at it with offering a "fake" history.

The feelings of the middle class interacting with the rich and poor in everyday life with some glamorous moments in-between have to be touched. It could work. It will not work with the three veterans in the video as leads. Absolutely not. Because they don't age for example as Patrick Stewart who in Picard shows that believable acting at a certain age has a lot to do with showing your real face. The middle class may do surgery with ears or fat reduction but not much more. If that isn't understood the premise of the original show is betrayed. And hire writers from Succession or This Is Us, not from new Dynasty or Revenge!
 

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The really frustrating thing is that - unlike the cast of Friends, who have repeatedly said they won't do it - our three ladies are eager to do it and even have their own ideas for it.

It's the same situation as with the DVDs. If Warners aren't interested then lease the property to someone else. With all the streaming services and other new media starting up, there must be a deal to be done somewhere.
 

micmic

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The really frustrating thing is that - unlike the cast of Friends, who have repeatedly said they won't do it - our three ladies are eager to do it and even have their own ideas for it.

It's the same situation as with the DVDs. If Warners aren't interested then lease the property to someone else. With all the streaming services and other new media starting up, there must be a deal to be done somewhere.

Their ideas are not for a reunion, it’s joan van ark trying to do a show about 3 older actresses trying to revive their career or somethjng like that.
I did hear David Jacobs tried to test the reboot idea, but the person he approached couldn’t do it because they were under another contract. Not sure if anything happened since.

If they do have a reboot I just hope it wouldn’t turn into liberal, we-hate trump BS show. Knots always promotes social agendas, which was great , and they definitely should have a gay couple like David Jacobs suggested.
But I think some shows just took it too far. I loved Murphy Brown but the new Murphy Brown was really awful IMO.
And Dallas just turned into “Tijuana” at some point.
 

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At some point they're talking about what their Knots characters would be doing now. Donna says she'd like to see Abby working her way back up after losing it all and Joan says that Val would be the opposite, maybe the head of a movie studio.
 
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Thank you for sharing. I enjoyed watching this interview. It's great how close the women still are after all these years. You can tell that they are friends in real life. :group:

It was also interesting watching their reactions watching themselves. It looks like Joan was really into the Val's babies plot and it was cute how Michele put her arm around her.


I agree with that tv back in the 80s was better than a lot of the stuff that is produced today since TV back then was character driven rather than plot-twist driven. The slow burn plots that builds up to something over a season does leave a lasting impression compared to something that is dealt with in 2 episodes.


I would love it if Knots came back again. :spinning:
Either for a 6 part mini-series like BH90210 or for a longer stint. I would not be interested in watching a reboot with just new characters playing the same roles a la new Dynasty though.

I think they are too young to be great-grandmothers considering that their kids on the show didn't have kids until in the late 1990s. But yes they would definitely be grandmothers in a new show and honestly they don't look like ordinary women that age. They look like stars.:cool1
 
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She must be thinking of "Nashville Junction".

Whoever is speaking also seems to have forgotten Gary's fourth child, Molly.
 

micmic

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She must be thinking of "Nashville Junction".

Whoever is speaking also seems to have forgotten Gary's fourth child, Molly.

In all fairness I also forgot about Molly :confuse:
(Kinda suppressed most of the reunion material)

Was Val born in Nashville ?
 
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