Knots Landing producers batted around the idea of doing a summer series focused around the younger characters (at the time, that would have been Paige, Michael, Johnny, Olivia, Harold, and maybe Brian). At that point, the producers were frustrated at how the show lost momentum during the summer hiatus, and how the network would not even air the show in reruns. By focusing on the younger (read: less-used) set of characters, they could have gone after a younger demo while also holding onto a lot of regular viewers who might tune in to see the regulars (Lee, Van Ark, etc.) in guest spots. From what was written in the press, this would have been a 'companion' to the regular series, mostly filmed in the Lotus Point settings rather than the cul-de-sac. They never filmed a proper pilot because it was implied that they would do a lot of the setting-up within the main series. It obviously never happened, mostly because of logistics and a Writers' Strike. By the following season, it was not brought up again, likely because they had integrated Paige into the "adult" stories--and other than her, none of the younger set was very interesting.
en.wikipedia.org
