Worst Knots Landing Characters

[ClassyCo]

Yes Noone is a great actress. But I really don´t like the character she portrayed.

Fair enough.

 

[Chase Gioberti]

Vanessa Hunt. Terrible voice, terrible acting, terrible stories.

Frank Williams. They killed off the wrong Williams.

Pierce Lawton, Nick Schillace, Kate Whitaker...I didn't enjoy these characters very much.

Nick made me laugh a bit.

Peter and Ted were pretty good characters, IMHO. Agree with the rest.

Now that I'm into season 14 of my rewatch (only up through episode 6 so far), I think I have a definitive list of the characters I hated the most. I'm eliminating minor characters/guest stars. This does not include characters I loved to hate, like Abby or Joshua or Jill, but the ones that I believe truly did not contribute well to the show.

Kenny and Ginger (why? There was nothing there. Ever.)
Diana (The most annoyingly selfish teenager ever.)
Ciji/Cathy (though I did like to hate Chip and Joshua, so I realize these were necessary characters)
Olivia (The second most annoyingly selfish teenager ever.)
Johnny Roark (that accent--'nuff said)
Linda Fairgate (how many times was she retconned? 10?)
Aunt Ginny (hard to like Jason's psycho mother)
Danny and Amanda (Why? Why? Why?)
Kate (the most boring character to ever go through multiple angst sessions)
Boring Oceanographer
Alex (another pointless character retconned and then dropped)
Pierce and the redhead from his past (I like him as Captain Pike, but not Pierce--never Pierce) and the redhead was just stupidly inconsistent
And the winner for the worst character on the show: Due to bad writing, bad acting, bad accent, bad concept, bad backstory, inconsistent characterization, and all around vomit-inducing:

Vanessa Hunt

Agree with everything except Olivia. She was much better than say, Charlie Wade or Ben Agretti or Jason Lochner or Julie Williams.

 

[Billy Nolan]

Vanessa Hunt. Terrible voice, terrible acting, terrible stories.

Frank Williams. They killed off the wrong Williams.

Oh yes. How could I forget Frank? He really got on my nerves most of the time with his simmering aggression and his boisterousness. I don't know his original voice, but his German dubbing always reminded me of a kind of "snarling dog," ready to pounce and bite at any moment.

 

[Willie Oleson]

She was much better than say, Charlie Wade or Ben Agretti or Jason Lochner or Julie Williams.

Ah, sweet Jason with his Hanson Brothers hair. I thought he was alright it's just that Mack's over-the-top social worker role made me cringe.
There was something similar going on in Dynasty's second season when Dr. Toscanni (an anti-Carrington) became disproportionately concerned for Blake's grandchild.
Come to think of it, that's even worse.

Vanessa Hunt. Terrible voice, terrible acting, terrible stories

That was also my impression but then she improved herself and her stories. Didn't she intimidate Anne at some point?

I still hate Dirty Kate.

 

[Stillwitty]

Ah, sweet Jason with his Hanson Brothers hair. I thought he was alright it's just that Mack's over-the-top social worker role made me cringe.
There was something similar going on in Dynasty's second season when Dr. Toscanni (an anti-Carrington) became disproportionately concerned for Blake's grandchild.
Come to think of it, that's even worse.

That was also my impression but then she improved herself and her stories. Didn't she intimidate Anne at some point?

I still hate Dirty Kate.

Fun Fact: Dr Toscanni was played by James Farentino - Michele Lee's first husband...

 

[Daniel Avery]

Didn't she intimidate Anne at some point?

She tried. Vanessa knew Anne wasn't really pregnant and tried to blackmail Anne, who found the effort rather laughable.

"What are you going to do---threaten my first-born? No, Paige would eat you alive."

 

[Billy Nolan]

I still hate Dirty Kate.

Why "dirty Kate" - I think, she was boring. If she would have been more "dirty" she probably would have been much more interesting in my eyes. LOL

 

[Jock's Ghost]

Never understood why Mary-Francis offed. Her replacement was lame.
Paige is terrible. She made no mark on television other than chasing after an old man. She was never used an angry step-daughter for Karen. Never really used as an angry daughter for Mack, calling him MACK and not Dad was annoying. Her relationships were weak. She displayed no humanity. I loved Alexis because she stated what she wanted. She served a purpose and you liked her despite her tactics. Paige is a f---- bore!
Sumner- I didnt hate, he was underused. Is he the West Coast JR? No? Yes? Maybe?
Tom
Ann
Nick
ALL the garbage from seasons 10 onward.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Never understood why Mary-Francis offed. Her replacement was lame.

My guess is that when they wrote Mary-Frances's return/murder plotline, they had not anticipated that Stacy Galina (in her short time onscreen) would make such an impact on viewers. M-F was likely seen as "easily expendable" since the character had not been mentioned in years. I recall a lot of soap magazines saying good things about Galina's performance. The same situation had occurred with Lisa Hartman's Ciji---people were left wanting more. So when the show brought in the Claudia character to help fill the void left by Donna Mills's departure, the show used that opportunity to bring back Galina as the "look-alike cousin". Kate could function in the same capacity Olivia Cunningham had for Abby--the "good" daughter horrified by the bad things her mother did. Good idea, but lackluster execution because Olivia had been about 13-15 years old when Abby was doing her worst, whereas Kate was 21-22---old enough to be her own person and not just "Claudia's innocent little girl". In order to maintain Claudia's motivations (scheming to secure a portion of Sumner's fortune for Kate), they had to write Kate as having a sort of stunted growth and not having much of a POV as a character.

 

[Jimmy Todd]

Thanks for reminding me about Anne 's line to Vanessa about Paige eating her alive, @Daniel Avery. I always liked that quips.
@Jock's Ghost makes a valid point about Paige's humanity, or lack thereof. I think there were times they showed another, more humane side to her in the later seasons, but they were too few and far between. The writers leaned too much into the "ice queen" persona.
I also wish she had more conflict with Karen. I wanted Karen to admit to Valene how much she despised her. They just seem like two personalities who would not get along at all.

 

[Soaplover]

I liked that Karen and Paige were at a stalemate because that's a more realistic position for most step-parents/step-children... plus Karen understood if she rocked the boat too much with Paige.. it would risk pissing off Mack. It was nice to see that Paige didn't fawn over Karen, or treat her like the second coming of Christ like others did.

Her brief scene in the 1997 reunion tv movie was perfect because Paige had expressed what she wanted (a child/family), and when Greg wasn't receptive she decided to choose herself and leave him. I'd like to think that Paige did move somewhere new, started a new life, met a nice guy, and had a career/family/marriage.

I think Kate worked a bit better in the final season once she was moved out of being the 'moral compass' for Claudia.. and the show developed her friendship with Paige.

 

[Toni]

I liked that Karen and Paige were at a stalemate because that's a more realistic position for most step-parents/step-children... plus Karen understood if she rocked the boat too much with Paige.. it would risk pissing off Mack. It was nice to see that Paige didn't fawn over Karen, or treat her like the second coming of Christ like others did.

Her brief scene in the 1997 reunion tv movie was perfect because Paige had expressed what she wanted (a child/family), and when Greg wasn't receptive she decided to choose herself and leave him. I'd like to think that Paige did move somewhere new, started a new life, met a nice guy, and had a career/family/marriage.

I think Kate worked a bit better in the final season once she was moved out of being the 'moral compass' for Claudia.. and the show developed her friendship with Paige.

I don´t know if becoming a cold beech who wants to shag a neighbor who´s just widowed is "working a bit better". That was totally unbelievable and unforgivable. Ted should have said "no" to this.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Why "dirty Kate" - I think, she was boring

She was boring, but she also couldn't wait to get knocked up by Gary the minute Valene was presumed dead.
What a nasty scheming whore. How DARE she!