Your LEAST favorite character from the main cast?

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Do you mean Richard or Greg?

The first one. Richard?

 

[Matthew Blaisdel]

The first one. Richard?

Yap. He left in the middle of the night some day. Came back once for her funeral though. And i believe the actor directed some episodes.

 

[TheRealEwing]

Diana.
Diana.
DIANA.
What a strident, whiny, selfish, delusional, stupid character. At first she was just an annoying teenager (forgivable). But I'm currently in season 5, and right now Chip is in a coma, and I wish it were Diana instead. I know that Abby (the favorite aunt who is "the only one who understands" her, but who really just wants to create strife between Diana and Karen) is largely to blame for Diana's questionable choices, which all stem from her main point of existence: rebelling against and blaming her mother for everything. I have my own mommy issues, but Diana's are just bizarre and over the top. And I'm baffled by her character shifts. She hated Mack for no rational reason, but then AFTER she found him with another woman, she's on his side (well, after she stopped treating the whole incident like SHE was the victim). At one point during their time on road, Diana was trying to get away from Chip, who was acting more and more psychotic, and then suddenly she's totally on his side and compromises whatever integrity she may have had by excusing the fact that he's a murderer.

I think second on my list would be Karen because of her self-righteousness, her know-it-all-ness, her all-consuming need to be in the center of everything and right at all costs, her ugly-crying: these all make me face-palm because she always makes the dumbest decisions. Like when she drives Diana away even after Mack urges her to be rational. Like when she flies out to Oklahoma to find Diana and Chip. Like when she keeps mentioning annulment when Chip is in jail. Like when she marches out to the ranch to see Diana. Like when she goes with LiliMae to the police station when Chip is released. Like when she goes to the hospital to talk sense into Diana while Chip is in a coma. And I remember a similarly bad decision she makes much later in the show: going to the house of the kid she accidently killed in a road rage incident. People criticize Mack and Gary for being too impulsive, but they've got nothing on Karen.

But back to Diana: I wish that she had just gone to New York with Karen's bitchy fashion-designer friend. No, I wish she had run off with Sid's daughter in that first episode. No, I wish she had tripped and fallen off stage when she and her mother did that ridiculous song and dance number. No, I wish the motorcycle gang had run over her. No, I wish LiliMae had run over her instead of Chip.

 

[Mister Seagull]

I would say Joshua Rush was my least favourite.

Everytime he said "perfecto" I wanted to take a baseball bat to the TV screen.

 

[Billy Nolan]

Claudia. In my opinion, she wasn't as complex a character as the others. She was written very one-dimensionally. It was the same with Kate. But in my opinion, Claudia was just a truly evil witch!

 

[Stillwitty]

Of the main main cast I disliked Mack the most. I never quite understood how was it that other women found him attractive

Ummm....because he is a perfect 10: Sexy, Intelligent, strong, tender, witty, funny and the clincher: Confident.

I think what makes Mack attractive is his confidence. He definitely represents a Man's man. He is not indisisive. He approaches conflict.

Couldn't agree more! So much swag....

On my last full Knots rewatch - the first in around a decade and a half - I was really looking forward to Mack's arrival. But after a season and a half was quite suprised to find I couldn't stand him.

I found his need to know/judge/fix everything really irritating. And his low key but narcissistic alpha male "my career/marriage/friends/children/clothes/latest obsession are more important than anyone else's because it involves me" thing wore thin with me too (Karen had the same vibe, but it didn't bother me half as much. Perhaps because alphas' behaviours as a rule trigger people of the same gender).

Mack takes the crown over later irritants such as Kate simply because as a core character in the centre of the action for eleven seasons it's pretty difficult to tune him out or reassure oneself that it will all be over soon. And because so many of the characters - and viewers - seem to adore him, which I just don't get. In that regard you could say I view Mack the way Jill Bennett viewed Val.

Simply. Shocking. I do agree with your statement that "Most Viewers Adore Mack." There's a reason for that...

yes, I felt the same way. I only liked him - if at all - at the beginning of season 4. He was always so convinced of himself and his opinion that he did not accept any other opinion or people next to him. He was over-moral, stuffy, old-fashioned and know-it-all. Oh yes: and overly authoritarian.
Nor can I understand that he was portrayed as a heartbreaker. I'm not a woman - but you can't call him attractive. Unless you're into toupees that turn gray over time.
Just my opinion.

The most attractive thing about any man is confidence. A witty rap is a strong second. Those are the main reasons a guy like Sumner is found to be attractive by so many women, although he is not traditionally handsome. Kevin Dobson/Mack, on the other hand, has both of these qualities in abundance (making his scenes with Sumner so damn good) but is also sexy, intelligent, handsome, and has incredible swag...But hey, attraction is one of the greatest wonders of the world and keeps songwriters and poets in business...

 

[Spells & Karma]

Simply. Shocking.

Why? It's not like the thread title asked "Which main character had the most incredible swag?"

 

[The Bride of Frankenpig]

Mack was so self-confident that he was always on the verge of cheating on her wife with the first woman that passed by... Is that self-confidence or the opposite? (And I always loved The Dobson and appreciated Mack´s traits, that to me included stubbornness, a tendency to play hero and not respecting the boundaries in his job. I find these faults even more attractive than what mentioned above because well, soap reasons).

 

[Stillwitty]

Why? It's not like the thread title asked "Which main character had the most incredible swag?"

Great swag is fascinating to watch perform. Hardly translates to "least favorite" especially with all the other intriguing, or should I say underwhelming, possibilities...

Mack was so self-confident that he was always on the verge of cheating on her wife with the first woman that passed by... Is that self-confidence or the opposite? (And I always loved The Dobson and appreciated Mack´s traits, that to me included stubbornness, a tendency to play hero and not respecting the boundaries in his job. I find these faults even more attractive than what mentioned above because well, soap reasons).

Agree with a lot of your assessment except for the first: He was NEVER on the verge of cheating...exception was that night alone with Anne a woman who was purportedly his first love (we all know how irrational that can be) and with whom he had all that unfinished business, as the shrinks like to say. Usually, he was merely a "harmless flirt" Jill's phrase, and Charming AF - but always came home. Compared to Sumner, Gary, Richard, Kenny, Danny, Ben, the list is virtually endless, Mack got the Monogamy Award: It's a Phallic Symbol on a leash held by Karen...

 

[Jock's Ghost]

Each one held some airtime at one point. Too much.... hated them all.

Anne- why? The love triangle was long dead. Why not something with her, Greg and Abby? Anne is a campy boring freakshow. A plot character that serves no purpose.

Page- boring and useless. Lar Park Lincoln would have nailed the role so much better.
Kate
Nick
Sumner -post Laura
Ginger
Kenny
Sids mechanic crush
Harold
Tom
Scooter

Michael- as adult, all he did was smile, and roll eyes.

Eric After he brings Linda home, hes such a tool.

 

[Billy Nolan]

Each one held some airtime at one point. Too much.... hated them all.

Anne- why? The love triangle was long dead. Why not something with her, Greg and Abby? Anne is a campy boring freakshow. A plot character that serves no purpose.

Page- boring and useless. Lar Park Lincoln would have nailed the role so much better.

I completely agree with you about Paige. In my opinion, she was a character who only fit into a narrow timeline of the series, the late '80s/early '90s. In retrospect, she seems the least timeless of the other characters. On top of that, I labeled her a spoiled brat.

 

[Svengali]

Mack ! can't stand the way he always moves his hands or arms when he talks, great acting doesn't need gestures

 

[Billy Nolan]

Mack ! can't stand the way he always moves his hands or arms when he talks, great acting doesn't need gestures

I see it similarly. I've noticed that with Joan Van Ark too. I think she's a very good actress, but she often fidgets with her lips and makes seemingly uncontrolled, funny movements.

 

[Stillwitty]

Each one held some airtime at one point. Too much.... hated them all.

Anne- why? The love triangle was long dead. Why not something with her, Greg and Abby? Anne is a campy boring freakshow. A plot character that serves no purpose.

Page- boring and useless. Lar Park Lincoln would have nailed the role so much better.
Kate
Nick
Sumner -post Laura
Ginger
Kenny
Sids mechanic crush
Harold
Tom
Scooter

Michael- as adult, all he did was smile, and roll eyes.

Eric After he brings Linda home, hes such a tool.

Love your evaluation of Anne. One of my least favorite characters - the first of all the bad ones to come (Nick, Kate, et al)

Mack ! can't stand the way he always moves his hands or arms when he talks, great acting doesn't need gestures

Actually, Al Pacino, easily the greatest actor of my generation, is famous for his gestures. Also, Mack is half Italian, and if you tie our hands behind our back, we're mute...

 

[Billy Nolan]

Actually, Al Pacino, easily the greatest actor of my generation, is famous for his gestures. Also, Mack is half Italian, and if you tie our hands behind our back, we're mute...

A good actor shouldn't explain his gestures with his ethnic background. He's not acting himself, but his role. But I agree with you: everyone brings their own natural acting talent.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

I would vote for Ginger and Kenny as most disposable and they were disposed of. They were the least interesting of the original cast couples and clearly designed to be the young demographic appeal. But they always struck me as the most dated and conventional and the story line with Sylvia straight from daytime 098.

Vanessa from the final season. A character who came from nowhere to a lead role in a featured story line. My guess is she was forced on producers (agent who represented someone more prominent made it a two for one or more likely a CBS/WB executives girl friend) who had no choice but to create a 'star making' story line for her. She was given weak material and was terrible. The star flamed out, that was it for her.

There were lots of short termers who departed quickly but over all Knots did a great job of incorporating newbies and adding to the cast. Unlike Dallas which had the title but ceased to be Dallas at all in the end. I love how Ann was revived into a regular character and enjoyed her flop scam, on the streets stories. I was sad that the sadly funny story line ended so abruptly.

Yes lots of short term characters so, maybe there should be a minimum time to be considered "main cast" over the series.

Maybe Ginger and Kenny were a poor fit. Kenny, being in the music business, could have generated some great stories, but KL
was probably not the best place for it. Maybe a separate series with the music business as its centrer was the better idea for those two characters

 

[Billy Nolan]

Yes lots of short term characters so, maybe there should be a minimum time to be considered "main cast" over the series.

Maybe Ginger and Kenny were a poor fit. Kenny, being in the music business, could have generated some great stories, but KL
was probably not the best place for it. Maybe a separate series with the music business as its centrer was the better idea for those two characters

Didn't Kim Lankford mention in an interview a planned mini-spinoff series about the Wards' lives after they left Knots Landing? That would have been interesting, but I don't know if it would have garnered high ratings... Besides, James Houghton apparently wasn't too fond of the idea.

 

[Stillwitty]

A good actor shouldn't explain his gestures with his ethnic background. He's not acting himself, but his role. But I agree with you: everyone brings their own natural acting talent.

MACK was the character and as such an actor should play the character including all of his idiosyncrasies...Kevin was Irish, Mack was half Italian. I think you're confusing the actor with the character...