I thought I had started a thread about the miniseries somewhere, but I couldn't find it. If I have and someone finds it, link it here and we can get an admin to hopefully merge the discussions together.
I watched BACK TO THE CUL-DE-SAC today and tonight. It was a rainy day, so I figured why not? Why not pop in my DVD and see what the KNOTS crew were up to?
I'm going to discuss the miniseries randomly, mentioning actors, characters, and plotlines. So, here's the spoiler alert for anyone that hasn't watched it yet and doesn't want anything ruined.
First, it was good seeing the core cast back together. I'll applaud everyone for sliding right back into their characters nicely. They all seemed to practically pick up right where they left off with the series finale back in 1993.
The miniseries played like a little story arc from the later seasons of the show, which isn't a bad thing.
Karen and Mack are celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary when the miniseries starts off. Valene's thrown them a party, and Abby's surprising them with a gift for herself --- she's bought a house in Malibu (which Gary so graciously remembers being a favorite place of his ex-wife's), and therefore will be moving out of the cul-de-sac. Karen and Valene make some quips and toss around a few looks, cheekily letting the audience and Abby know she will not necessarily be missed. Too bad for the Abster, though, when the IRS pops in a couple of days later and informs her that her assets are frozen. Her house and furnishings are taken and this forces her into Mack and Karen's house because, as you know, they're "family" because of Sid Fairgate.
Valene's book "Hostage" has become a bestseller, and a producer has recruiter her to pen a screenplay with a hot shot Oscar nominated writer named Clay McKinney. Naturally, Clay turns out to be an alcoholic who tries to woo Valene into his bedroom. She declines all his advances, and is saddened when he takes the credit for her work --- a "twist" I saw coming from a mile away. Such a story tactic is commonplace for plots concerning writers in TV shows and movies. Oh, and Valene becomes a suspect in Clay's death when he is found dead in his swimming pool. It all melts away, however, when Valene tells the police the truth about the last time she saw Clay.
That's not the only thing to throw Gary and Valene's marriage a curve ball, though. Kate comes back to Knots Landing and brings her daughter Molly with her (the name immediately reminds of Kenny and Ginger's daughter "Erin Molly" from Season 4). Drama ensues as Kate reveals little Molly was fathered by Gary back when she and he had a little fling while Valene was believed dead. There's tension drawn from Gary deciding what to do and Valene learning about it before Gary tells her, but it all sort of fades away as Kate has entered a relationship with Abby's now-grown son Brian.
Karen and Mack's marriage also hits some rough patches as Mack apparently goes through a mid-life crisis. He has problems at work, which are only worsened by Meg's desire to know who her biological parents are.
Abby's back up to her old tricks. She needs money to pay back taxes to the IRS and begs Gary and Sumner for a job. They both hire her --- Gary as Karen's assistant, and Sumner as a snoop to get information he needs to get out of a lawsuit brought upon him by Mack (there's an ongoing plot where Mack's suing Sumner for closing down a warehouse and putting multiple people out of work).
And there's Greg getting tangled up with some business in Thailand. He's still power-hungry, and he's got some big tricks up his sleeve. He gets bored with it all, however, and eventually hands the scheme over to Abby.
Let's get to point:
I didn't really like the miniseries. The Season 14 finale hadn't left any questions unanswered, so bringing forth a reunion so quickly was not necessarily warranted. CBS only green-lit BACK TO THE CUL-DE-SAC once JR RETURNS raked in some big ratings in 1996. When the KNOTS underperformed based on their expectations, further reunions were scrapped.
Stories vary, but at least some of the KNOTS cast were "pressured" to return for the miniseries in 1997. Donna Mills has spoken how she hadn't wanted to come back, while I'd be willing to bet the likes of Michele Lee and Joan Van Ark were perhaps more quickly to agree to returning to their cash cow. Considering Michelle Phillips' Anne Matheson Sumner hasn't any story in the miniseries, I'd be willing to bet Phillips volunteered her services without the producers necessarily wanting her back. All Anne does in the miniseries is make sarcastic remarks to Abby and Greg. Oh, and she's developed psychic powers apparently. But that doesn't go anywhere outside of some humorous remarks about her "powers" made by Greg.
Nicollette Sheridan only agreed to do a cameo, and she's gone before the credits roll at the beginning of Part 1. She's finally fed up with Sumner not wanting any kids, and she leaves both him and Knots Landing.
I must say I don't really like any of the storylines presented in the miniseries. I don't like how both the core couples --- Karen & Mack and Gary & Valene --- are thrown into a crisis. Karen & Mack's issues seem like a rehash of what we got in Season 13 and 14 when he gets all caught up in the Mary Robeson mess. And the thing about Meg wanting to know her real parents gets a little tiresome, although I do like how they do a call-back to Laura's farewell videotape (even though Constance McCashin refused to allow her voice or image be used, leaving the voice to be that of a sound-alike actress).
What I do like is how many cameos we get. I was excited to see both Claudia Lonow and Patrick Petersen pop up, although much isn't done with their stories; poor Diana is seen at Karen and Mack's anniversary celebration and then not seen again. I also liked seeing Tonya Crowe back as Olivia, but her screen time was limited to the anniversary celebration as well. Brian Austin Green is back as the maturing Brian Cunningham, Abby's good-looking son that's developed a romance with Kate and become a father to her daughter Molly. I liked Green being there, but his scenes with Kate read like discarded 90210 plotlines.
I was most excited to see Kim Lankford back as Ginger Ward, a neighbor who lived on the cul-de-sac in the first four seasons. I know she was just there for an in and out cameo, but I would've liked it had she moved back to Knots Landing and been apart of the reunion in a significant plot. But that's just wishful thinking on my part.
I'm not disappointed I watched BACK TO THE CUL-DE-SAC, but it's safe to safe I won't revisit it any time soon. It was basically pointless and mostly underwhelming, even though it pays homage to the fans and commodore among the characters we've all come to enjoy.
BACK TO THE CUL-DE-SAC does some meta-like references, too. When Valene goes to the movie studio for the first time, the woman she mistakes for Stefanie Powers is said to be Michele Lee by the guard (the woman isn't seen though). There's also an instance where Mack is flipping the channels on the TV. One channel plays the final few bars of the KNOTS theme as the Lorimar end credits logo is shown on the screen. I thought both references were cute.
I must say that I liked how the miniseries ends with a sense of humor. Michael and Laurie arrive to tell Karen they're pregnant, which Abby finds funny. The tables turn on her, however, when Brian and Kate tell Abby they're pregnant. The final shot is of Abby and Karen stunned and smiling, respectively, as they respond to the news of becoming grandmas.
What's your thoughts?
What did and didn't you like?
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