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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ClassyCo" data-source="post: 225475" data-attributes="member: 7">I started season twelve yesterday. I only had the time to watch the first episode, so I'll just toss in my thoughts about that episode alone. First, I've got to say that I'm glad the opening credits have the pictures of the cast back. Knots Landing has too many names in the opening not to show their faces. Most people probably skid through the credits, but I'm one of those geeks that generally want to watch the opening with every single episode. But I've talked about that in my Open Credits Discussional thread, so I don't want to analyze that here too much. When this episode started, there were a few changes I picked up on immediately. First, I felt like there's a shift away from the more suspenseful opening that gave Knots an almost police procedural vibe. There seems to be an edge towards a more soap opera-type look, albeit a daytime one. It's not that this is necessarily a bad thing, or even if the rest of you all even noticed this, but it's just something I've observed. We know that Jeff is the only stalking Karen, but he hasn't made his move yet. I know that sometimes story-arcs like this one might be drawn out for suspenseful and/or dramatic effect, but I do sort of wish they'd let Jeff make his move already. I was kind of disappointed (in some odd kind of way) that they didn't make Wayne the stalker at the end of season eleven, but even if they had been the story, I probably would've been let-down by their decision to do so. Even though Wayne is totally weird, he doesn't seem like the stalker type. He's obsessive, sure, but he doesn't have any weird desire to put Karen in any danger. He wants to protect her, and I believe him. Jeff, on the other hand, I should have noticed the clues given about him and his character. I'm curious to see how this all plays out. I'm guessing they're going to have Wayne save Karen from Jeff, but I could be wrong with that hunch. So, apparently, Michael and Linda became a "thing" sometime between the conclusion of season eleven and the start of season twelve. To entirely honest, I don't really know if I like this or hate it, but I'm kind of circling in on how much I just don't really care. I remember reading in a lot of different threads about how much most fans hate Linda Fairgate, and I can totally see where they're all coming from now. She's playing on Michael's good nature for her own personal gain, which isn't uncommon in soaps, but I wanted more for Michael. He's always getting the short end of the stick when it comes to his relationships with women, and I was just hoping that he'd finally end up with a girl that loves him back. I was thinking there for a bit that they'd soften Linda to make her more suitable for Michael, but instead they've made her more ruthlessly vindictive. I don't like it. She really just needs to leave Michael alone. We've been discussing Gary and Val a lot in these threads, and that's alright. They're the two characters that connected us from Dallas to Knots Landing (which was broken when Pam Ewing decided to have a season-long dream in 1986), so it's quite obvious that we discuss them as routinely as we do. The show's producers, and especially Joan Van Ark and to a lesser extent Ted Shackelford, sell Gary and Val as the cul-de-sac's Romeo and Juliet. And indeed they are. Almost all of the audience has wanted them to get back together ever since Gary walked out on Val for Abby back at the end of year three. Now we're getting that. I was personally ready for them to get back together if only to be a start a stable home life for Betsy and Bobby. Good grief, those two kids have been through a lot; kidnapping, loosing their first "Daddy" in South America, loosing their Granny Lilimae for road trips, having their mother marry that psycho-rapist Danny, and now finding out that their Uncle Gary is their "real" Daddy. Anyway, maybe Gary and Val will get their acts together and mellow out some. I'm not holding my breath for it, though. Then there's the Paige/Greg/Tom story that's been twirling for a while. Greg blackmailed Tom into leaving Paige alone at the altar, which thwarted Anne's plans of deviously inheriting Paige's rightful inheritance. Anne's always got her mind spinning, but this plan has hit the ground without the skids. Greg's sister, Claudia, and her daughter, Kate, have popped up in town. I'm so glad to see them, too. I can't wait to see what they have in store for us. I'll be back periodically to give my thoughts on these seasons. The DVDs I have typically have five episodes, so I'll probably come back after I complete each disc. Happy viewing!</blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?