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But the possibiilty always has to be there, and there's a limit to how long you can stretch it out.
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I've been trying to figure at points the show started going downhill a bit and I've been flip-flopping in my head between season 11 / 12, but never really been able to decide and I've finally realised now; the start of season 11 is quite bad, especially the Olivia / Harold thing being pointless. Of course, they kind of pick up towards the end of the season, especially when Anne comes back and starts her scheming, which makes season 12 start off rather strong with the addition of Claudia. But then it sort of starts going downhill slowly, basically starting with Val pointlessly hitting her head and going cuckoo (would it have hurt anyone to just backburner Val / Gary for a few episodes instead of giving them a new problem?).
So essentially, the show hit a sweet spot at the end of season 11 and the start of season 12 that makes up for about a season of episodes, but it didn't last.
So essentially, the show hit a sweet spot at the end of season 11 and the start of season 12 that makes up for about a season of episodes, but it didn't last.
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The ratings started to get soft in the back half of season 12, even though there is much still there that I enjoyed (Mack and Jason, Anne and Nick, the whole Claudia/Steve thing). But it is true that an early 1991 episode suddenly become the least watched episode of the show up to that point, stripping the title from an episode unwisely aired on Christmas Eve in 1981.
What is notable about season 12 is how it is a relatively low key season after Danny drowns and Jeff is arrested, its as though they wanted the audience to have a breather. Brain injury aside, I like the year because it is long on good character writing.
However, what really killed the show was the brief Romano reign, which had some interesting visual ideas, but had such muddled writing that felt atypical of the characters we had been with for so long, and by the time that team righted the ship, it was too late for them and for the series (the ratings evaporated). I wonder sometimes if the show would have run an extra year if Ann Marcus had been given the reins at the start of Season 13. At least the final season was good.
I do think that, slackening in the second half of season 9 aside (likely due to the writers strike), the Latham/Lechowick era is very underrated.
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I think the issue is that there's no real "hook" story - things like Mack / Jason is okay, but not really captivating and a motivation to tune in, you know? I think what they discovered with the Ciji story is that the mellow melodrama stuff works better if there's at least one huge story running in the background. There's just really nothing like that - maybe they could've amped up Linda's scheming at Sumner Corp or something. Or maybe they thought Val hitting her head and acting crazy was that story, but it goes nowhere to be honest.
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Karen's kidnapping felt very awkward in that it came put of nowhere and seemed very contrived. It is always felt as if the writers had to suddenly come up with a cliffhanger and rushed to put this together.
After the three home runs of seasons 4-6, I'm willing to give them a pass. Besides they needed to write Michelle Lee's new hairdo into the script, so maybe this was it.
After the three home runs of seasons 4-6, I'm willing to give them a pass. Besides they needed to write Michelle Lee's new hairdo into the script, so maybe this was it.
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I didnt' like that whole story with Karen's kidnapping either. It could have worked better with Laura.
I would have preferred some much more mundane, but character-led stories in season 8, like Lili-mae developing a gambling problem and selling off all Val's jewellery. Or maybe Gary starting up an alcoholic's rehabilitiation programme, and getting seduced and ripped off by his clients. Smaller plots that were more like the early seasons, just with everyone now having magnfiicent hair and make-up.
I would have preferred some much more mundane, but character-led stories in season 8, like Lili-mae developing a gambling problem and selling off all Val's jewellery. Or maybe Gary starting up an alcoholic's rehabilitiation programme, and getting seduced and ripped off by his clients. Smaller plots that were more like the early seasons, just with everyone now having magnfiicent hair and make-up.
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I think something like that would come out of nowhere so it was realistic in that regard, but I agree with you that the resolution involving an old friend we'd never heard of and tying into Paige's sudden appearance did seem too contrived,
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Disagree with the latter. Upon rewatch I liked pretty much everything about the Peter Hollister story including his involvement with Abby.
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Yep. Maybe another actor would have made me appreciate the character more.
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Nothing could have made me appreciate Peter Hollister more. Unless it had been showed on Showtime, of course...
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KNOTS LANDING and DALLAS were both not good with kids... most shows of that era treated kids as plot points... they couldnt dump them or never show them so they did their best and we got to suffer for it.
- Anything with Ginger and Kenny... I fast-forward that shit like crazy....
- Diana was a creep from the giddy-up.... pretentious and snobbish.
- Anything with young Eric and his stupid mustache and long face..... ugh....
- only to be replaced by Pat Peterson and his stupid smiling face, rolling eyes and "golly gee whiz" attitude.
- Stupid ugly Christopher.... A drinking game needs to exist anytime he cries.... that little shitbag cries a lot!
- Season 12 of KL has been a hard watch thanks to Paige and Sumner Show.... don't care... Paige is not interesting enough to be vixen and Sumner is not as charming or funny as Larry Hagman to be a JR.
- Anything with fake Falloon or Sammy Jo----- shit actors.
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Yes - looking back, I feel the same way about Sumner and Paige. I quickly became annoyed with both of them. I could never understand how Paige was portrayed as a "grande dame." To me she was just a bitch and a spoiled brat.
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WIth Kenny and Ginger I can agree on this for the first two seasons, they picked up a bit with having a baby in season 3, but not much.
However in season 4, I thought Kenny came into his own. He had a big storyline at last producing Ciji's record, and I felt sorry for him over Abby/Gary's betrayal with the record deal. Ginger got a bit stronger and sang again - famously at Daniel's as Ciji's body washed up on the beach.
They improved when the writers put more effort into their stories.
I was actually a bit sorry when they were hastily written out at the end.
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Kenny should have been the one who murdered CiJi.
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As a means of keeping him and Ginger on the show, you mean? Kenny at least would still have to have been written out somehow but I wouldn't have minded if they'd kept Ginger around.
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Honestly, I don't think Kenny and Ginger were bad as much as underdeveloped - they just weren't really being used and pushed to the side. It's always made me wonder if Kenny and Ginger were a part of the first outline pre-Dallas as the young married couple and when Val and Gary were added to that plan it just displaced them on the show and the original plans Jacobs' had in his head. I'd be very curious about any pre-Dallas presentation he did of the show that later became Knots.
As you said, Kenny (and by default Ginger) started coming into their own in season 4, but were then written out.
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