‘Knots Landing’ Is 45! Do You Remember the Show’s Craziest Storylines?
On December 27, 1979, Knots Landing premiered on CBS primetime. A spinoff of Dallas, the show saw the youngest Ewing brother, Gary (Ted Shackelford), move to a cul-de-sac in Knots Landing, California, with his wife, Valene (Joan Van Ark). As viewers soon discovered, the Ewings didn’t need to be in Texas in order to get involved in massive drama. Their extremely colorful friends and neighbors fleshed out the cast, providing a dramatic springboard for the soapy twists that followed.
Though plenty of affairs, power plays, and double crosses occurred in the show’s 14 seasons … sometimes, things got actually crazy. “Doctors stealing Val’s twins” -level crazy. In honor of the show’s 45th anniversary, let’s remember five times when the show got fully deranged (and we loved it all the more for it).
1“Moments of Truth”
CBS/courtesy Everett Collection
When Ginger (Kim Lankford) and Kenny Ward (James Houghton) were expecting a baby in Season 2, Val hosted a shower for Ginger, while the guys took Kenny to a bar to celebrate. But just as the ladies were about to enjoy the cake, three masked, armed criminals barged in, demanding their money and jewelry. Diana Fairgate (Claudia Lonow), who was in the kitchen, managed to escape and called the police.
Cops swarmed Val’s house, trapping everyone inside. A tense, eight-hour standoff ensued, where things turned violent at times between the women and their kidnappers. Abby Cunningham (Donna Mills) made a failed attempt to seduce one of the robbers before she grabbed a fire extinguisher and unleashed it on him, giving the other women a chance to attack the kidnappers. Thanks to the distraction, S.W.A.T. was able to take control of the situation and apprehended the bad guys.
2The Saga of the Identical Waitress
In Season 5, Gary encountered Cathy Geary (Lisa Hartman), a waitress who was a dead ringer for Ciji Dunne, his recently-murdered musical protégée and lover. As it turned out, there was a good reason for that: In order to keep Gary occupied while she built their empire through means he wouldn’t approve of, Abby hired Cathy to keep Gary distracted. Her plan worked, maybe too well: Gary gave Cathy a job at the ranch, and then proceeded to have her cut her hair like Ciji, don clothes like Ciji’s and sing along to her records. Gary and Cathy ultimately became lovers.
Meanwhile, Ciji’s killer, Chip Roberts (Michael Sabatino), who was hiding out on the ranch, saw Cathy, whom he thought was a ghost — and in his rush to get away, he fell on a pitchfork and died.
3Val’s Baby Blues
Lorimar/courtesy Everett Collection
After sleeping with ex-husband Gary, Val became pregnant with twins in Season 7 — which was a problem, because she was with Ben, and Gary was married to Abby. When Val went into premature labor, a shady doctor delivered the babies, then lied to a drugged-up Val that they died. Abby, meanwhile, received a call that the babies were being placed in a new home. She was horrified to discover the newborns in question were Gary and Val’s, but she remained mum.
Val, who was convinced her children were still alive, had a mental break and moved to Tennessee, where she began working as a waitress and calling herself Verna. Ben tracked Val down and brought her back to Seaview Circle, where she still insisted her babies were alive. Karen believed her and began investigating what happened the night they were born.
While Karen and Mack were tracking down leads, Abby realized the truth was about to come out. With her back against the wall, Abby announced that the twins were alive and brought Val to the home of the people who were raising them. There wasn’t an immediate reunion, but Val did get the children, Bobby and Betsy, back.
4“Cement the Relationship”
Lorimar Television / Courtesy: Everett Collection
Abby had an affair with Peter Hollister (Hunt Block), a political hopeful who also claimed to be the biological brother of Greg Sumner (William Devane). Peter was far from a one-woman man, however; he was also flirting inappropriately with Abby’s underage daughter, Olivia Cunningham (Tonya Crowe), while dating Paige Matheson (Nicollette Sheridan). When Paige told Olivia that Abby was sleeping with Peter, a devastated Olivia nipped her crush in the bud. Or so it seemed.
In season eight, Peter’s dead body was found in the dining room at the Lotus Point resort, which Abby co-owned with Gary and Karen Fairgate (Michele Lee). Abby and Olivia each suspected the other of doing the deed, so to protect her daughter, Abby buried Peter’s body in the children’s playground, where cement was to be poured the next day.
All went off without a hitch, until Abby found Peter’s car keys, and had to dig him up and rebury him. After the construction team did their business, it seemed Abby got away with it … until a crack appeared in the foundation. Weeks later, the crack got worse and the cement was removed, only for Peter’s body to be discovered. Turns out, both Abby and Olivia were innocent — he was impaled during an argument with Paige, who wasn’t charged for the crime.
5“The Perfect Crime”
CBS/courtesy Everett Collection
The specter of Val loomed over every relationship Gary had after her, and Jill Bennett (Teri Austin) was having none of it. For the ninth season finale, an unhinged Jill decided to get rid of Val once and for all. And once she spotted sleeping pills at Val’s house, she developed a plan.
After picking a fight with Gary over her suspicion that he slept with Val, Jill left to go to a conference in San Francisco. First, however, she got a disguise, bought a gun and a used car, and stashed them away for future use.
Jill was sure to make herself memorable on the plane and at the conference, even staging a sexual encounter with one of the attendees. She then left, donned her disguise, secretly returned to Knots Landing and pulled a gun on Val at her home. Jill then explained that she was going to force Val to take all of the sleeping pills and make it appear as if she died by suicide.
Indeed, with enough coercion, Val eventually took the pills and passed out. Jill secretly headed back to San Francisco and got back in bed with her one-night stand, while Val lay unconscious on the floor, the phone receiver in her hand. Val was temporarily committed, and Jill’s machinations were eventually discovered.
You can watch Knots Landing on Amazon Prime with a subscription, or free with ads on Plex.
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