Knots Landing is an American primetime television soap opera that aired on CBS from December 27, 1979, to May 13, 1993. A spin-off of Dallas, it was set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles and initially centered on the lives of four married couples living on a cul-de-sac, Seaview Circle. Throughout its fourteen-year run, storylines included marital strife, rape, murder, kidnapping, assassinations, drug smuggling, politics, environmental issues, corporate intrigue, and criminal investigations. By the time of its conclusion, it had become the third-longest-running primetime drama on U.S. television after Gunsmoke and Bonanza and the last scripted primetime drama show that debuted in the 1970s to leave the air.
Knots Landing was created by David Jacobs (one-time writer of Family and later producer of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman) in conjunction with producer Michael Filerman (who would also later co-produce Falcon Crest). Although a spin-off of Dallas, the concept predates that series, and was rebuffed by CBS in 1977, as the network wanted something more "saga-like". Jacobs then created Dallas, which the network accepted and premiered in 1978. After Dallas became a hit, Jacobs was then able to adapt Knots Landing as a spin-off series by way of incorporating the characters of Gary and Valene Ewing, first introduced in the parent series. The series was largely inspired by a 1957 movie No Down Payment and also by the 1973 Ingmar Bergman television miniseries Scenes from a Marriage.
Though initially not as popular in the ratings as Dallas, Knots Landing ultimately outlasted it and garnered much critical acclaim. There were 344 episodes spanning 14 seasons of Knots Landing from 1979 to 1993. In 1997, much of the cast reunited for a two-part miniseries titled Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac. In 2005, they reunited again for the non-fiction special Knots Landing Reunion: Together Again in which the cast reminisced about their time on the show. Dallas itself was revived in 2012, with Gary and Valene Ewing appearing in its second season. During nearly the entire run of the original series, Knots Landing occupied the same timeslot: Thursday nights at 10:00 p.m. For a while, it was moved to the 9:00 p.m. timeslot when Falcon Crest was moved to Thursday nights for its final season. When Falcon Crest ended its run, Knots Landing was moved back to its 10:00 p.m. timeslot and stayed there until it ended its run.
Backstory
Gary Ewing (Ted Shackelford) was the middle son and black sheep of the Ewing family from Dallas. His father Jock (Jim Davis) and elder brother J. R. (Larry Hagman) had never treated him as an equal, and viewed him as a weak link. At 17, Gary ran away from home and met 15-year-old waitress Valene Clements (Joan Van Ark) and quickly married her, producing a daughter, Lucy (Charlene Tilton). The family arrived to Southfork Ranch, the Ewing homestead, and found that Gary had risen in his family's estimations: Jock liked Valene and was proud to be a grandfather, and Gary's mother Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes) was thrilled to have him home. At his parents' insistence, J. R. started including him in dealings at Ewing Oil, but J. R. landed him with failing business deals and made it appear that Gary was at fault. These pressures forced Gary into alcoholism and, unable to cope with disappointing his family, he fled Southfork, leaving Valene and Lucy behind. Without Gary in his way, J. R. persecuted Valene until she left the ranch, and Texas, with infant Lucy. She headed to Tennessee to find her mother, Lilimae Clements (Julie Harris), but Lilimae turned her away. Shortly afterward J. R. found her, taking Lucy back to Southfork to be raised by "true Ewings" and threatening Valene with a warning against returning to Texas.
Years later, youngest Ewing brother Bobby (Patrick Duffy) and his wife Pamela (Victoria Principal) found Gary working as a waiter in Las Vegas, and they convinced him to return home and visit Miss Ellie. At the same time, Lucy discovered that Valene had returned to Dallas and was working as a waitress in a diner, and began meeting with her in secret to avoid J. R.'s wrath. Lucy then engineered a meeting between her parents, which led to them reconciling and moving into Southfork together. J. R., upset and jealous that his parents were now lauding Gary's new start, saddled him with a failing company, the pressures of which led to him choosing to leave Southfork before he relapsed into drinking again. J. R. then forced Valene off the ranch again without letting her say goodbye to Lucy; instead, J. R. made out that Valene had abandoned her again, and taken a $5000 payoff from him.