The Sunday Memory Drawer - A Television Genius

 

David Jacobs died this past week and, for me, he was an unsung hero when it comes to television entertainment.  So many seasons and so many hours with the prime time soap genre.   The guy was crafty and brilliant.   

Now while I was a big fan of his first creation "Dallas," Jacobs spent more time with this second baby.  "Knots Landing."   This show, by the by, #2 on my list of Top 25 Favorite TV Shows of All Time.

How did that happen?  Read on.

When this "Dallas" spinoff first went on the air in 1979, I was one of the only people in my life circle that watched it. By the time "Knots Landing" went off the air in 1993, I had converted so many folks over time that I should be getting an annual holiday gift from Joan Van Ark. And, to me, Thursday night television has never been the same since we stopped seeing the adventures of those denizens of Seaview Circle, the cul-de-sac which actually exists right off the 405 Freeway in Granada Hills. I should know. I've been there and I have the pictures to prove it. 

For many seasons, Knots' competition on NBC were those "must see" dramas, namely "Hill Street Blues" and "LA Law." Frankly, I can't identify with dirty cops or dirty lawyers, so those two shows did nothing for me. I could, however, connect with the McKenzies and the Ewings and the Averys and the Williams, because they resembled in some way people I actually knew. Somehow, Knots left those other two programs in the dust and my friends eventually came over to my side of the neighborhood.  I mean, the opening credits and theme song were so delicious.  How could you turn it off?


Oh, don't get me wrong. "Knots Landing" was a Lorimar soap of the 80s and had all those juicy trappings. There was always the season-ending cliffhanger and Knots did them way better than the others. Because, like in life, there was unexpected turns that you did not even imagine. 

Early on, solid citizen Sid Fairgate, played by Don Murray, was featured in the last shot of the season as his tampered-with car went over a cliff. Now, you fully expect that the first few shows of the next season will be devoted to Sid in a coma, Sid perhaps facing paralysis, and wife Karen serving up some crocodile tears. But, the audience was totally unaware of the news that Don Murray had chosen to leave the series. So, Sid has surgery and a major character dies on the table right in front of your eyes. It was perhaps the biggest shock I ever endured as a fan of television. How they kept that all quiet is beyond me. But it paid off in great dramatic dividends. 
Seasons later, Knots pulled this off again in a different way. When they wrote out the character of Laura Avery, essayed beautifully by Constance McCashin, they did it with an off-screen brain tumor. But, the real meat of the situation came through during a two episode wake and funeral with dialogue that was 80% improvised by the other cast members. The reactions were all spot-on and you felt as if cameras had been trained on funerals in your own family. It was amazing television and Knots never ever got credit for doing it. 

Of course, there was all adultery, embezzling, cheating, corporate takeovers, murder, child abuse, alcoholism, teen drug abuse, unwanted pregnancies, and even more murder. And, in this clip from one of the best season enders, babies stolen at birth and then found about 20 episodes later.

Okay, so maybe that doesn't happen to everybody. But, somehow and some way, "Knots Landing" made it all work. A lot of that credit goes to the totally believable cast. They were all incredibly plausible characters, even if the women's plastic surgery over time got a trifle out of hand. But isn't that just like real life, too? People trying to be somebody they're not. 

No discussion of "Knots Landing" would be complete without mentioning one of the most layered characters ever created for television. That would be politician/corporate mogul Greg Sumner as played by William Devane. The portrayal is rich and diverse. The guy is evil. The guy is funny. The guy is totally likable despite a myriad of faults. Each week, I waited anxiously for Devane's scenes as he did things with this character that certainly were not on the written page. 

Frequently, Knots also turned to music in order to tie some plot lines together. One holiday season, they did so to the strains of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," arguably the best ever rendition of the song and done magnificently by series star Michele Lee. Here's another segment where you are caught up on some plot points via a song on the radio.

Again, a creative device that advanced television drama to a higher value. And "Knots Landing" got no credit for it.

In its later years, "Knots Landing" was my NY office's ultimate water cooler show on Friday mornings. That's right, folks.  There was no Netflix to binge on.  You had to wait a whole seven days to see what would happen next.  

Shocking.

Given how many people in my office participated in these discussions,  it would be no surprise how excited my writing partner and I would be when series stars stopped in to our studios to do some satellite interviews. Donna Mills was beautiful and gracious and posed for a picture with us, which I can no longer find. Michele Lee went one better. During one of her interviews with a radio station, she put us on the air with her to talk about Knots.

Which, obviously, I can still do for days and days and days and days. A later variation on Knots would be "Desperate Housewives" and our friend Marc Cherry certainly did intimate the Knots brand well, right down to the inclusion of Nicollette Sheridan.

But it still wasn't like Thursday nights at 10PM. When my world stopped for an hour.

Thanks to David Jacobs.   A life nicely played.

Dinner last night:  Kung pao chicken, shrimp, and beef at Panda Inn.