Can you believe it’s been 40 YEARS since the Ewings moved next door to the Fairgates?
Knots Landing premiered on CBS on December 27, 1979 and ran for 14 seasons. Knots Landing premiered at the peak of the disco era among other TV shows like Charlie’s Angels, Three’s Company, and The Waltons. Jimmy Carter was President, and the Strawberry Shortcake scented doll was the most-wanted toy that holiday season.
Inspired by the Swedish miniseries, Scenes from a Marriage, Knots Landing was created by David Jacobs and focused on four middle-class, suburban, married couples living on Seaview Circle — Gary and Valeen Ewing (Ted Shackelford and Joan Van Ark); Sid and Karen Fairgate (Don Murray and Michele Lee); Richard and Laura Avery (John Pleshette and Constance McCashin) and Kenny and Ginger Ward (James Houghton and Kim Lankford). Although Knots Landing was created first, it was written as spin-off series of Dallas (Gary Ewing was JR Ewing’s brother).
At its peak, Knots Landing had 17,400,000 US households tuning in on Thursday nights at 10pm and became a world-wide hit, being dubbed in multiple languages for international audiences.
The final episode of Knots Landing aired May 13, 1993 and at the time was the longest-running primetime drama on US television after Gunsmoke. (Fun fact: Michele Lee appeared in all 344 episodes.)
Several reunions have gotten the cast back together, two seasons have been released on DVD, but Knots Landing has not aired on US television since 2005.
Wouldn’t you love to know what your favorite cul-de-sac characters have been up to since we last saw them? We would.
